MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

[Rocket32]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

April has come to close and the second month of the season is about to begin. The Yankees for the most part steamrolled through everyone in their path in April as they finished with a record of 26-6. The Indians were the only team to have real success against us as they took 2 out of 3 from us at Yankee Stadium.

This is how the rest of the month went:
3 of 4 series win @ Orioles
3 game sweep vs Toronto.
2 of 3 series win vs Oakland.
3 game sweep @ Detroit.
That Cleveland series is the only series we lost so far this year.
We currently lead the AL East by 6 games and have the best record in baseball. Boston is in second place.


The offense has continued to crush the ball as we lead the league in BA (.316), runs (239), hits (376), doubles (72), HR’s (86), and RBI’s (237).

Stanton- 363 AVG, 13 HR’s, 42 RBI’s.
Adam Eaton- 342 AVG, 5 HR’s, 12 RBI’s.
Judge- 370 AVG, 11 HR’s, 28 RBI’s.
Arenado 302 AVG, 11 HR’s, 30 RBI’s.
Sanchez 295 AVG, 10 HR’s, 29 RBI’s.
Gregorius 356 AVG, 7 HR’s, 16 RBI’s.


On the 17th Severino fractured his wrist. He’ll be out for 1-2 months.
Pitching:
Kershaw 3.07 ERA.
E-Rod 3.44 ERA
Gray 4.41 ERA
Montgomery 3.09 ERA.
Holder 0.00 ERA through 7 IP.
Kahnle 5.93 ERA.
Siegrist 0.57 ERA
Barraclough 9.39 ERA
Robertson 1.93 ERA
Betances 0.00 ERA through 8 IP.
Chapman 4.26 ERA.

So far Michael Wacha has been a bit disappointing as it seems he’s come back down to earth and is normal Wacha again after a 2019 season where he pitched to a 2.75 ERA in 196 innings for both the Cardinals and Yankees. His ERA is currently 4.67.


To begin May, the Yankees will head to Fenway to face the 19-11 Red Sox for the first time in 2020. Both teams have a day off before and after the series so both are pretty much free to put their best players on the field all 3 games. The Red Sox will be sending Price, Jalen Beeks, and Porcello to the mound. We just managed to dodge Sale. They are down Eduardo Nunez as he’s out for 1-2 months with a torn hamstring.


We took advantage of the fact that we were facing the terrible Tigers and rolled the dice by promoting Joe Ross and Justus Sheffield to start the final 2 games vs Detroit, both on short rest. The offense made sure it didn’t matter what they did on the mound as we scored over 11 runs both games. Sheffield got knocked around for 6 runs but we still won and he was put in a bad position in the first place.


Ross really impressed holding Detroit to 2 runs through 7. Since he was already off to a hot start in the AAA rotation with a 1.03 ERA, he may have earned a promotion. Barraclough was promoted back to the MLB level after a brief 2 day stay in Scranton. If Ross is brought up in the next several days after he’s rested up Barraclough will likely be going down.


Thanks to that risky maneuvering we are set to send Kershaw, Gray, and Wacha to the mound. Eduardo Rodriguez will likely be available in relief as he gets his first shot at revenge on his former team for placing him on waivers in the finals of the 2019 season. The Yankees are in prime position to make a statement vs their arch rival.

[agentlaw13]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Another year, another division title for the 2019 Cleveland Indians!

Encarnacion led the way for me with another monster year with 58 HRs and 123 RBI, winning MvP in back to back years.
Kluber prevented back to back Cy Young awards for Chris Sale by winning the award for the second time in 3 years. He finished the year with a 19-7 record and a 2.68 ERA.

We opened the ALDS by traveling to Seattle to take on the Mariners. It was a pitcher’s game with James Paxton going 7 innings for the win. Kluber pitched well in the 3-1 loss but 2 critical errors by Ramirez and our inability to capitalize with RISP, doomed us in Game 1.

We look to bounce back in Game 2 when Carrasco takes the mound vs Mike Leake.

Already down 1 game and on the road, the pressure to win game 2 and prevent consecutive exits from the ALDS is mounting.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Huge 3-game sweep of the Nationals in D.C. puts some distance between the NL East rivals, as the New York Mets now own a 5.5-game division lead with the All-Star Game just three days away.

We're nearly at the same point.

I'm about to play the final weekend series before the All-Star break.

