[Ben E Lou]

NABA STATISTICS

This league uses RonCo's recommended player development settings, along with my recommended statistical settings, to produce statistical output that is something of a broad-brush of baseball from 1980-2004. The idea is that no changes need to be made in stats from season to season, so that a 40-HR season means the same thing in 2000 that it does in 2010, 2020, and 2090. 60HR in a season is possible, but not likely, and the low 40s might lead the league in a given season. League-wide ERAs will be a bit above 4.00, and it's possible for a stud pitcher to turn in an ERA under 2.00.

Here's a look at the statistical leaders in the most recent season. First hitting:

Of note...

• Although two players broke 50 HRs this season, only 11 broke 30. I love a league in which less than half of the teams have a 30-HR guy.
• The league had a 230-hit guy, but only four broke 200.
• There's more speed in the NABA than we see these days. While it's unlikely that anyone on an AI team in the NABA can match Rickey's 130 steals, 100+ is doable

Now, a look at current-year pitching:

Notes...

• As mentioned earlier, an ERA under 2.00 is possible, but 2.51 was good enough to lead the league this year.
• Gotta love that outlier in strikeouts: only 5 guys broke 200, and he got 326. (I suspect 360 or so is the ceiling.)
• Jesus Pagan is just sick, by the way. In the 25 years of history included with this QS, Pagan has 8 of the best 9 strikeout seasons. He's the classic example of why I love the OOTP outliers.

As far as league-wide numbers, here they are over 25 seasons:

Here are a few league-wide numbers over those 25 years, compared to NL numbers from 1980-2004. (NL only, because this league uses no DH.)

	NABA	NL 1980-2004	VARIANCE
AVG	0.2606	0.2590	0.63%
OBP	0.3244	0.3266	-0.68%
SLG	0.3952	0.3969	-0.43%
OPS	0.7196	0.7235	-0.54%
ERA	4.030	3.984	1.15%
K/9IP	6.146	6.195	-0.78%
WHIP	1.349	1.354	-0.35%

As you can see, the difference is very tiny.


As far as the leaderboards through 25 seasons, here they are:

• Keep in mind that this run is for only 25 seasons. But even as such, it's pretty clear that .400 and 60 are magical, but reachable, single-season numbers. In the 100-year sim I ran with these settings with 16 teams, two guys broke .400, and three broke 60.
• As far as career numbers, I'm very pleased to report that even with Ron's slower development and accelerated declines, 4,000 hits and 700 homers are reachable (albeit very unlikely).

• As mentioned above, Pagan is an absolute freak. Only one other pitcher has had an ERA under 1.92 in the first 25. That 1.496 is just sick. As you saw above, 2.50 can be good enough to lead the league.
• Poor Julio Vargas (272 losses) apparently played on some bad teams. He went 6-16 with a 3.36 ERA one season, even. At one point he had nine straight seasons with double-digit losses. In eight of those, his ERA was below the league average.
• The toughest thing to find a middle ground for was SP usage. I landed in a place that I feel good about, where 300 IP is a possibility. I recommend 250 as automatic HOF, though.