The Season 2 (2020) Discussion Thread

[nickwatic]

63 win team promoted but all the 79 win teams in my bronze league weren't. I'd be big pissed if I was them

[Kushiel]

Originally Posted by Thalion

It was an honor meeting you in the World Series.

I’m just happy beating the Knights to get there.

I actually won the clinching game there on a wild pitch in the bottom of the 10th.

I was happy that you beat them. I think it is going to be a fun season. Good luck... except for the 19 times you play me I hope we meet in the playoffs after we finish the season.But I want a different outcome

[jedao]

Uh, i notice some increase in competition. This time I will not be favorite, not with this team in the league:

[sharknut]

Only 3 teams in my conference with more than 90 wins the previous year and 1 with 121 wins. I feel good that I can compete with my 88 win team in my silver league

Didn't spend any money, but was able to buy a few gold and diamond players in the 'off-season'. I think I will be right there.

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by Maddox

My pitching staff though is mainly live series cards. I may eventually replace them with Historicals but right now you just get so much more bang for the buck with current pitchers.

This is absolutely true, unfortunately. The historical pitchers are still overpriced on the AH (supply is short and demand is apparently high). I am tempted to flip deGrom because that would give me enough with what I already have to buy a true #1 historical.

I still have Posey too. I pulled him from a pack early and haven't found anything better that I can afford among the historicals. I have Molina as a backup, so I certainly have bigger problems than catcher.

[Thalion]

I'm happy with my team in general.

I've been working on a theory that kind of occurred to me last night as I watched on Discord a lot of the whale type teams either losing in the playoffs or being pushed to the brink.

It involves the thought that building a roster to win in the season or garner a lot of PP through achievements may not be the optimal kind of team to win in short series such as the playoffs.

I've not fleshed it out yet and will probably need more data points before I'm more comfortable with it overall though.

[Germaniac]

To improve my team I guess I'll have to buy cards at the Auction House.

I can't even remember when I pulled the last card I could use for my team

[Northernsky]

I was matched up with a team that has 4 100's and all diamonds on active and then 4 diamonds and all golds on reserver. Boggle. Anyway he may hand my butt to me and win this set of games but as I have learned playing OOTP solo so many years is that no matter how stacked your team is you still have to lose. So far this is the only whale team so I am happy with that.

Bronze was a blast!

[Kushiel]

Originally Posted by Thalion

I'm happy with my team in general.

I've been working on a theory that kind of occurred to me last night as I watched on Discord a lot of the whale type teams either losing in the playoffs or being pushed to the brink.

It involves the thought that building a roster to win in the season or garner a lot of PP through achievements may not be the optimal kind of team to win in short series such as the playoffs.

I've not fleshed it out yet and will probably need more data points before I'm more comfortable with it overall though.

You have a nice team and I agree with your logic. This is why I may have good cards but I have sold Gary Carter, Chris Sale, Pedro Martinez, Bob Gibson as well as other top OVR cards because they do not have the ratings that I am looking for on my team. I take certain ratings numbers placed into a self designed equation to grade my cards. No matter what a player looks like, if he does not fit he is gone. Three weeks of Beta and now Bronze, I have been to all 4 world series of those leagues winning twice and losing twice. Everybody needs a plan besides looking at the OVR

[scott1964]

My Denver Bears are out of the gate to a 3-0 start. But Trenton Minutemen are sucking once again.

[Thalion]

Originally Posted by Kushiel

You have a nice team and I agree with your logic. This is why I may have good cards but I have sold Gary Carter, Chris Sale, Pedro Martinez, Bon Gibson as well as other top OVR cards because they do not have the ratings that I am looking for on my team. I take certain ratings numbers placed into a self designed equation to grade my cards. No matter what a player looks like, if he does not fit he is gone. Three weeks of Beta and now Bronze, I have been to all 4 world series of those leagues winning twice and losing twice. Everybody needs a plan besides looking at the OVR

You're a lot more analytical than I am if you've got an equation you're working with. I deal in spreadsheets all day at work so I don't want to have to deal with those kinds of things at home.

But yeah, given the way PT works, certain ratings become very important in series play. Things that don't show up in achievements.

But I digress (and need to get back to work). It'll be fun seeing how it all plays out.

[DonkeyKongSr]

So my two best teams, a Bronze champion and a Bronze bubble team that was stuck in a super-stacked division, have ended up in the same league in different conferences. I'm hoping for a WS vs. myself, but it looks like most of the super teams (including a 13 Diamond, 2 Perfects team) from that league moved to the same conference with me. I'm going to need to make some serious upgrades.

[Matt Arnold]

Originally Posted by Orcin

This is absolutely true, unfortunately. The historical pitchers are still overpriced on the AH (supply is short and demand is apparently high). I am tempted to flip deGrom because that would give me enough with what I already have to buy a true #1 historical.

I still have Posey too. I pulled him from a pack early and haven't found anything better that I can afford among the historicals. I have Molina as a backup, so I certainly have bigger problems than catcher.

Yep, this is exactly my case too. My only live batters are now Ramos and Machado (and sometimes Molina as my 3rd catcher who I could throw onto the roster if need be). But other than a Rivera card, my bullpen is entirely live cards. Corbin is my only live card starter (not counting future legend Soroka).

