MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

[ckarlic]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

Facing elimination in Game 6 of the ALCS, the Yankees played a classic against the Astros to stave off elimination and force a Game 7 winner take all match up. Down 2-1 in the bottom of the 8th, with 2 outs Ellsbury came up to bat and belted a HR in Right field to tie the game at 2.

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With the game tied in the 10th, the Astros pushed across 3 runs to take the lead. With things looking bleek, the Yankees fought back and tied the game in the bottom of the 10th to push the game into the 11th.

After a scoreless top half of the 11th, the Yanks were able to walk off for the win and force a game 7 matchup.

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In the NL, the Giants beat the Cubs 4 games to 2 so the winner of game 7 will take on the Giants in the 2016 World Series.

[ckarlic]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

Well, all I have to say is I got my a$% handed to me in Game 7 by the Astros. Sort of felt like Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS against the Red Sox. What a disaster

In any case, the Astro's bats were on fire. The Astros were hitting everything I threw at them and they were hitting it hard. Gave up 9 HRs to them. The most I've ever given up to a team in the Show. Final score was 12-2. The Astros did go onto to sweep the Giants in the World Series and are 2016 World Series Champs. At least I lost to the World Series champs..lol

Here is the final out of the 2016 ALCS:

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[boxboy99]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

Unreal after playing 2 entires season on 2015 with the Cubs I lost lost game 7 of the World Series to the Red Sox 6-5 in 18 Innings. Yes, 18 freaking innings. Unreal.

Picked up The Show 16 on sale yesterday. Looking forward to avenging our 18 Inning World Series Game 7 loss to the Sox last season. It cost a ton of money to resign 3B Anthony Rendon and SP Matt Moore in the offseason. Our budget is tapped.

[boxboy99]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

Cubbies open the season with a 3-2 home win over the Dodger. I decided to start my rookie OF Jeff Scruggs and it paid off big. 2-3 with a double and a game winning single in the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs. Hit a sharp grounder right at the 1st baseman but he couldn't handle it.

Wellington Castillo hit a HR and Rex Brothers picks up a win in relief.

[boxboy99]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

The Dodger defeat the Cubs in game 2 of the season 4-3 in 11 innings. The Pedro Stroup couldn't hold on to a 3-2 lead in the 8th. Stroup and the Cubs pen blew a ton of games last season. Hopefully this isn't the start of the woes from the pen. How long before the Cubs try to deal Stroup?

The Cubs had rally attempts in the 9th and 10th fall just short leading 5 on base in the two innings combined.

Cubs 1-1 on the young 2017 season.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

The Dodger defeat the Cubs in game 2 of the season 4-3 in 11 innings. The Pedro Stroup couldn't hold on to a 3-2 lead in the 8th. Stroup and the Cubs pen blew a ton of games last season. Hopefully this isn't the start of the woes from the pen. How long before the Cubs try to deal Stroup?

The Cubs had rally attempts in the 9th and 10th fall just short leading 5 on base in the two innings combined.

Cubs 1-1 on the young 2017 season.

Ouch man!

Leaving 5 on base in the 9th and 10th innings is frustrating.

Good luck going forward.

[statdude]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

I posted this in the Fantasy Draft Franchise thread as well, but I thought it'd be cool to give you an update as well. I started this franchise back in Julyand have been humming along for the past six months. I just finished up the month of August and have just 29 games left in the season. I'm getting really excited as I've never finished a franchise, let alone play all 162 games (or Manage Only Mode in this case).

Anyways, the Angels ended up August with a 76-57 record with an 8.0 game lead on the Astros and Athletics in the AL West. I've led the entire division for the entire year I believe, but as always, I'm still worried about blowing the lead. If it happens, it may rival the Red Sox in 2011.

I really would like to see us pitch and hit well at the same time. Throughout the year, we've been a bat first team with team average right around .265 and have led the league in home runs while also pitching to a tune of a 3.80+ ERA all year. This month, the script flipped. The Angels only hit .239 for the month of August, but the pitching staff really stepped up and only had an ERA of 3.08 for the month and led the Angels to a 17-11 record in August.

I've also had to move Justin Verlander and Sonny Gray out of the rotation as they struggled all year for Francisco Liriano and Carson Fulmer. Gray recently rejoined the rotation in place of Mike Fiers after pitching well in relief. Verlander will remain in the bullpen as well.

Anyways, like I said, only 29 games left, but all but 4 are against my division, so we'll see how it goes. I'll keep you updated on the progress and I'll leave you with some stats.


