Season 44 (2062) - Discussion Thread

[One Great Matrix]

I came from 10 Games Behind to beat Maple Syrup in the division by 2 games...But not a single gold achievement all season...3 silvers & many, many bronze (even relative to other successful seasons).

That rally should have been worth 5,000 PP or so IMO.

I'm developing a sort of phobia about having to play the wild card game, I supposed that spurred on some of the +.750 winning in the last 30 games.
Maple Syrup seemed unbeatable when I closed their 6 or 7 game lead down to 3 only to see it slip back to 10...but at that point, I said "this is where the comeback starts"...and...it actually realized itself this time. I only went about 3-3 or maybe even 2-4 head2head vs. the Syrup during the time I made 12 games up, though...& haven't played well against other whale-like teams this season for the most part, either...but maybe I got some of those disappointing losses out of the way pre postseason, eh? ...Orion probably hopes that isn't the case.

See how the playoffs go tomo.

[macacks]

The Warbirds finished with the best post AS record again which gives them home field for the conference which isn't a great as it sounds. A sweep of the other top teams (Scottsdale Scorpions and Bridgeville Bucs on the last week of the season was the difference.
Unfortunately no amount of training, resting, spot starts could stop the Warbirds from finishing second and having the easier open round opponent.



Warbirds had below average offensive season as their was a little bit to much tinkering with the lineups trying to find more defence and speed without sacrificing too much pure hitting.
Defensively the warbirds had one of their finest seasons including a record low Runs against and ERA.

[waittilnextyear]

Despite the old timer # being utterly leaderless this week (old timer hasn't posted this week--hopefully he's alright), the New Age Old Timer 3 Of The Ages all made the playoffs in P466/corpse of OL leagues past.

Arguably the most interesting divisional race I've seen in quite some time involved the OL mainstay Cigar City Lagers and old timer's Evergreen Forest Raccoons. They went back and forth all season, with one team getting hot almost invariably while the other one went cold. The last streak was in Cigar City's favor and they reeled Evergreen Forest into a G163 tiebreak and won it to steal the division. It was a bit of smoke and mirrors with Cigar City being +8 versus pythag and having a worse run differential than Evergreen Forest by 122 runs. But, that's why we don't sim games on paper.

As it would so happen, the Lagers will be the #3 seed in the AC and also my 1st round opponent. The Frogs went 118-44 (+432) and rode a 9-game winning streak to the end of the regular season. SE George Sisler went 30/30 for the second time in his career. Ed Walsh won the ERA title for the nth time in his. The catching tandem of 99 Berra and SE Posey compiled 7.7 WAR among them.

On the one hand, the Frogs have a pretty dominant +432 RDiff vs Cigar City's +200 (and a 4-3 h2h record this season). Also on that same hand, the Frogs will have the home field and a clear strategy against an all-lefty/no-platoon Cigar City offense (have you met Monsieurs Grove, Waddell, and Newhouser by chance?). Still on that same hand, the Lagers have zero PL titles despite winning ~100 games/year for a good, long while. But, on the other hand, they did just pull off a total snookering of a very good/great Evergreen Forest team and shouldn't be overlooked. All the same (not sure which hand this is), I think I'd rather play Cigar City, while Evergreen Forest gets trapped in the RNG Wild Card game, and then Evergreen Forest vs Old Hoss Radbourns will winnow the field for me should the Frogs advance to the Sub-League Series.

Good luck to all in the playoffs! Unless, you're an opponent of my Frogs, in which case, brother, you are going down!

[adion]

Originally Posted by Magus978

Spurred on by their all-in purchase of 100 Walter Johnson tonight for 350k, the Steelport Saints have managed to avoid relegation in whale league! A huge victory for us and we'll take that into Monday in search for our 2nd title in a hopefully more favorable league.

How long did it take to save up 350K?

[JasonC23]

waittilnextyear perfectly captured the drama in the P466 AC; how did the NC shake out? Glad you asked!

Your Huntley Red Raiders could not quite reel in those infamous Minnesota Bold North, finishing in the #2 NC slot. (Honestly, any division-winning slot was fine, as the first 2 times the Old Time # got together, Huntley ended up in the Wild Card game and lost both times. Man, I hate the Wild Card.) As a postscript to the earlier Pythag madness, Huntley ended up a reasonable 4 games below our Pythag with a +421 RDiff, while Minnesota actually out-underperformed (?) the Red Raiders, finishing 5 games below theirs, although with a better RDiff (+453).

Ed Walsh led the Red Raiders staff with 6.5 WAR, but Rube Waddell won the just-invented Huntley Red Raiders Pitching Triple Crown with 22 wins, a 3.13 ERA, and 220 Ks. Mariano Rivera recovered from an early season drastic FIP-ERA discrepancy to post a banner year out of the bullpen (5-1, 40 SV, 1.70 ERA, 1.89 FIP, 269 ERA+, 2.9 WAR).

