FOOL-X 2026 Regular Season

[hyde4us11]

I thought Brooks was going to be a star, that didn't happen. I will say he has been solid and a mainstay for a long time. Nice solid career and at a decent salary so he did his part.

[Alan T]

Legends Hurler Named RL's Best Starter
Tuesday, September 1st, 2026: The best pitcher this past month in the Republic League was Doug McDonah of the New York Legends. He really razzle-dazzled league hitters, finishing August with a standout 5-0 record and 1.50 ERA.

The Legends hurler made 5 starts and surrendered 28 hits in 36 innings. He struck out 41 and walked 6.

In 22 starts this year McDonah has recorded a 14-4 record and a 2.59 ERA.


Continental League Names #1 Pitcher in August
Tuesday, September 1st, 2026: The #1 pitcher this past month in the Continental League was Sang-cheol Pak of the Washington Freedom. He worked the hitters over real good, finishing August with a superb 3-0 record and a 1.98 ERA.

The Freedom star made 5 starts and surrendered 28 hits in 36.1 innings. He struck out 28 and walked 15.

Checking out his stats for the season, Pak has notched 9 wins and 7 losses in 26 starts, 4.32 ERA and struck out 139 batters in 160.1 innings.

[Alan T]

RL Best Hitter Award to New York's Bo Cheng
Tuesday, September 1st, 2026: Bo Cheng has been the model of consistency over the past month and has been a tough out, claiming the Republic League Batter of the Month trophy for August.

The New York first baseman hit .393 with 7 home runs, 29 RBIs and 27 runs scored. He was also walked 16 times and posted a .456 on-base percentage.

Currently Cheng is batting .334 with 180 hits and 23 home runs. He has knocked in 98 runs and scored 107 times.


CL Top Batter Trophy Won by Zamora
Tuesday, September 1st, 2026: The vote is in and Manuel Zamora, the 30-year-old shortstop for Plantana, is the winner. Today he was honored with the Continental League Batter of the Month award.

In August, Zamora wowed voters with a .352 average while posting up 7 home runs, 29 RBIs, 21 runs scored and a .410 on-base percentage.

This season Zamora is batting .312 with 162 hits, 21 home runs, 113 RBIs, 70 walks, .390 OBP and has scored 86 runs. He has played in 131 games.

[Alan T]

Proctor Voted August's #1 Newcomer
Tuesday, September 1st, 2026: Las Vegas's William Proctor was voted August's Republic League Rookie of the Month by baseball officials after putting together a fine month-long performance.

The 26-year-old left fielder really attacked the baseball, putting up 39 hits, 1 home run, 8 RBIs and a .328 average while playing in 26 games.

This year Proctor has batted at a .278 pace with 167 hits, 17 home runs, 65 RBIs and scored 91 times.


Rookie Hobbs Named Best in August
Tuesday, September 1st, 2026: Willie Hobbs put up eye-catching numbers in August to earn himself the Continental League Rookie of the Month Award.

The right fielder for the Chicago Southpaws batted .311 with 2 home runs, 13 RBIs and 15 runs scored as he proved he does deserve to play in the Continental League.

Presently Hobbs is batting .290 and has collected 7 home runs, 80 RBIs, .344 OBP and scored 52 runs.

[hyde4us11]

Gotta run for a bit, look forward to to seeing the reults when I return. Darn therapists now comes to the house and wife is making me do it. When she didn't know they did home visits I could get out of it saying I hurt to much to leave the house. My damn excuse is gone. LOL

[Alan T]

September 1st, 2026:

Continental League Standings

Team W L PCT GB Pyt.Rec Diff Home Away XInn 1Run M# Streak Last10 St Cloud Raindrops 77 53 .592 - 79-51 -2 41-25 36-28 7-3 26-17 29 L1 8-2 Washington Freedom 74 57 .565 3½ 72-59 2 43-19 31-38 7-2 20-17 W1 5-5 Oshawa Mullets 69 62 .527 8½ 66-65 3 39-26 30-36 6-11 16-20 W2 4-6 Chicago Southpaws 69 63 .523 9 64-68 5 39-28 30-35 8-4 26-15 W2 5-5 Stafford Terriers 61 70 .466 16½ 66-65 -5 38-31 23-39 8-10 21-29 L1 2-8 Plantana Pirates 59 72 .450 18½ 53-78 6 31-34 28-38 5-5 18-16 L2 7-3 Havana Banana Sluggers 59 72 .450 18½ 64-67 -5 36-26 23-46 0-5 15-22 W1 5-5 St Louis Hops 56 75 .427 21½ 61-70 -5 36-32 20-43 5-6 15-21 L1 5-5

Republic League Standings

Team W L PCT GB Pyt.Rec Diff Home Away XInn 1Run M# Streak Last10 Waikiki Beach Boys 83 48 .634 - 85-46 -2 45-24 38-24 7-4 14-14 28 W2 8-2 New York Legends 79 52 .603 4 73-58 6 42-23 37-29 8-6 25-12 L1 6-4 Portland Axemen 73 58 .557 10 79-52 -6 37-25 36-33 8-2 15-12 W1 5-5 Spring Lions 70 61 .534 13 77-54 -7 36-26 34-35 7-8 17-21 L1 3-7 Cleveland Naps 63 68 .481 20 65-66 -2 36-29 27-39 7-8 16-14 L1 4-6 Las Vegas Wildcats 61 69 .469 21½ 65-65 -4 31-35 30-34 5-6 16-20 L1 4-6 Maricopa Rattlers 54 77 .412 29 57-74 -3 32-36 22-41 6-11 12-21 W3 7-3 Ann Arbor Wolverines 41 91 .311 42½ 34-98 7 20-47 21-44 0-3 12-13 L5 3-7

