SLOP SEASON 24 (Season & Preview)
 

Sooo...we're back for another year. We'll spend a few days getting caught up on the upcoming year that will be in the SLOP. We've got a new generation of stars taking over the mantle, a ton of parity in the league as a result and so, it's truly ANYONE's race in both leagues.

Here's the draft order this year:

1861 CAROLINA KINGS
 

The Kings have been in the post-season for 16 of the 24 years that SLOP has existed. Last year, they claimed their 3rd title with probably their weakest roster ever. Still, the steady Kings are back to defend it.

In a normal year, there's just no way this team would be good enough to contend for a pennant, but in these parity-striken days, it's very possible they'll be fine.

It's basically the same club as last year, sans P Rick Knight who is still a free agent and could very well be brought back into the fold before the start of the year. Offensively, Marco Espada and aging vet Johnny Ressano are back to anchor this team's offense.

Hurlers Tommy Schwarz and Dave Cobb aren't world beaters, but young effective pitchers backed by one of the best bullpens in the business.

A lot of their potential success will be dependent on whether players produce a year older, but provided they do, it's hard to think the Kings will finish anywhere outside of the Top 3 given they haven't done so in over 10 years.

1861 Lake Tahoe Syndicate
 

The normally splashy Syndicate return to SLOP 24 as two-time defending AL champions. Subby's biggest trick this off-season was offloading Cliff Marshall's behemoth contract to St. Louis in return for a lottery pick (3rd overall) which is no small feat, though he also had to fork over $25m in the process, which is probably why the Syndicate have sat this off-season out.

Chicago pilfered 21-game winner Jarrod Karnes, leaving the Syndicate short an ace to throw behind 27-game winner Freeway Chris Ross who seemed to earn his huge contract last year helping the Syndicate back to the doorstep of the league's crown.

There's no doubt that this year's Syndicate will lose a step from the 97-win pace they had last year contending with a $75m payroll, but they've got the offense to compete and there are still a number of hurlers available in late stage free agency that could give them enough juice to contend for that 3rd playoff spot.

Make no mistake, these guys are either going to be a huge pain in your ass who just miss the playoffs or the sort of team that you're not going to want to match up against should manage to squeak into the playoffs this year. They'll be in the conversation no doubt.

1861 Winnemucca Lake Monsters
 

New ownership showed up in Winnemucca and decided immediately that fans should buy a new jersey to keep up with their successful franchise who have appeared in each of the past 5 ALCS. But after a two-year title drought, the spoiled fans of Nevada are starting to get antsy to get a winner.

Herb seems intent on keeping up the pace, picking up a variety of role players while losing underutilized former ace (and big ticket hurler) Pablo Nieto and lost Jimmy Rybarczyk to San Diego.

Still we're in Winnemucca, so they don't die, they just reload. The three-headed monster of Erik Doucet, Denis Sheehan and Dave Breglia there's pretty much no way these guys miss the playoffs (hooray no-injury fast-sim!) and it's just a question of whether they'll be back in their familiar spot as the top seed or not.

Do you remember the last time the Winnemucca franchise missed the playoffs? Me neither. (It was 1855, also the last time they didn't finish first in the AL during the regular season.)

1861 Gettysburg Gomers
 

Hey what the hell is going on here? What are the Gomers doing being good? Welp, Gomer built a winner in Central PA and the club has a bad taste in their mouth after missing out on their maiden Series appearance last year. They'll be back, reloading with some top prospects.

22-year old Aidan Rice is back after a dominant rookie season and at 25, Jamel Reid is basically a veteran. The entire Gomers staff is deep, but it'll be a question of whether they can hit or not.

Like every other team this year, it's really about how well the team will play. But the Gomers are younger than most of the NL's other squads, they boast the #2 farm system in the game and already have a year of playoff experience under their belt. It's hard to think they'll regress in the upcoming year.

PRE-SEASON PREDICTIONS
 

Here are the far too early pre-season predictions:

NL
Carolina 94-68
Washington 87-75
Gettysburg 81-81
-------------
Cleveland 80-82
Kauai 78-84
Brooklyn 76-86
Lake Placid 67-95
Rio Grande 63-99

AL
Winnemucca 107-55
San Diego 94-68
Lake Tahoe 91-71
----------------
St. Louis 89-73
Memphis 81-81
Cleveland 78-84
Columbus 71-91
Chicago 64-98


So essentially how it's been the past few years, a five-team race in the AL, a six-team race in the NL. With new ownership groups taking over a few clubs, a league swap and franchise shifts, it'll be interesting to see what the year looks like in the end.

go Grays!!!!!!!

I think with so many teams essentially in contention, it slows trading even more because the lines between "haves" and "have nots" are so blurry, that no one wants to make a deal that might not work for them.

