Season 10 (2028) General Discussion

[Magus978]

An 18-7 day yesterday brings the New York Patriots to 39-41 and right into the hunt in S254 for a wildcard. Won't mean anything if we don't have a good day today though. At the pace being set, I figure it'll take 85 wins to get that second wildcard, and we need to play up to our potential to get there.

[old timer]

The Raccoons have cooled off a bit, but are still near the top in WPct (67-18 .788). We got swept for the 1st time by a team (Nashville Expos) who have a .451 WPct. While I may not ever like losing, it still does feel nice to see the underdog do well so I was happy for them.

Speaking of the underdog doing well, we just took 2 of 3 from the Bronx Bombers again. The Bombers are the only team we've played that inspired me to tweak multiple things hoping to get an edge, like using my top defenders since his pitching is so amazing. I figured we'd not score much anyhow so why not hope for low scoring affairs. This is exactly what happened, but obviously it could have just been luck. That last game was pretty cool. George Brett of the Bombers got a pinch hit grand slam in the bottom of the 10 to end it. We had won the previous game in the 10th.

I hope to see the Bombers again in the playoffs, even though I suspect it will be our doom. In fact, playing them felt like the playoffs were already here.

[HRBaker]

Collectors (In Bronze) currently 71-14 with a 23 game lead. Should coast through to Silver next week, but as we know, short playoff series is more luck than talent.

[X3NEIZE]

Originally Posted by old timer

The Raccoons have cooled off a bit, but are still near the top in WPct (67-18 .788). We got swept for the 1st time by a team (Nashville Expos) who have a .451 WPct. While I may not ever like losing, it still does feel nice to see the underdog do well so I was happy for them.

Speaking of the underdog doing well, we just took 2 of 3 from the Bronx Bombers again. The Bombers are the only team we've played that inspired me to tweak multiple things hoping to get an edge, like using my top defenders since his pitching is so amazing. I figured we'd not score much anyhow so why not hope for low scoring affairs. This is exactly what happened, but obviously it could have just been luck. That last game was pretty cool. George Brett of the Bombers got a pinch hit grand slam in the bottom of the 10 to end it. We had won the previous game in the 10th.

I hope to see the Bombers again in the playoffs, even though I suspect it will be our doom. In fact, playing them felt like the playoffs were already here.

I been actually tweaking as well, not so much with the names but rather the strategy.... hasn't worked though but I'm actually not disappointed at all, they were all close games where an error or one bad pitch is the difference... this is the first time in all the seasons I been playing that I lost two series in a season. The only hope I have is that the laws of statistics should be on my side for the third series... let me just hope

Great games! I think it will be key to have that field home advantage vs the Bobcats.

[Westheim]

Critters are slipping backwards… but only two teams get relegated and I think we'll live; however, it is obvious that we have shortcomings that need addressing, and I have compiled them here, in no particular order:

- pitching
- hitting
- fielding
- running
- just general prettiness

Nah, kidding. Nothing's prettier than raccoons!

[X3NEIZE]

Originally Posted by Westheim

Critters are slipping backwards… but only two teams get relegated and I think we'll live; however, it is obvious that we have shortcomings that need addressing, and I have compiled them here, in no particular order:

- pitching
- hitting
- fielding
- running
- just general prettiness

Nah, kidding. Nothing's prettier than raccoons!

Your team has had big lows and very high highs.... I think luck (bad) played a part, I wouldn't change much... 1-2 big bats would help

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by X3NEIZE

Your team has had big lows and very high highs.... I think luck (bad) played a part, I wouldn't change much... 1-2 big bats would help

I would have assaulted the 6.07 bullpen ERA first…

[X3NEIZE]

Originally Posted by Westheim

I would have assaulted the 6.07 bullpen ERA first…

You have good pitchers underperforming...

[waittilnextyear]

Originally Posted by Orcin

I highly recommend Adalberto Mondesi if you don’t have him already. He can train to green levels at every position except catcher, and he is a great pinch-runner. That helps a thin bench.

Yeah, I have looked at Mondesi before. Haven't been able to pull the trigger because he's not quite the type of hitter or maxed-out defender that I like to have on the bench. I have Andrelton Simmons in that super utility role right now. He's not the runner or switch-hitter that Mondesi is, but he can play all the same positions better and has a bit more contact in his bat.

[sharknut]

My Diamond team is 8 games under at the break but I somehow have 6 all stars.

[HRBaker]

The Collectors sending 13 players to the all-star game, plus the highest vote getter = 1700 pps. I think my previous high was 10.

[Magus978]

Turns out yesterday was an absolute mirage. I've genuinely run out of answers for this team. Might be time to pack it in until Monday and hope to come back to a few more points. Gonna take a few weeks to properly build for this level.

[lightningbolts35]

After finishing with a 80-82 record and losing out on the final wildcard spot on the final day of the season last week, this week the Jonestown Athletics are currently 50-55 in PL 418. My team is mainly composed of Philadelphia/Oakland Athletics historical players except for the starting pitching. Currently, the main problem with my team is poor Defensive Eff. which in my opinion is leading to a high ERA. On offense, too many strikeouts are leading to poor batting average. Because my team is mainly a theme team, there really isn't much I can do because those are the players I've decided to play. I played around with settings on strategy to no avail. There are are some very good teams in league. I'm sticking with my Athletics theme for at least one more season to see if my players can turn it around. Many of my players are having a career bad season this week so we'll have to see what happens. Unfortunately, I picked up Eckersley 99 and Ricky Henderson 99 and those moves have not yielded good results. Henderson 99 is hitting worse than my Henderson 94 (and is not as good defensively) and Eckersley 99 has a terrible ERA compared to my Eckersley 89 from last season. All in all, I am having a blast playing and I'm only 1 game out of the final wildcard spot and 4 1/2 games out of 1st in my division so I hope my Athletics can get hot and make it to the playoffs.

