MLB The Show 25 Franchise Discussion

[Cyrus09]

After a post-franchise-deleting depression I am ready to get back on the horse. I played games with 10 different teams now looking for something to inspire me and honestly I was really close to just deinstall and move on with my life.

But that's not how we roll!

I thought for a bit that I would throw one of my biggest rules in gaming away: Never play a frontrunner. There is a team that is among the best in the league this year, that struggles to get over the hump. But after 2 games I was done with the Phillies, because it really just felt to easy. Sure, the battle with the Mets would be interesting. But to miss the playoffs I would have to be actively bad and since I know from my Mariners save that injuries are rare, I don't see that happening.

Then I tried my Blue Jays, because I really like the squad this year. But looking through the roster I just can't do it. It really is the worst roster in terms of player models. Clement looks like a different human, even with face scan. Francis as a starter for a year now looks random. All the AAAA players like Wagner, Roden, Barger are completely off. The bullpen, especially the lefties, are way to bad. It just doesn't work like that.

Next was the Brewers: I'm not a fan of the more closed stadiums, but I can live with that if the rest fits. I really like the rotation, but I couldn't get through with the lineup. Honestly, it just is a bit too close to the Mariners.

But getting to terms with the stadium there was a big step, because that was my biggest problem with my favorite option. And after a few games I wasn't bothered with the stadium at all.

So to make a long story short: I will try to get the Rays back in contention!

2 things I set up for mystelf beforehand:
- I will start the season without the injuries to the roster, because I love Ha-Seong Kim
- I will try to do business the Rays way, so I will make moves carefully with the finances in the focus but trying to stay competitive at the same time

I really like the young core around Caminero and Simpson and some of the younger pitching pieces. At the same time we have Lowe and Diaz, who are logical trade pieces. Finding moves for them that don't ruin the present and build for the future will be a great challenge.

I will finish the first series today and then keep the updates coming.

[countryboy]

Cardinals drop series to Mets in St.Louis

RECORD: 14-16
DIVISION: 2 GB
WILCARD; 1.5 GB

The Cardinals dropped their 3 game series with the Mets over the weekend in St.Louis as the pitching staff let the Cardinals down. Jordan Montgomery was knocked around hard in his start on Friday night as the Mets put up 7 runs on 9 hits in 2 innings against Montgomery. Matthew Liberatore who started Sunday suffered the same type of faith although he got thru 3 innings allowing 8 runs on 7 hits including 3 homeruns. Griffin Channing who won his start on Saturday was solid tossing 6.2 innings allowing 2 runs on 5 hits, but got the no decision as he left with the game tied after giving up a 2 run homerun to Pete Alonso.

Offensively Nolan Gorman swung a hot bat this series breaking out of his slump and Masyn Winn also had a good series recording 5 hits and 5 RBIs. Lars Nootbaar had a 4 for 4 game on Sunday.

The Cardinals will now travel to Milwaukee for a 3 game series with the Brewers.

[FBeaule04]

Welcome to AAA young mens!!!

Ozzie Smith - 5’11 - 160 - SS
Team: Nashville Sounds (Milwaukee Brewers)
21 years old - AAA – 66 overall
Top 100 Prospects: 3^rd / MLB ETA: 2025

Last Series: 6G / 9 for 23 / 2 HR / 4 RBI
2025 Stats: 6G / .391 BA / .462 OBP / .652 SLG / 1.114 OPS / 2 HR / 4 RBI

Performance: “You get a call to the manager office, and he tells you right away you’ve played your last game with the Shuckers. I was in shock, what did I do wrong? And then, I’m called up to AAA. Holy molly, what a feeling!” expressed the Brewers SS. In fact, making the step to AAA looked easy for The Wizard of Oz, going 9 for 23 and blasting two HR in the six-game series.

Team: “I think he gave a good boost to the team, since we won 5 out of 6 against a darn good Tides team.” Said manager Miguel Alvarez. It was the first time in 5 series that the Sounds won more than 3 games, and you could see the team was more than happy with the results. They will now travel to Memphis and face a struggling Redbirds team.

