PT Season 24 - Jack Bauer time! (2042)

[One Great Matrix]

The Thundercats knocked off the Singapore Sluggers earlier today, 7-4 anyway.

This race for the wild card spot (of which the winner gets to face these boundless Singapore Sluggers, lol)...I'll try to beat them if I win it....This race is crazy. Me & the Morrisville Bombers have been mirroring each other for a good month-and-a-half & with 2 games left we are tied for that WC with 97-63 records.

...make that a 98-63 tie.
...and a 99-63 tie. Perhaps because I won 10 out of 19 from them on the season, it looks like a home game. 5-game series against the Singapore Sluggers at stake.

Even the WC game went to extra innings. Roy Campanella finally broke the tie with a 2-run HR in the bottom of the 11th.

[dancariaz]

My team finished with the worst record in my league, so yeah. I knew my team would have a hard time in Diamond but damn, we were worse than I expected. Back to Gold where we belong.

[pappyzan]

Originally Posted by Orcin

P418 AC Central is coming down to the final three games. My magic number is 2. I play a tougher opponent, and Washington just added Vida Blue to their bullpen for the playoffs, so this is not over yet.

A great run to the finish, but the Cheaters finished 2 games out. Congrats on winning the division Mighty Orcins.

Yeh, I've been trying to sell Vida Blue for a couple days now unsuccessfully after completing the collection; so figured I'd keep it instead and use it for a day or two. FINALLY sold Mays 100 after at least a week, and it took 2-3 weeks to sell 97 Frank Baker. Had to discount them both to finally give in and move them. AH has been slow to sell at slightly higher prices, but it's still plenty active when the price point is right.

[old timer]

Nice way to finish the season for the Raccoons! We won 46 of our last 56 games, including that 16 game winning streak to finish the year. We also gave up less than 500 R (499 RA) for only the 2nd time ever.

I also added 100 Willie Mays right before the season ended and got a nice surprise... He's fully trained at all 3 OF positions which is perfect, because I intend to use him at all 3. I had to sell a few players to be able to afford him and was lucky that he was listed at the perfect price right before the playoffs.

In the NC, I'm rooting for Jonestown to take the WC since it will be fun to watch them play Bludhaven. Hopefully, we'll make it to the WS and play one of them since it's more fun to take on the best (Bludhaven's RDiff is about 200 more than ours so it might not go well for us).

Good luck to everyone in the playoffs!

[JasonC23]

Originally Posted by One Great Matrix

Me & the Morrisville Bombers have been mirroring each other for a good month-and-a-half & with 2 games left we are tied for that WC with 97-63 records.

...make that a 98-63 tie.
...and a 99-63 tie. Perhaps because I won 10 out of 19 from them on the season, it looks like a home game. 5-game series against the Singapore Sluggers at stake.

As One Great Matrix mentioned, his New York Flyers put together a torrid September/October (22-6!) to claim the top AC Wild Card spot, where they will face the Morrisville Bombers for the right to face the 126-win, +513 run differential, 6-time Perfect League champion Singapore Sluggers. Good luck to the Flyers! (That reads as sarcastic, but it isn't...I'm rooting for you to take those Sluggers down, OGM!) The other Division Round matchup is the much-anticipated showdown between the 121-41 Carolina Dirtbags and the 113-49, 4-time Perfect League champion San Antonio Cotton Rats. Should be a lot of fun!

In the NC, Huntley cruised to the top seed with a 120-42 record, despite having its worst month of the year in September (ominous bells toll in the distance...). Ken Griffey Jr and Christian Yelich shared the NC home run crown with 36 dingers apiece and finished second and third with 6.1 and 6.0 WAR, respectively. Despite losing his last 2 starts even while throwing a combined 15 innings and only giving up 4 runs (ominous bells...), Big Ed Walsh paced the league with a 2.04 ERA and 9.2 WAR and will start game 1 of the Division Series against either the Chico Heat (97-65) or the Towers of the Dub (95-67). The other Division Series matchup will feature two 98-64 teams, 1-time Perfect League champion Polonia Bytom and the Winterfell Direwolves.

Good luck to everyone in the P437 playoffs!

[steamrollers]

Originally Posted by Snider&Hodges

What's your team initials?

