Absolute Blockbuster of a Trade in my 42 year old Historical Random Debut

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Finished up 1961 last night. Starting to really feel for the fans of the Alexandria Aces. 9 trips to the post season. No rings.. Aces fans watched their team dominate the regular season going 98-56. For most of the season the Aces were 9 to 10 games up on the second place Shreveport Captains, but over the last week and a half of the season the Captains would cut that lead in half. The Aces also watched MVP runner up Joe DiMaggio separate his shoulder during this same rough patch. The injury kept him out of the post season.

The wildcard series featured Biloxi (83-71) vs Shreveport (94-60). The Biloxi Cardinals lost to the Baton Rouge Artillery in the inaugural World Series in 1947. This was their first trip to the post season since. Shreveport was also making their 2nd trip to the post season. The Captains were World Series champs back in 1950. The Captains would dispatch the Cardinals in 5 games (4-1) for the right to face the Alexandria Aces in the World Series. 5 games was all the Captains needed to put the Aces away as well. Shreveport wins their second title.

Rookie of the Year: Mel Hall (Jackson) .277/.336/.461 23 HR 2.8 WAR.
Cy Young: Larry French (Lake Charles) 18-8, 1.98, 273 IP 10.7 WAR
MVP: Hank Aaron Alexandria .342/.369/.641 49 HR 11.8 WAR

Kluber and Verlander were Cy Young runner-ups.
DiMaggio finished second to his teammate Aaron in the MVP voting with Shreveport's Javy Lopez finishing 3rd.

Ah Javy Lopez.....the OOTP Gods have been sprinkling wonder dust on Mr Lopez for years now. What a stud. 1961 was clearly his best season, .303/.342/.614 50 home runs 113 RBI, 8.1 WAR.. Lopez has been now put together 5 straight all star worthy seasons. His 162 game averages according to OOTP, .285/.329/.529 41 HR 7.0 WAR. Javy has played his entire career for Shreveport. 1962 will be his 7th year.

Noteworthy retirements:

Pedro Martinez: 190-142, 2.92 144 ERA+, 2443 K's 1.14 WHIP 84.9 WAR. Pedro won 4 Cy Young awards, 1953, 54, 55 and 1957. He had one Gold Glove and won two World Series, 1953 and 1960. Pedro was 8-9 for Beaumont during the 1961 season, but tore his flexor tendon in his elbow on 08/03. He became a free agent on 11/03, but decided to hang up the spikes prior to the start of 1962. Martinez played his entire career for the Beaumont Crush. Martinez imported as part of the 1947 amateur draft. He pitched his first season at the age of 21 in 1948.

Barry Larkin: Debuted as part of the Southern Leagues inaugural draft at the age of 25. Barry played 14 years for the Birmingham Slammers and finished his career with 1 season for the Corpus Christi Beachbums. 4 Gold Gloves, 3 Silver Sluggers, 4 times Champion, with a World Series MVP in 1948. Larkin also won a league MVP (1949) at the age of 27. His career: .278/.356/.412 139 HR 48.4 WAR.

That's a big ouchy for the Alexandria Aces fans. One of these years, they should break through, but you never know.

The Chicago Cubs only had one postseason appearance during Walter Johnson's eight year tenure with the club, and they lost in the 1958 NLCS to Bill Foster's Braves, who won it all against the New York Yankees that year. Opportunity missed (for the Cubs), and (possibly) forever gone, now that Johnson signed with the Red Sox during the free agent bonanza that was the 1959/1960 offseason. Unfortunately for Mr. Johnson, the Red Sox are not proving to be anymore worthy of his golden touch, as they've stumbled and staggered their way to a 67-80 record so far in 1960.

A baseball team is never just one player away though, so maybe there's still hope for the Cubs. There'd better be, as the only team that they're better than so far in 1960 is the South Siders. The Cubs are 62-85, while the White Sox are 60-87. The battle is on for the #1 overall pick in a draft that features Willie McCovey, Dennis Eckersley, Pud Galvin, Brett Butler, Pedro Guerrero, and Mike Moustakas. Probably the prize is Eckersley or McCovey, but Galvin could sneak in there too.