Sounds: 18W – 21L – 6.0 GB – 18^th in International League West
Next: at Memphis Redbirds (11W – 28L - 13.0 GB – 10^th in IL West)

**********
Kirby Puckett - 5’8 - 184 - CF
Team: Memphis Redbirds (St. Louis Cardinals)
21 years old - AAA - 65 overall
Top 100 Prospects: 5^th / MLB ETA: 2025

Last Series: 4G / 1 for 17 / 1 BB / 8 SO
2025 Stats: 4G / .059 BA / .111 OBP / .059 SLG / .170 OPS / 1 BB / 8 SO

Performance: “All I have to say is that his batting didn’t make the trip between Springfield and Charlotte, because, well, see the stats line, and you have your answers.” expressed Redbirds manager, Micheal Jiminez. It wasn’t a smooth start in AAA for Kirby, who had all sorts of problems at the plate. Swinging at balls and looking at strikes won’t help your batting, that for sure.

Team: The Redbirds and the Knights took each three wins in that six games series, and that wasn’t a surprise looking at how one game one team’s pitching was dominant while the offence was picking up next game. “It’s like that when you have two teams close to .500. The consistency isn’t up par, and it was like that in the series.” commented Knights manager.

Cardinals: 19W – 20L – 2.0 GB – 6^th in International League West
Next: vs Nashville Sounds (19W – 20L - 2.0 GB – 5^th in IL West)

**********
Due up:
Cal Ripken Jr. (3B) - AA (WAS)
Rickey Henderson (LF) - AA (ATH)

[countryboy]

Cardinals swept in Milwaukee as pitching and hitting fail to show

RECORD: 14-18
DIVISION: 5 GB
WILDCARD: 4 GB

The Cardinals were absolutely embarrassed in a 3 game sweep of the Brewers in Milwaukee. The Cardinals were outscored 27-2 over the series as the Brewers has nearly 3 times as many runs (27) as the Cardinals had total hits (10) over the series.

Not really sure what else to write about for this series other than the fact that Nolan Gorman was placed on the IL due to elbow injury. Outside of that, after getting back to .500 this team has just essentially forgotten how to play and compete at the game of baseball. Wow!

Next up is a 3 game weekend series in Cincinnati with the Reds to begin the month of May.

Nolan Gorman placed on 10 Day IL

Nolan Gorman was placed on the 10 Day IL with an elbow injury he suffered in Tuesday's game against the Brewers. Gorman grounded out and then apparently felt something was off with his elbow and was removed from the game. Gorman has struggled to start the year, but just recently has been swinging a more productive bat at the plate. He's expected to miss 2 weeks.

Pedro Pages was recalled from Memphis to fill the vacant roster spot as Willson Contreras will move from catcher to first base while Gorman is out and Ivan Herrera will be the everyday catcher.

[countryboy]

Cardinals win series against Reds as they get back on track

RECORD: 16-19
DIVISION: 5 GB
WILDCARD: 4 GB

The Cardinals returned to the winning side of the equation with a series win against the Reds in Cincinnati over the weekend. The Cardinals won on Friday and Saturday but were unable to pull off the sweep on Sunday. Griffin Canning continues to be the best pitcher in the Cardinals rotation as he went 8 innings on Friday night allowing a single hit and no runs while fanning 8. Ryan Helsley would preserve the 3-0 win. Nolan Arenado's 3 run blast in the 5th was all the scoring in the game. Matthew Liberatore won on Saturday thanks to help from the offense. The Cards and Liberatore trailed 5-2 after 4 innings, but an offensive outburst of 7 runs in the Top of the 5th put the Cardinals ahead 9-5 and they would go on to win 11-6. Willson Contreras had a whopping 7 RBIs in the game without ever hitting the ball out of the ballpark. He had a sac fly and two bases clearing doubles to reach the 7 RBIs for the game. On Sunday Dustin May pitched well, but unfortunately the offense struggled and the bullpen had a bad inning that cost the sweep. Chad Green gave up a 3 run homerun in the 7th inning that put the Reds up 5-1 which would be the final score.

Next up is a 3 game series in St.Louis with the Padres as the Cardinals start the journey back to .500.

[countryboy]

Cardinals drop series to Padres as offense struggles again

RECORD: 17-21
DIVISION: 6 GB
WILDCARD: 4 GB

The Cardinals dropped their 3 game series against the Padres to start the week as they continue to try to get back to the .500 mark on the season. The Cardinals lost on Monday as the offense managed 1 run on 4 hits and then won on Tuesday thanks to Jordan Montgomery pitching a gem and a timely 8th inning pinch hit 3 run homerun by Willson Contreras. On Wednesday, despite Griffin Channing tossing 7 innings giving up 2 runs (not earned) on 3 hits, the offense managed zero runs on just 2 hits.

The offensive struggles are becoming quite the concern for the front office and manager AJ Hinch. Jordan Walker has plummeted from hitting near .260 down to .195. Victor Scott and Michael Siani are giving no production at centerfield. Brendan Donovan is struggling, Nolan Arenado has 2 homeruns thru nearly 40 games, Masyn Winn can't get consistent, and the rest of the offense is hit or miss.

Pitching has been good and actually gotten better of late with Jordan Montgomery's last two starts totaling 14 innings, 2 runs given up on 8 hits. The bullpen has settled down with Jordan Hicks dominating hitters again.

If the Cards don't find offensive production, this year is going to end up just like last year. If they do, the Cardinals could become serious contenders to play October baseball.

After an off day on Thursday, the Cardinals will face the Marlins in a 3 game weekend series in Miami.

[countryboy]

Cardinals to acquire Dylan Carlson from the Orioles

The Cardinals and Orioles have come to an agreement on a deal that will allow the Cardinals to re-acquire Dylan Carlson from the Orioles in exchange for LHP Drew Rom. The Orioles DFA'd Dylan Carlson 3 days ago and the Cardinals have tossed around the idea of bringing the switch-hitting outfielder back to St.Louis. The Cardinals will likely outright C Jimmy Crooks to make room on the 40 man roster for Carlson. The Cardinals will also likely either send Victor Scott or Jordan Walker to the minors to make room on the active roster.

The other potential move could be to DFA RHP Chad Green, who is struggling, to make room on both the 40 man roster and the active roster and the Cardinals only carry 12 pitchers.

The Orioles will acquire 26 year old Drew Rom who was in their pipeline at one point to help with depth concerns in their starting pitching.

The Cardinals front office is desperate to find help offensively and the younger guys, not that Carlson is an old vet, just aren't adding the depth the Cardinals need in case of days off for players, or worse yet, injuries.

I would suspect the Cardinals to be extremely active over the next month or so as they try to see where they will stand come July and the trade deadline. I don't foresee any signiicant moves involving highly rated prospects, but the Cardinals could make more "lateral" moves to try to piece together veteran depth in the organization, most notably the 26 man big league roster.

[Bgrd1080]

I like the new format CB with your standings and record in the header. Easier to keep up to date on your franchise.

Also excited to follow the TB series Cyrus. I tried them myself but struggled with the stadium. The homeruns were astronomical for me. Been playing an Angels series the last 2 weeks but hadn't been updating as I was struggling to get logged in on OS site but it looks to be up a running now. Probably start updating after work.

[Cyrus09]

I like the new format CB with your standings and record in the header. Easier to keep up to date on your franchise.

Also excited to follow the TB series Cyrus. I tried them myself but struggled with the stadium. The homeruns were astronomical for me. Been playing an Angels series the last 2 weeks but hadn't been updating as I was struggling to get logged in on OS site but it looks to be up a running now. Probably start updating after work.

I get that with the stadium, even though I am not sure how much of that is playing the Rockies and Pirates first but I am hitting like crazy the first few games.

[Itsma806]

2025 Houston Astros 07/07-07/09

Overall Record: 49-44 (2nd AL West/5.5 behind Texas Rangers)

Game Results:

Game 1
Guardians-7
Astros-4

Game 2
Astros-2
Guardians-1

Game 3
Astros-6
Guardians-3

Astros beat another first place team as they anticipate matchup with Rangers

The Astros have won their last two series and are 5-1 in that stretch against first place teams in their respective divisions. The stretch started with a three game sweep of the Dodgers and most recently, Houston won two of three against Cleveland.

