ATBL (OOTP 14)

[Marmel]

OOTP14 Dynasty – the Cubs
By the year 2054, the United States ceased to exist. First it was the economic downtown that began in 2020…well, technically it began in around 2008. There were a few periods of minor recovery, but never a full recovery. By 2022 it was a full blown depression, the likes we have not seen in almost 100 years.
The next hit was the political situation. The bickering between the 2 major political parties worsened with the depression and the gridlock never allowed for a recovery.
Finally, the civil wars started in 2026. Foreign countries used this opportunity to invade as well. It was bloody and lasted 2 decades. In the 2050’s things started to settle down. The former USofA was now a loose conglomeration of 4 large territories. Basically, the Northeast, upper Midwest, the West and the South.
A very long recovery was ahead. Sports leagues ceased to exist. At first some recreational things popped up again. Golf, tennis, boxing made a return. It was all individual sports and very localized. Things remained like this for 70 years. The territories strengthened economically and all developed their own identities. All 4 territories still worked together under some type of umbrella, but each was also fiercely independent.
Eventually the people longed for entertainment again, and the leaders of the territories knew of this game of baseball. It was called America’s game back in the day and the first sports league in over 70 years formed.
January 1, 2126 saw the creation of the American Territories Baseball League. 26 teams starting from scratch, divided up into 2 Leagues and 4 divisions. Each locale went back to the history books and brought back the teams associated with their areas, with a few differences.

Eastern League: Northeast Division
Pittsburgh Pirates
Philadelphia Phillies
New York Yankees
New Jersey Mets
Boston Red Sox
Baltimore Orioles

North Division
South Side White Sox
Milwaukee Brewers
Detroit Tigers
Cleveland Indians
Cincinnati Reds
Chicago Cubs

Western League: West Division
Seattle Mariners
San Francisco Giants
San Diego Padres
Oakland Athletics
LA Dodgers
Anaheim Angels

Midwest Division:
St. Louis Cardinals
Minnesota Twins
Kansas City Royals
Florida Makos (Combination of the Marlins and Rays)
Dallas Texans (Combination of the Rangers and Astros)
Atlanta Braves


Now, it being the year 2126, you could expect some major advances in technology. Most of it was developed in the new world leader’s country of the Far East: China and Japan. But it was imported into the territories. One closely guarded tech was cloning.
It was decided by the commissioner of the new baseball league to allow each team to clone a player from the previous league, the MLB. This would be a way to connect the current city and its people to times long gone. The fans and teams had a great time deciding who to clone and the results are as follows:

Pittsburgh Pirates – Honus Wagner
Philadelphia Phillies – Mike Schmidt
New York Yankees – Babe Ruth
New Jersey Mets – Tom Seaver
Boston Red Sox – Ted Williams
Baltimore Orioles – Cal Ripken Jr
South Side White Sox – Frank Thomas
Milwaukee Brewers – Robin Yount
Detroit Tigers – Ty Cobb
Cleveland Indians – Nap Lajoie
Cincinnati Reds – Johnny Bench (Yeah, Pete Rose was still banned from baseball even in 2126)
Chicago Cubs – Ernie Banks
Seattle Mariners – Ken Griffey Jr
San Francisco Giants – Willie Mays
San Diego Padres – Tony Gwynn
Oakland Athletics – Rickey Henderson
LA Dodgers – Sandy Koufax
Anaheim Angels – Mike Trout
St. Louis Cardinals – Stan Musial
Minnesota Twins – Harmon Killebrew
Kansas City Royals – George Brett
Florida Makos – David Price (from the Rays)
Dallas Texans - Ivan Rodriguez (from the Rangers)
Atlanta Braves – Hank Aaron

Each clone was given a 10 year contract for $1,000,000 a year. Peanuts in 2126, but clones don’t have all that many rights in 2126 believe it or not. Teams can trade their icons away, or not, it is up to them. After 10 years in the league they may or may not be required to stay with their team. It is undecided if clones can enter FA. (If this dynasty lasts long enough, it is probable that teams will be allowed another clone somewhere around 10-15 years out).

[Marmel]

I’ll be the GM and manager of the Chicago Cubs. We have a decent roster, at best. I don’t know if it is championship quality, but the experts have us finishing 2nd in our division behind the White Sox from the South Side of town.

Starting Rotation

Pancho Guillen, 32 years old. 55-66-66 (all out of 100). For non-OOTP players, those ratings are for Stuff-movement-control. 4*
Joe Jacobs, 26 years old. 58-73-41. 3.5*
Steve Morris, 22 years old. 42-52-49. 3* with another star of potential.
Javier Gonzalez, 39 years old. 53-49-38. 2.5*
Donald Dowse, 32 years old. 51-29-46. 1.5*

We have 2 quality starters, a young up and comer, a one year rental in Gonzalez and a pretty bad 5th starter.