Pitching Staff:
Corey Kluber - 3.29 ERA - 0.99 WHIP (15-4) - 4.48 sWAR
Francisco Liriano - 3.14 ERA - 1.08 WHIP (9-6) - 4.03 sWAR
Rick Porcello - 3.36 ERA - 1.22 WHIP (9-7) - 3.16 sWAR
Carson Fulmer - 3.02 ERA - 1.14 WHIP (4-6) - 1.44 sWAR
Sonny Gray - 5.25 ERA - 1.47 WHIP (6-8) - 0.89 sWAR

Mike Fiers - 4.34 ERA - 1.28 WHIP (6-6) - 1.96 sWAR
Justin Verlander - 4.64 ERA - 1.42 WHIP (7-7) - 0.61 sWAR
Tyler Clippard - 3.69 ERA - 1.06 WHIP (2-4) - 0.61 sWAR
Dario Alvarez - 3.15 ERA - 1.09 WHIP (5-1) - 0.93 sWAR
Pedro Baez - 2.19 ERA - 0.94 WHIP (6-3) - 1.12 sWAR
Kelvim Herrera - 2.40 ERA - 0.99 WHIP (2-3) - 0.79 sWAR
Arodys Vizcaino - 2.36 ERA - 0.87 WHIP (3-2) - 1.44 sWAR

Postion Players:
Anthony Rizzo - .294/.363/.613 - 29 HR - 69 RBI - 1 SB - 4.33 sWAR
Andrew McCutchen - .274/.333/.467 - 20 HR - 70 RBI - 9 SB - 4.18 sWAR
Austin Jackson - .251/.305/.427 - 13 HR - 37 RBI - 15 SB - 2.03 sWAR
Derek Norris - .222/.286/.387 - 11 HR - 45 RBI - 1 SB - 1.66 sWAR
Matt Carpenter - .284/.344/.486 - 20 HR - 60 RBI - 3 SB - 1.43 sWAR
Eddy Rodriguez - .264/.345/.415 - 4 HR - 18 RBI - 0 SB - 0.87 sWAR
Stephen Piscotty - .233/.286/.399 - 14 HR - 48 RBI - 3 SB - 0.80 sWAR
Kole Calhoun - .260/.313/.440 - 18 HR - 61 RBI - 8 SB - 0.76 sWAR
David Ortiz - .256/.319/.499 - 28 HR - 76 RBI - 2 SB - 0.50 sWAR
Daniel Murphy - .296/.353/.414 - 12 HR - 51 RBI - 3 SB - 0.38 sWAR
Rajai Davis - .252/.307/.391 - 3 HR - 22 RBI - 15 SB - 0.15 sWAR
Brad Miller - .217/.281/.300 - 3 HR - 18 RBI - 12 SB - -0.86 sWAR
Jeff Bianchi - .261/.309/.303 - 1 HR - 15 RBI - 3 SB - -1.23 sWAR

Also, I just wanted to give you guys a heads up on one of the best seasons ever. Mike Trout is literally blowing away the competition of the best player in the league. Here are his stats:

Mike Trout - .325/.423/.688 - .453 wOBA - 38 HR - 95 RBI - 11 SB - 9.32 sWAR

I went back to look at Fangraphs and if the season ended today, he would have the highest slugging percentage in the last ten years. He would beat out Albert Pujols' 2006 campaign where he slugged .671. Not only that, Trout's wOBA of .453 would be the fourth highest in the last ten years:

2015 Bryce Harper - .461 wOBA
2008 Albert Pujols - .459 wOBA
2013 Miguel Cabrera - .455 wOBA
2016 Mike Trout - .453 wOBA

[BigOscar]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

Anyone managed to ever figure out quite how the player development works on this? I felt it was almost entirely random for a long time, but on my current Angels save I can see a correlation between a lot of my players performance and the attribute improvements. For example, Garrett Richards in inexplicably having a monster strikeout season and his K/9 has improved by 12, to put it in the mid 70's, same for some of my relievers and their BB/9 as I very rarely walk anyone if I can help it. But then there are other players who have had ratings either increase or decrease without really anything to warrant it, while some players have had good seasons only for their overall potential rating to go down?

Anyone any clues or is it a weird balance of randomness and performance based?

[boxboy99]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

Prior to the 2017 season we picked up a rule 5 catcher Herb Fuentes to replace retired Ryan Doumit as our backup catcher. He got his first start vs the Mariners in game 5 of the 2017 season. Bottom of the 11th, the game is tied at 4-4, 2 outs with the bases loaded and Mr. Fuentes cracks the grand salami to win the game 8-4. Cubs move to 3-2 on the young season. Success in this game feels so rewarding.

