OOTP 20 Challenge - The Season

[Vince, Pt. II]

Playoff scenarios are sadly basic at this point:

New York (12-4) and Canton (12-4) both clinch a spot in the championship series with a single win.

Willow City (10-6) is two back with two to play, and they are already eliminated from home field in the championship series since one of New York or Canton is guaranteed a win in the final game of the season by virtue of them playing one another. This is good news, however, because it means that at least one of the two teams is guaranteed a loss. Willow City still needs the loser of that 18th game to lose their 17th game as well, and here are the candidates:

New York (12-4) @ Baltimore (7-9)
NY - Christy Mathewson (4-2, 5.36 ERA)
BAL - Randy D. Johnson (3-1, 4.20 ERA)

Once 7-4 and looking strong, Baltimore has taken an absolute nosedive, losing their last 5 consecutive games. New York, on the other hand, has won 6 of 7, and the only loss in that stretch was by one run. The first time these teams met, the Knights crushed the Steamers to the tune of 9-0; they chased Jacob deGrom with 8 runs before he could complete the 2nd inning, and NY starter Ed Walsh went the distance for a 6-hit, 0-walk shutout. Now we get to see the other pitching matchup, which decidedly favors Baltimore, as Randy Johnson has been much better than Jacob deGrom, who was recently demoted to the bullpen.

Canton (12-4) @ Tallahassee (8-8)
CAN - Dwight Gooden (1-3, 7.14 ERA)
TAL - Steve Carlton (2-2, 6.44 ERA)

After stumbling out the gate to a 1-2 record, Canton has been on fire winning 11 of 13 games - and they've done it by an average run differential of 4.23, so these aren't exactly close games. Tallahassee has had a late-season run at the playoffs derailed by losing 3 of their last 5, officially eliminating them for playoff consideration just this past weekend. The first time these two teams matched up, Tallahassee was on the losing end of a 10-3 whooping - but this time they don't have to face the vaunted Chris Sale, drawing Dwight Gooden and his 7+ ERA. Unfortunately, they are countering with Steve Carlton and his 6.44 ERA against the number one offense in the All-Time League.

Things are looking grim for Willow City, as they not only need two losses from one of the leaders, but they themselves have to win both of their games, and that means getting through Clayton Kershaw, he of the 3.18 ERA in a league where the average ERA is 5.76.

[tarcone]

Damn. I thought we were getting hot. And we fall back to our 500 play.

Boooooo

[yeah826]

Pitching seemed to be a massive issue with my team.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

I am way more disappointed than I expected to be with that extra innings loss.

That was huge. A win there and you're tied for the last playoff spot with the outside chance for the top spot.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

That was huge. A win there and you're tied for the last playoff spot with the outside chance for the top spot.

Tell me about it!

Carlton Fisk and Ernie Banks have been such incredible disappointments. It's mostly small sample size shenanigans, but Fisk is a -15 OPS+. Fairly certain all here understand OPS+ already, but in case you don't 100 = league average. -15 is...insane.

[jbergey22]

Pitching has kind of been all over the place. A few pitchers you would think would do well are total crap and some pitchers maybe youd think would struggle against these all time top hitters are holding their own. It has certainly been interesting and some very close games and well balanced league.

[spleen1015]

My pitching has been complete shit.

I also drafted for HRs and I have so many players that didn't even hit 1.

[cmgdodgers]

Pitchers all seem outmatched , these batting stats are pretty insane.

[EagleFan]

Setting it up. Will start posting relatively shortly.

[EagleFan]

Stamford @ Indianapolis

Indianapolis jumps out to a 5-0 lead through 2 innings. Stamford scores 1 in the 3rd and 2 in 4th and 5th to tie the game 5-5. Indianapolis answers back with 2 in the 6th to take a 7-5 lead. Stamford steps up with 5 in the 7th to take a 10-7 lead. Indianapolis cuts the lead to 10-9 with 2 of their own in the 7th. Stamford adds another in the 8th and go on to the 11-9 victory.

[EagleFan]

Canton @ Tallahassee

The game is tight as Tallahassee scores at least 1 run from the 2nd through 7th innings and the game is tied 8-8 going into extra innings. In the top of the 10th Canton explodes for 5 runs for a 13-8 victory and they have clinched a playoff spot.

[EagleFan]

New York @ Baltimore

New York jumps all over Baltimore pitching and leads 13-1 through the top of the 7th. Baltimore tries to get back into it but can only manage to plate 5 runs as New York wins 13-6 to clinch a playoff spot.

