Season 50 (2068) - Discussion Thread

[waittilnextyear]

"Fifty seasons" of PT20...please regale us with your tales this week.

[waittilnextyear]

I will begin the regaling...

The Frogs were downed in the Division Series last week, so we've only won a single PL title over the previous 5 seasons. Quelle horreur!

This week we're hopping to the beat of P421. Our NC East division is free and clear of other whale-like substances, so it should be quite the romp (we're 19-1 thus far). There are two division-mates fresh up from Diamond level. A third team has neither topped 75 wins nor made the playoffs in PL before. And, the other team has been in PL since 2024, but has no titles to show for 17 playoff appearances.

Looking around the rest of the league, we have the ever-dangerous LA Rams (13 PL titles) one division over from us, in the NC Central. Having lost to them in a pretty competitive PL Series a few weeks back, the PL Series berth will probably run through this matchup. The Frogs will get their chance for vengeance.

The other previous PL title winner in the NC is the Neuman Furshlugginers--clearly run by a fan of Mad Magazine. They are in the NC West and that division should be pretty wide open.

Over in the AC, we have the 2-time champ Arizona Aces in the East and an interesting Hamtramck Tigers (Collingwood's B team) vs Aliquippa Quips dynamic. The Tigers have been improving rapidly and won their 1st PL title last week. The Quips are sextuply decorated with...umm...six PL titles. The division could go either way, but Hamtramck is off to a fast 18-3 start whereas the Quips are 13-7 so far.

Here's to our Golden Anniversary season in PT20...good luck to all!

[One Great Matrix]

Originally Posted by waittilnextyear

I will begin the regaling...

The Frogs were downed in the Division Series last week, so we've only won a single PL title over the previous 5 seasons. Quelle horreur!

This week we're hopping to the beat of P421. Our NC East division is free and clear of other whale-like substances, so it should be quite the romp (we're 19-1 thus far). There are two division-mates fresh up from Diamond level. A third team has neither topped 75 wins nor made the playoffs in PL before. And, the other team has been in PL since 2024, but has no titles to show for 17 playoff appearances.

Looking around the rest of the league, we have the ever-dangerous LA Rams (13 PL titles) one division over from us, in the NC Central. Having lost to them in a pretty competitive PL Series a few weeks back, the PL Series berth will probably run through this matchup. The Frogs will get their chance for vengeance.

The other previous PL title winner in the NC is the Neuman Furshlugginers--clearly run by a fan of Mad Magazine. They are in the NC West and that division should be pretty wide open.

Over in the AC, we have the 2-time champ Arizona Aces in the East and an interesting Hamtramck Tigers (Collingwood's B team) vs Aliquippa Quips dynamic. The Tigers have been improving rapidly and won their 1st PL title last week. The Quips are sextuply decorated with...umm...six PL titles. The division could go either way, but Hamtramck is off to a fast 18-3 start whereas the Quips are 13-7 so far.

Here's to our Golden Anniversary season in PT20...good luck to all!

...ha ha ha ha ha ha...

Well, in Flyersville, we've done some renovations on our virtual ballpark, albiet some small ones...including re-naming the place The Joint. (Formerly known as Flyers Ballpark, The Joint.)

Our roster is filled with players who have taken part in a past PL win together and we've won 15 of our first 22. I can't say as far as competition inside the division just yet but as of now we're alone.

The whole league? I noticed the Marshall Cardinals from leagues past, the DC Senators...2 other teams off to very, very nice starts are the Connecticut Huskies & the BROOKLYN Bombers...Hong Kong Tiger is in the house, as well as the Atlanta Three.

[mcdog512]

I bought 5 packs this morning to go with some tourney rewards.

Not bad back to back packs.....obviously one better than the other.

[dkgo]

I have made my first two changes in at least a month or two. Exciting times.

96 Rixey is replacing 100 Kershaw as the lefty middle reliever. For 200K PP I expect to get 70 innings of relief at about 0.20 ERA less than before, approximately 2 runs saved per season...

100 Hornsby is replacing 100 Robinson as the vs LHP second baseman to pair with 99 Collins (who is my favorite lead-off man in the game). Only cost 60K so probably less than Jackie even but should have a much better bat against lefties and I don't think the defensive drop is that big of a deal. I refuse to play converted shortstops throughout the infield.

I am considering replacing 100 Ruffing with 100 Eckersley as the "use more often" reliever but with only a 5 man pen I could be cutting it close stamina-wise with 3 real RP and 2 converted SP. But hey what's life without a little risk. Got outbid on one recently but there is another on the market.

