Season 27 (2045) Discussion Thread

[bailey]

This is weird. Ozzie Smith is glad to be back as starting SS -- his 72 overall contact rating is leading the conference in batting average in June. Against LHP (contact 64) it's even better at .419.

[gemini615]

Shoeless Joe, Bobby Avila, and Rapid Robert....keep it up.
Everybody else......maybe when sleepy nap time is over and you've had your juice boxes......you'll be up for some baseball.

(We're actually 30-38 somehow)

[scott1964]

[bailey]

One advantage of an 10-team conference is less competition for the All-Star game. The Magpies lead the vote at every position except 2B and send 14 plus most popular. I also got my first 10K+ game in many, many weeks.

[old timer]

The Raccoons are 51-20 .718. We need to keep up this pace to ensure a playoff spot since the WC candidates are all doing very well too.

The Raccoons have had a nice "problem" for the past 3 seasons now. We always seem to have 2 batters that are playing so well, they should be playing every day, but that's just not possible. So right now, Frank Robinson has a 165 OPS+ and I can't get myself to play him regularly (even though he's doing very well against RHP and LHP), because at each of the 3 positions he can play, the others are contributing at least as well (overall, not in terms of OPS+). In fact, even if he could play every position reasonably well, I'd still not want him to start. But it's painful to see him (and Rizzuto and Lajoie) sitting on the bench for much of the time. They are just digital players and not real people, right?

At the end of the month, we'll be playing the Soniqs who consistently clobbered us when we were in the more whale heavy league. So I'm hoping for some revenge this time and not just against them, but some of the other whales too. But are we good enough yet? Our pitching doesn't compare, but our defense helps make up for that and our offense is a fair bit better than the last time, but I still think we'll do well to win even 40% against this level of team.

[mcdog512]

What a crazy game, I was down 7-1 going into the bottom of the 7th,,,,fantastic 9th inning rally.

[Maxfire5]

Big middle of the season update for the Missouri Legends who received some much needed reinforcements. Finally found a 96 Grienke to finish my Royals collection. This team originally started as a Royals theme team so it was a monumental addition. Buying 96 Grienke and completing the collection added some nice players. 96 Saberhagen replaces the 88 Saberhagen. 96 Grienke goes straight into the rotation. 99 Wade Davis becomes the closer moving Soria to the setup role. Soria had a 1.87 with 22 saves so it's tough to do, but it's Wade Davis! Also, 91 LoCain moves into CF and moves SE Whit Merrifield to a backup OF role.

Adding Greinke, Saberhagen, Davis and Cain should help solidify the pitching staff and add a nice OF to the team.

Defenders: 96 Saberhagen fresh off a Cy Young winning season, is now pacing for a 5+ ERA. Not sure what happened there. Sisler after an MVP season is still producing quite well, but not at the level he was. The team as a whole isn't hitting right now, but the pitching and defense are still there. Sitting below .500 so if we can start to hit, maybe things turn around.

Rangers: sitting just above .500 and Bob Gibson is anchoring the rotation. No new additions so it appears the pack luck has dried up. Doesn't seem like this will be a productive season for them.

[JasonC23]

"Yarr, that be adorable," said the AC West-leading (and 6-time Perfect League champion) Pine Tar Pirates as they peered through their spyglass at the Singapore Sluggers and Huntley Red Raiders volleying cannonballs at each other over in the AC Central. Descending from the crow's nest, they took the helm, muttered, "Ye enjoy scuttlin' each other, mateys," and steered into the lead for the AC #1 seed, with a 62-16 record and a league-best +258 run differential. Off in the distance, Pine Tar could see a (Seattle) Tempest brewing, with strong +239 run differential winds on a potent NC-leading 55-22 heading, but that particular storm was still half a week's travel away...

Huntley captain JasonC23 dared to peek out over the bow to survey the damage. He breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed that despite losing 4 out of the 6 June head-to-head matchups with Singapore, the Red Raiders still had the better run differential, +212 to +194. But when he turned to the crew, he saw nothing but exhaustion on their faces, especially the sore-armed crew members gathered in the bullpen. Confused, he looked off into the distance, where he noticed that in the commotion, the Sluggers had somehow pulled ahead by 3 games, 61-17 to 57-19. "What...how did..." he sputtered.

"Check the latest box score," whispered Gagne and Eck sheepishly.

JasonC23 took one look and sighed. "Yep," he said, "that just about sums up how it always goes between Huntley and Singapore..."