I'm going 4-man in the playoffs so I'm throwing Harder in the pen and will take some time to reevaluate. He started two more games since my last post and is still getting whacked. I'll see if anything improves during the first part of next season before I pull any trigger but yeah, I don't know either. Maybe it's just the 57 Stuff that's getting him killed.

I think it is PAC but would have to log in to be sure which team it was. I am continually looking for guys to fill my 4 and 5 spots in the rotation with that team. About to head to the silver playoffs for I believe the 5th time in 6 seasons where I promptly choke all the time. If that group heads to gold we are probably middle of the pack at best but shouldn’t be bad enough to be relegated. That team is an FTP team that is almost all AH so it’s just small improvements. My best move of the season was taking my only top bullpen arm in Felipe Vazquez who was wildly inconsistent and making him a specialist with secondary middle relief. Hasn’t given up a run in 3.5 months and despite not using him as much the bullpen and team took off with that move.

[Marleigh]

After the packopalypse the Bad News Bulldogs managed to put up an ok month at 11-13 which saw them to a 69-93 record, which isn't bad for a 1st season in Perfect with no pitching. In roughly half a season Larkin had 2.4 WAR and 125 OPS+ while training to an 80 rated 2B.

Neuman Furshlugginers won their divsion with a 89-73 record thanks to the number 1 defence and pitching staff in the league. Left field seems cursed whoever plays there can't hit. Greg Jefferies was the star with a 24/30 season. 93 rated Lou Brock from the Bronx Bombers, is an absolute certainty to be MVP imo 940 OPS, 72 steals, led the league in RBI. Wilbur Wood and Bob Friend led our rotation with 15 wins. We are going into the playoffs as underdogs, even the wildcard teams have better records than us, we got lucky with out division it seems.

Paragon City Heroes won their division in their first Diamond League season with a 91-71 record, but stumbled into the playoffs with a 12-15 final month. Maddux was the staff ace (18-10 3.24ERA) Tony Gwynn and Kirby Puckett had very similar seasons but Gwynn playing every game at DH meant he could stack up 116RBI and 204 hits, both 2nd in the league

[Magus978]

Time for the recap...

New York Patriots (G350, OL): 92-70, NC East Champions. We were the only team to finish above 90 wins in an extremely competitive league, which is bad news for me because we are not going to be heavy favorites in the divisional round. RNGjesus may be conspiring against me for yet another divisional round loss, but we'll have to wait until Sunday to see. Willie Keeler (.334, 17 HR, 86 RBI) ran away with his 3rd straight batting title, but I'm not sure if he'll win his 3rd straight league MVP award.

Brooklyn Dynasty (P406, Whale Hell): 78-84, 3rd in NC Central. The idea that we would have success every even numbered year while stinking it up on every odd numbered year has been blown out of the water here, as a putrid stretch from June to the end of the season resulted in the Dynasty falling out of playoff contention. The lone bright spot for the season was Jeff McNeil proving that he is the real deal by stealing a batting title from the megawhales.

Connor Joe Appreciation Society (S291, Meme): 94-68, NC West Champions. The Society make their first playoff appearance in spite of mascot Connor Joe (.190, 5 HR, 59 RBI) being nothing more than a mascot. I should get all of the points for getting to the playoffs with just 8 proper position players!

Blitzkrieg Boppers (P407, OL): 64-98, Relegated to Diamond. The Boppers could not overcome their atrocious first half, despite several lucky pulls. Their failure to be competitive in the NFTP/OL Hybrid League has sparked a desire to leave OL for a few weeks to rebuild their confidence. Despite this disappointment, Vada Pinson (.266, 27 HR, 114 RBI) managed another 20/100 season, his 6th overall.

Northeast Corridor Capitals (S313, OL): 74-88, last in AC West. This is looking like a theme that is going nowhere unless there are some lucky pulls. Having failed to complete the team properly, fillers were used all season. The team was a complete mess and it was a complete waste of my time. They will most likely continue to sputter until I either decide to abandon the theme, or until they are relegated to bronze where they belong.

Metuchen Mariners (D397, Pack Only): 76-86, last in AC East. The Mariners are yet to record a winning season at this level, and despite good pulls recently, are still way out of their depth and will probably continue to be in way over their head.

Raleigh Rage (S262): 89-73, AC West Champions. As the #3 seed, they'll face the Fredericksburg Sharks (91-71). Garry Maddox (.304, 6 HR, 83 RBI) ended up with a conference-leading 6.2 WAR.