[DJ]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

We're nearly at the same point.

I'm about to play the final weekend series before the All-Star break.

Great, you're about to lap me, lol.

I've pretty much gone back to just playing The Show at this point. I'll mix in Madden and NHL from time to time, but have thrown in the towel on NBA games this year to dedicate more time to MLB.

[agentlaw13]

MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Another year, another division title for the 2019 Cleveland Indians!

Encarnacion led the way for me with another monster year with 58 HRs and 123 RBI, winning MvP in back to back years.
Kluber prevented back to back Cy Young awards for Chris Sale by winning the award for the second time in 3 years. He finished the year with a 19-7 record and a 2.68 ERA.

We opened the ALDS by traveling to Seattle to take on the Mariners. It was a pitcher’s game with James Paxton going 7 innings for the win. Kluber pitched well in the 3-1 loss but 2 critical errors by Ramirez and our inability to capitalize with RISP, doomed us in Game 1.

We look to bounce back in Game 2 when Carrasco takes the mound vs Mike Leake.

Already down 1 game and on the road, the pressure to win game 2 and prevent consecutive exits from the ALDS is mounting.

Indians on the brink of elimination after going down 2-1. It’s definitely been all about pitching in this series.

We bounced back in game 2 to tie the series as we head back to Cleveland. Behind 6 strong innings from Carrasco only giving up 1 run, it allowed us to let our lefties from the pen, Miller and Hand, finish out the 3-1 victory.

Game 3 was a flashback game for King Felix. His offspeed stuff kept us off balance and scoreless until the bottom of the 9th. Again, we couldn’t capitalize once we had guys on base. But on a 3-2 pitch with 2 outs, Logan Morrison hit a scraper over the right field fence to tie the game up at 1. We bring in Hand to tackle the lefties in the lineup (Seaver, Vogelbach, and Cano) and Seager slices a leadoff double to the left field corner against our shift. Vogelbach bunts him to 3rd. On the first pitch to Cano, Seager steals home and I mistakenly react (when I hear he’s stealing) and throw the ball to 3rd, allowing Seager to cross for what would be the game winning run. A definite SMH moment for sure.

We go to the bottom of the 10th where they bring in Diaz to close it down and he does exactly that as I strikeout with my first batter and pop out with the next two guys. A frustrating loss to say the least. Clevinger pitched well enough to win with 7ip, 2 H, and only giving up 1 run. Our bats have gone silent in the postseason and two of my best hitters, Lindor and Encarnacion are batting .181 and .000 in the series.

It’s do or die in Game 4 as we have Shane Bieber taking the mound against Marco Gonzales. Hopefully the bats wake up and we can extend our season at least one more day.

[agentlaw13]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Indians survive and force game 5 in Seattle.

The bats finally woke up in Game 4 of the ALDS. EE broke out of his slump and had a 2 HR, 3 RBI day leading the Indians to a 6-4 win over the Mariners. It looked like more of the same ol’ low scoring affair, as after 2 innings, the Mariners were leading 2-1 until the bottom of the sixth, when EE blasted his 2nd homer of the game, a 2 run blast, to take the lead. We tacked on another run to make it 4-2 after six.

We bring in Greg Holland in relief of Beiber and he gives up 2 runs right off the bat to allow the Mariners to tie it back up. We finish out the inning with Pedro Baez and Andrew Miller coming on in relief to stop the rally.

In the bottom of the 7th, Kevin Kiermaier unloads on a 2-2 pitch and brings home Zimmer with a 2 run HR. That would be all the support the Indians bullpen needed, as they shut down the Mariner’s bats in the final two innings to pick up the win and keep their season alive.

Each team is going back to their aces for game 5, as its Kluber vs Paxton again for a trip to the ALCS and a date with the Oakland A’s, which swept the Red Sox in their divisional matchup.

[agentlaw13]

MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Indians are moving on! They defeated the Seattle Mariners 4-0 in a decisive game 5 of the ALDS.

The 2019 Cy Young winner, Corey Kluber picked a great time to pitch one of his best games of the year. He pitched a complete game 3 hit shutout in efficient fashion, striking out 7 and finishing the game with only 90 pitches.

The offense did what they had to do to get the W. They scored 4 runs on 10 hits. The biggest of those coming on a 2 run HR from Yandy Diaz in the 5th inning. He had previously been hitless in the series and was almost benched before the game. He was 2-4 on the day, scoring 2 runs and knocking in 2.

