Season 29 (2047) Discussion Thread

[Nero]

Go get 'em Red Raiders!

Another day away, and I came back to some serious disappointment. Pulling for ya to even the score for me, and walk away with a Championship!

[waittilnextyear]

Was perusing the P454 statistical leaderboards and noticed an interesting season from one team's LIVE Justin Verlander.

This Verlander allowed a conference-worst 65 HR, which was good for 3.0 HR/9. Notable outings included giving up 4 HR on 9/19, 5 HR on 8/19, 4 HR on 8/9, 4 HR on 7/23, and 4 HR on 7/7. Out of 35 starts, only 6 of them were homer-free (including once against my Frogs, which isn't surprising because we're not a ballclub tuned for power). It was an off year after only allowing 56 HR the year before.

As you might imagine, carrying a 3.0 HR/9 through a full season resulted in poor WAR (-3.3) and FIP (7.33). To make matters worse, this Verlander was only getting 2.43 runs per game of run support.

On the bright side, with so many balls leaving the yard, this Verlander was able to lead the conference in BABIP against (.249)! Nice

[macacks]

After several close calls recently the San Angelo Warbirds took advantage of a weaker league (P416) and won their 2nd PL title.

[JasonC23]

Originally Posted by macacks

After several close calls recently the San Angelo Warbirds took advantage of a weaker league (P416) and won their 2nd PL title.

Congrats!

[JasonC23]

In game 3, Huntley took a 6-0 lead, getting to Pedro Martinez early and often, and then had to hold on to win 6-4. In game 5, Rube Waddell had a fine outing, allowing only 1 run in 6 innings, and the late-inning law firm of Smith, Eck, and Gagne only allowed 1 hit combined as Huntley won, 2-1.

Unfortunately, in between in game 4, after Huntley took an early 4-1 lead by getting to El Blanco's Ed Walsh, RealMadrid came back, and then some, by scoring 5 in the 6th--capped off by a Cody Bellinger 2-out, 3-run blast off Walter Johnson--and adding 3 more off the bullpen to win going away, 9-4.

So, it's 3-2, RealMadrid, as the series returns to El Blanco's home park. The odds are not in the Red Raiders' favor, but hope springs eternal...

[Orcin]

I didn't have much time to post this week until tonight, so this will be my weekly update on the Colonels' regular season and playoffs in P433.

We had our best season ever with 130 wins and a +563 rdiff. The offense was led by batting champion George Brett (.344/.402/.527) and HR champion Babe Ruth (.273/.399/.599, 54 HR, 151 RBI, 7.0 WAR). Luke Appling reclaimed the starting job at 2B during the season and finished with a .454 OBP. Bill Dahlen had 30 SB to finally give us some speed in the lineup along with stellar defense at SS.

Cy Young (25-8, 1.52 ERA, 257 K) claimed the pitching triple crown, and we set team records with 411 runs allowed and a 2.36 team ERA. Thanks to some AH bargains on diamond cards, I finally addressed my chronic weakness in the bullpen by adding lefties Eppa Rixey and Rube Marquard. We now have three left-handers (including Carl Hubbell) to bridge the gap from our right-handed rotation to closers Lee Smith and Eric Gagne.

in the playoffs, we advanced to the conference finals by defeating the New York Flyers 3-1. After losing the first game 2-0, we only allowed 1 run in the next three games. The conference final was a very tough affair with the San Antonio Cotton Rats. We won the seventh game behind Babe Ruth, who was named MVP of the series by hitting .360 with 3 HR, 5 RBI and 7 RS.

The World Series featured the Colonels (130-32) vs. the Haledon Glaziers (127-35). Haledon plays in a max-contact park, so I played a hunch with Charleston replacing a cold Mantle in left field.

