An Experiment of 3 Teams - Page 13

chazzycat · 06-02-2019, 01:33 PM

This week only the SaberCats made the playoffs, and just by 2 games. So that's the closest I've ever come to all three teams missing the playoffs. They are currently 1 playoff win away from getting promoted to perfect...

The SmallBallers finished with a positive run differential (+30), so I'm pretty happy they proved they can at least hang, if not excel, in perfect. However they had one of the most awful Pythagorean luck seasons I've ever seen - finished at minus 14. So they were nowhere near playoff contention. Maybe they will have better luck next week.

The Balancers finished below average, but also well above the cellar dwellars and safe from relegation. Honestly I'm not sure where to go from here...

Charlatan · 06-02-2019, 01:47 PM

The pain and suffering is finally over. My SaberCats team finished 51-111 in their first year in Perfect, 51 games behind the division winner. I learned midway through the season that I was (randomly) placed in the Whale league - so the team who won my division has maybe 15-20 perfect cards on it. No wonder they won 75% of their games.

I also scrimped and saved and sold off some cards so I was finally able to afford that perfect Mike Trout card for CF. I got him near the end of the season, and here's his slash line for 16 games:

.143/.373/.224 - 16 games, 67 PA, 1 double, 1 homer, 17 BB (he was intentionally walked twice!). -0.2 WAR.

So there's that.

Just for fun I put 88 OVR Chipper Jones (3B), 89 OVR Josh Donaldson (1B), and 89 OVR Eloy Jiminez (LF) in my lineup to see how they'd do. The results:

Jones: .129/.229/.172
Donaldson: .238/.310/.362
Jiminez: .214/.255/.541 (9 HR in 106 PA)

For comparison, my team slash line was .208/.281/.352

I'm working on getting out of the whale league so I can actually have a little fun with this team!

chazzycat · 06-02-2019, 02:06 PM

ouch...yeah I would not want to be in that whale league either. Sounds like you've been going up against crazy good pitching staffs. Diamond should be a lot more enjoyable...

Trout should be fine though. He's easily led my team both seasons in WAR, and neither was close at all. Definitely not regretting that move at all.

chazzycat · 06-02-2019, 02:37 PM

woohoo! The Sabercats lost two games in a row so they will be staying in diamond again.

Despite winning their division, they had just a +50 run differential this season, so they are still not ready for perfect.

chazzycat · 06-04-2019, 11:27 AM

We're just one month into the season, but the SaberCats are playing great so far. Maybe the new catchers are helping, I'm not sure...but this is the run prevention so far:

I don't expect it to continue that strongly for the entire season, but still, it's a pretty impressive showing. The defense and pitching has been so good that even with a 22nd ranked offense, they currently have the 2nd best record and 3rd best run differential in the league.

Thornbreaker · 06-05-2019, 11:42 AM

So chazzy, just an update, but in a previous post regarding stealing with small ball contact/gap teams, I lowered Ichiro's stealing down a couple notches, so instead of going 59 and 29, he went 60 and 18.

Could be random flux, but it was interesting he swiped about as many bags.

He's started slow this season in PL at about 18 and 11, but we'll see if the law of averages brings him back closer to that 60 mark.

chazzycat · 06-05-2019, 11:46 AM

All thee teams are playing well so far this week, currently leading their divisions. Even the SmallBallers in perfect seem to be doing just fine. But I am most surprised by the Balancers, who after two straight poor seasons in diamond are playing very well this time around. I've only made one upgrade on that team (94 Kershaw) but they somehow have the best record in their league right now. I suspect they might be playing a bit over their heads, but we'll see...

chazzycat · 06-10-2019, 11:38 AM

Was away from the computer for a few days, but it appears all three teams did make the playoffs! But they didn't win.

The SmallBallers won 89 games with a run differential of +110 in perfect.

The Sabercats also won 89 games, with a run differential of +80 in diamond

The Balancers had the strongest season, winning 96 games with a run differential of +140 in diamond. They were also the only team to win their division.

To be honest I'm kind of surprised by the variability of results with the Balancers...if anything I would have thought that team would be the most consistent. But after two poor seasons, they completely turned it around this time. It could have also just been the luck of the draw with division/league strength...hard to say. But I may have been a bit premature in writing them off. We'll see I guess.

Goliathus · 06-11-2019, 02:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thornbreaker

So chazzy, just an update, but in a previous post regarding stealing with small ball contact/gap teams, I lowered Ichiro's stealing down a couple notches, so instead of going 59 and 29, he went 60 and 18.

Could be random flux, but it was interesting he swiped about as many bags.