[Alan T]

League Leaders AVG C. Carmelo - WAI .373 2 M. O'Reardan ANN .360 3 A. Chapman LVS .348 4 T. Sutton CLE .338 4 B. Joly SPG .338	League Leaders HR S. Martínez - NY 43 2 M. Alomar NY 39 3 B. Joly SPG 33 4 M. O'Reardan ANN 32 5 2 tied with 29	League Leaders RBI B. Joly - SPG 132 2 S. Martínez NY 124 2 M. O'Reardan ANN 124 4 M. Dillon WAI 122 5 C. Carmelo WAI 117
League Leaders W C. Vitaini - POR 15 2 D. McDonah NY 14 3 J. Carr OSH 13 3 A. Durán WAI 13 3 2 more tied with 13	League Leaders ERA C. Fox - MAR 2.33 2 Q. Strapoudopolos STA 2.56 3 D. McDonah NY 2.59 4 R. Castro HBS 2.64 5 A. Durán WAI 2.77	League Leaders K C. Fox - MAR 194 2 D. Ross PLN 184 3 N. Muller ANN 174 4 E. Holt SPG 167 5 D. McDonah NY 163

[Alan T]

2500 Hits for Sakurai
Saturday, September 5th, 2026: The box score from yesterday's game will show that Spring beat the Maricopa Rattlers, 5-4. It will also show that first baseman Matsusuke Sakurai went 2-for-4 for the Lions. It will not show, however, that Sakurai reached the 2500-hit mark for his career.

The 37-year-old Sakurai reflected on the achievement after the game. He mused: "In one respect, it's a real milestone, I guess. Yet, it's just a base hit like any other base hit."

Sakurai has compiled a career batting average of .346 with 2501 hits, 9 homers and 928 RBIs.

[Alan T]

6-Hit Blitz by Sutton
Tuesday, September 8th, 2026: It was high-5 day at Ann Arbor Grounds, at least for Tom Sutton of the Cleveland Naps. He got a lot of high-5's from his teammates for his outstanding hitting against the Ann Arbor Wolverines. Sutton smashed 6 hits in 6 at-bats on his record-setting day, leading his club to a 26-8 win.

His manager said, "Tom was hitting everything. It really was a special game for him."

In the other dugout the opposing manager told BNN beat writers, "He ambushed my boys today. Obviously we didn't have much success against him, but luckily, tomorrow is another day. Hopefully it will be our day to shine."

Tom Sutton hit an RBI single in the 2nd, hit an RBI single in the 3rd, singled in the 5th, singled in the 8th, hit a three-run home run off Enrico Gómez in the 8th and hit an RBI single in the 9th.

So far this season Sutton is batting .356 with 22 home runs, 83 RBIs and 83 runs scored. He has 150 hits in 421 at-bats, 27 walks and a .396 OBP. Sutton has played in 120 games.

[Alan T]

September 14th, 2026:

Continental League Standings

Team W L PCT GB Pyt.Rec Diff Home Away XInn 1Run M# Streak Last10 St Cloud Raindrops 85 58 .594 - 87-56 -2 44-25 41-33 7-4 28-20 17 L2 7-3 Washington Freedom 81 61 .570 3½ 78-64 3 48-23 33-38 8-2 22-19 W2 6-4 Oshawa Mullets 77 66 .538 8 73-70 4 43-28 34-38 8-12 19-23 W2 7-3 Chicago Southpaws 74 69 .517 11 69-74 5 42-33 32-36 9-6 28-16 W2 5-5 Stafford Terriers 67 75 .472 17½ 72-70 -5 39-35 28-40 9-10 24-31 L2 6-4 Plantana Pirates 62 80 .437 22½ 58-84 4 32-35 30-45 5-5 18-17 W1 3-7 Havana Banana Sluggers 62 80 .437 22½ 68-74 -6 37-31 25-49 0-5 16-24 L2 2-8 St Louis Hops 62 81 .434 23 66-77 -4 39-36 23-45 5-7 18-23 L1 5-5

Republic League Standings

Team W L PCT GB Pyt.Rec Diff Home Away XInn 1Run M# Streak Last10 Waikiki Beach Boys 89 53 .627 - 92-50 -3 48-26 41-27 8-6 16-18 18 W2 5-5 New York Legends 86 56 .606 3 80-62 6 43-24 43-32 8-6 26-13 L1 7-3 Portland Axemen 80 62 .563 9 85-57 -5 41-27 39-35 9-2 19-12 L1 6-4 Spring Lions 79 63 .556 10 85-57 -6 44-27 35-36 8-8 21-22 W4 9-1 Cleveland Naps 71 72 .497 18½ 73-70 -2 40-31 31-41 7-9 16-16 L2 6-4 Las Vegas Wildcats 63 80 .441 26½ 68-75 -5 31-38 32-42 5-6 17-23 L4 2-8 Maricopa Rattlers 58 85 .406 31½ 61-82 -3 35-40 23-45 6-11 13-23 W1 3-7 Ann Arbor Wolverines 44 99 .308 45½ 36-107 8 22-53 22-46 0-3 13-14 W1 2-8

[Alan T]

Castros Hurls Mullets to Shutout Victory
Saturday, September 19th, 2026: In a standout performance today at Molson Stadium, Mullets pitcher Javier Castros blanked the Plantana Pirates 4-0. He limited them to 4 hits and posted 10 strikeouts and 1 walk to gain the win for Oshawa.

This year Castros has compiled a 9-9 mark with a 3.95 ERA.