[waittilnextyear]

I knew today's sims would be pretty tough considering the difficult schedule with 20 games versus serious playoff contenders. What I didn't know, is that I should've been more worried about the weaker teams on the schedule instead.

The Frogs had a really sluggish day overall (14-14), losing 7 of 10 to end the night. And of those 10 games, losing 5 of 6 to teams I'd consider not to be in the running (with all due respect). On the other hand, the Frogs pretty much held their own against the top teams, going 2-2 against Fresno, 3-4 against Chicago, 2-0 against Belfast, and 4-3 against San Angelo. All the same, the Fresno Losers (58-24) used the Frogs' (51-30) hiccup today to build a 6.5 game division lead.

The main concern for the Frogs is not scoring runs at the usual clip. In fact, the team is 8th in runs scored (346) which is significantly below the usual. The team scored 850 runs last week, so we're on pace for just 692 this week. It's hard to pin it to any one thing, but it's more like everyone on the team (save for SUPER ICHIRO) is having an off season. SE Appling, SE Sisler, PEAK Chipper, gold Ashburn, gold Boudreau--none of these guys are putting up numbers as good as last week. SE Pudge Rodriguez has debuted with a thud (.211/.298/.367). So, we've done some lineup gymnastics (I, like many of you, like to tinker) as well as recalled Smoky Burgess at catcher for Lava to try for an offensive spark. Hopefully the team will wake up in July.

On a positive note, I just sold my stat-laden Buck Ewing after trying for about a week. PP levels have crept back up to where it's about time to do another serious run of packs.

Also positive, Ed Walsh (10-0, 2.34 ERA). Getting Walshie was the best set of missions as far as I'm concerned.

[BigRed75]

Originally Posted by gemini615

Shoeless Joe, Bobby Avila, and Rapid Robert....keep it up.
Everybody else......maybe when sleepy nap time is over and you've had your juice boxes......you'll be up for some baseball.

(We're actually 30-38 somehow)

Which Rapid Robert do you have?

One advantage that I can see (just one!) to not being able to thus far complete the Indians missions: Since I'm holding off locking the "Summers to Remember" collection until I can get another card to lock instead of 88 Boudreau, I was able to upgrade to a 98 Feller for "just" 40K. That was offset by the fact that I turned around and sold my 92 Feller for 25K (okay, 24,999). There was also a Keltner for sale at 30K, but I didn't have enough. By the time I sold Feller, Kenny was gone.

Also, I have been really happy with how Avila has been playing for the Tribe. Sounds like he's doing well for you, too.

[Marleigh]

Paragon City Heroes are managing to stay above .500 at 43-37 but have lost touch with the division leading Gramma Philes, now 13 1/2 games back, the top 3 of the rotation Peak 3 Finge Brown, (92) Maddux SE Lemon all have sub 4 ERA and decent W/L records, Hippo Vaughn and Bob Friends are struggling a bit. the bullpen is doing ok. The lineup is doing ok, at the last minute i went for Ron Santo at 3b and he has really been producing , hitting .352 with a .976 OPS, Rocky Colavito is leading the team in HR (18) and RBI (60). Trammell has gone as his bat didn't justify his D, AL Dark (already a 93 2B) has been brought up from the resrves. Thankfully we don't get to play Westvleteren XII but we play a 3 game series against the Hague Hustlers and those 2 appear to be the best in each conference.

Bad News Bulldogs improved to 34-46, 3rd in their division only 32 1/2 games behind! 4 teams in their division are in the bottom 6 in the league, i don't think the Kowloon Giants could have got an easier ride. Groh, Duffy and Aaron are the only players with 100+ OPS+, Barry Larkin is hitting .193 after hitting .292 in his last Perfect League season

Neuman Furshlugginers had a 11-17 June to drop to 40-41. Every player in the lineup is doing worse in terms of OPS than last year, but we are 1st in Bullpen era and fielding which we were last in last year and we made 1 lineup change. Got to love this game!!

[BigRed75]

Quick halfway recap:

After making the post season, the Forest City Tribe have imploded this year, as pitching has suffered tremendously. The rotation has been overhauled and the addition of 98 Bob Feller will hopefully make a difference. The playoffs are not an option, but now the spectre of relegation is staring the Tribe in the face.

Major off-season acquistions for the South Side Lumber Company as Shoeless Joe Jackson, Luke Appling and Ed Walsh are all now donning the red, blue and white. Their presence has put the Lumber Company into a playoff spot, as they have a 2 1/2 game lead for the first wild card. Jackson is hitting, hitting, hitting; Appling is doing average, and Walsh, at 4-2 with a 4.42 ERA, has been a disappoint, although his 2.05 FIP and .380 BABIP seems to indicate he has been the victim of quite a bit of bad luck as well.

