Meet the Hawthorn Fighting Hawks

[bailey]

Team spirits were riding high when the Chicago Cubmen arrived in town. Everyone was expecting the Twin Falls squad, but they went down in flames when their best starter, Ryan Yarbrough, 21-7 4.53 ERA was not fully rested and so unable to pitch the wild card game. The 83-80 Cubmen were hot, winning 21 games in September and October, but folks were quick to point out that the Mighty Fighting Hawks had won 22 in the same span. GM Bailey was overconfident and so made a critical blunder before the first pitch was thrown. He failed to remove a superfluous bench player in favor of another bullpen arm. An especially egregious error knowing how quickly 6 bullpen arms can get gassed.

Game 1 – Speed Bump

Nolan Ryan pitched brilliantly striking out 15 Cubmen for the “Rocket Game” achievement (800p), but the bats were silent. Our good friend, Sterling Hitchcock, showed up for 4 innings to limit us to 1 run on 4 hits, followed by a succession of no-name bullpen guys who finished us off. 2-1 the final score left the home crowd stunned.



Game 2 – Recovery

Oliver Perez got the start for game 2. He had pitched brilliantly since his arrival in June, with a record of 11-2, and a club best 2.63 ERA. However, he struggled with his command and was relieved in the 6th inning trailing 2-1. Reyes Moronta put out the fire and Sam Tuivailala retired the remaining 9 Cubmen in order. Meanwhile, the bats came to life. Rich Gedman slugged 2 home runs as the home team won 7-2. Sam Tuivailala is a newcomer to club who pitched in 5 games and in 8 2/3 innings struck out 15 while walking just one. I picked him up for the minimum 100p when I noticed he was the saves leader in Bronze League .213. His “stuff” isn't quite up to 128 rating, but he has better movement and control than usual in my relief pitchers. He is currently on the injured list, so his ratings will be stable for awhile. A “no risk” pickup.



Game 3 – Disaster

The series moved to Chicago for the next 2 games and Herb Score got the nod for this pivotal contest. Somewhat out of the lime light since the arrival of Nolan Ryan, he was anxious to put a W on the scoreboard. But it was not to be. He was rocked for 6 runs in the 3rd and took an early shower. The bullpen finished the game perfectly and the bats tried to catch up, but came up short 6-4.

Game 4 – 28Kp Man Scratched

Now the bullpen was mostly yellow or red, with only the long man, Chris Archer, and the closer, Cody Allen, unused. Fearing an extra inning game would be the end of us, SP usable in relief was checked. Cisco Carlos was the next scheduled starter, but his stamina is low, his starts averaging only 6 innings. To complicate things further, Nolan Ryan threw 134 pitches in the first game and it was unclear if he would be fully rested for game 5. So the ball was handed to Paul Derringer and Cisco Carlos was saved for game 5. Derringer whose last 2 games were complete games, delivered another one; a complete game 6-2 victory knotting the series and bailing GM Bailey out from his foolish mistake.

Game 5 – Ryan Ready to Go.

And go he did. Another “rocket game” for 800p and striking out 16 this time in just 7 innings. Rich Gedman, slugged his 4th home run of the series to put the team on top 3-1 in the 5th inning. Ryan started the 8th inning, but a lead-off walk brought Reyes Moronta in to put out the fire like in game 2. Except, he didn't. In fact, it became a raging inferno and his game 2 followup, Sam Tuivailala, who I praised so highly up above, blew the save. Going into the bottom of the 9th the team was on the wrong of a 4-3 score. Here's how the final inning played out on the ticker tape.




No PP for a walk off walk.

[bailey]

After that narrow escape in the Division Series, the team learned not to take anyone for granted. The Boston Beacons scored an upset win in the Division Series by losing the first two games and coming back to win. They defeated Perfect Christy Mathewson in Game 5 to punch their ticket to Hawthorn.



Game 1 – Taking Care of Business

Cisco Carlos finally got his post-season debut and he made the most of it. While he normally pitches to contact, he pitched inspired and struck out 10 over 8 innings for a 3-0 win at Bailey Park.