St. John's Steelheads (I187, Pack Only): 103-60, 2nd in NC Central. Losing out on the division title in a playoff, the Steelheads will have to win promotion the hard way. This is their 8th season in Iron, and I'm wondering if this is gonna be another week of disappointment.

Steelport Saints (S313, OL): 71-91, last in NC West. The departed Lefty Grove (16-8, 2.60), may leave the Saints one final present by winning a Pitcher of the Year award. His replacement, the venerable Sandy Koufax (3-0, 2.45), made a fine start with the Saints and will look to build on it next week. A pack cluster<beep> has resulted in a lot of changes to the pitching staff, with only Bert Blyleven (2-7, 5.40) & Paul Splittorff (14-12, 3.94) remaining.

[Westheim]

Raccoons came 71-91, their usual blargh result. They had a 5,330 PP game though in a 21-0 shutout in late September. I can't wait to turn that into six Dawel Lugos and endless regrets.

Rebels 79-83. Carlos Carrasco pitched to an ERA over six. Thankfully I just drew a 1988 Orel Hershiser. Now all will be well. (It won't.)

The 97-65 Accountants were up 2 1/2 on the St. Louis Smackers when I went to bed. To my endless surprise, they held on and won the division by four. Oh well, then they will probably exit the LDS in three. 2006 Johan Santana (19-8, 3.03 ERA) won the ERA title for the team.

Actually, this is the second year in a row the Accountants have the best record in the entire league, so they will DEFINITELY exit in the first round.

[waittilnextyear]

The Frogs lost 4 of their final 5 games, but still finished 108-54 while barely edging out the Mordor Mayhem by 1 game for the #2 AC playoff seed in P418. It marks the 3rd consecutive division title, 5th consecutive playoff berth, and 3rd consecutive season of 100+ wins for the Frogs.

Home field advantage in the DS could be a pretty big help for the Frogs because Mordor is 1st in the conference in HR and the Frogs are 13th--La Crosse's ballpark "The Lily Pad" has .900 HR factors. Mordor's ballpark (I'm guessing it's called Mount Doom) has 1.100 HR factors. Mordor is 7th in AVG and the Frogs are 2nd, once again jiving with my 1.075 ballpark factors there. All signs point to a really evenly matched series, so one team will probably get swept!

Noticing that Mordor was 3rd in strikeouts, the Frogs also made a few subs to get some added Avoid K into the lineup. SE Goose Goslin, PEAK Tim Raines, and 77 Tony Gwynn are back on the active roster as PEAK Chipper Jones, LIVE Mike Trout, and Koji Uehara are deactivated. The Frogs are also going to try out PEAK Satchel Paige in the closer role due to his 80 MOV > 89 Eck's 54 MOV, considering the thumping opponent ahead.

[One Great Matrix]

Originally Posted by waittilnextyear

The Frogs lost 4 of their final 5 games, but still finished 108-54 while barely edging out the Mordor Mayhem by 1 game for the #2 AC playoff seed in P418. It marks the 3rd consecutive division title, 5th consecutive playoff berth, and 3rd consecutive season of 100+ wins for the Frogs.

Home field advantage in the DS could be a pretty big help for the Frogs because Mordor is 1st in the conference in HR and the Frogs are 13th--La Crosse's ballpark "The Lily Pad" has .900 HR factors. Mordor's ballpark (I'm guessing it's called Mount Doom) has 1.100 HR factors. Mordor is 7th in AVG and the Frogs are 2nd, once again jiving with my 1.075 ballpark factors there. All signs point to a really evenly matched series, so one team will probably get swept!

Noticing that Mordor was 3rd in strikeouts, the Frogs also made a few subs to get some added Avoid K into the lineup. SE Goose Goslin, PEAK Tim Raines, and 77 Tony Gwynn are back on the active roster as PEAK Chipper Jones, LIVE Mike Trout, and Koji Uehara are deactivated. The Frogs are also going to try out PEAK Satchel Paige in the closer role due to his 80 MOV > 89 Eck's 54 MOV, considering the thumping opponent ahead.

All I know is I'm rooting against those Lyin' Cheatin' Senators.