Game 1: LOU 3, HAL 0. Cy Young (6 IP, 11 Ks) and Eppa Rixey combine for the shutout. Homers by Mays and Dahlen provided the runs.
Game 2: LOU 12, Hal 3. No HRs in the game but the Colonels pounded out 16 hits including 3 each by Brett and Ruth.
Game 3: LOU 7, HAL 6. Jumped on their Schilling for 6 early runs and held on. Three hits each by Brett, Appling, and Charleston.
Game 4: LOU 9, HAL 3. Scored 6 off Waite Hoyt in 5 innings and won PL championship #5 with a sweep.
Series MVP: Mays .438 with HR, 6 RBI

MVP: Babe Ruth
PotY: Cy Young
Great Bat: Ruth DH, DiMaggio RF, Mays CF, Brett 3B, Appling 2B

Points earned: 42,995 (my second-best week)

[scott1964]

That did not go as planned

[JasonC23]

With 2 on and 2 out in the top of the 1st of the must-win game 6, Huntley's Joe DiMaggio singled off RealMadrid's Carl Hubbell to give the Red Raiders a quick 2-0 lead.

It was a short-lived lead, as Christian Yelich led off the bottom of the 1st with a homer off Ed Walsh; later in the inning, Ken Griffey Jr singled home Cody Bellinger to even the score at 2.

Both teams wiggled in and out of trouble and the score remained tied until the top of the 8th inning. With 1 out, Jackie Robinson singled off Rube Waddell. Mickey Mantle followed that up with a double, putting runners on second and third. Joe DiMaggio worked a walk, and the bases were packed with Red Raiders.

In came the great one, Mariano Rivera, to face George Brett. Brett took a ball, a strike, and another ball, before fouling off a pitch to even the count at 2. On the next pitch, Brett grounded a ball weakly toward his counterpart at third, Wade Boggs. Boggs got a glove on it but couldn't make a throw, and the Red Raiders took the lead 3-2 on the infield single.

Rivera struck out Frank Thomas and Lou Gehrig, but the damage had been done.

Don Sutton and Lee Smith worked around 2 singles in the 8th. Gagne pitched a 1-2-3 9th.

And there would be a game 7.

Roger Clemens. Pedro Martinez. Red Raiders vs El Blanco. It all comes down to this...

[waittilnextyear]

Originally Posted by Orcin

...
Game 1: LOU 3, HAL 0. Cy Young (6 IP, 11 Ks) and Eppa Rixey combine for the shutout. Homers by Mays and Dahlen provided the runs.
Game 2: LOU 12, Hal 3. No HRs in the game but the Colonels pounded out 16 hits including 3 each by Brett and Ruth.
Game 3: LOU 7, HAL 6. Jumped on their Schilling for 6 early runs and held on. Three hits each by Brett, Appling, and Charleston.
Game 4: LOU 9, HAL 3. Scored 6 off Waite Hoyt in 5 innings and won PL championship #5 with a sweep.
Series MVP: Mays .438 with HR, 6 RBI

MVP: Babe Ruth
PotY: Cy Young
Great Bat: Ruth DH, DiMaggio RF, Mays CF, Brett 3B, Appling 2B

Points earned: 42,995 (my second-best week)

The somewhat hard-luck Louisville Colonels from a couple of months ago seems like a very distant memory, eh?

[waittilnextyear]

Oh man, bummer. The Red Raiders lose a 1-run game in G7 on the road to RealMadrid. Twas some kind of epic series that featured four 1-run games, including games 5, 6, and 7.



Quite the playoff run for RealMadrid to go through Austin (124 wins), Manhattan (121 wins), and Huntley (119 wins) while starting as a wild card team.

EDIT: RealMadrid has an interesting team history and pretty clearly tanked from diamond back down to bronze about 15 "seasons" ago, where things began to click with a 145-17 record in bronze league back in 2036. Judging by their runs allowed, they then tried to tank to avoid promotion in 2038/2039, but made the playoffs anyway so they've been competing normally ever since. It's a good ball club.

[Argonaut]

The crazy division race that was the AC East in P435 went to the underdog in the Vikings over the Waverunners. We finished at 113-49, 2 games ahead of Malibu. Since I last posted, we had 2 more extra innings games in the rivalry, with the Vikings again winning them both! Our strong record against the Waverunners, especially in extra innings, won the division as we took the season series 13-6.

