This series was all 1969 Orioles...Until the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 3. At that point, they had won Game 1 4-1, Game 2 12-1, and were comfortably leading Game 3 10-4 when it all unravelled for them. The 1937 Yankees roared back to score 7 in the bottom of the ninth, including 4 after 2 were out in the inning. The next day Lefty Gomez came out and no-hit them in a 2-0 loss, and they would score only one run from there on out dropping the series 4-2. It was a weird series really, as it was all Baltimore for the first nearly three games and then it was all New York. There really weren't any back and forth games aside from Game 3, but even that was all Baltimore, and then all New York - a bit of a microcosm of the series as a whole, and that's probably where the series was lost for the O's even though they were up 2 games to 1 at the time. The failure to close that game out seemed to have a ripple effect, and they just flat out imploded, or the Yankees exploded. Does momentum exist? It certainly seemed to here.

Canadian George Selkirk was named MVP of the series as he hit .280/.333/.760 with 3 HR and 7 RBI. Pictures below include Game Log in two parts of Game 3 9th inning implosion, Box Score in two parts of Lefty's no hitter in Game 4, and the Series Recap:

So the Final Four is set, and it is:

29) 1954 Yankees (16-5)
33) 1998 Braves (16-4)

22) 1937 Yankees (16-7)
55) 1938 Yankees (16-11)

Anyone who saw that coming, I'd like you to please PM me this week's lottery numbers because...There's just no way you could've seen it.

3 more "upsets" brings us to a total of 26, versus 34 times when the "favourites" have won, hence the quote marks. There have been 8 sweeps in the 60 series' so far. 11 of them have gone 5 games, 20 have gone six, and 21 have gone the distance. Still hovering around the 70% mark for series' lasting at least 6 games, which is awesome, and to have 7 game series be the most likely outcome is cool too (35% of them). I'm looking forward to historical being patched up soon, but this has been a fun diversion while waiting, and certainly way more fun than I thought it would be when it was announced. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to lay any wagers on this tournament. What a crapshoot. Maybe Billy Beane was right after all. :laugh:

AI has gone completely bat**** insane this time. 1998 Braves @ 1954 Yankees. Refuses to start Galarraga at 1B with Klesko in LF unless I take it down to the studs, and leave them as the only two options at those positions on the roster, which leaves the bench incredibly thin. Will start Klesko at 1B with anybody in LF (Curtis Pride, Gerald Williams, Danny Bautista etc) and bring Galarraga off the bench. As the Aflac duck would say: "Hunh?" Also starts Tony Graffanino at SS over Walt Weiss. LOL! Then if Bob Cerv is on the Yankees roster, he starts in place of...You guessed it the Mick. WTH! :rant: Cerv is a really nice option to have off the bench, but not if he's starting in place of the Mick. Also, Cy Young Award winner Tom Glavine was put in the bullpen by this all knowing, clever AI with Kevin Millwood and Denny Neagle in the rotation. WTH indeed. Starting over, and if it doesn't work this time, reporting as a bug.

Are you playing with the version that screwed up rosters and/or AI? Or do you have the hotfix, build 37?

Thanks for your time kq. I have 17.4.37 installed.

Any updates on the Final Four?

Nah. I let it go. I'll either start over again and play it out properly, while making sure the teams get their best lineups on the field or I won't do it at all I'm afraid. It's not fair to teams that got knocked out without their best players on the field. It's frustrating, but I learned the hard way that this mode is not (IMHO) quite ready for prime time. Others may disagree with me, but when you see the 1998 Braves starting with Galarraga on the bench or the 1975 (or was it 1976?) Reds starting with Pete Rose on the bench, it sort of leaves a bad taste in your mouth. :(

I am confused. Why are these players benched? Is it the expanded rosters?

The AI is just that. It's a computer that recognizes hard numbers (ratings in this case) over names. It is up to us to fix the rosters and lineups. Historical Exhibition mode does allow us to do that.

If you get to the manager screen with the Game Options in the left column, you can put yourself in control of both teams by clicking "Set All to Human" and then manually make the lineups however you like. Then when you start the game, you can put the settings back on "Set All to Computer AI" so that it makes all the decisions during the game.

It might be a little more micro-managing than some people want, but it's the best way and it isn't really much more work. Drag-and-click and push START GAME. Easy enough. If you don't feel like simulating the whole game (but I do), you can jump ahead to whatever inning you like or jump all the way to the end of the game.

I get annoyed by the way the AI jumbles the lineups. There is a logic to the way the AI sets the lineups up. They're certainly not BAD lineups. But teams like the 1927 Yankees and the 1976 Reds, for example, had very set batting orders that they were famous for and I don't feel like a simulation is accurate if those lineups are out of order.

But it's still a good thing that OOTP gives us the opportunity to tweak, experiment with and try to improve upon those lineups — if we want to.