New Orleans Penguins

[Lemandria]

Sacramento Season Finale



Tomato comes up short in the series again, move on to Gold league. Post-season awards:

AL MVP: Todd Helton
Great Bat: Alan Trammell SS
Great Bat: Todd Helton 1B
Great Glove: Mookie Betts RF

[Lemandria]

2059 Early Results

Well, things were doing fine, right up until the last week when the wheels came off. We’re trapped in a division with one of the bigger sharks, again.

The early defensive results look good, and the early offensive results look like Gulf Igloo (difficult to judge hitters in a deadball park, everybody looks terrible). Pitching looks okay, at least thus far.

10-16, Division t-5th, overall t-24th. Relegation line +1/2. RS 12th, RA 4th, so we’re (Bill James says) better than the record. Maybe it’s just a bad patch, but next month doesn’t look good in schedule terms. Expect basement results for May.

[Lemandria]

A good month (!)

Certainly better. Our zomg awesum defenz strategy seems to do the job, even if it does produce some abysmal batting averages. We even survived the first serious shark attack, and actually won a game.

18-8 in May, bring us to 30-24. 2nd in divison, 17 GB, 7th overall. +3 in wildcard race (heh). Comfortably out of Dead Zone, at least for now.

Pitching 3rd in AC, Zone rating 3rd. Scherzer is the standout (of course), but Carlos and Reynolds are pitching really well, too. Ryu and Moose are doing all right. Crisco and Bardol was the secret the entire time, who knew? The bullpen is doing less well, seems like we need to pass around the crisco can in the bullpen, too.

Hitting is more difficult to judge, because of the general numbers depression of the deadball park, but they did seem to be swinging the sticks rather than sitting on them this month. Including the guy playing mostly for his glove (Arenado). Attaboys for Brock, Arenado, Freeman, Pinson, Cedeno, and Betts.

We are blessed this season by the one true megawhale being in the other league, and we don’t have to face him at all this season. We still have our local shark for our fair share of abuse.

I know it was just one hot month, and I have no illusions. We may have accumulated enough Ws to survive infrequent short-term shark attacks, and the inevitable return of sub-.500 ball that is the Penguin’s PEL hallmark.

[Lemandria]

Jun 30

13-13 for Jun. A really rough schedule at this point, several sharks in the water, circling. Based on schedule strength, we’re probably going to play around .500 ball until Sept. Fingers crossed, hope for a positive streak rather than a negative one.

44-27, .537. 3rd in division. 11th overall. Hitting declined and pitching picked up this month.

We’re probably the most unwatched team in baseball, because fans love high-scoring games and we’re intentionally playing for the opposite.

[Lemandria]

Jul 31st

Well, the All Star game came and went again. None of us went, of course–defensive teams don’t get dazzling numbers that make the fans swoon. If we had an alternate there, he never left the bench or bullpen.

But despite the obvious snub from the snooty PeL fan voters, we didn’t have a bad July and escaped (at least in schedule terms) our roughest month with a winning record. August does not look rosy, but Sept should feel like a vacation after living through this summer.

In July, 14-11. Overall 59-49 (.546), Division 3rd, Overall 8th. All five starters are doing well, even by pitcher’s park standards. The Crisco Ball pitchers are a combined 20-15, Max is pitching as you would expect from your Ace, and Moose and Reynolds are…surviving, somehow.

If you’re not used to what this ballpark does to offensive numbers, they’re all hitting miserably, but there are a few standouts who seem to take to the park better than others. Props for Freeman, Pinson, Brock, Arenado (!), Betts, Cedeno.

Early forecast from Pessimistic Projection Model™ is an 87 win season, but the confidence interval remains quite low at this early date.

Our division leader is projected at 115, so…yeah. Welcome to PeL.

[Lemandria]

Finishing the long, hot summer

Ice, we need ice!

For August, 13-12. Now we’re done with the toughest part of the schedule, and the shark attacks slow significantly in Sept.