Can't wait to see all of these players you're talking about from your dynasty in mine. I had Barry Larkin debut in my inaugural season at 27, so I hear the pain/frustration of watching a great player get wasted by Inaugural Draft Madness, but messing around with player's ages might do more harm than good in my books. I've learned with this dynasty that there will be other HoFers to step into the breach, even if they aren't RL HoFers.

Wow!!! Javy Lopez looks like a God!!! Have yet to see him in my dynasty, but can't wait. Pedro looks like a HoFer to me despite the low win total. I've already mentioned, but he's the best pitcher I've seen yet, although with Johnson, Foster, Seaver around in my game, I'm not sure how long he'll have his crown.

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by actionjackson

I think what I'm going to do is add 12 Spritze players (who never played in MLB) where I would normally add 2 to bring the number up to 92 for 18 teams for the 1960 amateur draft, which is what I would normally want to see. Then for the 1961-1962 offseason when it goes from 18 to 20 teams, I'll bring in enough players for a six round draft (which would be 108: 18 teams * 6 rounds), and add two Spritze guys to that which would be 110 total, which I can't possibly chew through in five rounds because of the huge compensatory pick section of the draft that comes between rounds 1 and 2.

Any ideas on my other questions or are you just as fuzzy on those? Particularly - how many rounds in expansion draft? As well as what my limit on picks from a single team should be? That's set to "unlimited" right now, but I worry that the two teams will just sit back and pick some poor team clean of all of their roster depth and throw them out like yesterday's trash. Also, I'm protecting 15 players right now, while auto-protecting players with less than three pro service years. I want to make sure there are enough players in the expansion draft for the two teams to mull over, but not enough to make them great right out of the blocks. They should have to struggle early, because after all they are expansion teams.

I just created a 1976 test league and will see what occurs when I get to 76 offseason in regards to post season.

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by David Watts

I just created a 1976 test league and will see what occurs when I get to 76 offseason in regards to post season.

D'oh! Why didn't I think of that?

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by actionjackson

D'oh! Why didn't I think of that?

Alright, when you get to the expansion draft, you can select the number of rounds to the number you wish.

As for protecting players, if your roster sizes allow for it, I would allow teams to protect anywhere from 20-30 players. Make the expansion teams work for it.

If I was you, especially with how long your league has been in operation, I would create a test league in say 59 or 60 and let it go through the entire process in front of your eyes. T.hen you will know exactly what to expect in your real league. Nothing worse than ruining a long running league with a unwanted surprise. Believe me, I am king of all league ruiners......yeah probably not a word One of the coolest things about OOTP is how painless it is to set up a league and roll. Takes no time at all to set up.

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Alright, when you get to the expansion draft, you can select the number of rounds to the number you wish.

As for protecting players, if your roster sizes allow for it, I would allow teams to protect anywhere from 20-30 players. Make the expansion teams work for it.

If I was you, especially with how long your league has been in operation, I would create a test league in say 59 or 60 and let it go through the entire process in front of your eyes. T.hen you will know exactly what to expect in your real league. Nothing worse than ruining a long running league with a unwanted surprise. Believe me, I am king of all league ruiners......yeah probably not a word One of the coolest things about OOTP is how painless it is to set up a league and roll. Takes no time at all to set up.

Alright, here's what I've done. Haven't tested it yet, but I'm looking at allowing teams to protect 25 players. In raising the protection allowance from 15 to 25, I decided to drop the "Auto-protect Players with less than X Pro Service Years" to "No Auto-Protect". If you can't figure out that you need to protect your young assets, I'm not sure I can help you, plus that will free up all those guys who are sitting on the reserve rosters, who either don't have any service time, or have very little, to be drafted by a team where they might actually get playing time. I also have set a limit of 7 picks from a single team, so that no team gets totally picked clean. This should be fair for all involved.

