Season 22 (2040) Discussion Thread

[JasonC23]

...that I was kind of hoping I'd lose the last game in September? Alas...

[Marleigh]

Neuman Furshlugginers managed to avoid relegation ending the season with a 9 game win streak. A lot of changes to be made ahead of next season, Chipper Jones was horrible, He's being sold, Chili Cavis was sub par with his bat which isn't good when he was also bad defensively. the bullpen apart from Sambito, Howe and Righetti are getting replaced, and all starting pitchers will get replaced (if we can sell them) so that we can move in a different direction with pitching


Bad News Bulldogs finished the season 107-55, not bad for their 1st season in gold. Frank Robinson was the key offensive player driving in 112 run with 24HR, vada Pinson scored 106 runs and Eric Davis hit 23HR, had 68SB and an eye watering 231Ks, no really huge individual performances but everyone did their job. No really amazing performances from the pitchers either just solid all round, though my bullpen (especially Dibble did manage an awful lot of wins



Paragon City Heroes somehow made the playoffs with an 85-77 record which was 3rd place in the division 25 games behind the Trenton Bulldogs. In the WC game we play our division rival Charlotte Isotopes, with our Maddux going up against Singer. I wouldn't be too upset to lose the WC game, i think we need at least another season to get the lineup right 3b and RF are still up in the air

[Magus978]

Season in review for all my teams...playoff matchup will be listed if known.

New York Patriots (G312, OL): 94-68, 2nd in NC Central. The Patriots had issues with pitching all season long, falling out of first place at the break and not quite being able to get it back, falling one game short in the division. The starting pitching actually stabilized a little bit down the stretch as Jose Fernandez and Fred Newman each performed well. The Patriots will begin their journey towards diamond with a home wildcard matchup against the Washington Base Stealers.

Brooklyn Dynasty (P411, $): 93-69, AC Central champions. This was a very strong rebound season for the Dynasty, going from 77 wins last week to 93 this week. They will be the #3 seed in the postseason, facing off with Toyosu Haruki (99-63). Jeff McNeil (.336) won the AC batting title, while Max Scherzer led the team in wins (17) & ERA (2.78).

Connor Joe Appreciation Society (S251, Meme): 82-80, 3rd in NC East. After a nice start which had Connor Joe flirting with a potential All-Star selection, he fell off badly in the second half, finishing up with a .244 average, hitting 12 HR and driving in 67 runs. This team is not in the playoffs mainly because of a 4.53 starting pitcher ERA (12th in conference).

Blitzkrieg Boppers (D381, OL): 93-69, AC East champions. The Boppers will be the top seed in the playoffs after coming out ahead in a tiebreaker based on head to head against the Lawrence Forked Knives. They were led by a dominant starting rotation, with J.R. Richard (15-9, 2.74), Hal Newhouser (14-7, 3.13), Whit Wyatt (14-8, 2.77), and Len Barker (13-9, 3.52) all securing 13+ wins. On offense, they were less potent than they had been in the past, failing to have a .300+ hitter. If the Boppers are going to win promotion to Perfect on Sunday, it will be because of their pitching.

New York Mets (B226, OL): 93-69, AC Central champions. The Mets miss out on the top seed in the American Conference via tiebreaker. A strong week for the pitching on this team, led by the Warrior, Bob Friend (17-7, 4.22) and a bullpen that combined on a 3.22 ERA (2nd in conference). On offense, Greg Jefferies (.281, 32 HR, 117 RBI) set the pace for the Amazin's. They'll face off with the West Michigan Whitecaps in the divisional round.

Metuchen Mariners (D401, Pack Only): 75-87, Last in NC West. Despite the best efforts of Harry Walker (.336, 1 HR, 47 RBI) & Smoky Burgess (.336, 8 HR, 88 RBI), the Mariners had a very rough first season at this level. The pitching was bad, the hitting was mostly bad, and as a whole the season was a complete waste of time. However, they managed to avoid relegation with ease, and will be hoping for bigger and better things next week.

Raleigh Rage (S304): 98-64, AC Central champions. Despite missing out on the #1 seed, the Rage will be a very tough out in their divisional round matchup against the Valdez Oilers (92-70). Mike Hampton (16-7, 3.68) set a solid pace for the starting rotation, while Willie Mays (.285, 23 HR, 107 RBI) led the way for the offense. Garry Maddox (.319, 5 HR, 92 RBI) finished 2nd in batting average and in WAR (5.6), while Martin Dihigo (.291, 16 HR, 79 RBI) finished tied for 2nd in stolen bases (31).