73-61 (.545) 3rd in Division, 8th overall. We have a shot at one of the wildcards, but not a good one–the team that’s 2nd in division is +6 in front. That’s a lot to make up in a single month. So we’re here, we mattered, but we aren’t really in the race.

But I’m proud of you flightless waterfowl, anyway. Good job, fellas. We’re inching up into winning PeL seasons. Some day you even might shock your critics.

Pessimistic Projection holding at 87 wins, margin of error narrowing.

[Lemandria]

Penguins set a PL record

…of their own. 93 wins is our best Perfect season to date. Would have won the ACC, but we’re in the ACW, where it’s 26 games back. At any rate, it’s still very encouraging. We picked up a ton of games in the final weeks, finishing 6 games over projection, too.

Schedule strength matters. Remember I said Sept would feel like a gentle breeze after that summer schedule? 20-7 in Sept/Oct 1st.

Anyway, congrats to Nevada Knights (119 wins) and Kansas Champs (96 wins) for winning the ACW and Wildcard, respectively. Good luck in post-season!

We finished D3 and Overall 8. Five starting pitchers above the PeL Mendoza line. In the ultimate pitcher’s park, that figures. Also five relievers. Runs Against 4th, ERAs 4th. There’s some hella pitching staffs in PL. We’ll get there. some day.

Hitting not so rosy, naturally. Runs Scored 13th, WAR 11th, HR 9th, OPS 14th. The OF finished above Mendoza, but as a team we hit .234. Again, the effects of the ultimate pitcher’s park.

So we may have trouble enticing top-tier hitters to come play here. It really, really pimps their career numbers. And, as we saw, zero votes for the All-Star game.

Once we get some hitters signed, maybe we can fix the sand traps and tall grass where singles go to die.

My 1500th win, as a GM, on 9/23/2059

[Lemandria]

Force wins ACW



They essentially lead wire to wire, so it’s no surprise that our beloved Brutes are headed into post-season play.

Final season record of 103-59, .636.

[Lemandria]

Well, what do you know.

Apparently, we snuck into the second WC spot. I didn’t even know.

In the WC game, we took out the Kansas Champs, an objectively better team. But that happens in one-game playoffs, we won the coin flip.

In the Division series, we faced the Confederate Dunces. With our 1-5 record against them during the regular season, we weren’t feeling any too confident. And after looking at the teams, I know when we’re outmatched.

But after losing the first game in a 14-0 blowout, we won the next game 3-2. Then lost game three, 7-5. But got two great starts from Scherzer (5-1) and Cisco Carlos (2-1) to win the series.

We got trounced in the sub-league, of course, dropping 4 straight to the Nevada Knights.

But that’s all of the reporting from the Penguin’s very first PeL playoff appearance.

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Our Brutes, sadly, got swept in the sub-league series, and thus ended their season. A fine year, but not quite good enough. They will be promoted into Gold for next season.

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Tomato finished well out of "the money," but will return again in gold next season.

[Lemandria]

New waters, new sharks

11-14 for Apr. I don’t really see a Shark Prime within my division, but there are a couple leaving spreading blood pools around the NC in general, and they’re sure to cruise into this local shoal from time to time.

We had a bad month, but not a critically bad month, not yet. It just looks like one of those oddity-laden slow starts. Losing at Home, for example–we don’t generally lose at home. Zone rating is disturbingly average, instead of among the best. Strikeouts-we’re fanning away merrily but not getting any out of the arms, also unusual. Oddities.

The starters are getting abused early on, but we know they’re better than what they’ve shown thus far. Apply more Crisco, boys.

The hitters are settling into familiar patterns. Nothing to worry about there.

Don’t know. I’ll just issue the shark warning flare guns. My hunch says it’s just one of those early-season beatings that doesn’t persist, but I don’t have that ominous disaster “feel” for this season yet. You know the ones, a season where all the wheels come off completely. It could be that kind of a season, but we’re not seeing the signs and hoping it isn’t.

