MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

[countryboy]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

Holliday has 5 RBI's...Cards beat Reds 8-2

Matt Holliday one day removed for going hitless and ending his 23 game hitting streak, started a new one and did so by the way of two homeruns (one being a grandslam) and 5 RBI's.

The Cardinals jumped on Iglesias early and never looked back on their way to the 8-2 victory. Matt Carpenter had a 3 hit day and Randal Grichuk went 2 for 4 and added an RBI of his own. The other two RBI's belonged to Matt Adams who got the scoring started in the 2nd with a two run blast to center.

Adam Wainwright picked up the victory (5-4) pitching 7 2/3 innings allowing 6 hits and one run. Wainwright only struck out 4 but didn't need to strike out hitters as his sinker was inducing ground ball and pop outs with routine. The only down side in the pen was Miguel Socolovich only getting one out in the 9th and yielding 2 hits and 1 run. He was relieved by Jonathan Broxton who got the final two outs.

The Cardinals will travel to Pittsburgh for a weekend series against the Pirates. Michael Wacha will get the ball in game one vs Tyler Glasnow.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

Wacha dominant..Cards win 4-1 over Pirates

Michael Wacha threw 8 2/3 innings before being pulled after allowing his first run of the ballgame. Rosenthal closed things out on 2 pitches to collect his league leading 24th save of the year.

Wacha notched his league leading 9th victory of the year (9-1) as he got early offense and was about as dominant as you could be. He allowed 1 run, 5 hits, zero walks in 8 2/3 innings. He threw a season high 124 pitches before being pulled.

The Cardinals scored all 4 of their runs in the 2nd inning. They had 4 straight hits as Matt Adams drove in one with an RBI double, Monlina followed up by driving in 2, and then the Cards were gifted a run when Brock Holt's line drive went off of Tyler Glasnow who proceeded to throw the ball over the first baseman's head. The Cardinals never looked back and used those 4 runs to win the ballgame.

Next up its Mike Leade squaring off against Jeff Locke.

[RogueHominid]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

The Dodgers won the World Series 4 games to 2 vs. the Blue Jays.

The scores were:
4-3 @ LAD
12-3 @ LAD
1-3 @ TOR
3-1 @ TOR
1-2 @ TOR
6-5 @ LAD

The series MVP was Yasmani Grandal, who hit .444 with 4 RBI--all the more impressive when considering that he was activated at the start of the WS after being injured for over 2 months.

The post-season MVP was Carl Crawford, who hit .388 with 1 HR and 6 RBI.

As the scores indicate, we got surprisingly good pitching vs. a really tough TOR lineup. Kazmir won 3 games during the playoffs and Maeda won 2. Jansen was lights-out with a 1.17 ERA and a .52 WHIP in 7.2 innings.

A couple of Dodgers came away with season awards as well. Maeda won the NL ROTY, and Seager won the NL Silver Slugger Award for shortstops.

This is the first time since I've been playing The Show that I've won the WS; it was pretty cool to see the team pul out so many 1-run wins in the playoffs vs. some good teams. That was exactly how the regular season went--tons of 1-run contests that went our way.

Heading into the off-season, all 5 of my starting pitchers are locked up on multi-year deals, and we're set at every position in the field except C with players who are on multi-year, renewable, or arbitration-eligible deals.

It looks like all we'll be doing in FA is trying to stock the bullpen and replace a couple of bench players who won't be returning.

[KBLover]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

The Dodgers won the World Series 4 games to 2 vs. the Blue Jays.

Nice! Tight games and won it all. Congrats!

Looks like you're set up for another Dodgers dynasty. Always nice to not need anything in FA.

Seager at SS is going to be so valuable. Power hitting SS that can play even adequate defense are wonderful.

[RogueHominid]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

Nice! Tight games and won it all. Congrats!

Looks like you're set up for another Dodgers dynasty. Always nice to not need anything in FA.

Seager at SS is going to be so valuable. Power hitting SS that can play even adequate defense are wonderful.

Yeah, this is the window. We have a great mix of veteran talent and young contributors with team-friendly deals.

