bringin back the old school: BB Pro 98

[collegesportsfanms]

OK guys, I'm pretty sure nobody will read this, since it's so much of an outdated game, but I pulled out my copy of Baseball Pro 1998, and decided to have some fun with it. So what I've done is I've found the standings for the previous season (1997), and I've grouped the teams into how they finished the season: 1st place teams all in one group, 2nd in one, and so on. Since the AL West and NL West only had 4 teams instead of 5, then the 5th place group only has 4 teams in it as opposed to 6. For every group, what I've decided is to do a double elimination tournament, which I will play out all games. I will play as every team once. For the first round games, the higher seed will be the home team, every game after that will be coin flip. I will adjust the rosters as necessary, so that it isn't always the same. To make it more realistic, I will keep players out for the next game depending on percentage of injury, trying to make it as real as possible. After the 5 group tournaments are played, those winners will advance to a grand finale double elimination tournament. I'm still yet to figure out whether I will have just those 5 teams, or if I will add a wildcard team to make it an even 6. Any ideas would be appreciated. I will type out as best of a game report as I can for each game, to hopefully attract some readers, and get more comments. So is anybody interested, or am I wasting my time making a dynasty report about this??

[condors]

I am interested.

how did you get this game to work? I have never gotten it to work with xp.

[collegesportsfanms]

condors, good question. It still doesn't really work like it should, I can't do anything with dynasty management, when I try to simulate the games, it gives me an error message. Pretty much all I can do is play an exhibition game, which is why I thought of this idea.

[collegesportsfanms]

I decided to start with the 5th place group, which is the group that only has 4 teams. The first game was a matchup between #4 seed Kansas City and #1 seed Toronto. This was a great pitching matchup between Kevin Appier and Roger Clemens. KC got the scoring started in the top of the 4th when Mike Macfarlane drove a high outside fastball over the right field fence for a 1-0 Royals lead. This held until the bottom of the 7th, when Appier ran into trouble. With one out, Ed Sprague doubled down the left field line, then Joe Carter hit a single into right field to tie the game at 1. Appier was able to work himself out of trouble by getting Shawn Green to hit into a double play, and his day was done after 7 strong innings. Chili Davis turned the momentum back in Kansas Citys favor by hitting a 414 foot shot to left center field, giving KC the 2-1 lead. Jeff Montgomery would make this hold up by pitching the last 2 innings, wasting a 9 strikeout performance from Clemens. 2-1 Kansas City was the final

[collegesportsfanms]

In the second game, it was #3 seed Chicago Cubs at #2 seed Philadelphia. Kevin Tapani went up against Curt Schilling in this matchup, which was all but decided after the 1st inning. Philadelphia put up 4 runs on 6 hits, batting around once in the 1st inning. From there, Schilling took over, striking out 14, as the Phillies rolled to an easy 6-0 victory. Philadelphia will take on Kansas City in the winners bracket final, while the Cubbies meet Toronto in the losers bracket.

[collegesportsfanms]

Our first elimination game featured the Chicago Cubs and the Toronto Blue Jays, and what a game it was. Pat Hentgen started for the Blue Jays, and Steve Trachsel for the Cubs. Hentgen flirted with danger all night, getting into a bases loaded, no out jam in the first inning, but survived giving up only 1 run. In the 3rd, he lost his control, walking a batter and hitting another one, and the Cubs got ahold of him for 3 runs, giving them a 4-2 lead at that point. The 5th was the end for Hentgen, as he loaded the bases again with nobody out, then looked like he might get out of it with 2 quick force outs at home, but then the Cubs got 2 runs to take a 6-2 lead, knocking him out after 4 2/3 innings. The top of the 6th was good for Toronto however, as they hit back to back to back home runs, including the second of the game from Joe Carter, tying the game at 6. Then after a 52 minute rain delay in the bottom of the 9th, Carlos Delgado committed an error, then with runners on first and second with 1 out, Jose Hernandez singled back up the middle to eliminate the #1 seed Blue Jays 7-6. Chicago advances to face the loser of the Philadelphia-Kansas City game, coming up shortly.

[collegesportsfanms]

Game 4 of this tournament was a winners bracket game between Philadelphia and Kansas City. The Royals started Tim Belcher, and the Phillies started Mike Grace. It was definitely a turnaround compared to Philadelphias game against the Cubs. In the first inning, Chili Davis hit a 3 run shot, followed by Jeff King with a solo shot. By the time the first inning was over, the Royals had sent 11 men to the plate, getting 6 runs and 6 hits. The score could have been worse after 2, if not for some spectacular defense, first a leaping grab by first baseman Gregg Jeffries, then a great diving catch near the wall by right fielder Danny Tartabull. The defense wasn't enough though, as Kansas City pounded Philadelphia 11-2. So the worst team in baseball in the 1997 season goes to the championship game of the 5th place finisher tournament. Philadelphia meanwhile, has to face a hot Chicago Cubs team that has momentum on their side after eliminating the #1 seed Toronto.