[BigRed75]

End-of-Season wrap-up:

Cincinnati Redlegs (OL) - P407: I fully expected to be sitting here writing about how this team, as presently constructed, is unable to compete in Perfect. And you know what? It still is. But a 14-12 record in September secured our spot in Perfect for a 3rd straight season in 2043. Yes, a 14-12 record isn't great. But when you started the month playing .412 ball, sometimes going .538 is all you need.

South Side Lumber Company (White Sox) - S275: We started the season needing two more pitchers to close out the White Sox collections. And that's how we finished the season. Both players came up, but I simply refuse to pay 2x the 7-day average for them. And a pox on both the houses of the people who did meet those opening asking prices.

Amarillo Gold Sox (OL) - S313: To look at the bright spots of this 77-85 season, we need to look at the hitters. Martin Dihigo slashed .276/.343/.428 in 151 games despite not being an official starter; he played at least 10 games at six different positions and was one homer and one SB away from a 20-20 season. Next season, the Gold Sox will re-brand; the plan was always to rotate around different old-time minor-league nicknames.

Rottnest Island Quokkas (FTP) - G338: The Quokks didn't quite make the playoffs, finishing 2 games out in their division. One bright spot was Darren Daulton; installed in the starting lineup out of desperation due to Bill Freehan's (.176) and Keibert Ruiz's (.194) complete inability to hit, Dutch ended up not just making the All-Star team, but winning the MVP trophy. Pack luck smiled on the Quokks with the addition of 89 Pat Corbin, 81 Yulieski Gurriel, and 93 Felipe Vazquez. Unfortunately, the team has six third baseman, and none of them can hit. The search continues...

Everett Aquasox (Mariners) - B241: The September acquistion of Diamonds J.J. Putz (92) and Robinson Cano (90) for the stretch run - did absolutely nothing. We were 3 GB when we got them, and we finished 3 GB. At 93-69, we are off to the wild card against a 102-60 team. Pray for us. At least Ichiro won the batting title for the third straight season.

Charlotte Monarchs (Pack only) - S266: Preseason goals - don't get relegated, earn at least 6,000 PP this time. On September 1, we were sitting on 5,357 PP. We then earned a whopping 160 points in September. Oh, and we managed, somehow, not to be the one of the three teams at 67-95 to be relegated. And we needed to go on a 6-game winning streak at the end of the season just to get ourselves into that three-way tie. Solid season all around!

Baltimore Orioles (Orioles/Browns/IL Orioles) - G322: After securing the service of one G.H. Ruth to serve as No. 2 starter and part-time DH, the Orioles missed out on a playoff spot by 3 games. Not a bad effort for the first season in Gold. With 20K to play with, we'll be on the hunt for another front-line pitcher who wore a Baltimore uniform on some level at some point in his career. George Sisler had a 20-20 season.

Clinton Lumber Kings (Points) - B263: So our plan to adjust the sliders to get Kirk Gibson a 30/30 season was foiled by Gibson's plan to forget how to hit. He did manage to get on base enough to swipe 41 bags, and a late flourish got him just over the line with exactly 20 dingers, so we'll keep it as it is for next season. The team went 79-83, and earned 8K before awards are handed out. Rod Carew, now with #29 on his back again, had a 34-game hitting streak and won the batting title. Next season, the team name will be changed to the Nashville Game Theories.

Thetford Mines Mineurs (Canada) - B209: The Mineurs are the "little brother" to their expansion twin the Aquasox, but ultimately I feel their remit (Canada) gives them the opportunity to acheive greater things than the Froggies. Ultimately, they fell just one game short of the playoffs this season, but at 90-72 they have nothing to be ashamed of.

[Cheesehead1964]

My Homestead Barnstormers won 90 games in Perfect League and earned a wildcard birth. My best performance in Perfect League by far and only my third Perfect League playoff appearance. George Sisler SE won the batting title and the RBI title - a card I earned in a collection mission and really wanted.

My SenaTwins earned a wildcard in Diamond, and my Bees finished just under .500 in Perfect League, so not a bad season all around.

[Westheim]

I finally got rid of the double Arenado and a few spare golds and with everything else ended up with 36,412 PP – so in another pathetic, stupid move I ultimately tore another 39 packs (38 standard and my first ever diamond pack).

Below is the loot, as usual only sub-gold lives and historical bronzes, except where they gave me something else, and cards with * are unhappy duplicates.