He's started slow this season in PL at about 18 and 11, but we'll see if the law of averages brings him back closer to that 60 mark.

From my experience, you have to adjust the stealing slider every season to find the G spot. I think it could be variance from two things: (1)variance (2)overall defense and hold runner of the opponents this season.

Cheesehead1964 · 06-12-2019, 01:00 PM

My Bees are doing well this season, leading their division after getting promoted to Diamond. With all the PP I earned last season (and some AH sales) I got my first perfect card, Yelich of my hometown Brewers, and added Ken Giles 99 to the bullpen, along with a few other lower value cards.

My Thieves got relegated from Perfect after one season, and are struggling in Diamond. Must have a hangover. Added a couple of nice diamonds after cracking packs for a bit of fun. Hopefully that will help.

My Barnstormers are competing for the division lead in Perfect after losing game 7 of their Diamond League semi final and getting promoted. I'm a bit shocked, given the experience in Perfect with my Thieves. They are among the league leaders in AVG and runs. Starters are doing okay, but card limitations (Negro League cards, Negro League/MLBers, or pre-1947 MLBers) have not been kind to the bullpen, which I'm constantly rotating in and out of reserve.

chazzycat · 06-17-2019, 11:33 AM

The SmallBallers made a very impressive playoff run yesterday, beating two whales en route to the world series. But unfortunately they weren't able to seal the deal. It was honestly a pretty fluky season...the team wasn't that good, they only won 87 games with a run differential of +50 or so. But they were in a super-weak division with 4 bad teams, and ended up winning it easily. That may have been my best chance to snag a perfect WS title, so losing the WS was a little disappointing.

In semi-related news, my OOTP19 team with a very similar team construct did win the WS yesterday, for their 2nd perfect title. (that team spent quite a bit more $$).

The Sabercats had a pretty decent season overall...they were above .500 with a similar run differential to the SmallBallers. But they had better teams in their division and did not make the playoffs.

The Balancers had the strongest season again in terms of run differentials, they were around +150. But they had to settle for a wild card spot. They won the wild card game but lost in the next round.

All three teams have been saving for the past week or two...no changes to the rosters really...and none of the cards I want are showing up.

Cheesehead1964 · 06-17-2019, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chazzycat

The SmallBallers made a very impressive playoff run yesterday, beating two whales en route to the world series. But unfortunately they weren't able to seal the deal. It was honestly a pretty fluky season...the team wasn't that good, they only won 87 games with a run differential of +50 or so. But they were in a super-weak division with 4 bad teams, and ended up winning it easily. That may have been my best chance to snag a perfect WS title, so losing the WS was a little disappointing.

In semi-related news, my OOTP19 team with a very similar team construct did win the WS yesterday, for their 2nd perfect title. (that team spent quite a bit more $$).

The Sabercats had a pretty decent season overall...they were above .500 with a similar run differential to the SmallBallers. But they had better teams in their division and did not make the playoffs.

The Balancers had the strongest season again in terms of run differentials, they were around +150. But they had to settle for a wild card spot. They won the wild card game but lost in the next round.

All three teams have been saving for the past week or two...no changes to the rosters really...and none of the cards I want are showing up.

My Bees had the second best record in their league, but lost in the divisional round after they were up 2-0. I'm kind of glad they didn't get promoted to perfect though, and the top whale team destroyed everyone on its way to winning the final.

Thieves and Barnstormers were middling. I'm happy the Barnstormers are at least competitive in Perfect though...

chazzycat · 06-19-2019, 09:36 PM

So, I got sick of waiting for Ichiro to come up in the AH for the SmallBallers and went another direction with my sizable PP bank. After looking at the new collections missions reward cards, there was one that looked like a really good fit - Lenny Dykstra from the Phillies live set. His card was selling for about 50k...but I was able to buy the entire Phillies roster for about 20k. So say hello to my new starting center fielder vs. righties:

So Maddox will be starting vs. lefties now, where he is stronger, and I can let go of Mickey Rivers who was struggling to put up positive WAR in perfect. I think the 30 points of eye and 30 points of throwing arm improvements over Maddox, along with Maddox taking River's ABs, will make a sizable difference, and make it worth the expense. Or that was my plan at least.

Charlatan · 06-20-2019, 07:33 AM

That's a nice pickup, and a good way to evaluate the cost of the card. When I'm doing collections I'm always b*tching to myself saying "why am I spending so many PP on these stupid cards????" when I should do what you did - find a collection with a reward I really want, figure out what it's worth, and try to spend less than that completing the collection!

chazzycat · 06-20-2019, 10:05 AM

yeah, I'm fairly pleased with how it worked out. 20k seems pretty reasonable for that card. There were some price-gouging attempts on some rarer cards, but with a little patience I was able to avoid any extreme overpays.