Game 2 – Going Our Way

Oliver Perez followed up with his own 8 innings of masterpiece and struck out 11 en route to a 6-2 victory. He got into a jam once in the 4th inning. The bases were loaded, but he got Asdrubal Cabrera to ground into double play.

Game 3 and 4 – The Lighthouse -- not a friendly beacon for visitors.

Like the Chi-Town Railers who lost two games at The Lighthouse, so did our erstwhile Fighting Hawks. GM Bailey, hoping to save Nolan Ryan for the finals, opted to send Paul Derringer to the mound, but this time he didn't get out of the first inning and the Hawks' wings were clipped 8-2. Nolan Ryan fared little better in game 4; he was clearly off his game with a Score-esque line of walking 9 and striking out 8. Even so, he left the game leading 5-2, but the bullpen couldn't hold with Sam Tuivailala blowing his 2nd save of the post-season.

Game 5 – Redemption

Herb Score was called upon to reverse the trend the next day and he did so with a superlative effort. In 8 solid innings he struck out 8 and in a surprsing twist didn't walk a batter. That was the first time in 34 starts in 2024 that he was “in control”. The bullpen coughed up 4 runs in the bottom of the 9th to make it close: 8-5. Willard Marshall's 3 run homer in the 5th provided the margin of victory.

Game 6 – Taking Care of Business, Not

It was hoped that returning to the friendly confines of Bailey Park, would inspire Cisco Carlos to repeat his performance of game 1, but this was not to be. With the scored tied 2-2 and a man on 1st with 1 out in the 7th, Reyes Moronta was summoned from the pen to do what he does best, turn wisps of smoke into raging fires. He did not get a single out while 5 runs crossed the plate. The team goes down in flames, 7-5.

Game 7 – FINALS, BABY!

[bailey]

The road to the Iron League Finals for the two hopefuls could not have been more different. The American Conference Champion, Taiwan, was a wild-card entrant that mowed down the 110-win Pittsburgh team (and another copy of perfect Christy Mathewson) 3 games to zip in the Division Series and then the Port Washington Express in the Sub League series 4 games to zip. This contrasts with my team, that won its division by 8 games, but struggled to get by its playoff opponents by the slimmest of margins.

Game 1 – Taiwan makes it 9 straight

Nolan Ryan was ineffective and the bats awoke too late. With 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th and the tying run on 2nd base, Joe Cronin “stood there like a house by the side of the road and watched it go by.” to end the game. However, once again the relievers of choice were Moronta and Tuivailala, neither of whom did any damage this time although they tried. Moronta faced 6 batters in the 8th, walking 3 and striking out 3. I changed them to “use less often” and “avoid high leverage”.

Game 2 – Defense hands Taiwan first post-season defeat

The Hawthorn lineup took a new look with Herb Score on the mound. Michael Brantley replaced Ralph Kiner in LF and Mike Matheny replaced Rich Gedman behind the dish. Both substitutes were made to improve the defense. Herb Score struck out 10 in 6 innings, walked 6 and gave up 2 hits. Finally, we saw some new blood from the bullpen, Moe Drabowsky and Reymin Guduan, were perfect in holding the game for Cody Allen to save. All the Hawthorn scoring came in the 6th inning, with a leadoff home run by Marshall, back to back doubles, by Maddox and Brantley, a walk to Cronin and a double by Howard scored 4.

Game 3 – 3 errors spoil the fun

Frank Howard staked his team to a 3 run lead in the first inning with his 3rd blast of the post-season and Bill Madlock plated 2 with a 7th inning double, but the pitching and defense were unavailable for duty and a 6-5 loss was the result.


Game 4 – We are 3-0 in elimination games, (need to make that 6-0).

Willard Marshall homered in the top of the 1st , but Oliver Perez allowed back-to-back jacks for 3 runs in the bottom of the frame. Perez would go on to strike out 10, but the damage could not be undone. An interesting note is that streaks from the regular season now carry over into the post-season, as this loss ended a 10 game win streak for Perez and I received 175p for it.