[Alan T]

September 21st, 2026:

Continental League Standings

Team W L PCT GB Pyt.Rec Diff Home Away XInn 1Run M# Streak Last10 St Cloud Raindrops 91 59 .607 - 93-57 -2 44-25 47-34 7-4 30-20 8 W1 7-3 Washington Freedom 84 64 .568 6 82-66 2 48-23 36-41 8-2 22-19 L2 5-5 Oshawa Mullets 83 67 .553 8 78-72 5 49-29 34-38 8-12 19-23 W2 8-2 Chicago Southpaws 76 73 .510 14½ 71-78 5 44-37 32-36 9-6 28-17 W2 5-5 Stafford Terriers 70 79 .470 20½ 77-72 -7 39-38 31-41 9-10 24-33 L3 4-6 St Louis Hops 65 85 .433 26 70-80 -5 39-36 26-49 5-7 19-23 W3 5-5 Plantana Pirates 64 85 .430 26½ 59-90 5 33-38 31-47 5-5 19-17 L2 3-7 Havana Banana Sluggers 64 85 .430 26½ 69-80 -5 39-36 25-49 0-5 16-25 L1 3-7

Republic League Standings

Team W L PCT GB Pyt.Rec Diff Home Away XInn 1Run M# Streak Last10 Waikiki Beach Boys 95 54 .638 - 98-51 -3 51-26 44-28 8-6 18-19 7 W4 8-2 New York Legends 88 61 .591 7 82-67 6 44-27 44-34 8-6 27-14 L1 3-7 Portland Axemen 84 65 .564 11 88-61 -4 45-30 39-35 9-3 20-12 L2 6-4 Spring Lions 83 65 .561 11½ 89-59 -6 44-27 39-38 8-8 22-22 W4 8-2 Cleveland Naps 76 74 .507 19½ 77-73 -1 45-33 31-41 7-10 19-16 W1 6-4 Las Vegas Wildcats 65 85 .433 30½ 72-78 -7 31-38 34-47 6-6 17-26 W2 2-8 Maricopa Rattlers 59 91 .393 36½ 63-87 -4 35-40 24-51 7-11 13-27 L4 3-7 Ann Arbor Wolverines 47 102 .315 48 38-111 9 25-56 22-46 0-3 15-15 L3 4-6

[TeachEnEspanol]

Originally Posted by hyde4us11

Gotta run for a bit, look forward to to seeing the reults when I return. Darn therapists now comes to the house and wife is making me do it. When she didn't know they did home visits I could get out of it saying I hurt to much to leave the house. My damn excuse is gone. LOL

I like her. I'm glad your wife is making you do what you need to do...even if it sucks.

At least you have FOOL to return to when it's over!

[TeachEnEspanol]

I'm glad to see I wasn't off with my assessment of our improvements! Hooray for making trades.

[Alan T]

St. Cloud has a magic number of 5
Washington has a magic number of 13


Waikiki has a magic number of 3
New York has a magic number of 10

[Alan T]

McDonald Big Deal in Plantana: Hits for Cycle
Sunday, September 27th, 2026: Daryl McDonald produced one of the rarest feats in baseball today when he hit for the cycle against the Chicago Southpaws in the Plantana 10-9 win at Pirates Park.

Afterward, McDonald acknowledged that his accomplishment was special, but he was more interested in helping the Pirates just win some ballgames. At the postgame press conference, he said, "Maybe one day I'll look back on this day with more meaning, but right now I just want to come out tomorrow and put some good swings on the ball, get a few hits and help my club win another game."

On his historic day, he went 5-5 with 1 RBI and 5 runs scored -- and also got a spot in the league record books. Maybe one day way down the road he will get out the record book and reminisce about his extra special day in baseball.

Daryl McDonald hit a solo-shot off Craig Cooper in the 1st, singled in the 3rd, tripled in the 5th, singled in the 7th and doubled in the 8th.

McDonald is presently hitting at a .269 pace with 15 home runs and 72 RBIs. He has played in 156 games and scored 133 times.

[Alan T]

September 28th, 2026:

Continental League Standings

Team W L PCT GB Pyt.Rec Diff Home Away XInn 1Run M# Streak Last10 St Cloud Raindrops 94 62 .603 - 96-60 -2 47-28 47-34 7-5 31-22 2 L1 6-4 Washington Freedom 88 67 .568 5½ 86-69 2 50-24 38-43 8-2 23-19 L1 5-5 Oshawa Mullets 86 70 .551 8 83-73 3 51-30 35-40 8-12 19-25 W1 6-4 Chicago Southpaws 78 77 .503 15½ 75-80 3 44-37 34-40 9-6 29-19 L1 4-6 Stafford Terriers 72 84 .462 22 79-77 -7 40-41 32-43 9-11 25-34 W1 2-8 St Louis Hops 69 87 .442 25 73-83 -4 39-36 30-51 6-7 20-24 W2 7-3 Plantana Pirates 68 88 .436 26 61-95 7 37-41 31-47 5-5 21-17 W1 5-5 Havana Banana Sluggers 68 88 .436 26 72-84 -4 40-38 28-50 1-5 17-25 L2 5-5

Republic League Standings

Team W L PCT GB Pyt.Rec Diff Home Away XInn 1Run M# Streak Last10 Waikiki Beach Boys 99 57 .635 - 103-53 -4 53-28 46-29 8-7 18-20 Clinched W1 7-3 New York Legends 92 64 .590 7 85-71 7 48-30 44-34 8-7 27-14 W2 5-5 Portland Axemen 89 67 .571 10 91-65 -2 48-30 41-37 11-3 22-12 W4 6-4 Spring Lions 88 67 .568 10½ 93-62 -5 47-27 41-40 9-8 22-22 W3 8-2 Cleveland Naps 79 77 .506 20 80-76 -1 48-33 31-44 7-10 20-16 L3 6-4 Las Vegas Wildcats 68 88 .436 31 75-81 -7 34-41 34-47 6-6 17-26 L1 5-5 Maricopa Rattlers 60 96 .385 39 64-92 -4 35-40 25-56 7-12 13-28 L3 1-9 Ann Arbor Wolverines 48 107 .310 50½ 41-114 7 25-56 23-51 0-3 15-16 L2 2-8

[Alan T]

St. Cloud has clinched a playoff spot!

