MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

[Sumodeads]

MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Oakland A’s 2018 Fantasy Franchise

6/1: We took the first two games of the Homestand to run our season-long win streak to 11 games before dropping the third game to the Mariners. We finished 6-4 overall in the Homestand , taking 2 of 3 from the DBacks and then splitting a 4 game series vs a rather stacked Rays team. We are now sitting at a MLB best 38-19 in the year, 7.5 games over the struggling Angels(31-27).


Khris “Khrush” Davis is an absolute BEAST. He homered in 6 consecutive games, he added 7 more HR to his total on the Homestand and has now hit 32 for the year! He was tied a few weeks ago with Harper and Bellinger with 19...now Harper(who has cooled off a bit) has 20 and Bellinger has 25. He has also raised his average from very low .200s all the way up to a respectable .272 in the process while driving in a league best 58 runs(Tied-Bellinger).

Charlie Morton leads the league in wins with a record of 8-2, and a team best 2.55 ERA. Ohtani hasn’t gotten great run support so far this year, but has a 6-4 record, 2.90 ERA and leads the league in Ks with 114. Rookie fire baller Michael Kopech is the biggest surprise in the rotation with a 6-1 record and 2.64 ERA. Jordan Hicks has been great at closer, 3-1, 2.10 ERA, 19/22 saves.

The biggest disappointment so far is Josh Hader who after a good start has been getting absolutely shelled. In 25 games he is 0-1, with a 6.15 ERA!! Hopefully he can start stringing together a few good outings and be the dominating pitcher we know he can be. Luckily for the most part the runs he has given up haven’t lead to many losses, but his performance isn’t exactly giving us confidence to use him in the high leverage spots right now.

Next up is a short 5 game road trip vs KC and TEX.


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[reyes the roof]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Is it normal for your revenues to drop significantly in spring training? I came in to the spring making 5.7 million per week, by game three it was down to 5.4 and now at game five it's at 5.1 and my weekly income is in the red. Hopefully it gets back to normal when the season starts

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Is it normal for your revenues to drop significantly in spring training? I came in to the spring making 5.7 million per week, by game three it was down to 5.4 and now at game five it's at 5.1 and my weekly income is in the red. Hopefully it gets back to normal when the season starts

I have never really paid much attention to my financials during Spring Training so I can't say with certainty that this happens all the time, but what I'm thinking is that your revenue is dropping because you're still paying salaries but your not taking in income due to not playing games at home.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Well we were just swept by the Marlins in Miami and the Cubs swept the Brewers in Chicago to cut our lead back down to 3 games. The Marlins' lineup is brutal and they destroyed our pitching staff. Couple that with us not being able to hit, outside of Harrison Bader who went 6 for 9 in the series with 3 walks, 2 homeruns, 5 RBI, 2 triples, and a double.

With 19 games left to play (3 of those against the Cubs in Chicago) the pressure is starting to mount, although we are about 8 games clear of the 2nd wildcard spot, so there is that, but nobody wants to play in the wild card game.

With the playoffs on the horizon (providing we don't completely collapse in the final 3 weeks), the Cardinals have a serious question to ask themselves when it comes to the roster. Do you put a severely struggling Randal Grichuk on the roster, or do you roll with rookie Juan Fabregas? Both are average/above average defenders, but Fabregas is a bit better hitter, has significantly more speed, and is a switch hitter. The idea would be that Pham would be in left, Bader in center, and then Piscotty in right when he returns from the DL in 20 days. Then Magnerius Sierra would be on the bench along with Fabregas. I know it sounds crazy, but Grichuk is for lack of sugar coating it, stinking up the joint and has pretty much all season long.

One other decision we may have to contend with is what do we do at catcher as once again it is a revolving door as neither Carson Kelly nor Dioner Navarro seem to want to produce enough to be the every day catcher. In fact Carson Kelly just injured his wrist, though I don't think a stint on the DL in necessary with September call ups. Francisco Pena may get the opportunity to play the position and be on the playoff roster and Navarro left off as Kelly is a similar hitter but a far better defensive backstop.