I also added 12 Spritze guys to bring the total of players in the ammy draft up to 92 (which is five rounds for 18 teams in total, plus the two Spritze players I would normally put in the draft). The draft is rather heavily loaded with Japanese players, but I don't care. I just wanted bodies to fill in for the missing 10 players I think should be there, but aren't.

I believe the breakdown was eight Japanese pros, one Korean pro, one career minor leaguer, one PCL player, and one Negro Leaguer (Jose Mendez this time). I had FaceGens for two of the Japanese pros (LHP Tetsuya Yamaguchi, and RF Takumi Kuriyama), which is kinda cool.

In the future, I will set the draft up for 5 rounds, with enough players for 6 rounds in seasons when an expansion draft is coming (1960, 1961, 1968, 1976, 1992, and 1997), and return it to 5 rounds, with enough players for 5 rounds in non-expansion seasons. Whaddya think? Should I test it, or trust it?

EDIT: Also gonna make the expansion draft 30 rounds long because that's what they've usually been IRL. I think I'll also set the limit of the number of players that can be taken from a team to four because that allows for both teams to take a maximum of 32 picks in this case, and since they're only getting 30, that works.

[TheMaus2]

I'd say test it, but in theory creating 6 rounds worth of players for the draft should work.

[actionjackson]

Tried it with what I said I would in a test league. 30 round serpentine expansion draft. 25 players protected per established team, maximum of 4 picks from each team, no auto protect of players with a small amount of service time. Washington Senators finished 65-97 in last place in the American League, while the Los Angeles Angels finished 77-85 in 6th place in the American League. Not bad. Not great, but not bad. It's put a strain on the free agents, as there are only 26 available at the end of the season, where I usually have 65 to 70 or so. Also offense is up because the pitching is watered down. To be expected I suppose. About to get a whole lot worse with the Mets and the Colt .45's coming in.

[actionjackson]

Interestingly enough, the preseason predictions for 1961 had the Angels and Senators on the bottom, and for 1962 the Angels and Senators, and the Colt .45's and the Mets on the bottom of their respective leagues, so while it didn't play out that way, maybe that's a reflection of where the talent levels truly are, and then if you get lucky with injuries, you have a season like the 1961 Angels did.

[actionjackson]

1962: Senators 57-105, Mets 62-100, Colt .45's 65-97, Angels: 69-93

The cellar dwellers in the American and National Leagues. That's better.

[actionjackson]

1969 expansion teams in the test league all at the bottom of their leagues (I always play with no divisions):

Expos: 58-104 (-192 Run Differential)
Pilots: 52-110 (-238 Run Differential)
Padres: 45-117 (-341 Run Differential)
Royals: 44-118 (-313 Run Differential)

All played like expansion teams (utter garbage). Gonna run it through 1973, and see where everybody's at, and then get back to my league.

[actionjackson]

Ok, ran the test league through 1973. Here's a brief summary of the eight expansion teams that have come into the game starting with the 1960 expansion.

California Angels (previously Los Angeles Angels):

1961-1973 (13 seasons):

1,003-1,103 (.476 WPct)
2 winning seasons (1966, 1971)
1 .500 season (1963)
10 losing seasons
1 playoff appearance (1966)
Best season (1966): 94-68 + playoffs (finished 2nd, but I take the top two in each subleague)

Texas Rangers (previously Washington Senators):

1961-1973 (13 seasons):

977-1,129 (.464 WPct)
3 winning seasons (1968-1970)
10 losing seasons
0 playoff appearances
Best season (1970): 93-69 (finished 3rd, so close but no cigar)

Houston Astros (previously Houston Colt .45's):

1962-1973 (12 seasons):

986-958 (.507 WPct)
8 winning seasons (1964, 1966-1972)
4 losing seasons
2 playoff appearances (1966, 1968)
Best season (1968): 102-60, finished first in NL

New York Mets:

1962-1973 (12 seasons):

976-968 (.502 WPct)
7 winning seasons (1964, 1968-1973)
5 losing seasons
1 playoff appearance (1969)
1 World Series Title (1969)
Best season (1969): 94-68, finished second in NL; upset Cubs (110-52) and Athletics (101-61) to win World Series; Miracle Mets indeed!

