With just one team in the playoffs this week, I decided to do a quick comparison this morning of the status of my three teams compared to each team at this stage in PT20. Like many people on the boards, I’m finding this season to be somewhat frustrating for a variety of reasons, most notably...
- The utter uselessness of Live players. Last year I had teams that consistently made the Perfect League playoffs with the likes of Live Scherzer, Trout, Rendon, Mookie, Yelich, Kirby Yates, Severino, hell even Will Harris and Ryan Pressley. This year, there’s just no way any of those guys, or any Live players, can get it done in the higher-level leagues. That’s a problem, IMO.
- The year-to-year inconsistency of everyone except the absolute best players. I’ve seen Perfect Koufax with an ERA over 6.00. Perfect Seaver the same. It seems like everyone under the absolute top tier of guys, guys who cost 300,000 PP or more, just can’t be consistently counted on. It’s maddening.
- And last, the sameness of all the teams due to the Live missions. This has been super annoying. My solution for this would be that for each Live mission you get to open a team-based pack that includes one Gold or Diamond player. There are, say, five options for each team. So for the Red Sox, maybe a Pesky, a 2018 Betts, a Dewey Evans, etc. You get one quality player, but everyone does not get the same guy. I don’t know if this is the best solution, but it’s got to be better than seeing 18 Greg Madduxes in every league, every week.
So below is a comparison of last year’s teams and this year’s in terms of advancing through the levels.
I should note that one thing that’s helped with easing my frustration is just recognizing that I will never, ever get to Perfect League. So really, with the amount of money I plan to spend, which is zero, Diamond League is my Perfect League.
Fort Worth Frogs ($$$)
PT20: Perfect League in Week 12 (2031) – never left PL, title in 2065
PT21: Diamond League in Week 10 (2029)
I spent $400 on this team last year, and by this point last season I believe I spent something like $150. Have spent $0 on them this season.
Minglewood Warlocks (formerly Castle Black Crows) (FTP)
PT20: Perfect League in Week 15 (2034) – made it for good in 2046, title in 2070
PT21: Diamond League in Week 11 (2030)
West Ham United Hammers (PO)
PT20: Perfect League in Week 9 (2038; started team in 2030) – made it for good in 2045, no titles
PT21: Never in Diamond
So for me, other than the PO team, we’ve basically achieved the highest level earlier in PT21 than in PT20. Which is not to say we are anywhere near having success in Diamond, but we’re there.
I’m not sure I’m trying to make some big point here, other than trying to justify my own frustration with PT21, which these numbers actually seem to refute.
Anyway, on to the playoffs!