The win sets up a winner takes home field advantage game on the final day with Canton.

[EagleFan]

San Fernando @ Willow City

San Fernando score 3 in the top of the 1st. Willow City scores 1 in the 4th to make it 3-1. In the 8th and 9th Willow City scores 1 each to tie the game 3-3 and send it to extra innings. Willie Mays leads off the bottom of the 9th with a triple and Todd Helton hits a sacrifice fly for the 4-3 victory.

[EagleFan]

Big Inning @ Otisburg

Big Inning scores 2 in the 1st and 2nd to take an early 4-0 lead and they add 2 more in the 5th as they hold on for a 6-3 victory.

[EagleFan]

Otisburg @ Indianapolis

Indianapolis pounds out 20 hits and Mark McGwire hits his 1st homerun of the season as Indianapolis ends their season with a 14-4 victory.

[EagleFan]

Baltimore @ Stamford

Baltimore scores 6 in the top of the 1st and does not look back as they win their final game 11-3.

[EagleFan]

Willow City @ Big Inning

Big Inning puts on a show for their fans in their last game with a 13-2 victory.

[EagleFan]

Tallahassee @ San Fernando

Tallahassee scores 3 in the 2nd to take a 3-1 lead. San Fernando chips away to come back to a 5-3 victory.

[EagleFan]

Canton @ New York

The winner will have home field advantage in the playoffs.

In the top of the 4th Canton scores 3 to take a 3-0 lead. They add 2 more in the top of the 5th to go up 5-0.

New York does not bow out, they get on the board in the bottom of the 5th to make it 5-1. In the bottom of the 6th New York bats around and scores 6 runs to go up 7-5.

In the top of the 7th Canton scores 1 to get to 7-6.

An Alex Rodriguez sacrifice fly in the top of the 9th ties the game 7-7. New York loads the bases with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th but a King Kelly ground out sends the game to extra innings.

In one of the weirdest innings of the year Canton scores twice in the top of the 10th, both on wild pitches by Joe Nathan to give Canton a 9-7 lead.

In the bottom of the 10th Pete Rose leads off with a single but a double play and strikeout ends any chance.

Canton wins 9-7 and will have home field advantage in the playoffs.

[EagleFan]

In the league the playoffs are all back to back days. I will reset player fatigue after game 2.

[EagleFan]

Everything is posted.

[EagleFan]

Playoff Schedule

Game 1 - Sunday 8:00 PM EST

Game 2 - Wednesday 8:00 PM EST

Game 3 (if needed) - Friday 8:00 PM EST

[jbergey22]

In the baseball world full disclosure with the starting pitchers is an unwritten rule to disclose so I wanted to disclose beforehand that I am planning on pulling Gooden and moving him into the pen. Sale will start game #1 if he is rested(im not sure how many rest days he actually has before the playoffs start) and Newhowser will start game #2. Otherwise Newhowser will be starting game #1 followed by Sale.

[jbergey22]

If we were voting Id choose Wade Boggs or Rogers Hornsby for MVP and Clayton Kershaw for CYA(probably have to rename the award for this league)

[EagleFan]

I will reset fatigue prior to game 1 as well. That should make it play out like the entire season with full rest for the odd number games.

[EagleFan]

The voting sounds like a great idea. I'll put something up for that.

[tarcone]

We should vote for an all league team as well.

[Vince, Pt. II]

My mid-draft predictions were hilariously awful.

[jbergey22]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

My mid-draft predictions were hilariously awful.

In all fairness in a short season like this there is a ton of randomness and it would have been hard to know the pitching was going to be such a non factor. I am curious as to what settings EF is using. I think 75 percent of the league is out hitting their normal averages while the pitchers seem to be playing in the juiced ball era x2. LOL

[tarcone]

Mike Schmidt laughs at your juiced ball theory.

What a disappointment.

[EagleFan]

Getting things together.

[EagleFan]

Updated the site.

[EagleFan]

If everyone could send me the following:

Top 5 MVP - Ranked (no players from your team)

Top 5 Pitcher of the Year - Ranked (no players from your team)


Team of the year (can be players from your team):
C
1B
2B
3B
SS
LF
CF
RF
SP
RP

[EagleFan]

Have received votes from 4 teams so far for the season awards. After all is completed for the league I'll announce the results of both the manual voting and what the game comes up with.

[Vince, Pt. II]

I will (hopefully) get my votes in tonight.

[EagleFan]

Congrats to cmgdodgers as New York wins the title.

Let me know if you would like Kingdom Come: Deliverance. I will PM you the Steam key.

[EagleFan]

Site updated.

[EagleFan]

As an FYI. I'll be doing another league sort of like this but it will be 25 man teams with a longer schedule (closer to a normal schedule, depending on the number of teams). Just trying to work out the details for it.

[EagleFan]

As for the settings questions. I used current day as the time frame and imported the players using the default settings for importing historical players. Didn't change any of the player related settings other than turning off injuries. It seems that the game prioritized offense over pitching.

[EagleFan]

For the player awards. I'll announce them on Friday to give the last few people a chance to submit their votes.

[jbergey22]

Great job cmgdodgers.

Thanks EF!

[EagleFan]

cmgdodgers, let me know your choice for the Kingdom Come: Deliverance key.

You can either take it for yourself, take it to give to someone or pass (in which case jbergey22 would get those options).

[cmgdodgers]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

cmgdodgers, let me know your choice for the Kingdom Come: Deliverance key.

You can either take it for yourself, take it to give to someone or pass (in which case jbergey22 would get those options).

I’ll pass on the game, as much as I’d have good intentions of playing as
It looks great, it’d collect dust with many other steam games in my library.

[tarcone]

Congrats to cmgdodgers. Well done.

[jbergey22]

Ill pass as well. It is appreciated but its something I would not play....Thanks...

[EagleFan]

Vince, you're up next if you would like the game. If not, tarcone?

[Vince, Pt. II]

I'll pass as well. Too many games, not enough time (despite what my crazy playoff scenarios would tell you )

Edit: Throwing together my awards voting now!

[tarcone]

It is much appreciated, but it really isnt my type of game. And like the others, I have several games I need to learn and play (CK2, Im looking at you).

I will pass, also, but thank you for offering it up.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

As an FYI. I'll be doing another league sort of like this but it will be 25 man teams with a longer schedule (closer to a normal schedule, depending on the number of teams). Just trying to work out the details for it.

I am extremely interested - this was an absolute blast.

[EagleFan]

Voting Results

MVP / Player of the Year
3rd - 2B Nap Lajoie, Indianapolis; received 2 first place votes; hit .500 to lead the league, led the league with 40 hits, scored 17 runs, hit 5 doubles and 1 triple, drove in 13 runs

2nd - 2B Rogers Hornsby, New York; did not receive a single first place vote but only trailed the leader by 3 total points in the voting; hit .453 with 39 hits, scored 17 runs, had 3 doubles, 3 triples and 2 homeruns, knocked in 17 runs and was walked 9 times

1st - 3B Wade Boggs, Canton; received 5 1st place votes; hit .469 with 38 hits, scored 23 runs, had 9 doubles, 1 triple and 1 homerun, knocked in 16 runs, walked 10 times, led the league in on base percentage at .527 and WAR at 1.5


Pitcher of the Year
3rd - Chris Sale, Canton; was a distant 2nd in a 2 player race, 5-0 (tied for the league lead with 5 wins) with an ERA of 5.57, in 53.1 innings he allowed 58 hits with a league leading 55 strikeouts and walked 12

2nd - Kevin Brown, New York; received 3 first place votes; made 9 appearances out of the bullpen, led the league with a 1.35 ERA with a 3-0 record and 2 saves, in 26.2 innings he allowed 23 hits with 26 strikeouts and 5 walks, he led the league in WHIP at 1.05 and did not allow a homerun

1st - Clayton Kershaw, San Fernando; received 3 first place votes; 2-2 with a 3.05 ERA, in a league leading 59.0 innings he allowed 67 hits with 49 strikeouts and 11 walks.


All-League Team
C - Mickey Cochrane, Canton (.352, 1, 13)
1B - Lou Gehrig, Big Inning (.405, 4, 20) *only unanimous selection
2B - Rogers Hornsby, New York *.453, 2, 17)
3B - Wade Boggs, Canton (.469, 1, 16)
SS - Alex Rodriguez, Canton (.385, 4, 19)
LF - Pete Rose, New York (.444, 0, 13)
CF - Hack Wilson, Canton (.412, 4, 29)
RF - Stan Musial, Canton (.390, 1, 117)
SP - Clayton Kershaw, San Fernando (2-2, 3.05)
RP - Kevin Brown, New York (3-0, 2, 1.35)