Outside of that, roster wise we are good. Now we just need to win ball games, win the division and stay healthy until October.

[Councilmann_Jamm]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Geez Country. Feel like you've ayed 2 seasons at the same rate I've played 2 months of a season. You sir are a robot and I love every second of it!

[Lexicon]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Going to try and make this a short summary of how my Franchise has gone up til now. I'm in 2019 with the Oakland A's. I play every pitch, no simulation, no player lock, and I play on All-Star difficulty, as I feel like that has been the most balanced difficulty for me.

2018 was a big year for us as we beat LA to win the World Series in 5 games. I was actually pretty surprised by this, as the Dodgers crushed us during the regular season. Our pitching got off to a hot start and we never looked back. A big part of the success (and this was a huge shock to me) was Matt Joyce. Joyce hit 65 HR's and won the league MVP as our DH. Khris Davis also hit over 60 HR's (62 I believe), and Matt Olson had over 40.

In the 2018 1st Year Draft, we took a C by the name of Monty Aldridge out of New York. Monty was 68ovr with a potential in the 90's. He has good contact hitting and decent speed, but his power and arm strength can definitely use some training. We signed Lucroy for another season, and Aldridge will likely start for us in 2020 from day 1.

We also drafted a promising CF named Lee Avalos. Avalos is a 62ovr and has a 90 potential. Avalos is currently in AA hitting above .350. I think he'll be our starting CF come opening day of 2021. On top of that, we got some highly rated pitching talent that we hope to work into our MLB lineup sooner than later.

In the off-season between the 2018-2019 seasons, we won our arbitration with Khris Davis, gave Sean Manaea a 5 year deal, got Jed Lowrie a new 2-year deal, secured contracts for Olson and Chapman, traded Matt Joyce away to Miami, and got rid of a couple of our SP's from the 2018 season, like Chris Bassit and Kendal Graveman. We sent Graveman to BAL for Didi Gregorious. We also traded a prospect to LAA for Kole Calhoun and made Khris Davis our DH to replace Joyce. Here is what our MLB squad looks like for 2019:

Spoiler

Starting Rotation
Sean Manaea
Jharel Cotton
Daniel Mengden
AJ Puk
Lewis Thorpe

Bullpen
Yusmeiro Petit
Ryan Dull
Santiago Casilla
Daniel Coulombe
Aaron Loup
Ryan Buchter
Chris Hatcher

C - Jonathan Lucroy
1B - Matt Olson
2B - Jed Lowrie
3B - Matt Chapman
SS - Didi Gregorius
LF - Kole Calhoun
CF - Boog Powell
RF - Stephen Piscotty
DH - Khris Davis

Bench
Mark Canha
Chad Pinder
Chris Shaw
Sean Murphy

The 2019 season is going pretty well so far. We're into May and we're about 8 games ahead of HOU in 1st place of the AL West. It was a lot closer not too long ago, but they've been on a skid lately, so we've started to pull away. The big concerns so far in this new season are Matt Chapman, who is struggling to hit even .200 (I've even looked into trading him and got an interesting offer from COL for Dahl and Carpenter, but passed), and our younger SP's keeping their ERA's low.

So that's basically the meat and potatoes of what's been going on. Even though I do think this mode could be dramatically improved, I'm enjoying playing it still. I'm about to hit the 2019 draft, so I'm excited to see what I can get from there. I'm also excited for the players I drafted in the previous season to eventually make it to the main roster.

[Gagnon39]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

[DJ]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Tough one, Gagnon. Had a similar playoff experience with the Mets after 100-plus wins in the regular season.

[SoxSoxSox]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

I see you logged into PS4 right now, on 3-28-2018 in your file. I assume that's a PS4 bug and you're on 3-28-2019??


I think the 18 season started 3-29.

[Gagnon39]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

I see you logged into PS4 right now, on 3-28-2018 in your file. I assume that's a PS4 bug and you're on 3-28-2019??