Pen

Alberto Diaz, 28 years old. 109-68-89. 5*
Tristan McIntosh, 36 years old. 47-57-69. 3.5*
Bu-Wei Chen, 23 years old. 54-48-33. 2* with 1.5 more potential.

Diaz should be one of the top closers in the league. McIntosh and Chen are good enough, although McIntosh is probably at the end of his career.

The pitching staff needs a lot more depth to contend.

[Marmel]

And our batters…for OOTP newbs, the ratings are: contact-gap power-homeruns-eye-avoid K

C Steve Schmitt, 23 years old. 32-41-63-37-35. 1.5* with 3.5* total potential
1B Cristobal Marquez, 28 years old. 37-46-63-47-38. 2*
2B Francisco Soriano, 22 years old. 36-39-15-24-97. 1* with 4 stars of potential.
3B Alex Loder, 28 years old. 42-51-75-70-37. 4*
SS Ernie Banks, 23 years old. 54-45-54-38-80. 4* with another ½ star potential.
LF Mike Savage, 29 years old. 44-45-43-53-44. 2.5*
CF Brian Cox, 26 years old. 43-56-69-49-36. 4*
RF Jasper Boyce, 31 years old. 41-71-41-39-37. 2*
DH/3B Stanford Walker, 24 years old. 64-75-79-64-49. 4.5*

Bench
Weak. Not worth mentioning.

Schmidt, Loder and Walker and Cox give us some pretty good power. Banks is solid, but probably in the very bottom of the clone talent pool and his defense at SS is nothing to talk about. Hopefully he can develop his HR power as that will give us 4 deep threats. We are pretty much a station to station offense and hope for the long ball.
The team can win some games, but there is not nearly enough depth here. The bench is empty and the talent at C, 1B, 2B and RF is particularly weak, or at best, still very raw.
My owner just wants me to play 500 ball on the season. I’ll probably be happy with 70 wins (154 game schedule). If I catch a few break or make some good trades, perhaps I can grab a wildcard. 8 teams out of the 24 make the playoffs. Wildcard is really the very best I can dream of here and a lot of things would have to break my way.

[Marmel]

Let's see if I can figure out attachments.....I am at the All-Star break in the inaugural 2126 season.

[Marmel]

My pitching staff, after a couple of very minor FA signings early on. This is not pretty. My bull pen in particular is a mess.

My "ace", Pancho Guillen, is just 7-7 with a 3.30 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP. He has 10 out of 17 quality starts. Pancho actually picked up in late May and June. His first 7 starts produced just 1 quality start.

Joe Jacobs is my 2nd starter. He is just 26 years old, which makes him a real cornerstone of my pitching staff for years to come. He was slightly worse than Pancho.

Steve Morris is my #3 and is just 22 years old. I am pleased with his performance considering he is still growing into his potential.

Javier Gonzalez and Donald Dowse are just fillers and neither will be with the club very long.

My closer, Alberto diaz has been a bit disappointing. His ERA is inflated, although his WHIP is alright at 1.18. He has 2 blown saves and took 5 losses. He needs to clean this up.

My top setup guy, Tristan McIntosh has a similar story. Ugly ERA, nice WHIP. I'm not too down on these guy yet, small sample size I hope.

Reid Bass was a FA pickup and has done a decent enough job. the rest of the pen is a disaster and in need of a big off season overhaul.

[Marmel]

3B Stanford Walker has been huge for us. He is actually our DH because he doesn't play the field very well at all, but man can he hit! He leads the team in Ave/Obp/Slg. 2nd in HR's and doubles. Most RBIs. Plus he is only 24 years old.

28 year old 3B Alex Loder has been having a great season as well. He leads us with 24 homeruns.

SS Ernie Banks has been a huge disappointment early on. His 16 doubles is nice, but only 3 homeruns and his average is just 271.

Steve Schmitt, my main catcher has been having a miserable year.
C Brian Cox, rated 4 stars has also been a major disappointment.

[Marmel]

The Eastern League All-Star Roster is loaded!!!

[Marmel]

It makes the West team look like Triple A All-Stars...

[Marmel]

All Star Game Re-Cap

The first score of the game is in the top of the 3rd inning. Johnny Bench singles and the lineup turns over for Ty Cobb, who doubles Bench home. The EL has a 1-0 lead.
Tom Seaver comes into the game for the EL in the bottom of the third. He gives up 2 singles right away and then a run scores on a wild pitch. He limits the damage to that 1 run and we are tied after 3.
Koufax comes in for the WL in the 5th and gives up a 2 out triple to Ty Cobb. Nap Lajoie follows it up with a double and the EL leads 2-1. Babe Ruth makes it 3-1 with a double of his own.
In the 6th, Honus Wagner singles with 1 out and Mike Schmitt hits an RBI double to give the EL a 4-1 lead.
No more scoring until the bottom of the 8th. WL Catcher Silbrand Abbeel hits a solo shot with one out to make it 4-2 EL.
The EL do not allow another hit though and they take the first All-Star game, 4-2. Nap Lajoie goes 2 for 5 with an RBI and a run scored to earn MVP honors.