St. John's Silver Sox (I200, Pack Only): 87-75, AC West champions. The Silver Sox will make their 3rd straight playoff appearance, securing the #3 seed and facing off with the JC Reclamation (90-72) in the divisional round. Johnny Cueto (17-5, 2.76) won the ERA title, while Marcell Ozuna (.277, 33 HR, 92 RBI) was the star of the show with the bat.

Steelport Saints (B219, OL): 91-71, AC East champions. Missing out on the Bronze OL league this week didn't seem to hurt the Saints, who were buoyed even more tonight by pulling peak legend Lefty Grove. Tim Hudson (20-4, 4.06) was the team's first ever 20-game winner, while Curt Flood (.348, 4 HR, 81 RBI) won the batting title. Jack Clark (.309, 36 HR, 152 RBI) set a team record for RBI in a season, previously set by Gary Sheffield in 2037. In the playoffs as the #3 seed, they will take on the Surprise Longhorns (96-66) in the divisional round as they try to get promoted to silver.

[waittilnextyear]

The Frogs ended up with a franchise-best 110 wins in P406. Won the division by 17 games and best record in the conference by 13 games. The other conference turned out to be much stronger with the Battery Park City Tamps (120-42), Carmel-By-The-Sea Otters (117-45), San Dimas Wild Stallions (109-53), Saint Paul Fighting Saints (104-58), and Malibu Waverunners (102-60) all making the playoffs there.

96 Roger Clemens paced the conference in wins (21) and 96 Zack Greinke (17-4, 2.42 ERA, 1.10 WHIP) was the ERA king. It'll be interesting to see how the Cy Young award is decided with...umm...Cy Young leading the conference with 7.8 WAR to Greinke's 6.5 WAR, but with Greinke having 2 more wins, a much better winning %, and a 2.42 to 3.05 lead in ERA. Greinke also has a substantial edge in RA9-WAR, 9.2 compared with Cy Young's 6.1.

Nomar Garciaparra fell 2 points shy of his 2nd batting crown with a .325 batting average. He also led the conference in doubles (54) and extra base hits (70) while training up to a 71 at 2B from zero. Garry Maddox may have had his best season yet: .304/.343/.435 with 5.4 WAR (before the adjustment to his already generous +19.6 ZR...he might end up with +50 ZR and 8-9 WAR given how defensive stats are adjusted after the fact). There could be several Frogs up for Gold Gloves, including catcher (Mike LaValliere), left field (Mike Trout), center field (Garry Maddox), and right field (Lenny Dykstra).

The Frogs will face the winner of the Chico Cheetahs (93-69) and the Little Lebowski Urban Achievers (81-81) in the LDS. The Frogs went 9-10 against Chico (albeit with a 4-game sweep in the last week of the season), and 6-1 against the Urban Achievers. Both teams are very right-handed so it makes prepping for that series a bit easier.

As for playoff roster adjustments, the Frogs are plugging in SE George Sisler to play 1B and moving PEAK Chipper Jones to 3B. It'll hurt the defense a bit, but I like getting an extra lefty bat in there against my very right-handed opponent. Also bringing Tim Raines back onto the active roster strictly in a pinch running role after he was jettisoned in August for having a poor season. Finally, trying out SE Ed Brinkman as a defensive sub because why not? I just hope he doesn't get any ABs. It'll be 100 Mathewson, 96 Greinke, and 96 Clemens in the rotation with 100 Johan Santana going to the bullpen and 94 CC Sabathia sitting this playoff round out.

This will be the Frogs' best shot at a title in quite a few seasons, so we'll probably get swept in the LDS.

[Westheim]

No playoff teams this week. The list of terrible losers includes the Rebs, who finished 80-82. One game out of first place…

(shrugs)

(rolls into a ball)

(weeps)

[One Great Matrix]

Final Standings

Moline Maroons 110-52 ----
New York Flyers 97-65 13 GB

Spot 4

INKO Seagulls 112-50 ---
New York Flyers 97-65 ---
Towers of the Dub 82-80 15 GB
Detroit Tigers 77-85 20 GB

The INKO Seagulls have "only" been around 13 weeks & have managed a .740 WPct. in those 13 seasons. If we beat the Seagulls we play the Golden Grizzlies who have a .652 winning PCT. in 22 seasons. Beyond that tunnel-vision, both of the potential LCS match-ups are .650+ all-time, plus one team in the other conference out of 5, that are .650+. Winning as much as the conference this week would REALLY be quite the accomplishment.