Whither the Froggies? After a slow start to their first season in Silver, the Everett Aquasox find themselves just two games back from the division leaders and in the second WC spot as well. Starting pitching and shortstop are the two positions of need for the Froggies - thankfully, the Mariners have excellent players in both those positions. The only stumbling block is, of course, currency.

Sadly, the same cannot be said for the Thetford Mines Mineurs, who find themselves lanquishing in third place in their division, six games below .500. In both instances, it's been Mark Langston, usually a reliable staff member in both his Mariners and Expos edition, who has been really struggling in Silver. Andre Dawson has also been disappointing but the catching platoon of Gary Carter and Russell Martin is hitting .316 as a group. That math was easy to do since both men have a .316 batting average individually as well.

The last time the Cincinnati Redlegs were relegated from Perfect, they suffered a hangover so bad that double demotion to Gold was rescued only on the last day of the season. The Redlegs had a rough start again this time out, but have righted the ship somewhat and now sit third in the division and 6 games above the relegation zone. Black Thursday for the pitching staff saw two pitchers moved out of the rotation and four pitchers demoted, as a near-complete overhaul will hopefully make a difference.

After the Nashville Game Theories unexpectedly made the playoffs last season, a return to normalcy was expected this year. Wrong! If anything, the Theories are even better, leading the division with a 49-30 record. Once again, the pitching is doing better than expected. Prime example: Ivan Nova has a 5.05 ERA, 4.79 FIP. 87 ERA+, 1.34 WHIP, 0.8 WAR...and a 10-1 record. Indeed, all the starters are above .500 so far on the season.

That's half of the teams. I'll check back in with the other half in a few hours.

[gemini615]

Originally Posted by BigRed75

Which Rapid Robert do you have?

One advantage that I can see (just one!) to not being able to thus far complete the Indians missions: Since I'm holding off locking the "Summers to Remember" collection until I can get another card to lock instead of 88 Boudreau, I was able to upgrade to a 98 Feller for "just" 40K. That was offset by the fact that I turned around and sold my 92 Feller for 25K (okay, 24,999). There was also a Keltner for sale at 30K, but I didn't have enough. By the time I sold Feller, Kenny was gone.

Also, I have been really happy with how Avila has been playing for the Tribe. Sounds like he's doing well for you, too.

I have the 98 Feller. He's way better than the 92 Feller who has like a 20 something control rating. I had to sell a bunch of my players on the first day to get the Boudreau. I've since bought them all back so it was worth it. I've got Keltner training up at first base so he can eventually take over for Tyler Freeman.
If only I could pull Elmer Flick out of a pack. That;d be nice

[Thornbreaker]

Woohoo the Teatotallers have a double digit lead in their division. Sisler, Ichiro and Rice are all raking over .340

Time to find an upgrade for live Buster Posey. Didn't realize he'd dropped all the way to 70 this week.

[Orcin]

The Colonels had a pretty good June, finishing with 7 straight wins and a 61-20 record. However, Orlando now has 20 straight wins and a 5 1/2 game lead. We are 5-5 with Orlando, splitting 6 on the road, so I am satisfied with that. I can't control what the other team does (unless I play them) so I just have to worry about my team. Most of my regulars pulled out of their April funk so I am back to my "normal" lineup (if there is such a thing for me). Perhaps my hot streak will come at the end of the year.

[One Great Matrix]

Unintentional 23-2 vs. lefties this week. 32-27 against right-handed starters.

[getheroff]

Hey Red Raiders...are you a Mike Leach fan?

I tend not to follow the seasons so closely now that we are 26 seasons in. Usually just check a couple of times a week and tweak the lineup here and there. But great to see that we are running neck and neck.

What I've learned about OOTP and Perfect Team in my many hours of devotion is that results/outcomes will eventually gravitate (regress or improve) to the mean. My first few years I had great teams on paper and very good regular season records, but struggled (relative to the other "premium" teams) to win championships. The last 10 years or so have gone better for the Sluggers in terms of titles...but it is fundamentally the same team as the first few years and I haven't really done anything different. Except that I tinker less now than I did before. Maybe all of the Perfect Team leagues have diluted the opposition?

So I guess I'm trying to give you some encouragement. You have a great team...and you still have a winning record over the Sluggers this year. It is only a matter of time before you start taking home the hardware.