Unfortunately that success didn't translate into the postseason, as the Waverunners reverse-swept the Division Series 3-2. No extra innings craziness, but it was a close series with the run differential identical. I didn't have time today to check my teams so I was still running 5-man rotations and things like that, but I doubt that mattered.

Anyway, we were always an underdog playing in a league with whales, and the 2 biggest ones ended up facing each other in a 7-game series for the title:

[JasonC23]

Arky Vaughan strode to the plate in the top of the 6th. Luke Appling stood at second base, having just singled and, thanks to an errant throw by right fielder Joe DiMaggio, advanced to second while the third Huntley run, in the personage of Carl Yastrzemski, crossed the plate. Huntley had once been down 3-0 and 4-1, but now, Vaughan could, with one swing of the bat, tie the score.

Curt Schilling stared him down from the mound. He'd been brought in to relieve the El Blanco starter, Pedro Martinez, and instead had given up a double to Yaz and the aforementioned single and error to Appling. But this was his chance to make amends.

Vaughan settled in, Schilling came to the stretch, and delivered a fastball.

Vaughan offered a mighty swing, sending the ball into the outfield, but there it settled into the glove of left fielder Christian Yelich. Schilling had escaped with the lead intact, 4-3.

There it would stay, giving RealMadrid the P454 Perfect League championship by that same margin, 4 games to 3.

Congratulations to RealMadrid! As waittilnextyear mentioned, they had quite the gauntlet to run in the playoffs, and they did just that. Huntley gave them all they could handle, but when the dust settled, El Blanco reigned over them all.

The Fighting Frogs' Ed Walsh was indeed the NC Pitcher of the Year. He also finished second in the NC Most Valuable Player award voting to the Saint Paul Fighting Saints' Honus Wagner. Huntley only took home one postseason award, a Platinum Stick for LF Mickey Mantle (.282/.380/.509, 137 wRC+, NC-leading 140 OPS+, 5.4 WAR).

It was a heck of a season in P454. Here's to RealMadrid, and here's to next season!

[JasonC23]

Originally Posted by Argonaut

The crazy division race that was the AC East in P435 went to the underdog in the Vikings over the Waverunners. We finished at 113-49, 2 games ahead of Malibu. Since I last posted, we had 2 more extra innings games in the rivalry, with the Vikings again winning them both! Our strong record against the Waverunners, especially in extra innings, won the division as we took the season series 13-6.

Unfortunately that success didn't translate into the postseason, as the Waverunners reverse-swept the Division Series 3-2. No extra innings craziness, but it was a close series with the run differential identical. I didn't have time today to check my teams so I was still running 5-man rotations and things like that, but I doubt that mattered.

Anyway, we were always an underdog playing in a league with whales, and the 2 biggest ones ended up facing each other in a 7-game series for the title:

Congrats on a great season, Argonaut! Sorry it didn't work out in the playoffs.

Also, I don't know who those River Raiders are, but they have a nice logo.

[Argonaut]

My other teams did pretty good as well on Thanksgiving Sunday autopilot.

The Little Rock Crayons lost a Game 163 to miss out on the wildcard spot. But they've been picking away at Collections and should be better in a few weeks.

The Green Lake Cowboys finished 102-60 and made it to their first Perfect Series. We got beat by the ultra-whale 82-time Perfect Champion Metheun Silver Sox. But in signature Argonaut fashion (I guess), we made the most out of an underdog team and beat a few expensive rosters along the way. 1st in Batting Average, OBP, Stolen Bases, and Baserunning, which is what I like to see. If we manage to get about 8 new pitchers things are looking up.

[Westheim]

So, between my three postseason entries (across all PTs) this week I managed two division winners that were bopped quickly, and the Rebs that charged into the Gold Series on an 8-1 romp after starting in the Wild Card game, won the first two against the Tally Woods, and then gradually came apart until a Battle of the Syndergaards decided Game 7. Mine was blown out, there's not so much. And thus we settle for second place honors and the assurance that a beating awaits us in Diamond.

