Meet the Hawthorn Fighting Hawks

[bailey]

On the pitching front there were serious concerns that signing Score was a huge mistake. This was an impulse signing that cost at least 2Kp more than necessary. Score defended himself by saying the defense behind him was less than stellar and the outs that were not made prevented him from going deep into ballgames. One notable outing saw him strike out 11 batters in just 5 innings, but 7 hits and 3 walks drove his pitch count sky high. The only solution was to impulse buy 3 players with exceptional defensive skills. The first game these players were used behind Score was a great success. Everyone in the lineup got a hit and Score struck out 12 with 3 walks and just 2 hits. The total cost for the upgrades was less than one Aparicio and no training required.

Larry Bowa, shortstop (94 DEF) for 150p



Eddie Mayo, 2nd base (112 DEF) for 300p



Peanuts Lowrey, a centerfielder (81 DEF), for 74p

[bailey]

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Hawthorn players picked for the All-Star game.

Rich Gedman for the 4th time in 4 seasons.

Michael Brantley for the first time. Brantley was actively shopped on the AH during the offseason, but there were no buyers.

and, of course, MVP, J.D. Martinez.

[bailey]

The team is struggling to stay above .500, but the great players are having great individual seasons. The defensive re-alignment to 2B, SS and CF has really benefited Score and Kiner has won his 2nd Batter of the Month while being on the team just two months.

[bailey]

The big news of August is the way Herb Score silenced his critics. Grumblings of “huge mistake” or “paid too much” are no longer whispered within the walls of the Hawthorn front office. Income generated by Score alone tops 4Kp.






The team itself moved into 2nd place just 4.5 games behind the division leading Avalon Green Stockings while a wild card berth is just 3 games away. Playoff fever is beginning to grip Hawthorn.

[bailey]

I bought Sterling Hitchcock for 31p because I liked the name and because he was a San Diego Padre. I am toying with the idea of a mini-theme for my 3,4, and 5 starters being Padres. I had no expectation that he would actually be good.





The team is 75-71 and 2 GB the division leader and the 2nd wildcard. The Oracle gives Hawthorn a 29.8% of post-season. The atmosphere at Bailey Park is electric, but there are only 6 home games left vs. 10 away and the team fares poorly on the road.

[bailey]

The excitement of the tense 2023 pennant race that went right down to the last day inspired GM Bailey to re-think The Plan. You see, the team failed by 1 game to nail the coveted 2nd wildcard position and the desirable 1Kp for the “Playoffs, baby!” achievement. Score pitched a shared 2-hit shutout and struck out 13 on that final day, but the hoped for help to force game 163 did not happen. Score's brilliant pitching in the final week on short rest, enabled him to nail the “Most Pitching Wins” achievement, however.






The Respectable Mediocrity slogan played out to a tee with an 82-80 3rd place finish, but the PP generated by this dreadfully average result shattered records. An eye-popping 17,760p was collected by the brown and gold which is more than was collected from 300+ games of entry pool. And that's before end-of-season awards, which we expect to win a few. “We'll top that easily in 2024!” boasted the gleeful GM as he put the final touches on the new and improved PLAN.

Lingering in the iron leagues, even if you generate 20Kp per week will only amount to 500K after 25 weeks and what will that buy? 3 or 4 stud players? Is that enough to win the perfect league? Furthermore, if you do assemble a team that can generate 20Kp per week in the iron league, can that team be held down in the iron leagues for very long? The ONLY way to keep such a powerful team down, is to bring on the scrubs in the final month and that is not how I want to play the game. It was bad enough searching for the tinniest of tin starters, to hopefully allow lots of runs to allow the hitting team to earn comeback points! (That plan failed: only 1 comeback for 50p).
The new plan is to invest the PP earned in 2019 LIVE players. I already have 10 copies of a certain silver player that I expect to reach diamond before the MLB season concludes, turning 3Kp into 40Kp and if he goes to perfect.... well, the math on that I leave as an exercise for the reader. Of course, he could get hurt and I lose 2/3 of the investment, but this strategy beats buying 3 packs 99% of the time and the emotional thrill of potential success lasts way-y-y-y longer. If I am a good speculator, I could make tons more PP than sandbagging in the iron league.

To achieve these goals, some exciting new starting pitchers have been acquired. Details pending until they pass their physicals. Let's make the most of the last season in iron!