Of course, like the *minute* I started spending my bank on Phillies cards, Ichiro popped up in the AH for 30k. I am beginning to think it's just not meant to be.

Cheesehead1964 · 06-20-2019, 10:28 AM

Looks like a great card. I completed the Brewers LIVE and got Yount 96, which I'm excited about. But I'd rather have an exceptional defense card like yours...

chazzycat · 06-20-2019, 10:44 AM

The SmallBallers' first half performance was in line with the past couple seasons. They are so far just-slightly-above-average again. Currently in line for a wild card spot, with a run differential of +19.

Made some upgrades on the other two teams as well. All three had been in saving mode for the past few weeks, and were sitting on 25-35k.

For the SaberCats I finally found the card I had been waiting for - the 96 Mark McGwire. Should be a nice upgrade from the previous 91 version I had. After selling the old one I also upgraded my live Zach Britton to the 92 version, another substantial improvement. The Cats are not having a great season so far...actually they are exactly average. Halfway through the season their run differential is literally zero. They are doing their usual thing, combining outstanding run prevention with horrible offense.

The Balancers, on the other hand, are playing quite well again at diamond. They had a great first half, with the second best record & run differential in their league. It's pretty odd how in their first few weeks at diamond, the SaberCats looked stronger, but then things seem to have flipped around. It could just be the random luck of division draws...I'm not quite sure what to make of it. Obviously the SmallBallers are the best overall team, but I gotta think the battle for second place is still on. Oh and I just added 95 Bill Dickey to the team, so I think I'm all set at catcher for a long time.

chazzycat · 06-20-2019, 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cheesehead1964

Looks like a great card. I completed the Brewers LIVE and got Yount 96, which I'm excited about. But I'd rather have an exceptional defense card like yours...

Yeah I do love my outfield defense, for this team. That Yount card looks pretty sick though...have you considered moving him to 2B?

Cheesehead1964 · 06-20-2019, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chazzycat

Yeah I do love my outfield defense, for this team. That Yount card looks pretty sick though...have you considered moving him to 2B?

He's DH currently. Cronin is at 2B and Travis Jackson is at SS.

Bees are currently 2nd in RUNS, 1st in AVG, 1st in ERA, and 1st in DEF, so I don't know how much I want to tamper with my lineup, but Yount is hitting nicely.

I picked up a lot of card ideas from this thread. Thank you! I actually have Gold Boggs, Erstad, Carew, Fox, and Gwynn on Reserve, believe it or not, but I wanted to try newly acquired Moustakis and Grandal (Brewer fan that I am)...

Charlatan · 06-20-2019, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chazzycat

For the SaberCats I finally found the card I had been waiting for - the 96 Mark McGwire. Should be a nice upgrade from the previous 91 version I had. After selling the old one I also upgraded my live Zach Britton to the 92 version, another substantial improvement. The Cats are not having a great season so far...actually they are exactly average. Halfway through the season their run differential is literally zero. They are doing their usual thing, combining outstanding run prevention with horrible offense.

My SaberCats like team (we'll be in Perfect with the SmallBallers next season) is exactly like this - horrible offense and pretty good defense. I keep trying to find some kind of hitting at 2B/SS, and no matter who I try it doesn't seem to work. But then again, my whole team BA in perfect is usually south of .220, so maybe they're just trying to fit in.

I just got the 95 OVR Brooks Robinson and am training him at 2B to replace the 89 Robin Ventura I'm trying to sell. Who replaced the 85 Lonnie Frey and the 92 Pee Wee Reese, both of whom never hit. I also upgrade the 80 Tulowitzki with the 93 version, and though he hits better, I wouldn't say he hits "good."

It doesn't help that this is my collection team so I'm now frittering away my PP on acquiring all the cards I need for many collections.

However, they're doing pretty well so far - leading their division. But a late-season dropoff wouldn't surprise me at all.