I just remembered what happened regarding this being my first wild card but feeling like it wasn't...I won the wild card one other season but was in a conference of 8? total teams where the playoffs started with two best-of-5 series. This isn't, however, my first one-game all-or-nothing. Another season I tied for the 2nd wild card spot & lost a play-in game.

[old timer]

Our 1st time in a whale league, there were 12 whales and we finished with a .660 WPct and was a WC. We even made it to the conference championship. This time around, there were 14-15 whales (obviously somewhat subjective) and we didn't quite fare as well. We finished with our 1st (since bronze) losing season, winning only 77 games. Even some teams that were weaker than ours managed to win a fair bit more. A weird, but interesting season.

Keefe and Clarkson were especially bad. Keefe had a 5.54 ERA and a 1.68 WHIP and Clarkson had a 6.22 ERA and 1.57 WHIP. I checked other Keefe and Clarkson cards that got used as SPs and the few others there were did much better. There was a team with Cy Blanton as their ace and he outpitched 3 of my SPs. On the plus side, Schilling was one of the better pitchers in the league so I can at least feel good about that purchase.

Our best hitter Keeler also performed worse than the other Keelers hitting only .301, but managed to "eke out" 201 H to make it 11 straight seasons with 200+ H.

One nice thing about being in this league has been to help me determine possible future upgrades. If there's a great player available, he's probably in this league so I can just look him up and see how he's performed for these teams. So I've taken lots of screenshots so I can remember when it's time to upgrade.

We only made 6K PP (WAY down from our usual 16-21k totals) so I'll probably drop out of the league so I can save more for some upgrades, but I'd definitely like to try this again some time. Surely we won't do as poorly next time, right?!

[JasonC23]

Here are the final standings and the playoff bracket for P405. As mentioned, I'll be away for a good portion of the day, which might be a good thing, as Huntley's Division Series matchup against either the Burlington Bisons or Naperville Knights will be a tough one. We finished 11-8 vs Burlington and 5-2 vs Naperville during the regular season, but A) it's the playoffs, so that doesn't matter, really, and B) they both can score (Naperville finished 4th in the AC with 857 runs, while Burlington finished 5th with 843), which typically gives Huntley problems in the playoffs.

On the NC side, can any team prevent what promises to be an epic Sub-League Series clash between 124-win Doha and 121-win Team To Be Determined? On the one hand, an upset would be pretty amazing; on the other hand, I kind of hope those two titans battle it out for our entertainment, Roman gladiator style.

Good luck to everyone in P405!

[Maxfire5]

Main team: Finished 92-70, good enough for second place in the division. We finished a whopping 37 games back of first place though. Rick Reuschel gets the start in the wild card game. We face a team that finished 86-76.

Kansas City Theme Team: Finished 83-79, good enough for second in the division. Also in the wild card spot. Steve Busby gets the nod. Going against a team that finished 89-73.


EDIT: Main team made it through the wild card in a thrilling 3-2 win. Now, we face the winner of our division, Flatbush Dukes who had a record of 129-33.

Kansas City Theme team unfortunately lost out 6-5 in extras. We scored 1 run in the top of the 11th, but the bullpen gave up 2 runs in the bottom of the 11th. Oh well, onto next season for them!

[bailey]

Cy Young had a season for the ages winning the pitching triple crown with 1.70 ERA, 32 wins (including a stretch of 20+ wins in a row), and 322 strikeouts. The K amount is an all-time record for all perfect leagues to date. He also set the standard for WAR at 14.1 surpassing the old high by more than a full point.

I had the league's best record until the last game of the season, when I lost on the last day while the other conference's Bellevue Black Knights completed the season with a 22-game winning streak.

My other two teams won their divisions as well with sub .500 win totals of 79 and 76. I don't know what to do with those teams. One has over 100K points and probably could raise another 100K selling its players, but then what? The other one is 1 silver card each away from completing 4 of the 5 White Sox missions, but then the last mission needs 2 diamonds that I don't have.

[Marleigh]

Our season was nicely encapsulated in the wildcard game, Greg Maddux won POTG for 7 innings for 2 runs, then our setup guy came in, gave up a run and left 2 on base and our close gave up a 3 run walk off homer. We had the second best nullpen era in the league and it was the first blown save for Vazquez. oh well not too unhappy as we'd have been murdered in diamond if we had made it further and we lost to a team who won 6 more than us.

[One Great Matrix]

New York Flyers at INKO Seagulls

4-2 game going into the bottom of the 9th, Flyers winning.

