Season 12 (2030) General Discussion

Westheim · 06-10-2019, 09:21 AM

Not all leagues seem to be up yet (the Raccoons' sure isn't), but I already got a chance to sort out my two Bronze League teams. The dead-in-the-water Rebels join from Silver, the glorious champions Accountants from Iron. I am already at a point where I proclaim that the packs-only approach sucks unless you get really, really, really lucky. The Rebels started when PT 20 launched, and the Accountants started 14 days ago. Neither team got a cash injection. But just via making shrewd (and sometimes dumb) moves on the market, the Accountants are already in the same league, and have a much better roster in terms of overall rating, though not quite in terms of 7-day value, but that can be distorted at times.

Whatever. The two teams I got to look at so far both had their bullpen hewn to pieces by the live card update, so that's something to work on later (for the Accountants), and to grind teeth over (for the Rebels) until they have slumped their way into at least a few PP.

I will show my current rosters once the Raccoons' Perfect League is up, too.

Charlatan · 06-10-2019, 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Westheim

I am already at a point where I proclaim that the packs-only approach sucks unless you get really, really, really lucky.

I have a packs-only team and you're really at the mercy of the RNG gods. For the first few years I got very little in the way of good cards, so I was stuck in Iron and Bronze for a long while. However, one weekend I got two great starting pitchers (93 OVR Cliff Lee and 100 OVR Live Scherzer) and they have helped quite a bit!

However, I'm now languishing in Gold, as it seems I need a few more good cards to get over this hump.

One thing I notice is that I tend to get a lot of cards that need platooning (Matt Carpenter, Conforto, Gallo, Stanton) - I'm platooning at 1B, 3B, LF, and DH. It's exhausting trying to manage that!

Orcin · 06-10-2019, 11:57 AM

After their best season (115-47) in Perfect Leagues so far, the Colonels continue to tweak the roster. The regular season was good, but we are still a bit short of competing with the best teams in the playoffs, and we certainly aren't ready for the tougher Perfect leagues. Led by last year's MVP and PotY Curt Schilling, the pitching staff returns intact. However, there are some changes among the position players with additional moves planned.

LF/DH Pete Rose will start this season on the bench after posting a weak 0.7 WAR in 2029. Frank Robinson returns to the lineup in LF after missing all of last season due to DNPMD (did not play, manager's decision - mysterious, isn't it). Jackie Robinson will move from 3B to his natural position of 2B, replacing Jim Gilliam whose .208 average and 0.5 WAR were too anemic to be excused by his superb defense. I finally reached my goal of no Live cards, so I will need a third baseman to replace Anthony Rendon. I have a player in mind but he has not been available yet, so I will train Gilliam there to start the season. Yes, I could just play J.Robinson at 3B and Gilliam at 2B but I think the additional position will make Gilliam more valuable in the long run. These changes may weaken the infield defense slightly, but replacing Gilliam and Rose with stronger hitters will lengthen the lineup and should more than compensate for any additional runs surrendered on defense.

old timer · 06-10-2019, 05:25 PM

Just looked through some of the rosters in P415 and it looks like it's going to be a pretty challenging league (definitely the toughest I've been in). We're off to an 8-3 start, but we've not played any of the stacked teams yet. Come to think of it, we've only once been placed in the same division with a really strong team once before so in that respect, we've been lucky. But Long Beach-Compton looks tough (134 W last season) so this could be our 1st season since Bronze where we don't win a division.

I added Keeler last year (and he was as great as I hoped he'd be), but probably won't be able to afford another upgrade for another season or two. My next upgrade will almost certainly be another SP, but I'm not sure who I want. I'll probably not spend more than about 200k PP. I was considering guys like 100 Hubbell or 99 Walter Johnson. Anyone have any suggestions that are in this price range?

Orcin · 06-10-2019, 05:43 PM

I have been really happy with 99 Walter and 100 Hubbell. I have both. I would choose Hubbell for under 200k, otherwise Johnson is probably more bang for your buck.

