Season 38 (2056) - Doing the Thing (Discussion)

[mcdog512]

I'm in quite the battle for the division with the Rocketchester Rockets who reeled off 14 straight wins to pass me by a game....gonna be a tight finish.

As a side note, locking horns with the Warbirds in a tourney, they are always tough. 2 games to 2.

[Renfro]

Three games left:

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And I'm facing the Lemurs, who's throwing out Live Sale, Live Greinke, and Live Scherzer.

Nice to be in a dogfight in Perfect. Granted, the AC West is the easiest division (there's a 135-win team and a 113-win team in the other division), but still.

Late-season pickup SE Tommy Bridges (94) has been a revelation.

[waittilnextyear]

The Frogs ended the 2056 regular season with a 124-38 mark. And, for the 2nd time in 3 weeks, 120+ wins was not enough to be division champion. On the brighter side, it does mark 6 consecutive 120-win+ and 17 consecutive 100-win+ campaigns for the Frogs. This PT franchise should reach 4000 wins right around Christmas.

The 127-win Mighty Ducks got white hot down the stretch and proved too difficult to keep pace with. Even though the Frogs took 3/4 from the Ducks in their final meeting (and the Frogs won the season series 10-9), it wasn't quite enough. Despite scoring a franchise-record 952 runs, the Frog offense had a few too many hiccups in September--those bewildering 1-0 losses to bottom-feeding teams and such.

Hopefully the Frogs will shrug off finishing 2nd in the division unlike back in 2054 when they were upset in the Wild Card game. This week, the Frogs (124-38, +464 RDiff) will host the Brooklyn Cyclones (80-83, +2 RDiff). As can be gathered by their 163 games played, the Cyclones lost their own division in a G163 tiebreaker. The Cyclones will send out LIVE deGrom; their best card, by far, is POTM Cody Bellinger. In fact, the Cyclones are very LHB-dominant and don't platoon, so it has me questioning whether to stick with SE Red Ruffing at 100% stamina or pull a lefty like Harry Brecheen/Vida Blue/Johan Santana out of the pen to have a go at their lefty batters.

[old timer]

Due to another busy week, I didn’t check in on my team until Thursday and then realized I hadn’t yet added Lee Smith to the active roster (I had purchased him during the WS last year).

The Raccoons are in a league that collectively has 49 perfect titles, but 30 of those are owned by 2 teams (15 each by the WormBurners and Brees). If we fail to win the WS this year (which seems likely), it will be the 4th straight year which hasn’t happened in 20 years. During the last 4 years, we’ve managed to win 131, 119, 122, 120 games which is our best 4 year total ever.

One oddidty of the season was our season series against the 3rd place team in our division, the Edinburgh Hibs (who won 90 games). After winning the 1st 7 games against them we then lost 10 straight to them. I’m pretty sure no one has ever won 10 straight against us before, not even the many whales we’ve had in our divisions in the past.

Since altering our HR factors for our park from 1.1 to 1.0, our home record vs road record has improved noticeably. For many years now, there's been a significant gap between our home and away records so I guess that change helped. I figured that we're not a strong HR team (we used to be) so that boost was helping the competition more than us.

Keefe topped 600 W this year and Keeler topped 6000 H so that got me to wondering who some of our career leaders were:
Keeler with 6104 H (221/season)
Robinson with 633 HR (Mays has 701, but much of that came with his former teams)
Keeler with 2883 RBI and 3087 R
Keefe with 608 W and 6725 K (in 1072 GS)

[Westheim]

Something borrowed, something blue, something old and something new: all five of my teams made the playoffs in the same season!

To start of the top and the bottom at the same time, the Raccoons won 104 games in Perfect, but still came up short again and have to settle for the wild card flayer, losing the division to the 113-win Bearsville Bears. Portland will face the 81-81 Wazzapamani Blues in the wild card game. **** show as usual, I'd wager. We went 12-7 against the Blues in the regular season.