I always enjoy reading your summaries...all the best!

[brrrdt1]

Originally Posted by getheroff

Hey Red Raiders...are you a Mike Leach fan?

I tend not to follow the seasons so closely now that we are 26 seasons in. Usually just check a couple of times a week and tweak the lineup here and there. But great to see that we are running neck and neck.

What I've learned about OOTP and Perfect Team in my many hours of devotion is that results/outcomes will eventually gravitate (regress or improve) to the mean. My first few years I had great teams on paper and very good regular season records, but struggled (relative to the other "premium" teams) to win championships. The last 10 years or so have gone better for the Sluggers in terms of titles...but it is fundamentally the same team as the first few years and I haven't really done anything different. Except that I tinker less now than I did before. Maybe all of the Perfect Team leagues have diluted the opposition?

So I guess I'm trying to give you some encouragement. You have a great team...and you still have a winning record over the Sluggers this year. It is only a matter of time before you start taking home the hardware.

I always enjoy reading your summaries...all the best!

None of this playing nice and wishing the best. Red Raiders vs. Sluggers is THE rivalry of PT. I want this to be Red Sox vs Yankees, Bears vs Packers, Barca vs Madrid, Duke vs UNC. Name-calling, rioting, burning cars, storming the field. I paid good money to follow along with this (maybe) entirely random rivalry in a fake baseball game where I only learn the results of the rivalry from message board posts. Don't let me down!

[old timer]

The Raccoons are hot at the moment, but that's because we've not faced a super-team recently. When we did, we lost 2 of 3. The Soniqs won 4-3, then we won 11-2 and then we lost again 2-0. At least we outscored them!

Speaking of outscoring... Surprisingly, we're 4th in RDiff at 253 right behind the Soniqs (by 13) and ahead of the Adirondack LOLCats (by 42) and Seattle Storm (by 8). Pretty good company there!

I'm not sure what happened, but all 5 of my SPs are having great years. That's never happened before and in a league with so many good teams, I'm surprised it's happening this year. Our 2.70 SP ERA leads the conference and is 2nd only to Stone Island's 2.60 SP ERA. So Schilling, Keefe, Clarkson, Sutton and 99 Johnson are pitching like they're Young, Johnson, Maddux, Hoyt and Walsh (Stone Island's SPs). Gotta love the randomness!

Another oddity: The Raccoons are 43-6 .878 (!!) at home and only 22-18 .550 on the road. Our park factors are maxed for hitting and always have been which makes our SP's ERA all the more surprising. But with respect to our home WPct, it's obviously a fluke. We did do better at home last year (.765 to .716), but this year is just crazy.

So in a year where our SPs are doing so great, our normally top notch bullpen is only 6th in ERA. Our normally reliable RPs, Seaver and Hubbell haven't been so great. But 95 Satchel Paige has been so hot, I made him one of my stoppers (I always use 2 stoppers - seems to work well for us).

[pappyzan]

Originally Posted by old timer

The Raccoons are hot at the moment, but that's because we've not faced a super-team recently. When we did, we lost 2 of 3. The Soniqs won 4-3, then we won 11-2 and then we lost again 2-0. At least we outscored them!

Speaking of outscoring... Surprisingly, we're 4th in RDiff at 253 right behind the Soniqs (by 13) and ahead of the Adirondack LOLCats (by 42) and Seattle Storm (by 8). Pretty good company there!

I'm not sure what happened, but all 5 of my SPs are having great years. That's never happened before and in a league with so many good teams, I'm surprised it's happening this year. Our 2.70 SP ERA leads the conference and is 2nd only to Stone Island's 2.60 SP ERA. So Schilling, Keefe, Clarkson, Sutton and 99 Johnson are pitching like they're Young, Johnson, Maddux, Hoyt and Walsh (Stone Island's SPs). Gotta love the randomness!

Another oddity: The Raccoons are 43-6 .878 (!!) at home and only 22-18 .550 on the road. Our park factors are maxed for hitting and always have been which makes our SP's ERA all the more surprising. But with respect to our home WPct, it's obviously a fluke. We did do better at home last year (.765 to .716), but this year is just crazy.

So in a year where our SPs are doing so great, our normally top notch bullpen is only 6th in ERA. Our normally reliable RPs, Seaver and Hubbell haven't been so great. But 95 Satchel Paige has been so hot, I made him one of my stoppers (I always use 2 stoppers - seems to work well for us).

Who's the manager of that Brooklyn Cyclones team?