Ironically, the only three teams currently in SLOP that have never made the postseason are all Ohio teams (both Cleveland clubs and Columbus)

24 years and still only one perfect game and the last no-hitter was about 4 years ago.

All-time hit streak was set in '48 by Bill Pittman who went for 36 straight. Tai Hatsutori tied it six years later in '54.

New set of pre-season predictions: Preseason Predictions Report

my farm system makes me cry.

We'll sim spring training tonight!

what about my team?

CONTENDERS V. PRETENDERS PART ONE
 

You know how hard it is to write these things when so many teams are so close to each other? It's such a weird league now. But I love the parity in the sense that literally anything could happen this year.

This is part 1 of a two part series.

CONTENDERS

CLEVELAND SPIDERS:


This is the same team that despite a new city, new owner and technically an entirely new history, barely missed out on the playoffs last year (as the now defunct Shem Creek Shrimp). They didn't make any big moves, but they didn't lose anyone either. In the tight NL, I feel like they're a surprise contender waiting to happen.

If at mid-season they're in the race, we'll see if their ownership makes any bold moves to keep them in the hunt.

CLEVELAND LABORERS


What the heck, man? When it rains, it pours in Cleveland. This team who played in Hilton Head last year also had some fight in them, before dropping back down the stretch. I LOVE the Jimmy Ridgeway acquisition. NO ONE saw that coming and I think this is a team that's going to give everyone in the AL fits all year. If Kosaku Hirata has anything left in the tank and their young players are up to snuff, I have to think these guys are going to be right in the mix for a playoff spot. The AL will be more of a dogfight than the NL has been the past few years (where six teams have been within 2 GB of a playoff spot down to the last week of the year) because there are so many teams right on the cusp.

We might go from zero Cleveland teams to two, both in the post-season in Year 1.

KAUAI EMERALDS


Hey remember these guys? Just a removed from an improbably first-ever title, the Emeralds took a step back last year, hurt largely by no standout performances on their roster, budget cuts forcing them to release guys due to cap space and the dogfight that was the Nationwide League last year. Picked as the pre-season favorite to win the NL regular season pennant, look for wolvie's squad to rebound after last year's disappointment.

They just have too much talent to be this down and out for a 2nd year. If they enter the mid-season too far back, look for him to fire sale the club in the hopes of selling off pieces to contenders.

PRETENDERS

WASHINGTON GRAYS


If you had to name a team in SLOP with the 3rd highest payroll, would WASHINGTON be the first club off your lips? No. But there they sit at over $97m in payroll.

The same core has been there since the days of the Banditos in LA, but his moves to improve the team and earn a playoff berth have been elusive. Two straight losing seasons and three straight years no better than 5th and the Grays have no farm system to speak of either. If ownership was smart, he'd be selling off parts for pennies on the dollar, hoping to recover something for his team, loading up on draft picks and trying to slow-grow his way back to the playoffs.

Instead, they stand pat. Even after dumping Matt White's $16m deal to St. Louis, they went out and picked up Manny Fuentes .

It's hard to see how this club will think it expects to improve, even in an NL that's wide open, without having made any impactful signings that will get them any further than they are. Anything is possible. It's a good team, but they're just below the top echelon of NL clubs with a lot more assets and personnel. They're too thin to be a real contender.

BROOKLYN TITANS

A yo-yo club these days, after making the playoffs last year, the Titans are probably back to the doldrums again. They brought back Carlos Sanchez but lost Beau Fisher and his near-50 HR pace for unproven OF Jamie Hall who has some pop but has no ML experience.

What the Titans have that other pretenders don't is experience and cap space. If mid-season arrives and they feel like they're able to get back into the NL race, they can make some moves to put themselves into contention. This is a good team that made the playoffs last year and while they lost something, they didn't lose so much that they're going to see a huge dropoff. The real difference is, 83 wins probably won't be enough to make the NL postseason this year.

LAKE PLACID MIRACLES


The Miracles join the NL this year and are in a weird spot where it looks like they're rebuilding but still have some nice young pieces. It won't be a long rebuild at that rate. Still don't look for these guys to make much noise this season at all.

Those worried about FFP and its impact on future draft classes need not despair. In the future, there will be more 17-year olds created so that the draft classes aren't totally raided by FFP and fewer tweeners.

Rio Grande had an uncharacteristic down year last year after three straight playoff appearances. Despite their relative consistency in recent years, the team has never won the big dance. They do have one pennant ('57) but have not been back since.

They lost big ticket Jimmy Ridgeway, which will not help their efforts to break through in the NL this coming year. They'll be somewhere near .500, but not close enough to make an impact on the wild card race other than as a club that will annoy its competitors. They'll never be an easy win, that's for sure.



Memphis has had 13 playoff appearances in franchise history, but the past two years have been misses for the proud franchise which is among the most venerable in the AL. The club brings back its successful core and added Ryan Schaefer on a bargain in the hopes he could bolster the rotation and get this team back the post-season.

