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OOTP 20 - Fictional Simulations Discuss fictional simulations and their results in this forum. |
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#1 |
Minors (Double A)
Join Date: May 2019
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 138
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You know me from me The Story of Farel Lukska, the Women's Baseball League of America, and the Driftwood Summer Series. But now I undertake one of my biggest projects yet.
When playing career mode, the game generates draft classes of players from high schools and colleges around the United States. But what if those draft classes were fed by a fully-functioning college league? So, I created a save with a league containing all 296 NCAA Division 1 baseball programs. It took hours and the sim runs slower than a snail with sleep deprivation but I made it. Each post in this thread will chronicle a year in the sim and will be split into three parts. Part one will look at the college season, which runs February to May. I will detail the 31 conference winners, the National Champion (and their route to the National Championship), the major award winners and anything notable about the season (no-hitters etc.). Because I can't perfectly replicate the NCAA Baseball play-offs, the postseason is comprised of a 64-team bracket, featuring the 31 conference winners, the second through fourth place finishers in the Power 5 conferences (15 teams), and the top 18 wildcards. The second part will look at the MLB season, running April to October. I will include the World Series result, the major award winners, anything notable from the season, and the Hall of Fame results. The third part will look at the draft. Each season, we will highlight the first overall pick in the draft and the highest overall pick that came from my custom college league. We will see how these players do over time and whether any of them become the next big MLB star. This is going to be one hell of a journey, and I take wait to share it with you. The 2019 season overview will be posted on September 20th
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Good times, good vibes going forwards. |
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#2 |
All Star Starter
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Sarasota
Posts: 1,925
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Sounds like a fun project.
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Julien Henri Version 21 https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...22#post4626122 Michigan Town Ball https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...28#post4630528 |
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#3 |
Minors (Double A)
Join Date: May 2019
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 138
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College
Each college season runs for 56 games from mid-February to mid-May. At the end of the 2019 regular season, the following teams had won their conference (teams listed according to the alphabetical order of the conferences): Albany, Wichita State (#1), NJIT, St Joseph’s, NC State, Baylor, Xavier, Campbell, Michigan State, Cal State Northridge, Northeastern, UAB, Oakland, Yale, Quinnipiac, UMES, Ohio, Valparaiso, San Jose State, CCSU, SIU Edwards, UCLA, Bucknell, Florida, Wofford, Texas A&M- Corpus Christi, North Dakota State, Georgia Southern, Texas Southern, BYU, Chicago State 1st seed Wichita State, who had gone 47-9 in the regular season, were eliminated in the Quarterfinals by South Dakota State. The 2019 National Champion were the Tennessee Volunteers. They had finished fourth in the SEC, having gone 37-18, and entered the playoffs by virtue of weighting for the Power Five conferences. The Vols began the playoffs with back-to-back series sweeps at home against Troy and Campbell. They faced their first challenge of the postseason in the Third Round when they hosted BYU. The Cougars took the first game of the series before Tennessee rallied and took the series, 2-1. The Quarterfinals saw Tennessee on the road for the first time since the regular season. They travelled to Boston for a series with the CAA-winning Northeastern. Once again the series went to a rubber match after the Huskies hit a walk-off home run in the 13th inning of Game 2. However, Tennessee managed a Game 3 rout to propel them into the Semifinals. The match-up saw them travel to Michigan to face 2nd seed Oakland Golden Grizzlies. Despite the disparity of their regular seasons, Oakland having gone 45-10, the Volunteers pitched back-to-back shutouts to progress to their first National Championship since 1951. Their opponent was the 3rd seed NC State Wolf Pack. Tennessee carried their momentum from the Semifinals into the best-of-five Final, easily beating the Wolf Pack 3-1. This series victory marked the first National Championship title for the university. Rookie of the Year was not