Game 5 – Riding the Bumps with a Grin

Larry Bowa was inserted into the lineup at the last minute, replacing the slumping Eddie Mayo. Joe Cronin was deemed good enough to play 2B even though his training there was only half complete. Bowa responded with 3 hits, but once again the pitching was not sharp and the season ends without an iron level series ring for the trophy cabinet. Congratulations to our opponent for a well-played series.

[bailey]

2024 ended with awards and Hawthorn got its share.

Frank Howard -- Great Bat at 1B for his .318/.404/.611 performance. He led the league in HR, RBI, slugging percentage, OPS+, and WAR (6.8)

Frank Howard -- MVP, obviously, with 28 first place votes, the other 2 going to perfect Christy Mathewson.

J.D. Martinez -- Great Bat at DH

Eddie Mayo -- Great Glove at 2B -- 112 DEF rating will do that.

Financial Recap

The team moves on to Bronze, but here is the PP recap for the stay in iron. Even without the lucky 13Kp game, the 2023 PP record would have been shattered by a wide margin.

[bailey]

Just 5 games into the new season at the Bronze Level the team was 5-0 and there was this:




Also in the News

Adalberto Mondesi was indeed acquired during the offseason for less than 2Kp. Adalberto is a versatile defender capable of playing effectively at all positions except pitcher or catcher. Blessed with decent power and a lot of speed, he can earn the “20/20 player” achievement given enough playing time. He will be given the green light to steal bases because of his proven ability to steal at better than an 80% success rate, which according to The Book is the break even point for stealing bases. He replaces Peanuts Lowrey in the super utility backup role.



Also, acquired near the end of April was Johnny Pesky. Another great defensive shortstop, like Cronin, with good contact, but little power, he can be cross-trained at all the infield positions. The deal was widely criticized for its extravagant cost. At 9Kp, it was not a bargain because there is little chance of making much of that up with achievements. The only thing he brings to the table is to make it more likely this team will win games and rise up the ladder faster than is wise for an F2P player. He replaces gold glove winner Eddie Mayo.

[bailey]

After the glorious 5-0 start the team settled into a boring stretch of .500 ball. Nevertheless they close out the month of May in 1st place by 1 game. The season is dedicated to a lot of defensive training: Pesky at 2B and Mondesi just about everywhere. It took Cronin about 40 games to reach 100 DEF at 2B, so if that holds true for Mondesi, it might take 2 seasons to get him competent at all positions. The training has hurt the starting staff badly as collectively they have one of the worst ERA in the league north of 5. For some reason, this has not bothered the relief crew which has the conference's best ERA. This state of affairs resulted in a 7-run comeback for 400p. The hitters are not doing so hot, either. 2-time defending batting champion, Bill Madlock, is starting to heat up with a 20-game hitting streak. Defending MVP, Frank Howard, is just doing OK with 10 home runs.

[bailey]

The team had a good month winning 9 out of the last 10 and 20-7 overall to grab an 7.5 game lead in the division. Rich Gedman is the surprising club leader in home runs with 19. He was player of the week in early June when he had a 5 game HR streak. Meanwhile, Frank Howard went 5 weeks without hitting a bomb. Newcomer, Johnny Pesky, ends the month with an active 14-game hitting streak and batting .346. That would lead the conference if he had enough plate appearances. “Corner Painting” is way down, just 6 times half way through 2025. Last season the starting rotation achieved that feat 45 times. Hard to believe there is that big of a difference between iron and bronze.

[bailey]

Team hitting continues to be stellar, while every starting pitcher has an ERA below 6 for the first time all season. The lead is now 9.5 games.



Noteworthy:

Adalberto Mondesi stole home, but when you are leading 7-0 may be against the unwritten rules of baseball.



We defeated a 1st place team 31-5. Facing position players on the mound for 3 innings racked up an extra 7120p.



Garry Maddox had a 23-game hitting streak stopped in a game where the team got 16 hits. The next day he had another 0-fer when the team had 22 hits.

5 players made the All-Star game: Rich Gedman (6th time), Johnny Pesky, Cody Allen, Cisco Carlos, and Trevor Rosenthal. 3 pitchers selected reflects the improved pitching staff.