I'm also torn between my desire to collect players who used to play for the Expos, and building up my top team. If I can find some way to get both Pedro and Carter, then I would probably switch over to trying the all-Expos roster. But saving up the 25k+ for Pedro is tough, never mind finding the Carter cards which rarely seem to go up for auction.

[DonkeyKongSr]

Originally Posted by Matt Arnold

Yep, this is exactly my case too. My only live batters are now Ramos and Machado (and sometimes Molina as my 3rd catcher who I could throw onto the roster if need be). But other than a Rivera card, my bullpen is entirely live cards. Corbin is my only live card starter (not counting future legend Soroka).

I'm also torn between my desire to collect players who used to play for the Expos, and building up my top team. If I can find some way to get both Pedro and Carter, then I would probably switch over to trying the all-Expos roster. But saving up the 25k+ for Pedro is tough, never mind finding the Carter cards which rarely seem to go up for auction.

My championship team is running 2 historical Diamond pitchers with elite stamina. They are so awesome I don't want to get rid of them, but they've seriously got to be worth a ton. One appears to never been sold (Dolf Luque) and the other appears to only have had a 20,001 BIN sale (Cy Blanton). I might just put one up for 100K or something and see what happens, because they are both essentially Perfects disguised as Diamonds.

[Kushiel]

Originally Posted by DonkeyKongSr

My championship team is running 2 historical Diamond pitchers with elite stamina. They are so awesome I don't want to get rid of them, but they've seriously got to be worth a ton. One appears to never been sold (Dolf Luque) and the other appears to only have had a 20,001 BIN sale (Cy Blanton). I might just put one up for 100K or something and see what happens, because they are both essentially Perfects disguised as Diamonds.

Shhhhh! Do not be telling people about Blanton Even though he gives better results than almost all diamonds higher than him.

[DonkeyKongSr]

Originally Posted by Kushiel

Shhhhh! Do not be telling people about Blanton Even though he gives better results than almost all diamonds higher than him.

LOL. You know what's awesome for me at least? Luque is even better.

I pretty much add on 5 to the Overall of any historical pitcher with 100+ stamina, because that extra 10-20 pitches (and sometimes up to 50!) is worth a ton of wins and a ton of PP.

EDIT: I've thought about it and I'm going to test the market with Blanton. He's up for 75K-100K right now. Worst case is I lose 3 or 4 starts from him if he doesn't sell, best case is I turn him into DeGrom+Trout+10-25 packs.

[zrog2000]

Originally Posted by Thalion

I'm happy with my team in general.

I've been working on a theory that kind of occurred to me last night as I watched on Discord a lot of the whale type teams either losing in the playoffs or being pushed to the brink.

It involves the thought that building a roster to win in the season or garner a lot of PP through achievements may not be the optimal kind of team to win in short series such as the playoffs.

I've not fleshed it out yet and will probably need more data points before I'm more comfortable with it overall though.

I have no idea how a team would be more likely to win in the playoffs than in the regular season. I'm all ears.

Now there is a theory that you need players who can hit elite pitching to do well in the postseason. There are a lot of players who feast on bad to mediocre pitching but can't hit elite pitching at all. But some don't drop off, and these are the guys who will do well in the postseason generally.

However, how would OOTP handle that in a way anyone can figure out? Do you need more Contact and Avoiding K's? I'm not sure. And I'm also not sure what kind of pitchers are better in the postseason.

It will be pretty impossible to figure much out with such short sample sizes though regardless. The worst team in baseball can sweep the best team in baseball. It happens all the time.

[DonkeyKongSr]

Originally Posted by zrog2000

I have no idea how a team would be more likely to win in the playoffs than in the regular season. I'm all ears.

Now there is a theory that you need players who can hit elite pitching to do well in the postseason. There are a lot of players who feast on bad to mediocre pitching but can't hit elite pitching at all. But some don't drop off, and these are the guys who will do well in the postseason generally.

However, how would OOTP handle that in a way anyone can figure out? Do you need more Contact and Avoiding K's? I'm not sure. And I'm also not sure what kind of pitchers are better in the postseason.

It will be pretty impossible to figure much out with such short sample sizes though regardless. The worst team in baseball can sweep the best team in baseball. It happens all the time.

Contact + Avoid K's sounds right to me. The elite pitchers aren't walking you much anyway, so you need players that can put the bat on the ball.

[Morug]

Originally Posted by Kushiel

I am in the division with Thalion's Walnut Hill Geezers in the MYNY league. They just beat me in the Bronze World Series. This is Going to be fun

I also my rival, Vyshka's Texarkana Tumbleweeds over in the other conference. We beat each other up all last season. Hopefully we can play in the WS this year. I see some of our other teams in this league too. Good luck, my friend

I'm in your league, let you find me:P

[Morug]

Originally Posted by Matt Arnold

Yep, this is exactly my case too. My only live batters are now Ramos and Machado (and sometimes Molina as my 3rd catcher who I could throw onto the roster if need be). But other than a Rivera card, my bullpen is entirely live cards. Corbin is my only live card starter (not counting future legend Soroka).

I'm also torn between my desire to collect players who used to play for the Expos, and building up my top team. If I can find some way to get both Pedro and Carter, then I would probably switch over to trying the all-Expos roster. But saving up the 25k+ for Pedro is tough, never mind finding the Carter cards which rarely seem to go up for auction.

Wich Carter card you talk? I have seen a Expos Carter at 97 ov...very rare and very costly too and a Expos Larry Walker at 97 too..in the same price range, 30K pp and more.