awarded in 2019, given that it was the first year of the simulation. Pitcher of the Year went to Jorge Cardenas of South Alabama. The Jaguar reliever went 5-0 with a 0.69 ERA across 61.0 innings. South Alabama did make the postseason but were eliminated in the First Round by Texas A&M- Corpus Christi. Due to my setup not being perfect in year one, I discovered an unusual flaw in my design during the playoffs. Because I hadn’t set active roster age restrictions, MLB players cut by their team and undesirable free agents were signing with colleges in my league. This meant that Adam Lind, the former Blue Jay, was named MVP after playing with the Oakland Golden Grizzlies. I made some changes between seasons one and two so the problem did go away but it is funny to imagine Lind, at 36, somehow finding a way to play a second stint of college ball. In terms of notable events, the first year of D1 baseball saw fourteen no-hitters. Two of those were perfect games, thrown by Bob Erke (Stephen F Austin State) and John Richy (William and Mary). Lind, goddammit Lind, also set the benchmark for hitting going forwards after posting a .365 batting average. MLB Boston, in this reality, did not suffer a championship hangover. They won 94 games and retained the World Series title after sweeping the Phillies. However, they did not win the AL East as the Rays beat them by two games. What can I say? This simulation was weird. Kyle Tucker (Houston- .331, 35 HR) and Pete Alonso (New York- .276, 31 HR) were named Rookie of the Year for the AL and NL respectively. Trevor Bauer (21-6, 3.26 ERA, 240 Ks), who was not traded, picked up the Cy Young for the AL as he led the league in wins, ERA, HR/9 and WAR. Meanwhile, the Mets, who were an 88-win team, picked up another award as Noah Syndergaard (20-11, 2.27 ERA, 257 Ks) won the NL counterpart. Thor led in wins, ERA, innings pitched and WAR. Cleveland, who were also a 94-win team, picked up another award in the form of Francisco Lindor (.342, 38 HR). Lindor was the first MVP to come out of Cleveland since Al Rosen in 1953. In the NL, Christian Yelich (.344, 39 HR, 9.8 WAR) retained his crown in a season that saw him improve upon his already fantastic 2018 season. There were two no-hitters, both pitched against the Cardinals. Syndergaard (11 Ks, 2 BBs) got the first one June 15th while Yu Darvish (10 Ks, 1 BB) threw the second on September 27th. In terms of milestones, CC Sabathia reached 3000 career strikeouts while Felix Hernandez, Max Scherzer, and Cole Hamels reached 2500. Edwin Encarnacion hit his 400th home run as Justin Upton and Mark Reynolds crossed the 300 mark. Hall of Fame: Roger Clemens, Curt Shilling and Derek Jeter all joined the Hall of Fame in January 2020. First Overall Watch As they did in real life, the Orioles chose Oregon State’s Adley Rutschman with the first overall pick. He played 55 games across Rookie and A- ball, hitting .273. As a catcher, he recorded a 1.055 defensive efficiency. Surprisingly, the first player out of the custom college league was reliever Josh Saliba out of Texas Tech. He was chosen 21st overall by the Braves. In his senior year for the Red Raiders, he went 2-1 with a 3.76 ERA and 43 Ks across 20 games. While he only played 7 games/14.2 innings for the Rookie-level Danville Braves, he went 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA and 21 Ks. The 2020 season will be published on September 23rd.
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Good times, good vibes going forwards. |
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#4 |
Minors (Double A)
Join Date: May 2019
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 138
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College
After another season of D1 college baseball, only six schools retained their conference title- NJIT (ASUN), Saint Joseph’s (Atlantic 10), Cal State Northridge (Big West), Oakland (Horizon League), Bucknell (Patriot League), and BYU (West Coast). The full list of conference winners were as follows: Maine, USF, NJIT, Saint Joseph’s, Virginia Tech, Texas Tech, Villanova, High Point, Illinois, Cal State Northridge, Hofstra, Louisiana Tech, Oakland (#1), Penn, Manhattan College, Delaware State, NIU, Illinois State, Air Force, Mount St. Mary’s, Eastern Illinois, Oregon, Bucknell, Auburn, The Citadel, Southeastern Louisiana, Omaha, Louisiana- Monroe, Alabama State, BYU, Sacramento State 1st seed Oakland were eliminated in the Semifinals by TCU. Meanwhile, defending champions Tennessee were bounced in the first round by BYU. 2020’s National Champion were the TCU Horned Frogs. Like 2019 champions Tennessee, TCU finished the regular season fourth in a Power Five conference. Their 33-23 record however meant that they were on the road in the First Round, travelling to in-state rival Baylor. However, 90-minute road trip was worth it as the Horned Frogs came away with a 2-1 series win. Their Second Round series was a little further afield, as they travelled north to face