MLB 14 The Show PS4: Road to the Show Thread

[Madden's Jowels]

Click HERE for Year 1
Click HERE for Year 2




The Breakout Season


After losing to the Oakland Athletics in the 2015 ALDS, Julian Moses was angry. "We're going to make it back there next year and we're going to (expletive deleted)," he told reporters in the locker room.

Right from the start of the 2016 season it was clear that Julian Moses was on a mission to turn those words into reality. His bat was on fire, and he was playing a much better centerfield than he did the previous year, when he committed 8 errors and had the coaching staff's confidence wavering, shifting him to DH occasionally. Julian Moses played exactly zero games at DH in the 2016 season.

Julian was blistering hot the 1st half, heading into the all-star break with 25 homers, 1 shy of his 2015 total, with several multi-HR games. He hit 5 homers in 2 games against the Rockies:



Heading into the All-Star Break, nobody was sure if Julian was going to participate in the HR Derby and defend his crown, but at the last minute he agreed to be in the contest, reminiscent of Ken Griffey Jr. in (I believe) 1998. He, of course, defended his title.

After getting a taste of the All-Star game in 2015 (only getting to pinch run), Julian won the starting job in centerfield for the AL over Mike Trout, Jason Heyward (on the Red Sox and having a great season) and other great players. He didn't disappoint, hitting a homer and winning MVP honors in a 4-2 victory:


Original Video - More videos at TinyPic


Leading the AL MVP race most of the season, but relinquishing it towards the end to Edwin Encarnacion and his monster power numbers, Julian still managed to take home the Hank Aaron Award as the AL's best overall hitter, which was a nice consolation. He also won his first Silver Slugger. He finished with some pretty great numbers for a 20 year old, 3rd year player:



.313/.365/.615. 36 homers, 100 RBI. Impressive numbers. When asked what he was most proud of, it wasn't the homers or the RBI's, but the increased walks. "I know 41 walks isn't a ton, but it's a good improvement from last season. I want to be a guy who takes 80-90 walks a season, and this season was encouraging. Last season my OBP was 36 points above my batting average, this season it was 52 points above my average, and it was 45 points higher than last year. So yeah... the homers are great, but I want to be a .400 OBP guy and hopefully next year I can take another step towards that."

The Royals had won 98 games in 2015, but that was child's play compared to the 110 they won in 2016. And when it was playoff time, it was only fitting that they would end up facing the team that knocked them out a year before.


PLAYOFFS

The A's beat the Blue Jays in the Wild Card game, making the rematch possible. Although it's unclear if they ever came back from Toronto or if they left their bats up north, because the Royals demolished them in a 3 game sweep. "It feels good to get a little payback for last season," said Moses.

After that it was on to the Red Sox. They weren't much more of a challenge. The Royals dominated 4-1. This was all in spite of Julian Moses seeming to get cold at the worst possible time. He ended up hitting .242 throughout the playoffs, with 2 homers and 8 RBI, and seeing his slugging average drop over 200 points. It didn't matter, the Royals were headed to the World Series.




Unfortunately, this would not have a storybook ending for the Royals. After getting dominated by Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke in back to back games at Kauffman stadium, they headed to LA to try and steal a couple themselves. Taking a 5-2 lead into the 6th inning, they managed to give up back to back 3 run innings in the 6th and 7th, losing the game 8-5 and going down 3 games to 0.

They managed to win game 4 after Kershaw had an uncharacteristically short outing, but a game 5 loss ended their championship aspirations.





Julian Moses was contrite while sitting in his locker after the loss. "It's my fault," he said. "I had a terrible playoff run. This team depends on me to get on base and score runs, to drive others in, to make plays. I didn't do that. This is on me."

After a long pause, and a deep exhale, he said matter of factly: "We'll be back next year, and we're going to (expletive deleted)."






OFFSEASON

After signing Mat Latos after the 2015 season, the Royals went out and signed Gio Gonzalez to pair with him at the top of the rotation.