There's no reason to believe they can't do it, but the dog eat dog AL this year will be tougher than ever. It's a quality club with above average pitching (though aging) and a decent offensive core. If they can put it all together, you have to like them in that 3-5 range in the AL. The first half will really tell the story here, because if they start hot, they'll be in position to finish well at the end.



The Chicago Hornets are slowly building a juggernaut. A few FFP signings here, some quality draft picks there and a shrewd deal and all of a sudden, you've got a club that the AL will be fearing before long. This year, they'll be near the basement, however. Just not this year. They did acquire 21-game winner Jarrod Karnes from Lake Tahoe which is a nice get from a league rival. They also overpaid for Dusty Harrison (Lake Placid) and Peter Britton (Rio Grande) and so, in theory, they're much improved. But these acquisitions would need to play over their heads for it to work. Still, with the prospects they've been accumulating, Chicago would be a contender as early as next year.


I feel like a broken record when I keep describing the AL as a dogfight, but this team is evidence of that. The San Diego Fathers made the playoffs for the first time in six years last season and Ramz hopes his boys can repeat and go further this time. Their lone major pickup was former Winnemucca hurler Jimmy Rybarczyk who might be helpful. Eusebio Salavisa is still here but a year older, but what he has here is a core squad that should be able to be competitive. The difference maker is young starting pitching, but I'm not sure if his bullpen is deep enough to put them back in the post-season. There are so many teams built this way in both leagues -- good but not great -- that in usual years would be enough to win, but when EVERYONE has a flaw, you wonder what gives.


Columbus seems to be playing the long game in its rebuilding effort too. This club is in its 5th year of existence and have two 8th place AL finishes and now back to back 7th place finishes. So they're getting incrementally better, but we're not sure what the strategy here is. They have been extremely active on the FFP market relative to other teams and there might be some fruit that comes down the line later as a result of that.

For now, the Crusaders are content to play spoiler and wait for their chance to break through. At least we have Cleveland-Columbus rivalry games to look forward to.


So the last time we tuned into this club, they were the moribund Denver Dinosaurs. What a difference a season makes. They're back in the AL (remember, they started as the Milwaukee Blue Sox) and have decamped in St. Louis, another new city joining SLOP for the first time. That's not the only thing different here, though.

What's also different is their payroll ($157M and counting?) and the big ticket acquisitions they picked up to go with their #1 farm system. After making the playoffs their first season, they've been terrible ever since. But what we see here has the makings of old-school Winnemucca.

A roster boasting 14 former 1st rounders. Last year's main FFP acquisition Dave Ribic is now in the bigs and seems ready to show whether he was worth all of that fuss (and a $60m signing bonus!) as the newly rebranded Aviators seek to turn the ship around in a big way this year.

Brad Scots (from Lake Placid), Pablo Nieto (from Winnemucca) and Matt White (from Washington) are the three former aces brought in to mentor the young guns Ribic, last year's 2nd overall pick Sid Hass and a 2nd round from two years ago Tony Llamas.

On offense, this team would've been an all-star game lineup at a different point in time. Clifton Marshall and his behemoth contract came over from Lake Tahoe for the 3rd overall pick in this year's draft (though the Syndicate sent over $25m to help pay for part of this year's cap hit), Ponty Lopez, one of the most consistent hitters in the league over the past decade now plies his trade for a winner once again.

Beau Fisher sat a bit longer than he expected, but is hoping to show the rest of the league that his 47 HR season NL MVP season last year was no fluke and D.J Strutchen, could've easily have been the AL MVP last year had he been on a better squad, shows up in St. Louis after a 43 HR season.

Obviously I'm (slightly) biased, but I look at this club and think "WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING HERE?" On the flip side, there are so many variables involved in the way the team is constructed, that there are no guarantees. You have to think with that much talent, there's no way this team manages to be on the outside looking in when September rolls around.

I could see it all crashing down, that relying on nearly half a dozen teenagers in your rotation and lineup is probably dangerous. But seems like the team is balanced relatively well with youngsters and stars that it'll be an interesting experiment. Among the teams in the AL, this one is probably near the most complete, but there are probably 4 teams that fit that description and so, one of them will be sitting out no matter what happens or how good they seem to be on paper.

Ok going to transfer FFPs, then do the ST thing.

Ok, here's the last bit of signings:

Starting this year, the draft lottery will feature only the worst 8 teams. The 4th place teams in each league will be pegged into the 9th and 10th spots respectively, based on record. I wish there was a way to legitimately stage a wild card playoff between 3-4-5 because that'd be my dream scenario and make the end of the season super competitive for that middle class. (Like 3-4-5 play for the 1 bonus wild card and the right to take on #2.)

But es no possible.