Think it’s going to come down to how often the sharks cruise through the local shoal.

[Editor: May opens with two back-to-back shark attacks, and a third later in the month. Could be a terrible Spring.]

[Lemandria]

Jun 4

For May, 13-13 (.500) Overall 26-28 (.481) Division 4th Overall 15/30

And that’s the period of highest shark attack incidents behind us. No other month includes three feeding frenzies. The rest of the season should run with less blood in the water, whether we make it onto the spawning iceberg or not. Next-worst month is July.

Liberal application of Bardol to the baseballs seems to be doing the trick again. Reliever ERA is excellent, Starters beginning to pitch up to form. Errors declining, Zone Rating climbing, runs against 3rd in the league.

Dykstra’s climbing his way out of that 1-for-21 start, the OF as a whole is hitting now. Runs Scored 11th, BA 11th. OPS 11th…much more typical deadball numbers. Pythagoras says we’re even owed a couple of games, let’s see if he’s full of it.

Confidence building. If we avoid extended slumps, we could surprise some people by Sept.

Tell the lifeguard to be on the alert for Great Whites.

[Lemandria]

Penguins hate warm weather

Such is my conclusion.

The bullpen went through a minor collapse this month, we started losing games at home, we started losing 1-run games. We need to win those coin flip games.

The division consists at two teams up top, unassailable, and three teams at bottom (clawing each other). A really typical PeL result. We finished, at least for this month, on the bottom among the three teams within a game of each other.

10-17 (.370) for Jun. 37-44 for the season, Division 5, overall 18/30. Still solidly centered in the leagues, not flirting with the dead zone. Maybe it’ll even out.

The next few months look fairly calm, as shark attacks go, July being the worst. As the weather cools, we should start to cruise. Hope it’s not too late.

[Lemandria]

Hey now, we’re no rock stars

Get paid. 16-7 for July (.696), 52-52 Overall. Division 3rd, Overall 12th. Projected 81 wins (imagine that).

Considering this was a ‘bad’ month in terms of schedule, doing that well is pretty encouraging. Runs scored dropped a bit, Runs allowed climbed. And we won some of those coin-flip games.

We haven’t switched into “pennant chase” mode yet, but we’ve got a fair chance at a wildcard (2 games out and favorable schedule, two months to catch up those 2 games). Maybe.

Seems almost certain that we’ll finish middle-of-the-pack somewhere. Middle-plus would be nice.

[Lemandria]

Aug 31

For the month of August, 14-14 (.500), Overall 65-67 (.492). Division 3rd, 9 1/2 GB, Overall 13th. Pythagoras says we’re owed 3 games, we’re dropping coin flips again.

But hey, we aren’t sinking deep into the dead zone, and Sept/Oct is (in theory) our best chance to make up some ground. It’s just too late for minor forward progress to mean much.

3 1/2 games back in the wildcard, 4 games to play vs SiaYankees (the only team that really matters in the WC race). I suppose it’s possible we could win all four games, but unlikely.

But the remaining schedule is borderline friendly to us, and we could end with a winning season. Marvelous mediocrity.

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Deck-pulled Lefty Gomez (84) for Team Gold, probably the best news of the day. He could be of use to the historic team.
[Editor: that...is not a great card. Bullpen?]

[Lemandria]

Penguins playoff bound

On Sept 1, we added the rather talented rookie George Sisler, fresh up from the St. Louis Browns farm club. He needs some time to adjust, obviously, hitting 25 for 121 (.207) at DH, -0.4 WAR in his rookie season. But we do still have high hopes for Gorgeous George.

Once again, a generous application of foreign substances to the baseballs has taken us to the playoffs via wildcard. The Penguins played a very healthy 22-11 (.666) in the cooler days of the season, 86-76 (.531) ending 2nd in Division and 9th overall, and winning the wildcard race on 10/05 for our second consecutive playoff appearance.