Rivera subs for Koufax.
Went:

Boggs flied out.
Keeler flied out.
I. Rodriguez singles.
J. Gibson walks.
T. Williams doubles (Robinson (PR) & Gibson score, 4-4)
Trout walked intentionally.
Paul Blair singles, (J. Pesky (PR) scores)

INKO Seagulls win 5-4.

Guess Boston still hates the Mets for 1986 Game 6 in which they came back from 2 runs down with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th. I think that's my only other clear recollection of such a comeback with 2 outs and bases empty in 9th, at least....in the playoffs. & Ted Williams & Johnny Pesky both Red Sox.

[One Great Matrix]

Originally Posted by Magus978

Season in review for all my teams...playoff matchup will be listed if known.

New York Patriots (G312, OL): 94-68, 2nd in NC Central. The Patriots had issues with pitching all season long, falling out of first place at the break and not quite being able to get it back, falling one game short in the division. The starting pitching actually stabilized a little bit down the stretch as Jose Fernandez and Fred Newman each performed well. The Patriots will begin their journey towards diamond with a home wildcard matchup against the Washington Base Stealers.

Brooklyn Dynasty (P411, $): 93-69, AC Central champions. This was a very strong rebound season for the Dynasty, going from 77 wins last week to 93 this week. They will be the #3 seed in the postseason, facing off with Toyosu Haruki (99-63). Jeff McNeil (.336) won the AC batting title, while Max Scherzer led the team in wins (17) & ERA (2.78).

Connor Joe Appreciation Society (S251, Meme): 82-80, 3rd in NC East. After a nice start which had Connor Joe flirting with a potential All-Star selection, he fell off badly in the second half, finishing up with a .244 average, hitting 12 HR and driving in 67 runs. This team is not in the playoffs mainly because of a 4.53 starting pitcher ERA (12th in conference).

Blitzkrieg Boppers (D381, OL): 93-69, AC East champions. The Boppers will be the top seed in the playoffs after coming out ahead in a tiebreaker based on head to head against the Lawrence Forked Knives. They were led by a dominant starting rotation, with J.R. Richard (15-9, 2.74), Hal Newhouser (14-7, 3.13), Whit Wyatt (14-8, 2.77), and Len Barker (13-9, 3.52) all securing 13+ wins. On offense, they were less potent than they had been in the past, failing to have a .300+ hitter. If the Boppers are going to win promotion to Perfect on Sunday, it will be because of their pitching.

New York Mets (B226, OL): 93-69, AC Central champions. The Mets miss out on the top seed in the American Conference via tiebreaker. A strong week for the pitching on this team, led by the Warrior, Bob Friend (17-7, 4.22) and a bullpen that combined on a 3.22 ERA (2nd in conference). On offense, Greg Jefferies (.281, 32 HR, 117 RBI) set the pace for the Amazin's. They'll face off with the West Michigan Whitecaps in the divisional round.

Metuchen Mariners (D401, Pack Only): 75-87, Last in NC West. Despite the best efforts of Harry Walker (.336, 1 HR, 47 RBI) & Smoky Burgess (.336, 8 HR, 88 RBI), the Mariners had a very rough first season at this level. The pitching was bad, the hitting was mostly bad, and as a whole the season was a complete waste of time. However, they managed to avoid relegation with ease, and will be hoping for bigger and better things next week.

Raleigh Rage (S304): 98-64, AC Central champions. Despite missing out on the #1 seed, the Rage will be a very tough out in their divisional round matchup against the Valdez Oilers (92-70). Mike Hampton (16-7, 3.68) set a solid pace for the starting rotation, while Willie Mays (.285, 23 HR, 107 RBI) led the way for the offense. Garry Maddox (.319, 5 HR, 92 RBI) finished 2nd in batting average and in WAR (5.6), while Martin Dihigo (.291, 16 HR, 79 RBI) finished tied for 2nd in stolen bases (31).

St. John's Silver Sox (I200, Pack Only): 87-75, AC West champions. The Silver Sox will make their 3rd straight playoff appearance, securing the #3 seed and facing off with the JC Reclamation (90-72) in the divisional round. Johnny Cueto (17-5, 2.76) won the ERA title, while Marcell Ozuna (.277, 33 HR, 92 RBI) was the star of the show with the bat.