Kansas City Royals:

1969-1973 (5 seasons):

322-488 (.398 WPct)
5 losing seasons
Best season (1971): 78-84, finished 7th in the league (no divisions)

Milwaukee Brewers (previously Seattle Pilots):

1969-1973 (5 seasons):

342-468 (.422 WPct)
5 losing seasons
Best season (1971): 76-86, finished 9th in the league

Montreal Expos:

1969-1973 (5 seasons):

323-487 (.399 WPct)
5 losing seasons
Best season (1973): 75-87, finished 7th in the league

San Diego Padres:

1969-1973 (5 seasons):

333-477 (.411 WPct)
5 losing seasons
Best season (1972): 79-83, finished 8th in the league

I think the expansion draft player dispersal method that I have in place is working. 20 winning seasons for the expansion clubs amongst 70 total seasons would indicate that for me. First, I have each established team protect 25 players. Then, I disable the auto-protect feature because part of the idea of expansion is to get players who have played very little (if at all) some playing time (at least to me it is).

I also allow each established club to lose a maximum of 4 players in 1960 and 1961 because that keeps those clubs healthy and competitive. During those two expansion drafts, I make the number four because that's the fewest guys I can strip from the established teams and simultaneously ensure that I have 60 available players for the two clubs coming in to take 30 players each. That number has to be raised to 6 in 1968 because there are four new clubs coming in, so 120 players are required in order to get 30 on to each team, and there are 20 teams to provide those 120 players, so six is the number that it has to be. For the far into the future expansion drafts of 1976, 1992, and 1998, I can drop that number back down to three and still make sure each incoming club gets 30 players.

If I expand at some point beyond where history stopped (which in OOTP16 [the version that this dynasty is on] is 2014), I would be able to pare this down to two players lost per established club, as there are 30 clubs at that point, and using a maximum of two per team will get the number of players available to the new teams right at 60, which is perfect. I'd probably only expand to 32 in order to have an even number in the AL and NL in order to keep interleague out of my dynasty. I won't move the Astros to the AL when the time comes. They're staying in the NL, and I would put the two new teams in the AL. But that is a looong way away. Now that this test league is over, I can get back to this dynasty of 60 years and counting.

[actionjackson]

David Watts, I totally hear you about the ridiculousness of 19th century pitchers. My problem is I would hate not to have hitters like Ross Barnes, Ned Williamson, Cap Anson, Ezra Sutton, Ed Delahanty, and so on and so forth in my leagues. Maybe I'm too inclusive.

So, I hold my nose and watch the Toad Ramseys of the world lay waste to hitters all over any dynasties they enter. Toad was in the test league I was running. He's still dominating hitters at age 40. See below. Pretty goofy stuff, but I have to put up with it if I want to get the position players I want. He's also just entered my "real" league. Ugh.

[actionjackson]

...To be fair though, Toad was striking out 6.5 hitters per nine at a time when the average K/9 rate was somewhere in the neighbourhood of 4.0 (probably slightly less than 4.0, more like 3.8ish [?]), so perhaps he should be the filthy dominant pitcher that he turns into most of the time. The equivalent (in terms of dominance) in modern times, when we have a K/9 rate of 8.3 would be a pitcher working starter type innings and having a K/9 rate of somewhere in the neighbourhood of 14.0 K/9, which is a really frightening concept, and kind of what I've seen when I've encountered him in my dynasties.

[actionjackson]

One other point re: Mr. Ramsey. I always use 1984 for my stats output (even this test league) in my leagues. In 1984, the K/9 rate was 5.4. Given Ramsey's 6.5 K/9, in an era and league where the K/9 rate was about 3.8, he should register a K/9 rate of about 9.2. Therefore, that 10.2 is not that far out of line really. It's only about 10% inflated, which is reasonably acceptable. It's just somewhat jarring seeing 350-400 K seasons, but it makes sense coming from Toad Ramsey.