[gemini615]

Very interesting observations. I'm amazed you earned 17k this season with your strategy. It obviously works to an extent, but like you said, it'd be tough to keep a team like that from advancing without the appearance of a tank job the last month of the season. And I can only assume that once you're in bronze or silver league, the season points totals won't be as high as they are in iron. Regardless, well done on accumulating points!

[bailey]

Originally Posted by gemini615

Very interesting observations. I'm amazed you earned 17k this season with your strategy. It obviously works to an extent, but like you said, it'd be tough to keep a team like that from advancing without the appearance of a tank job the last month of the season. And I can only assume that once you're in bronze or silver league, the season points totals won't be as high as they are in iron. Regardless, well done on accumulating points!

17K you say? The book isn't quite complete. Pitching MVP and Great Bat awards are not yet decided, so the haul could easily top 19K! I'm going to go out on a limb and predict 24K in 24.

I'm still going to arrange my team to score as many PP as possible regardless of the level. For example, arranging my batting order by Power Rating. No "table setting, base stealers" leading off for me. In fact, I've shut down the running game completely. Only 3 stolen bases during 2023. The Hawks wait for the 3-run homer.

[bailey]

The Great Bat awards were given and the Hawks got 3 as expected:

Rich Gedman at catcher, his second
Ralph Kiner at LF, his first
J.D. Martinez at DH, his second

The final total PP for 2023 is 18,610p.

No one is concerned about the controversial downgrade of J.D. Martinez to "gold" status.
The ratings "hit" is minor. Perhaps, this week is a good time to buy low.

Last week J.D.




This week J.D.

[bailey]

Catcher
Mike Gedman – a starter pack pickup has made the All-Star team 4 times in a row. Platinum stick award winner at catcher 2 times. Also, a great defender, his catcher ability can often tease that precious “corner painter” achievement from the team's lesser pitchers.

1st Base
Frank Howard – picked up late 2023 for 1099p after GM Bailey witnessed him running away with the 2023 conference HR title for another team. He can also hit for average and is a Triple Crown threat. He earned his keep with a 6-game HR streak in his first month. Key departure: Mickey Vernon.

2nd Base
Rod Carew – acquired June, 2023 for 314p is not a HR threat. His specialty is hits with an overall contact rating of 87 and gap rating of 70 he is a threat to win the conference batting title. In fact, he was the American Conference 2023 batting champion, while he hit .365 for us, he did not have enough plate appearances to qualify. Defense is lacking, however.

3rd Base
Bill Madlock – joined the squad in late 2022, is another batting champion threat with a little bit of pop as well. He actually was the National Conference batting champion for 2023. Defense is not his specialty, either. (150p)

SS
Peatnuts Lowrey – arrived in July 2023 as a defensive center fielder specifically for Herb Score, but also displays above average skills at SS. While his contact ratings are unimpressive, he is difficult to strike out so is able to hit for a decent average when playing everyday.

LF
Ralph Kiner – yet another 2023 arrival in keeping with the revamping of the lineup to emphasize power. His power rating of 108 against RHP earns him the leadoff spot against RHP. The 2nd most expensive player on the team at 9Kp, he earned over 1Kp back in just 4 months of play.

CF
Dustin Fowler – a starter pack pickup, he was the MVP in 2022, but rode the bench for much of 2023 while a futile attempt was made to teach Michael Brantley centerfield. Besides a great bat, he has a decent arm that saw him throw 9 OF assists in 2023 earning achievement points for the team that don't show up on his history tab.

RF
Willard Marshall – arriving at the same time as Frank Howard for 1101p, yet another tremendous long ball threat (overall 91 power) and blessed with great defense (94 arm). This is a gold card, so the cost above face value was earned back in the first month of play. How he came to the attention of GM Bailey is a bit of serendiptious luck. I noticed Roy Halladay was a pitching leader in the conference, so I went to the AH to look for him. The search engine was already set to search for Power /RHP and all positions; I typed in HALL in the search field. Willard MarsHALL topped the list and the rest is history.


DH
J.D. Martinez – a pickup at the start of 2022 for just 4Kp, I've written extensively about him already. Let's just say further that his list of PP earnings accomplishments is already on page 2.