It looks like our post-season might be a short one. We face the Plymouth Nighthawks, who had no problem with hitting the Crisco balls during the regular season (2-5 against them). The betting on the wildcard series is against us.

[Lemandria]

Sacramento clinches



Forcing into the playoffs



So we're 3 for 3 as far as playoffs are concerned.

Neither Tomato nor Brutes are ready for Diamond yet, in my opinion. If either does get promoted, the next season should be fairly disastrous for them. The Brutes have no pitching and Tomato has no coherent strategy or plan. (It's difficult to plan for what the packs deal you at random.)

[Lemandria]

2060 Post-Season:


Well done

As expected, we lost the 1-game wildcard playoff to the Nighthawks (badly, it was fugly), who were themselves swept by the Poets. Leaving the four teams with the best overalls for the season going into the quarters. How…predictable.

But GG to all, and well done on the season to my little flightless birds. See ya’ll next year!


Best possible result

Tomato lost the division series. Why am I pleased at that?

Well, they’re not ready to play in Diamond and promoting them would just result in a yo-yo season. We’re quite happy to get more seasoning first.

Congrats to Ecclesfield Mets, and good luck!

Cliff Floyd – AC MVP
GGlove – M. Betts, RF
GGlove – C. Floyd, LF

[Lemandria]

2060 Post-Season:


Well done

As expected, we lost the 1-game wildcard playoff to the Nighthawks (badly, it was fugly), who were themselves swept by the Poets. Leaving the four teams with the best overalls for the season going into the quarters. How…predictable.

But GG to all, and well done on the season to my little flightless birds. See ya’ll next year!


Best possible result

Tomato lost the division series. Why am I pleased at that?

Well, they’re not ready to play in Diamond and promoting them would just result in a yo-yo season. We’re quite happy to get more seasoning first.

Congrats to Ecclesfield Mets, and good luck!

Cliff Floyd – AC MVP
GGlove – M. Betts, RF
GGlove – C. Floyd, LF


Forced out

The Brutes went all the way to the series, where they succumbed to a much better team in game seven. Congrats and well played to the Meglings.

Unfortunately, that means Diamond next year and we aren’t ready. I predict a yo-yo season (up and then back down).

Reliever of the Year – B. Sutter
29 game save streak, B. Sutter

[Lemandria]

Good Morning, P468

It looks familiar. We share our division with one of the bigger sharks (like always.) The San Antonio Cotton Rats, 43 P seasons & 5 titles. He hasn’t run away with it yet, but he’s pulling ahead. We can scratch off the division title, I think. He’s projected for 95, and I believe it.

The New York Flyers (36 P seasons, 2 titles) are cruising coastal waters in the AC. He won’t get any Penguin feasts until the Series, though.

We started off well, winning early, and then began to accumulate losses. Not a bad month (14-12 .538) but several cold hitters and half of the starters are getting early abuse. The defense ratings certainly haven’t normalized yet, either. We are winning the coin flip games so far (fingers crossed).

Division 3rd, Overall 12. For some reason Ryu (our crisco lefty) is posting a 1.9 ERA. Maybe people are so unused to seeing lefty starters in PeL? Maybe he’s a lucky SOB?

It’s too early for the schedule predictions to mean much, but we can begin to plot out the “carnivore alert” months. Aug and Sep are bad, so hopefully we won’t be starving for wins by that point.

[Lemandria]

May-be not

That was a hell of a month, as shark attacks go. In-division sharks, inter-division sharks, and even inter-league sharks. Your basic perfect storm of misery, packed into a single month of the schedule. Forecast: August is even worse.

How’d we do? Actually, we fared pretty well. We faced an onslaught from the rock crushers of both leagues and went 12-15 (.444) for May. Not shabby.

26-28, Division 3rd, Overall 13th. Not too much slippage, so we’ll probably survive until August. What happens then won’t be pretty.