The Tribe now turn their attention to the Oakland Athletics. They will travel to Oakland for Game 1 of the ALCS. Carlos Carrasco will toe the rubber for the Indians while Daniel Mengden gets the start for the A’s.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

As we play thru the final weekend series of games before the All-Star break, the trade market has been a frenzy thus far. Some of the more notable trades/acquisitions:

Red Sox get Touki Toussaint from the Braves

Red Sox get Fernando Sandoval from the Reds

Tigers get Brian Dozier from the Twins

Indians get Jesus Castillo (90 rated pitcher that was a drafted player) from the Angels

Dodgers get Jake McGee from the Angels

There have been several others (13 trades thus far in July alone), but these are the more marquee moves.

The Cardinals continue to look at the market but nothing is there that makes "sense" at the moment. The George Springer deal is not happening as the Yankees are now not wanting to trade him. I think they drunk called/texted/emailed me when they made the offer...

[JoshC1977]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

I started a franchise right after launch, got frustrated with sliders, deleted it, then strictly played DD offline through early December (what a fun, fantastic mode). But, I got a hankering for some franchise baseball so I fired-up a franchise in early December with my favorite team, the Cincinnati Reds (first time I've used the Reds in a serious current-day franchise since World Series Baseball). I used a very early-season version of OSFM (1.5) and just let 'er rip (playing every game, every pitch, and using single-team control). Going classic/directional/clean-screen on All Star default sliders (+1 to swing timing adjusted about 10 games in).

We lost Luis Castillo in spring training for a couple of months due to injury, making our starting pitching even worse. However, we finished up the month of April at 14-16, are 5.5 games back of the Cubbies in the NL Central but have lost 8 of our last 10. The rotation has actually been decent with Desclafani pitching like an ace and (shockingly) Robert Stephenson pitching like we all thought he could. However, after hot starts by both, they are beginning to regress to the mean. Offensively it's been hit or miss (no pun intended) - players trading off hold and cold streaks - we're basically middle-pack in every major offensive stat (with HRs being our one strength as we're in the top 5 in the majors in that category).

In the minors, top prospect Nick Senzel is off to a hot start while batting well over .300 in AAA. He presents an interesting dilemma - he needs ABs still but Suarez is blocking him at 3b (Scooter blocking him at 2b). I'm keeping him in AAA for now. Lefty RP Amir Garrett is also pitching well in AAA but with the two lefties in the Cincy bullpen pitching well so far, I'm not keen on bringing him up just yet.

I made one significant early season move, trading LF Adam Duvall and RP Jared Hughes to the Dodgers for oft-injured (but otherwise solid) SP Hyun-jin Ryu, RP Ross Stripling and (f)utility infielder Kike Hernandez. Duvall was off to a hot start but with youngster Jesse Winker in the wings, we decided to make the move. Winker immediately responded with a hot streak (that is still going) and while he isn't showing HR power, he's been an on-base and doubles machine in the 2-hole. I'm hoping that Ryu (who is only a 70 overall) can be a solid rotation piece...he's in the last year of his contract, so if he performs and the team is out of contention, we might flip him again. Kike is a nice complement to Winker as a lefty-masher who can fake it at multiple spots in the field. We later made a lesser deal with San Fran to acquire backup catcher Nick Hundley (who was buried in a time-crunch) to caddy for Barnhart.

One big CPU deal happened as the Atlanta Braves acquired ace starting pitcher Michael Fullmer for Ronald Acuna and Matt Wisler. At first I was like "What?!"...but the game doesn't "know names". The Braves acquired a 25 yr old, 83 overall with A potential starting pitcher for a 20 yr old 70ish overall (A potential) OF and a mid-60s SP (B potential I believe). This obviously doesn't happen IRL (Fullmer isn't THAT good) but in the game's context, it makes sense. Definitely makes Atlanta's rotation a LOT tougher and the Tigers get a tremendous prospect for their rebuild.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Mid-Summer Classic is coming up as we've reached the All-Star break. Been a wild first half of the season. We continue to monitor the market for players that could potentially get us to the Fall Classic this season. We currently lead the Central by a game over the Cubs as they have struggled the last 2 or 3 weeks.