Herb Score's defensive replacements

In order to maximize the value of Score's 128 stuff rating, I learned mid-way through 2023 that I cannot ignore defense. So the following players are put in the lineup when Score pitches. For regulars that are still used, these players get the day off on the day before Score pitches. It is easy to do this with 7-day lineups and pre-built lineups. I have 6 different pre-built lineups. Regular, Score, and pre-Score for each handedness. The lineups are arranged top to bottom by order of Power Rating, so as to maximize the possibility of HR achievements.

Catcher
Mike Matheny – this light-hitting bronze card has probably the best catcher ability in the game: 95. Others have 95, but are way more expensive than what I paid for this card: 31p. He also has 98 arm rating and when coupled with Score's 98 hold runners rating, we dare opposing base runners to attempt to steal a base.

2B, Ed Mayo , SS, Larry Bowa and CF Peanuts Lowrey were written about before.

LF
Michael Brantley – better defense and arm that Kiner, without sacrificing all of Kiner's power. (starter pack)

3rd Base
Brooks Robinson – starter pack card that I actually sold for 72p and then bought back for 30p when I realized I should get a defensive upgrade for Madlock. So, this card in on the books for NEGATIVE 42 p...

Famous last words: “This is my FINAL lineup for the foreseeable future! No more tweaking.”
Seriously, it would be too much work to re-do the pre-made lineups. I used 26 hitters in 2023. Those days are over.

[bailey]

The starting rotation was given a boost with 3 new faces.

#1 Herb Score – this guy made 5Kp alone in 2023, but I can't expect a hi-def inning every week, can I?

#2 Nolan Ryan (OVR 92) – The star off-season pickup for 10Kp that has all of Hawthorn buzzing. You don't see this card very often on the AH, so I overpaid by clicking the BIN. Let's compare his pitching ratings with Score. Same wicked stuff, and better control at the expense of weaker movement. Same PP earnings capability. The only problem is they can't both earn the “Most Pitching Wins” achievement. Or can they? What about a tie? Just thinkin' out loud.

Score on the left Ryan on the right


#3 Chris Archer – A free challenge mode pickup that I carelessly sold for 1Kp. This guy knows how to win in the iron league and has earned a fair amount of PP along the way. Price paid: 1Kp, the same price I sold him for! (I was lucky!) Or was I? The downgrade to silver I feared when I sold him the first time has finally occurred after I bought him the 2nd time. Go figure. Note: This GM used Archer as a follower.



#4 Hal Brown – Not a very good pitcher, 11-15, 5.01 ERA, but a PP income earner. 2023's haul: 6 “in control” achievements among other things. Compare this guy to Bob Tewksbury who I use on a different team. Only 1 “in control” achievement from him. Tewksbury's ratings seem better overall, but Brown has a decent knuckleball and that must be the difference.

Tewksbury on the left Brown on the right



#5 Sterling Hitchcock – The only pitcher to earn “in control”, “corner painter” and “putting up zeros” achievements all in the same game. He deserves a closer look in 2024.

Famous last words: “These guys will pitch all 162 games for 2024 in strict order. No tweaking.” 12 pitchers got at least 1 start in 2023. Those days are over.

[bailey]

Closer: Cody Allen – the gold card I earned from a challenge mode gold pack. Now degraded to silver status, he's still got the best stuff (128) and highest movement and control ratings of anyone else on the roster, including the reserves.

He briefly lost his closer role after Trevor Rosenthal was obtained in the draft. But a physical revealed a viral infection that will likely impact his ratings in the future. That is exactly what happened and this high silver card is now a low silver card. Despite diminished ratings, the team is hopeful that he can still be effective.

The Rest: 5 out of 15 available. You don't get much PP out of a bullpen, so I don't spend a lot on it. I only carry 6 bullpen arms which means they tend to all get gassed frequently. When I notice this I rotate other guys in from the reserves.

Bullpen on Sunday night



Bullpen now



and the reserves

[bailey]

[Charlatan]

I'm enjoying this series, so thanks for your continued updates.

I am also trying to emulate your strategy with two teams in the entry pool. They both started on Monday so as to maximize time in the EP. But I gotta say it feels at this point that they're not generating anywhere the amount of PP your team did.

One of the teams is participating in a historical virtual league so that team's potential pool of players is smaller than the other's. But they're doing great! The other team can use just about anybody but even though I've picked up a few inexpensive hitters they seem unable to make contact with the ball. It's frustrating.

I also wanted to say great choice on Frank Howard. I have him playing 1B on yet another team and he hits like a monster. Plus, it should be obvious he's my fav player!

