The OOTP AI Still Cheats!!!---MLB & The NY METS 2018

[rjl518]

MLB News:

Im reporting this incident because these two players are pretty huge for the LAD and ARZ as they both head into the Postseason!

[rjl518]

9/27

ATL Braves 4
NY METS 15
Citi Field

Lots of homers and lots of runs as the Mets crush the Braves to split the series.
Luis Severino gets the start and does a very good job.
He went 6 and gave up 3 earned runs on 4 hits with 9 strikeouts.
But it was the lineup that did it tonight.
HRs: Carlos Correa (17), Mike Trout (44), Freddie Freeman (22), Giancarlo Stanton 3 (39,40,41) and Josh Donaldson 2 (17,18)
Stanton and Donaldson went back-to-back TWICE!
Obviously, the Golden Bat goes to Giancarlo with the 3 dingers he sent over the wall.
He was 3-3, 4 runs scored, 7 RBIs, and walked twice.
Nice way to tell the Braves see you next season and please remember the a$$ kicking you guys took from us today.

[rjl518]

Final Series Preview: MIA Marlins @ Citi Field (3-Games)

Can you guys believe it?
I have just completed my 4th regular season of doing real-time baseball!
The Marlins are the last team on the schedule.
JT Realmuto, Derek Dietrich and Starlin Castro are going to try to spoil my weekend.
After this series, we are done till the NLDS.
So lets give the fans a big thank you for a great year.
Sale, Scherzer and Syndergaard will get the starts for the weekend.

[rjl518]

9/28

MIA Marlins 6
NY METS 7
Citi Field

The game went back and forth and i thought that we might lose this one.
But the Mets get the win and keep on chugging along.
Chris Sale gave up 3 earned runs on 9 hits.
Ken Giles picked up the save, his 8th.
Carlos Correa gets the Golden Bat tonight with a pair of homers added to his total of 19.
He went 2-3, scored twice and had 4 RBIs.
He was the man of the hour.

[rjl518]

9/29

MIA Marlins 4
NY METS 8
Citi Field

We win the penultimate game of the season over the Marlins.
Max Scherzer did ok, going 6 and giving up 4 runs on 7 hits, but he did get his 3rd win of the year.
The Mets lineup did the job once again or at least the top of the order did.
Corey Seager gets the Golden Bat as he went 3-5, 2 runs scored, a HR(7) and 4 RBIs.
Josh Donaldson hit his 20th HR as a Met since the Trade Deadline.
I wonder how many he would have hit here if i had taken him for the whole season.
Noah Syndergaard will start the final game of the year tomorrow.

[rjl518]

Congrats to the TEX Rangers, who win a very tight division!
Their work is not done yet as they will prepare for the ALDS!

[rjl518]

9/30

MIA Marlins 1
NY METS 4
Citi Field

Noah Syndergaard has a good outing, but he does not get the win.
Thor went 7 innings and gave up 1 run on 5 hits.
But its Kenley Jansen who got his 3rd win on the year and Ken Giles his 9th save.
Bryce Harper (45) and Mike Trout (45) went deep today to help the Mets sweep the Marlins.
The Golden Bat goes to Trout as he went 1-4 with a HR.
We win the final game of the regular season and now get some much needed rest as we wait to see who we will play in the NLDS!

[rjl518]

Could this year have gone any other way with the team i put together six months ago?
No doubt in my mind that we would capture the NL East crown, but with 128 wins?
Not too bad.
Trends for the season:
17-20 in one-run games which could be very interesting as playoff games are usually close.
5-6 in extra inning games, so if the game goes longer, its up in the air.
Pretty much 1st in all batting and pitching categories which was kind of expected.
But what a year for the Mets and the fans.
The AI did take some games from me this year.
Will it also cheat in the playoffs?
You know it will try!

[rjl518]

How well did the PrePredicts do for 2018?
Pretty darn good!
7 out of 10 playoff teams right.
Correct: TOR, MIN, HOU, NYM, CHC, LAD, ARZ.
Incorrect: NYY, CLE, STL.
Surprise team of the year has to be the SD Padres, who clinched the 2nd NLWC and will play @ ARZ.
Cant forget about the LA Angels either, who were predicted for last place, but they clinched the 2nd ALWC!
Most disappointing team of the year has to be the SEA Mariners, who were predicted to win 85 games and won only 68 and finished dead last in the AL West.

[rjl518]

2015 Topps AL Players of the Month:

[rjl518]

1976 Topps NL Players of the Month:

[rjl518]

1998 Victory AL/NL Batting Champions:

[rjl518]

1991 Topps Pitching Triple Crown Winner:

He was the best pitcher in the game this year.
Getting a lot of run support doesn't hurt either, but Stephen Strasburg was the MAN!

[rjl518]

There are no extra games to be played this season so we get right into the Playoffs starting Tuesday.
The Angels and Astros will be playing in the comforts of Minute Maid Park, while the Padres and Diamondbacks will be playing in the heat of the desert @ Chase Field.
The Mets and Rangers await the winners of those best of three series.
TOR goes to MIN and the CHC will play versus the LAD in their League Division Series later.
The Playoffs are finally here so lets get right to it.

