Random Debut Gold

David Watts · 11-03-2021, 08:09 AM

Started a new Random Debut last night and struck gold. The inaugural draft featured a 25 year old Babe Ruth and a 25 year old Barry Bonds. Let the home run race begin

League starts in 1980. Will decide as the season goes on if I want to lock into 1980 and use it for all seasons or if I want to progress through the 80's.

David Watts · 11-06-2021, 02:18 PM

Will there ever be anything on the planet better than a tight division race between Detroit and Toronto? Name: the_final_countdown_1980-08-02_14-16-13.jpg
Views: 536
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Name: the_final_countdown_1980-08-02_14-16-13.jpg
Views: 536
Size: 463.1 KB

David Watts · 11-15-2021, 10:09 AM

Started my 4th season in this league last night. Trying something new with this one. I fast sim to the start of July or sometimes August and then start watching a game per day. Trying to find a way to get through seasons a little quicker. So far it's working great. The 4 team divisions is something I would hate to see in real life, but I'm having a blast with it in make believe land. Lots of great races. My last season 1982 had a game 163 tie breaker in both the AL and the NL. The last 2 seasons have been won by the AL Wild Card team. All the post season series are best of 7. One of my favorite things is watching the post season leaderboards grow and having teams face up to 21 post season games is perfect for that. The first 3 seasons were played using 1980 as the base, but for 83, I decided to go with 1982. Will probably use 83, 84 and 85 for the upcoming seasons and then rotate back through 80-85. Not sure if I want to try 81 due to the strike shortened season.

David Watts · 11-15-2021, 10:16 AM

In the past, I've never used the pre 1901 players in my random debuts, as the game used to produce some pretty wonky numbers, especially in regards to pitchers. Seeing Toad Ramsey strike out 450+ batters in a season wasn't my cup of tea. Glad to see some adjustments must have been made over the years and I'm enjoying having the pre 1901 guys in this league.

David Watts · 11-15-2021, 10:23 AM

Kansas City drafted Lou Whitaker in the inaugural draft. Whitaker has won 3 straight Gold Gloves at 2B. During the 82 off season, they signed Lou Boudreau to play SS. The Lou to Lou DP combo is pretty cool.

Kansas City has the leagues first 100 home run guy in Babe Ruth. The teams made the post season in 2 of the first 3 years and barring a collapse should be there again in 83.

David Watts · 11-24-2021, 08:10 AM

Wow, the Washington team has assembled quite the pitching staff.

Nolan Ryan
Clayton Kershaw
Ron Guidry
Toad Ramsey
Mike Scott

Mike Scott and Nolan Ryan were actually teammates for the first 2 seasons, as they were both drafted by New Orleans.

I have a feeling this team will set the record for strikeouts.

David Watts · 11-26-2021, 05:50 PM

Wow, Lou Whitaker wins 5 straight Gold Gloves from the inaugural 1980 season through 1984. In 85 he makes only 13 errors .982, but his ZR falls to 2.7 1.019 EFF. In 1986 his team the Kansas City Avengers move him to the DH role and inserts Whitey Alperman as the teams starting 2B. Now, Alperman is a 70 at 2B, so not a dumb move, but can you imagine a player ever agreeing to that type of move? I love this game.

Reed · 11-27-2021, 11:24 AM

Ok, I’ll ask since no one else has, what happen to the Ruth/Bonds battle? Do you play with recalc on/off? Injuries on/off. I am guessing their stats will get watered down.

David Watts · 11-27-2021, 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reed

Ok, I’ll ask since no one else has, what happen to the Ruth/Bonds battle? Do you play with recalc on/off? Injuries on/off. I am guessing their stats will get watered down.

So far Ruth is winning this battle. Ruth also has 21 post season home runs and 58 RBI over 68 games. 5 year recalc. Injuries are set to low. TCR is 140 [ATTACH] Name: the_final_countdown_1987-08-04_16-32-07.jpg
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Name: the_final_countdown_1987-08-04_16-32-07.jpg
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[/ATTACH]

David Watts · 11-29-2021, 09:19 AM

Decided to expand my league for the 1987 season. Added 4 teams total, upping the AL East and AL Central and the NL East and NL Central to 5 teams each. League is now setup like the MLB was in 1995, but I'm using 2 Wild Cards similar to todays MLB, but I have a best of 3 series(all games at #1 Wild Cards stadium) to determine who faces off against the leagues best finisher.