Seager is indeed a special player. He is definitely above average in the field, and he flashes 30 HR and 100 RBI potential. He can hit anywhere 1-5 and he's durable.

I can't wait to get Urias on the big-league squad. He should be up after the AS break next season, or at the beginning of year three at the latest.

The savings those guys will bring financially for the next couple of seasons will hopefully allow me to be in a position to spend elsewhere and ensure that I have excellent organizational depth.

This year we really didn't get hit with the injury bug until the end of the season, but we won't likely be as lucky next year.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

Cardinals hold on...beat Pirates 6-4

The bullpen tried to give the game away, but thankfully Trevor Rosenthal was up to the task of a 5 out save. Coming into a bases loaded situation in a 6-4 with one out game, Rosenthal struck out the two batters he faced to get out of the inning. Then in the 9th, he struck out the side to claim his 25th save of the season.

Mike Leake (6-5) pitched well going 6 innings allowing 1 run on 3 hits. He was pulled in the 7th inning when his spot in the order came up with bases loaded and 2 outs. In that situation the Cards turned to Reuben Tejada who knocked home two runs proved to be the difference in the ball game.

Matt Carpenter had 3 hits in the game including an RBI triple. Tommy Pham played well as he is used sparingly going 2 for 5 with 2 runs scored. He did strike out once, but he hit the ball hard in his 4 other at-bats. Yadier Molina launched his second homerun of the season and Matt Holliday continued his new hitting streak going 1 for 4 at the plate.

The Cardinals will look for the sweep as they throw Jaime Garcia against Jon Niese.

[Sumodeads]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

After losing 2 out of 3 at home to the Reds, we ca,e to Cincinnati for revenge and got it...in the form of a 4-game sweep!

Cubs @ Reds Game 1

Cubs win 11-2

Decided to spot start Adam Warren to give my starters an extra day of rest since the team hadn't had a day off in a while. He dominated! Warren(1-0) went 7.0 inn 1 R, 1 ER, 3 H, 7 K, 0 BB. Fowler had another monster game going 3-5 with 2 HR(5,6) 3 R, 4 RBI. Rizzo added a Grand Slam(4) and Schwarber(5) and Soler(4) homered as well in the blowout.

Cubs @ Reds Game 2

Cubs win 11-4

We definitely like hitting in this stadium! Jake Arrieta(4-0) had his worst start so far, but it wasn't all his fault. The team made 3 errors behind him, defense has been our only weakness so far this season as we are dead last in fielding %. His line was 6.0 inn, 4 R, 1 ER, 6 H, 10 K, 2 BB. As you can see most of the runs were unearned so his ERA through 4 starts is still a straight nasty 0.58. The offense bailed out the defense with another monster effort. Anthony Rizzo went 3-4 with 2 more HR(5,6) 3 R and 4 RBI. Schwarber went 4-5 with 2 2B and a HR(6) and 4 RBI(22). Fowler added his 2-5 2B, HR(7), 2 R and 3 RBI(20). 22 runs in the first two games of the series!

Cubs @ Reds Game 3

Cubs win 5-1

I gave LH hitters Rizzo and Schwarber needed days off vs the LH Finnegan. So Kris Bryant stepped up and went 3-5 with 2 HR(3,4) and 3 RBI. Addison Russell went 2-4 with a 2B and HR(1), 2 R. Jon Lester(3-1) had a very strong start going the distance: 9.0 inn, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 H, 5 K, 1 BB on just 82 pitches!

Cubs @ Reds Game 4

Cubs win 4-3 for the Sweep!

John Lackey had a good game on the mound and at the dish. He went 3-3 with a 2B, R. He also kept us in the game with a 7.0 inn, 3 R, 3 ER, 10 H, 3 K, 1 BB. Kris Bryant came through huge again with a 2-out, 2-R 2B in the 7th to put the Cubs up 4-3 which would end up being the final. Heyward had a lead off HR(2) on the first pitch of the game. Strop and Rondon would pitch a scoreless 8th and 9th with Rondon picking up the save(7).