On the batting side, LF Mickey Mantle rode a ridiculous August (1.044 OPS) and September (1.105 OPS) to a team-best 5.6 WAR (.307/.404/.530, 29 HR, 100 RBI, 150 OPS+); DH Barry Bonds paced the NC with 38 HR and the team with 117 RBI; and Ozzie Smith actually placed second among Huntley batters with 4.9 WAR thanks to a solid batting line (.279/.375/.422) and his typical stellar glove work (4.43 RF, +10.4 ZR, 1.043 EFF).

Huntley's opponent in the Division Series will be the also-infamous Fargo Buscemis - OL, who won the regular season matchups against Huntley, 4-2, winning 2 of 3 in Fargo and Huntley. They beat Roger Clemens (10.1 IP, 13 HA, 9 ER) and Curt Schilling (8.0 IP, 15 HA, 9 ER) twice each, but Schilling will be relegated to the bullpen for this round, at least, thanks to yet again struggling during an Old Timer # year (11-8, 4.66 ERA, 98 ERA+).

I would be remiss if I didn't congratulate my former mortal enemies, LeroyJenkins' Hermosa Beach Banana Hammocks, on their excellent season (100-62, +104 RDiff, +9 Pythag). Good luck in the Wild Card game against the Bold Strategy Cottons -OL and, if it comes to pass, against Minnesota in the Division Series!

One final note about the AC, though; Old Hoss's Ted Williams won the Triple Crown with what is one of the most dominant (old-school) batting lines I've ever seen in Perfect...wow:

[Magus978]

Originally Posted by adion

How long did it take to save up 350K?

I didn't. I bought points during the sale and had it matched last night during Rich Grisham's stream. I had planned on adding bats, perhaps a Cap Anson or a King Kelly, but then I saw 100 Walter sitting there with a few mins to go at 350k and no bids.

I would have been stupid not to go for it.

[Orion]

Originally Posted by One Great Matrix

I came from 10 Games Behind to beat Maple Syrup in the division by 2 games...But not a single gold achievement all season...3 silvers & many, many bronze (even relative to other successful seasons).

That rally should have been worth 5,000 PP or so IMO.

I'm developing a sort of phobia about having to play the wild card game, I supposed that spurred on some of the +.750 winning in the last 30 games.
Maple Syrup seemed unbeatable when I closed their 6 or 7 game lead down to 3 only to see it slip back to 10...but at that point, I said "this is where the comeback starts"...and...it actually realized itself this time. I only went about 3-3 or maybe even 2-4 head2head vs. the Syrup during the time I made 12 games up, though...& haven't played well against other whale-like teams this season for the most part, either...but maybe I got some of those disappointing losses out of the way pre postseason, eh? ...Orion probably hopes that isn't the case.

See how the playoffs go tomo.

Was a great rally. Not looking forward to playing Maple, hopefully they lose here

[macacks]

Originally Posted by macacks

The Warbirds finished with the best post AS record again which gives them home field for the conference which isn't a great as it sounds. A sweep of the other top teams (Scottsdale Scorpions and Bridgeville Bucs on the last week of the season was the difference.
Unfortunately no amount of training, resting, spot starts could stop the Warbirds from finishing second and having the easier open round opponent.

Attachment 669988

Warbirds had below average offensive season as their was a little bit to much tinkering with the lineups trying to find more defence and speed without sacrificing too much pure hitting.
Defensively the warbirds had one of their finest seasons including a record low Runs against and ERA.

Warbirds vs Scottsdale Scorpions and there 10 PL titles with the winner surely playing the Bridgeville Bucs and their 8 PL titles. As mentioned above the easier path was finishing 2nd in the conference. The Warbirds have been very dominant at home this year including a sweep of these two teams to close off the year.
Scottsdale had an amazing (-13) pythag record diff and have a best run differential in league despite finishing 5th.

[JasonC23]

Wild Card Craziness Strikes Again, P466 Edition: While the Evergreen Forest Raccoons advanced to face the Old Hoss Radbourns (against whom the Raccoons went 6-1 in the regular season!), the Banana Hammocks staged an amazing rally, but...

[macacks]

Originally Posted by macacks

Warbirds vs Scottsdale Scorpions and there 10 PL titles with the winner surely playing the Bridgeville Bucs and their 8 PL titles. As mentioned above the easier path was finishing 2nd in the conference. The Warbirds have been very dominant at home this year including a sweep of these two teams to close off the year.
Scottsdale had an amazing (-13) pythag record diff and have a best run differential in league despite finishing 5th.

Attachment 670043

Warbirds win Game 1. 4-3

Game 2 goes to Scottsdale (2-1) with a late SP sub to Lefty Grove (POTG) who played the swing man this year with 12 starts. This must be the type of strategy the wins you 10 PL titles.

[JasonC23]

Huntley will indeed get to face the Minnesota Bold North, who vanquished La Crosse and Evergreen Forest in winning the Old Timer 5/OL league a handful of years ago. Meanwhile, the Fighting Frogs await a game 5 victor in the heavily contested Radbourns v Raccoons rumble...

[old timer]

So we finally get a chance to play the famous Fighting Frogs and I miss all week due to being ill. Well, at least I'm doing better now so I can enjoy the playoffs. Nice to see we all made it this far (I only checked in for the 1st time after the season ended). Speaking of which, thank you to the Frogs for avenging us vs those Lagers who knocked us out of 1st on the 163 game of the year.

I see we're holding up the rest of you. The rest of you swept your opponents, but we're tied 2-2 with Old Hoss. With any luck, we'll meet up with the Frogs in the conference championship.

[waittilnextyear]

Originally Posted by old timer

So we finally get a chance to play the famous Fighting Frogs and I miss all week due to being ill. Well, at least I'm doing better now so I can enjoy the playoffs. Nice to see we all made it this far (I only checked in for the 1st time after the season ended). Speaking of which, thank you to the Frogs for avenging us vs those Lagers who knocked us out of 1st on the 163 game of the year.

I see we're holding up the rest of you. The rest of you swept your opponents, but we're tied 2-2 with Old Hoss. With any luck, we'll meet up with the Frogs in the conference championship.

You are avenged!!

Glad to hear you're doing ok. But, if it's Evergreen Forest vs Frogs, know that it's on.

[Orion]

Game 5 at my place, Rube Waddell vs. Rube Waddell for the chance to duel the Flyers for a series bid.

[LeroyJenkins]

Originally Posted by JasonC23

Wild Card Craziness Strikes Again, P466 Edition: While the Evergreen Forest Raccoons advanced to face the Old Hoss Radbourns (against whom the Raccoons went 6-1 in the regular season!), the Banana Hammocks staged an amazing rally, but...

I also hate the Wild Card. One of the unfortunate parts about living on the west coast is unless I feel like waking up at 8AM on a Sunday morning (I really don't) I miss the game and don't have a chance to make any final tweaks. Came to bite me in the rear end today. This season has earned good old Bob Feller a trip to the auction house as I believe it is time to shore up a couple of holes in my pitching staff.



Congrats to the Cottons and good luck to you good sir with the Red Raiders the rest of the way. Maybe you can exact revenge on the Radbourns for beating me in 7 games in the finals two weeks ago. He and I go way back to pre-little league playing baseball together so he's my good friend in life yet mortal enemy in PT.


That was a fun (albeit strange) season and I hope to play with you guys again!

[waittilnextyear]

Originally Posted by JasonC23

One final note about the AC, though; Old Hoss's Ted Williams won the Triple Crown with what is one of the most dominant (old-school) batting lines I've ever seen in Perfect...wow:

Good catch! I was so focused on the playoff picture that I failed to notice the monster season. That 100 Ted you mentioned won the triple crown as you mentioned, but also led the conference in runs scored (151), hits (225), SLG (.679), OPS (1.115), and WAR (9.3). Really feasted on the weak central divisions (combined 729-891 despite having a ~120-win team in each).

[waittilnextyear]

How about this for a topsy-turvy 1st game of the DS?

[LeroyJenkins]

Originally Posted by waittilnextyear

Good catch! I was so focused on the playoff picture that I failed to notice the monster season. That 100 Ted you mentioned won the triple crown as you mentioned, but also led the conference in runs scored (151), hits (225), SLG (.679), OPS (1.115), and WAR (9.3). Really feasted on the weak central divisions (combined 729-891 despite having a ~120-win team in each).

Williams had an unbelievable season. My buddy who manages the Radbourns made sure to keep me updated via text message last night on his season (he needed 1 HR in game 162 to reach 50 - got in in his first AB). 5000 PP Achievement for the Triple Crown... not too shabby.

[old timer]

Well, we got killed again by Old Hoss so no Frogs vs Raccoons showdown. Too bad, it could have been fun. So it's up to the two of you now. Make it a Frogs vs Red Raiders WS. Have you two played each other in a WS before?

[waittilnextyear]

Originally Posted by LeroyJenkins

Williams had an unbelievable season. My buddy who manages the Radbourns made sure to keep me updated via text message last night on his season (he needed 1 HR in game 162 to reach 50 - got in in his first AB). 5000 PP Achievement for the Triple Crown... not too shabby.

My team vs your buddy's in the Sub-League Series.

Originally Posted by old timer

Well, we got killed again by Old Hoss so no Frogs vs Raccoons showdown. Too bad, it could have been fun. So it's up to the two of you now. Make it a Frogs vs Red Raiders WS. Have you two played each other in a WS before?

Why yes we have.

I will have to try to avenge you first! Luckily for me the Radbourns are another lefty cheese team and I just dispatched a lefty cheese team in the DS. The Radbourns have better cards though. And I wish I had the home field, but alas...