[waittilnextyear]

Survived is a good way to put it for the Frogs today.

July was unkind as the team faltered to an 8-17 record for the month. This coming on the heels of consistently solid play: 17-9 (April), 16-12 (May), and 16-9 (June). Dropping all 7 games against the top 2 beasts in my division didn't help things. But, the team rallied as the calendar turned over to August and took 3/4 from the closest team chasing me for WC #2. The Frogs began today's play +7.5 games in the wild card and ended +6 games. The pretty dreadful July didn't hurt as much as it could have.

It wasn't really the pitching experiment that caused the poor stretch of play either. The offense up and disappeared like a fart in the wind. The #4 run-scoring offense in the conference went cold and was held to 2 or fewer runs on 12 occasions in July (winning only one of those contests). So the team was 7-6 when scoring >2 runs is a very positive way to frame these data. lol

With day 4 of sims in the books, the "bullpen" ERA is holding pretty steady. Currently at 3.65. The overall team ERA (the lefty "starters" are really getting beat up at times in the first 2 innings) is 4.05 compared to last week's 4.68 ERA. It should also be noted that it's not a truly controlled experiment (most of the players are actually the same) because I raised the ballpark contact modifier from 1.025 last week to 1.050 this week. The ERA difference is probably a bit more impressive than simply comparing 4.05 with 4.68.

[Thornbreaker]

Teatotallers are maintaining a double digit pace over .500

So Smokey Burgess to replace Buster Posey? (Posey is hitting .306 currently in PL and made the all-star team)

Or go get me another SP?

[Orcin]

The Colonels are in another dogfight for the division title. In spite of a 66-41 record, we still trail the leader (Chiba Lotte Marines) by 5 games. In these circumstances, I really only care that my team is playing well. I can't control what other teams are doing unless I play them. With 6 games coming up against the Marines this month, I decided that it was now or never for an upgrade or two, before the division race got out of hand.

I had been planning to add one more top-shelf pitcher and maybe a middle of the order bat if I had points left. However, I kept looking at that #1-2 ranking in all of the pitching categories and thinking that maybe I should put the bulk of my points toward upgrading the offense again. The addition of Wade Boggs earlier in the season had moved us from bottom third to top half in the rankings, but there was still room for improvement. My 12-20 record in one-run games was holding me back, and I couldn't help thinking that another homer here or there could have flipped that around.

While I was struggling to make the decision, fate stepped in and placed the answer right in front of me. Someone listed perfect Babe Ruth at 10% below the last 7 days average, and I seized the opportunity. Ruth will bat cleanup and DH (mostly so that he can play every day). I have three corner outfielders and two spots, so for now Yelich went to the reserve roster leaving 92 Pete Rose and 98 Frank Robinson in the lineup. I have to think about this one for a while but I still really like Rose leading off.

[pappyzan]

Senators are 74-36, just a few games behind the division leader. Doubtful they make enough of a push to catch them, the Kings are a better team all around.

Washington is 1st in def efficiency (.713), team zone rating (+54.6), and has the fewest errors (35). Pitching is about 5th in most major team statistics, offense is top 3 in average (this is the biggest surprise to me, wasn't expecting top 3), bottom 3 in HR, 7th in total runs. Current ballpark settings look pretty good as the team is 43-13 at home so far, 31-23 on the road.

Still looking to replace Erstad in LF against RHP. Holding off on Trout, thought about Yastrzemski 98 but ultimately didn't, and everybody else available is either worse defensively or costs way more than I care to spend. Erstad isn't bad this season, lacks power and eye tho (.299 AVG, 3HR, 13BB in 70 games started).

Overall it's been a better season than I expected. Really digging this type of team so far, solid pitching paired with elite defense and contact hitters, mixed with a dash of power from ARod 97 and Buck Leonard/Edgar Martinez DH. Just 2 seasons with ARod at 1B so far, it looks like he may be a gold glove candidate every season.

[old timer]

The Raccoons have not had a good start to August. They're 5-5 and in the last 7 games have given up 55 runs (22 runs in the past 2 games). It's just one of those unlucky streaks which will end soon enough, I'm sure.

While there's no danger of not winning the division (we've got a 30.5 game lead), I was still hoping for a higher win total this season. I know, not important, but I wanted to top 120 wins at least one time. Funny, I remember being happy when my PT19 Clippers finally won 90 games.

[Westheim]

Raccoons are finally collapsing. They had a 10-game lead on the relegation zone when the day began; it's now down to 5 1/2. 8-17 in July, 4-12 in August.

It's only 3 1/2 for the Rebels, also in full collapse. 3-12 in August.

[W0rmzbr0]

Hoboken Zephyrs are looking great in D353, sitting at 72-48 with an 8-game lead. Made some home field tweaks and added Brendan Donnelly to the bullpen in the offseason. Unclear if home field has made a difference, but Donnelly sure has! He leads the league in saves and is a perfect 31/31 in opportunities. Nice to see the Zephyrs get a shot at the playoffs in their first season in Diamond.

My historical NY theme team, the New York Boroughs, have been fairly unlucky in G313, sitting at 56-65 despite their +18 run differential. After getting relegated from Diamond last season, I was hoping for a major upgrade, but there hadn't been a lot of players in the 10-12k range that suited my needs. Eventually purchased a Bobby Thomson at around his 5-day average price to play RF over Paul O'Neill. Been slow going there as he's building up that position rating.

Port Washington Pack Rats look good for S265 playoffs right now, sitting at 67-54 with a 5.5-game lead. Not sure they have the goods to go far as of now, short of some pack luck over the next couple of days.