JasonC23 · 06-10-2019, 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Westheim

Not all leagues seem to be up yet (the Raccoons' sure isn't), but I already got a chance to sort out my two Bronze League teams. The dead-in-the-water Rebels join from Silver, the glorious champions Accountants from Iron. I am already at a point where I proclaim that the packs-only approach sucks unless you get really, really, really lucky. The Rebels started when PT 20 launched, and the Accountants started 14 days ago. Neither team got a cash injection. But just via making shrewd (and sometimes dumb) moves on the market, the Accountants are already in the same league, and have a much better roster in terms of overall rating, though not quite in terms of 7-day value, but that can be distorted at times.

Whatever. The two teams I got to look at so far both had their bullpen hewn to pieces by the live card update, so that's something to work on later (for the Accountants), and to grind teeth over (for the Rebels) until they have slumped their way into at least a few PP.

I will show my current rosters once the Raccoons' Perfect League is up, too.

Hey, we're in the same division! And you took 2 of 3 from me already this season.

Fair warning, though...I was in the same division as the Singapore Sluggers last year. I went 95-67, finishing second and claiming the top Wild Card spot. I also finished 36 (!!) games behind Singapore, managing to somehow go an almost unfathomable 0-19 (?!?!?) against them during the year. ("Luckily," I lost the Wild Card game and avoided the inevitable Division Series sweep.) So...battle for second place?

JasonC23 · 06-10-2019, 08:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JasonC23

Hey, we're in the same division! And you took 2 of 3 from me already this season.

Fair warning, though...I was in the same division as the Singapore Sluggers last year. I went 95-67, finishing second and claiming the top Wild Card spot. I also finished 36 (!!) games behind Singapore, managing to somehow go an almost unfathomable 0-19 (?!?!?) against them during the year. ("Luckily," I lost the Wild Card game and avoided the inevitable Division Series sweep.) So...battle for second place?

And now that I take a closer look, the Seattle Tempest have won the same number of Perfect League titles as Singapore (3). So...battle for third place?

Westheim · 06-10-2019, 08:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JasonC23

And now that I take a closer look, the Seattle Tempest have won the same number of Perfect League titles as Singapore (3). So...battle for third place?

Me? Nah. My team can't pour themselves a glass of milk, let alone win an appreciable amount of games in Perfect.

Westheim · 06-11-2019, 02:30 AM

Raccoons at 11-15 in Perfect. No offense. None. (shrugs)

Rebels opened 7-19 in Bronze. Which is alright. Let them get relegated, and once they are in Iron, I will tear the entire team to the ground. Make it some stupid theme team. Like, only players allowed that were born on days where numbers of the day, month, and year were all prime numbers… What the heck. Can't get worse than this collection of walking dead I currently have.

Accountants are 13-14 and sit on a pile of PP that I can't seem to do anything useful with right now.

(sigh!)

old timer · 06-11-2019, 03:54 AM

The Raccoons are 17-9 and yet are only the #2 WC team at the moment (and only the 9th best record!). Tough league. The Fighting Ahabs are behind us in the WC hunt and they look pretty tough too. There are 5 teams with .800+ WPct and 3 more with .700+. It's the 1st time since bronze where I'm not sure if we'll even make the playoffs.

waittilnextyear · 06-11-2019, 04:14 AM

The Frogs didn't do well last week in P421 (69-93) and I think the most frustrating part isn't really losing to whales. That's understandable. It's losing 8-10 times in a row to teams roughly equal in strength. It's probably bad RNG juju, but it makes one feel like a bad manager or like turning the strategy settings inside-out.

Anyhow, it's a new week and the team has landed in P404. My first impression is this league doesn't seem quite as strong as P421 did last week--none of the teams appear to be managed by people who post here. Then, of course, the team went out and lost 6 straight (and 10 of 12) to finish Monday at 11-16. The team is batting .240 after not batting lower than .272 in any of the previous 5 seasons (3 of those at perfect level). Go figure. Hopefully the offense un-buries itself soon.

