Taking a break from Random Debut

[David Watts]

I've decided for the time being to take a break from random debut. I still plan on fast simming the league from my thread off and on, but I've decided to create a new project for the time being.

I'm replaying 1972 using real transactions. I'm using 1 year recalc and since players miss seasons and retire according to history the OOTP development engine is disabled.

Hoping it will make the pennant races more interesting, I've added a little twist to reality by adding 2 wildcards to each league for the post season. All series in the post season will be best of seven matchups, as I want the races to be interesting, but I want the best teams to win in the end.

I'm going to try and take my time with this league. I'm currently watching several games each day. I've worked my way through April and just started play for the month of May. So far there have been lots of surprises standings wise. The Kansas City Royals are sitting at 17-9 after getting out to a 16-6 start. The California Angels are right behind the Royals and currently hold the 1st wildcard. The Angels are riding the pitching of Nolan Ryan and Rudy May. The Oakland A's, everyone's favorite to win the division and maybe the World Series as well, have come out of the gate in a very sluggish fashion, sitting at a game under .500 on May 4th. In the AL East the Orioles are sitting in 1st place. I really can't see how they can fail to win the East, but we will see. The Tigers and Indians are currently tied for second place. As you know the Tigers won the East in real life, but I just don't see it happening in OOTP land. I think their best hope is to nab one of the wildcards and maybe surprise someone in the post season.

The National League East is a logjam as we speak. Pittsburgh, Montreal, Chicago and New York are all bunched together, but the Pirates have started to show signs of life after getting off to a slow start. In the West the Reds are looking like they will be tough to beat. That leaves Houston and Los Angeles to battle for wildcards and I won't be surprised if they both make the post season. Jim Wynn, Bob Watson and Ceasar Cedeno are currently knocking the cover off the ball.

I think it's going to be real interesting to watch milestones come and go in this league. Clemente is on his way to 3000 hits. Aaron of course is chasing Ruth. Kaline is on his way to 3000 hits and can he get one more home run than he did in real life to put him in Club 400? Oh and that Rose kid is approaching 2000 hits, so will he have enough in OOTP land to catch Cobb?

[thehef]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Hoping it will make the pennant races more interesting, I've added a little twist to reality by adding 2 wildcards to each league for the post season.

That oughta help!

Originally Posted by David Watts

All series in the post season will be best of seven matchups, as I want the races to be interesting, but I want the best teams to win in the end.

I've been thinking of doing a historical sim where all World Series' are best of sevens, with the ideal Home/Away schedule being HAHAHAH (if same city or very close, like NY/Philly), HHAAHAH (if close-ish like NY & Boston or LA/SD), and only HHAAAHH if significant travel is involved. And also, no more than one off day in a series (typically, if cross-country, west-to-east travel is required; two travel days will be required for some match-ups in the pre-air-travel years). My reasoning for this is that I don't like how postseason lineups are generally used like they are during the season, but postseason pitching staffs are not at ALL used like the regular season. But if there is no off days or just one, four - maybe all five - starting pitchers would be needed to start games (rather then the #4 starter being relegated to the bullpen and the #5 starter being left off the roster... as examples).

Originally Posted by David Watts

I'm going to try and take my time with this league. I'm currently watching several games each day. I've worked my way through April and just started play for the month of May. So far there have been lots of surprises standings wise. The Kansas City Royals are sitting at 17-9 after getting out to a 16-6 start. The California Angels are right behind the Royals and currently hold the 1st wildcard. The Angels are riding the pitching of Nolan Ryan and Rudy May. The Oakland A's, everyone's favorite to win the division and maybe the World Series as well, have come out of the gate in a very sluggish fashion, sitting at a game under .500 on May 4th. In the AL East the Orioles are sitting in 1st place. I really can't see how they can fail to win the East, but we will see. The Tigers and Indians are currently tied for second place. As you know the Tigers won the East in real life, but I just don't see it happening in OOTP land. I think their best hope is to nab one of the wildcards and maybe surprise someone in the post season.

Seems like some of those 70's Angels often over-perform in some of my historicals... I hope you get races like the '64 NL (& AL), '67 AL, '72 AL East, and '73 NL East!

Originally Posted by David Watts

The National League East is a logjam as we speak. Pittsburgh, Montreal, Chicago and New York are all bunched together...

Sounds like 1973!

Originally Posted by David Watts

In the West the Reds are looking like they will be tough to beat. That leaves Houston and Los Angeles to battle for wildcards and I won't be surprised if they both make the post season. Jim Wynn, Bob Watson and Ceasar Cedeno are currently knocking the cover off the ball.