Al Pratt OTOH is a different matter altogether. He had a RL career K/9 rate of 1.1 K/9 in a league where the K/9 rate was 0.7. That would lead to an expected K/9 rate of 8.5 (keeping in mind that my league K/9 rate should be somewhere around 5.4), but he posted a career 11.2 K/9 rate, which seems a bit out of line to me. He also holds the season strikeout record in this test league with a whopping 419. But if I want the 19th century hitters (and I do), I've got to take the 19th century pitchers.

[actionjackson]

As above, playoffs not played yet, but here are the standings, batting leaders, and pitching leaders for the 1960 season. The player that TheMaus2 is keeping an eye on (Negro Leaguer Chino Smith) had a very strong showing this year. I don't think he'll win the MVP, but he's definitely in the conversation for it.

The Dodgers and Pirates wound up tied for the lead in the National League, but since both are going to the postseason, I didn't have a one game playoff. Instead, I went with the MLB tie-breaking procedures, the first of which is head-to-head record. Unfortunately, that turned out to be 12-12, so on to the next one. Team with the best record in intradivision (withing the same division) games. No divisions, so on to the next one. Team with the best record in intraleague (within the same league) games. Well, I have no interleague play (and never will), so on to the next one. Team with the best record over the final 81 games, ignoring interleague play. No interleague play, so nothing to worry about there. The Dodgers went 48-33 over the final 81 games, while the Pirates limped home at 35-46, so I gave the home field advantage to the Dodgers.

[actionjackson]

The 1960 season is over. Will have more of a recap in the awards post, but for now here's the MLB Team Index over the first 60 seasons of this league, with a list of how many times teams have made the playoffs and won the whole enchilada. I have sent two teams to the postseason from both the AL and the NL since this thing started in 1901, so that's why there's a total of 240 for playoff berths. Angels and Senators are listed, but of course have yet to play a game.

[actionjackson]

First Round of the 1960 Amateur Draft:

Angels: Dennis Eckersley, RHP
Senators: Willie McCovey, 1B
White Sox: Pud Galvin, RHP
Cubs: Brett Butler, OF
Braves: Lenny Harris, IF/LF
Tigers: Johnny Lindell, RHP
Indians: Jose Pena, RHP
White Sox: J T Snow, 1B
Giants: Pedro Guerrero, 1B/RF
Tigers: Jack J O'Connor, C/OF
Phillies: Bucky Dent, SS
Giants: Bruce Campbell, LF
Indians: Al Benton, RHP
Red Sox: Larry Christenson, RHP
Pirates: Jose Mendez, IF/LF
Cardinals: Ralph Young 2B/SS
Yankees: Earl Naylor, CF/RF
Giants: Alex Trevino, C/IF

The Tigers also drafted Dan Osinski, RHP, Kevin D Brown, LHP, Curt Lyons, RHP, and Josh Zeid, RHP. This draft was not as overflowing with talent as the 1959 draft was, but it was still very good with Eckersley, McCovey, Galvin, Butler, and Guerrero among the highlights of the draft.

[actionjackson]

The Los Angeles Angels won the coin flip to select first in both the amateur draft and the expansion draft. I tried to set up a proper Serpentine Draft, but the game kept insisting on using a Serpentine Draft based on the Senators having the first pick. Whatev. Here are the first 10 picks out of 60 in the expansion draft:

1. Angels: Shane Spencer, LF/RF (from Kansas City Athletics)
2. Senators: Earl Wilson, RHP (from Minnesota Twins)
3. Angels: Darrell Sherman, OF (from New York Yankees)
4. Senators: Jimmie DeShong, RHP (from Pittsburgh Pirates)
5. Senators: Ed Summers, RHP (from Detroit Tigers)
6. Angels: Terry Evans, CF/RF (from San Francisco Giants)
7. Angels: Jim Lonborg, RHP (from Cincinnati Reds)
8. Senators: Gene Kingsale, OF (from Cleveland Indians)
9. Senators: Bert Gallia, RHP (from Detroit Tigers)
10. Angels: Gil Meche, RHP (from Minnesota Twins)

So there you have it. Shane Spencer and Earl Wilson will forever be known as the first Angel and Senator (except that Eckersley, McCovey and others were taken before them chronologically in the amateur draft, but what the hey).

