An Experiment of 3 Teams - Page 16

chazzycat · 07-21-2019, 02:52 PM

Just wrapped up probably the worst week ever for my teams. The SmallBallers certainly had their worst season overall...just a really tough division/conference this time around. Finished well under .500 and below the SaberCats (thanks mostly to pythag luck though...SaberCats had the worse run differential). The only good news really is that both teams avoided relegation.

The Balancers did have a fairly OK week, putting up a +80 run differential in diamond en route to another division title. But they lost again in the first round, as usual. This team just can't catch a playoff break. They do have some PP banked up...about 30k...so maybe the next round of upgrades will put them over the hump and they will finally make it to perfect some time soon.

waittilnextyear · 07-21-2019, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chazzycat

So, the SmallBallers just wrapped up an awesome Cinderella-story season, winning the perfect league world series for the first time. I say Cinderella story because there was truly a ton of luck involved. I wasn't anywhere close to the best team in the league, with a run differential of just +8 on the season. But with lady luck on my side, I won 92 games and cruised to the division title. And then in the playoffs, again I was very fortunate that the megawhale I was seemingly destined to face in the CS was beaten by a more mortal team. In the finals, I was matched up with a crafty all-lefty team and the series went the full distance. I'd like to think it was my tinkering with the rotation and lineups that allowed me to eventually prevail...but who knows, that was probably luck too. Plus I have a lot of lefties myself, so he didn't really have a huge advantage. Anyways, thank the baseball gods, I can rest in peace now.

Congrats! Just seeing this now (that you won 2 weeks ago), but I always like it when teams of our ilk (F2P or NF2P) can squeeze enough juice out of our teams to win using good old fashioned strategy. I also feel like my Frogs and your SmallBallers are pretty much each other's spirit animals. Very similar approach and, I bet, rosters.

Like I always say, sometimes you get the whale. Sometimes the whale gets you.

Charlatan · 07-22-2019, 11:20 AM

My Sabercats team (the Monuments) won their division last season with an 81-81 record. Go figure. They got demolished by a whale in the division series though.

I've started doing random collections with that team because I'm at a loss as to what I should upgrade on that team. I feel like any upgrade I'd want would be 50k or more and that seems out of reach for me. So I fritter away my PP on collections.

I did pull a 97 OVR Blyleven a while ago that I sold; I then purchased a 97(?) Bob Gibson and the 92 OVR Greg Maddux to upgrade my staff. Maddux was replacing his 89 OVR version, and at first I wasn't sure it was a good upgrade but I think in the long run the 92 will do better. Still haven't sold the 89 yet.

I also opened some packs and got two amazing relievers - a 99 OVR Live Giles and the 98 OVR Brian Wilson - neither of which I'm using because they're not groundballers. Would you use those two guys or would you sell them? I can't decide how "pure" to keep my groundballer staff so they've been sitting in reserve for the past two weeks. Would you use them or sell them and get some groundballers?

Oh yeah, I also got a 100 OVR Jimmy Foxx, who batted something like .200 for me last season. I expect he will eventually come around though.

chazzycat · 07-25-2019, 09:42 PM

Having another pretty horrible week. The SmallBallers and SaberCats are both really struggling again...actually both would be relegated if the season ended today. The competition in that league is really tough, and the teams seem to be getting better faster than mine. I'm not sure why the SmallBallers are so bad...I do suspect it has something to do with all the very similar teams and park factors in the league...but whatever I'm doing, it ain't working anymore. I am super lucky to have won a championship, that much seems clear.

At least this gave me a little chuckle when I logged in:

Sometimes things are just a little too balanced.

Argonaut · 07-26-2019, 11:39 AM

That Balancers record is awesome.

Had a look at your rosters the other day. I'm not the Godfather of Perfect by any means, so take what I say with a grain of salt. But one tweak might be your batting order. Noticed Lonny Frey was batting 1st for the 'Cats. He has great defense, but is awful at the plate with no speed and should probably be 8th or 9th in the order to minimize his plate appearances.