Washington has a magic number of 5

Oshawa is still mathematically alive.


Waikiki has clinched homefield advantage in the RLCS!

New York has a magic number of 4

Portland and Spring are mathematically alive.

[TeachEnEspanol]

Yay yay yay!

Also, congrats Waikiki!

[Alan T]

10/2:

Washington clinches a playoff spot as Oshawa is eliminated!




Las Vegas 6, Portland 2
Cleveland 11, New York 6
Spring 4, Ann Arbor 3

Waikiki 101-59 (clinched)
New York 93-67 (m# 1)
Spring 91-69
Portland 91-69

[Alan T]

10/3:

Las Vegas 3, Portland 1
New York 13, Cleveland 11
Spring 3, Ann Arbor 0


With their win, New York clinches a playoff spot!

[Alan T]

Hit #2500 for Lions García
Saturday, October 3rd, 2026: Spring third baseman Iván García finished the day with 1 hit in 4 at-bats and 2500 career hits. The Lions also finished off the Wolverines, 3-0. The 37-year-old García added his name to the list of players in the 2500-hit club.

For his career García has hit at a .275 clip. Among his lifetime numbers are 2500 hits, 635 doubles, 95 triples, 199 home runs and 1208 RBIs.

[Alan T]

Final 2026 Standings:

Continental League Standings

Team W L PCT GB Pyt.Rec Diff Home Away XInn 1Run M# Streak Last10 St Cloud Raindrops 99 63 .611 - 100-62 -1 52-29 47-34 7-5 33-22 Clinched W5 7-3 Washington Freedom 91 71 .562 8 89-73 2 53-28 38-43 8-3 24-20 L3 5-5 Oshawa Mullets 89 73 .549 10 86-76 3 51-30 38-43 9-12 20-26 W1 4-6 Chicago Southpaws 84 78 .519 15 80-82 4 44-37 40-41 9-6 30-19 W3 7-3 Stafford Terriers 74 88 .457 25 82-80 -8 40-41 34-47 10-11 26-37 L1 4-6 St Louis Hops 71 91 .438 28 75-87 -4 41-40 30-51 6-7 22-25 W1 5-5 Plantana Pirates 71 91 .438 28 65-97 6 38-43 33-48 5-6 21-18 L1 5-5 Havana Banana Sluggers 69 93 .426 30 74-88 -5 41-40 28-53 1-5 17-26 L3 2-8

Republic League Standings

Team W L PCT GB Pyt.Rec Diff Home Away XInn 1Run M# Streak Last10 Waikiki Beach Boys 103 59 .636 - 106-56 -3 53-28 50-31 10-7 19-20 Clinched W2 6-4 New York Legends 95 67 .586 8 88-74 7 50-31 45-36 8-7 27-14 W2 6-4 Spring Lions 93 69 .574 10 98-64 -5 52-29 41-40 10-9 24-22 W5 8-2 Portland Axemen 91 71 .562 12 93-69 -2 50-31 41-40 11-3 22-12 L4 6-4 Cleveland Naps 82 80 .506 21 84-78 -2 48-33 34-47 8-10 21-16 L2 4-6 Las Vegas Wildcats 72 90 .444 31 78-84 -6 38-43 34-47 6-7 17-27 W3 5-5 Maricopa Rattlers 63 99 .389 40 67-95 -4 38-43 25-56 7-13 15-29 L2 4-6 Ann Arbor Wolverines 49 113 .302 54 43-119 6 25-56 24-57 0-4 15-20 L4 2-8

[Alan T]

League Leaders AVG C. Carmelo - WAI .363 2 T. Sutton CLE .357 3 A. Chapman LVS .344 4 B. Joly SPG .341 5 M. O'Reardan ANN .337	League Leaders HR S. Martínez - NY 49 2 M. Alomar NY 48 3 B. Joly SPG 43 4 J. Chávez CLE 41 5 M. O'Reardan ANN 37	League Leaders RBI B. Joly - SPG 169 2 C. Carmelo WAI 152 3 M. O'Reardan ANN 149 4 S. Martínez NY 141 5 2 tied with 137
League Leaders W C. Vitaini - POR 19 2 D. McDonah NY 18 3 J. Carr OSH 17 3 E. Holt SPG 17 3 P. Ortíz WAI 17	League Leaders ERA A. Durán - WAI 2.50 2 D. McDonah NY 2.78 3 E. Holt SPG 2.79 4 Q. Strapoudopolos STA 2.81 5 C. Fox MAR 2.83	League Leaders K C. Fox - MAR 225 2 D. Ross PLN 219 3 N. Muller ANN 215 4 E. Holt SPG 204 5 D. McDonah NY 203

[TeachEnEspanol]

Yay buddy! Congrats Hyde.

Nice job New York! Good luck to all tomorrow!!!

[Alan T]

The new file is up. Playoffs are tomorrow!