[actionjackson]

The 1961 HoF Class:

Harmon Killebrew, 2B
Pedro J Martinez, RHP
Randy D Johnson, LHP
Carlos Santana, 3B

Love it when OOTP imitates real life. Martinez and Johnson are in on the same ballot, just as they were IRL. The other interesting thing is Killebrew in as a 2B (that's where he played the most), and Santana as a 3B (just as Killebrew, he spent the most time at 3B).

Killebrew was an easy choice as he batted .273/.374/.489/.863 (146 OPS+, 147 wRC+) with 1,813 R, 3,140 H, 464 2B, 648 HR, 1,983 RBI, 1,855 BB, and 2,336 K. Awesome, awesome career made even more awesome by the fact he spent 1,232 G at 2B and did his best work in the field there (a tick above average for his career: +11.1 ZR total).

Martinez is probably the best pitcher currently in the HoF. He went 253-169, with 47 saves, a 3.07 ERA across 3,962.2 IP, allowing just 290 HR, and just 1,025 BB, while striking out 3,471. His ERA+ was 130, and he had over 100 pitching WAR for his career.

Johnson went 233-190, with a 3.23 ERA (121 ERA+), over 3,873.1 IP, allowing just 297 HR, and just 1,256 BB, against 3,237 K. Considering his career got started a bit late due to trouble with pitching mechanics that led to lots and lots of walks early on, it's amazing he was able to put together a 2.58 K/BB ratio.

Santana's a bit harder to see, but you have to weigh the fact that he started 781 games at catcher, 1,431 games at 3B, as well as 260 games at 1B. That 781 games at catcher made his bat very valuable, and 3B is a very valuable defensive position as well. He was a slightly below average defender at 3B, and hit .253/.363/.421/.784 (123 OPS+, 126 wRC+), with 1,284 R, 2,288 H, 445 2B, 344 HR, 1,400 RBI, and 1,587 BB, against just 1,410 K. That adept control of the strike zone, along with above average offense at two defensive positions put him over the top for me.

[actionjackson]

Top ten AL MVP for 1960:

1. Max Lanier, 25, WS1, LHSP
2. Jimmy Ryan, 25, KC1, SS
3. Mike Grady, 35, BAL, C
4. Chino Smith, 23, KC1, 2B
5. Mike Stanley, 29, NYY, C
6. Al Oliver, 26, BAL, CF/RF/LF
7. Walter Johnson, 26, BOS, RHSP
8. Edgar Martinez, 28, BAL, 3B/DH
9. Joe Rudi, 25, WS1, LF
10. Harry Arundel, 21, KC1, RHSP

Top five AL CYA for 1960:

1. Max Lanier, 25, WS1, LHSP
2. Walter Johnson, 26, BOS, RHSP
3. Harry Arundel, 21, KC1, RHSP
4. Andy Pettitte, 30, BAL, LHSP
5. Jim H Devlin, 24, DET, LHSP

Top three AL Mariano Rivera Award for 1960:

1. Steve Gromek, 22, BAL, RHRP
2. Charlie Haeger, 21, BAL, RHRP
3. Chris Archer, 22, NYY, RHRP

Top three AL Jackie Robinson Award for 1960:

1. Johnny Mize, 22, CLE, DH
2. Brett Anderson, 20, CWS, LHSP
3. Joe Oliver, 23, DET, C

The Kansas City Athletics finally put everything together in 1960. They were in the postseason for the first time since 1952 (back when they were known as the Philadelphia Athletics), and won it all for the first time since 1951. It almost went completely sideways for them in the ALCS against the Baltimore Orioles though. Things started out great, as they seemed poised to sweep the Orioles after the first three games, as they outscored the O's 25-6, winning 4-2, 5-1, and 16-3.