Smallballers might be unlucky with BABIP. Worth looking at the order there too, I don't remember it off the top of my head.

chazzycat · 07-26-2019, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Argonaut

Noticed Lonny Frey was batting 1st for the 'Cats. He has great defense, but is awful at the plate with no speed and should probably be 8th or 9th in the order to minimize his plate appearances..

Good observation. The speed I'm not concerned about...this team never steals (don't want to run myself out of a 2 run HR) but Frey isn't exactly tearing it up in terms of OBP either. Honestly the reason he is leading off vs. R is just a lack of better options. All my good OBP players are also HR hitters so it seems weird putting them at leadoff. Maybe it's time to give it a try though...

Argonaut · 07-26-2019, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chazzycat

Good observation. The speed I'm not concerned about...this team never steals (don't want to run myself out of a 2 run HR) but Frey isn't exactly tearing it up in terms of OBP either. Honestly the reason he is leading off vs. R is just a lack of better options. All my good OBP players are also HR hitters so it seems weird putting them at leadoff. Maybe it's time to give it a try though...

Yeah for sure go with someone with higher OBP, even if they have good power too. A leadoff homer is still a run, and you'll even get some PP earned from it as a consolation prize for fewer RBIs. I had Pirates Barry Bonds as leadoff for a while, and he generated quite a bit of extra PP from leadoff homers.

chazzycat · 07-26-2019, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Argonaut

Smallballers might be unlucky with BABIP. Worth looking at the order there too, I don't remember it off the top of my head.

Well I'm definitely way lower in runs scored/batting average rankings than I'm accustomed to. But whether that is a bad luck year, or just the league getting stronger than me, is hard to say. The batting order should be ok I think

chazzycat · 07-26-2019, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Argonaut

Yeah for sure go with someone with higher OBP, even if they have good power too. A leadoff homer is still a run, and you'll even get some PP earned from it as a consolation prize for fewer RBIs. I had Pirates Barry Bonds as leadoff for a while, and he generated quite a bit of extra PP from leadoff homers.

man I had forgot there was an achievement for leadoff HRs. Probably should have changed that a long time ago...anyway you convinced me. I pulled the trigger and moved everyone up vs righties. If I get relegated I'm blaming you though

chazzycat · 07-28-2019, 02:28 PM

Well that was fun while it lasted for the SaberCats - they are getting relegated back down to diamond. Can't say I'm really shocked...they just aren't that good, never winning 80 games in 4 seasons in perfect.

One thing I am proud of is that I have definitely succeeded in building an extreme team. These guys offensively led the league in all three "true outcomes" - HR, strikeouts and walks. Unfortunately the complete lack of any contact ability translated to only the 22nd best offense in the league.

The pitching side was not much better. My homer prevention and walk numbers are still good...but the complete lack of strikeout ability combined with the excellent contact hitters/parks in this league have doomed my staff to just the 24th best at run prevention. Somehow Giancarlo Stanton singlehandledly destroyed my team defense this season...negative 20 runs in LF...I didn't even know that was possible for a pitching staff of 100% groundballers. His previous defensive work was just slightly below average, not anywhere near this brutal, so I'm not sure what happened there.

The cool thing about this team though is occasionally stuff like this happens:

The SmallBallers put together a strong August/September and climbed back up to finish as a roughly-average team again (run differential = -10). So that was nice to see them rebound. For next season I'm gonna try a tweak to my park factors - I noticed my lineup has become almost entirely lefties now, so I'm lowering my AVG factors for righties to see if that helps. Will try this for a week and see how it goes.

The Balancers finished around .500 as well...a disappointment for them in diamond. Their streak of seven straight playoff appearances was ended as well. I did make one high profile acquisition towards the end of the week...grabbed what should be an excellent closer in 96 Doug Jones (85/85/84 ratings). Maybe that will help them get back to the playoffs next season.