the Ohio Valley-winning Eastern Illinois. They swept the panthers before returning to their home state to face the Big 12-winning, and conference rivals, Texas Tech. As was the case with their last Texan opponents, TCU needed three games to progress to the next round. They remained on the road for the Quarterfinals, this time travelling to Louisiana Tech. The deciding match lasted 17 innings as each side continued to match one another. The final score- 17 to 16. As Tennessee did a year prior, TCU’s next stop was in Michigan to face Oakland. In one of the biggest shocks of the tournament, the Horned Frogs swept the Golden Grizzlies to reach their first National Championship in program history. Their opponents were The Citadel, winners of the Southern Conference. The best of five series lasted four game, with TCU having no trouble against their fifth consecutive conference-winning opponent. For the second consecutive year, a college won their maiden National Championship. Rookie of the Year went to Air Force’s Egidio Rangel. The Venezuelan native hit .319 with nine home runs and maintained a .894 OPS. Duke’s Kasey Winkler was Pitcher of the Year. They combined a 6-0 record with a 0.89 ERA and 67 Ks across 70.2 innings of work. Player of the Year went to Rodolfo Guerrero of Ole Miss. Hitting a staggering .367 and a 1.079 OPS, the sophomore centre-fielder. The 2020 season saw nine no-hitters. The single perfect game was pitched by Juan Ramirez of Morehead State against Purdue- Fort Wayne. The season also saw Villanova’s Chris Musselwhite record a 31-game hitting streak. MLB Mike Trout finally got a championship ring as the Los Angeles Angels won their first World Series since 2002, earning a 4-3 series victory over the Chicago Cubs. Khalil Lee (Kansas City- .311, 15 HR) and Arturo Silva (Chicago- .290, 33 HR) were named AL and NL Rookie of the Year. The Mets continued their dominance of the Cy Young Award as Jacob DeGrom (16-7, 2.18 ERA, 234 Ks) collected his second pitching title. While a downgrade from this 2018 award-winning numbers, it was a still a great season for the Florida native. Chris Sale (15-5, 2.52 ERA, 234 Ks) collected his first Cy Young award as he once again led Boston’s pitching rotation. Surprisingly, it was not Mike Trout who won MVP. The AL’s top honour in 2020 went to Jose Ramirez (Cleveland- .321, 42 HR). Ramirez had a great season, despite Cleveland crashing out in the ALDS. In the NL, Christian Yelich (Milwaukee- .344, 40 HR) completed the hat-trick as he won his third consecutive MVP award. While maintaining his 2019 batting average, he once more improved on his home run total and finished the year with a 10.7 WAR, up by nearly a full game from the season prior. The only no-hitter of 2020 turned out to be the league’s 24th perfect game. Brent Suter tossed a six-strikeout perfect game for Milwaukee against the Cubs on June 7th. Elsewhere, Mike Trout, Joey Votto and Evan Longoria all surpassed 300 career home runs. Chris Sale notched his 2000th strikeout while Justin Verlander became the 18th member of the 3000 strikeout club. HOF: No-one was elected to the Hall of Fame in the Class of 2021. First Overall Watch Let’s start with our 2019 picks. Adley Rutschmann played 108 games in AA and AAA but only managed a .191 batting average and ten home runs. His OPS dropped to .603 while his defence efficiency slid to .955. Meanwhile, Josh Saliba was traded by the Braves, along with Tyler White, to Houston in exchange for George Springer. In 30 games and 48 innings across Rookie and A ball, he went 0-4 with eight saves, a 4.84 ERA and sixty-eight strikeouts. The first overall pick in 2020 was high school pitcher Liam Morris. Morris in six games for the Marlins’ rookie outfit, going 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA. The first player drafted from our college league was catcher Geoandry Montilla. He went 666th overall out of Seton Hall to the Nationals but went unsigned. He returned to college, transferring to UCLA for his junior year. The 2021 season will be published on September 24th
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Good times, good vibes going forwards. Last edited by Litty; 09-23-2019 at 05:58 AM. |
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#5 |
Minors (Double A)
Join Date: May 2019
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 138
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College