[Alan T]

Best Bang for the Buck Award(Batters) (Hitter that did the most while being paid the least.)
Name Team VORP Salary Score Juan Vargas WAI 43.7815 100000 43.78

Best Bang for the Buck Award(Veteran Batters) (Veteran hitter that did the most while being paid the least.)
Name Team VORP Salary Score Ken Stewart NY 16.9497 267600 6.33

Best Bang for the Buck Award(Pitchers) (Pitcher that did the most while being paid the least.)
Name Team VORP Salary Score Rudy Dunne LVS 46.0517 100000 46.05

Best Bang for the Buck Award(Veteran Pitchers) (Veteran pitcher that did the most while being paid the least.)
Name Team VORP Salary Score Colin Blais LVS 14.1074 100000 14.11

Worst Bang for the Buck Award(Batters) (For the most overpaid hitter in the league.)
Name Team VORP Salary Score Branson Ernst MAR -36.0984 100000 -36.10

Worst Bang for the Buck Award(Pitchers) (For the most overpaid pitcher in the league.)
Name Team VORP Salary Score Andrés Núñez NY -43.7174 100000 -43.72

Home Run or Nothing Award (For the hitter that hit home runs and not much else.)
Name Team HR RC Score Manny Alomar NY 48 112.512448 0.3918

Selfish Pitcher Award (For the pitcher that has all of the headlines but none of the wins.)
Name Team W L K BB IP Score Enrico Gómez ANN 4 18 165 274 192.0 16953.7500

Unluckiest Pitcher Award (For the pitcher that would likely win an award if on a better team.)
Name Team W L K BB IP Score Clyde Fox MAR 11 10 225 64 210.0 1053.81818345

Running on Empty Award (For the baserunner that keeps attempting to steal and fails.)
Name Team SB CS SB % Score Santiago Martínez NY 12 20 0.3750 10.40

Can't hit his weight Award (For the hitter that can't even hit his weight.)
Name Team Weight Batting Avg. Score Alonso Cirilo PLN 205 lbs 0.203 0.98949744

Should have stayed home Award (Batters) (For the Hitter that did so poorly he should have just stayed home.)
Name Team Batting Avg. HR RBI VORP Edward Thompson MAR 0.219 12 68 -41.9138

Should have stayed home Award (Pitchers) (For the Pitcher that did so poorly he should have just stayed home.)
Name Team W L ERA VORP Enrico Gómez ANN 4 18 14.53 -173.5391

Stone Statue Award (For the Shortstop that had so little range that he resembled a statue.)
Name Team Total Chances Assists Put Outs Range Matt Rolfe STL 547 365 171 4.1443

Cannon-Arm Award (For the Catcher that showed off the best cannon-arm in games.)
Name Team SB attempts against Runners Thrown Out RTO% Score Nobuatsu Ine MAR 55 22 0.4000 54.5

Early Checkout Award (For the Starting pitcher that left games the earliest.)
Name Team W L ERA GS IP Score Doug Padgett ANN 6 23 6.34 55 149.0 0.3691

Never met a pitch he didn't like award (For the Hitter that never liked to watch a pitch go by without hitting it.)
Name Team Batting Avg. H BB Score William Proctor LVS 0.274 203 26 177

Take the Money and Run Award (Batters) (For the Hitter that stopped showing effort after signing a large contract.)
Name Team Contract Batting Avg. HR RBI Score José Ruíz HBS 8682000 0.261 20 96 35.7482

Take the Money and Run Award (Pitchers) (For the Pitcher that stopped showing effort after signing a large contract.)
No seasons completed

Anger Management Award (For the pitcher that hit the most batters during the season.)

Name Team W L IP Hit Batters Sam Gregory HBS 3 2 80.0 15

[Chief Rum]

Congrats to the playoff teams!

[Chief Rum]

As for Havana, as Shakespeare once said, something rotten grows in Cuba (or something like that ).

I can't begin to say how disappointed I am in this season's Havana team. Their performance has me mystified. I knew it was going to be tough to make it to the playoffs this season, because just beating hyde and Teach alone, when they seem to have really hit on the winning formula in FOOLX, is tough enough, on top of the other tough teams. But dead last?

I felt like I entered the offseason with two strong SPs and added another. Then tossed on two fairly high end rookies. And the pen was deep enough that I was sending solid performing relievers to AAA in my export last night. And my lineup essentially returned everyone who scored the most runs in the CL two years ago, and third most last year, losing only Terry White (good power guy, but we had plenty of bats in the OF and plenty of POW in the lineup). I don't have a team of glove wizards, but it's a competently rated defense.

So I thought I had a chance at the playoffs and would probably at least be around last season's 82-80 record. So to end up in last in the CL and the third worst record in FOOLX is quite a bit of a kick in the teeth and has me banging my forehead on my desk here at work.

And the kicker is, I can't even see what the hell went wrong until I get home in 12-13 hours (even going by HTML, I won't be able to see anything until 2-3 p.m. locally). Ugh.

[Tasan]

Ouch Chief. Fool-X just isn't very kind to you, is it?

Congrats to the playoff teams. This was a frustrating season in Spring. I thought we had a good shot, and we came up just a hair short.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

As for Havana, as Shakespeare once said, something rotten grows in Cuba (or something like that ).

I can't begin to say how disappointed I am in this season's Havana team. Their performance has me mystified. I knew it was going to be tough to make it to the playoffs this season, because just beating hyde and Teach alone, when they seem to have really hit on the winning formula in FOOLX, is tough enough, on top of the other tough teams. But dead last?

I felt like I entered the offseason with two strong SPs and added another. Then tossed on two fairly high end rookies. And the pen was deep enough that I was sending solid performing relievers to AAA in my export last night. And my lineup essentially returned everyone who scored the most runs in the CL two years ago, and third most last year, losing only Terry White (good power guy, but we had plenty of bats in the OF and plenty of POW in the lineup). I don't have a team of glove wizards, but it's a competently rated defense.

So I thought I had a chance at the playoffs and would probably at least be around last season's 82-80 record. So to end up in last in the CL and the third worst record in FOOLX is quite a bit of a kick in the teeth and has me banging my forehead on my desk here at work.