I think the 18 season started 3-29.

Yeah, that’s weird.

Just played Opening Day, 2019 at home against the Marlins.

Had a 2-0 lead and Lester was cruising but had 100 pitches after six so I took him out. My 2018 postseason woes continued as the first batter faced by Steve Cishek took him deep for a solo homer. Fast forward to the bottom of the ninth and in comes Sean Doolittle making his Cubs debut looking for his first save. First batter, strikeout. Looks good... next batter with a seeing eye singe and the. Proceeds to steal second. A base knock into center field later and we’re tied, 2-2. Ugh.

However, Ian Happ’s single to left field in the bottom of the 10th brings home Anthony Rizzo as the Cubs wall it off to start 2018.

Got the win, but I have to shore up these bullpen issues.


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[Gagnon39]

MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Deleted. Double post.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

We took 2 of 3 from the Brewers and our lead over the Cubs stays put at 3 games. We could've had the sweep but the bullpen (even with the expanded rosters) blew up in the 2nd game and Rosenthal blew the save, and then Socolovich lost the game in the 10th. Also, we lost Magnerius Sierra for the year as he tore his ACL. Curious now if he'll be able to come back from this.

We get an off day, then its a 3 game weekend series with Nationals at home, before we travel to Wrigley for the final 3 games of the year against the Cubs.

[Rocket32]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Was gonna wait 2 full series to update again but the second game of this second series was pretty wild, so want to post while it’s fresh in my mind.

Last I posted, we took 2 out of 3 from Toronto. Now the Yankees have a record of 13-16. After the Toronto series we continued the road trip and headed to Baltimore. Things were starting to look up as we took care of business and swept the Orioles in 3 in their own ballpark. We were moving up the standings only behind Boston by 4.0.

Terrible news struck towards the end of the finale in Baltimore though. Yankees 3B Brandon Drury went down on a diving stop attempt towards the foul line and stayed down clutching his shoulder area. The Yankees were fearing the worst as he left the field, the injury looked bad. Those fears were confirmed as it was later announced that Brandon Drury’s season was over as he sustained a torn rotator cuff. He was promptly transferred to the 60 day DL, with a lengthy recovery ahead.

Worth noting that the day before utility man Derek Dietrich was recalled from the minors as days earlier Chris Taylor went down with a day to day injury. Tried to wait Taylor out but we needed a backup IF as our guys were getting tired. Forced our hand to already demote Gardner.

We transferred Drury to the 60 day DL on 4/28. Chris Taylor returned that same day. So what does this mean for now? It was obvious that Andujar would be forced to slide across the diamond and man his natural 3B. Who takes over 1B? This led many to speculate that Jose Abreu would be forced back to the Bronx early. Instead the Yankees promoted 1B Luke Voit. Traded for him earlier, did a similar deal to the irl one. Didn’t expect to need him.

We optioned Dietrich back to AAA after one start which opened a roster spot. Rather then go back to Gardner, we dived into the FA pool and signed lefty killer 1B Steve Pearce for 1 year 1M. He can also play 2B, LF, and RF. Just not very well. Pretty much a platoon of sorts at 1B for now.


So on we went to Cleveland to face one of the best and hottest teams in baseball, the Central leading Indians. In game 1 we just got destroyed and outmatched in every way. Tanaka didn’t have it. We started off up 2-0 off a Harper HR. Then chaos happened. Cleveland just came to the plate for the time and just demoralized the dugout battering Tanaka for a 6 run 1st. Things just worse. Lost 12-3.

On to game 2, the final game of April. Jordan Montgomery Vs Josh Tomlin. We struck first again with a HR. 1-0 Yankees. Then they came out in the 1st and just jumped on us and pummeled us for another 6 run 1st inning. Another deflating start. This time the Yankees fought back. Got 1 back in the 2nd then in the 4th off a Voit HR. In the 5th we scored again. 6-4 Indians. In the bottom of the 5th they opened the game back up with a ball in the gap vs Montgomery who had settled down. 2 runs score. 8-4 Indians.