2021 saw three colleges retain their conference titles- Manhattan College (MAAC), Air Force (Mountain West), BYU (West Coast). This was BYU’s third consecutive conference title as they dominated their ten-team conference. The full conference champions were as follows: Hartford, Tulane, Liberty, UMass Amherst, Virginia Tech, Baylor, Georgetown, UNC Asheville, Rutgers, UC Santa Barbara, Toledo, UAB, UIC, Yale, Manhattan College, North Carolina Central, Kent State, Valparaiso, Air Force, Bryant, Eastern Kentucky, UCLA, Navy, Ole Miss, Samford, Incarnate Word, Oral Roberts, Arkansas State, Jackson State (#1), BYU, CSU Bakersfield 1st seed Jackson State suffered a shock loss in the first round to Saint Louis. Meanwhile, defending champions TCU suffered a third round exit to Boston College. For the first time in this league, a conference winner won the National Championship as it was secured by UNC Asheville. After going 41-15 and winning the Big South, they began their championship run with a sweep against Rider. They followed that up with another sweep over Saint Louis, who were coming off their victory over 1st seed Jackson State. Their third sweep came against Furman as Greenwood Baseball Field began to see record attendance numbers. The Bulldogs’ first loss came in the Quarterfinals as they dropped the first game to Purdue before rallying to take the series. They cruised through the Semifinals, sweeping North Carolina Central to reach their first National Championship. For the first time in the postseason, Asheville were the visiting team, albeit it at the neutral venue of the National Championship. Their opponents were the UIC Flames, who had also gone 41-15 and who had won the Horizon League. The series went the distance, with Asheville taking the championship 5-4 in the final game to secure a 3-2 series victory. Juan Ibarra of Navy won rookie of the year. The junior catcher hit .321 and 7 home runs with an OPS of .985. Pitcher of the Year went to Jimmy Nelson of Southern. He went 11-0 with a 0.62 ERA and 104 Ks across 72.2 innings. However, the Player of Year was the Erik Fern of Kansas. The third baseman hit .364 with 21 home runs and a 1.152 OPS in a staggering year for the junior. There were eleven no-hitters across the season, with two perfect games. Ibarra’s Navy teammate Joe McQuerry pitched the first against Fresno State with Pitt’s Juan Nava pitching one against George Mason later in the season. MLB After four years of AL dominance, the majors saw an NL champion as the Atlanta Braves defeated the Red Sox 4-1 in the World Series. This marked the Braves’ first title since 1995. Jesus Armando Sanchez (Tampa Bay- .282, 25 HR) and Teruo Kada (Atlanta- .296, 51 HR) were named Rookie of the Year for their respective league. Kada was a 28-year-old Japanese free agent who had signed an 8-year contract with the Braves. Chris Sale (Boston- 10-8, 3.02 ERA, 211 Ks) retained his Cy Young title, leading the AL in Ks and K/9, having done the latter every year since 2019. In the NL, Walker Buehler (Los Angeles- 14-3, 1.76 ERA, 226 Ks) claimed his first Cy Young award, topping off an excellent first few years in the league. When it came to the league’s top award, Mike Trout (Los Angeles- .250, 50 HR) claimed his third MVP and his first since 2016. In the NL, Atlanta’s Teruo Kada claimed the MVP award, becoming the third player to win both Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same year. In fact, Kada was named MVP, Rookie of the Year, All-Star, Silver Slugger at right-fielder and World Series MVP all in his first season. Along with Mike Trout, he also hit the first 50-home run season since 2017 (Sorry Pete Alonso, the game only had you hit 31 in your rookie year, but hey! You still got Rookie of the Year). The league saw two no-hitters, with Kyle Wright throwing one against Philadelphia on July 3rd and Yonny Chirinos notching the season’s second against Detroit 26 days later on July 29th. In terms of career milestones, Paul Goldschmidt, Ryan Zimmerman, Khris Davis, JD Martinez all reached 300 home runs while Giancarlo Stanton passed 400. Both David Price and Madison Bumgarner passed 2000 career strikeouts. HOF: There were three new members of the Hall of Fame- Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds and David Ortiz. First Overall Watch 2019 first overall pick Adley Rutschman joined Baltimore’s MLB roster, playing 105 games behind the plate. He managed a .270 average with 14 home runs, as well as a 1.128 defensive efficiency. Meanwhile, Josh Saliba remains in the minors. This season, he played 29 games at A- level, going 2-4 with a 3.88 ERA and 42 Ks across 46.1 innings. Now for the wild twist. 2020 first overall Liam Morris has just straight up disappeared from the game. He does not appear when you search for him and there is no record that he was ever in the game. The only thing that I can think happened is that the Marlins released Morris and he just retired? Anyway, the fact of the matter is that Morris no longer exists. Geoandry Montilla did a year at the game’s UCLA but went undrafted in 2021, meaning that he is without a team. 2021’s first overall was left-fielder Nick Bitsko, taken out of high school by the Orioles. In 28 games at rookie level, Bitsko hit .231 and two home runs. The first player taken from our college league was first baseman Danny Contreras, taken by the Rays 500th overall from NC State. Having hit .265 in his senior year, he hit .231 in fourteen games for the Rays’ rookie league team. The 2022 season will be published on September 25th.