SPRING TRAINING
----
NL
Washington 20-4
Carolina 16-8
Kauai 12-12
Lake Placid 10-14
Gettysburg 10-14
Cleveland 10-14
Rio Grande 9-15
Brooklyn 9-15

AL
Lake Tahoe 16-8
San Diego 15-9
St. Louis 15-9
Winnemucca 13-11
Cleveland 13-11
Columbus 11-13
Chicago 10-14
Memphis 3-21

Ok file is up. Have a good weekend. We'll sim the 1st half of the 24th season of SLOP on Monday night!

Why not have 4 and 5 play one game, followed by 3 vs (winner of 4 and 5) in a three game series?

OOTP won't allow that, unfortunately. You can't schedule double byes without rigging it as I have below. Maybe next year.

Our only options are:

1. Status quo. (2 vs. 3, who plays 1)
2. Adding regular season games to make 3, 4 and 5 differentiate themselves somehow. But even that can screw with win percentages. So it's not an optimal solution and there'd be no consistency. So it's not really an option at all.
3. Adding 4 & 5 to the post-season. (2 v. 5, 3 v. 4) would play in the Elimination Series. Then winners of that series would play in the Division Series, with the winner taking on the top seed in the LCS who get a double bye all the way to the LCS.

The bad thing about 3, is that we'll probably be letting a team with a losing record into the post-season in some years, especially with all of the parity these days. But to fix that problem, we could make the first two rounds best-of-seven, so then if you're a wild card you've got to win 17 games to capture the titile. Top seeds would only have to win 9. (Provided we go 7-7-7-9) Also, in the Elimination Series, the lower seed would get no home games.

I'm inclined to experiment with this format for one year and see how it goes. Especially since this is the last year of non-guaranteed contracts anyway. Then folks can chime in and decide whether we ditch the format and go back to 1-2-3 or stick with the expanded situation.

But only if there's no vociferous opposition to trying it for one experimental year.

It's worth noting, however, that in the status quo we could let a team with a losing record into the playoffs. It almost happened a few years ago.

If SLOP ever becomes a democracy, there's no way in F'n hell I'll ever vote to allow the #4 and #5 teams in the playoffs.

Might as well just make the whole season a big round robin tournament.

Might as well start speaking French and changing our dollars over to euros while we're at it too.

This friends is what we call "voiciferious opposition." Keep those opinions coming. Nothing has been decided and trust me...the last thing I want to do this year personally after spending nearly $160 million and mortgaging the future to some degree is lose to some plucky fucking underdog that wins 81 games and goes hot.

But I'm open to it if there is interest.

This is just outstanding.

NOT interested :D

Gomer has my proxy.

The people have seemingly spoken, though hilariously it's a bunch of FOBL guys who don't like the idea. You know, the league with 16 teams in the playoffs and where my 1st place team kept losing to 4th place teams in the 1st round. :p

So if no one speaks up in favor of the one-year experiment, I'll scrap considering it.

I'm running a SLOP test league with this post-season format over 100 years to see how many times a 4th or 5th seed emerges from a 7-7-9-9 format where they don't get a home game until the LCS if they manage to get that far. 20 years into it, a 4th or 5th seed have won titles in 3 of the years. Top seeds won overwhelmingly.

Did you run them with minor leaguers or something? I was soooo confused when I saw that.

I wouldn't care if the 4/5 seeds won zero titles in 100 years. I would never be in favor of rewarding a 4th or 5th place finisher in an 8 team league or division with a playoff berth. Never.

Nope. Normal roster. It's just going to be a fun year in Memphis.

If anyone else has a trade to consummate tonight (I don't) then please let me know. I'll put them all together and release a deadline file. Tomorrow is the 1st half.

The date won't advance, so anyone who has exported already will be fine.

The idea is dead.

Now that the FOBLers have picked LP bare, I sent an offer out to another team.
Deadline is tomorrow 5 PM right? RIGHT!

I'll process deals up through 5pm EST tomorrow, yes. The latest post-trade file is up.

1st half sim is in an hour. Chicago is $1,695,000 over the cap. I emailed INDalltheway and offered to make a deal for that much cap space from St. Louis' cap for future considerations, because he doesn't have any easy cuts to make given the structure of his deals.

Ok, let's party.

STANDINGS AS OF MAY 1, 1861

Junior Garza of Chicago (you know, the one I traded..) is on pace for 61 home runs. He's tied for the league lead as of May 10th with Washington's Rodrigo Flores.

STANDINGS AS OF JUNE 1, 1861

JUNE 22, 1861

First half is done. File is up.

Tuesday is off day. Wednesday is draft, Thursday is 2nd half.

All-star voting in case anyone is inclined. Or not. Whatevers.

wow wtf

Has the draft pool been released? My file has less than 30 players in the draft pool and none of them are any good.