Season 26 (2044) Discussion Thread

[JasonC23]

Originally Posted by bailey

I gambled on the wildcard game (if you can call using Cy Young 100 gambling) and won.

Go Magpies! Good luck against Singapore!

[Orcin]

Pushing for the division title paid off... the 49ers lost the wildcard game 2-1 at home with Rixey on the mound. I will play the 94-68 Los Angeles Earthquakes in round 1. We were 4-3 vs. LA this season, so this short series is not going to be easy.

[JasonC23]

Originally Posted by JasonC23

Interesting note about those Idiots: They won their last 5, while the California Alliance lost their last 4, to just squeeze into the second Wild Card spot and the right to visit the Blaze. Can they keep that momentum going and pull off a shocking upset?

As it turns out...they can! The Boston Idiots defeated the Blaze 9-2 and so will be Huntley's Division Series opponent. Huntley has a history of meekly going down against unexpected, hot Wild Card teams in the playoffs, so my confidence is nonexistent...

[brrrdt1]

The Dolphins ended up 138-24, beating my previous Wins high of 129. Also had my best Rdiff ever at +584. Walter Johnson fell 9 Ks short of the pitching triple crown and at one point won 22 in a row.

Now it is on to the playoffs where we face the only team to take a series from us after April, the 86-76 Appalachian Raiders, who famously (in my mind at least) swept the Dolphins in a 4 game series immediately after I posted on this Board about my crazy pre-AS record. Turns out the Raiders also took a series from us 2-1 back in April. So this could be a real dogfight.

Good luck to everyone in the playoffs!

[Maxfire5]

Defenders: Ended up just missing out on the playoffs, but there were a few positives. Bret Saberhagen (96) won the ERA Crown and Wins crown, and George Sisler won the batting average title, and had a solid 5.9 WAR season. Just missed out on a 30-30 season though with him only stealing 27 bases. Finished 86-76 on the season. First season back in Perfect so I'd say that's a productive season.

Legends: A season to forget. A number of players underperformed as we went on our way to a 73-89 finish. Just missing 1 card to finish the Royals collection which would give me a great boost to my team. Need a card to sell though to help fund it. Hopefully that happens in the next couple days.

Rangers: Won their division thanks to Bob Gibson, Mark Prior and Duke Snider. They finished with a record of 98-64. Interestingly enough, 65 Dave Jolly had a 27 game save streak to end the season. Posted a 1.39 ERA, allowing 9 ER in 58.1 IP. Hope the playoffs RNG are kind to me.

[Marleigh]

Dean Chance pitches the Bad News Bulldogs to a 2-0 in the wildcard game, we win 3 straight single elimination games to get to the 1st round of the playoffs. Hugh Duffy breaks out of his cold streak to drive home the winning run. Hank Aaron scored the insurance run after a single, advancing to 3rd on a single and scoring on a double play ball. We now play the team with the top record in the conference, the Santiago Knights

[old timer]

The Raccoons had to play in the WC game after a really great season long battle with Westvleteren. We had Schilling going vs the Roughnecks Schilling. Schilling pitched magnificently. Fortunately, it was our Schilling who did so.

Next up the dreaded Westvleteren XII. We went only 7-12 vs them and got lucky in some of those wins. Playing in their park favors them since we rely a lot on LHB (platoons) and they have park factors minimized for LHB since they have only RHB.

So in the 1st game it was Keefe vs Cy Young. The 1st game ended with a 3-2 score which is typical of our games this year. Fortunately, we were on the winning end with Keefe pitching really well. Mays hit a HR in the 8th that provided the margin of victory.

In the 2nd game, it was Clarkson vs Maddux. Appling, who hit 5 HR all year hit 2 solo HRs and Keeler hit another solo HR to help us win 6-2.

So we're off to the Evergreen Forest to try and close this thing out. Against most other teams, I'd be feeling pretty confident, but against Westvleteren I fear them sweeping the last 3 games. We've got Sutton going vs Coveleski. Sutton didn't have such a great year and didn't do well at all in his last start vs them so I'll be very surprised if we can win this one, but at least we'll have the advantage of playing at home. Maybe we'll benefit from some of that Evergreen Forest post-season magic.

[old timer]

I hadn't noticed that Schilling was going to be ready for game 3, so that was a nice surprise. After going 41-1 with a 1.76 ERA in the LR role for Westvleteren, Walter Johnson never got used in the playoffs, for which I'd like to thank the AI who made this possible.

Like in game 2, I decided to play those who had been hot lately and it payed off. I almost decided to make sure Hubbell wasn't used in the bullpen against them since they're all RHB, but Hubbell had a fine year and had done very well against them all season so I let the AI use him and he combined with Schilling to shutout Westvleteren, 4-0.

So we managed to sweep them! I never would have predicted that outcome. Now we await the Hammertime Express vs Delaware Blue Hens winner. We went 4-3 vs Hammertime and 3-4 Delaware so either way, I expect it to be tough.

[Orcin]

I like Hubbell in the bullpen because, as a screwball pitcher, he has pretty even splits.