I also dusted off the old pitching experiment again this week because my standard pitching gave up 200 more runs last week compared to the experimental week before that. I added 97 Bob Gibson (30K), 93 Adam Wainwright (12K), and 92 Steve Rogers (12K) this week and we'll see how they do in the bullpen. It might not be long before I can staff a credible 4- or 5-man rotation and not have to resort to smoke and mirrors.

waittilnextyear · 06-11-2019, 04:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by old timer

The Raccoons are 17-9 and yet are only the #2 WC team at the moment (and only the 9th best record!). Tough league. The Fighting Ahabs are behind us in the WC hunt and they look pretty tough too. There are 5 teams with .800+ WPct and 3 more with .700+. It's the 1st time since bronze where I'm not sure if we'll even make the playoffs.

Holy crap. P415 looks to be LOADED. Tons of teams I'm afraid of in that league (including yours!). And that's not even accounting for the OL folks that also have solid teams and managing. Godspeed!

joehart · 06-11-2019, 06:01 AM

In regards to the comment about losing to similar teams. I feel the same way about losing to teams with wicked ballparks (1.1 / .900). For those of us that are home all day, you can easily address these teams with your 7-day lineup but it really is a big pain when you lose important series or playoffs because you have to be somewhere else.

I wonder if there should be an option to help with this little trickery (opponent uses LHP to trigger a RHB lineup in a .900 RHB park).

humboldt1498 · 06-11-2019, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Westheim

Raccoons at 11-15 in Perfect. No offense. None. (shrugs)

Rebels opened 7-19 in Bronze. Which is alright. Let them get relegated, and once they are in Iron, I will tear the entire team to the ground. Make it some stupid theme team. Like, only players allowed that were born on days where numbers of the day, month, and year were all prime numbers… What the heck. Can't get worse than this collection of walking dead I currently have.

Accountants are 13-14 and sit on a pile of PP that I can't seem to do anything useful with right now.

(sigh!)

I hope your accounting team is called LIFO the Party.

Sent from my LG-H910 using Tapatalk

humboldt1498 · 06-11-2019, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joehart

In regards to the comment about losing to similar teams. I feel the same way about losing to teams with wicked ballparks (1.1 / .900). For those of us that are home all day, you can easily address these teams with your 7-day lineup but it really is a big pain when you lose important series or playoffs because you have to be somewhere else.

I wonder if there should be an option to help with this little trickery (opponent uses LHP to trigger a RHB lineup in a .900 RHB park).

Ha, I use splits like that to have a major home field advantage in PL. I run an all righty team and punish lefties. Great strategy when you cannot afford an all 100 team.

Sent from my LG-H910 using Tapatalk

Westheim · 06-11-2019, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by humboldt1498

I hope your accounting team is called LIFO the Party.

You know, I was looking for some really clever word play, but so far yours is the best that has been come up with…

X3NEIZE · 06-11-2019, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by old timer

The Raccoons are 17-9 and yet are only the #2 WC team at the moment (and only the 9th best record!). Tough league. The Fighting Ahabs are behind us in the WC hunt and they look pretty tough too. There are 5 teams with .800+ WPct and 3 more with .700+. It's the 1st time since bronze where I'm not sure if we'll even make the playoffs.

You got paired with a whole bunch of whales... you're probably the better manager, but it's going to be an uphill battle vs. those stacked teams... if you inspect the teams, they are all built the same way... so if you find a method to contain one, it's the same formula for the rest. Good luck!

Chico Guilbault · 06-11-2019, 12:27 PM

I used to call my teams the CPAholes...don't think that works in Germany though.

Westheim · 06-11-2019, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chico Guilbault

I used to call my teams the CPAholes...don't think that works in Germany though.

Trust me, you have no idea how hard you hit that nail on the ****ing head.

old timer · 06-11-2019, 03:27 PM

We just squeaked out 2 wins against the division leading Long Beach-Compton team and now we're even in the season series, 3-3. But they clobbered us in two of those games while our last two wins were both by 3-2 in 11 innings. But... They still count the same.

We've got a series coming up against the Hillsboro Hops who won 122 games in each of the previous two seasons and both times won the perfect league championship. But this season they're 14-21 and looking at their schedule I can see why.

Currently we're 22-12 and 1.5 out of 1st and have a 4 game lead on the Ahabs for the #2 WC spot. I'll be surprised if we can hang in there and make it to the playoffs. But even if we fail, it is rather interesting to be playing against so many stacked teams.

06-10-2019, 09:21 AM	#1
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,695	Season 12 (2030) General Discussion Not all leagues seem to be up yet (the Raccoons' sure isn't), but I already got a chance to sort out my two Bronze League teams. The dead-in-the-water Rebels join from Silver, the glorious champions Accountants from Iron. I am already at a point where I proclaim that the packs-only approach sucks unless you get really, really, really lucky. The Rebels started when PT 20 launched, and the Accountants started 14 days ago. Neither team got a cash injection. But just via making shrewd (and sometimes dumb) moves on the market, the Accountants are already in the same league, and have a much better roster in terms of overall rating, though not quite in terms of 7-day value, but that can be distorted at times. Whatever. The two teams I got to look at so far both had their bullpen hewn to pieces by the live card update, so that's something to work on later (for the Accountants), and to grind teeth over (for the Rebels) until they have slumped their way into at least a few PP. I will show my current rosters once the Raccoons' Perfect League is up, too. __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

06-10-2019, 05:25 PM	#4
old timer Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 2,278	Just looked through some of the rosters in P415 and it looks like it's going to be a pretty challenging league (definitely the toughest I've been in). We're off to an 8-3 start, but we've not played any of the stacked teams yet. Come to think of it, we've only once been placed in the same division with a really strong team once before so in that respect, we've been lucky. But Long Beach-Compton looks tough (134 W last season) so this could be our 1st season since Bronze where we don't win a division. I added Keeler last year (and he was as great as I hoped he'd be), but probably won't be able to afford another upgrade for another season or two. My next upgrade will almost certainly be another SP, but I'm not sure who I want. I'll probably not spend more than about 200k PP. I was considering guys like 100 Hubbell or 99 Walter Johnson. Anyone have any suggestions that are in this price range? __________________ Last edited by old timer; 06-10-2019 at 05:29 PM.

06-11-2019, 02:30 AM	#9
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 13,695	Raccoons at 11-15 in Perfect. No offense. None. (shrugs) Rebels opened 7-19 in Bronze. Which is alright. Let them get relegated, and once they are in Iron, I will tear the entire team to the ground. Make it some stupid theme team. Like, only players allowed that were born on days where numbers of the day, month, and year were all prime numbers… What the heck. Can't get worse than this collection of walking dead I currently have. Accountants are 13-14 and sit on a pile of PP that I can't seem to do anything useful with right now. (sigh!) __________________ Portland Raccoons, 92 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 * 2061 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

06-11-2019, 03:54 AM	#10
old timer Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 2,278	The Raccoons are 17-9 and yet are only the #2 WC team at the moment (and only the 9th best record!). Tough league. The Fighting Ahabs are behind us in the WC hunt and they look pretty tough too. There are 5 teams with .800+ WPct and 3 more with .700+. It's the 1st time since bronze where I'm not sure if we'll even make the playoffs. Attached Images __________________