06-02-2019, 01:47 PM	#242
Charlatan All Star Starter Join Date: May 2006 Location: Leesburg, VA Posts: 1,491	The pain and suffering is finally over. My SaberCats team finished 51-111 in their first year in Perfect, 51 games behind the division winner. I learned midway through the season that I was (randomly) placed in the Whale league - so the team who won my division has maybe 15-20 perfect cards on it. No wonder they won 75% of their games. I also scrimped and saved and sold off some cards so I was finally able to afford that perfect Mike Trout card for CF. I got him near the end of the season, and here's his slash line for 16 games: .143/.373/.224 - 16 games, 67 PA, 1 double, 1 homer, 17 BB (he was intentionally walked twice!). -0.2 WAR. So there's that. Just for fun I put 88 OVR Chipper Jones (3B), 89 OVR Josh Donaldson (1B), and 89 OVR Eloy Jiminez (LF) in my lineup to see how they'd do. The results: Jones: .129/.229/.172 Donaldson: .238/.310/.362 Jiminez: .214/.255/.541 (9 HR in 106 PA) For comparison, my team slash line was .208/.281/.352 I'm working on getting out of the whale league so I can actually have a little fun with this team! Last edited by Charlatan; 06-02-2019 at 01:53 PM.

06-05-2019, 11:42 AM	#246
Thornbreaker Minors (Double A) Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Mississippi Posts: 155	So chazzy, just an update, but in a previous post regarding stealing with small ball contact/gap teams, I lowered Ichiro's stealing down a couple notches, so instead of going 59 and 29, he went 60 and 18. Could be random flux, but it was interesting he swiped about as many bags. He's started slow this season in PL at about 18 and 11, but we'll see if the law of averages brings him back closer to that 60 mark. __________________

06-12-2019, 01:00 PM	#250
Cheesehead1964 Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2017 Posts: 427	My Bees are doing well this season, leading their division after getting promoted to Diamond. With all the PP I earned last season (and some AH sales) I got my first perfect card, Yelich of my hometown Brewers, and added Ken Giles 99 to the bullpen, along with a few other lower value cards. My Thieves got relegated from Perfect after one season, and are struggling in Diamond. Must have a hangover. Added a couple of nice diamonds after cracking packs for a bit of fun. Hopefully that will help. My Barnstormers are competing for the division lead in Perfect after losing game 7 of their Diamond League semi final and getting promoted. I'm a bit shocked, given the experience in Perfect with my Thieves. They are among the league leaders in AVG and runs. Starters are doing okay, but card limitations (Negro League cards, Negro League/MLBers, or pre-1947 MLBers) have not been kind to the bullpen, which I'm constantly rotating in and out of reserve. Last edited by Cheesehead1964; 06-12-2019 at 01:02 PM.

06-02-2019, 01:33 PM	#241
chazzycat All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 1,685	This week only the SaberCats made the playoffs, and just by 2 games. So that's the closest I've ever come to all three teams missing the playoffs. They are currently 1 playoff win away from getting promoted to perfect... The SmallBallers finished with a positive run differential (+30), so I'm pretty happy they proved they can at least hang, if not excel, in perfect. However they had one of the most awful Pythagorean luck seasons I've ever seen - finished at minus 14. So they were nowhere near playoff contention. Maybe they will have better luck next week. The Balancers finished below average, but also well above the cellar dwellars and safe from relegation. Honestly I'm not sure where to go from here...

06-02-2019, 02:06 PM	#243
chazzycat All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 1,685	ouch...yeah I would not want to be in that whale league either. Sounds like you've been going up against crazy good pitching staffs. Diamond should be a lot more enjoyable... Trout should be fine though. He's easily led my team both seasons in WAR, and neither was close at all. Definitely not regretting that move at all.

06-02-2019, 02:37 PM	#244
chazzycat All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 1,685	woohoo! The Sabercats lost two games in a row so they will be staying in diamond again. Despite winning their division, they had just a +50 run differential this season, so they are still not ready for perfect.

06-04-2019, 11:27 AM	#245
chazzycat All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 1,685	We're just one month into the season, but the SaberCats are playing great so far. Maybe the new catchers are helping, I'm not sure...but this is the run prevention so far: I don't expect it to continue that strongly for the entire season, but still, it's a pretty impressive showing. The defense and pitching has been so good that even with a 22nd ranked offense, they currently have the 2nd best record and 3rd best run differential in the league.

06-05-2019, 11:46 AM	#247
chazzycat All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 1,685	All thee teams are playing well so far this week, currently leading their divisions. Even the SmallBallers in perfect seem to be doing just fine. But I am most surprised by the Balancers, who after two straight poor seasons in diamond are playing very well this time around. I've only made one upgrade on that team (94 Kershaw) but they somehow have the best record in their league right now. I suspect they might be playing a bit over their heads, but we'll see...