Great job by the entire team going 6-1 on the road trip and winning 5 straight. Heading home for a series vs the last place Brewers.

[mannyt55]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

Just finished up the first showdown between my Mets and the Nats. Going into the series, we lead by 4.5 games (24-13 to their 20-18).

In game 1 of the series, Thor and the offense dominated as we won 8-2 (Thor gave up a 2run jack in the 8th on his 108th pitch, removed him right after).

Game 2 also showcased one of our pitchers as Matz played great through 7, also allowing only 2runs. Bullpen blew the game allowing 5 runs in the 8th/9th.

Rubber match was Wheeler vs Scherzer (I considered skipping Wheeler to have Harvey face Scherzer but whatever). They scored in the 1st inning and that's all Scherzer needed as he freaking no-hit us. 13K 3BB no hitter.

Great series, now they're surging and trying to catch up. We play a struggling Milwaukee team before going to Washington to try to get revenge (I'll skip Wheeler in that series to have them face Matz-Harvey-deGrom).



P.S. I play MoM only, so I don't suck lol. I don't think I've ever been no-hit while actually playing.

[Assassin]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

Cubs finish 95-67 Cards & Nationals played one game playoff for the second wild card spot.

Nationals won the game. Mets & Nationals met in wild card game for NL. Tigers & Red Sox met in the AL. Tigers defeated the Red Sox. Mets defeated the Nationals.

Cubs swept Dodgers in three games. Marlins defeated Mets in five games. White Sox defeat Angels in four games. Yankees defeat Tigers in four games. Marlins defeated Cubs in six games to get to World Series.

Yankees defeated White Sox in seven to get to World Series. Marlins defeat Yankees in five games to win 2017 World Series.


John Laçkey retires from Cubs at 39.

David Aardsma retired from Cubs sighting poor free agent market.

JJ Hardy retires from Orioles at 35

Chris Young retires from Red Sox at 34

Alex Rodriguez retires from Yankees at 42.

Glen Perkins retires from Indians at 35

Ian Kinsler retires from Tigers at 35

Marlon Byrd retires from Royals at 40

Omar Infante retires from Royals at 36

Chris Young retires from Royals at 38

Josh Hamilton retires from Rangers at 36

JD Davis retires from Astros at 25 due to torn ACL

Jayson Werth retires from Nationals at 38

Brandon Phillips retires from Reds at 36

Yadier Molina retires from Cards at 35

Brayan Pena retires from Cards at 36

Carl Crawford retires from Dodgers at 36

Andre Either retires from Dodgers at 35

Gordon Beckham retires at 31

Carlos Beltran retires at 40

Joe Blanton retires at 37

Chris Capuano retires at 39

Coco Crisp retires at 38

Stephen Drew retires at 35

Curtis Granderson retires at 37

Jeremy Guthrie retires at 38

Jon Jay retires at 31 sighting poor market

Cliff Lee retires at 39

Colby Lewis retires at 38

Mike Napoli retires at 36

Jake Peavy retires at 36

Jimmy Rollins retires at 39

Nick Swisher retires at 37

Chase Utley retires at 39

CJ Wilson retires at 37


Alex Rodriguez Carlos Beltran Jimmy Rollins join hall of fame.

[Sumodeads]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

Finished up a 3 game sweep of the lowly Brewers with more great pitching and some power(8 HR) to give us the best record in baseball nearing the end of April(18-4).

Cubs vs Brewers Game 1

Cubs win 6-0

Hendricks(1-1) picked up his first win of the year in style. 9.0 inn, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 H, 5 K, 0 BB. He got help in the form of 3 HR from Heyward(3) another lead off first pitch HR, Rizzo(7) and Soler(5).

Cubs vs Brewers Game 2

Cubs win 6-1

Strong outing from Hammel(2-0) 8.0 inn, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 H, 10 K, 0 BB. Anthony Rizzo went 3-4 with a 2B and and two more HR(8,9) 3 R, 2 RBI. The second one traveled 444 feet to Right center. Schwarber added a HR(7) and 3 more RBI(26).

