OOTP Blitz 25: Solo RTS meets Moneyball - Page 3

Young Drachma · Today, 03:17 PM

Emergency Pod Energy: Making Sense of the Cardinals and Stags at the Break

Are we sure the Cardinals and Stags are good? Like, actually good? We're doing that thing again where we're trying to convince ourselves that two teams with obvious fatal flaws can somehow figure it out in the second half. Let's break this down, Bill Simmons style.

The "Oh No, We Might Have Made a Huge Mistake" Cardinals

Here's my favorite stat: The Cardinals are 23-20 at home, 21-19 on the road. They're basically the same team everywhere! That's either impressive consistency or depressing mediocrity, depending on how many prospects you traded away for this performance. (Spoiler: They traded all of them.)

The thing nobody wants to talk about? Their run differential is actually pretty good! They're outscoring opponents by a decent margin, ranking top-3 in the NL in both ERA (3.53) and batting average (.260). This feels like one of those teams that should be better than their record, but then you look up and realize they're 14 games behind Cincinnati and you're like "wait, what?"

The Mark Wleh thing is real (2.78 ERA, 149 K in 132.2 IP). The Leuri Ramírez thing is definitely real (.336/.384/.607 with 48 extra-base hits!). But we're officially at the "Are we sure Urban Henry isn't washed?" stage of the season (4.03 ERA at age 39), and that's concerning.

The "We Had One Year to Get This Right" Stags

This might be my favorite subplot of the 2063 season. The Trust finally lets them spend money, and their rotation immediately posts a 5.81 ERA. That's not just bad - that's historically bad. It's like they ordered a rotation from Wish.com.

But here's the thing nobody's talking about: Their offense is actually incredible! They're slashing .277/.354/.457 as a team. Paul Correa is having that classic "guy who breaks out the year before his team has to trade him" season (.317/.376/.592). Even their catcher, Otis Ramírez, is raking (.299/.371/.460).

The "What Would You Do?" Game

If I'm running the Cardinals, I'm making one more push. You've already traded away your future - might as well go down swinging. They need another starter (Henry's peripherals are scary) and maybe a catcher who can hit above .207 (sorry, Chris Carter).

The Stags? This is brutal, but they have to start taking calls. The Trust's mandate means this team is getting torn down regardless - might as well maximize the return. Correa, Ramírez, and Stan Wallace could bring back actual prospects. Sometimes you have to know when to fold 'em.

The Weird "What If?" Scenarios

What if the Cardinals had just... not traded away baseball's #8 prospect? What if the Stags had spent their one year of real money on, I don't know, pitchers who can actually pitch? These are the questions that keep fans up at night.

The verdict

We're watching two teams who went all-in with very different definitions of "all." The Cardinals mortgaged the future for a wild card race. The Stags got one year to dream and turned it into a nightmare. The real winners? Cincinnati and Sacramento, who are probably wondering how they became the AL West/NL Central powerhouses while nobody was looking.

Are we sure this isn't the darkest timeline?

Today, 03:17 PM	#101
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	Emergency Pod Energy: Making Sense of the Cardinals and Stags at the Break Are we sure the Cardinals and Stags are good? Like, actually good? We're doing that thing again where we're trying to convince ourselves that two teams with obvious fatal flaws can somehow figure it out in the second half. Let's break this down, Bill Simmons style. The "Oh No, We Might Have Made a Huge Mistake" Cardinals Here's my favorite stat: The Cardinals are 23-20 at home, 21-19 on the road. They're basically the same team everywhere! That's either impressive consistency or depressing mediocrity, depending on how many prospects you traded away for this performance. (Spoiler: They traded all of them.) The thing nobody wants to talk about? Their run differential is actually pretty good! They're outscoring opponents by a decent margin, ranking top-3 in the NL in both ERA (3.53) and batting average (.260). This feels like one of those teams that should be better than their record, but then you look up and realize they're 14 games behind Cincinnati and you're like "wait, what?" The Mark Wleh thing is real (2.78 ERA, 149 K in 132.2 IP). The Leuri Ramírez thing is definitely real (.336/.384/.607 with 48 extra-base hits!). But we're officially at the "Are we sure Urban Henry isn't washed?" stage of the season (4.03 ERA at age 39), and that's concerning. The "We Had One Year to Get This Right" Stags This might be my favorite subplot of the 2063 season. The Trust finally lets them spend money, and their rotation immediately posts a 5.81 ERA. That's not just bad - that's historically bad. It's like they ordered a rotation from Wish.com. But here's the thing nobody's talking about: Their offense is actually incredible! They're slashing .277/.354/.457 as a team. Paul Correa is having that classic "guy who breaks out the year before his team has to trade him" season (.317/.376/.592). Even their catcher, Otis Ramírez, is raking (.299/.371/.460). The "What Would You Do?" Game If I'm running the Cardinals, I'm making one more push. You've already traded away your future - might as well go down swinging. They need another starter (Henry's peripherals are scary) and maybe a catcher who can hit above .207 (sorry, Chris Carter). The Stags? This is brutal, but they have to start taking calls. The Trust's mandate means this team is getting torn down regardless - might as well maximize the return. Correa, Ramírez, and Stan Wallace could bring back actual prospects. Sometimes you have to know when to fold 'em. The Weird "What If?" Scenarios What if the Cardinals had just... not traded away baseball's #8 prospect? What if the Stags had spent their one year of real money on, I don't know, pitchers who can actually pitch? These are the questions that keep fans up at night. The verdict We're watching two teams who went all-in with very different definitions of "all." The Cardinals mortgaged the future for a wild card race. The Stags got one year to dream and turned it into a nightmare. The real winners? Cincinnati and Sacramento, who are probably wondering how they became the AL West/NL Central powerhouses while nobody was looking. Are we sure this isn't the darkest timeline?

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