[stratonascar]

Well Great Work So Far, Time to Subscribe It

Oh, And By The Way I Hope I Want to See many players from the 1980's to the ATBL in the Future as well as Expansion!

[Marmel]

It seems that the pre-season predictions for my division were spot on. The South Side Sox won the division and I finished second, 11 games out.

The story of my season was a 6 week stretch in August and early September. At one point in August we rattled off 11 consecutive wins. We welcomed the White Sox to our stadium in early September, just 3 games back. They swept us and we fell apart after that series. The team put together a significantly better second half of the season than they did in the early months.

The LA Dodgers are huge favorites to win it all in this first season. A 734 winning percentage? 113 wins??? Impressive!

[Marmel]

Pancho Guillen put together a tremendous second half of the season. He finished with 16 wins, a 3.75 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP. These are extremely good numbers considering the hole he dug himself into early on. He is 32 years old right now. I hope I can squeeze another 3 or 4 really good years out of him.

Morris and Jacobs form a very solid part of the rotation. Both are in their 20's and hopefully will get a bit better as well.

Dowse and Gonzalez gave me about what I expected. These are not guys you can count on.

Diaz and McIntosh were good out of the pen. McIntosh is 36 years old though, and I doubt I get much more out of him. The whole pen is in need of a total overhaul outside of Diaz.

[Marmel]

Walker and Loder really crushed it for me this year. I did screw up on Loder's contract though. I am sure I could have signed him for about 4 years at $11M per year, but I waited too long and he blew up in the second half. It was a surprise on days he did NOT hit a homerun. I ended up having to give the 29 year old $16.2 per year for 6 years.

1B Marquez, SS Ernie Banks, LF Savage and RF Boyce were all alright for me. These are not guys to build around, but they form a solid enough core group for now.

CF Brian Cox was a massive disappointment this year. He is a 3.5* player with 4* potential and he had a -0.9 WAR. He is in his prime at 27 years old too. He has 2 years of arbitration coming up. I still have high hopes.

C Steve Schmitt had one of the most miserable years for a starter that I have ever seen.

[Marmel]

Thanks for following along stratonascar.

League Leaders in pitching and hitting

[Marmel]

Are those league leader screen shots showing up?

[Marmel]

We have some great 7 game Divisional Series coming up!

Yankees vs. Red Sox
Mets vs. White Sox
Cardinals vs. Dodgers
Padres vs. Royals

[Marmel]

Divisional Series Summary

Yankees vs. Red Sox
Game 1: Yankees take a 5-3 lead with 4 runs in the top of the 8th, but the Sox get 4 of their own in the bottom of the 8th on a Jose Rodriguez grand slam to win 7-5.
Game 2: Juan Espinosa pitches 8 innings of 4 hit ball and shuts out the Yankees 4-0.
Game 3: Boston’s Julian Madrid gives up just 1 run in 7.1 innings. The Sox offense does just enough to win 2-1.
Game 4: The Babe goes 4 for 5 with 2 homeruns and 4 RBI, but the Red Sox still sweep with a blowout victory, 10-5.
Sox win series 4-0


Mets vs. White Sox
Game 1: Luis Alonzo goes 6 and a third scoreless innings for the Mets as they win 6-2.
Game 2: Tom Seaver gives up 5 runs in his start for the Mets. He sees his team tie in the top of the 9th with 2 runs on Matt Houston’s second homer of the night. Angelo Espinosa hits a walkoff homerun in the bottom of the 9th for the White Sox as they win 6-5.
Game 3: The Met’s Jorge Lafrosia goes 4-5 on the day, but the White Sox take this one with a run in the 10th inning, 5-4.
Game 4: The Mets turn to game 1 starter, Luis Alonzo. He gives up a run in the first inning, but then shuts the White Sox out the rest of the way for a 6-1 Mets win.
Game 5: Tom Seaver was sharp tonight, but a rain delay in the 5th inning ended his night. His bullpen imploded and the White Sox take a 3-2 series lead with a 4-3 victory.
Game 6: Frank Thomas goes 2 for 4 with an RBI. The White Sox score in the bottom of the 8th inning and then hang on in the 9th for a 3-2 win and a series victory.
White Sox win series 4-2.


Cardinals vs. Dodgers
Game 1: Sandy Koufax goes 8 innings, strikes out 11 and gives up no runs. The Dodgers get a 5 run 7th inning and win 5-2.
Game 2: Another 8 inning shutout for the Dodgers starting pitching as they cruise to a 3-1 victory.
Game 3: For the third straight game, a Dodger starter goes 8 innings with no runs allowed, this time it is Jamie Camacho. Dodgers win again, 3-1.
Game 4: The Cards finally get a run off Dodger starting pitching. Cristian Padilia hits 2 homeruns, but the Dodgers still sweep the Cards with a 9-7 victory.
Dodgers win series 4-0



Padres vs. Royals
Game 1: Emmitt Ruffin pitches 8 innings and give up 1 run in a 3-2 Padres win.
Game 2: Kansas City’s George Bullock goes 7.1 innings and allows no runs as the Royals crush the Padres 7-1.
Game 3: The Royals Dave Carlson goes 4 for 5 and his team plates 2 runs in the 9th inning to win 6-4.
Game 4: Emmitt Ruffin goes another 7 innings without allowing a run against the Royals. That is 15 straight innings for him in this series. His Padres tie the series up with a 6-1 victory.
Game 5: The Royals break a 3-3 tie in the top of the 9th and win this game 5-3. They take a 3-2 series lead.
Game 6: The Royals were down 4-2 heading into the bottom of the 9th. They tie it up with 2 runs, then get a walkoff hit in the bottom of the 10th for the 5-4 victory!
Royals win series 4-2.

[Marmel]

League Championship Series

Red Sox vs. White Sox
Game 1: The South Siders were down 3-2 heading into the 9th inning. Down to their last out, Dustin Powel hits a solo homerun to tie the game. The game continues until the 13th inning. William Pratt connects on a solo homerun for the White Sox and they close out the Sox in the bottom of the inning for a 4-3 victory.
Game 2: Juan Espinosa pitches 8 shutout innings for the Red Sox and Collin MacIntosh closes out the shut for the Red Sox, 1-0. Cesar Bernal hits a solo homerun.
Game 3: 2B Chris Hall goes 3 for 4 with an RBI for the White Sox as they cruise to an easy 7-2 victory.
Game 4: Boston’s Victor Vega gives up 2 early runs, but Ted Williams was unstoppable tonight. He goes 3 for 5 with 3 RBI and a homerun as the Sox even the series with a 6-2 victory.
Game 5: Juan Espinosa moves to 3-0 with a 0.41 ERA in these playoffs as he dominates the White Sox 6-1.
Game 6: A 3 run homerun in the 7th inning by the White Sox Greg Ingram is the difference in this 5-2 victory which sends the series to a 7th and final game!
Game 7: The Red Sox have a huge 6th inning with 2 homeruns and 5 runs scored to win the game 7-2 and head to the first ever Territory Series!
Red Sox win Series 4-3


Dodgers vs. Royals
Game 1: Koufax left the game after 8 innings with his team down 3-2. He watches as they tie it up in the bottom of the 9th, but the Royals George Brett hits a 2 run double in the 10th and they steal game 1, 5-3.
Game 2: Lou Joseph gives up just 1 run over 7.1 innings and the Dodgers get some early offense to take this game, 6-3 and tie the series.
Game 3: Dodger pitching is really shaky this series. The Royals pound out 13 hits and 9 runs and bury the Dodgers 9-4.
Game 4: Koufax gets the start and was brilliant. He gives up 1 hit over 8 as the Dodgers tie the series on a 3-0 win.
Game 5: The Dodgers tie this game up in the 9th with 2 runs on a Pat Campbell homerun. They knock in a run in the 10th and take a 3-2 series lead with a 4-3 final score.
Game 6: George Brett carries his underdog Royals team on his bat to a game 7 with 3 hits and 3 RBI in a 5-4 Royals victory!
Game 7: Koufax gets his third start of the 7 game series and he is really unbeatable. He pitches a complete game, 6 hit shutout. Dodgers win 4-0.
Dodgers win series 4-3.


So the top team by record from each league will meet for the title.

[Marmel]

The American Series
LA Dodgers vs. Boston Red Sox

Game 1: The game was scoreless through 8 innings. With 2 outs in the top of the 9th, the Dodgers got 3 doubles to take a 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the 9th, Boston loaded the bases and Cesar Bernal hit a bases clearing single to give the Sox a walkoff 3-2 win in game 1.

Game 2: A 3 run 8th inning for the Sox snapped a 2-2 tie. They closed out the Dodgers in the 9th for a 5-2 win and 2-0 lead as the series shifts to LA.

Game 3: Koufax goes 8 innings giving up only 1 run, but the Dodgers cannot get on the board until the bottom of the 8th. They are able to plate one run to tie the game. It continues on late into the night until we reach the 15th inning. The Sox are able to scratch out a run, the close out the Dodgers in the bottom of the inning for a 2-1 win and a commanding 3-0 series lead.

Game 4: Lou Joseph extends the Dodgers season with the best pitching performance of the year. He throws a NO HITTER! He only walks 2 batters and strikes out 7. The Dodgers win 9-0.

Game 5: This game is all tied up after 9 innings, 2-2. In the bottom of the 10th inning, Luiz Perez launches a 2 run walkoff homerun for the 4-2 victory. The dodgers climb back into the series, down 3-2 now. The series shifts back to Boston.

Game 6: Vincent Vega for the Sox had a great game going 7 innings and only giving up 1 run, but Koufax was even better and pitched the shutout, giving up only 4 hits. The Dodgers win 1-0 and against all odds, they have forced a game 7!

The Dodgers will send Lou Joseph out to the mound. He is the guy who just threw the no-hitter. He is 3-0 with a 0.67 ERA in these playoffs. The Sox will start Juan Espinosa. He is 3-1 with a 1.36 ERA.

[Marmel]

Game 7:
The Dodgers lead off the game with a single, but can’t get him around to score. In the bottom of the first inning, it is clear Joseph just doesn’t have it today. He gives up 3 runs and Boston leads early, 3-0.
In the 2nd inning, the Dodgers get 3 consecutive 2 out singles to put a run up and make it 3-1.
The Dodgers can’t mount much offense over the next few innings. In the bottom of the 7th the sox push an insurance run through and take a 4-1 lead.
The Dodgers go down 1-2-3 in the 8th.
They go down in order in the 9th as well. A drama filled Series ends in a fairly easy win for the Sox.
Boston wins the first American Series, 4 games to 3!

[Marmel]

Off Season Recap

2126 Season Awards were announced:
The EL Outstanding Hitter was Babe Ruth
The EL Outstanding Pitcher was Larry Barnett of the Phillies.

The WL Outstanding Hitter was Willie Mays
The WL Outstanding Pitcher was Lou Joseph of the Dodgers.

The Cubs very own Stanford Walker was named EL Rookie of the Year!

I’m not really going to get into Free Agency too much. We didn’t make any big splashes, but what I tried to do was give the team a little more depth and bulk up the bull pen a bit. I don’t have a ton of money to spend. The owner gave us the 19th largest budget out of 24 teams. I signed a marginal starter, a couple decent bullpen arms and some depth in the lineup.

[Marmel]

2127 Roster

Rotation

Pancho Guillen, 33 years old. If he can duplicate his second half from last year, I will be very happy.
Joe Jacobs, 27 years old.
Steve Morris, 23 years old. Jacobs and Morris are the backbone of this rotation. They are young and really need to carry us, as our 4th and 5th starters are still mainly fill-ins.
Donald Dowse, 34 years old. Outperformed what I thought I would get from a 5th starter, but that is still not saying much.
Manuel Coutreras, 32 years old. Just signed to a 2 year contract.

Pen

CL Alberto Diaz, 29 years old. Looking for a big year out of Diaz.
Ross Woodhams, 33 years old. I feel like I got a nice bargain with a 2 year contact here. Ross will be the new setup man.
Tristan McIntosh, 37 years old. Age is catching up quick here. I hope I can get 1 more good season.
Sam Duncan, 41 years old. Signed this off season to a 1 year contract.
Bu-Wei Chen, 24 years old. Last year was horrible, but he is still young and should improve a bit.
Ben Bell, 29 years old. Not good.

[Marmel]

C Steve Schmitt, 24 years old. He had a historically bad season last year, but he is young and still has room to grow. I have to stick with him.
1B Cristobal Marquez, 29 years old. He did reasonably well for me last year.
2B Francisco Soriano, 23 years old. Another guy who is young and has time to develop.
3B Alex Loder, 29 years old. Our best homerun hitter
SS Ernie Banks, 24 years old. Had a nice off season. I really need him to be great.
LF Mike Savage, 30 years old. Was one of our better players last year.
CF Brian Cox, 27 years old. Very disappointing last year but seems to have the talent to be a middle of the order type guy.
RF Jasper Boyce, 32 years old. League average.
DH Stanford Walker, 25 years old. Last year's Rookie of the Year. I expect great things!

So our lineup is exactly the same as last year. Our bench has a lot more depth to it, for whatever that is worth. I see a better team here, but still not great.

We won 72 games last year and I would like to see that get up to 80 this year. The experts predict us to win 82 and finish 2nd again, but this time only by a few games. The wildcard seems unlikely as there are some good teams in the Northeast Division, but my division is weak and I could grab the division with some luck and some unexpected performances. I don't know if I can win a playoff series, so division title is the ceiling. I would say 72 wins is the floor because we are better on paper, but injuries etc. can pop up.

[JeeberD]

Originally Posted by Marmel

Are those league leader screen shots showing up?

No, sir.

[Marmel]

2127 All Star Break Standings

We are right there. I made a couple big trades within the last couple weeks prior to the All-Star break which I'll go over in the next post. The Red Sox and Dodgers are once again the two top teams.

[Marmel]

Loder and Walker are the stars of this team. Loder is mainly a power hitter, but is also putting up a 303 BA and a 435 OBP, which is not at all expected from him. MVP type season. Walker is just a great all around hitter.

The two very nice surprises right now are CF Cox and SS Banks. First Ernie Banks. He is finally growing into the player we had hoped for when he was chosen as the clone. Cox had a terrible year last year, but he had a ton of potential and he is finally starting to cash in on that.

Schmitt has picked it up nicely from last year's disaster.

Out of our regular starters, only 2B Francisco Soriano is a big concern right now. At least he rarely strikes out.

[JeeberD]

Worst to first for the Texans?

[Marmel]

Here is where we made the two big trades.

Trade #1: SP Pancho Guillen, SP Manuel Contreras, CF Alfredo Cerda and 2B Shawn Hanson to Baltimore for SP Edwin Hickman.

Pancho was my #1 starter. His current season was not #1 starter quality and he was 33 years old. Hickman is now a 2 time All-Star and only 30 years old. I had to pony up some big money to resign him for 5 more years after this season, but it gives us a legit #1 starter. Contreras was signed as a 5th starter. Cerda and Hanson were 1 star players. For whatever reason, Baltimore had Hickman on the trading block. They are in last place this year and I assume they were not going to be able to resign him.


Trade #2: MR Tristan McIntosh, SP Jimmy Brock and $2M to Philadelphia for CL/MR Irwin Black.

McIntosh was just about finished as a pro. Brock was a very promising guy on my reserve roster. 2.5 current stars and 3.5 potential. I had given him a few starts prior to the trade and he went 0-2 with a 8.53 ERA. Sure small sample size, but I have a few other promising young arms in the reserves. Our bullpen is maybe worse than last year. Diaz as a closer blows more saves than is acceptable and he is sporting a 5.83 ERA. Black is one of the top relievers in the league. I'm not sure why Philly would part with him, but I guess they loved what Brock could provide them.

Finally, I promoted Nick Mason from the reserves. He was the 10th overall pick in this past draft. He is currently rated 1.5 stars, but has 4 star potential. He will get his first start after the break.

[Marmel]

Texans are loaded with young talent who are on rookie contracts. They will probably have their ups and downs but if they can keep that young core together they might be a great team for a while.

[Marmel]

We are headed to the playoffs in Chicago! We were basically a game or 2 up the entire second half. We briefly fell behind by 0.5 games, but retook the lead and help on through September. I am convinced the two trades for the starting pitcher and the big arm out of the bullpen were the difference.

The Red Sox and Dodgers are the odds on favorites to meet up again in the new Fall Classic.

In the EL, the three other teams are all basically equal. In the West, the Twins seem a step ahead of the Padres and Texans. The Padres are making their second trip to the playoffs.


Playoff matchups, with the season series winner noted by record.

Yankees vs. Cubs (8-6)
Phillies vs. Boston (9-5)
Texans vs. Dodgers (10-4)
Padres (8-6) vs. Twins

[Marmel]

A few real amazing season stat leaders.

Babe Ruth batted 402 and his OPS was 1.383! That OPS is the second best season in history behind steroid-fueled Bonds in 2004.

Sibrand Abbeel hit 75 homeruns! I don't think the game's league totals are messed up. Ruth finished second with 57 and then the next best was 52 (by Chicago's own Alex Loder). Abbeel also drove in 196 runs!

[Marmel]

By a big margin, Sandy Koufax and Emmett Ruffin are the two most dominate pitchers in the league.

I want to list the Dodgers 5 man rotation here:

Sandy Koufax 24-6 1.72
Lou Joseph 21-6 2.66
Rodrigo Santos 19-4 3.06
Jamie Camacho 18-7 3.26
Mario Jalapa 19-4 3.21

Further, their team ERA is 3.26.

[Marmel]

By the way, Hank Aaron's picture is awesome, two posts above this one!

[Marmel]

Divisional Series Recaps:

Chicago Cubs vs. New York Yankees
Game 1: We put up 3 in the bottom of the second and then a 3 run homer for CF Brian Cox in the 6th, caps off a 4 run inning to put us up 7-0. We cruise to a 9-2 win in game 1.
Game 2: Steve Morris gives us 8 quality innings of 4 hit ball, giving up just 1 run. Ernie Banks smacks 2 homeruns for us and account for all of our runs. We win 3-1 and take a 2-0 series lead.
Game 3: The Yankees got 2 homeruns off of our starter, Joe Jacobs and then tacked on against the weaker half of our bullpen. Our ninth inning rally fell just short and we drop this game 5-4.
Game 4: At the last second I cross Dowse off and go with the rookie Nick Mason. He delivers for me, giving up just 2 solo homeruns over 7 full innings. For the record, Ruth hit one of those HR and it was his first hit of the series. We get homers from Loder and Schmitt and take this one 7-4. We lead the series 3-1!
Game 5: I send out Hickman to clinch the series, and he pitched OK, giving up 3 runs over 7 innings, but our bats were silent and we fall 3-1. The series heads back to Chicago.
Game 6: My starter Steve Morris gives up 9 hits, but holds the Yankees scoreless over 8 innings. Cox and Soriano hit homeruns and we clinch the division series with a 3-0 shutout!

Chicago Cubs win series 4-2.



Philadelphia Phillies vs. Boston Red Sox
Game 1: Boston gives up 2 runs in the top of the first, but after that it is all Red Sox and they slaughter the Phillies, 8-2.
Game 2: Bill Hatfield went 8 innings giving up only 1 run for the Phillies. Mike Schmidt hits a 7th inning HR to break the tie and the Phillies win 2-1.
Game 3: The Red Sox best pitcher, Victor Vega gets beat up to the tune of 6 runs over 2 and a third innings. Mike Schmitt his another homerun as the Phils win 10-8 and take a surprising 2-1 series lead.
Game 4: Bryan White dazzles for the Phillies, throwing a complete game shutout. The Phillies bats explode for 9 runs in the 9-0 shutout and they are just 1 win from pulling the upset over the reigning American Champs.
Game 5: The Phils put up 2 runs in both the bottom of the 7th and 8 innings to take the game 5-3 and pull the series upset!

Philadelphia Phillies win the series 4-1.



Dallas Texans vs. LA Dodgers
Game 1: Koufax gives up no earned runs over 8 innings and the Dodgers get to the Texans bullpen late for a 6-2 victory.
Game 2: Lou Joseph goes 8 innings and gives up just 1 run as the Dodgers dominate the game, 4-1.
Game 3: The Texans get 2 runs of Dodger starting pitching, but it is not nearly enough. Dodgers win 5-3 and will try to complete the sweep tomorrow night.
Game 4: Koufax has shown he can pitch 3 times in a 7 game series and dominate, but maybe with the 3-0 lead the Dodgers should have passed 9Good ole OOTP logic). Koufax pitched one inning, gave up 7 runs, 6 earned and the Texans hammer the Dodgers 13-1 to stay alive.
Game 5: The Dodgers send Lou Joseph up to close this series out, but the Texans seem to be in a zone right now and they pound Joseph to the tune of 5 runs over 6 innings and take the 6-5 victory. Dodger pitching suddenly looks shaky, but they still lead the series 3-2.
Game 6: The Dodgers finally put the pesky Texans away with 9 runs in the first 4 innings of this game. The final was 11-4.

LA Dodgers win the Series 4-2.



San Diego Padres vs. Minnesota Twins
Game 1: Harmon Killebrew hits 2 homeruns and drives in 3 as the Twins crush the Padres 15-6.
Game 2: The Twins get to the Padres starter for 5 runs and take the 7-3 victory.
Game 3: both teams manage 7 hits, but the Padres make the most of them in the 5-3 win to climb back into the series. Twins still lead it 2-1 though.
Game 4: Emmett Ruffin gets his first start of the series and throws 6.2 shutout innings to lead the Padres to a 5-1 victory and they even the series up.
Game 5: Minnesota scores all of their runs in the 7th inning and later today and they come back from a 5-0 deficit to win 6-5 and grab a 3-2 series lead heading back home.
Game 6: Minnesota LF Julius Daniel had one of the best playoff games in this league. He went 3 for 4 with a walk and 6 RBI to lead the Twins into the next round after a 13-11 slugfest victory.

Minnesota Twins win the Series 4-2.

[Marmel]

League Championship Series Recaps

Chicago Cubs vs Philadelphia Phillies (8-6)
Game 1: Joe Jacobs gets the ball for our Cubs to start game one and proceeds to get lit up to the tune of 6 runs in 5 innings. We get crushed, 8-1. Not a good start.
Game 2: We send our ace, Edwin Hickman to the mound for game 2 and he doesn’t do much better than Jacobs. Hickman lasts 6.1 innings and gives up 4 runs. Our pen gives up another, but our offense keeps pace with 5 runs of their own to send it into extra innings. In the bottom of the 12, SS Ernie Banks hits a walk off 2 run home! Cubs win 7-5 and even the series.
Game 3: Steve Morris improves his playoff record this season for us to 3-0 with a 0.74 ERA. We pound out 20 hits and win in a total blowout, 17-1! Four of our players had 3 RBIs each, including Francisco Soriano who went 4 for 6 and scored 4 runs as well.
Game 4: With the 2-1 Series lead and the Phillies starting one of the top pitchers in all of baseball, I decide to not throw Jacobs back out there and instead start the rookie, Nick Mason. Am I mailing this one in? Maybe, but I’ll have my top 3 ready to finish this. Mason only lasted 4.2 innings and gave up 3 runs. The pen held steady for the most part and the game was tied 4-4 after 9 innings. In the top of the 11th, Ernie Banks hits a solo homerun, but our closer, Diaz has already pitched 2 innings so Woodhams comes in and gives up a walk followed by 3 hits, including the walk off. We lose 6-5.
Game 5: We turn to the fully rested Joe Jacobs and he delivers a 7 inning, 1 run allowed performance. We get a Jasper Boyce HR among our 4 runs and win 4-1 to take a 3-2 lead heading back home!
Game 6: We send a fully rested Edwin Hickman out to pitch at home. He fails again, going 6.2 innings and gives up 6 runs. We kept pace early on but once we fell behind that was it. We drop this game 8-6 and now have to face a game 7.
Game 7: Both starters are horrible and the game is tied 7-7 after 7 innings. It comes down to the battle of the bullpens and (OK, I’m gonna blame the game) OOTP puts in my 4th best reliever in the 6th inning with 1 out. He gives up their 7th run which ties the game. Fine. He finishes the inning, then comes back out for the 8th. He gets through that inning unscathed. Then he comes back out for the 9th! My 4th best reliever, who is a far cry from my top 3. He gives up the game winning run and we totally blow a great chance at a series win. We lose the game 9-7.

Philadelphia Phillies win the Series 4-3.




Minnesota Twins vs. LA Dodgers (8-6)
Game 1: Koufax pitches 8 innings and gives up 1 run. CF Luis Perez knocks in all of the Dodgers runs as they take the first game by a 3-1 score.
Game 2: The dodgers were getting shut out 2-0 heading into the 8th innings, but a 2 run homer by Tomas Molina ties it in the 8th and Pat Campbell’s leadoff double in the ninth proves to be the winning run in a 3-2 victory for LA.
Game 3: Rodrigo Santos keeps up the tradition of great Dodger starting pitching, going 8 innings and giving up 1 run. The pen gives up 2 meaningless runs in the 9th, but Dodgers cruise 6-3.
Game 4: Koufax on short rest again. You would think the Dodgers would have learned, but no. He is not as sharp, giving up 4 in 7 innings and the Dodgers cannot sweep, falling 4-3 to the Twins, who are still alive.
Game 5: It is the year of the walkoff. In a 3-3 game, the Twins Armando Rojas blasts a 3 run walk off in the bottom of the 9th. Twins win 6-3 and stay alive for at least one more game. The series moves back to LA with the Dodgers up 3-2.
Game 6: The Dodgers are finally able to close out the series thanks to Pat Cambell’s 2 for 4 with 4 RBI performance. LA wins this one 6-2.

LA Dodgers win the Series 4-2.

[Marmel]

Further game 7 analysis....

We were up 7-4 after 6 innings. We have 9 outs to go and my starter, Steve Morris clearly didn't have his best stuff. We have 3 very good relievers, all rested enough to pitch. Woodhams in the 7th, Black in the 8th and Diaz in the 9th, you would think. Instead, the AI sends Morris back out to start the 9th and he gives up 2 runs and Chen gives up another. Chen then stays in to face 12 batters with 3 better arms in the bullpen.

Sigh.

[Marmel]

American Series Recap
LA Dodgers vs. Philadelphia Phillies
Game 1: In the battle of top pitchers, Larry Barnett dominates. He throws a complete game shutout allowing just 3 hits and no walks and strikes out 10. Koufax only goes 6.2 giving up 5 runs, 3 earned. Phils win game 1, 9-0.

Game 2: A classic 1-0 game goes to the Dodgers behind Lou Joseph’s 8 inning shutout performance.

Game 3: The Dodger bats come alive in game 3 with 19 hits and 11 runs. Aurelio Reyes with a double, 3 singles and 2 RBI to lead the way.

Game 4: Barnett comes back on 3 days rest, but Koufax does not. Barnett is great again, not allowing a run over 7. The bullpen does its job and the Phils take this game 4-1 to even the series.

Game 5: Koufax on full rest goes 8 innings and while he does give up 2 runs, the offenseputs up 7 to support him. Dodgers win 7-2 and take a 3-2 lead going back home.

Game 6: This game goes to extra innings tied at 6. Tristan McIntosh, my MR I traded mid season for MR/CL Irwin Black comes into the bottom of the 11th and gives up 4 singles, the last being a Series winning walk off single. Dodgers win 7-6 and celebrate the championship!