OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

I'm in the middle of May in my save and the Yankees (a team I don't control) dealt for Khris Davis. Apparently they weren't happy with how much power they had in the lineup.

[KBLover]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Cashman: 400 team HR or bad season!

[canes21]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

After losing 7 games in a row after my last update, my Braves managed to get back into first place for one game just to lose. They're sitting just .5 back of Philly and .5 back of the Cards for the 1st wildcard spot.

[canes21]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

And now I just lost Swanson to a strained hamstring. 2-3 months expected. August has been an awful month for my team.

[KBLover]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Angels 2031 Season Report

The Angels completed another successful regular season, winning the division and having the best AL record, thanks to the Blue Jays not having the greatest September.

The offense was bolstered by a tremendous season from Sakai, edging out the Yankees' Juan Romas and his 60 home runs. Ramos won the WAR battle, however, being the only player in the league with 10 WAR on offense.

Otherwise, the offense was decent, but not great, evidently bolstered in part by the strategy of Moulin to manufacture more runs. The Angels had no other standout seasons, but were fourth in the AL in runs, a decent mark.

Mike Trout turned 40 during the season and managed to salvage a solid campaign after a terrible first half. He posted 3.5 WAR and hit well enough to remain in right field with the majority of the playing time at the position. His .400 or better OBP streak lives on after a .406 mark this season, making it 17 consecutive seasons. Trout is also 31 HR from #800. He might make it to the historic milestone next season.

On the mound, there was no such rebound for Shohei Ohtani, who seems headed for the bullpen. His strike out ability has fallen hard and it seems that's been a lot of what kept him going. That said, he is just two years removed from his career best season and last season posted a 3.05 ERA. He will need to regain that form to maintain his rotation spot.

The rotation was pretty much same as always. Mukai and Mavity did well while Min-huei Kahng continues to perform above expectations despite an injury plagued season. Harriston's first full campaign was a success. A 12-6 record with a 3.46 ERA and 4.3 WAR is something the team could take constantly.

The new look bullpen was improved thanks to the acquisitions of Bonilla and Nashino both working out well. Moulin may still not be happy with the bullpen as the improvement was concentrated in those acquisitions instead of the whole unit actually getting better.

On the farm, there's a few pitchers looking to move up to the majors in Tim McDonald and Bob Flagler. The problem for the Angels is going to be a lack of left-handed pitching. Flagler is the best lefty in the system other than Murayama, who is still rehabbing from surgery for a torn rotator cuff.

Second baseman Xalbador Yslas is certainly ready for the big leagues, but the problem is he's blocked on most possible paths. Takada's continued success will keep him as the team's second baseman. Belfiore is a fixture at third base. Trujillo's rookie campaign was successful enough to likely keep him at DH, though moving Sakai to DH and Yslas getting a chance at 1B could be an option.

Otherwise, Yslas could be a useful trade piece this offseason.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Sakai had a decent season once again.

Uselton was a bit of a disappointment, eh? Wasn't he one that you traded for not that long ago?

[KBLover]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Sakai had a decent season once again.

Uselton was a bit of a disappointment, eh? Wasn't he one that you traded for not that long ago?

Uselton was more like "Useless" at the plate indeed.

He has good defense. Otherwise, major disappointment. Catcher has been a problem position this whole time!

[KBLover]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Angels Achieve Total Victory
Moulin Wins Third World Series

After shaking up the league with his odd-ball, even borderline retro strategies en route to consecutive Championships, the Angels had trouble reaching the big dance in the following seasons.

In fact, last year was the first appearance since those first two successful postseason runs.

This started casting some doubt on the strategies Moulin used. Were those years flukes or "lucky" seasons where everything just went their way? Are these strategies good enough to beat lesser talented teams but poorer against quality competition?

Those skeptics will be silenced at least for the coming season.

On top of the World Series victory was another dominant campaign...all without homegrown star Dominic Hutchinson. And without a good Ohtani. And half of Mike Trout.

Yet, the Angels won 105 games and ripped through the postseason.

"This feels better than you might guess. I mean, yes, you always love to win the Commissioner's Trophy, but finally, I proved we weren't just a shock factor that won by surprise. We won because what we do works if you build for it, " Moulin commented.