At least I'll have Lefty Grove lined up. Not Big Walt, but who is like Big Walt, right?

Them Rebs stopped their plunge into darkness with a solid season after two relegations in quick succession and bagged their Gold League division with 90 wins. We had the third-best offense, but the pitching remains "suspect", by which I mean I am trying to frame all of them as suspects in random murder cases all over the US.

With the 1k PP from making the playoffs we popped 1992 Dennis Eckersley from the resulting pack. While his movement is atrocious, he still counts as marked improvement for this beleaguered pen.

The Accountants won their division with 92 wins, 10 ahead of the nearest opposition. The team canned Walker Buehler (the second-longest tenured player on the team behind Clemente!) in September and replaced him with 1920 Pete Alexander, who made only three starts, going 2-1 with a 2.70 ERA.

KC has no previous PL championships in their half of the playoffs; there are five titles in the other conference, including the 4-time champs Hickory Crawdads. Facing those would already be considered a major achievement.

The PT 19 Raccoons and Rebels also won their divisions in Diamond and Silver, respectively.

This will get busy.

[JasonC23]

The Huntley Red Raiders managed to hold off the Julestown Squirrels 121-41 to 114-48 to claim the NC West title. The Red Raiders also somehow chased down the San Francisco Irish to tie for the best record in the league, but San Fran still claimed the #1 seed in the playoffs thanks to its slightly dominant 5-1 record vs Huntley during the season. Huntley's "reward" for slotting into the #2 seed is to face the 108-win NC East champion Tallahassee Tomahawks, against whom the Red Raiders had a much tougher time this season (3-3) than the 2 Wild Card participants (Squirrels: 13-6; Mordor Mayhem: 7-0 [they shall not pass, indeed!]).

In the AC, the 2-time Perfect League champion Summit Dirigibles claimed the AC East title with an impressive 115-47 record but could not quite reel in the 10-time Perfect League champion Flagstaff 49ers, who finished 120-42. There is one true underdog in the playoffs, and that is AC West champion Paderborn Untouchables at 80-82. The team has a Gold and 2 Diamond championships; it would be an incredible and awe-inspiring feat to add that elusive Perfect medallion, but hope is still alive!

Huntley's enhanced defense shown through this season, as the Red Raiders allowed a mere 459 runs and had a defensive efficiency of .711 and a starter ERA of 2.45, all first in P448; only Flagstaff, with 481 runs allowed, also finished with fewer than 500 runs against. (Huntley's bullpen ERA of 2.86 was "only" good for third in P448.) The offensive scored 877 runs, which was good for fourth place in the NC and fifth overall in P448; potentially unfortunately for Huntley, the 3 NC teams that scored more runs are all actual and possible playoff opponents: San Francisco (1,018); Julestown (964); and Tallahassee (928).

Good luck to all those in P448 and throughout PT 2.0 on this playoff Sunday!

[Westheim]

A Dan Brouthers error and Lefty Grove having his brains extracted through the left nose hole in the 5-run (4 unearned) second inning squished the Raccoons in the wild card **** show, 9-4.

You know, as usual!

Four left.

[Renfro]

P407 AC West needed two extra games to sort it all out - three teams played 164 games each - and when it was done, the Xenos were outside looking in. There goes our chance of sneaking into the playoffs through a weak division. As I wrote earlier, SE SP Tommy Bridges (94) was a revelation. He went 10-2 in 17 starts with a 4.19 ERA and 1.33 WHIP. Peripherals aren't so good (1.7 HR/9, 2.32 K/BB) but he's earned his spot in the rotation for next year. He'll be taking the place of Mort Cooper, whom I finally let go after 23 seasons. Cooper's really good but he's one of my only expendable diamond players not locked into a lifetime contract. And I need the funds to continue these DET missions.

The Wind-Up Birds were in another weak division and despite finishing 79-83, were only 3 games out of winning the division outright. SE 98 Vida Blue was a terrible disappointment. In 26 starts, he went 4-12 with a 4.10 ERA and 4.10 WHIP. But we did average only 2 runs per game for the poor guy so there's that. Late mid-season acquisition - by way of a tourney pack, no less - 91 Don Newcombe went 6-2 in 12 starts with a 3.68 ERA and 1.28 WHIP. We did average 4.17 runs per game for the guy.

Ultimately disappointed in the regular season but it was nice to have excitement on Saturday and to play with the new arms in the rotation.

Good luck to all in the playoffs, I'll be off spamming the quick tourneys.

[old timer]

The Raccoons have gone up 2-0 on the San Francisco SmallBallers (an all lefty lineup vs RHP with a park to match and LH SPs), winning a wild one 18-9 (38 H) in the 2nd game. But the real news is the Edinburgh Hibs (90 W). They're up 2-0 on the 137 W New Orleans Brees. If they can knock off the Brees, our path to the WS becomes much easier. Or does it? The Hibs beat us 10 straight during the regular season (towards the end) and won the season series 10-9 so maybe this is just their lucky year?

[JasonC23]

For the second straight season, Huntley stumbles out of the playoff gate, losing 2 straight at home. And the pattern of last season is mirrored in the absolute failure in game 1 of the Red Raiders' best regular season starter (Ed Walsh: 4.2 IP, 6 ER, in a 10-8 loss) and the absolute failure of the offense to show up in game 2 (Tallahassee's Carl Hubbell: 8.1 IP, 3 singles, 1 BB, 9 K in a 2-0 shutout victory).

Last season, Huntley won the 2 road games in the Division Series, only to blow a 9th-inning lead in game 5 at home. Will this season continue to mirror last? Or will Huntley just meekly get the defeat over with more quickly? Ugh.

[Westheim]

Rebs are up 2-0 on the Cape Corral Reefers in the LDS. Going suspiciously well. One more win and they're back to Diamond.

Conversely, the Accountants are down 0-2 to the Cleveland Crushers. Well, I didn't expect much, but that was a bit of a pathetic show...

The 19 Rebs were two innings away from a 3-0 sweep in the LDS before dawdling away Game 3. The 19 Coons are down 1-2 after ... dawdling away Game 3 in the eighth inning...

[JasonC23]

Originally Posted by JasonC23

Will this season continue to mirror last?

Game 3: Huntley 8, Tallahassee 2 (Rube Waddell: 8.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5K)

Game 4: Huntley 9, Tallahassee 1 (Roger Clemens: 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R; Luke Appling, 4-5, 4 R, 2-R HR)

On to game 5...let's avoid last year's 9th-inning meltdown!

[waittilnextyear]

The Frogs were able to go through the "other" Brooklyn Cyclones in a 9-5 Wild Card game victory. My SE Harry Brecheen was very shaky. More on this later.

That set up the power match between division rivals. The Anaheim Mighty Ducks and the La Crosse Fighting Frogs. 251 wins between them this week.

After burning Brecheen in the Wild Card game (partly because the Cyclones were LHB-centric), the Frogs had their Walsh/Ruffing/Smoltz trio ready to do battle with the RHB-centric Mighty Ducks. Things appeared to be set up for success...

In G1, my Red Ruffing got "ruffed" up to the tune of 3 ER in 6 IP. Not terrible by any means, but when it's 100 Cy Young on the other end, a ho hum quality start will generally not do it. And it didn't. Cy went 6 IP and allowed 1 ER; their SE Brecheen pitched 3 IP for the save (as if to mock me). Anaheim's FL Vlad Jr. went 4/4 with a homer.

G2 saw my Ed Walsh allow 4 ER in 6 IP. Once again, not great. Their 100 Curt Schilling was better: 7 IP 2 ER. My 100 Seaver gave up a solo HR for the 2nd straight game (thinking he's not long for the bullpen). Once again, their FL Vlad Jr. had a boffo game, 3/4 with said solo HR. It should be noted that the Frogs had the bases loaded in the 8th inning of a 4-2 game, and consecutive fly outs by SE Sisler and 99 Berra left the Frogs with a 4-3 deficit still. Opportunity sort of squandered.

In G3, the Frogs notched a 6-3 win. This was despite Anaheim's FL Vlad Jr. homering for the 3rd straight game and pushing his playoff average to .833. SE Sisler and SE Dykstra homered for the Frogs; 100 Bonds was a HR shy of the cycle. Their Ruffing really got ruffed up: 3 IP 6 ER. SE Smoltz was good for the Frogs: 6 IP 2 ER.

Ah, yes. Game 4. Sigh. The Ducks took the game 6-5 and the series 3 games to 1. The Harry Brecheen gambit ended up ruining me here. My Brecheen got destroyed for 6 ER in 2.1 IP. Now, in my defense, if the simulations hadn't gone a little wonky I probably would've subbed him out against the RHB-focused Ducks. But, I wasn't getting new simulation files after G2 for some odd reason, and both G3 and G4 happened before I could do anything about it. As it was, the Frogs pulled to within 6-5 in the 9th inning upon SE Appling's RBI double. Unfortunately that would be the final Frog base hit of the season as the enemy's Harry Brecheen struck out Ozzie Smith, Barry Bonds, and Christian Yelich. Again, as if to mock me.

I dub this series "The Brecheen Maneuver" or "The Brecheen Gambit" or "The Haunting of Harry Brecheen" or "Chasing Harry" or...you get the idea.

Even though it was annoying to chase the Ducks all week, not catch them (despite a 10-9 record against them), and then lose to them in the playoffs where their Brecheen (7 IP 1.29 ERA) gets the "cheat code" and mine doesn't (5.2 IP 17.47 ERA)...even with all that, I am kind of rooting for them. It is insane that the Mighty Ducks still haven't won a PL title. They are due! They've made a ton of card acquisitions over the previous 4-5 weeks in trying to get over the hump so I hope it pays off for them this week. And, then I hope we are never in the same division again.

Good luck to all those still simming!

[old timer]

We swept our series with the SmallBallers, but the big news are the Edinburgh Hibs who took down the mighty Brees 3-2, winning the final game 7-6. Surely we can beat these guys, right? Their ace is Live Scherzer. How hard can this be? Somehow, I fear another upset in the making...

[JasonC23]

...does not repeat itself! Mariano Rivera even got an achievement for striking out the side in the 9th! First home playoff win since 2054!

[emilempenza]

I have finally been promoted to the Perfect league, meaning I will possibly bump into (and be destroyed) by some of you guys next season. Very excited to see just how scary it all is tbh as I've been reading along on these threads for a while now. Hopefully I will be a footnote in someones tale of triumph

[Westheim]

In 19, the Raccoons lost the LDS in four, while the Rebels won theirs in four and are currently 1-1 against the Chilton Tigers.

The 20 Rebs stopped scoring after the sixth inning in Game 3, blew their lead there, and then were shut out in Games 4 and 5 of the LDS, thus remaining nailed down in Gold League when they ought to be expunged altogether. The Accountants were swept altogether in the LDS.

So it's down to one.

Man, if someone had told be I would have five playoff teams this week and four of them would croak before bedtime, I wouldn't have bought into that.

Only four??

[JasonC23]

Game 1 was an exciting, back-and-forth affair, but it ended up being a mere appetizer for the main course that was game 2. And that game 2...on the one hand, it really, really hurts, but on the other hand...wow. Playoff baseball.

[JasonC23]

May I present, San Francisco Irish vs Huntley Red Raiders, game 3. Of course, it did not go 18 innings like game 2.

It only went 16 innings.

Huntley's scheduled game 4 starter, Roger Clemens, had to pitch 1.1 innings. He got the win, which was nice, but still...

This is nuts!

[scott1964]

I thought I was down and out and was not going to the post season.

Just wow