All the expansion teams are pretty bad, finishing the 87 season with 100+ losses, but the Charlotte team has taken things to another level. With the final weekend left to play, Charlotte has a 33-126 record. I'm not sure this team has won more than 10 games since the All-Star break.

David Watts · 12-10-2021, 10:31 AM

We've reached the 10th season. This is when OOTP leagues really get interesting. Guys will now be eligible for the Hall of Fame. Babe Ruth became the first player to 300 career home runs during the 1st half of the 10th season. Toad Ramsey was the first pitcher to reach 150 wins and now has roughly 160. He is also the first pitcher to surpass the 2000 strikeout milestone. Miguel Cabrera is on pace to be the first player to 2000 hits. Miggy has been lights out, but he's approaching 30 years old and we all know what that means. Funny thing is he plays for the Detroit Rush and they just reupped him to a 7 year deal prior to the 1988 season. Fiction imitating real life at it's best.

David Watts · 12-10-2021, 11:37 AM

Kind of funny. Earlier I posted about the Washington Minutemen's monster pitching staff. Well following that season Mike Scott would retire. The Minutemen continued to sign pitchers getting Max Scherzer and an ancient Don Sutton and Tom Glavine. Washington would have so many quality starters that all three of the those guys would spend time as the team's closer.

As usual, Paul Molitor was part of this leagues inaugural class. This time around, he's been a decent player, but I don't think he end up in the Hall if he doesn't turn on the jets at some point. He has been a solid player, but not spectacular.

Been fun watching Tris Speaker and Pete Rose battle it out for doubles supremacy. Tris Speaker played a huge role in San Francisco's three World Series titles, but has since moved his game to Kansas City for the current season of play.

I feel really bad for Bret Saberhagen. He's been one of the leagues most dominant starters pitching for Minnesota, but was nailed with a serious injury in August of 1988. As of August 89 he is still on the injured list. I worry that his career may have reached it's peak and the decline is upon us.

Reed · 12-11-2021, 12:43 PM

I was wondering if you played with injuries.
Be curious to know if Bonds catches up to the Babe.

David Watts · 12-11-2021, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reed

I was wondering if you played with injuries.
Be curious to know if Bonds catches up to the Babe.

Crazy thing is, Ruth is 35 years, 215 days. Bonds is 35 years, 47 days. Bonds picked up his first MVP Award in 1988. 7.9 WAR. He scored 114 runs(he scored 143 runs in 1987), batted .293 with 30 home runs. Drove in 80 runs and stole 22 bases. He walked 122 times. .424 OBP, 505 SLG, 159 OPS+. He is following that MVP season with a rather pedestrian .247, .368, .429, 120 OPS+ season in 89. Bonds has 222 career home runs, while Ruth now has 310. But, Bonds is just approaching the crazy years, so we will see.

Reed · 12-17-2021, 07:49 AM

I imagine their careers are just about done.

David Watts · 12-17-2021, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reed

I imagine their careers are just about done.

Yeah, they are approaching the end of the line. Figure if they retire close to their real life ages, Ruth will have 3 or 4 more season, while Bonds will have 5 or 6. But, I have a feeling it's more of a 2 or 3 for Ruth and 4 for Bonds.

David Watts · 12-17-2021, 10:14 AM

Learned a lesson the hard way prior to the 1990 season. I decided to expand on more time following the 1989 season. I now have 30 teams and I have things set exactly like today's MLB. Yes, I have interleague play, but If it drives me batty, I can always expand again and do away with it.