In the most recent series, Houston lost the first game, 7-4 before they won games two and three 2-1 and 6-3. Even the loss could have been a win but sadly, Josh Hader blew the save as Cleveland scored four in the ninth inning to take the 7-4 lead that would be the final score as Houston was closed out by Emmanuel Clase (SV #32).

Houston will now have a day off before they welcome the Rangers into town with a chance to lower the divisional deficit before the all star break.

[FluffyTonka]

ChiSox 2025 Season

*Been a bit quiet from posting since the boards underwent surgery. Started a new ChiSox franchise to get them back in the hunt. Played all of Spring Training to see what i got, and what i need to be more competitive.

Chicago has lots of talent in the farm system but nothing that really looks game-changing, so I rolled some AA & AAA pitching prospects into the SS of the future and traded for Marcel Mayer and reliever Greg Weissert. Not done there, and also gave up another A pitching prospect and Brooks Baldwin to get Tanner Houck as my ace. He's still a young prospect, good quirks and his best pitching is yet to come. As this team develops Chicago hopes Houck develops into a bonafide Ace.

Wanting some more outfield defence and hitting, we traded some infield prospect depth for Jake Meyers from the Houston Astros, and picked up free agent reliever Joe Kelly and 32 yr old Starter Domingo German (i love his repertoire and motion and increased his overall to 75).

Opening day Lineup

1 RF Jake Meyers
2 SS Marcelo Mayer
3 DH Mike Tauchman
4 CF Luis Robert Jr
5 LF Andrew Benintendi
6 1B Andrew Vaughn
7 C Matt Thais
8 3B Josh Rojas
9 2B Brandon Drury

Pitching

SP RHP Tanner Houck

LR Penn Murfee

SU Greg Weissert
SU Cam Boozer

CP Joe Kelly

Chicago enters the season ranked 19th overall - 20th Contact 17th Power 16th Pitching 4th Defence 7th Speed; and with 6 prospects in the MLP top 100 - trailing only Boston and LAD. The Whitesox are aiming to be competitive and within touch distance of a wildcard spot by the All Star break, and if so will look to make trades down the stretch giving up some prospects for immediate impact players and veteran leadership.

[FluffyTonka]

ChiSox 2025 Season

Opening Series at Rate Field Chicago, hosting Mike Trout and the Angels.

Tanner Houck's debut as Opening Day starter was extremely successful with the crafty righthander going 6 innings with 6 SO's, 1 ER on 4 Hits and 1BB. He wouldn't get the win as the pitching duel with Soriano from the Angels went inning for inning until both were replaced with the score locked at 1-1 heading into the 7th. Chicago crafted a run in the bottom of the 4th after Marcelo Meyer was hit by a pitch, Robert was walked and Andrew Benintendi cracked a line drive into deep right centre field for a RBI Double.

This is was all undone by a Mike Trout solo shot in the top of the 6th.

Angels would score another run in the 7th and ChiSox would tie it up in the 8th at 2-2 on a Andrew Vaughn RBI single along the first base line.

Joe Kelly would come on and pitch a flawless 8th against the heart of the Angels order which set the stage for Andrew Benintendi's walk off homer in the 9th for a 3-2 victory, sending the home crowd into raptures.

Game 2

Another pitching duel saw Domingo German got head to head with lefty Kikuchi from the Halos.

German spun a gem going 7 innings of one hit ball (another Mike Trout solo shot) departing after the 7th with the Chisox hanging onto a slim 2-1 lead. Cam Boozer would pitch a flawless 8th, sitting the heart of the Angels lineup down in order 1-2-3.

Joe Kelly earned his first save of the year in a nervy 9th, after giving up a walk, a hit and then a fielder error at first when Vaughn couldn't handle a regulation throw out at first from 3B Josh Rojas. Kelly would strike out Jo Adell for the save and for the ChiSox to take a 2-nil series lead.

Martin Perez takes on Kyle Hendricks in the 3rd and final game tomorrow night.