[bailey]

Nothing much happened except the team marched on towards a division crown. The lead is now 16 games and a magic number of 13, but PP earnings were in the toilet. Let's just say that the first 2 games in September earned more PP than all of August.

Edit: I just noticed, Oliver Perez was pitcher of the month.

I did add one arm to the bullpen: Andrew Vasquez
His ratings should remain stable as he is in AAA with an injury. So far, in 5 games, he has struck out 11 and not given up a run. I will move him to closer if Cody Allen falters.

[bailey]

The team clinched the division on Sept 9 and finished strongly winning 101 games and earning the best record in the conference. The Santa Monica Beachgoers won 122 games in the other conference and we had the honor of losing 5 out of 6 to them. The one win came early in the season before they obtained all the players they have now.

Johnny Pesky slid into the batting championship (400p) when I shut him down in the middle of an 11 game hitting streak that vaulted his average to .341. Rod Carew of the Philadelphia Brewers was ahead by 10 points at the time, but I counted on a slump for him which happened. Frank Howard was never really in the race for HR champion, but a late spurt made it look like he had been.



Adalberto Mondesi waited until the very last at bat of the season to hit his 20th home run after hitting his 19th on September 10. This was important because he earned the 20/20 achievement for 100p. His 47 stolen bases was way behind Billy Hamilton's 74 (OVR 69), but competitive with Ty Cobb (OVR 100) who had 51.

Nolan Ryan was pitcher of the month.

[bailey]

October 2025 – Movin' On Up

As expected, the Santa Monica Beachgoers completely dominated the playoffs, dispatching their opponents 3 games to zip, 4 games to zip and 4 games to 1 in the finals. Unfortunately, the Fighting Hawks were not the victim finalists and missed out on 1000p. They were upended in the Sub-League Series by the Philadelphia Brewers. We handled the Brewers easily during the season, but were overwhelmed by them in the post season.



Cisco Carlos lost both his starts rather brutally and I am beginning to wish I had my 28Kp back. He doesn't earn any PP and he can't win the big games. He'll be plying his trade in the bullpen next season. Replacing him in the starting rotation will be Paul Dean who earned over 5Kp for the previous owner and I paid just 1252p.




The team parts ways with Kyle Barraclough, a challenge mode pickup, for 100p. He pitched poorly on Sunday giving up 4 runs on 2 hits, a walk, and a hit batter. His OVR 70 is expected to go down and his 5+ ERA in PT did not warrant keeping him.

On the brighter side, the team played well in bronze and by virtue of winning the division series advances to silver level. Several players earned awards:

Nolan Ryan – Best Pitcher
Cody Allen – Best Reliever, in PT20 now worth 600p

Great Bat Award winners:
Rich Gedman, catcher, his 3rd – led all catchers in HR, RBI, and WAR
Johnny Pesky, 2B, his 1st – conference batting champion and led all 2B in OBP and slugging
Ralph Kiner, LF, his 2nd – 31 Home Runs
Adalberto Mondesi, RF, his 1st, – he led the league in XBH, triples, and slugging percentage. He didn't have a particularly good week and I hope the ratings hit is not too bad.

Nobody won a Great Glove. I expected Joe Cronin to win at SS, but he was edged out by Bud Harrelson who had a better fielding percentage by .001 point. The pitching staff strikes out so many batters that poor Joe doesn't get much work out there.

Total PP generated for the week came to 28,560p

[bailey]

I picked up a copy of Jose Alvarado to become my new closer, at least for this week. I can always sell him back for the 4Kp I paid if he has a bad week. Meanwhile, there are 25 copies just like him on the auction block right now for about 4555Kp each. Just think of how much you would earn if he became a Perfect Card.



Like last season the team got off to a good start, but faded towards .500 ball by the end of April, 2.5 games behind.

Different pitcher, same achievement, same date as last season.

[bailey]

At the break the team is 53-43, but 13.5 games behind the Bad Boys who have clearly spent some bucks this week. It's seems highly unlikely I can get past them in a hypothetical Division Series matchup. I am in the thick of the wild card race, but having to play the Bad Boys 19 times puts me at a disadvantage. I enjoy a 2 game lead over 2 other contenders, but they both have better run differential than my team. In any event, oddsmakers put my odds of promoting to the gold level at less than 10%.