[bailey]

The Fighting Hawks have a comfortable 4 game lead in their division despite losing 6 out of the last 7 games of May. The loss on May 31 was particularly galling, as the team rallied from 5 down, only to see the bullpen blow a 3 run lead. On field success has not led to the expected PP bonanza, however. At the rate of the first 2 months, the team will be lucky to make 10Kp for the season. By deploying a more defensive oriented lineup to aid the pitching staff, the hitters who are not so good defensively are not getting as many plate appearances. For example, Bill Madlock, defending batting champion, did not have enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting leaderboard. Therefore, Brooks Robinson was sent to the reserves to add another arm in the bullpen. Relying on 6 bullpen arms was just too few and they were almost always gassed, possibly explaining the May 31 debacle.



Note about earning PP. You almost always will have a game or two where you win 20-x. These games are often worth several thousand at a crack. Otherwise the points just dribble in, like I am experiencing so far this week.

Score-Ryan rivalry

A friendly rivalry has developed between Score and Ryan to see who can strike out the most batters. At the end of May Score leads 103-102. In 11 starts, both pitchers have painted the corner 6 times, but Ryan has the lead in PP earned because he was April Pitcher of the Month.




Famous last words revisited.

I know that I claimed that I would not mess with this team for the entire week, but the situation has changed. Only 4 teams get promoted to bronze this week, so that means the team MUST win the Division Series to advance. And if the team advances, I want the ring, too. The #4 starter of either Brown or Hitchcock did not inspire confidence and Archer, too, is “iffy”. So to improve the chances of a successful postseason, I decided to get 2 new starters. The first one was obtained in May, an impulse buy of a player I never heard of: Paul Derringer.
Derringer features wicked control like Brown, a knuckle curve (similar to Brown's knuckleball, I hope) and great stamina. The price was reasonable for a classic diamond, just 6,334p. That's 2,334 over face value and it is expected that the team will recoup that cost with “in control” and “Maddux” achievements.

[bailey]

The Highland Bass are a team mired in misery, having lost at least 113 games each season since 2019. This one game generated 13,250p which is more than was earned in either 2021 or 2022. I particularly like the first line of the achievement list, 100p for “out of slump”. Facing position players on the mound, the Hawks came to the plate 28 times in the 8th inning, reaching base 17 times on walks and only 8 hits. Somehow, out of 7 games against the Bass, the Hawks managed to lose one.





Nolan Ryan hurled the first no-hitter in franchise history and it came against the hapless Bass. Normally, a no-hitter would get more attention than this, but here it seems like a mere footnote compared to what happened ten days before.

[bailey]

The 15Kp that I earned in 7 games with the Bass is burning a hole in my pocket. Let's spend it.

June 14 – Oliver Perez joins the club.

This was the 2nd pitcher I planned to add. This was not an impulse buy because I have experience with him on Hawthorn's sister team, Northam. In 32 starts with Northam he “painted the corner” 14 times including 2 “rocket games” so I was thrilled to bring him to Hawthorn for a mere 2Kp. Note: Not to be confused with another pitcher, Odalis Perez.



June 21 – 2022 MVP, Dustin Fowler, GONE!

Dustin Fowler's tenure as CF for Hawthorn came to end today with the acquisition of Gary Maddox. Gary has plus plus contact against both RHP and LHP and gap power to go with it. This hitting prowess does not come with any sacrifice on the defensive part of his game, rating 103 in CF. “This is a player that will stay with the team into the Perfect League”, said an unnamed source. I paid the going rate for it: 5Kp. I think as this card becomes better known, it's price will rise.



July 2 – Let's play defense

Joe Cronin is the new everyday shortstop. Prior to this purchase Lowery and Bowa split time at the position depending on who was pitching. Cronin's defense is obviously superior to either player and the bat looks to be a slight upgrade as well with more extra base power and more walks albeit with more strikeouts. Whether it's worth 8Kp vs. 100p for Bowa or even less for Lowrey is hard to say, but I don't think Cronin's price will go down anytime soon and it will save me a lot of micromanagement. Lowery and Bowa will continue to be backups, so Carew was sent to the reserves. Cronin will get training at 2B, so Bowa was kept to play SS in that case.



July 31 – Summer Update

4 players made the All-Star team

Rich Gedman – His 5th in a row; he recovered nicely after a miserable April when he batted .186 for that month.