Cubs vs Brewers Game 3

Cubs win 5-2

Jake Arrieta(5-0) was more human again, but still was able to pull off a victory. He went 6.0 inn, 2 R, 2 ER, 7 H, 5 K, 2 BB. Soler hit a 453 Ft HR(6) to left on a hanging breaking ball to break the 2-2 tie. Rookie Nicholas Cooper hit a pinch-hit 2-R HR(3) to give the bullpen some breathing room. Kris Bryant was 2-4 with 2 2B. The combination of Ramirez/Strop/Rondon was lights out pitching a perfect 7th, 8th and 9th with Rondon picking up the save(8).

Milwaukee fell to 5-17 and already find themselves 13 games out of first and we haven't finished April yet. Another weak opponent travels to Wrigley next as the Cubs will take on the last place Braves(7-15) and try and build on their 8 game win streak!

[Ranger Fan]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

Rangers reached the All-Star Break going 44-46. Lost my first 2 out of the break to the red hot Cubs. Setting 44-48 tied for third yet I am 10 1/2 games out. The Mariners have a 6 1/2 game lead over the A's. Both Yu ad Hammels are on the DL , but are scheduled to return in 6 days. I made a couple of July trades that will hopefully give me a push to a wild Card. Traded Nomar Mazara to the Royals and got Wade Davis and Jarod Dyson. I also Traded AJ Griffen and gotCory Knebel from the Brewers. The Mazara trade was hard to pull, but I had to do something to shore up my horrifi bullpen which has seen Tolleson blow 8 saves this year. On to the second half and hopefully a run. Good News is Beltre has 20 HR at the break as him and Choo both made the All- Star Game

[NDAlum]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

Well things get worse for my Twins as starting SS Eduardo Escobar goes down with a torn groin after diving for a ball. He'll be out about 2 months. I'd call up Jorge Polanco...but he's out with a broken forearm and still has a good bit of DL time left. What about Danny Santana? He has a broken hand so he'll be out 15 days or so. Going to put Eduardo Nunez into the starting SS slot for the time being and call up a complete unknown...James Beresford (an Aussie lol).

Beresford might get a couple AB's. He's a left bat with decent fielding rating (70) and solid contacts (56/47).

I'm sitting at 18-27 after 45 games and lately I've actually improved. Jose Berrios (1-3) has been decent in his first four MLB starts and looks to be a guy who can solidify a spot in the rotation. He has a 3.60 ERA with wayyyy too many BB's. I think 22 in 27 IP. Once that's under control he will do much better. My patience is growing thin with my LHP out of the pen. Fernando Abad (7.85 ERA 1.96 WHIP) and Glen Perkins (5.21 ERA 1.95 WHIP) have sucked. I think we are 28th in team ERA so there's nobody really doing anything noteworthy. Come to think about it offensively and defensively we rank towards the bottom of the MLB. It's almost time to call the season a wrap and make moves to improve our future.

Few offensive notes:
- Byung-ho Park expirement might be over for me. In 146 AB's he has 27 hits and only 2 HR (.185 avg) and 5 BB's. It might be the ratings. I'm not sure. But his performance has been downright embarrassing.
- Sano is coming around a bit. He's finally over .200 (.201) and has hit 3 HR in the past 10 games. So he's now up to 4 HR & 17 RBI. I'm hoping he explodes in Junes to get that average and power up.
- Oswaldo Arcia has taken Park's DH spot. He's blasted 4 HR in 40 AB's and hitting .325. Absolute no brainer to let Arcia continue to get AB's.
- Trevor Plouffe leads the team in RBI and will be our trade piece near the ASB. He's in the last year of his deal and a perfect rental player for a contender. He's hitting .256/.303/.455 with 9 HR 23 RBI.

**BTW I notice sim stat doubles are kinda down...at least on my team. I'm not hitting a ton myself so I'm sure that's part of it.