Toshikuni Sakai, who wins his first World Series and was MVP of both the ALDS and ALCS, spoke via translator, "This is a great honor and I am lucky to play with such a great team. Winning the World Series is a dream and I am glad to be a big part of the dream we achieved."

As soon as Sakai finished, fellow countryman Shunzo Nishino, a notorious prankster, sandwiched Sakai's face with shaving cream pies, sprinkled sunflower seeds on his face and doused him with champagne.

"That's this team, " Moulin spoke through a laugh, "These guys have more fun than I've seen in a team since I've been here, maybe ever that I can remember. Even though we've had success before, there was just another level of fun of positive atmosphere this year. We all could feel it. It's hard to explain."

What isn't hard to explain is that the Angels again found a way and that their aggressive, "force you to stop us" style continues to pay off.

[miamikb2001]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Angels Achieve Total Victory
Moulin Wins Third World Series

After shaking up the league with his odd-ball, even borderline retro strategies en route to consecutive Championships, the Angels had trouble reaching the big dance in the following seasons.

In fact, this year was the first appearance since those first two successful postseason runs.

This started casting some doubt on the strategies Moulin used. Were those years flukes or "lucky" seasons where everything just went their way? Are these strategies good enough to beat lesser talented teams but poorer against quality competition?

Those skeptics will be silenced at least for the coming season.

On top of the World Series victory was another dominant campaign...all without homegrown star Dominic Hutchinson. And without a good Ohtani. And half of Mike Trout.

Yet, the Angels won 105 games and ripped through the postseason.

"This feels better than you might guess. I mean, yes, you always love to win the Commissioner's Trophy, but finally, I proved we weren't just a shock factor that won by surprise. We won because what we do works if you build for it, " Moulin commented.

Toshikuni Sakai, who wins his first World Series and was MVP of both the ALDS and ALCS, spoke via translator, "This is a great honor and I am lucky to play with such a great team. Winning the World Series is a dream and I am glad to be a big part of the dream we achieved."

As soon as Sakai finished, fellow countryman Shunzo Nishino, a notorious prankster, sandwiched Sakai's face with shaving cream pies, sprinkled sunflower seeds on his face and doused him with champagne.

"That's this team, " Moulin spoke through a laugh, "These guys have more fun than I've seen in a team since I've been here, maybe ever that I can remember. Even though we've had success before, there was just another level of fun of positive atmosphere this year. We all could feel it. It's hard to explain."

What isn't hard to explain is that the Angels again found a way and that their aggressive, "force you to stop us" style continues to pay off.

Hmmmm says the Padres won was that just a misprint lol!


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[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Hmmmm says the Padres won was that just a misprint lol!


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Seems like a conspiracy...

[KBLover]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Hmmmm says the Padres won was that just a misprint lol!

I saved the playoff image as the team page by mistake and didn't catch it.

So when I uploaded the playoffs image to imgur, it was last year's.

So not only did I put the wrong playoff tree up, I lost my team page image in the process...

[saintrules]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Early September with my '18 Cubbies...

70-68, 4.5 games back in the Wild Card from San Francisco who trails Arizona by a couple games. Well out of the NL Central, at least 8 games behind St. Louis.

Have we had injuries? The answer is yes, but I think that would be the easy way out of explaining the difficulties. Bryant, Morrow, Almora, Heyward, Schwarber, and Russell, have all seen extended time on the DL, at least a couple weeks, with the biggest stints coming from Morrow who has seen the DL twice, Bryant who has been out for five weeks, and Russell who will miss the rest of the season from a concussion.

We've been playing long ball pretty much all Summer (2nd in NL HR's) with Baez and Rizzo nailing 31+ a piece, Contreras, Schwarber, and Happ, 20+, as well. Like their real life counterpart, we score in bunches, but when we're cold, we're absolutely frozen.

Quintana and Hendricks have put together really solid campaigns with the latter leading the team in ERA and the former leading the entire majors in IP. Darvish, Lester, and Chatwood, have had their moments, but there's as much consistency in them as a random number generator. Juan Nicasio, our mid-July trade piece (1 for 1 with 1B Victor Caratini), has been fantastic in the temporary Closer role. Justin Wilson has been mostly good and we've been using Carl Edwards Jr. and Jose Junior Rosario as our middle-late relievers.