Those 70's Astros also seem to overachieve in my historicals...

Originally Posted by David Watts

I think it's going to be real interesting to watch milestones come and go in this league. Clemente is on his way to 3000 hits. Aaron of course is chasing Ruth. Kaline is on his way to 3000 hits and can he get one more home run than he did in real life to put him in Club 400? Oh and that Rose kid is approaching 2000 hits, so will he have enough in OOTP land to catch Cobb?

Sounds pretty cool. Have fun & keep us posted!

[scurvycure]

Thanks for sharing this, David. Ironically, I set up a '72 replay a couple days ago as well, although I am not using real transactions. I play tested the '71 season first, using an assortment of different player development settings and in the end decided that I liked the overall statistical results best when I turned player development off.



Are you using real life lineups? If not, I am curious to hear your observations on how the AI is doing with lineups and playing time. One interesting anomaly from that season is the White Sox starting pitcher usage. Wood - 42 starts, Bradley - 39 starts. I would imagine that might be tough for any game engine to replicate.


Mike

[italyprof]

Yeah Wilbur Wood that year and maybe the next or the one before (?) was like a pitcher reborn straight from the 1880s.

Keep me posted about the Yankees now having Sparky Lyle in the bullpen. With the wildcard maybe they can make it to the postseason this time. I lived and died every day of that season divisional race. It was awesome. That was the moment Lyle breathed new life into a franchise that had looked like the Roman ruins - a once great empire fallen to ruin - and had them in contention up to the final week. It was only a taste. But from that moment on suddenly Yankees fans - I was 12 that year - had the idea that maybe this team could do something. And it was an exciting team somehow - on paper it looks like nothing. But Celerino Sanchez at 3B, who probably was not that good according to the newest statistical systems, nevertheless was our first real third baseman in almost a decade, and he seemed brilliant at the time. We were chanting "DE-FENSE, DE-FENSE" because of him when the team was in the field, as if we were football fans.

Weird team. Ron Blomberg, worst fielder I ever saw, and Felipe Alou were platooned at 1B (this was the year before the DH), and they really never had a right fielder (the remains of Johnny Callison and of Ron Swoboda and got some other PA and AB from somewhere else I guess). But the pitching was good and the bullpen decades ahead of its time except maybe for Oakland's. It was a four-way race - Detroit, Baltimore (which was finally vulnerable after all those years of dominance) and Boston plus the Yankees down to the wire. Great year. Great, great World Series between the As and Reds too.

[scurvycure]

Good stuff! Then in November your Yanks fixed their third base issue by swindling my Indians in a trade for Graig Nettles. That is one deal that will not be happening in my replay!


Mike

[italyprof]

Originally Posted by scurvycure

Good stuff! Then in November your Yanks fixed their third base issue by swindling my Indians in a trade for Graig Nettles. That is one deal that will not be happening in my replay!


Mike

Mike, I feel guilty about the way Gabe Paul essentially raided the Indians for the Yankees as he moved from Cleveland to Steinbrennerland.

Chambliss AND Nettles, plus Tidrow, and maybe another player, I am blanking. Naturally, I am grateful to have had those guys on the Yankees and to have gotten to see them win those pennants, but I also acknowledge that something unfair and maybe even shady was going on. Bowie Kuhn stopped Charlie Finley's dumping of players from his championship team but did not so far as I know even investigate Paul trading players to a team he subsequently moved to become the GM of.

When you think of those trades and the Joe Morgan mega-trade between between the Astros and Reds you wonder if the mid-70s might not have seen a couple of Cleveland-Houston World Series instead of NY-Cincinnati. Who knows? But you can rerun those seasons and see what you can do in a replay with the Indians.

[David Watts]

Well, I screwed this up big time and I really don't know what I did, or if it was playing exactly like it supposed to. All I know is the offense was dreadful and the pitching was spectacular through the first 2 months of the season. I know 1972 was a pretty awful year in terms of offense, OOTP had me on a 1968 pace. This is the second time I've tried this type of deal, only last time I used both real lineups and transactions. Both times the hitters felt like they were in some way severely restricted at the plate. This is probably nothing more than a confirmation bias deal on my part. I started a 1954 historical with real minors. Real transactions are off. For this league, I've left development on. The hitters and pitchers seem to be on a more normal pace. I probably need to quit starting threads until I find something to stick with. Sorry.