Charlatan · 07-30-2019, 10:16 AM

I reached the frustration level with my SaberCats-like team, so I've dismantled them this season and am rebuilding around a different theme. They're still in perfect, though. They made the playoffs a few times in Perfect (a couple of seasons ago they won their division at 81-81 but got stomped by a whale in the playoffs). I think I eventually got frustrated at seeing the team have the same type of season over and over (come in 1st - 4th in HR, have a team BA of .220, have a team OBP of .300) and I decided it would be more fun to try a different thing.

Since this is my "collection" team I buy a lot of packs and never sell any cards except duplicates, so I have a lot to work with. So I might fiddle around with the theme for a few seasons until I find something that really clicks.

chazzycat · 07-30-2019, 05:34 PM

I'm still proud of my SaberCats. Making it to perfect for a few weeks, winning a diamond level championship - these are pretty solid accomplishments for the amount I've spent ($9 / no packs). Especially considering how many times I've read that avoid K is too important and this team will have no chance...

The SmallBallers might be even better, but I don't think that takes away from what the SaberCats have done.

chazzycat · 08-08-2019, 08:02 PM

Speaking of the SaberCats, they are having a blast down in diamond, that's for sure. Last season was unspectacular (whale in division/wild card early exit) but this year's team is looking really strong. They have the best record & run differential in their league, and are #1 in all of the pitching/defense categories, plus homers on offense. I picked up the 89 Maddux last season, and he has been pretty good, but otherwise it's the same cast of characters. Leading the team as usual is Mike Trout, of the lifetime 7 WAR/162. No one else on my team has over 4 WAR/162 (Reese & Frey share that distinction).

chazzycat · 08-10-2019, 01:33 PM

After three weeks of missing the playoffs with the SmallBallers, I finally bit the bullet and opened my wallet to embark on a bit of a re-vamp. There were several cards I had been coveting for a long time, and now I've got them! I went big, throwing down a cool $100 and tried to spend it as judiciously as possible for maximum impact.

Players In:
- SP 98 Warren Spahn (70k)
- SS 91 John Henry Lloyd (50k)
- RF 82 Ichiro (32k)
- SP 100 Max Scherzer (25k)
- RP 100 Kaz Sasaki (collection)

Players Out:
- SS Ozzie Smith
- SP Pedro Martinez
- RP Ryan Pressley
- RP Rafael Soriano
- OF Stan Musial

- SP Johan Santana - moved to bullpen

Once I had Ichiro, the math worked out very favorably for the Mariners collection, so I pretty much got Kaz for nothing. I wasn't interested in the other two reward cards (Cano & Schooler) and sold those cards for almost the complete cost of acquiring both collections (minus Ichiro). I'd recommend anyone who already has Ichiro to take a look at those collections.

Scherzer was pretty much a value play...he seems pretty solid at that price point, and slots into the #3 spot in my rotation. Spahn is my new ace, and pitching like it so far. I was lacking an ace for so long...it's really nice to see an ERA under 3. I wasn't sad at all to see Pedro go - he was truly awful for me. One of my rare complete whiffs...that card never produced positive WAR.

Lloyd is a minor downgrade defensively at SS, but so far is easily making up for that with his bat, hitting over .330 and in 2nd place on my team in WAR. With this acquisition Cronin was relegated to backup duty.

Ichiro is doing Ichiro things, and makes me feel more like a smallball team again. It was tough to part with that Musial card...he had performed really well for me. But my elite defensive outfielders like Maddox and Ashburn always put up more WAR than him at the end of the day. And Ichiro seems to be following in their footsteps.

So far everything has paid off really nicely. I landed in a whale-free division and my team is playing really well this week...I've locked down my division with a 12 game lead. The playoff drought is surely over at least. Once again it would seem (obviously) that...spending money is pretty effective!

chazzycat · 08-10-2019, 01:37 PM

Oh forgot to mention. I also have changed my park factors for the SmallBallers. I realized my lineup had become very lefty-heavy, and so I lowered my AVG factors for RHB down to the minimum. This has seemed to help quite a bit as my pitching numbers are MUCH better, but my offense hasn't suffered much.

chazzycat · 08-10-2019, 01:40 PM

One last update: I think the 91 SE Lenny Dykstra card is criminally underrated.

I was looking at career stats and realized this card is averaging 7 WAR/162 for me, across many seasons in perfect level. That's the same level of production I get from Mike Trout on the SaberCats! I knew that it was a good card, but didn't think it was THAT good.

Looking back, doing that collection was one of my best decisions.

chazzycat · 08-11-2019, 01:38 PM

Made one last change for the SmallBallers heading into the playoffs. I noticed a couple of my middle relievers only threw 20 innings this season...probably as a result of improving my SP, adding a long man to the bullpen, and lowering my park factors. So I decided to drop a pitcher and add another batter, platooning my DH spot. Kiura had been pretty solid one-size-fits-all DH for me (basically no splits) but I found two pretty cheap guys with solid splits to compliment each other: 80 Tony Gwynn (94 contact vs RHP) and 87 Harry Heilmann (92 contact vs LHP). Gwynn is probably a temporary solution while I save up for a bigger impact bat...there are a lot of good options for lefty DH-types, but they are pricey.

They finished the season pretty strong, winning 99 games. Led their league in Zone Rating even with Lloyd at SS...my outfield is just insanely good. Came in 2nd in the league in batting average behind only one mega-whale. On the pitching side my team is really, really good at controlling the strike zone, striking out nearly 4X the number of walked batters. Combined with elite defense, this prevents my HR weakness from taking much toll overall. My team was 4th best in run prevention in the league despite having probably the worst MOV ratings of any team. So much for that "meta..."

Playoffs are going OK so far, up 2-1 in the division series. Spahn dominated game one, and Scherzer & Kaz just combined for a complete game shutout, so that's nice to see the new guys contributing.

The SaberCats finished strong as well, putting up a +150 run differential in diamond while cruising to a division title. Regardless of what happens in the playoffs (currently up 2-1 in the DS) this performance speaks for itself:

So I'm still pretty invested in this team. At some point, I might give them the SmallBallers treatment and inject some $$$.

The Balancers have done nothing the past few weeks...just kind of teetering along as an average diamond team. I am definitely losing interest in that team at this point...it just seems too difficult to gain any consistent edge with the neutral park factors & strategies. Kinda over it. They served their role though as the control group.

chazzycat · 08-11-2019, 03:38 PM

Welp, the SmallBallers lost two in a row to get eliminated. Come to think of it, I probably still have a lot of bad playoff luck coming to me to balance out that championship...

Dennis Eckersley, the stopper who hadn't lost a game all season (10-0) blew the first game. Warren Spahn was shelled for 6 runs in the second game, his worst start since I acquired him. So that was fun.

The SaberCats almost suffered the same fate, finding themselves quickly down 0-5 in their own deciding game 5. But they pulled off the comeback, eventually winning 6-5 in extra innings. And they did it unlikely fashion, stringing together singles & doubles. Not exactly their style, but hey I'll take it.

It looks like 4 teams are getting promoted to perfect on Monday, so the SaberCats will be headed back up. I guess they could be bouncing back & forth like this for a while. Hopefully I can make this playoff run count, because I might not be back for a while.

Next round, I'm up against a team with a more Smallballers type build. They've got the home field advantage, plus Maddux is tired, so I don't like my odds that much. We'll see though. I do like my odds to hit a lot of dingers in this series at least (their staff has pretty low MOV ratings).

chazzycat · 08-11-2019, 08:41 PM

The SaberCats are back in the world series! They powered their way through the LCS, hitting 12 homers in 7 games. Mark McGwire bombed four himself to take home the MVP trophy.

The team I'm matched up with in the world series is pretty strong, top seed in their conference, but beatable. Not a whale or anything at least. It's actually a pretty interesting matchup...their pitching staff prioritizes stuff, so they probably get a ton of strikeouts but also give up a lot of homers and walks. There should be a ton of three-true-outcomes happening when my team is at the plate.

chazzycat · 08-12-2019, 11:39 AM

Well, the world series didn't quite pan out the same way, to say the least. My hitters mostly just struck out, en route to a pretty ugly loss via 4 game sweep. Didn't even hit a single homer until the last game of the series. You live by the homer, you die by it, I suppose. The SaberCats also ended up in a division with 2 full whales this season, so I'm not liking my chances whatsoever. Started the season out 2-0 and that's probably gonna be the high point.

The SmallBallers did land in a whale-free division, so I'll be curious to see if they can repeat last season's strong performance, or if that was just a lucky BABIP year. With so much of my success dependent on contact skills, it's hard to tell sometimes. If I had to guess I'd say it wasn't mostly luck though. Carew had the worst year of his career for me (negative WAR for the first time ever), and he's a pretty key contributor. John Henry Lloyd did have an outstanding debut, winning the batting title with a .333 average. But he has really amazing contact skills...line drive hitter plus spray groundballer is the best combination IMO. So I don't think it's that unbelievable. We'll see though I guess.

But when I watch this team's replays it really does feel like smallball again. I seem to score a lot of runs from my good baserunners always taking the extra base, because runners keep advancing on grounders/flyballs (no one strikes out), plus of course the constant barrage of singles & doubles. Now with Ichiro there's even the occasional stolen base. In comparison, I rarely watch the SaberCats replays, because three true outcomes aren't nearly as fun to watch.

07-26-2019, 11:39 AM	#305
Argonaut All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2019 Posts: 1,085	That Balancers record is awesome. Had a look at your rosters the other day. I'm not the Godfather of Perfect by any means, so take what I say with a grain of salt. But one tweak might be your batting order. Noticed Lonny Frey was batting 1st for the 'Cats. He has great defense, but is awful at the plate with no speed and should probably be 8th or 9th in the order to minimize his plate appearances. Smallballers might be unlucky with BABIP. Worth looking at the order there too, I don't remember it off the top of my head. __________________ Texas Rangers Dynasty (Est. 1972) Hartford Whalers Dynasty: Brass Bonanza

08-08-2019, 08:02 PM	#313
chazzycat All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 1,685	Speaking of the SaberCats, they are having a blast down in diamond, that's for sure. Last season was unspectacular (whale in division/wild card early exit) but this year's team is looking really strong. They have the best record & run differential in their league, and are #1 in all of the pitching/defense categories, plus homers on offense. I picked up the 89 Maddux last season, and he has been pretty good, but otherwise it's the same cast of characters. Leading the team as usual is Mike Trout, of the lifetime 7 WAR/162. No one else on my team has over 4 WAR/162 (Reese & Frey share that distinction). Last edited by chazzycat; 08-08-2019 at 08:05 PM.

08-10-2019, 01:33 PM	#314
chazzycat All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 1,685	After three weeks of missing the playoffs with the SmallBallers, I finally bit the bullet and opened my wallet to embark on a bit of a re-vamp. There were several cards I had been coveting for a long time, and now I've got them! I went big, throwing down a cool $100 and tried to spend it as judiciously as possible for maximum impact. Players In: - SP 98 Warren Spahn (70k) - SS 91 John Henry Lloyd (50k) - RF 82 Ichiro (32k) - SP 100 Max Scherzer (25k) - RP 100 Kaz Sasaki (collection) Players Out: - SS Ozzie Smith - SP Pedro Martinez - RP Ryan Pressley - RP Rafael Soriano - OF Stan Musial - SP Johan Santana - moved to bullpen Once I had Ichiro, the math worked out very favorably for the Mariners collection, so I pretty much got Kaz for nothing. I wasn't interested in the other two reward cards (Cano & Schooler) and sold those cards for almost the complete cost of acquiring both collections (minus Ichiro). I'd recommend anyone who already has Ichiro to take a look at those collections. Scherzer was pretty much a value play...he seems pretty solid at that price point, and slots into the #3 spot in my rotation. Spahn is my new ace, and pitching like it so far. I was lacking an ace for so long...it's really nice to see an ERA under 3. I wasn't sad at all to see Pedro go - he was truly awful for me. One of my rare complete whiffs...that card never produced positive WAR. Lloyd is a minor downgrade defensively at SS, but so far is easily making up for that with his bat, hitting over .330 and in 2nd place on my team in WAR. With this acquisition Cronin was relegated to backup duty. Ichiro is doing Ichiro things, and makes me feel more like a smallball team again. It was tough to part with that Musial card...he had performed really well for me. But my elite defensive outfielders like Maddox and Ashburn always put up more WAR than him at the end of the day. And Ichiro seems to be following in their footsteps. So far everything has paid off really nicely. I landed in a whale-free division and my team is playing really well this week...I've locked down my division with a 12 game lead. The playoff drought is surely over at least. Once again it would seem (obviously) that...spending money is pretty effective! Last edited by chazzycat; 08-10-2019 at 01:46 PM.

08-10-2019, 01:40 PM	#316
chazzycat All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 1,685	One last update: I think the 91 SE Lenny Dykstra card is criminally underrated. I was looking at career stats and realized this card is averaging 7 WAR/162 for me, across many seasons in perfect level. That's the same level of production I get from Mike Trout on the SaberCats! I knew that it was a good card, but didn't think it was THAT good. Looking back, doing that collection was one of my best decisions. Last edited by chazzycat; 08-10-2019 at 01:46 PM.

07-21-2019, 02:52 PM	#301
chazzycat All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 1,685	Just wrapped up probably the worst week ever for my teams. The SmallBallers certainly had their worst season overall...just a really tough division/conference this time around. Finished well under .500 and below the SaberCats (thanks mostly to pythag luck though...SaberCats had the worse run differential). The only good news really is that both teams avoided relegation. The Balancers did have a fairly OK week, putting up a +80 run differential in diamond en route to another division title. But they lost again in the first round, as usual. This team just can't catch a playoff break. They do have some PP banked up...about 30k...so maybe the next round of upgrades will put them over the hump and they will finally make it to perfect some time soon.

07-22-2019, 11:20 AM	#303
Charlatan All Star Starter Join Date: May 2006 Location: Leesburg, VA Posts: 1,491	My Sabercats team (the Monuments) won their division last season with an 81-81 record. Go figure. They got demolished by a whale in the division series though. I've started doing random collections with that team because I'm at a loss as to what I should upgrade on that team. I feel like any upgrade I'd want would be 50k or more and that seems out of reach for me. So I fritter away my PP on collections. I did pull a 97 OVR Blyleven a while ago that I sold; I then purchased a 97(?) Bob Gibson and the 92 OVR Greg Maddux to upgrade my staff. Maddux was replacing his 89 OVR version, and at first I wasn't sure it was a good upgrade but I think in the long run the 92 will do better. Still haven't sold the 89 yet. I also opened some packs and got two amazing relievers - a 99 OVR Live Giles and the 98 OVR Brian Wilson - neither of which I'm using because they're not groundballers. Would you use those two guys or would you sell them? I can't decide how "pure" to keep my groundballer staff so they've been sitting in reserve for the past two weeks. Would you use them or sell them and get some groundballers? Oh yeah, I also got a 100 OVR Jimmy Foxx, who batted something like .200 for me last season. I expect he will eventually come around though.

07-25-2019, 09:42 PM	#304
chazzycat All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 1,685	Having another pretty horrible week. The SmallBallers and SaberCats are both really struggling again...actually both would be relegated if the season ended today. The competition in that league is really tough, and the teams seem to be getting better faster than mine. I'm not sure why the SmallBallers are so bad...I do suspect it has something to do with all the very similar teams and park factors in the league...but whatever I'm doing, it ain't working anymore. I am super lucky to have won a championship, that much seems clear. At least this gave me a little chuckle when I logged in: Sometimes things are just a little too balanced.

07-28-2019, 02:28 PM	#310
chazzycat All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 1,685	Well that was fun while it lasted for the SaberCats - they are getting relegated back down to diamond. Can't say I'm really shocked...they just aren't that good, never winning 80 games in 4 seasons in perfect. One thing I am proud of is that I have definitely succeeded in building an extreme team. These guys offensively led the league in all three "true outcomes" - HR, strikeouts and walks. Unfortunately the complete lack of any contact ability translated to only the 22nd best offense in the league. The pitching side was not much better. My homer prevention and walk numbers are still good...but the complete lack of strikeout ability combined with the excellent contact hitters/parks in this league have doomed my staff to just the 24th best at run prevention. Somehow Giancarlo Stanton singlehandledly destroyed my team defense this season...negative 20 runs in LF...I didn't even know that was possible for a pitching staff of 100% groundballers. His previous defensive work was just slightly below average, not anywhere near this brutal, so I'm not sure what happened there. The cool thing about this team though is occasionally stuff like this happens: The SmallBallers put together a strong August/September and climbed back up to finish as a roughly-average team again (run differential = -10). So that was nice to see them rebound. For next season I'm gonna try a tweak to my park factors - I noticed my lineup has become almost entirely lefties now, so I'm lowering my AVG factors for righties to see if that helps. Will try this for a week and see how it goes. The Balancers finished around .500 as well...a disappointment for them in diamond. Their streak of seven straight playoff appearances was ended as well. I did make one high profile acquisition towards the end of the week...grabbed what should be an excellent closer in 96 Doug Jones (85/85/84 ratings). Maybe that will help them get back to the playoffs next season.

07-30-2019, 10:16 AM	#311
Charlatan All Star Starter Join Date: May 2006 Location: Leesburg, VA Posts: 1,491	I reached the frustration level with my SaberCats-like team, so I've dismantled them this season and am rebuilding around a different theme. They're still in perfect, though. They made the playoffs a few times in Perfect (a couple of seasons ago they won their division at 81-81 but got stomped by a whale in the playoffs). I think I eventually got frustrated at seeing the team have the same type of season over and over (come in 1st - 4th in HR, have a team BA of .220, have a team OBP of .300) and I decided it would be more fun to try a different thing. Since this is my "collection" team I buy a lot of packs and never sell any cards except duplicates, so I have a lot to work with. So I might fiddle around with the theme for a few seasons until I find something that really clicks.

07-30-2019, 05:34 PM	#312
chazzycat All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 1,685	I'm still proud of my SaberCats. Making it to perfect for a few weeks, winning a diamond level championship - these are pretty solid accomplishments for the amount I've spent ($9 / no packs). Especially considering how many times I've read that avoid K is too important and this team will have no chance... The SmallBallers might be even better, but I don't think that takes away from what the SaberCats have done.

08-10-2019, 01:37 PM	#315
chazzycat All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 1,685	Oh forgot to mention. I also have changed my park factors for the SmallBallers. I realized my lineup had become very lefty-heavy, and so I lowered my AVG factors for RHB down to the minimum. This has seemed to help quite a bit as my pitching numbers are MUCH better, but my offense hasn't suffered much.

08-11-2019, 01:38 PM	#317
chazzycat All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 1,685	Made one last change for the SmallBallers heading into the playoffs. I noticed a couple of my middle relievers only threw 20 innings this season...probably as a result of improving my SP, adding a long man to the bullpen, and lowering my park factors. So I decided to drop a pitcher and add another batter, platooning my DH spot. Kiura had been pretty solid one-size-fits-all DH for me (basically no splits) but I found two pretty cheap guys with solid splits to compliment each other: 80 Tony Gwynn (94 contact vs RHP) and 87 Harry Heilmann (92 contact vs LHP). Gwynn is probably a temporary solution while I save up for a bigger impact bat...there are a lot of good options for lefty DH-types, but they are pricey. They finished the season pretty strong, winning 99 games. Led their league in Zone Rating even with Lloyd at SS...my outfield is just insanely good. Came in 2nd in the league in batting average behind only one mega-whale. On the pitching side my team is really, really good at controlling the strike zone, striking out nearly 4X the number of walked batters. Combined with elite defense, this prevents my HR weakness from taking much toll overall. My team was 4th best in run prevention in the league despite having probably the worst MOV ratings of any team. So much for that "meta..." Playoffs are going OK so far, up 2-1 in the division series. Spahn dominated game one, and Scherzer & Kaz just combined for a complete game shutout, so that's nice to see the new guys contributing. The SaberCats finished strong as well, putting up a +150 run differential in diamond while cruising to a division title. Regardless of what happens in the playoffs (currently up 2-1 in the DS) this performance speaks for itself: So I'm still pretty invested in this team. At some point, I might give them the SmallBallers treatment and inject some $$$. The Balancers have done nothing the past few weeks...just kind of teetering along as an average diamond team. I am definitely losing interest in that team at this point...it just seems too difficult to gain any consistent edge with the neutral park factors & strategies. Kinda over it. They served their role though as the control group.

08-11-2019, 03:38 PM	#318
chazzycat All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 1,685	Welp, the SmallBallers lost two in a row to get eliminated. Come to think of it, I probably still have a lot of bad playoff luck coming to me to balance out that championship... Dennis Eckersley, the stopper who hadn't lost a game all season (10-0) blew the first game. Warren Spahn was shelled for 6 runs in the second game, his worst start since I acquired him. So that was fun. The SaberCats almost suffered the same fate, finding themselves quickly down 0-5 in their own deciding game 5. But they pulled off the comeback, eventually winning 6-5 in extra innings. And they did it unlikely fashion, stringing together singles & doubles. Not exactly their style, but hey I'll take it. It looks like 4 teams are getting promoted to perfect on Monday, so the SaberCats will be headed back up. I guess they could be bouncing back & forth like this for a while. Hopefully I can make this playoff run count, because I might not be back for a while. Next round, I'm up against a team with a more Smallballers type build. They've got the home field advantage, plus Maddux is tired, so I don't like my odds that much. We'll see though. I do like my odds to hit a lot of dingers in this series at least (their staff has pretty low MOV ratings).

08-11-2019, 08:41 PM	#319
chazzycat All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 1,685	The SaberCats are back in the world series! They powered their way through the LCS, hitting 12 homers in 7 games. Mark McGwire bombed four himself to take home the MVP trophy. The team I'm matched up with in the world series is pretty strong, top seed in their conference, but beatable. Not a whale or anything at least. It's actually a pretty interesting matchup...their pitching staff prioritizes stuff, so they probably get a ton of strikeouts but also give up a lot of homers and walks. There should be a ton of three-true-outcomes happening when my team is at the plate.

08-12-2019, 11:39 AM	#320
chazzycat All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 1,685	Well, the world series didn't quite pan out the same way, to say the least. My hitters mostly just struck out, en route to a pretty ugly loss via 4 game sweep. Didn't even hit a single homer until the last game of the series. You live by the homer, you die by it, I suppose. The SaberCats also ended up in a division with 2 full whales this season, so I'm not liking my chances whatsoever. Started the season out 2-0 and that's probably gonna be the high point. The SmallBallers did land in a whale-free division, so I'll be curious to see if they can repeat last season's strong performance, or if that was just a lucky BABIP year. With so much of my success dependent on contact skills, it's hard to tell sometimes. If I had to guess I'd say it wasn't mostly luck though. Carew had the worst year of his career for me (negative WAR for the first time ever), and he's a pretty key contributor. John Henry Lloyd did have an outstanding debut, winning the batting title with a .333 average. But he has really amazing contact skills...line drive hitter plus spray groundballer is the best combination IMO. So I don't think it's that unbelievable. We'll see though I guess. But when I watch this team's replays it really does feel like smallball again. I seem to score a lot of runs from my good baserunners always taking the extra base, because runners keep advancing on grounders/flyballs (no one strikes out), plus of course the constant barrage of singles & doubles. Now with Ichiro there's even the occasional stolen base. In comparison, I rarely watch the SaberCats replays, because three true outcomes aren't nearly as fun to watch.