[JasonC23]

Huntley takes care of business against the Boston Idiots, sweeping them 11-1, 4-1, and 11-1, and moves on to the Sub-League Series for the first time since 2040! There, the Red Raiders will face the Excelsior Dodgers, who swept away the Charity Island Walleye, 13-3, 7-2, and 17-4. So it's safe to say Huntley and Excelsior are hitting (and pitching!) on all cylinders right now, and it should be an epic Sub-League Series!

(It's also a rematch of the 2025 D355 Diamond League Series, won by Huntley 4-2, but surely that was so long ago that Excelsior has forgotten and is not extra-motivated to finally get their revenge...right?)

Meanwhile, in the NC, Singapore shockingly swept Collingwood and moves on to face the upstart Austin Fellwalkers, who took out the favored Barut Patriots, 3-1.

Updated playoff bracket...

[brrrdt1]

The Dolphins swept our nemesis Raiders. Highlights include, Game 1 featuring one of my favorite lame game write-up sentences. In a 17-2 game, the recap claimed that "with scoring opportunities rare, the Dolphins had to cash in when they had the chance." Uh-huh.

Anyway, now it is on to the eloquently named "sub-league series" against the Great Lakes Kraken, the 81-81 AC West Champs, who finished 2nd to the Dolphins in runs scored (800) and 14th in runs allowed (816).

[brrrdt1]

Originally Posted by old timer

After going 41-1 with a 1.76 ERA in the LR role for Westvleteren, Walter Johnson never got used in the playoffs, for which I'd like to thank the AI who made this possible.

I wonder if Westvleteren is one of the folks (along with Donkey Kong Sr) who has been going for the win record each season with this strategy of Johnson in the bullpen...

Either way, nice to see you make your way past them.

[Orcin]

The Colonels swept the Earthquakes and will now face the St. Louis Stars (95-67) in the sub-league series. Spearfish and Monterey Bay were both pushed to a fifth game in the other conference, so I am rooting for the underdogs to win over there.

[JasonC23]

Game 1 saw Huntley take a 3-0 lead after 6 innings, only to watch Excelsior claw back to tie the score with a run in the 7th and 2 in the 8th off Lee Smith and Dennis Eckersley. But in the bottom of the 9th, with runners on the corners and 1 out, Yogi Berra slapped a single through the infield to give Huntley the walk-off win, 4-3!

Game 2 was the Arky Vaughan show, as the Division Series MVP kept his hot streak going with a single, homer, and hit-by-pitch, scoring twice in support of Don Sutton's 7-inning, 2-run performance. With the 5-2 win, Huntley seized a 2-0 advantage in the best of 7. On to Excelsior...

[Marleigh]

Bad News Bulldogs advance to the Sub League series after coming back from 2-0 down, in game 4 we scored 4 in the 7th and 3 in the 9th in order to pull out the win. Andre Dawson Wins series MVP

We go up against OLATHE Twisters in the next round, they had the 2nd best runs allowed in the regular season and we had the most runs scored so its a real difference in styles

[mcdog512]

Fighting Saints in the NLCS....game one about to start!

[JasonC23]

Originally Posted by JasonC23

So it's safe to say Huntley and Excelsior are hitting (and pitching!) on all cylinders right now, and it should be an epic Sub-League Series!

Or...

Did not see this coming.

[waittilnextyear]

The Frogs were able to take out Philadelphia in 4 games in the Division Series and currently have the 132-win Parish WhoDats on the brink of elimination with a 3-1 lead in the sub-league series. The stars are as aligned as they'll ever be against a team like this. The Frogs have their first chance to clinch at home and with Ed Walsh 100% rested coming off a 3-hit shutout in G1.

[One Great Matrix]

OK, just don't drop 3 in a row. A team like that can do that to you.

[JasonC23]

Many times in playoff losses, Huntley experiences what I call the BABIP'd-to-death inning. You know the one: in the other 8 innings of the game, Huntley and its opponent have roughly the same number of runs and hits, befitting two evenly matched teams, but in the other inning, Huntley's opponent busts out with, like, 7 straight hits and 6 runs off, say, 100 Ed Walsh or 100 Roger Clemens. It's baseball, it happens, but it is so frustrating to watch.

Well, in game 4, Huntley was, for once, the architect of a BABIP'd-to-death inning! Trailing the Excelsior Dodgers 5-3 entering the 6th inning, Huntley racked up 6 hits and 5 runs off Don Sutton and Dwight Gooden, highlighted by a leadoff triple off the bat of Carl Yastrzemski; doubles by Arky Vaughan, Lou Gehrig, and Yogi Berra; and singles by Christian Yelich and Luke Appling. So nice to finally be on the delivering, and not the receiving, end of one of these!

Originally Posted by waittilnextyear

The Frogs were able to take out Philadelphia in 4 games in the Division Series and currently have the 132-win Parish WhoDats on the brink of elimination with a 3-1 lead in the sub-league series. The stars are as aligned as they'll ever be against a team like this. The Frogs have their first chance to clinch at home and with Ed Walsh 100% rested coming off a 3-hit shutout in G1.

Go Frogs!