When I decided to expand, I also decided to swap Buffalo to the AL East and Charlotte to the NL East. Both were expansion teams a few years back and I just felt they looked out of place. The lesson I learned is, don't move teams until you reach preseason. I did so on the first day of the off season. Big mistake. One of Buffalo's players was awarded a Gold Glove, but since I now had them in the AL, I ended up with a NL player winning a AL award. I quickly swapped each team back and made the changes on the first day of spring training. I will just have to live with that one goofy Gold Glove snafu. Ugh!

David Watts · 12-20-2021, 11:23 AM

Well that didn't take long. The Charlotte Thunderbolts, one of the 4 expansion teams added in 1987, are the 1990 World Series champions.

David Watts · 12-22-2021, 09:38 AM

Toad Ramsey becomes the first pitcher in my league to reach 200 wins.

David Watts · 12-24-2021, 01:30 PM

So very close Name: the_final_countdown_1991-09-23_12-28-18.jpg
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11-15-2021, 10:16 AM	#4
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 9,584 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	In the past, I've never used the pre 1901 players in my random debuts, as the game used to produce some pretty wonky numbers, especially in regards to pitchers. Seeing Toad Ramsey strike out 450+ batters in a season wasn't my cup of tea. Glad to see some adjustments must have been made over the years and I'm enjoying having the pre 1901 guys in this league. Last edited by David Watts; 11-15-2021 at 12:25 PM.

11-26-2021, 05:50 PM	#7
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 9,584 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	Wow, Lou Whitaker wins 5 straight Gold Gloves from the inaugural 1980 season through 1984. In 85 he makes only 13 errors .982, but his ZR falls to 2.7 1.019 EFF. In 1986 his team the Kansas City Avengers move him to the DH role and inserts Whitey Alperman as the teams starting 2B. Now, Alperman is a 70 at 2B, so not a dumb move, but can you imagine a player ever agreeing to that type of move? I love this game. Last edited by David Watts; 11-26-2021 at 06:05 PM.

11-29-2021, 09:19 AM	#10
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 9,584 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	Decided to expand my league for the 1987 season. Added 4 teams total, upping the AL East and AL Central and the NL East and NL Central to 5 teams each. League is now setup like the MLB was in 1995, but I'm using 2 Wild Cards similar to todays MLB, but I have a best of 3 series(all games at #1 Wild Cards stadium) to determine who faces off against the leagues best finisher. All the expansion teams are pretty bad, finishing the 87 season with 100+ losses, but the Charlotte team has taken things to another level. With the final weekend left to play, Charlotte has a 33-126 record. I'm not sure this team has won more than 10 games since the All-Star break. Last edited by David Watts; 11-29-2021 at 09:23 AM.

11-03-2021, 08:09 AM	#1
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 9,584 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	Random Debut Gold Started a new Random Debut last night and struck gold. The inaugural draft featured a 25 year old Babe Ruth and a 25 year old Barry Bonds. Let the home run race begin League starts in 1980. Will decide as the season goes on if I want to lock into 1980 and use it for all seasons or if I want to progress through the 80's.

11-06-2021, 02:18 PM	#2
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 9,584 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	Will there ever be anything on the planet better than a tight division race between Detroit and Toronto?

11-15-2021, 10:09 AM	#3
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 9,584 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	Started my 4th season in this league last night. Trying something new with this one. I fast sim to the start of July or sometimes August and then start watching a game per day. Trying to find a way to get through seasons a little quicker. So far it's working great. The 4 team divisions is something I would hate to see in real life, but I'm having a blast with it in make believe land. Lots of great races. My last season 1982 had a game 163 tie breaker in both the AL and the NL. The last 2 seasons have been won by the AL Wild Card team. All the post season series are best of 7. One of my favorite things is watching the post season leaderboards grow and having teams face up to 21 post season games is perfect for that. The first 3 seasons were played using 1980 as the base, but for 83, I decided to go with 1982. Will probably use 83, 84 and 85 for the upcoming seasons and then rotate back through 80-85. Not sure if I want to try 81 due to the strike shortened season.

11-15-2021, 10:23 AM	#5
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 9,584 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	Kansas City drafted Lou Whitaker in the inaugural draft. Whitaker has won 3 straight Gold Gloves at 2B. During the 82 off season, they signed Lou Boudreau to play SS. The Lou to Lou DP combo is pretty cool. Kansas City has the leagues first 100 home run guy in Babe Ruth. The teams made the post season in 2 of the first 3 years and barring a collapse should be there again in 83.