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Good times, good vibes going forwards. |
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#6 |
Minors (Double A)
Join Date: May 2019
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 138
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College
UAB (Conference USA) and UCLA (Pac-12) were two of only three teams to retain their conference title. The third was BYU, winning the West Coast Conference title for the fourth year running. The full list of winners was as follows: UMass Lowell, Wichita State, Stetson, VCU, Boston College, Kansas, Xavier, Gardner-Webb, Rutgers, Long Beach State, Delaware, UAB, Northern Kentucky, Penn, Fairfield, UMES, Eastern Michigan, Dallas Baptist, Air Force, Fairleigh Dickinson, Morehead State (#1), UCLA, Lehigh, Kentucky, Western Carolina, Lamar, Purdue- Fort Wayne, Texas- Arlington, Grambling State, BYU, New Mexico State Top seed Morehead State lost in the first round to Campbell, marking the second consecutive year that this had happened. Defending champion UNC Asheville were also eliminated in the first round, losing to Western Kentucky. The 2022 National Champions were Long Beach State. Their X-X record won them the Big West and set up a first round fixture at home against Eastern Kentucky. They swept them with ease, doing the same in the second and third rounds to Marshall and Furman respectively. Jackson State in the Quarterfinals were a little harder. The Dirtbags lost a tough 12-1 opening game and needed some ninth inning heroics in Game Two to even the series. But a standout performance from the pitching core ensured that the Californian team made it into the Semifinals. They bounced back with a sweep against Gonzaga to set up a National Championship against Purdue- Fort Wayne. The Dirtbags carried their momentum and swept the series to claim a maiden championship for the school. Missouri State’s Simon Rodriguez won Rookie of the Year, having hit .357 with six home runs. Juan Arieta of South Carolina picked up Pitcher of the Year. He went 7-0 with a 0.52 ERA, marking the third consecutive decrease in Pitcher of Year ERA. The Player of the Year was Ricky Nicholls of Saint Louis. The Billiken hit .339 and 18 home runs, as well as boasting an OPS of 1.095. There were twelve no-hitters over the course of the season but no perfect games. MLB For the second time in three years, the Angels won the World Series. In this edition of the Fall Classic, they made easy work of the Cardinals, sweeping them. The win meant that four of the last five World Series have been won by either the Red Sox or Angels. Royce Lewis (Minnesota- .277, 17 HR) and Je’Von Ward (Arizona- .297, 13 HR) were named AL and NL Rooke of the Year. Ward became the first Diamondback to be named Rookie of the Year. Meanwhile, Lewis became the first Twin to win Rookie of the Year since Marty Cordova in 1995. Shane Bieber (Cleveland- 12-11, 3.02 ERA, 170 Ks) won the AL Cy Young. Clayton Kershaw (Los Angeles- 19-6, 1.85 ERA, 181 Ks) earned his fourth Cy Young, and his first since 2014. Mike Trout (Los Angeles- .291, 46 HR) retained his MVP title from 2021, combining the top award with his second championship ring. 2020 Rookie of the Year Arturo Silva (Chicago- .322, 39 HR) earned the NL MVP award. He became the first Cubs MVP since Kris Bryant in 2016. Cal Quantrill of San Diego pitched the season’s first no-hitter against Washington on April 22nd. That was followed by Atlanta’s Tucker Davidson throwing a perfect, eight-strikeout game against St. Louis on August 24th. On the mound, Clayton Kershaw surpassed 200 wins while Chris Sale notched his 2500th strikeout. At the plate, Mike Trout passed 400 homers while Bryce Harper, Nolan Arenado and Freddie Freeman all hit their 300th. No-one was elected to the Hall of Fame for the class of 2022. Retirements: Retirements weren’t something I was initially tracking but I think it’s interesting to follow the big names leaving the sim as we pushing into the 2020s. 2022 saw the following players announce their retirement: Ryan Braun, Tyler