And the kicker is, I can't even see what the hell went wrong until I get home in 12-13 hours (even going by HTML, I won't be able to see anything until 2-3 p.m. locally). Ugh.

Looking at Statslab, my opinion was your #3, #4 and #5 starters were atrocious. (ok Tomas Rodriguez was only really bad, not atrocious). Castro was really your only stand out pitcher. Miranda was an allstar, but I thought his season was only really average.

On the offense side, only Parra had an allstar calibre season, and his was borderline if that probably. Griffith, Newell, Ruiz and Cruz were all passable. Everyone else offensively was a sinkhole.

Defensively, I didn't find a whole lot that looked great or stood out to me. Sometimes fielding numbers are difficult to pinpoint exactly where a deficiency might be, but I didn't see anything much that I liked there. Your overall team Zone rating was -46.9 which was worse than everyone except St. Louis. So some of your pitching woes might be tied to fielding as well.

I don't know how much of it is your park hurting you as well, your park had the second highest park factor for runs scored, which can't help you much at all when your defense has a huge problem covering ground.


I know this wasn't my most cheery post ever, but just trying to help by giving my personal assessment of where your team went wrong. Talentwise I thought your pitchers were definitely better than they performed. I knew coming into the season that I didn't like your hitting, but your pitchers underperformed to what I thought they were capable of. I have to blame that on the defense, that is the only thing I can think of. From an individual Zone Rating perspective, only your 3B had one in the positive. Your Shortstop (one of the most important defensive positions) had a -14.2, your CenterFielder had a -16.0


Sorry Chief, I wish you better luck next season

[Alan T]

To follow up on my last post to Chief.

Your #3 pitcher had a BABIP of .355
#4 - .343
#5 - .357
#2 - .346
#1 - .330

If your pitchers didn't strike people out, the defense didn't help them out at all.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Looking at Statslab, my opinion was your #3, #4 and #5 starters were atrocious. (ok Tomas Rodriguez was only really bad, not atrocious). Castro was really your only stand out pitcher. Miranda was an allstar, but I thought his season was only really average.

On the offense side, only Parra had an allstar calibre season, and his was borderline if that probably. Griffith, Newell, Ruiz and Cruz were all passable. Everyone else offensively was a sinkhole.

Defensively, I didn't find a whole lot that looked great or stood out to me. Sometimes fielding numbers are difficult to pinpoint exactly where a deficiency might be, but I didn't see anything much that I liked there. Your overall team Zone rating was -46.9 which was worse than everyone except St. Louis. So some of your pitching woes might be tied to fielding as well.

I don't know how much of it is your park hurting you as well, your park had the second highest park factor for runs scored, which can't help you much at all when your defense has a huge problem covering ground.


I know this wasn't my most cheery post ever, but just trying to help by giving my personal assessment of where your team went wrong. Talentwise I thought your pitchers were definitely better than they performed. I knew coming into the season that I didn't like your hitting, but your pitchers underperformed to what I thought they were capable of. I have to blame that on the defense, that is the only thing I can think of. From an individual Zone Rating perspective, only your 3B had one in the positive. Your Shortstop (one of the most important defensive positions) had a -14.2, your CenterFielder had a -16.0


Sorry Chief, I wish you better luck next season

I appreciate the assessment, Alan.

I think I might have just had a typically subpar offensive year. I know you said you didn't like my hitting, but feel free to look it up--this same lineup, essentially has been one of the best in the CL the past two years. If it's suddenly not scoring runs, either it's just an unfortunate bad turn by several hitters at once, or I severely underestimated the tradeoff between replacing Terry White (a POW hitter) with Alex Parra (a CON hitter) and an older player or two took a nosedive in ratings.

Defense is a tough cookie for me to crack. You talk about zone rating, but that's like talking Greek to me. That's one thing I don't like about the new stats--you can't look at a stat like this and equate it to something on the field. There are too many variables between what happens on the field and the number that stat spits out. So it's hard for me to look at those numbers and assess how good or bad my defense is. Does anyone else have any problems with that, or is it just me?

Am I correct in guessing that zone rating primarily is impacted by range? If so, perhaps my position ratings (which were mostly decent, if not great) were built on good glove or good arm ratings, but by and large, I have a very poor range team. That would certainly explain the BABIP numbers.

Sigh... one more thing to work on.

I think one of my main issues with how I perform in the OOTP series from OOTPX onward is that I no longer feel a connection between common sense and performance. The keys to success aren't supposed to be obvious, but usually if you applied a little common sense, you could discern these keys and make them work for you, in OOTP9 and before. Since OOTPX, it feels like Markus has sunk the keys to success too far deep into the machine, throwing a ton of ratings and stats at you without a hint as to which are most important, and development curve patterns that have too many variables affecting them that are difficult to be assessed.

In OOTP9, I would be at Point A, saw Point B and saw the path to get there.

Since then (OOTPX), I am at Point A again, and I see others consistently reaching Point B, but the path is hidden, like a needle in a haystack. Kudos to those who have figured out the formula; they deserve all the credit they deserve. Me personally, though, I am of the opinion that too much is hidden in this game that should be more obvious to allow for cause and effect reasoning.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

I think I might have just had a typically subpar offensive year. I know you said you didn't like my hitting, but feel free to look it up--this same lineup, essentially has been one of the best in the CL the past two years. If it's suddenly not scoring runs, either it's just an unfortunate bad turn by several hitters at once, or I severely underestimated the tradeoff between replacing Terry White (a POW hitter) with Alex Parra (a CON hitter) and an older player or two took a nosedive in ratings.

In regards to the offense only (since we've been PMing about defense already), your offense was tied for third best OPS but only 7th most runs, so something was disconnected there. I don't see what that was at first glance though. Part of it might be your park was offensively one of the better parks in the game though (I think #2 most offense), so while your offense was scoring runs, the other team was too (and usually more so).