100 Cobb or Wheat would probably be better than 100 Williams in LF vs RHP, but I've have Ted for basically the entire game and he has like 8 columns of awards nearly covering up the logo on the left now. Can't get rid of him.

[bailey]

Also, in P421 with the Frogs are the Hamtramck Tigers, in the AC West. The Aliquippa Quips boasting a starting 5 of Young, Johnson, Walsh, Schilling and RB Pedro, occupy the same division with the Tigers. It's hard to believe I can compete with just Walsh, Kershaw, Vida Blue, Gaylord Perry, and Brecheen, but a splendid 23-4 April puts us solidly in 1st by 6.5 games.

[macacks]

The Warbirds fly into P.489 this week having won 4 of their last 5 PL titles and 5 Straight championship games.

The Warbirds are likely headed for a 50 game NC Central division win as the competition is still evolving (translates to have't spent the $$$ we have).

Standing in the Warbirds (run)way are the NC EAST Orlando Calrissians and their 8PL titles and the AC WEST Westvleteren XII with 11 PL titles.

These three teams are currently deadlocked for 1st in the league with very similar run diff.

[One Great Matrix]

Preface
George Gore stole 7 bases in a National League game on June 25th, 1881.
Sliding Billy Hamilton stole 7 bases in a National League game on August 31st, 1894.

Since 1900, no player has stolen more than 6 bases in one game.

How Rickey tied that record today (May 15th, 2068)

1- Rickey singles & steals 2nd in the 1st inning. He proves a hot dog when Willie Mays hits one out of the park a few batters later, which would have scored him from 1st...maybe...(someone could have hit a double play grounder)...there's a reason they call it scoring position.

2,3- Rickey beats out what may have been a double play with his blazing speed & reaches 1st. They score it a "Fielder's Choice". (If he was uber-aware, may have "chose" to erase Rickey at 1st instead of Boggs at 2nd)...anyway...The next batter is Mike Schmidt and Rickey is on 3rd base after just 2 pitches to Mike. These are his 2nd & 3rd stolen bases of the game. Schmidt walks, Christian Yelich walks, Mays comes up & hits ANOTHER one out of the park, Rickey feels a fool for a li'l bit.

4,5- Rickey walks to lead off the 4th inning. Mike Schmidt & Christian Yelich are both outs but Rickey takes his 4th & 5th extra bases on the day during their PAs. He is now standing at 3rd base with Mays coming to the plate. Mays walks. Keeler (the other Willie). (the other one being Stargell), hits a base-clearing triple to score both Mays & Henderson.

6 - Top of the 5th, Henderson walks...spicy, heh?...He could steal 9! Schmidt strikes out, Rickey sees no opportunity to "Go". Rickey steals base 6 during Christian Yelich's AB to the roar & semi-approval of the away/road crowd. I don't know the details but Yelich singles. EDIT: Yelich chopped it not quite to the shortstop and out of the pitcher's reach for an infield single..., the ball never leaves the infield.. He is stranded at 3rd...Sio 5 runs in 5 innings, but SIX STEALS...

Rickey flies out in the 6th...Rickey singles in the 8th but Schmidt makes the 3rd out of the inning almost as swiftly as Rickey gets from 1st to 2nd thereafter. (Strikes out on 4 pitches)

The New York Flyers win this one 12-2, Rickey "The Hot Dog" Henderson scores 5 of 'em. And necessary or not helps himself to 6 extra bases.

BTW, the players who have done this in real life since the 20th century started are Eddie Collins, Carl Crawford, Otis Nixon, and Eric Young.

[One Great Matrix]

He was far from perfect in this one but his 2nd no-hitter in recent history for the Flyers. Took him over 140 pitches to get through it all...

The same team slammed us for 10 runs the next day.

Maybe I'll share some details of the game if I'm up to reviewing the game later. Seaver is hittable sometimes. & sometimes he is not.

[waittilnextyear]

Things are progressing about as expected in P421. The Frogs have cooled off a little bit from their 19-1 start due to record in 1-run games evening out. Of the team's 10 losses so far, half of them have been by one run. Got one series with the LA Rams out of the way so far, and split it 2-2.

SE Norm Cash is doing what SE Norm Cash does. Mash. Cash is slashing .382/.439/.645. This is Cash's 6th full season on the active roster--he has yet to bat below .312 or OBP below .424. He's really lashing out at opposing pitchers, and might make another dash at an MVP season. Watch him bash the baseball. I am quite liking that I completed the mission for him.