Took us till the 7th to strike back. We got a huge 4 run inning. A 2 run HR from Andujar, a Harper triple followed by a Judge popout and a Stanton groundout which brought him home. Then a Cruz solo shot. Tied game at 8-8. Then Andujar happened.

Betances entered in the 7th, his stuff was nasty. Easily took care of Domingo Santana and Francisco Lindor. 2 outs. Then he Encarnarcion to hit a hard grounder to 3B. Andujar got it with no issue, on his feet. Then he takes the ball, with no rush to throw it and fires it wide forcing Voit to leave the bag to catch the ball. EE just beat Voit back to 1B. Then this nobody veteran Brandon Barnes launches a 2 run bomb. Virtual Miguel Andujar, I hate you. Inning should have been over. 10-8 Indians.

Even after that we managed a rally off dominant lefty closer and former Yankee Andrew Miller. Started the 9th inning by making a critical gusty call down 2. Bunted against the shift with the big bat of Bryce Harper. It barely worked. Tying run at the plate with the big bats of Judge, Stanton, and Cruz looming. No outs.

Judge lined out to the OF. One out. Stanton struck out. Wow, this game truly is realistic. That’s typical Stanton in clutch moments. Flashbacks of real life ALDS game 4. Now that’s enough throwing shade at Stanton.

Then Cruz snuck a grounder up the middle to keep the game alive, base hit! Harper to 3rd. 2 outs. Hicks pinch runs for Cruz. Made the tough choice to bring lefty killer Steve Pearce off the bench to pinch hit for Voit to face one of the toughest lefty’s in the game. He drills it back up the middle!

Nope. It deflects off damn Andrew Miller and goes a few feet away. He recovers and Pearce is slightly too slow to beat the throw to 1B. Game over.

If it was in a slightly different spot it would have been a single. Deficit would be down to 1 run with the tying run in scoring position with 2 outs. One of the most bs ways to lose a game. That’s just baseball I geuss. That and the Andujar error had me pretty pissed lol.


So we head to May off a tough loss to finish the 3 game series before a day off, then back home to play the Rays. We are now 5.0 games behind Boston. Game 3 is Hamels Vs Kluber. Yep, we are getting swept now.

[reyes the roof]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

I have never really paid much attention to my financials during Spring Training so I can't say with certainty that this happens all the time, but what I'm thinking is that your revenue is dropping because you're still paying salaries but your not taking in income due to not playing games at home.

Yeah the only reason I even looked at it was because I'm coming off a World Series win with a big market team and I wanted to see what my revenue was at the start of the spring and see if it would increase with continued success. I'm right at my budget limit and really want to make a run at Arenado next off season but it just doesn't look realistic with my current financial situation

[Sumodeads]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

2018 Oakland A’s Fantasy Franchise

June 7: Started off the quick 5 game road trip by losing two close games to the Royals, 7-6 and 7-5. Morton and Duffy both had their worst performances of the year allowing 7 runs each. We squeezed out the final game of the series 2-1 behind a dominating performance by rookie sensation Michael Kopech with 8 IP, 1 R, 10 K, 1 BB for his 7th win on the year. Hicks picked up his 20th save with a scoreless 9th.

Then we went to Texas for a quick 2 game sweep behind strong performances from Ohtani and Salazar to finish the road trip 3-2 and bring our record to 41-21, 6.0 games ahead of LAA.

Krush Davis homered 3 more times on the trip bringing his season total to 35! Ohtani homered twice and now has 8 on the year. Harper’s power outage continues as he is still stuck on 20 HR. He’s still 5th in the league in hitting(.321). I typically RAKE with Harper, so I’m sure he’ll get on a power surge soon and run off a bunch like Davis has.

I forgot to mention in my last post that Khris Davis was AL player of the month for May going off with a .336 AVG, 21 HR and 36 RBI!

10 game Homestand can KC, HOU and LAA coming up.


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