[RogueHominid]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

Well things get worse for my Twins as starting SS Eduardo Escobar goes down with a torn groin after diving for a ball. He'll be out about 2 months. I'd call up Jorge Polanco...but he's out with a broken forearm and still has a good bit of DL time left. What about Danny Santana? He has a broken hand so he'll be out 15 days or so. Going to put Eduardo Nunez into the starting SS slot for the time being and call up a complete unknown...James Beresford (an Aussie lol).

Beresford might get a couple AB's. He's a left bat with decent fielding rating (70) and solid contacts (56/47).

I'm sitting at 18-27 after 45 games and lately I've actually improved. Jose Berrios (1-3) has been decent in his first four MLB starts and looks to be a guy who can solidify a spot in the rotation. He has a 3.60 ERA with wayyyy too many BB's. I think 22 in 27 IP. Once that's under control he will do much better. My patience is growing thin with my LHP out of the pen. Fernando Abad (7.85 ERA 1.96 WHIP) and Glen Perkins (5.21 ERA 1.95 WHIP) have sucked. I think we are 28th in team ERA so there's nobody really doing anything noteworthy. Come to think about it offensively and defensively we rank towards the bottom of the MLB. It's almost time to call the season a wrap and make moves to improve our future.

Few offensive notes:
- Byung-ho Park expirement might be over for me. In 146 AB's he has 27 hits and only 2 HR (.185 avg) and 5 BB's. It might be the ratings. I'm not sure. But his performance has been downright embarrassing.
- Sano is coming around a bit. He's finally over .200 (.201) and has hit 3 HR in the past 10 games. So he's now up to 4 HR & 17 RBI. I'm hoping he explodes in Junes to get that average and power up.
- Oswaldo Arcia has taken Park's DH spot. He's blasted 4 HR in 40 AB's and hitting .325. Absolute no brainer to let Arcia continue to get AB's.
- Trevor Plouffe leads the team in RBI and will be our trade piece near the ASB. He's in the last year of his deal and a perfect rental player for a contender. He's hitting .256/.303/.455 with 9 HR 23 RBI.

**BTW I notice sim stat doubles are kinda down...at least on my team. I'm not hitting a ton myself so I'm sure that's part of it.

What is your injury slider at? I had too many healthy guys last season @ 5, I think.

Re: the Park experiment, I had the same feelings about Pederson, Crawford, and Kendrick, who were all hitting below .225 through the AS break. Pederson wound up heating up and hitting .265 w/ 29 HR, and Crawford finished the season in the .260s, which I could tolerate. I also had Grandal hitting under .200 at the half.

Maybe Park will come around if given a full season?

[NDAlum]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

I put injury @ 6

I'm cool with injuries because they happen so often in baseball. It's a game that just breaks your body down because it's a grind. Also the injuries force your GM decisions. I think Danny Santana comes back in a few days so I'll give him about a week in AAA before I bring him back up to take over.

The issue with Park is he's not young. I'm going to platoon him and Arcia so Park will get LHP. It just sucks when he leads the MLB in average HR distance and I can't have him be a part of my offense.

[RogueHominid]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

I put injury @ 6

I'm cool with injuries because they happen so often in baseball. It's a game that just breaks your body down because it's a grind. Also the injuries force your GM decisions. I think Danny Santana comes back in a few days so I'll give him about a week in AAA before I bring him back up to take over.

The issue with Park is he's not young. I'm going to platoon him and Arcia so Park will get LHP. It just sucks when he leads the MLB in average HR distance and I can't have him be a part of my offense.

Thanks re: the injury slider. I agree that injuries are a huge part of the game and that having them occur at a realistic clip in the game really pushes you to think hard about your whole 90-man roster rather than just your top 25.

I might just be lucky enough to have a roster full of pretty durable players. I'm going to see if I get more injuries in season two than season one. I did lose two starters for 2+ months, but my pitching staff was pretty much entirely healthy all year. That strikes me as very abnormal, though probably not impossible.

And I hear you re: players you wish you could do well with in The Show. I felt that way about Justin Turner. IRL I love that guy, but I can't hit with him in The Show. I re-signed him on a one-year deal for season two, but he is just tough for me to get rolling with for whatever reason.