LEAGUE REPORT, NO MOVES
The next sim we'll get is the post-season sim, which at least we know the Cardinals barring a collapse are headed to the post-season again, a triumph but also expected after spending like we did this off-season and coupling that with the players who were here already.
I don't know how the post-season will work out. On one hand, I want to run it fast-sim style where I set the rotation/lineup and then we run it all together at once without injuries on. Alternatively, I could feel like getting a bit more immersed and running it series by series could make the post-season feel more rewarding, I will be very annoyed if I could have made a strategic adjustment between series that would've helped things not go poorly in the end.
I'll ponder that later, though.
STATUS REPORT
September 16, 2061
CARDINALS: 99-62 (Tied for NL Central lead)
I'm not sure if my trade deadline gambit paid off or not. The team went 18-9 in July, but stumbled to 14-14 in August. We've been 9-5 this month, but I think most importantly I was building a roster that could survive a post-season run, and I feel like we have that. Joachim De Los Santos (0-3, 9.24 ERA in 3 G) has not had a good few weeks, and Sandy Cook (.236, .723 OPS) has also not been great, but I still prefer their veteran presence over a 20-year old. If I were manging more slowly, I'd have just gotten by with a veteran player and held onto the prospect, but in fast-sim it's just not worth being that precious.
Today is the last day of the regular season, we ended it -- fittingly -- with a 3-game series against the Cincinnati Reds. We've split this series and today, on Friday September 16th we'll play for the NL Central crown and the 2nd seed in the National League.
PLAYOFF BOUND
There are still a few races yet to decide, but many teams have punched their post-season ticket.
Sacramento and Seattle are battling for the AL West title, Detroit and Toronto hold 1 GB advantage on Houston for the AL Wild Card, with the Mariners two games back, meaning their only pathway to the post-season is through the AL West title.
In the National League, I mentioned the Reds and my Cardinals are tied at 99-wins apiece for the NL Central, the winning of their game today will win the division. Montreal won the other NL Wild Card. Salt Lake, San Francisco and the Mets won their respective divisions, the 88-win Phillies will miss the post-season.
GAME 163 DRAMA
One of the things I like about bringing in the 4-division era and limiting wild cards is bringing back the tiebreaker games. We’ll have 2 in the AL, both for the AL West title (Sacramento and Seattle both finished at 84-78) and a separate showdown for the AL Wild Card with (Toronto and Houston both at 85-77) Houston and Seattle will host. Winners will advance to the playoffs, losers will go home.
CARDINALS BACK IN THE POST-SEASON
We achieved our first aim, getting the Cardinals back into the playoffs for the first time in 4 years. This NL Central crown is the club’s first division title since 2046 and only our 3rd division title in 27 years. We’ll dig more into the club during the season summary after the post-season ends, but this is still great. I expected it, but the depth really made this year work despite the injury waves that hit.
TIEBREAKER GAMES
Both road teams won the tiebreakers, Toronto knocked off the Astros 7-2, and Sacramento won a nailbiter in Seattle, 1-0,
2061 REGULAR SEASON STANDINGS
Code:
AMERICAN LEAGUE STANDINGS
Eastern Division W L PCT GB
Baltimore Orioles 90 71 .559 -
Toronto Blue Jays 85 77 .525 5.5
Cleveland Guardians 78 84 .481 12.5
New York Yankees 74 87 .460 16.0
Boston Red Sox 66 95 .410 24.0