Flowers, Evan Longoria, Ryan Brasier, Johnny Cueto, Wade Miley, Jonny Venters, Joey Votto. First Overall Watch Adley Rutschman remained in the majors, playing in 95 games for the Orioles and hitting .266 with 12 home runs and a .799 OPS. Behind the plate, he recorded a .987 defensive efficiency. Overall, this was a worse season that he had in 2021. Meanwhile, Josh Saliba stayed in the minors, playing 8 games at A- level, throwing a 3.85 ERA and 11 Ks in 10.1 innings. And now for a mia culpa moment- I found out 2020 first overall pick. Turns out his name is Liam Norris, not Morris. So, apologies on that. His 2021 season wasn’t anything special- he played in 3 games, had a 4.85 ERA and 7 Ks. He was moved to the bullpen and spent the 2022 season at A ball. Over 15 games, he went 0-5 with a 5.98 ERA in 43.2 innings of work. Nick Bitsko stayed in Rookie ball, hitting .304 and 7 home runs in 56 games. Meanwhile, Danny Contreras hit .273 and 8 home runs in 69 games for the Rays’ Rookie team before being released in November 2022. The 2022 first overall was pitcher Jake Moberg out of the game’s UCLA (he’s a real dude so), picked by the Brewers. Yeah, in this simulation the Brews have nose-dived. They went 87-75 in 2019, 65-97 in 2020 and 61-101 in 2021. They still had Yelich (though he signed with the Reds in the 2022 offseason). As best I can tell, they just slumped hard. Anyway, Moberg. He played 7 games across Rookie and A ball in 2022, going 1-1 with a 2.91 ERA and 30 Ks in 34.1 innings. The first player from our college league was second baseman Luis Angel Aquino, drafted out of Kentucky by Oakland 161st overall. In 42 games at Rookie level, he hit .227 and 4 home runs. The 2023 season will be published on September 27th.
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Good times, good vibes going forwards. |
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#7 |
Minors (Double A)
Join Date: May 2019
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 138
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College
Wichita State (The American), Gardner-Webb (Big South), UAB (Conference USA), Dallas Baptist (Missouri Valley), Western Carolina (Southern), Lamar (Southland), Purdue- Fort Wayne (The Summit) all retained their conference titles. The full list of conference winners was as follows: Maine, Wichita State, Liberty, Saint Louis, Louisville, Oklahoma State, Butler, Gardner-Webb, Illinois, Cal Poly, William and Mary, UAB, Wright State, Harvard, Manhattan College, Delaware State, Ball State, Dallas Baptist, San Jose State, CCSU, Austin Peay State, Arizona, Lafayette, South Carolina, Western Carolina, Lamar, Purdue- Fort Wayne, Little Rock, Jackson State (#1), Gonzaga, Chicago State First seed Jackson State lost in the second round to Bradley. Defending champions Long Beach State also lost in the second round, falling to Dallas Baptist. The 2023 National Champion was Elon. After finishing second in the Colonial Athletic Conference, Elon began their maiden postseason run on the road against Manhattan College. After pulling off a 2-1 series victory, they travelled to the SEC-winning South Carolina. In one of the bigger shocks of the early postseason, the Phoenix swept the Gamecocks. While they remained as they away team, their victory over South Carolina sent them to Virginia for a matchup against William and Mary. Once again, the Phoenix swept a conference champion. The Quarterfinals sent them to face the Saint Louis Billikens. While it was not another sweep, they still beat another conference champion, propelling them into the Semifinals and a series against Western Carolina. Once more facing a conference winner, Elon pulled off yet another sweep, taking them to the National Championship. There they met Purdue, who had finished fourth in the Big Ten. The two teams battled all the way to a game five. Elon got the better of their opponents in a tense pitcher’s duel that ended 2-1. Rookie of the Year went to McNeese State’s Fabian Machado. The freshman hit .293 and two home runs with an OPS of .832. Bob Erke, who