[BigOscar]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

Only 6 games left in the regular season and it couldn't be any closer for my Angels team. Despite an impressive 91-65 record, we are tied with the Astro's for 1st place in the AL West, with the Rangers only 1 game back. The wildcard looks like being an all AL West affair as the Tigers are a further 3.5 games back of the Rangers, but not completely out of it as we have a nerve racking final 3 game series against the Astro's, so a sweep in either direction could make things very interesting. (and the Astro's have had our number all year, definitely our bogey team)

Our pitching is collapsing at the wrong time and our hitting is getting very reliant on two or three players getting the job done. Mid season acquisition Trevor Plouffe is hitless in his last 20 at bats, while Simmons and Carlos Perez may as well not bother taking bats to the plate this month. Luckily Pujols returned from 2 months out with a broken thumb just in time to breathe some life into a very Mike Trout and Yasiel Puig (traded for Calhoun) reliant offence. Trading for Ichiro and signing ARod might have seemed like a fun idea at the start, but now their ratings are about 15 lower and it's not looking so clever (although it is fun to hunt those career statistical milestones, so I regret nothing!)

Garrett Richards looks good for the Cy Young after a remarkable, almost triple crown winning year(19-4, 2.4 ERA, leads the league in strikeouts), but the collection of other starters have all been very disappointing. Only CJ Wilson has managed to keep his ERA under 4. Tyler Skaggs has probably been the biggest disappointment as his ratings look pretty similar to Richards, but he just gets slaughtered (4.5 ERA, 35 homers hit off him). Nick Tropeano having a 7-11 record on a team 26 games over 500 is somewhat of an achievement as well, he has been appalling.

It's going to be tough if we do make the post season as our pitching cannot be relied on at all, definitely something to look at in the offseason with the huge amount of money we'll have available after Wilson, Weaver and Street leave (although tying down Richards will eat a chunk of that $40m)

[boxboy99]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

Anthony Rizzo breaks out of his .080 slump vs the hated rival Brewers with a 2 run laser to right that broke up a 0-0 game in the sixth. He would go on to hit a second HR later in the game. Cubs win 4-0 and move to 6-2 on the young season. Arrietta gets the complete game shut out.

Last year they beat the Brewers in the tenth inning of game 7 of the NLCS and didn't clinch the division over the Brewers until the final day of the season. Both teams sit at 5-2. Is the race heating back up again?

[BigOscar]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

After a long and hard season, the LA Angels fall just one run short, one game short of the final hurdle. A 4-3 loss in game 7 of the ALCS against divisional rivals the Texas Rangers put an end to a remarkable season of ups and downs, milestones and debatable decisions.

The biggest and most debatable decision had to be the decision to trade number two starter Matt Schoemaker for division rival Texas Rangers 1B prospect Joey Gallo at the trade deadline after Albert Pujols broke his hand. It would be a decision that would come back to haunt us as Schoemaker went on to lead the AL with 20 wins, before winning 2 games against us in the ALCS, including a 2 hit shutout in game 2, then the decisive game 7. Gallo himself did all that could have been asked of him in the regular season, hitting a remarkable 26 home runs in the second half, but in the post season he disappeared, choking on the big stage and hitting only .107 with a single home run in the wildcard game against the Astro's.

A trade that helped both teams, but ultimately the Rangers got the better of it for this year and clinched the ALCS, before edging out the Chicago Cubs in 6 games to take home the World Series, while the Angels are left wondering what could have been. The Angels enter the off season with a lot of cash freed up and desperate need for starting pitching before going again in the hope of making amends for the mistakes of this year.

[Qb]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

As I mentioned in the prep for '17 thread, I jumped back into my single-team Pirates save in hopes of making enough progress to get me into a carryover. Playing one game per series mostly on QC/fastplay to put a dent in the season, but might ditch quick counts. Using Zone/AS and struggling mightily with default Con/Pow/Tim/SH; might need to swallow my pride and go veteran. Pitching on classic/HOF with no ball marker or vibration and doing fairly well. In the first week of May, I'm sitting 5 GB at 16-15 on the heels of being swept at home by the division-leading Cubs.

I played the first game of the series (no quick counts), a rainy Monday night matchup of Liriano and Arrieta. A few timely twin-killings kept me in the game early, but he left after giving up four runs in six innings. My offense was paltry as usual, with Matt Joyce's first dinger of the year accounting for the only run in the 5-1 loss. Following the sim, the Bucs open a three-game set in St. Louis, who are a game ahead in the standings. Might play the Niese/Garcia opener to face a lefty starter for once, although Cole/Martinez in game two is tempting...