With 24 games left to go, down four in the Wild Card, we need a massive month. I cannot fathom missing the playoffs with this team. If we did, I do sincerely believe I will explore Schwarber and Russell in the offseason, they are too volatile and I don't see either of them as pieces that will help bring us a title in our window of opportunity.

[miamikb2001]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

I saved the playoff image as the team page by mistake and didn't catch it.

So when I uploaded the playoffs image to imgur, it was last year's.

So not only did I put the wrong playoff tree up, I lost my team page image in the process...

Gotcha.I figured it had to be something like that bro.Congrats on another title I’m in 4th year of Giants chise and finally contending again.


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[WaitTilNextYear]

May 2018 Update

Team Record: 28-32 
May Record: 14-15
Position: 4th place NL East (11 GB)
Team MVP so far: [B]Max Kepler[/B], .299/.399/.572 | 13 HR | 37 RBI | 2.0 WAR
Team Cy Young so far: [B]Mike Clevinger[/B], 5-2 | 3.39 ERA | 1.30 WHIP | 58.1 IP | 0.5 WAR

May turned out to be another workman-like month for the fledgling Carolina Knights. Spirits were especially high at the end of May entering a 3-game set at Wrigley Field with a chance to climb above .500, but those spirits were quickly choked out. The Cubs absolutely hammered the Knights, scoring 37 runs in the 3 game sweep while getting a totally unnecessary 138-pitch no hitter from Yu Darvish in a 14-0 laugher. Now, spirits are somewhat lower for this expansion club once again.

The massive, undeniable weakness this team has is starting pitching. Between bush league quality pitching and injuries, it's been pretty doggone rough and a 5.75 starter's ERA (15th in the NL) is not winning many games. Somehow youngster Tyler Mahle is still in the rotation despite a ghastly 8.18 ERA over 58.1 IP in 2018. He's been a home run pinata giving up an NL worst 17 HRs (2.6 HR/9). Mahle was torched for a 10.31 ERA in 6 May starts. Opponents put a Ruthian .348/.413/.720 line on Mahle in May; the young pitcher would be comfortably back in the minors were it not for injuries to Ross Stripling and Chris Bassitt.

Trevor Cahill, who was the team's pitching MVP in April, was arguably even worse than Mahle in May. Cahill posted an unfathomable 11.14 ERA and 2.48 WHIP while walking 8.1 batters per 9 innings. This guy cannot buy a strike and he's now 2nd in the majors only to Detroit's Francisco Liriano in BBs allowed.

At least the other 3 starters in the Carolina rotation have been usable. Mike Clevinger, Patrick Corbin, and waiver-claim-from-Seattle Marco Gonzales have managed to go 11-7 in 24 combined starts. Corbin has been pretty steady and is 3rd in the NL with 79.1 IP. Clevinger would be 2nd in the NL in K/9 if he had pitched enough innings to qualify; he has 7 quality starts out of only 10 GS. Clevinger was outstanding in May with a 2.04 ERA and a microscopic .161 BAA. It looks like he'll be the "Collin McHugh" of this OOTP save.

The offense still isn't really scaring anyone. Carolina is batting .240 (14th in the NL) with 47 homers (15th in the NL) and a .325 OBP (10th in the NL). Max Kepler [.299/.399/.572 | 13 HR | 37 RBI] and Jose Iglesias [.311/.369/.411 | 3 HR | 31 RBI] have been pleasant surprises. But, veterans Jose Abreu [.195/.293/.360 | 9 HR | 33 RBI] and Ichiro Suzuki [.201/.320/.247 | 1 HR | 15 RBI | 14 SB] have really been playing like poo.

Abreu was acquired because his right-handed bat was expected to play well at Roy Hobbs Field (his OPS is 200 points higher at home, but still very bad). And now he might been non-tendered in the offseason if he keeps this up; the only reason he's holding onto his job is because Logan Morrison has been just as bad.

Ichiro is a fan-favorite and has already been signed to a cheap 1-year contract extension because the fans can't get enough. Sometimes you have to stoop to objectionable tactics to build a new fan base, like playing a 45-year-old swinging a whiffle bat.

At least the bullpen has been good!

[KBLover]

Re: OOTP 19 Franchise Progress

Mahle and Cahill better pick it up.

Team is close to .500 and they need to help at least achieve that since that's well within reach.