threw a perfect game in 2019, earned Pitcher of the Year with Alcorn State, where he had transferred to after his sophomore year. Erke went 6-0 with a 0.72 ERA and 121 Ks. College’s top player in 2023 was BYU’s Pete Bartlette. The left-fielder hit .338 and 6 home runs while maintaining an OPS of 1.008. Out of fourteen no-hitters thrown across the season, three were perfect games. CSU Bakerfield’s Phil Welch threw a perfect game against the Washington Huskies on the second day of the season. Later in the season, Jake bin Halim of James Madison threw a perfect game against Ole Miss while Iona’s Juan Preces pitched one against the College of Charleston. MLB Tampa Bay earned their first World Series title in a 4-1 victory of the Padres. The Rays, in reasons we will come to later, are now one of the dominant forces in the AL East. Rookie of the Year for the AL was Corbin Carroll (Texas- .308, 10 HR) while his NL counterpart was Soshu Suzuki (Arizona- .295, 54 HR). Suzuki was a 32-year-old Japanese free agent who signed with the Diamondbacks in November of 2022. The Angels’ Griffin Canning (15-4, 2.73 ERA, 149 Ks) secured the AL Cy Young award, the first Angel to win the award since Bartolo Colon in 2005. Mike Soroka (Atlanta- 12-7, 2.34 ERA, 203 Ks) became the first brave to take home the top pitching title since Tom Glavine in 1998. AL MVP went to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Toronto- .329, 33 HR), who won the award 19 years after his father. The NL MVP was awarded to Soshu Suzuki, marking the second time in this series, and fourth in MLB history, that a player has won Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season. There two no-hitters (Houston’s Robbie Ray v. Texas and Colorado’s Mitch Keller v. Washington). There was also a perfect game, thrown by Mike Soroka against the Cubs. Anthony Rizzo and Manny Machado both reached 300 home runs during the season. Meanwhile, Clayton Kershaw joined the 3000 strikeout club while Corey Kluber and Chris Archer both surpassed 2000 Ks each. Dallas Keuchel, Justin Bour, Miguel Cabrera, Francisco Cervelli, Buster Posey, Yu Darvish all retired at the end of the season. I was also wanted to see where some of the big name players still in the league were playing in their 2023. A lot of big name franchise players are still with the team there are currently with but there are a few big changes. Christian Yelich is now a Red, Mookie and Edwin Diaz are both Cardinals, Xander Bogaerts is an Oriole, JD Martinez is a Blue Jay while Bo Bichette is a Brave. George Springer is a Ranger. If you have a favourite player, just let me know and I’ll try to include them in the next post or in a special dedicated post. HOF: Adrian Beltre became the latest member of the Hall of Fame. First Overall Watch Adley Rutschman continued his career with the Orioles, hitting .264 and 17 home runs in 136 games. Behind the plate, he produced a 1.040 defensive efficiency. Pitcher Josh Saliba was claimed off waivers by the Mets in November 2022. Across 50 games, Saliba went 4-2 with 13 saves and a 2.39 ERA and 62 Ks. 25 of those games came for the Mets. In the majors, he went 3-1 with a 3.28 ERA and 28 Ks. Liam Norris made 17 starts in 2023, going 7-5 with a 3.07 ERA and 70 Ks at the A and A+ levels of the Marlins farm system. Nick Bitsko played in 21 games for the High-A Fredrick Keys. He hit .247 and 5 home runs. Danny Contreras retired from baseball after brief stint in the Tigers’ organisation in 2023. Jake Moberg made 12 starts across Rookie and Class-A ball, going 4-5 with a 6.75 ERA and 57 Ks. Luis Angel Aquino was released after a brief stint in the Tigers’ organisation. The 2023 first overall pick was Mick Abel, chosen by the Diamondbacks. In 7 starts in rookie ball, Abel went 0-3 with a 5.18 ERA and 27 Ks. The first pick out of our college save was the 19th overall pick. Jon Newbold, a shortstop, was chosen by the Orioles out of Prairie View A&M. In 14 games, ‘Ratface’, as he is known, hit .173 with no home runs and a .534 OPS. The 2024 season will be published on September 29th.
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Good times, good vibes going forwards. Last edited by Litty; 09-28-2019 at 04:44 AM. |
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#8 |
Minors (Double A)
Join Date: May 2019
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 138
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I also wanted to look at the Boston Red Sox, who have crashed (and crash in many of the sims I’ve run). The Red Sox now boast the current line-up (January 17th, 2024):
C Carson Kelly (Acquired via trade in February 2022) 1B Luke Voit (Signed as a free agent in April 2023) 2B Antoni Flores (Signed as a free agent in July 2017, farm product) 3B Rafael Devers (Signed as a free agent in August 2013, farm product) SS Didi Gregorius (Signed as a free agent in February 2020) LF Kyle Tucker (Acquired via trade in November 2022) CF Kevin Kiermaier (Signed a free agent in January 2023) RF Will Benson (Acquired via trade in July 2023) DH Leonardo Rivas (Acquired via waiver claim in April 2023) SP Chris Sale (Acquired via trade in December 2016) SP Lance McCullers Jr. (Signed as a free agent in December 2023) SP Connor W Jones (Acquired via trade in July 2023) SP Carlos Martinez (Signed as a free agent in December 2023) SP Michael Matuella (Signed as a free agent in April 2022) RP Roberto Osuna (Signed as a free agent in January 2022) RP Ken Giles (Signed as a free agent in January 2024) RP Ryan Pressly (Signed as a free agent in December 2023) RP Jose Alvarado (Signed as a free agent in December 2023) CL Durbin Feltman (Drafted in 2018, farm product) The Red Sox went 59-103 in the 2023. This comes only two years after a World Series appearance. My belief is that the Red Sox suffered the same problem that anyone playing GM Mode with the Red Sox finds- too many players wanting extension, not enough money to bring them all back. This causes them to lose big name players and turn to their not great farm system as well as relying on free agency signings. But what is certain is that Boston are long way from the team that went back-to-back at the start of this series.
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Good times, good vibes going forwards. |
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#9 |
Minors (Double A)
Join Date: May 2019
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 138
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So following on from what I said in the 2023 series, I was curious about where other big name players have ended up. So I complied a list of some of the league leaders and big name players are in January 2024:
Alex Bregman remains in Houston Marcus Semien has spent the last two seasons with the Iowa Cubs (Chicago's Triple A affiliate) Mike Minor now pitches for the Giants Lance Lynn retired in 2022 Matt Chapman remains in Oakland DJ LeMahieu now plays in St Louis Jorge Polanco is still in Minnesota Aaron Judge remains with New York Tim Anderson is a free agent Mike Yastrzemski retired in 2020 without making it to the majors Yordan Álvarez remains in Houston Justin Verlander retired in 2020 Ozzie Albies is still in Atlanta Ronald Acuna Jr. is still in Atlanta Juan Soto is still in Washington Corey Seager is still in Los Angeles Kyle Seager retired in 2021 Pete Alonso is still in New York Freddie Freeman is still in Atlanta The top remaining free agents are Miguel Castro (played for the Cubs in 2023), Edwin Diaz (played for the Cardinals in 2023) and Jordan Hicks (played for the Cardinals in 2023) If you want to learn about where a specific player is feel free to ask. 2024 season will be up on September 29th
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Good times, good vibes going forwards. Last edited by Litty; 09-28-2019 at 04:39 AM. |
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#10 |
Minors (Double A)
Join Date: May 2019
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 138
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So due to technical issues, I am actually unable to progress the sim into the 2024 college offseason. This is an issue I've been fearing for a while. It's a shame, Fordham won the 2024 National Championship as the 64th seed but c'est la vie.
I will be posting again today, just keep an eye on the forum.
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Good times, good vibes going forwards. Last edited by Litty; 09-29-2019 at 04:06 AM. |
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