Steelport Saints (B219, OL): 91-71, AC East champions. Missing out on the Bronze OL league this week didn't seem to hurt the Saints, who were buoyed even more tonight by pulling peak legend Lefty Grove. Tim Hudson (20-4, 4.06) was the team's first ever 20-game winner, while Curt Flood (.348, 4 HR, 81 RBI) won the batting title. Jack Clark (.309, 36 HR, 152 RBI) set a team record for RBI in a season, previously set by Gary Sheffield in 2037. In the playoffs as the #3 seed, they will take on the Surprise Longhorns (96-66) in the divisional round as they try to get promoted to silver.

You listened to Connor Joe!, not only did you play him, but started a team in his honor, huh?

[sharknut]

All 3 of my teams made the playoffs, all pack teams. When I used the 1000 PP reward for my Chiles making the playoffs, I pulled a Diamond Vazquez card. Awesome, I don't have a closer, I use a bullpen by committee. So I plug Vazquez in for the playoffs and in his first game for me blows a 2 run 9th inning lead.

sigh

[One Great Matrix]

Originally Posted by sharknut

All 3 of my teams made the playoffs, all pack teams. When I used the 1000 PP reward for my Chiles making the playoffs, I pulled a Diamond Vazquez card. Awesome, I don't have a closer, I use a bullpen by committee. So I plug Vazquez in for the playoffs and in his first game for me blows a 2 run 9th inning lead.

sigh

Well one of the nice things about PT is by the time you get over it, next season will be a few hours away. Err...maybe. If you read my post a couple posts up my team did the same. Same old closer but he got 2 outs to open the inning even.

[RunninYakAngler]

My YakAnglers made the playoffs and won the wildcard game, and their reward is to get trounced by the Los Angeles Rams. The Rams have 19 Perfects on the RESERVE roster, and 25 players rated 97+ also on reserve. They only have around 10 perfects on their active roster with multiple 99s and a couple of golds. FREAKIN TANKERS! I should report them!! Only winning 123 games. Psssh!

On a good note Chris Short threw my first perfect game ever that I'm aware of, dating back to OOTP 4 or 5. I've always been a fast simmer, usually simming a season a day or more, so I can't be certain that one was never achieved.

The Marathoners, as usual, go 2-8 to finish the season and miss the wildcard by two games. It's what they do and they are extremely consistent at it.

The Miners got placed in the same division as the Kogarah? Kings and knew the season was over before it started. I think they won around 70 games.

[bailey]

Pursuing the all-time K record for Cy Young did not come without a price. I had to start him on the 2nd to last game of the regular season, figuring 4 days off before game 1 would yield a fully rested pitcher. It did not. He was only 98% rested. Luckily, there was a game 163 in my league providing an extra day off.

The unexpected first round opponent was the plucky Sooner Sox, winner of that game 163. This 84-win team defeated the 101-win Chambersburg Wharf Rats whose own Cy Young (OVR 100) imploded in 2 innings yielding 6 runs. The Sox's Chris Sale (OVR 99) also imploded, but nevertheless prevailed in the sloppy game.

My own Cy Young (OVR 100) also decided to pitch his absolute worst game of the season and as game 1 went to the bottom of the 8th trailed 6-4. That's when Justin Verlander was used by the AI as "setup". He faced 8 batters whom all scored before any outs were made en route to a 15-6 opening win. On the other hand, Ed Walsh pitched brilliantly in game 2, "painting the corner" and "in control" but losing 2-1. After that, the Magpies took care of business, 8-1 and 13-0.

[Orcin]

The day is over for the Colonels, beaten 3-2 in the first round by a very good DDingu Eagles team. The top-rated bullpen in the conference blew leads in games 1 and 5, leaving me to wonder if I need to improve it or just shrug it off as bad playoff luck.

[daves]

Originally Posted by Orcin

The day is over for the Colonels, beaten 3-2 in the first round by a very good DDingu Eagles team. The top-rated bullpen in the conference blew leads in games 1 and 5, leaving me to wonder if I need to improve it or just shrug it off as bad playoff luck.

Wow, Sutter gave up two big homers in game 5 of your series. I thought Cy Young was going to pitch you into the next series?

[One Great Matrix]

Originally Posted by Orcin

The day is over for the Colonels, beaten 3-2 in the first round by a very good DDingu Eagles team. The top-rated bullpen in the conference blew leads in games 1 and 5, leaving me to wonder if I need to improve it or just shrug it off as bad playoff luck.

They destroyed me & are ,well, in your class.

It's just clear to me they are a great team...lost 0-4 in a Gold LCS Series to them.
So it's certainly no clear red flag as far as the quality of your team that you lost to them in 5 games in a best-of-5.