[One Great Matrix]

After Rickey stole 6 bases in a game, Seaver threw a no-hitter, we went 21-5 in regular season PT Mode, went 4-1 in the 1st round against the Aoteroa Angels in deadball tournament, but 0-4 against macjacks' San Angelo Warbirds in Rd. 2 while Walter Johnson struck out 23 batters in an otherwise normal 9 inning game during the series, I had to see a small bat out of my home, flying around like a ginormous moth...

I just may be ready to go to sleep.

Wowzers

[macacks]

Originally Posted by waittilnextyear

Things are progressing about as expected in P421. The Frogs have cooled off a little bit from their 19-1 start due to record in 1-run games evening out. Of the team's 10 losses so far, half of them have been by one run. Got one series with the LA Rams out of the way so far, and split it 2-2.

SE Norm Cash is doing what SE Norm Cash does. Mash. Cash is slashing .382/.439/.645. This is Cash's 6th full season on the active roster--he has yet to bat below .312 or OBP below .424. He's really lashing out at opposing pitchers, and might make another dash at an MVP season. Watch him bash the baseball. I am quite liking that I completed the mission for him.

I have looked at him several times the last few weeks. His low K rating has scared me off. He looks like an upgrade over Yaz from 'actual' performance though at a similar price.

[Tinkerman]

I gave Cash half a season with my Tinners last week and he was terrible across the board. Struck out a ton and didn't even walk much. Team improved a lot after I switched him out - even defensively

Also, not wanting to stir up any particular rivalry I gotta say I was rooting for the Warbirds at the weekend. Sorry Frogs!

[bailey]

The Tigers end-of-April lead disappeared as quickly as snow in early May. They were quipped 5 times by the Quips. Wheat leads the league for average and Norm Cash leads the league in HR. Ty Cobb has 37 steals out of 40, and leads the league in runs scored. Not a surprise with Cash and Wheat batting behind him.

[Sipimi]

Originally Posted by macacks

I have looked at him several times the last few weeks. His low K rating has scared me off. He looks like an upgrade over Yaz from 'actual' performance though at a similar price.

He does strike out a lot but he still delivers. Here's mine after three full seasons at DH. Note that my park suppresses HR (0.9).

[Warhawk]

Well that's one way to make sure the game doesn't go any longer than 10 innings.

15 pitchers between the two teams. Nobody went 3 innings. Starters each gave up 7 earned, and they were a 94 Plank and a 97 Gomez.

In related news I'm now on a 14 game win streak and have a 22 game lead.

[One Great Matrix]

Because as awesome as Piazza was, I felt the need today to give Todd well-deserved playing time. ...A record 41 HR for a catcher, I believe, until Javy Lopez hit 42, 43, 45 something like that a few seasons later...That's right, Mike always got a couple of his in a PH role, and didn't cheat.

Lopez hit 43 total, maybe 42, maybe 43 as a catcher... Piazza actually never topped 40 in a season, consistent & long as his homers were...isn't that amazing? The guy who Piazza replaced hit more homers than he (or any other catcher) ever did in a single season.

I even had to share the GW go-ahead walk.

[waittilnextyear]

While we're comparing Norm Cashes...

generally high average and low-to-neutral HR ballpark factors.

[macacks]

The season is playing out as expected/projected. Warbirds are comfortably in first in the division (33 game lead) and on pace for there 2nd highest win total and biggest in 14 years. Any drama will come in the form of the playoffs...or possibly a Zack Wheat Triple Crown.

Points of Interest...from around the league...
Westvleteren XII had a 33 game win streak without a starting 2B (24 man roster on auto pilot)
There WJ is on pace to go 40-0 with a 2.08 (Lefty Cheese strategy)

C.N. Owls have 4 starters with ERA under 2. They are a top end defensive unit with .9 park factors across the board. None of these are Perfect pitchers.

C.N.Olws have Hooks Dauss closing games. He is on pace for 58 saves and is leading a pair of Riveras by 8 saves

Tony Gwynns had a 37 game hitting streak.

[bailey]

The dog days of summer were doggedly chewing up the Tigers as by July 6 they had fallen 5.5 behind the Quips. The Quips quit laughing their way to a division title, however, as the Tigers roared to life and won 12 in a row heading into the all-star break. Guess who's on top now, by two games?