If we look at OPS+ which is park neutral, taking the park out of the picture, we end up with the following:

Career Havana Banana Sluggers OPS+ Leaders (*=active player, +=Hall of Famer)
(366 PA required for career stats)

Rank	Player	Pos	Years	OPS+	PA
1	Álex Parra*	RF	2026-2026	110	605
2	Earl Griffith*	LF	2026-2026	102	593
3	José Ruíz*	1B	2026-2026	99	729
4	Esteban Cruz*	2B	2026-2026	97	697
5	Marvin McCord*	RF	2026-2026	94	549
6	Rafael Vargas*	3B	2026-2026	85	588
7	Guillermo González*	C	2026-2026	80	702
8	Daniel Young*	SS	2026-2026	76	566

With 150+ being exceptional season
120-149 being all star season
101-119 being solid to above average season
100 being average
80-99 being below average
79 and below being very very bad.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Alan T

In regards to the offense only (since we've been PMing about defense already), your offense was tied for third best OPS but only 7th most runs, so something was disconnected there. I don't see what that was at first glance though. Part of it might be your park was offensively one of the better parks in the game though (I think #2 most offense), so while your offense was scoring runs, the other team was too (and usually more so).

If we look at OPS+ which is park neutral, taking the park out of the picture, we end up with the following:

Career Havana Banana Sluggers OPS+ Leaders (*=active player, +=Hall of Famer)
(366 PA required for career stats)

With 150+ being exceptional season
120-149 being all star season
101-119 being solid to above average season
100 being average
80-99 being below average
79 and below being very very bad.

I would be curious to see how it compares to OPS+ in previous seasons. In the end, I only care about runs scored, and in that category, this lineup, prior to this year, was pretty good at that. Obviously, something went seriously wrong this year with how this offense performed, but it's the same guys pretty much that scored the most runs in the league two years ago in this same ballpark.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

I would be curious to see how it compares to OPS+ in previous seasons. In the end, I only care about runs scored, and in that category, this lineup, prior to this year, was pretty good at that. Obviously, something went seriously wrong this year with how this offense performed, but it's the same guys pretty much that scored the most runs in the league two years ago in this same ballpark.

2023:

(503 PA required for career stats)

Rank	Player	Pos	Years	OPS+	PA
1	Anastasio Coronado*	LF	2023-2023	163	582
2	Terry White*	RF	2023-2023	142	558
3	José Ruíz*	1B	2023-2023	134	527
4	Roberto Díaz*	3B	2023-2023	118	758
5	Esteban Cruz*	2B	2023-2023	97	716
6	Daniel Young*	SS	2023-2023	92	652
7	Martin Fidge*	CF	2023-2023	86	668
8	Josh Miller*	C	2023-2023	64	558

2024:

(503 PA required for career stats)

Rank	Player	Pos	Years	OPS+	PA
1	Terry White*	RF	2024-2024	151	663
2	Earl Griffith*	LF	2024-2024	146	767
3	Rafael Vargas*	3B	2024-2024	119	705
4	José Ruíz*	1B	2024-2024	112	753
5	Guillermo González*	C	2024-2024	102	700
6	Daniel Young*	SS	2024-2024	97	652
7	William Taylor*	2B	2024-2024	91	624

2025:
(503 PA required for career stats)

Rank	Player	Pos	Years	OPS+	PA
1	Earl Griffith*	LF	2025-2025	156	660
2	José Ruíz*	1B	2025-2025	146	743
3	Rafael Vargas*	3B	2025-2025	110	704
4	Esteban Cruz*	2B	2025-2025	109	739
5	Daniel Young*	SS	2025-2025	103	645
6	Guillermo González*	C	2025-2025	101	674

[Alan T]

Looks like your offense misses Coronado and White, plus Ruiz and Griffith fell some (maybe age getting to them?)


Edit: If it is age, that would explain your team doing better at first and progressively getting worse as the season went on. But I don't know that it is age, I haven't looked enough at that yet to see.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Looks like your offense misses Coronado and White, plus Ruiz and Griffith fell some (maybe age getting to them?)


Edit: If it is age, that would explain your team doing better at first and progressively getting worse as the season went on. But I don't know that it is age, I haven't looked enough at that yet to see.

Heh... well I kinew they missed Coronado, but his skills were fading and he was asking for too much money at a position I had lots of options. I guess I underestimated White's impact, although I wouldn't have seen those numbers again, I would guess, since his skills were fading, too. Newell was supposed to be the new White a couple seasons ago, but his development shit the bed the second I promoted him (of course).

Other than that, yes, across the board, we see massive drops in performance not just from Ruiz and Griffith, but also Gonzalez, Vargas and Young. I have no doubt that some of it is due to age, and I'll have to fix that. That said, until I look closer at it to be sure, it looks to me like the rest had an awful timed communal fall in performance, like some kind of offense-sapping virus spread around among them.

[Alan T]

Ok, looked closer , because that's what I do!

Ruiz was statistically similar to what he normally does. His ratings look to me like they won't hold on long, but I don't see that it really tailed off this year. He's pretty much always been a .260 - .290 hitter with 20-30 HR. He came in at the low end of the range for most of his numbers, but still not that far off what he normally does. If anything, I think his season last year was exceptionally good for him.

Griffith I think is declining due to age. I wonder what he'll look like in the Spring, but I wouldn't assume him to be anything over an average player next year.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

some kind of offense-sapping virus spread around among them.

I don't know if there have ever been any studies on it, but I would think in normal baseball, being a part of a more explosive offense would have a positive effect on the stats of others in the lineup (due to the pitches they see, the fielder placement in certain parts of the game, etc). I don't have any idea if that carries over to OOTP though, but assume it doesn't.