In roster news, I made a rare late April trade, sending OF prospect Harold Ramirez to Tampa Bay for LHP Enny Romero. I needed another lefty in the 'pen and the Rays seemed happy to add prospect depth. Romero is pre-arb and Ramirez -- even at B potential in this roster -- won't crack my outfield, but perhaps has a shot in Tampa. Romero promptly gave up a 10th inning walk-off blast to CarGo in his Pirates debut.

More importantly, the long-awaited ML debut of former second overall pick, Jameson Taillon is nigh. The Bucs recalled Taillon after he bulldozed the IL in April, going 4-0 in 6 starts with a 0.88 WHIP and 46:7 K:BB in 42 IP. He's expected to take the spot of Juan Nicasio and his 5.64 ERA, with Nicasio moving to long/middle relief in place of the recently (manually) injured Ryan Vogelsong. I pitched really well in my only start with Nicasio, so I'm looking forward to having him for multiple inning stints out of the bullpen.

Marte and McCutchen are putting up good numbers, but that's mostly thanks to simmed results. Polanco sits below the Mendoza line and only recently came off a cold streak. Kang just came off the DL, so I'm still looking for my best lineups. I can at least platoon Jaso & Freese at 1B now. I had Alen Hansen up as an extra infielder when Kang was out and he's sticking for now. Nice to have some speed on the bench, although his bat is weak and defense somewhat limited.

Cole is performing well with a sub-3 ERA, as is Jeff Locke (I got knocked around a little with him but the sim seems to like him). Hopefully Taillon's arrival and the knock-on of Nicasio going to the bullpen can solidify the pitching staff. I feel pretty good about the bullpen right now with Feliz & Watson setting up Melancon at the back end, and hard throwers like Nicasio, Caminero, and Romero to get it to them. Oh, and there's Jared Hughes, too.

I'm having fun with The Show for the first time in a long time... and I'm not even hitting!

[MoneyMan17]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

Usually a Yankees only guy but got into a few franchises with different teams lately just for fun. Had a blast with my latest franchise, Mariners. Simmed almost all games but was always in total control of organization from top to bottom including AAA and AA lineups and rotations.

Ended the year 86-76 and got the 2nd wild card spot, although lost the WC game to the Angels 4-1.

Was able to build a very competitive MLB roster while also adding prospects through trades. I would consider it a very successful year since we are setup to be a playoff team, and have a solid farm system.

Lineup at the end of the year:
Charlie Blackmon CF (.312/16/76)
Franklin Gutierrez RF (.279/23/87)
Robinson Cano 2B (.256/26/73)
Nelson Cruz DH (.269/32/105)
Adam Lind 1B (.292/26/78)
Kyle Seager 3B (.236/26/99)
Nick Hundley C (.304/10/42 - 90 GP) Chris Iannetta C (.285/9/33 - 77 GP)
Drew Stubbs LF (.265/18/54)
Ketel Marte SS (.244/4/41)

Rotation:
Felix Hernandez (12-12, 3.54)
Hisashi Iwakuma (18-9, 3.38)
Nate Karns (8-10, 4.00)
James Paxton (10-6, 3.05)
Brad Mills (9-8, 3.97)

Bullpen:
LRP Jon Gray (4.89)
MRP Blaine Boyer (4.43)
MRP Vidal Nuño (L) (6.23)
MRP Yasiel Sierra (2.80)
MRP Adam Ottovino (6.00)
SU Nick Vincent (1.62)
CP Santiago Casilla (1.46, 40 SV)

As you can see, the bullpen was our achilles heel. I tried so many different relievers throughout the season and nothing seemed to work. Even traded for a few. Casilla was out third closer of the year after Cishek (ERA over 10!) and Benoit (5.00+ ERA) weren't working. I'll try to improve it over the offseason but a lot of these guys have decent ratings so might not make many changes and will just hope for bounceback years.

Definitely looking to go deeper into the playoffs next year and hopefully win the division!!

[boxboy99]

Re: MLB 16 Franchise Progress Thread

Cubs beat the Brewers 5-0 to improve to 6-2. Travis Wood went the distance for the CGS. Rizzo is officially out of the slump with another 2 HR performance.

I'm a bit concerned after moving from 15 to 16. We have posted shutouts in 4 of the last 5 games on All-Star.