06-11-2019, 04:14 AM	#11
waittilnextyear All Star Starter Join Date: Jan 2016 Posts: 1,273	The Frogs didn't do well last week in P421 (69-93) and I think the most frustrating part isn't really losing to whales. That's understandable. It's losing 8-10 times in a row to teams roughly equal in strength. It's probably bad RNG juju, but it makes one feel like a bad manager or like turning the strategy settings inside-out. Anyhow, it's a new week and the team has landed in P404. My first impression is this league doesn't seem quite as strong as P421 did last week--none of the teams appear to be managed by people who post here. Then, of course, the team went out and lost 6 straight (and 10 of 12) to finish Monday at 11-16. The team is batting .240 after not batting lower than .272 in any of the previous 5 seasons (3 of those at perfect level). Go figure. Hopefully the offense un-buries itself soon. I also dusted off the old pitching experiment again this week because my standard pitching gave up 200 more runs last week compared to the experimental week before that. I added 97 Bob Gibson (30K), 93 Adam Wainwright (12K), and 92 Steve Rogers (12K) this week and we'll see how they do in the bullpen. It might not be long before I can staff a credible 4- or 5-man rotation and not have to resort to smoke and mirrors. __________________

06-10-2019, 11:57 AM	#3
Orcin Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Indiana Posts: 9,849	After their best season (115-47) in Perfect Leagues so far, the Colonels continue to tweak the roster. The regular season was good, but we are still a bit short of competing with the best teams in the playoffs, and we certainly aren't ready for the tougher Perfect leagues. Led by last year's MVP and PotY Curt Schilling, the pitching staff returns intact. However, there are some changes among the position players with additional moves planned. LF/DH Pete Rose will start this season on the bench after posting a weak 0.7 WAR in 2029. Frank Robinson returns to the lineup in LF after missing all of last season due to DNPMD (did not play, manager's decision - mysterious, isn't it). Jackie Robinson will move from 3B to his natural position of 2B, replacing Jim Gilliam whose .208 average and 0.5 WAR were too anemic to be excused by his superb defense. I finally reached my goal of no Live cards, so I will need a third baseman to replace Anthony Rendon. I have a player in mind but he has not been available yet, so I will train Gilliam there to start the season. Yes, I could just play J.Robinson at 3B and Gilliam at 2B but I think the additional position will make Gilliam more valuable in the long run. These changes may weaken the infield defense slightly, but replacing Gilliam and Rose with stronger hitters will lengthen the lineup and should more than compensate for any additional runs surrendered on defense.

06-10-2019, 05:43 PM	#5
Orcin Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Indiana Posts: 9,849	I have been really happy with 99 Walter and 100 Hubbell. I have both. I would choose Hubbell for under 200k, otherwise Johnson is probably more bang for your buck.

06-11-2019, 06:01 AM	#13
joehart All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2016 Posts: 1,131	In regards to the comment about losing to similar teams. I feel the same way about losing to teams with wicked ballparks (1.1 / .900). For those of us that are home all day, you can easily address these teams with your 7-day lineup but it really is a big pain when you lose important series or playoffs because you have to be somewhere else. I wonder if there should be an option to help with this little trickery (opponent uses LHP to trigger a RHB lineup in a .900 RHB park). __________________

06-11-2019, 12:27 PM	#18
Chico Guilbault All Star Starter Join Date: May 2015 Location: Harlingen, NJ Posts: 1,078	I used to call my teams the CPAholes...don't think that works in Germany though. __________________ BeechumCounty.com

06-11-2019, 03:27 PM	#20
old timer Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 2,278	We just squeaked out 2 wins against the division leading Long Beach-Compton team and now we're even in the season series, 3-3. But they clobbered us in two of those games while our last two wins were both by 3-2 in 11 innings. But... They still count the same. We've got a series coming up against the Hillsboro Hops who won 122 games in each of the previous two seasons and both times won the perfect league championship. But this season they're 14-21 and looking at their schedule I can see why. Currently we're 22-12 and 1.5 out of 1st and have a 4 game lead on the Ahabs for the #2 WC spot. I'll be surprised if we can hang in there and make it to the playoffs. But even if we fail, it is rather interesting to be playing against so many stacked teams. __________________