PP generation is really bad this week; I'll be fortunate to make 10Kp. Luckily, one of my speculations turn to gold. Gregory Polanco of the Pittsburgh Pirates became gold this week and my 6 copies are now worth 4300p more than I paid for them. Hopefully, he continues to rake all the way to diamond.

Frank Howard struggled in April and I replaced him with Rhys Hoskins who was already in the reserves, but he was even worse. Rhys Hoskins is on the HR leaderboard in several silver leagues I checked, (including the one I am in). I would've given him longer than 12 games, but I had a chance to add Mark Loretta for just 1305p. Normally a 2B, he will train nicely at 1B and after just 7 games at the other hot corner provides better defense than Frank ever did. His ratings are balanced against both lefties and righties with a fair eye and difficult to strike out. Fewer homers, but better OBP with decent XBH power. He'd be in the mix for batting champion, but won't get enough plate appearances.




Frank Howard spent 2 full season and parts of 2 others with us and earned a pile of PP: 4700p. He is a bargain priced player for any iron or bronze level team. He's probably good at silver, too, I just never gave him the chance.


Slightly more expensive at 2500p was Jimmy Piersall. My plan for this guy is to train at all the OF positions and be a desirable backup for each position. In retrospect, it seems extragavant to pay that much for a backup player, but the current 7-day average for this guy is 3500p. He will replace Michael Brantley who, like Frank Howard, was struggling at the plate. Brantley has been with the club since the beginning and earned a nice PP income for me: 1790p.



Three Fighting Hawks were All-Star Game selections:

Nolan Ryan – League leader in strikeouts, in his last outing, he took a no-hitter into the 9th inning, but lost the game because his teammates could not score a single run.

Garry Maddox – League leader (tied with teammate Johnny Pesky) in batting average. He also leads the league in batter WAR.

J.D. Martinez – League leader in home runs with 24.

Noteworthy All-Star Game snubs: Johnny Pesky, 2nd in votes for 2nd baseman and Rich Gedman, 3rd in votes for catcher, who misses the game for the first time.

[bailey]

The 10 games over .500 I reported in the last post was the team's high water mark until the last week of the season. There were 6 teams squabbling over 2 wild card spots for all of September, never more than 4 games apart from top to bottom. The good boys took care of business on the last day of the season, defeating the division leading Bad Boys to clinch a post season berth. However, as expected, the Bad Boys cleaned our clock 3 games to zip in the Division Series.

In the postseason awards, only J.D. Martinez got a great bat. Ralph Kiner was conference HR champion with 35 dingers, but a .259 batting average must have held him back from getting a great bat award. In the end, the PP earned was a barely acceptable 11,460p thanks to the fluky Hi-Def achievement on Day Two. A good chunk of that was lost when I forgot to sell Jose Alvarado on Sunday night. His downgrade to gold this week leaves me with irate fans calling for my resignation. I should probably tender it because an accounting shows that I have spent about 100Kp on the active roster and not much to show for the expenditure. It's pretty clear I don't have a clue how to play this game.

[bailey]

Kind of a timeout week. No changes to personnel. I took time to train Jim Piersall at the corner outfield positions and this caused me to lose games. Once I put Kiner and Marshall in the lineup every day, abandoned leading off with a HR hitter, and putting Cisco Carlos in the starting rotation, the team began to win. These three things ignited an 11-game winning streak to close out August and put the team in first place. They had been 8.5 games back at the All-Star break. In the end, the division championship would be decided by a 3 game set between the two leading teams in the final series of the season. With a 1 game lead, we lost 2 out of 3 to force game 163 which was also lost. No problem, the wild card berth had been clinched some time before.

Despite Ralph Kiner losing at least 20 games for Piersall's training, he won the HR championship anyway, while Mark Loretta won the batting title with a solid .350.

So far, everything is rosy, winning the wildcard and sweeping the division series against a 98-win team that beat us 5 out of 6 during the regular season. Of course, this means promotion to gold for a team that never won its division in silver.