Here are the standings across baseball:

AL EAST

Blue Jays 53-42
Red Sox 51-47 3.5 GB
Rays 50-46 3.5 GB
Orioles 50-48 4.5 GB
Yankees 43-53 10.5 GB

AL CENTRAL

Tigers 53-45
Twins 51-45 1 GB
Indians 50-45 1.5 GB
Royals 45-50 6.5 GB
White Sox 43-54 9.5 GB

AL WEST

A's 58-39
Astros 50-49 9 GB
Mariners 47-50 11 GB
Rangers 46-51 12 GB
Angels 36-61 22 GB

NL EAST

Marlins 61-37
Mets 52-43 7.5 GB
Braves 50-45 9.5 GB
Nationals 43-53 17 GB
Phillies 39-57 21 GB


NL CENTRAL

Cardinals 57-38
Cubs 56-39 1 GB
Pirates 49-48 9 GB
Reds 48-48 9.5 GB
Brewers 40-58 18.5 GB


NL WEST


Dodgers 53-43
D'Backs 47-50 6.5 GB
Giants 47-51 7 GB
Padres 47-52 7.5 GB
Rockies 34-62 19 GB

The All-Star game this year is at Great American Ballpark.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Cardinals acquire Max Scherzer from Nationals

With trades taking place at what seems like a record pace, the Cardinals use the All-Star break to get involved, acquiring Max Scherzer from the Nationals for prospects and John Brebbia.

Nationals Acquire

RP John Brebbia (controllable for 2 more years before free agent. Gives them someone to build bullpen around)
SP Franklin Hancock (20 years old...77 OVR...A potential..was AA All-Star this year)
CF Nick Plummer (24 years old...77 OVR...A potential...was starting CF in AA All Star game)

Max Scherzer comes to the Cardinals with a 6-7 record, but his ERA is a respectable 3.28 and his WHIP is 1.06. Scherzer is 36 years old and was re-signed by the Nats in the offseason to a one year deal, so the Cardinals can part with him after the season, provided he doesn't retire. Scherzer is from Missouri and is ecstatic to be playing for his hometown team.

Scherzer will take Jack Flaherty's spot in the rotation while the youngster recovers from a shoulder injury. Flaherty isn't expected back until September, and even then, the Cardinals may just shut him down due to his arm troubles this year. The Cardinals still have Jose Quintana, Mike Leake, and Miles Mikolas to fill out the 5th spot in the rotation. Quintana pitched a gem against his old club the White Sox earlier this week. Leake has been reliable, and Mikolas, when healthy, has pitched extremely well.

The Cardinals are now searching the market for a potential catcher as Carson Kelly continues to struggle at the plate, but his command of the pitching staff is top notch. The best catcher that seems to be available is Salvador Perez of the Rockies, but they have no interest at this time in trading him.

The Cardinals could look for a bullpen piece, even though they traded Brebbia, just in case Adam Cimber starts to falter as the pressure mounts for a postseason run. Also, Sam Freeman has been shaky here of late, and the Cardinals could look to add a lefty to the pen as security for Freeman. Kiekhefer is pitching well now, after spending a majority of the first half of the season pitching in Memphis.

Other than that, I think the Cardinals are set to make their run at October. They will open the 2nd half of the season with a 4 game series in Wrigley against the 2nd place Cubs.

[Rocket32]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

Cardinals acquire Max Scherzer from Nationals

With trades taking place at what seems like a record pace, the Cardinals use the All-Star break to get involved, acquiring Max Scherzer from the Nationals for prospects and John Brebbia.

Nationals Acquire

RP John Brebbia (controllable for 2 more years before free agent. Gives them someone to build bullpen around)
SP Franklin Hancock (20 years old...77 OVR...A potential..was AA All-Star this year)
CF Nick Plummer (24 years old...77 OVR...A potential...was starting CF in AA All Star game)

Max Scherzer comes to the Cardinals with a 6-7 record, but his ERA is a respectable 3.28 and his WHIP is 1.06. Scherzer is 36 years old and was re-signed by the Nats in the offseason to a one year deal, so the Cardinals can part with him after the season, provided he doesn't retire. Scherzer is from Missouri and is ecstatic to be playing for his hometown team.

