OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post

Art Deco · 09-07-2025, 10:00 AM

There he is - Jeremy Begley at 10 WAR. He reached that mark on the last Friday of the season so I sat him the final two games to keep him there (as well as preserve his .303 BA). As for the standings, the third wild cards are cut off so here's the playoff tree:

Houston wrapped up the third AL wild card on Friday night but over in the NL things got wild with the Rockies, Phillies and Giants all ending up tied for WC2/WC3 and San Francisco ended up the odd team out due to tiebreakers.

A team that was 54-26 over the first three months went 45-37 over the final three, leading to some cause for concern heading into the playoffs. The bullpen remains unreliable and was a reason why they underperformed their Pythagorean record by 5 games, and while the offense is good, it's not incredible as you can see from the 5th place finish in the AL in runs scored. And losing Billy Doughty for the postseason is a blow. This was without doubt though the best defensive team I've ever had in all my saves.

So to give you an idea of how this team fell off in the second half we had 9 players on pace for 3 WAR and instead only three of them hit that number. Now five more ended up with 2.8 or 2.9 WAR but only one or two were on pace to barely make it. Begley of course will be the MVP and Arroyave had his best season in his walk year but Danny Rodriguez tailed off badly in the second half as did Fisher and Perez and the team just had trouble putting up a lot of runs even though they had a lineup in which everyone except Blackwell hit 20 homers. Garza was a good pickup but he wasn't spectacular.

Like the offense the pitching was top-heavy with Morales and Cerrillo perhaps the best 1-2 starting punch in the league but not a lot overly impressive after that. Espinoza was a very good #3 starter when healthy and that caveat certainly applies to Barnett, who had trouble staying in the rotation after being acquired mid-season. And don't get me started on the bullpen. Kelly blew a fair number of saves in the second half but was somewhat the victim of a .331 BABIP while Lewis had a nightmare season but was one of the few better in the second half. Williams may be our playoff closer as he has the best stuff but even he gave up too many homers (5 in 26 IP). Washington had a great first half as a setup man then was almost unpitchable in the second, a good number of those 11 wins he picked up were vultured.

Some depth in the prospect pool even if there isn't any can't-miss talent. We do have a ton of 1B/OF-types at AAA who are MLB-ready and Gardener is the heir apparent at 3B when Arroyave goes free agent this winter (we also have vet Luis Cisneros at Durham who's capable).

09-07-2025, 10:00 AM	#1576
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,652	Final 2039 Regular Season Standings and Rays Stats There he is - Jeremy Begley at 10 WAR. He reached that mark on the last Friday of the season so I sat him the final two games to keep him there (as well as preserve his .303 BA). As for the standings, the third wild cards are cut off so here's the playoff tree: Houston wrapped up the third AL wild card on Friday night but over in the NL things got wild with the Rockies, Phillies and Giants all ending up tied for WC2/WC3 and San Francisco ended up the odd team out due to tiebreakers. A team that was 54-26 over the first three months went 45-37 over the final three, leading to some cause for concern heading into the playoffs. The bullpen remains unreliable and was a reason why they underperformed their Pythagorean record by 5 games, and while the offense is good, it's not incredible as you can see from the 5th place finish in the AL in runs scored. And losing Billy Doughty for the postseason is a blow. This was without doubt though the best defensive team I've ever had in all my saves. So to give you an idea of how this team fell off in the second half we had 9 players on pace for 3 WAR and instead only three of them hit that number. Now five more ended up with 2.8 or 2.9 WAR but only one or two were on pace to barely make it. Begley of course will be the MVP and Arroyave had his best season in his walk year but Danny Rodriguez tailed off badly in the second half as did Fisher and Perez and the team just had trouble putting up a lot of runs even though they had a lineup in which everyone except Blackwell hit 20 homers. Garza was a good pickup but he wasn't spectacular. Like the offense the pitching was top-heavy with Morales and Cerrillo perhaps the best 1-2 starting punch in the league but not a lot overly impressive after that. Espinoza was a very good #3 starter when healthy and that caveat certainly applies to Barnett, who had trouble staying in the rotation after being acquired mid-season. And don't get me started on the bullpen. Kelly blew a fair number of saves in the second half but was somewhat the victim of a .331 BABIP while Lewis had a nightmare season but was one of the few better in the second half. Williams may be our playoff closer as he has the best stuff but even he gave up too many homers (5 in 26 IP). Washington had a great first half as a setup man then was almost unpitchable in the second, a good number of those 11 wins he picked up were vultured. Some depth in the prospect pool even if there isn't any can't-miss talent. We do have a ton of 1B/OF-types at AAA who are MLB-ready and Gardener is the heir apparent at 3B when Arroyave goes free agent this winter (we also have vet Luis Cisneros at Durham who's capable).