[collegesportsfanms]

Our next game featured the Chicago Cubs, starting Frank Castillo, against the Philadelphia Phillies, starting Mark Leiter. Mr. Leiter helped his cause, starting the scoring in the bottom of the 3rd with an RBI double. In the top of the 4th, the Cubs answered back with an RBI single from Tyler Houston. Danny Tartabull jacked a 2 run shot in the bottom of the 6th to give the Phillies a 3-1 lead, then in the top of the 7th, the Cubs exploded for 5 runs to take a 6-3 lead. It looked like this would hold, but the Phillies ended up scoring 4 in the bottom of the 9th off Cubs closer Mel Rojas, sending the Phillies into the championship game with a 7-6 victory. Lenny Dykstra provided the game winning RBI.

[condors]

go phils!

[collegesportsfanms]

The championship game of the 5th place tournament saw Philadelphia taking on Kansas City. Mark Portugal started for Philly, while Jose Rosado went for the Royals. Phillies took a 2-1 lead after one, then in the bottom of the 2nd, Jay Bell hit a 2 run shot to give the Royals a 3-2 lead. In the top of the 5th, Mike Lieberthal, who got a rare start, singled to tie the game at 3. The big moment of the game was the bottom of the 5th, when Portugal got into a bases loaded, nobody out jam, already giving up one run in the inning, but he got out of it with no further damage, leaving the Royals with just a 4-3 lead. That proved to be big, as the Philly bats scored 5 runs in the 7th and 4 more in the 9th, forcing a second championship game with a 12-6 victory.

[collegesportsfanms]

In the second championship game, Kansas City traveled to Philadelphia. Chris Haney started for the Royals, while Cliff Magrane went for the Phillies. After falling behind 1-0, the Phillies took control, jumping out to a 4-1 lead, eventually making it 6-1. The Royals got as close as 6-3, and in the top of the 8th, Tyler Green got out of a bases loaded, 1 out jam to preserve a 6-4 lead. Scott Ruffcorn would close the deal in the 9th, as the Phillies won the 5th place tournament and advanced to the major tournament with a 7-4 victory.

[collegesportsfanms]

For the 4th place bracket, since the 1st-4th place brackets all have 6 teams, I've decided to use a bracket in which no team gets a bye. This is the bracket that is used for the Missouri Valley Conference baseball tournament. There are a lot of different scenarios that could happen. There could be either 4 or 5 teams left after the first 6 games, and their could either be 2 or 3 teams left after 9 games. So this bracket has lots of ways to play out, that's why I like it. If it gets too confusing, however, I will just go back to the standard bracket I found for 6 team double elimination, in which the top 2seeds get byes. The first round of games features:

(6) Oakland @ (1) Boston
(5) Minnesota @ (2) Montreal
(4) St. Louis @ (3) San Diego

[MikeVic]

Stupid Hentgen.

[collegesportsfanms]

The first game of this 4th place tournament featured Oakland at Boston. Oakland started Willie Adams, and Boston started Tom "Flash" Gordon. This one was started with a big 2nd inning for the Athletics, as they rocked Gordon for 7 runs, knocking him out after an inning and 1/3. After the inning was over, it was 8-0 Oakland. In the bottom of the 4th, the Red Sox scored 4 to fight back, narrowing the gap to 9-5. Boston got as close as 11-8, and in the bottom of the ninth had the bases loaded with nobody out, but could only get 1 across, becoming the second #1 seed to lose their first tournament game, 11-9. They will face the loser of the Montreal-Minnesota game, while Oakland gets the loser of the St. Louis-San Diego game.

[MizzouRah]

Ahhh... the memories, although '96 was the best verison, imho.

[collegesportsfanms]

2 games to report on this time, so let's get started.

The second matchup of this tournament featured the #5 seed Minnesota Twins against the #2 seed Montreal Expos. This should have been a good pitching matchup between Brad Radke and Pedro Martinez, but it didn't turn out that way. This one was painful to watch, as Vlad Guerrero hit a 3 run homer to spark the Expos to a 6 run first inning, and ended up knocking Radke out of the game after 2 innings, by then the score was 8-1 Montreal. It didn't get any better, as the Expos had another 6 run inning in the 4th. By this time, the score was 14-4. Minnesota made a mini run getting it to 14-9, but the final score was 16-9.

The next game featured #4 St. Louis and #3 San Diego. This one was a great matchup, as Todd Stottlemyre went up against Joey Hamilton. For the first time since maybe the Kansas City-Toronto game, both starters went deep in the ball game, going 7 innings each. Brian Jordan hit a 2 run shot in the top of the 2nd for St. Louis, and Ken Caminiti answered with a 2 run bomb in the 6th for San Diego, bringing the score to 2 all. This game was decided in the bottom of the 8th, on what I consider to be a major mental mistake. With the bases loaded and 1 out, Wally Joyner hit an easy ground ball to Royce Clayton. Instead of turning an easy double play, he decided to go home for the force, leaving the bases loaded with 2 out. Big, big mistake, as John Flaherty launched a grand slam on the next pitch, giving San Diego a 6-2 victory. note: Just a reference, I do not control any of the stuff in the game, all I've decided to do is manage both teams, occasionally controlling the baserunners, so I have little to no effect on the game, basically letting it play out.

So this sets up the next 3 games.

Game 4 is an elimination game between Boston and Minnesota
Game 5 features Oakland and St. Louis
and Game 6 is a winners game between Montreal and San Diego.

This is where it gets interesting. If Oakland beats St. Louis, then the bracket will play out with 4 teams, but if St. Louis comes back and wins that game, then we'll have 5 teams left. That's why I like this particular bracket setup I'm using for this tournament, you just don't know how it's going to set up.

[collegesportsfanms]

Game 4 was an elimination game between #1 Boston and #5 Minnesota. Boston went with the knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, while Minnesota went with Bob Tewksbury. This one was mathmatically over in the first, as the Twins scored 4 off Wakefield to take a 4-0 lead. Not much scoring after that, as Minnesota took a 6-3 lead into the late innings and made it hold. Wakes did a nice job of not giving up much after the 1st, but the damage was already done as Boston goes down 6-3. And the Red Sox become the second #1 seed to go down in 2 straight, joining Toronto from the 5th place tournament. Neither Boston nor Toronto have a chance to make the wild card entry, which I've decided will go to the #1 seed that goes the furthest and doesn't win it. If by some strange chance, all the #1 seeds go 2 and out, then the bid will go to the #2 seed that goes the furthest. As for Minnesota, I've done some extensive research on the bracket, and what I've come up with is that if St. Louis beats Oakland, then that will be a 5 team bracket after game 6, in which case Minnesota would play in game 8 against the winner of game 5, which would be St. Louis. If, however, Oakland beats St. Louis, then that would leave 4 teams, putting Minnesota in game 7 against the game 6 loser, which would be the Montreal-San Diego loser. So Minnesota will be playing a national league team in their next game, no matter what. Anybody confused yet? I know I am.

[collegesportsfanms]

Game 5 saw #6 Oakland and #4 St. Louis hooking it up. St. Louis needed to win to stay alive, while Oakland would still be around, win or lose. In this one, Ariel Prieto started against Andy Benes. The Cardinals were in control at first, jumping to a 5-0 lead after 2. Things got bad in the 7th however, between 2 walks, 2 errors, and a 3 run homer from Mark McGwire. When the dust settled, Oakland had taken a 7-6 lead. St. Louis regained a little momentum in the bottom of the 8th when Tom Pagnozzi went yard tying the game at 7. The A's put up a 3 spot in the 9th, however, to collect a 10-7 win and send St. Louis home. This means that 4 teams will remain after game 6. Minnesota plays the loser of the upcoming Montreal-San Diego game in an elimination matchup, while Oakland remains undefeated and gets the Montreal-San Diego winner in what is basically the winners final, with the winner of that one advancing straight to the championship.

[collegesportsfanms]

Alright guys, I'm back, I know it's been a while, I've been preoccupied with some other stuff, but I'm ready to report on game 6 of the 4th place division tournament. This was a matchup between (2) Montreal and (3) San Diego. The pitching matchup was Ugueth Urbina against Andy Ashby. Bad news in the bottom of the 2nd for San Diego, as Steve Finlay was hit in the head by an Urbina fastball, and he will miss the rest of the tournament, although he may be able to come back in a pinch hit role. (Since I'm only playing exhibition games and injuries don't get recorded, I'm looking at the 100% injuries and not allowing those players to play for a while, any other injuries are dealt with accordingly.) Lack of control was a problem for Urbina all game, as he walked 7 guys and hit 2 more, eventually leaving after 3 2/3 innings. San Diego broke this game open in the 5th, taking an 8-3 leading, and ended up winning 10-6. This sets up games 7 and 8. Game 7 will be an elimination matchup between (5) Minnesota and (2) Montreal, a rematch from an earlier game in which Montreal cruised to an easy victory. Game 8 will feature (6) Oakland and (3) San Diego, with the winner advancing straight to the championship. Game 9 will be the winner of game 7 and the loser of game 8.