Scherzer will take Jack Flaherty's spot in the rotation while the youngster recovers from a shoulder injury. Flaherty isn't expected back until September, and even then, the Cardinals may just shut him down due to his arm troubles this year. The Cardinals still have Jose Quintana, Mike Leake, and Miles Mikolas to fill out the 5th spot in the rotation. Quintana pitched a gem against his old club the White Sox earlier this week. Leake has been reliable, and Mikolas, when healthy, has pitched extremely well.

The Cardinals are now searching the market for a potential catcher as Carson Kelly continues to struggle at the plate, but his command of the pitching staff is top notch. The best catcher that seems to be available is Salvador Perez of the Rockies, but they have no interest at this time in trading him.

The Cardinals could look for a bullpen piece, even though they traded Brebbia, just in case Adam Cimber starts to falter as the pressure mounts for a postseason run. Also, Sam Freeman has been shaky here of late, and the Cardinals could look to add a lefty to the pen as security for Freeman. Kiekhefer is pitching well now, after spending a majority of the first half of the season pitching in Memphis.

Other than that, I think the Cardinals are set to make their run at October. They will open the 2nd half of the season with a 4 game series in Wrigley against the 2nd place Cubs.

What OVR is Scherzer? Curious since your franchise is a carryover and he’s 36. I assume regression has already been going to work on his ratings? Bold move for sure, I probably would’ve tried for someone a bit younger. Hope it pays off for you.

Is it possible that the current year you are in will be the final year of your franchise? Must be tempting to start a new one with Miller and Goldschmidt.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

What OVR is Scherzer? Curious since your franchise is a carryover and he’s 36. I assume regression has already been going to work on his ratings? Bold move for sure, I probably would’ve tried for someone a bit younger. Hope it pays off for you.

Is it possible that the current year you are in will be the final year of your franchise? Must be tempting to start a new one with Miller and Goldschmidt.

He is an 84 at default. Being on our roster because of being his home area and us being a contender, he boosted to an 88.



It’s very tempting to start a new one for sure, but I am so heavily invested in my current franchise and the roster I’ve built that I have no intention of stopping.


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[agentlaw13]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

2019 ALDS Indians vs A’s

Game 1 - *We actually have home field advantage in this series and didn’t travel to Oakland for game 1 as previously mentioned. And thank goodness we were playing at home because it took some late inning dramatics in the bottom of the 9th to win this one.
It was Mengden vs Carrasco and pitching dominated the majority of the game. Carrasco was awesome for us, going 7.2 innings, 6 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, and 10k’s. He exited the game with a 1-0 lead. In the top of the ninth, we bring on Darren O’Day to face the righties (Hand is usually our closer but I was playing the matchups). He gives up a 2 run blast to Khris Davis, as they take a 2-1 lead.
Oakland brings on Trienen to close it out. First batter, Jose Ramirez, doubles to the left field gap. Next up is EE, who was 1-3 on the night so far. On a 2 strike pitch, he takes the low sinker and blasts it over the left field wall for the walk off 3-2 win! Indians steal game 1!

Game 2 - Pitching continued to be the name of the game for the Indians as Clevinger took the mound vs Sean Manaea. Clevinger goes 7.1 innings giving up 3 hits, 1 ER, 1 BB, and tallying 7 K’s. Manaea pitched well himself until he gave up a 3 run blast to rookie catcher Jesus Sierra in the bottom of the 7th. The A’s put a run on the board in the 8th and we added 2 more in the bottom of the 8th to take a 5-1 lead and to allow the bullpen to close it out. The bats have awoken a bit as we put up 10 hits in this one and EE added another solo blast to his postseason total.
We take a 2-0 series lead as we head to Oakland.

* Odd thing here, I noticed Matt Chapman wasn’t playing in either of the 2 games and I don’t remember seeing him traded or injured during the year. So after the game I go to roster mgmt and see where he is. He is in AAA, rated 94, and his stats show he hit .260, 31 HRs and 84 RBIs on the year at the MLB level. The A’s are playing a 72 rated rookie, Sheldon Nuese, at the position and he is batting .261 with no RBIs. Not sure why Chapman wasn’t on the playoff roster but I’ll take every advantage I can get lol

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Franchise Discussion Thread

American League won the All-Star game 1-0 in 10 innings. Luis Robert of the Orioles hit a solo homerun in the top of the 10th inning off Josh Hader.

A game played by the best players in world at great American ballpark ended in a 1-0 score and yielded just 8 hits combined by the two teams.

I would’ve never guessed that.





Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports