Season 50 (2068) - Discussion Thread

[Warhawk]

Well, we finished at 113-49, our best ever season, won our division by 31 games, and yet not only are we only the 3 seed, we're 14 games back of the 2 seed. Mount Hawke finished 129-33 and Winterfell finished 127-35. Both wild card teams are 82-80. So we get Winterfell in the first round, went 2-5 against them in the regular season.

Starting pitching was pretty good this year, Lemon wasn't great but Feller had the most wins in the league going 24-7 with a 3.00 ERA, and had the most strikeouts too. Maddux was 18-8, 2.89, and Paige was 18-4 with a ridiculous 2.12 ERA, second in the entire league by one hundreth of a point to Winterfell's Walter Johnson. Eck ended up with the most saves (tied) even though his ERA went up a lot this year. Had 3 of the top 5 players in the conference in home runs.

[One Great Matrix]

Winterfell is a tough opponent. Don't feel too bad if they beat you.

As for us, we're in the PL playoffs for the 34th time with a division-winning 108-54 mark, looking to maybe bring home our 4th virtual PL Champs' trophy. The bracket set-up looks about as good as it ever has for us, but of the 3 times we outlasted the other 9 teams to this point?, only once. did the bracket appear favorable...

whilest maybe 2 or 3 other times it looked like we had a shot & were upset or out-matched.

So 1 for 3 or 4 on brackets like this one. (25-33%)
2 for 30 on big upsets. (6.67%) (or 2 for 29)

Everybody have fun tonight.

[macacks]

Here is the playoff setup for P489. This game never ceases to grab my interest.

First all of the division winners had their best season in PL...except for the Warbirds. It is their 2nd best (133-29) season record wise but with many 'bests'.
*Run Diff - 714
*Runs scored -1176
*Avg -.313


This performance was only good for 3rd in the league and 2nd in the conference.
The Orlando Calrissians took the lead in the conference(134-28) on the second last day of the season. In order to catch the Warbirds though they committed playoff sin #1 and finished the year on a 32 game winning streak.
Some teams will never learn.

Other notable entrants are the C.N. Owls who were on a terrific pace for RA but slowed in the 2nd half.

On the left side we have the previously posted Westvleteren X11. Stories abound with this team.
*Clearly on Auto Pilot as they are playing with a 24 man roster and no 2nd basemen in the starting lineup.
*Play Lefty Cheese to the max (starters, hitters, park factors, etc.)
*11X PL champs with clear goals for XII I assume. These wins have been spread out over many years dating back to 2028.
*Walter Johnson with 40 Wins
*6 100 RBI guys
Only two categories they didn't lead in (came in 3rd) was stolen bases and Zone Rating.



The Warbirds purged their extensive reserve roster and it provided over 600PP. There were a few gems that were being used only for tourneys (CAP and position based).
Management then tuned that into AH find Kid Nichols. There isn't a lot of history on him in PL but his ratings are very solid and will get him into any roation.

[JasonC23]

The playoff matchups are set in P449; let's make some predictions!

First off, who will win the AC? The answer is...I have no freaking clue. When the Wild Card matchup pits a 7-time Perfect League champion (Jonestown Athletics) against a 9-time Perfect League champion (Texas Texans), all it does is make you curse the one-and-done silliness of said Wild Card. And the winner, of course, then faces off with the 13-time Perfect League champion, and overall #1 seed, RealMadrid El Blanco. What this means is that within, at most, 6 playoff games, a minimum of 16 and a maximum of 24 of the 41 AC Perfect League titles will have been eliminated.

OK, so, let's be honest, it's probably going to be RealMadrid advancing to the Perfect League Series out of the AC. But the sentimental favorite remains the PL-championshipless Pacific Sixers, led by Grove/Waddell/Keefe/Hubbell in the rotation, Hoffman in the bullpen, and Reese/Robinson/Posey/Ewing/Wheat in the lineup. Pacific faces a tough Division Series matchup on the road against Mocosloco's Green Sox, and then would have to tackle whoever emerges from the other Division Series, but the world is on your side, Pacific. Go Sixers!

Over in the NC, the prediction is that Huntley will, for the fourth time in as many seasons, be the #1 seed but not make it to the Perfect League Series. The Red Raiders barely managed to hang onto the #1 seed, playing their worst baseball of the season in September/October (19-9), while the hard-charging Radium Curies played their best (24-6) and so can be considered the favorites to make it out of the NC. The Curies, featuring Waddell/Brecheen/Smoltz/Brown, Matlack, and Henderson/Dahlen/Berra/Stirnweiss, draw the 76-86 Balamb SeeDs in the Division Series, while Huntley will take on the winner of the Wild Card tilt between the Swaledale Beer Nuts (against whom Huntley went 5-1 in the regular season) and Portland 69ers (against whom Huntley went 14-5).

Stats-wise, Waddell (7.6 WAR) and Walsh (7.4 WAR) paced Huntley's rotation, Rivera (1.18 ERA, 46 SV) returned to form in the bullpen, and Ozzie Smith was truly the Wizard of Oz (lineup-leading 7.2 WAR with 4.43 RF, +11.6 ZR,1.073 EFF--but also a career-best .328/.413/.499, 135 OPS+ batting line!).

Good luck to all in the 2068 playoffs--ie, the last playoffs before the OOTP 21 Perfect Team live stream that makes us all forget this version of the game even exists!

[RunninYakAngler]

All three of my teams made the playoffs this week, with the YakAnglers winning the most games of the three with 100 wins, but finished 3rd in their division. The Miners won their division and the Marathoners made a late run to steal the final wildcard spot. All three are expecting early exits, again.

Had a few points to "throw away" this morning so I bought 10 packs among my teams. Last pack and pull for the Miners gave me a Perfect, unfortunately it was Live Gerrit Cole. Still a nice PP boost. The 2 packs I got for the Marathoners were the usual run-of-the-mill stuff, as expected. Decided to spend the last 5k after an upgrade for the YakAnglers, and the first pack gave me another Perfect. Unfortunately again, it was Live DeGrom. Can't complain about two perfects in 10 packs, but man it could have been so much better.

[RunninYakAngler]

YakAnglers fall to the New York Gustapi, 3-2, in 12 innings. Had chances but couldn't get the hit we needed.

The Marathoners lose to the 2-0 to the Charlevoix MadCatz. Smoltz never let the Marathoners get anything started.

[bailey]

Ed Walsh (25-4, 2.74) was not sharp in the wild card game, giving up 6 hits and 4 runs in the first inning. Big Ed kept his cool, though, and managed to complete 7 without any more damage. For the bats, it was the bottom of the order than saved the day: 3 singles from Suzuki (OVR 90) and 2 doubles from Pesky (OVR 84) powered the comeback. That setup the dramatic final inning as Rich Gossage (OVR 100) made his debut. (Rollie Fingers, 37 saves, 5.05) (OVR 94) lost his closer spot after blowing 8 saves during the year including 4 in September, costing the division crown in the final weeks.)
The 65K man worked around a leadoff single to thrill the crowd by striking out the side: hit-1-2-3.

[One Great Matrix]

1-1 after the home games in my LD Series.

Whatever Whatever's Eddie Collins hit a 3-R HR in Game 1 to win it.

Campanella & Schmidt flexing their muscle with a couple of tremendous shots that actually travelled a combined 900 feet over 3 fences & by 3 flagpoles for us to squeak by with a 3-2 victory & a draw on our homefield as the series moves to Whatever; The Ballpark of Whatever.

[JasonC23]

Game 1: Swaledale Beer Nuts 1, Huntley Red Raiders 0

Game 2: Swaledale Beer Nuts 2, Huntley Red Raiders 0

So...yeah.

[One Great Matrix]

2-2 after 2 more games in my LD Series.

Flyers take game 3, 4-1, with a couple more HRs (Keeler, Yelich)
SS Phil Rizzuto wins game 4 for Whatever in the 11th inning with an RBI double after 2 Vida Blues & each team's respective relief corps battle each other to a tie after 9 innings of baseball....

GAME 5 IS A DO OR DIE

[JasonC23]

Originally Posted by JasonC23

Game 1: Swaledale Beer Nuts 1, Huntley Red Raiders 0

Game 2: Swaledale Beer Nuts 2, Huntley Red Raiders 0

So...yeah.

Well, the Red Raiders finally scored in game 3 of the Division Series...3 whole runs. Fortunately, thanks to Curt Schilling, that was enough to win the game, 3-2.

Thinking it had the formula solved, Huntley again scored 3 runs in game 4...but with a double off the bat of Pee Wee Reese in the bottom of the 9th, Swaledale walked off with the game 4 win, 4-3, and the Division Series victory, 3 games to 1.

Good luck to everyone left in P449! Which, by the way, does not include the RealMadrid El Blanco, who fell in 4 to the Jonestown Athletics. Radium, pegged as the NC favorite, swept away Balamb, and everyone's favorite underdog, the Pacific Sixers, are about to take on Mocosloco's Green Sox in a win-or-go-home game 5. I'll update what happens as soon as I can get the "another playoff flameout, woo-hoo" taste out of my mouth.

[Orion]

Well the year went well cept for the Uberwhale parked in my division. We won the wild card and lo and behold jumped out to a 2-0 vs Mississauga and their Carnivorous crew in the divisionals He has stormed back to even it and we have to deal with game 5 in the swamps. The Eppster, "Epic" Rixey gets the ball and our hopes for a miracle win vs Cy the Old.

[Orion]

Wow. I just got in and now check the Direwolves and they won their WC too and have already finished off the 123 Win Kingston Rockers in 4 games. Amazing. But back to the Guardians for Game 5...

[Orion]

Originally Posted by Orion

Well the year went well cept for the Uberwhale parked in my division. We won the wild card and lo and behold jumped out to a 2-0 vs Mississauga and their Carnivorous crew in the divisionals He has stormed back to even it and we have to deal with game 5 in the swamps. The Eppster, "Epic" Rixey gets the ball and our hopes for a miracle win vs Cy the Old.

We should change our name to Whale-Killers. Game 5 turned out to be a real pressure cooker with 4 errors and 2 wildpitches between the two squads but the Guardians were able to chase Cy Young with 4 early runs, he was gone by the 5th inning. Eppa had a great game but began to tire and gave up a 3 run HR to 100 Cobb. Johnny Rigney managed to sub in and subdue the Righty heavy lineup to hold on for a 1 run win!!

[waittilnextyear]

Frogs went 130-32 (+582) this week, and yet it stunk of mild disappointment. That's because the Los Angeles Rams (a power team that bested my Frogs in a recent 7-game PL Series) won 134 games and posted a +659 margin in the process. It was, however, the 3rd time the Frogs have reached the 130-win plateau (winning titles both previous times). The team also extended its streak of 100+ win seasons to 28 weeks, playoff appearances to 22 weeks, and division titles to 7 weeks.

Anywho, it'll be the Frogs vs Rams rumbling in the NC for the right to play in the PL Series this week. It's actually a nice, quality final 4 here in P421. Hamtramck just got by the Quips in a wild G5 in their Division Series.

Standouts for the Frogs this week? RB Pedro (26-4, 2.03 ERA, 8.6 WAR), SE Hoffman (25 SV, 1.64 ERA), SE Wheat (.322/.383/.554, 26 HR, 25 SB), SE Cash (.330/.411/.514, 18 HR, 93 RBI), HoF Simmons (.307/.366/.515, 22 HR, 88 RBI), Cap Anson (.300/.394/.474, 131 R, 16 HR, 30 SB). SE Dick Allen also roasted LHP in his usual platoon 1B role (.335/.407/.601, 14 HR in just 47 starts).