Imagine being the O's. Losing Game 3 16-3 to go down 3 games to nothing (rather similar to the RL 2004 ALCS between the Red Sox and the Yankees, where the Yankees won Game 3 19-8, and then...we all know what happened next). It did not look good at that point. Yet, they got up off the mat and managed to get back into the series, winning 8-3, 9-6, and 6-3 to force Game 7.

This was a knock down, drag out series between far and away the two premier offenses in MLB. The Orioles scored 905 runs during the regular season, while the Athletics managed 873. The next best offensive team in MLB was the Cleveland Indians with 758 runs. Not. Even. Close.

Game 7 turned out to be a pitcher's duel between the A's Harry Arundel, and the O's Andy Pettitte. A's catcher Alan Knicely led off the third inning with a solo shot to put the A's up 1-0, while O's catcher Mike Grady got that back with an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth to knot it at one.

It stayed that way until the eighth inning, when pinch hitter Garret Anderson doubled home two for the A's to make it 3-1 KC. Shane Spencer added an insurance run with an RBI double in the top of the ninth for the A's, and everything looked good with ace reliever Rollie Fingers coming in from the 'pen with a 4-1 lead to start the ninth.

Mike Grady led off with a single for the O's, followed by a fly out by Hal Trosky Sr.. Gene Layden then doubled home Grady, and took third on a groundout by Kevin Kiermaier. Ray Morehart singled home Layden, and the lead was down to one, much to the delight of the hometown crowd. Next up, Derek Bell hit a line drive double to centre, and the third base coach decided to risk it all and send Morehart. Not the best of calls as it turned out, as he was gunned down at the plate. Inning over. Game over. Series over. Season over. Just like that. Ouch.

The Orioles are getting a reputation for being chokers (hate that word because sometimes baseball happens, but...). They have made the playoffs in five of the last six seasons. In 1955, they lost in the World Series to Oscar Charleston's St. Louis Cardinals. In 1956, they went 79-83 and missed the playoffs, but in the last four straight seasons, they've made the playoffs and lost in the ALCS to the Indians, Yankees, Senators, and now the Athletics. This offseason, the core has started to break up, as Al Oliver signed with the Minnesota Twins, and 21-game winner Billy Hart is still out on the free agent market. Derek Bell, Edgar Martinez, Mike Grady, Hal Trosky Sr., and Bernie Allen are still around along with Andy Pettitte, but chop-chop boys! Time's a-wasting!

The Athletics took Game 1 of the World Series against the Dodgers 5-2, and then proceeded to lose three games in a row (when's the last time a team endured two three game losing streaks in the playoffs and still won it all? I'll bet it hasn't happened that often), 6-4, 11-3, and 3-2. Jim Palmer (who is nowhere near his RL self so far in this dynasty) won a huge Game 5 against Gerrit Cole 9-4, in a matchup that should've favoured Cole's Dodgers in a big way, but baseball. Ace Harry Arundel struck out 15 Dodgers in a Game 6 8-4 win, and off to Game 7 we went.

The Dodgers led 4-2 after seven and a half with ace Noodles Hahn on the mound. Should be a cinch right? Wrong! Ryan Lavarnway led off with a single off Hahn. Podge Weihe struck out swinging, and John E Briggs grounded out to second, while Lavarnway took second with two out. (PCLer) Len Ratto walked. Cesar Cedeno singled home Lavarnway, and then Chino Smith came up with a huuuge two-run double to put the Athletics up 5-4. Rollie Fingers worked a one-two-three ninth with a couple of punchouts, and the A's had the sixth title in franchise history. In fact Jim Corsi and Fingers retired the last seven Dodgers in a row to seal the deal.