You know what happens when you assume though!

[kenjabroni]

Thank you Chief......for not letting me finish last.......Was a real nice thing for you to do that for me.

Yes I took almost all the free agents in the game. For whatever reason I didnt get any signed in the first two days.....not sure what happened there but I needed 9 guys just for the majors..........I know I needed 21 for my A ballclub and quite a few for AA and AAA. So I busted my butt trying to get my rosters full because I like my teams to have players and not ghosts on them......even if those players will never have a shot at the majors.

I knew this team would struggle this year, but I have some nice pieces to build on it looks like and Ill be happy to get things moving for sure.

[Alan T]

Since Defense has been a big discussion point for me today, Here is a screenshot of teams ranked by Team Zone Rating:




There are some teams with really strong ZR: Las Vegas, Oshawa, Stafford for instance and to some point Plantana.


That is an interesting mix of teams as Oshawa and Stafford were both playoff contenders while Plantana and Las Vegas were not. So obviously there is no direct correlation to team ZR. What might be worthwhile though is to look at it at an individual position by position basis instead.

Stafford, one of the contender teams with a great Zone Rating, also had the highest overall team defensive efficiency in FOOL-X this season. This means their team also had the lowest BABIP this year (.290). Oshawa was #2 with .298. Las Vegas was a respectable 4th place at .299 (defense was not their team's problem), but then Plantana one of the other ZR leaders falls all the way to 9th in BABIP. We see their team defensive efficiency doesn't hold up either.


So while ZR is important (especially at key positions like 2B, SS, CF), what is even more important perhaps to look at is the defensive efficiency at those positions. If we look at Stafford once again, their key defensive positions we have:

2B: 1.003 (pretty much average - 1.000 is supposedly league average)
SS: 1.025 (very strong)
CF: 1.019 (strong)


Oshawa, was another one of the better fielding teams, but they did it differently.

2B: 1.061 (simply incredible)
SS: .926 (uhh.. really bad)
CF: 1.132 (super incredible)

Obviously Oshawa did not have a strong SS, but their 2B and CF may be among the best fielders out there and made up for it in a big way. I think they realized that fielding was not a strength at SS, as they heavily used a defensive replacement SS that had a .985. Still below average but at least passable, and he got a large amount of playing time there. It is one of those cases where they have a great bat and are trying to find a place to fit it in. If they had at least a league average SS, their fielding would be simply incredible.


Now, I'll pick on Chief one more time since he's a good sport.

For Havana:

2B: .995 (not horrible, slightly below average)
SS: .953 (really bad)
CF: .901 (this was his best hitter, but I'm not sure his bat made up for the poor defense he had).

Since Centerfield appears to be the place that the most doubles are hit in OOTP, it is no surprise that Havana gave up the second most doubles in the league this year. Only passed by Ann Arbor. (In Ann Arbor's case their CF was pretty strong, their RF was even worse than Chief's Centerfielder as far as defense goes though)

[Alan T]

That post was much longer than I meant it to be. I know defense seems to be a black box for many people in the league, so hopefully I'm helping here by giving you all things to look at to be able to evaluate the performance of your defense.

You can look at these various ratings and figure out if your SS is really helping or hurting your team defensively out there.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by kenjabroni

Thank you Chief......for not letting me finish last.......Was a real nice thing for you to do that for me.

What can I say? I'm a giver.

(Heh...though you may not be laughing so much when I nab a great pitching prospect with my higher draft pick )

[Chief Rum]

Thanks, Alan. That is very enlightening.

Where is defensive efficiency shown? Is it under the fielding stats in the game? Or do I need to look at STatslab? Same question for the zone rating. Thanks again!

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Thanks, Alan. That is very enlightening.

Where is defensive efficiency shown? Is it under the fielding stats in the game? Or do I need to look at STatslab? Same question for the zone rating. Thanks again!

Statslab doesn't show ZR or defensive efficiency. Both are new to OOTP11 and for whatever reason aren't in the exported stats that statslab is able to use. So you have to view them in game or in the game generated web reports.

To view them in game you can either:

Go to FOOLX -> Reports -> Fielding Reports (shows both leagues with basic team defensive stats including both Team ZR and Team Defensive Efficiency.)

Or:

Go to your Team -> Reports -> Player Fielding Report (shows your team with each player's individual fielding stats including both ZR and EFF.)

Or:

Go to an individual player and look at his stats from his player card, it has it listed there too.

[CleBrownsfan]

Grats to the playoff teams!! I predict I'll back in the hunt in two more years... yet another looong rebuilding process for the Naps.

[cmldude]

Las Vegas problem is really sucky pitching and while the players can get on base(i think Wildcats led the league in AVG) there isnt power to drive them in. So what do you think Alan, Pitching or power hitter next draft pick?

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by cmldude

Las Vegas problem is really sucky pitching and while the players can get on base(i think Wildcats led the league in AVG) there isnt power to drive them in. So what do you think Alan, Pitching or power hitter next draft pick?

I've always been a fan of picking the best player possible with an emphasis on pitching. If there is a stud #1 starting pitcher type available, I'll always pick them first. After that, I'll pick a stud 4 or 5 tool position player next, and then it becomes very situational.

When I ran teams, I always liked going strong on pitching and then picking up the rejects of the world to fill my lineups. I don't know that I would necessarily suggest my approach for everyone though since I did some very non-standard things with my lineups.

[mattcubs]

Great reading this evening everyone. Congrats to the playoff teams...Is a playoff appearance enough evidence to start a thread about the effectiveness of a 6 man rotation...albeit an accidental rotation. Sorry Alan for setting a preseason esque lineup, because for some unknown reason I thought it was the pre-season sim. My starting rotation should be well rested...