11-24-2021, 08:10 AM	#6
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 9,584 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	Wow, the Washington team has assembled quite the pitching staff. Nolan Ryan Clayton Kershaw Ron Guidry Toad Ramsey Mike Scott Mike Scott and Nolan Ryan were actually teammates for the first 2 seasons, as they were both drafted by New Orleans. I have a feeling this team will set the record for strikeouts.

11-27-2021, 11:24 AM	#8
Reed Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2013 Posts: 2,339	Ok, I’ll ask since no one else has, what happen to the Ruth/Bonds battle? Do you play with recalc on/off? Injuries on/off. I am guessing their stats will get watered down.

12-10-2021, 10:31 AM	#11
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 9,584 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	We've reached the 10th season. This is when OOTP leagues really get interesting. Guys will now be eligible for the Hall of Fame. Babe Ruth became the first player to 300 career home runs during the 1st half of the 10th season. Toad Ramsey was the first pitcher to reach 150 wins and now has roughly 160. He is also the first pitcher to surpass the 2000 strikeout milestone. Miguel Cabrera is on pace to be the first player to 2000 hits. Miggy has been lights out, but he's approaching 30 years old and we all know what that means. Funny thing is he plays for the Detroit Rush and they just reupped him to a 7 year deal prior to the 1988 season. Fiction imitating real life at it's best.

12-10-2021, 11:37 AM	#12
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 9,584 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	Kind of funny. Earlier I posted about the Washington Minutemen's monster pitching staff. Well following that season Mike Scott would retire. The Minutemen continued to sign pitchers getting Max Scherzer and an ancient Don Sutton and Tom Glavine. Washington would have so many quality starters that all three of the those guys would spend time as the team's closer. As usual, Paul Molitor was part of this leagues inaugural class. This time around, he's been a decent player, but I don't think he end up in the Hall if he doesn't turn on the jets at some point. He has been a solid player, but not spectacular. Been fun watching Tris Speaker and Pete Rose battle it out for doubles supremacy. Tris Speaker played a huge role in San Francisco's three World Series titles, but has since moved his game to Kansas City for the current season of play. I feel really bad for Bret Saberhagen. He's been one of the leagues most dominant starters pitching for Minnesota, but was nailed with a serious injury in August of 1988. As of August 89 he is still on the injured list. I worry that his career may have reached it's peak and the decline is upon us.

12-11-2021, 12:43 PM	#13
Reed Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2013 Posts: 2,339	I was wondering if you played with injuries. Be curious to know if Bonds catches up to the Babe.

12-17-2021, 07:49 AM	#15
Reed Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2013 Posts: 2,339	I imagine their careers are just about done.

12-17-2021, 10:14 AM	#17
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 9,584 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	Learned a lesson the hard way prior to the 1990 season. I decided to expand on more time following the 1989 season. I now have 30 teams and I have things set exactly like today's MLB. Yes, I have interleague play, but If it drives me batty, I can always expand again and do away with it. When I decided to expand, I also decided to swap Buffalo to the AL East and Charlotte to the NL East. Both were expansion teams a few years back and I just felt they looked out of place. The lesson I learned is, don't move teams until you reach preseason. I did so on the first day of the off season. Big mistake. One of Buffalo's players was awarded a Gold Glove, but since I now had them in the AL, I ended up with a NL player winning a AL award. I quickly swapped each team back and made the changes on the first day of spring training. I will just have to live with that one goofy Gold Glove snafu. Ugh!

12-20-2021, 11:23 AM	#18
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 9,584 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	Well that didn't take long. The Charlotte Thunderbolts, one of the 4 expansion teams added in 1987, are the 1990 World Series champions.

12-22-2021, 09:38 AM	#19
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 9,584 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	Toad Ramsey becomes the first pitcher in my league to reach 200 wins.

12-24-2021, 01:30 PM	#20
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 9,584 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	So very close