[Arkansas Ranger]

Texas Rangers Update Season 2 MOM

The Texas Rangers enter the month of August at 59-53, 2 and a half games behind the Seattle Mariners. It has become a two team race as the Astros have fallen 10 games out and the A's and Angels are having terrible seasons. Lately its been a roller-coaster of a ride as we are winning about half our games. We can't seem to get past lose 2 win 2 stretches. We did very little at the trade deadline. Dalton Rushing was acquired for Leody Tavaras, but Rushing is currently on the 60 day IL with a ACL tear, so the team we have is what's going to either get in the playoffs or choke down the stretch. Here is a look at how the guys are doing entering the dog days of August

C- Martano, Bernal- both rookies, AVG production
1B- Jake Burger- Great Season with 21 Hr's and 68 RBI's
2b- Duran- 285 Hitter, 2nd on the team in hits, surprisingly good player
SS- Seagar- MVP Candidate. 30 HR's and 70 RBI's
3B- Josh Smith- Solid Season 260 hitter, great defense
LF- Wyatt Langford- Career high in Hr's with 17 so far, Hitting 270
CF- Cedric Mullins- Solid FA Pickup
RF- Kyle Tucker- Still only hitting 248, 15 Hr's. I was expecting a lot more for 50 million a year
DH Evan Carter- Slow start but is heating up. Was a 210 hitter now up to 240

Pitchers

1. Bradford- Good ERA at 3.5
2. Manning- Solid Starter
3. Scottie McAlpin- Solid Starter
4. Bryan Sammons- Hes ok ERA in the 4's
5. Rule 5 Pick up Evan Mchendry- Pitched well

I wish we had slightly better pitching but the older vets just didn't produce at all. Degrom, Eovaldi, and Singer were horrible and were all DFA'd

[FluffyTonka]

ChiSox 2025 Season

Chicago finished the series against the Halos with a massive offensive explosion, cruising to a 15-5 win. LA's starter Kyle Hendricks gave up 3BB's and 4 hits in the first 2.2 innings and was made to pay the price giving up 8 earned runs when Brandon Drury (of all people) smashed a grand slam to deep left field.

(personally, it's my first grandslam in about 2 years of the Show, and that is my highest score in about 7 years. lol, i couldn't miss the ball - HOF hitting/ Legendary Pitching)

Martin Perez gave up 2 runs over 5 innings, and the bullpen scattered 3 more runs over the final 4 innings. LAA made lots of hard contact, but straight to fielders or fouls or into double plays - Chicago had 4 doubleplays! So there is much for the ChiSox to tighten up moving forward.

Brandon Drury finished the game 3-4 2HRs 5RBIs BB. While Jake Meyers got 5 hits at the top of the order on 6 AB's and scored a career high 5 Runs.

Chicago opens a home series tomorrow afternoon against division rival Minnesota Twins, where Rookie Sean Burke takes the mound. (incidentally, has anyone seen the Twins bullpen? You better get all your runs against the starters bcos they look brutal).

Injury News

Chicago reliever Steven Wilson was sent to the 10 day IL after straining a lat on his very first pitch of the season.

[countryboy]

Cardinals sweep Marlins in Miami over Mother's Day Weekend

RECORD: 20-21
DIVISION: 2.5 GB
WILDCARD: 1.5 GB

The Cardinals just played what might have been their best series to date. The Cardinals swept the Marlins in Miami over the weekend and are now just one game under .500. The Cardinals won this series with all 3 facets playing well. Pitching was great, allowing 7 runs over the 3 games on just 10 hits. Hitting was on fire scoring 25 runs over the series and the defense was solid, with key spectacular plays to get out of potential jams.

Willson Contreras had a terrific series belting 3 homeruns and driving in 9 runs. Lars Nootbaar recorded at least 2 hits in all 3 games, and Ivan Herrera just continues to swing the most consistent bat in the lineup as his average is near .400 on the season.

On the mound Matthew Liberatore went 8 innings, Dustin May 6 and Sonny Gray tossed a complete game shutout as the starters did their job and the bullpen was effective when needed due to not being overworked.

The Cardinals have the Braves in St.Louis for a 3 game series starting Monday.