[rjl518]

You don't play 162 games to play just 1 game, so in my MLB, the Wildcard Teams will play a best of three series at the #1 Wildcard winner.
The SD Padres will travel to the desert to play the ARZ Diamondbacks.
The two teams just got done playing a series against each other in SoCal which decided where THIS series was going to be played.
ARZ won 2 out of 3 @ Petco Park which earned them the right to host the NLWS @ Chase Field.
The D-Backs won the season 10-9 over the Padres, but ARZ has some key injuries with Zack Greinke and Ketel Marte out for the playoffs.
Paul Goldschmidt, AJ Pollock and Steven Souza anchor the lineup.
Robbie Ray will have to be the ace of this short series, but someone needs to step up on the mound if ARZ wants to move on in the playoffs.
SD has been the Cinderella team this year.
Manny Margot, Eric Hosmer and Freddy Galvis will have to hit well to get past the Snakes in Arizona.
Dinelson Lamet has had an awesome year for the Friars, but he must continue to pitch well.
Tyson Ross can be an X-factor for SD in this series.


Game 1 is Tuesday @ Chase Field

[rjl518]

SD Padres 5
ARZ Diamondbacks 6
Chase Field

What a crazy game to start the 2018 Postseason with as the Diamondbacks outlast a come from behind Padres team.

For SD:
Dinelson Lamet pitched pretty well going 4.2 and giving up 2 runs on 4 hits.
Allen Cordoba was 3-5 as the big hitter for the Padres.
They were down 3-0 but then scored 5 runs in the 8th inning and it looked like they were going to steal one in the desert.
But such was not to be as Brad Hand blew the save and took the loss.

For ARZ:
Zack Godley starts and pitches strong giving up only 4 hits thru 5 innings of work.
The bullpen almost blew it as Archie Bradley gave up 5 runs to allow SD to take the lead.
But Daniel Hudson and Jimmie Sherfy made the pitches needed to get the win and the save respectively.
Steven Souza and Ildemaro Vargas sent two HRs into the stands.
Vargas gets the Golden Bat in this game for the big HR he had in the bottom of the 8th to tie the game for ARZ.
If the rest of the Postseason games are like this one, oh boy!

ARZ Diamondbacks Lead NLWS 1-0

Game 2 is tomorrow night @ Chase Field

[rjl518]

It has to be this way.
Last year's champions, the HOU Astros get a chance to repeat, but first, the LA Angels stand in their way.
For the Angels, Andrelton Simmons and Ian Kinsler must produce the same kind of hitting they had all year in order for the LAA to advance to the ALDS.
Juan Lagares could be the ace in the hole for the Halos.
The Angels have the best starting rotation in the AL, but will it be enough?
Shohei Ohtani, Steven Matz and maybe Matt Shoemaker will be called upon to get to the next round.
For the Astros, they have been here before.
Josh Reddick, George Springer and Marwin Gonzalez will be the go to guys at the plate.
Lance McCullers, Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole will help HOU to repeat as AL champs.
HOU won the season series over LAA 10-9, but that is meaningless right now in a short three game series.

Game 1 is tomorrow night @ Minute Maid Park!

[rjl518]

LA Angels 2
HOU Astros 0
Minute Maid Park

It was all about Shohei Ohtani as the Angels get a huge win @ Minute Maid Park over the Astros.

For LAA:
Ohtani is a rookie this year but sure did not pitch like one in his 1st ever playoff game.
He stymied the Astros by giving up only 1 hit with 3 walks and 2 strikeouts. while flirting with a no-hitter thru 7 innings of play!
Zack Cosart got the only RBI for the Angels, while another run was scored on a wild pitch.
Keynan Middleton got the save for LAA, his 1st.

For HOU:
Nothing they could do against Ohtani.
Lance McCullers pitched a pretty good game himself, but he took the loss giving up 2 runs on 5 hits with 7 Ks.
The Astros lineup was very quiet as well as the crowd as they did not have much to cheer for.

Can the Angels take two on the road?

LA Angels Lead ALWS 1-0

Game 2 is tomorrow night @ Minute Maid Park!

[rjl518]

SD Padres 2
ARZ Diamondbacks 5
Chase Field

The Diamondbacks move on to the NLDS, while the Padres feel that they let this series slip away!

For SD:
Bryan Mitchell got the start and pitched very well, going 5 innings and giving up 1 run on 2 hits.
Kirby Yates blew the save, but for the 2nd straight night, it was Brad Hand who blew the game.
It will be a long offseason for him as he gave up 3 runs on 2 hits to the D-Backs, which gave him both losses for the NLWS.
Manny Margot went 2-3 including his 1st HR of the Postseason.

For ARZ:
Taijuan Walker pitched 5 innings and allowed 2 runs on 3 hits which was outstanding.
But it was Archie Bradley who got the win, his 1st in closing out the series.
David Peralta smacked his 1st HR of the Playoffs and he also gets the Golden Bat for the game.
He went 2-4, scoring twice and getting 2 RBIs.

For winning the NLWS, what does ARZ get? A date with the best team in baseball as they travel to the Big Apple to play a best of five with the NY Mets!

ARZ Diamondbacks WIN NLWS 2-0!

[rjl518]

LA Angels 3
HOU Astros 7
Minute Maid Park

The Astros tie the series on some power hitting by a very strong lineup.

For LAA:
Rough outing for Steven Matz, who gave up 4 runs on 5 hits with 2 HRs off of him.
Kurt Suzuki had the best day for the Angels going 2-3, but it was not enough as LAA ran into a buzzsaw named Gerrit Cole.

For HOU:
Gerrit Cole was very sharp as he went 6.2, gave up 3 runs on 5 hits with 9 strikeouts for the game.
The bullpen closed out the game with James Hoyt getting the save, his 1st!
The Astros used the long-ball as Yulieski Gurriel (1), Marcus Semien (1) and Alex Bregman (1) hit some baseballs into the stands.
Gurriel gets the Golden Bat with a 3-4 night, 1 run scored and 3 RBIs.

It will be a win or go home kind of game tomorrow night. Who will move on?

ALWS Tied 1-1

Game 3 is tomorrow night @ Minute Maid Park!