Julian Moses was eligible for arbitration, qualifying for the Super 2 rule, but opted to sign a 1 year deal for a hair under $1m. "My payday is coming... but right now I felt like that money could be better spent elsewhere, and you can see what the front office did, they went out and got us another ace."

The offseason saw Giancarlo Stanton reach free agency, and somewhat predictably, go to the Yankees for massive dollar amounts. But surprisingly it was only a 3 year deal. 3 years is also the same number of years Julian Moses has left before he will be an outright free agent. Some media members started connecting the dots. When asked about it, Julian only added gasoline to the fire. "Yeah, me and Giancarlo are friends. It would be pretty fun to see us team up in the same outfield, wouldn't it? That's a lot of balls leaving the yard," he said with a smile, before adding, "I'm just focused on trying to bring a World Series championship to Kansas City right now. It's fun to speculate on the future, but I'm all about the present."




Starting rating: 89
Year end rating: 96

Career Stats
.298/.337/.540 (.877 OPS), 385 hits, 69 HR, 209 RBI, 125 stolen bases

Career Accolades
MVPs: 0
Hank Aaron Awards: 1
Silver Slugger Awards: 1
Gold Gloves: 0
All-Star Appearances: 2
All-Star MVPs: 1
HR Derby wins: 2
WS Appeances: 1
WS Wins: 0

[SpeedyMikeWallace]

Finally got the call up to the Giants. Went 3-0 in 4 starts with a cool 0.00 ERA. Giants made a trade and sent me back to AAA. Ridiculous. That just should not happen.

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

[antixnette]

Quote: Originally Posted by antixnette

I recreated Dakota Ford, 1st baseman, I'm currently playing in the showcase.

I had a really good showcase, and got drafted by the Indians.

Played 77 games in the AA. 347AB, AVG383, 133H, 18HR, and 81RBI. I had a good showing in the AA and the Indians called me up as their DH.

I'm hitting pretty poorly so far, and only got 1RBI.

[allhailben7]

My 5-tool RF got called up along with Kris Bryant and we willed the Cubs (post-Samardzija trade) to the playoffs... 1st series vs Dodgers and did this in game 3 (series tied 1-1, down 3-1) vs Kershaw in the 7th...

[allhailben7]

Quote: Originally Posted by allhailben7

My 5-tool RF got called up along with Kris Bryant and we willed the Cubs (post-Samardzija trade) to the playoffs... 1st series vs Dodgers and did this in game 3 (series tied 1-1, down 3-1) vs Kershaw in the 7th...

... Then Bryant did this in the 9th after my double.


Walk-off 2-run HR with none out. He did the same thing with 2 out in a tie game the next night to send us to the NLCS. His playoffs so far: 2-12, 2 HR 5 RBI.

We move on to face the Braves..

[Badgah_]

I decided to make a closer for the first time. Pitched 3 scoreless innings in the showcase and got drafted with the first pick in the third round by the Astros. Started the season at AA Corpus Christi and made the minor league ASG with 22 saves and a 1.37 ERA. After 11 games post-ASG, I'm at 29 saves with a 1.15 ERA. How long does it usually take for a closer to get called up?

[sullivan2106]

So how often do you guys actually play out the games in RTTS? I just made a SP, drafted 4th round by the Jays in Double A now. Played the first two games very successfully, but how often do you sim games vs play them at the minor league level?

[aukevin]

Quote: Originally Posted by sullivan2106

So how often do you guys actually play out the games in RTTS? I just made a SP, drafted 4th round by the Jays in Double A now. Played the first two games very successfully, but how often do you sim games vs play them at the minor league level?

I play all my games in RTTS.


I hit a milestone in my 2B RTTS player for the Braves last night. In the 154th game of my 2017 season I hit my 61st and 62nd home runs of the season. The 62nd HR was in extra innings to give my team the lead.