(41) – C Harry Chiti – 1962 Unsung Hero

(70) – LF Rickey Henderson – 1982 Record Breaker – completes “The Fastest!”
(70) – 1B Kent Hrbek – 1982 All Star *
(74) – SP Dean Chance – 1962 Rookie Sensation *
(75) – SP Bartolo Colon – 2005 Hardware Heroes
(75) – SP Mel Stottlemyre – 1965 All Star
(77) – C Harry Danning – 1939 All Star

(80) – SP Madison Bumgarner – Live *
(80) – SS Amed Rosario – Live *
(80) – SS Amed Rosario – Live *
(81) – RP Nick Anderson – Live
(81) – SP Jameson Taillon – Live
(82) – SS Bobby Grich – 1972 Rookie Sensation
(82) – CF Aaron Hicks – Live
(84) – SS Bo Bichette – Live *
(86) – SP Chris Paddack – Future Legend
(89) – 3B Fernando Tatis jr. – Future Legend

(97) – 3B Edgar Martinez – PEAK – from Diamond Pack for “The Fastest!”

Oh, wow, not one but two editions of A Met Evoking Disappointment. Well played, OOTP, well played. Much funny. Very laughter.

Fail.

As usual.

[X3NEIZE]

P429 Regular Season ended up pretty much as predicted with Shockers and Bombers leading the way in their corresponding leagues and the other teams following closely

I think both the Bombers and the Shockers will have a very very tough first round...

[JasonC23]

Originally Posted by X3NEIZE

P429 Regular Season ended up pretty much as predicted with Shockers and Bombers leading the way in their corresponding leagues and the other teams following closely

I think both the Bombers and the Shockers will have a very very tough first round...

Wow, that is one heck of a league.

[JasonC23]

Originally Posted by JasonC23

...Big Ed Walsh...will start game 1 of the Division Series against either the Chico Heat (97-65) or the Towers of the Dub (95-67).

And it will be Towers of the Dub vs Huntley in the Division Series. Not feeling good about this matchup...but let's see how it plays out!

[steamrollers]

Originally Posted by Westheim

I finally got rid of the double Arenado and a few spare golds and with everything else ended up with 36,412 PP – so in another pathetic, stupid move I ultimately tore another 39 packs (38 standard and my first ever diamond pack).

Below is the loot, as usual only sub-gold lives and historical bronzes, except where they gave me something else, and cards with * are unhappy duplicates.

(41) – C Harry Chiti – 1962 Unsung Hero

(70) – LF Rickey Henderson – 1982 Record Breaker – completes “The Fastest!”
(70) – 1B Kent Hrbek – 1982 All Star *
(74) – SP Dean Chance – 1962 Rookie Sensation *
(75) – SP Bartolo Colon – 2005 Hardware Heroes
(75) – SP Mel Stottlemyre – 1965 All Star
(77) – C Harry Danning – 1939 All Star

(80) – SP Madison Bumgarner – Live *
(80) – SS Amed Rosario – Live *
(80) – SS Amed Rosario – Live *
(81) – RP Nick Anderson – Live
(81) – SP Jameson Taillon – Live
(82) – SS Bobby Grich – 1972 Rookie Sensation
(82) – CF Aaron Hicks – Live
(84) – SS Bo Bichette – Live *
(86) – SP Chris Paddack – Future Legend
(89) – 3B Fernando Tatis jr. – Future Legend

(97) – 3B Edgar Martinez – PEAK – from Diamond Pack for “The Fastest!”

Oh, wow, not one but two editions of A Met Evoking Disappointment. Well played, OOTP, well played. Much funny. Very laughter.

Fail.

As usual.

That would be a tremendous haul for me. 39 packs would get me at best 2 golds and both would be a David Robertson

[Westheim]

That PEAK Martinez has actual value and I might be able to recoup the 36k initial investment, but I still didn't get a player for my team, since his defense is atrocious and I already have the Special Edition David Wright in the DH slot. Those two cards are very similar; a few points here and there - not much difference. And as a Mets guy, I have to go with the Captain here.

So, yay, but, meh.

[PocketsAintFull]

My Alliance team made the playoffs, but I just let the teams roll without playoff changes these days, I'm sure they do better that way

All-Stars got throughly thumped by a good league and go back to Diamond, Combined Authority fell 1 game short of the playoffs, but still managed their 2nd ever .500 or above season in Perfect, so I'm happy with that.

Good luck y'all!