Frank Howard – As expected, he is leading the conference in home runs

Nolan Ryan – Conference leader in strikeouts. Teammate Herb Score strikes out more batters per 9, but walks 50% more batters than Ryan, so he just can't pitch as many innings.

Bill Madlock – Conference leader in batting average.

The team itself has fallen ½ game back of the Twin Falls Scarlet Knights. Their run differential is much higher than mine, so may be difficult to catch. A wild card berth seems certain, at least.

[bailey]

In order to get as many “corner painting” achievements as I do, I set the global strategy for hooking starters to the slowest possible. The cost of doing this is that after a pitcher tosses 130+ pitches, he is not fully rested after 4 days. This means I need to often use a spot starter to give my regular 5 pitchers a chance to get rested. On August 10, 2024, I faced a quandary. The team was smokin' hot riding a 6 game winning streak, but the only starter ready to go was Hal Brown. But I couldn't trust him for this crucial start. He was 8-7, 5.89 ERA and Twin Falls was matching our winning streak. A quick trip to the AH and I found the guy I had been looking for AND at a reasonable price: Cisco Carlos.

Cisco Carlos is an extreme groundball pitcher with extremely high movement. To treat him right we definitely need a strong defensive infield. That's why we have Joe Cronin (def 113 at SS) and Eddie Mayo (def 112 at 2B) on the team. “Cisco is the kind of pitcher we need to compete effectively today and at the Perfect Level,” a team spokesman told reporters. The price paid was a staggering 28Kp, but thanks to an exceptionally good week, funds were available, so why not pull the trigger?

The winning streak is now 7.

[bailey]

The team was sizzlin' hot throughout the month as they went 20-6. The 7-game winning streak mentioned in the last post was immeditely snapped when Nolan Ryan uncorked his worst start ever as a Fighting Hawk, but the team made ammends with a 9-game winning streak later in the month. We enjoy a 5 game lead over Twin Falls, so the Oracle gives us a 100% chance of making the playoffs. 7 games remain with the Scarlet Knights, but this should only decide who gets to be the wildcard.




There were 2 notable individual performances during the month.

1) Ralph Kiner had a 6 game home run streak for 1000p. When I noticed this, I decided to hold him back for a most favorable setup against a homer-prone RHP in homer-friendly Bailey Park. Unfortunately, I had to hold him back for 14 days. Rust is apparently a thing in PT20 because when the fateful game arrived, Kiner struck out 4 times.




2) Nolan Ryan pitched a complete game 1-hitter against the O'Fallon Panthers. In PT20 this is worth 250p. Unfortunately, for Nolan and the team, the Panthers' pitching staff uncorked their own 1-hitter against us resulting in a 1-0 defeat. No PP for shared 1-hitter.

[bailey]

Did you know?
3 way tiebreakers in OOTP have been fixed.


September kicked off with a 4 game series on the road against the Twin Falls Scarlet Knights. The first game ended on a sour note as the normally reliable closer, Cody Allen, blew his 3rd save of the season in spectacular fashion: a walk-off grand salami. Out of the 4 games, the good guys could win only one, but they shrugged off this setback and won 15 of the next 17 games. Amazingly, the pesky Knights duplicated this feat! Fittingly, the race was not decided until the Knights arrived in Hawthorn for a 3 game series. A complete game shutout by Paul Derringer and a walkoff home run by Willard Marshall clinched the first division championship for the Fighting Hawks.! The jubilant crowd partied late into the night singing the Theme Song.






The team ended an excellent season on a strong note: winning 8 out of the final 10 games for a total of 106 victories. The team is premier in hitting and the pitching and defense took a tremendous leap forward during the season. Bill Madlock repeated as conference batting champion and Frank Howard won the HR title with 52.

Somehow, Bill Madlock, Michael Brantley, and Larry Bowa managed to steal 1 base each despite express instructions that stealing was forbidden. Rumors swirl around town that a new acquisition was already made that would add a new dimension to the Fighting Hawks: the running game. Management was quick to quash the rumors that someone new was being brought in for the post season.

Meanwhile, the stage is set at Bailey Park to host the first ever post season game in franchise history. The opponent is still not known, but it will be either the Twin Falls Scarlet Knights or the Chicago Cubmen. On September 1, the Cubmen were left for dead at 64-70, 8.5 games back of 2nd wildcard. A furious 20-8 spree down the stretch got them a piece of a 3-way tie for the last wildcard spot and they got the job done in the extra games required.