[bailey]

The LCS started on a high note and winning the odd numbered games seemed like a good idea, until the pivotal game 7 was lost. As usual, there were plenty of awards to go around.

Ralph Kiner – Great Bat for LF
Mark Loretta – Great Bat for 1B and also MVP!
Johnny Pesky – Great Glove for 2B, also the lone representive in the All-Star game.
Joe Cronin – Great Glove for SS
Garry Maddox – Great Glove for CF

The grand total for PP earned in 2027 weighs in at 16,360p which is more than I made in entry pool.


BREAKING NEWS –



I didn't want to be rude, but now that Cisco Carlos and Herb Score are on their way to new places of work I can be honest. The LCS was lost because Cisco Carlos, an extreme groundball pitcher who is supposed to not give up home runs, failed to get out of the 4th inning TWICE. He allowed a home run in each game and apparently did not benefit one iota from 3 gold gloves up the middle, and let's not forget Andrelton Simmons, 117 DEF at 3B, nor Mark Loretta 79 DEF at 1B.

As for Herb Score, he recovered somewhat from a disastrous 2026 season in the silver leagues (6-11, 5.15 ERA) with 12-13, 4.57 ERA in 2027 including winning pitcher of the month in August. But, by September, he fell apart again so I didn't trust him to pitch a single inning in the postseason.

Financially, I took a loss on both sales, Carlos cost us 1,450p, only partially made up by 1,040p of achievements, while I lost 2Kp even on Score, but his achievements were legendary—9,480p. Of course, more than half of that was because of two fluky Hi-Def achievements, but we wish the new owner best of luck with that. I hope the new owner is in the iron league because as the team advanced, Score's value on the field and as PP earner declined. Lessons learned about listening to advice on Discord.

That leaves a couple vacancies on the pitching staff, but for now I will look at my reserves before going on a wild spending spree.

[bailey]

Any doubts about this team being effective at Gold Level were quickly quashed after a sizzling 18-8 April. Team batting average was over .300 while team pitching ERA was less than 3.50. Although obviously an unsustainable performance, the NC East is a weak division. The other 4 teams have a combined 20 seasons at the gold level and only twice exceeded .500 and never once making the playoffs. I'm already printing playoff tickets.

It took awhile to fill the vacancy in the starting rotation. Chris Archer, originally OVR 80, but now down to OVR 74 was not effective, nor was Mike Clevinger OVR 76. Given the team's fine start, I did not fool around too long, but options in the Auction House were meager and expensive. Is the AH already dead? I eventually opted to spend 7200p on Felix Hernandez, OVR 89. This is more than I paid for Derringer, OVR 91, so the risk is high. He is a groundball pitcher; let's hope he does better than Cisco Carlos. I opted not to spoil the picture by including the changeup which is rated just 29.



I'm also trying to revamp the bullpen, trying to get away from 2019 Live players with 128 stuff, but with other ratings in the toilet and subject to extreme variance. I added Steve Howe and Marsh Freeman, two similarly rated players with modest stuff, but superior movement and control. (Howe on the right).



Also, OVR 67 (!) Bob Stanley (25p) is performing great so far.



Cody Allen, who was 2025 reliever of the year, already lost his job two seasons ago because his OVR is in freefall (OVR 86 down to 72). I'm trying out Andrew Vasquez as the closer, described in post 49. I also regret being fancy and paying 4Kp for “diamond-of-the-week”, Jose Alvarado. This “no risk” buy declined again this week making it unlikely to ever see diamond again, however, he has been effective as my closer for 2 seasons. I'm changing to Vasquez whose 127 stuff may earn me more 1-2-3 strike out the side achievements and extreme groundball tendency may make him more effective overall given my elite infield defense.

[bailey]

All those playoff tickets I printed in April had to be recycled along with eating a good serving of crow. Nothing appeared to be amiss 3 weeks into May rolling on a 8-game winning streak. These were the standings:




Then, the wheels fell off and there was an 8-game losing streak. This was broken with the arrival of Babe Ruth (the 94 OVR), but this was not what the team needed.



I see now that pitching and defense are more important than power hitters like Ruth. Ultimately, the team ended the season out of the playoffs and under .500: 80-82, 3rd place. The only post-season award was a Gold Glove for Johnny Pesky and PP earned was just 8680. Together with profits from player sales, the 10-week total amounts to just over $100 worth of PP. The house cleaning began at once with the sale of Ralph Kiner and the arrival of Darrin Erstad, improving LF defense from 29 to 102.



There was another development that has put this team and dynasty on hiatus for the foreseeable future. I haven't given up, but I blame my cat waking me up unusually early last Wednesday just after the 8 game losing streak had me in the dumpster. I decided to “invest” “some” moolah and bought Cy Young 100 and Walter Johnson 100 for my Collingwood Magpies team. One thing led to another and I became a true blue whale, so my focus in the game has shifted away from F2P.


Postscript - 2029

Oddly, minimal tinkering in 2029 led to one of the best seasons ever: 87-75 1st place finish and a whopping 20,395 PP earned. A 3 games to 1 loss in the divisional series kept the team in gold for 2030. The minimal tinkering was replacing Oliver Perez with Chris Short and Mike Matheny with Mark Lavalliere.

[bailey]

With hardly any attention paid to the team this week and absolutely zero tinkering the team won its division! I checked in throughout the week and found the team about 6-8 games behind everyday. The beginning of September was no exception even though I had a huge run differential advantage.



The team came to life in the last month and after 159 games was tied for first with the Illinois Good Boys, with a final 3 game series against that very team on tap to end the season. The Fighting Hawks won the first two to seal a division championship. They made it as far as game 7 of the LCS where the magic ran out, but a promotion to diamond was assured. Despite the loss, Babe Ruth was named LCS MVP.

Mark Loretta won the batting championship and Babe Ruth was MVP.
Cronin (3rd time) and Pesky (4th time) won Gold Gloves, so the team is strong up the middle, if nothing else. PP earned was a respectable 15855.
Edit: Never mind, 15855 is correct.

Notes:

Collections are out and getting Babe Ruth 94 might have been a stroke of luck as it should be easy to sell for a nice profit. So far, the team is getting its clock cleaned in diamond, so a rebuild is necessary when I get around to it. Also, pray San Diego's Franmil Reyes gets hot because I have 10Kp invested in 30 copies. I'd hoped his outstanding hard hit rate could carry him to diamond status (although I dreamt of perfect status), but now I'll settle for gold status. He got as high as 79, but has fallen back to 77.

[bailey]

The neglected stepchild of the Collingwood Magpies had an interesting season. Checking in on Monday, all I saw was a loss of the first 8 games in April and didn't check back until late Wednesday night. That's when I discovered that I had inadvertantly left just 4 starters in the rotation. Needless to say every pitcher on the team was gassed, but somehow had managed to play .500 ball. Indeed, Felix Hernandez managed to record the first perfect game in my PT history for any team while being overworked.




To ease the strain on the staff, I purchased Dave Righetti in the AH who promptly threw a Maddux in his first start. I also completed the Lefty-Righty mission and acquired Lefty Gomez. After 3 starts, I decided to sell Lefty for a handsome profit since it only cost me about 8K to assemble the collection. I'm hoping to repurchase in a few weeks at a much lower price when people realize how cheaply you can build the collection if you are patient.







I also added Wade Boggs (OVR 87) at 3B. I hurriedly bought him when I noticed Larry Bowa was hitting below .200, not realizing Simmons was my full-time 3B! That snafu forced me to play Simmons at SS against RHP moving Cronin to a backup role and only getting starts aginst LHP.

At the beginning of September, the Oracle gave me an 8% chance at the wildcard, but selling Gomez probably put an end to that slim chance. The team finished 83-79, not too shabby for this rookie season in Diamond. Mark Loretta repeated as batting champion and Babe Ruth repeated as MVP. J.D. Martinez hit the most HR since 2023, but missed the HR championship by 1. Pesky and Lavalliere earned Gold Gloves. PP income, aided by the perfect game for 5K, was 15,590. So, despite the poor start the team proved to be worthy of its promotion to Diamond.