06-10-2019, 11:38 AM	#248
chazzycat All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 1,685	Was away from the computer for a few days, but it appears all three teams did make the playoffs! But they didn't win. The SmallBallers won 89 games with a run differential of +110 in perfect. The Sabercats also won 89 games, with a run differential of +80 in diamond The Balancers had the strongest season, winning 96 games with a run differential of +140 in diamond. They were also the only team to win their division. To be honest I'm kind of surprised by the variability of results with the Balancers...if anything I would have thought that team would be the most consistent. But after two poor seasons, they completely turned it around this time. It could have also just been the luck of the draw with division/league strength...hard to say. But I may have been a bit premature in writing them off. We'll see I guess.

06-17-2019, 11:33 AM	#251
chazzycat All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 1,685	The SmallBallers made a very impressive playoff run yesterday, beating two whales en route to the world series. But unfortunately they weren't able to seal the deal. It was honestly a pretty fluky season...the team wasn't that good, they only won 87 games with a run differential of +50 or so. But they were in a super-weak division with 4 bad teams, and ended up winning it easily. That may have been my best chance to snag a perfect WS title, so losing the WS was a little disappointing. In semi-related news, my OOTP19 team with a very similar team construct did win the WS yesterday, for their 2nd perfect title. (that team spent quite a bit more $$). The Sabercats had a pretty decent season overall...they were above .500 with a similar run differential to the SmallBallers. But they had better teams in their division and did not make the playoffs. The Balancers had the strongest season again in terms of run differentials, they were around +150. But they had to settle for a wild card spot. They won the wild card game but lost in the next round. All three teams have been saving for the past week or two...no changes to the rosters really...and none of the cards I want are showing up.

06-19-2019, 09:36 PM	#253
chazzycat All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 1,685	So, I got sick of waiting for Ichiro to come up in the AH for the SmallBallers and went another direction with my sizable PP bank. After looking at the new collections missions reward cards, there was one that looked like a really good fit - Lenny Dykstra from the Phillies live set. His card was selling for about 50k...but I was able to buy the entire Phillies roster for about 20k. So say hello to my new starting center fielder vs. righties: So Maddox will be starting vs. lefties now, where he is stronger, and I can let go of Mickey Rivers who was struggling to put up positive WAR in perfect. I think the 30 points of eye and 30 points of throwing arm improvements over Maddox, along with Maddox taking River's ABs, will make a sizable difference, and make it worth the expense. Or that was my plan at least.

06-20-2019, 07:33 AM	#254
Charlatan All Star Starter Join Date: May 2006 Location: Leesburg, VA Posts: 1,491	That's a nice pickup, and a good way to evaluate the cost of the card. When I'm doing collections I'm always b*tching to myself saying "why am I spending so many PP on these stupid cards????" when I should do what you did - find a collection with a reward I really want, figure out what it's worth, and try to spend less than that completing the collection!

06-20-2019, 10:05 AM	#255
chazzycat All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 1,685	yeah, I'm fairly pleased with how it worked out. 20k seems pretty reasonable for that card. There were some price-gouging attempts on some rarer cards, but with a little patience I was able to avoid any extreme overpays. Of course, like the minute I started spending my bank on Phillies cards, Ichiro popped up in the AH for 30k. I am beginning to think it's just not meant to be.

06-20-2019, 10:28 AM	#256
Cheesehead1964 Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2017 Posts: 427	Looks like a great card. I completed the Brewers LIVE and got Yount 96, which I'm excited about. But I'd rather have an exceptional defense card like yours...

06-20-2019, 10:44 AM	#257
chazzycat All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 1,685	The SmallBallers' first half performance was in line with the past couple seasons. They are so far just-slightly-above-average again. Currently in line for a wild card spot, with a run differential of +19. Made some upgrades on the other two teams as well. All three had been in saving mode for the past few weeks, and were sitting on 25-35k. For the SaberCats I finally found the card I had been waiting for - the 96 Mark McGwire. Should be a nice upgrade from the previous 91 version I had. After selling the old one I also upgraded my live Zach Britton to the 92 version, another substantial improvement. The Cats are not having a great season so far...actually they are exactly average. Halfway through the season their run differential is literally zero. They are doing their usual thing, combining outstanding run prevention with horrible offense. The Balancers, on the other hand, are playing quite well again at diamond. They had a great first half, with the second best record & run differential in their league. It's pretty odd how in their first few weeks at diamond, the SaberCats looked stronger, but then things seem to have flipped around. It could just be the random luck of division draws...I'm not quite sure what to make of it. Obviously the SmallBallers are the best overall team, but I gotta think the battle for second place is still on. Oh and I just added 95 Bill Dickey to the team, so I think I'm all set at catcher for a long time.