I'm especially glad that HoF Ted Simmons showed up because I decided to sell off 100 Mickey Cochrane to a Discord person even though Simmons had a bad 1st [partial] week with the team last week. Throughout PT20, I think I've been luckiest at the catcher position, first getting LaVa and Smoky Burgess in packs, then 99 Yogi and 100 Cochrane, and most recently HoF Simmons.

Also worth noting is SUPER Ichiro collected his 600th double, 500th stolen base, and has set himself up nicely to get his 4,000th hit next week. SE Appling actually did pass 4,000 hits this week. SE Ed Walsh is in good shape to win #500 next week (provided I don't stick him in the pen). Most of my other players are still too new to have gaudy career stats.

[One Great Matrix]

Dropped like a pile of bricks in the top of the 4th.

But whatever.

[One Great Matrix]

Originally Posted by waittilnextyear

Frogs went 130-32 (+582) this week, and yet it stunk of mild disappointment. That's because the Los Angeles Rams (a power team that bested my Frogs in a recent 7-game PL Series) won 134 games and posted a +659 margin in the process. It was, however, the 3rd time the Frogs have reached the 130-win plateau (winning titles both previous times). The team also extended its streak of 100+ win seasons to 28 weeks, playoff appearances to 22 weeks, and division titles to 7 weeks.

Anywho, it'll be the Frogs vs Rams rumbling in the NC for the right to play in the PL Series this week. It's actually a nice, quality final 4 here in P421. Hamtramck just got by the Quips in a wild G5 in their Division Series.

Standouts for the Frogs this week? RB Pedro (26-4, 2.03 ERA, 8.6 WAR), SE Hoffman (25 SV, 1.64 ERA), SE Wheat (.322/.383/.554, 26 HR, 25 SB), SE Cash (.330/.411/.514, 18 HR, 93 RBI), HoF Simmons (.307/.366/.515, 22 HR, 88 RBI), Cap Anson (.300/.394/.474, 131 R, 16 HR, 30 SB). SE Dick Allen also roasted LHP in his usual platoon 1B role (.335/.407/.601, 14 HR in just 47 starts).

I'm especially glad that HoF Ted Simmons showed up because I decided to sell off 100 Mickey Cochrane to a Discord person even though Simmons had a bad 1st [partial] week with the team last week. Throughout PT20, I think I've been luckiest at the catcher position, first getting LaVa and Smoky Burgess in packs, then 99 Yogi and 100 Cochrane, and most recently HoF Simmons.

Also worth noting is SUPER Ichiro collected his 600th double, 500th stolen base, and has set himself up nicely to get his 4,000th hit next week. SE Appling actually did pass 4,000 hits this week. SE Ed Walsh is in good shape to win #500 next week (provided I don't stick him in the pen). Most of my other players are still too new to have gaudy career stats.

Are the Fighting Frogs & the LA Rams rivals of sorts?

[macacks]

Warbirds sneak through the divisionals in 5 games vs the elite defence of the C.N. Owls.

Waiting for the Warbirds are the Orlando Calrissians. Yes, the team we were trying to jinx in the playoffs after they won their last 32 games of the reg.

They did lose 1 to stop the streak.

Orlando will go with Walter, Cy, RB Pedro and Schilling
San Angelo will start with a surprise in Kid Nichols (2 starts) followed by Walt, Gooden and Young.
NOTE: When the Warbirds shifted Schilling to the bullpen... it made it so there wasn't going to be a 20 game winner H2H each game of the series.

Orlando has the hot hand plus home field.
San Angelo has the better RD.
Each have 8 PL titles and some recent success.

[Orion]

Originally Posted by One Great Matrix

Are the Fighting Frogs & the LA Rams rivals of sorts?

Rams are straight up nasty, but Froggy's team can go toe to toe with almost anyone.

[Orion]

Originally Posted by One Great Matrix

Dropped like a pile of bricks in the top of the 4th.

But whatever.

We'll get em next year bro.