Central Division W L PCT GB
Minnesota Twins 87 74 .540 -
Detroit Tigers 86 76 .531 1.5
Carolina Pilots 82 80 .506 5.5
Milwaukee Brewers 81 80 .503 6.0
Indianapolis Arrows 68 93 .422 19.0
Western Division W L PCT GB
Sacramento Solons 84 78 .519 -
Seattle Mariners 84 78 .519 -
Portland Stags 78 84 .481 6.0
San Diego Padres 69 93 .426 15.0
Southern Division W L PCT GB
Nashville White Sox 93 69 .574 -
Houston Astros 85 77 .525 8.0
Texas Rangers 80 81 .497 12.5
Kansas City Royals 74 87 .460 18.5
NATIONAL LEAGUE STANDINGS
Eastern Division W L PCT GB
New York Mets 101 60 .627 -
Montreal Expos 94 68 .580 7.5
Philadelphia Phillies 88 74 .543 13.5
Washington Senators 68 93 .422 33.0
Atlanta Braves 61 101 .377 40.5
Central Division W L PCT GB
St. Louis Cardinals 100 62 .617 -
Cincinnati Reds 99 63 .611 1.0
Chicago Cubs 87 75 .537 13.0
Louisville Spires 74 87 .460 25.5
New Orleans Pirates 73 88 .453 26.5
Western Division W L PCT GB
San Francisco Giants 84 77 .522 -
Arizona Diamondbacks 80 81 .497 4.0
Los Angeles Dodgers 75 86 .466 9.0
Vancouver Angels 73 88 .453 11.0
Mountain Division W L PCT GB
Salt Lake Bees 87 74 .540 -
Colorado Rockies 78 83 .484 9.0
Albuquerque Coyotes 76 85 .472 11.0
Calgary Cannons 64 97 .398 23.0
Code:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS AT CINCINNATI REDS
GAME ID: 15232 - FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16TH, 2061 - GAME LOG
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
St. Louis Cardinals (100-62) 0 0 0 6 0 2 1 0 0 9 12 0
Cincinnati Reds (99-63) 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 10 1
ST. LOUIS BATTING LINESCORE CINCINNATI BATTING LINESCORE
Player AB R H RBI BB K LOB AVG HR RBI Player AB R H RBI BB K LOB AVG HR RBI
P. Brown 1B 5 1 2 1 0 1 3 .331 26 84 R. Collins 3B 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 .282 14 65
S. Cook SS 5 0 1 2 0 1 3 .235 6 25 C. Rodríguez DH 4 1 3 0 0 0 2 .254 4 60
J. Cordero 2B, 3B 5 1 1 2 0 2 1 .375 17 97 A. Vazquez CF 2 0 1 0 2 0 0 .265 15 62
L. Ramírez LF 4 1 0 0 1 1 0 .294 17 64 B. Smith RF 4 0 1 0 0 0 6 .323 25 107
S. Van Doren CF 5 2 2 0 0 2 1 .280 24 74 D. Anderson C 4 0 1 1 0 1 3 .298 14 68
B. Amobi RF 4 0 2 1 0 2 1 .254 8 44 S. Joyce 1B 4 0 1 0 0 0 4 .270 22 72
M. Matsui 3B 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 .311 14 53 M. Curran LF 4 0 1 0 0 2 1 .271 22 88
a-J. Husted PH 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 .179 3 11 T. Kinnett 2B 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 .234 8 38
b-A. Rayburg 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 .154 1 4 M. Caines SS 4 0 1 0 0 1 1 .209 3 10
C. Zuniga DH 4 1 0 0 0 0 4 .239 16 64
R. Judd C 4 1 3 1 0 1 0 .172 5 12
Totals 39 9 12 9 2 10 14 Totals 34 2 10 2 3 6 20
ST. LOUIS PITCHING LINESCORE CINCINNATI PITCHING LINESCORE
Player IP H R ER BB K HR PI ERA Player IP H R ER BB K HR PI ERA
L. Willingham W 6.0 10 2 2 1 4 1 103 4.22 K. Yoshikawa L 3.2 5 6 3 1 4 1 55 4.20
E. Ramos SV 3.0 0 0 0 2 2 0 41 3.51 L. Gandarilla 1.2 2 1 1 1 4 0 34 4.29
N. Townsend 2.2 5 2 2 0 1 0 40 3.43
G. Koch 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 10 0.
FIXED THE SEEDING
I decided I don't like cheap division champions both getting into the playoffs AND skipping ahead of teams that won more games than them. So I'm keeping the ladder format, but I'll have to manually set the playoff matchups since OOTP automatically does it where wild cards are lower on the ladder than division champions.
Division champs do get home field if they play any wild cards though.
Here's the seeding for the '61 playoffs
AL
Nashville
Baltimore
Minnesota
Detroit
Sacramento
Toronto
NL
Mets
St. Louis
Cincinnati
Montreal
Salt Lake
San Francisco