[Will_L]

Subway Rats get their first championship in Diamond (399). A tough series that went the full seven games and featured a six run comeback with two outs in the bottom of the ninth in game 4 that almost ended on a strikeout by Jeff McNeil but the ball got away from the catcher and he beat the throw as well as a 17 inning game 6 that Toby Harrah won with a 3 run blast to the bullpen in left in the top of the inning. We got outscored 29-21 over the seven.
Notice the typo on the game 6 headline...? Game 7 was won 2-1 by Buehler with the save going to Puk.

[Cheesetruck]

Hooray! One of my teams swept the Gold Level World Series!

[Nero]

Originally Posted by JasonC23

Arky Vaughan strode to the plate in the top of the 6th. Luke Appling stood at second base, having just singled and, thanks to an errant throw by right fielder Joe DiMaggio, advanced to second while the third Huntley run, in the personage of Carl Yastrzemski, crossed the plate. Huntley had once been down 3-0 and 4-1, but now, Vaughan could, with one swing of the bat, tie the score.

Curt Schilling stared him down from the mound. He'd been brought in to relieve the El Blanco starter, Pedro Martinez, and instead had given up a double to Yaz and the aforementioned single and error to Appling. But this was his chance to make amends.

Vaughan settled in, Schilling came to the stretch, and delivered a fastball.

Vaughan offered a mighty swing, sending the ball into the outfield, but there it settled into the glove of left fielder Christian Yelich. Schilling had escaped with the lead intact, 4-3.

There it would stay, giving RealMadrid the P454 Perfect League championship by that same margin, 4 games to 3.

Congratulations to RealMadrid! As waittilnextyear mentioned, they had quite the gauntlet to run in the playoffs, and they did just that. Huntley gave them all they could handle, but when the dust settled, El Blanco reigned over them all.

The Fighting Frogs' Ed Walsh was indeed the NC Pitcher of the Year. He also finished second in the NC Most Valuable Player award voting to the Saint Paul Fighting Saints' Honus Wagner. Huntley only took home one postseason award, a Platinum Stick for LF Mickey Mantle (.282/.380/.509, 137 wRC+, NC-leading 140 OPS+, 5.4 WAR).

It was a heck of a season in P454. Here's to RealMadrid, and here's to next season!

It was a fun season, and congrats to everyone!

Awards are always a little bittersweet after a season that falls short of expectations. As always, wish everyone the best for next year, and I hope y'all get one next year!

[brrrdt1]

Didn't get a chance to post much this season, but the Dolphins ended up picking up PL championship #4 (and second in a row). Was finally back in a full league after a bunch of seasons in weird ~20 team leagues and it was fun. Had some tough teams in both conferences. Ended up with my worst regular season record in a while, with "only" 117 wins, but doesn't matter with the trophy now in the case. And a first MVP award for longtime Dolphin, Roger Conner, who got moved up to the leadoff spot this season with both Rickey Henderson and Ozzie Smith moving to the bench. Other changes that seemed to pay off included training 99 Jackie Robinson up at SS, which might finally give me the steady offensive production I've wanted, bringing Vida Blue into the bullpen, and tweaking my OF rotation (further tweaks coming for this next season).

Good luck everyone next season!

[sharknut]

Originally Posted by Argonaut

My other teams did pretty good as well on Thanksgiving Sunday autopilot.

The Little Rock Crayons lost a Game 163 to miss out on the wildcard spot. But they've been picking away at Collections and should be better in a few weeks.

The Green Lake Cowboys finished 102-60 and made it to their first Perfect Series. We got beat by the ultra-whale 82-time Perfect Champion Metheun Silver Sox. But in signature Argonaut fashion (I guess), we made the most out of an underdog team and beat a few expensive rosters along the way. 1st in Batting Average, OBP, Stolen Bases, and Baserunning, which is what I like to see. If we manage to get about 8 new pitchers things are looking up.

I was happy my team squeaked into the wild card spot. I knew my team wasn't as good as yours and wouldn't be able to keep up all year.

This year I am in a division where by some weird coincidence, 3 of the 5 teams were exactly 66-96 last year. So I have a little more hope this year that I can repeat my playoff appearance. I wasn't able to add any new players between seasons.