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01-10-2023, 11:52 PM
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#41 |
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Minors (Double A)
Join Date: May 2022
Posts: 100
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2012 Regular Season: May
Lots happening in May! The Europa League is in its second month, while lower leagues in England, Italy, and Spain are in full swing.
The Big Five top tier leagues (ENG, GER, ESP, ITA, FRA) and Dutch Eredivisie have all started, as have their respective professional pyramids (non-league competitions start in July). Derbies Here’s a round-up of the big matchups and derbies for the month from the top tier leagues. Midlands Derby: Stoke City v West Brom. The Baggies opened the season with a sweep of Midlands rivals Stoke City. After the game one shutout. Stoke’s bats put runs across the plate in each of games 2 and 3, but Albion had more in the tank, outscoring the Potters 6-3 and 7-3. London Derby: Tottenham v Fulham. Everyone’s favorite London club Fulham made the trip to White Hart Lane to face Spurs. It was all Tottenham though, they took two out of three games, but the middle game of the series was a resounding 14-1 Whites victory behind C Ataru Suyama (JPN) who went 2-4, 2B, BB. Spurs finish the month in second, Fulham a mid-table 7th. London Derby: Chelsea v Arsenal. London heavyweights meet for the first time at the Emirates but the Blues get the best of the Gooners, sweeping Arsenal 3-0. Arsenal only scored twice over the weekend while Chelsea saw good performances by P Jose Delgado (ESP), Sorcha Powell (ENG), and Kai Stacey (ENG). Tyne-and-Ware Derby: Newcastle v Sunderland. North country clubs meet in Sunderland and the home team takes two at the Stadium of Light. The series was fairly evenly matched, with a combined score of 11-13. Newcastle ends the month above their rivals, currently 11th to the Black Cats’ 16th. Early days yet, but Sunderland are just one game out of the first relegation spot. Merseyside Derby: Liverpool v Everton. These two Liverpool sides play less than a mile from each other and this series was a great one. Liverpool took all three games, but after winning the first 7-3, the second game went to the 16th inning with the Reds as winners despite Everton P Tim Howard (USA) throwing 8.0, 1 H, 1 R, 5 K. The third game also went to extras, Liverpool came from behind to tie it in 8th before plating the winning run in the 10th. London Derby: QPR v Spurs. Spurs welcomed QPR to White Hart Lane and played three close gams against their cross town rivals. Ultimately the Lilywhites came out on top, beating Rangers 6-4, 6-4, and 5-4. After a month, QPR find themselves in 17th, just outside of the drop zone. Derbi de la Comunitat: Villarreal v Valencia. A costal derby in the Valencia region, and Villarreal takes them all behind solid pitching that limited Valencia to a single run. Tzintzun pitched in game three, 7.0 IP, 14 K, 2 H. Madrid Derby: Rayo Vallecano v Real Madrid. Vallecano kept in close against league leaders Madrid in game one, but the smallest of Madrid’s clubs lost 7-6 off a Ronaldo walk-off single. Games two and three were anticlimactic, with Madrid winning handily 9-1, and 8-4. Madrid Derby: Real Madrid v Atletico. Madrid’s biggest clubs met with Atleti hoping to do better than Rayo but without success. It was a Blancos romp as they swept the Indios, 10-3, 10-9, 14-1. Despite the sweep, Atleti is in good shape, 15-4 and in the Champions League places. Basque Derby: Athletic Bilbao v Real Sociedad. In the north of Spain, Athleti Bilbao traveled to Anoeta Stadium to face regional rivals Real Sociedad. The Royals took the first two games, with RF Jose Palacio (ESP) batting 3/4, 1 HR, 1 BB, 2 R, 2 RBI in game one, and a shutout performance by Jorge Rivera (ESP), 7.1 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 0 R. Bilbao salvaged a win in game three, in an 11-7 slugfest. The teams combined for 24 hits, including 3 HR, two triples, and 4 doubles. Rhine-Rhur Derby: Borussia Monchengladbach v Koln. Regional rivals from northwest Germany opened the Bundesliga. Monchengladbach took the series 2-1. It’s early in the German season, M’gladbach is sitting 6th at 6-3, Koln is 14th at 3-6. La Classique: Marseille v PSG. France’s biggest clubs come together for la Classique with PSG taking the series in two games. PSG walked it off 4-3 in game one, and their pitchers shut out Marseille 2-0 in game two. Olympique salvaged a win in game 3 when their bats came alive and they beat les Bleus 8-3. Intercontinental Derby: Fenerbahce v Galatasaray. The two teams from either side of the Bosporus meet and Galatasaray needs some wins. The Lions came in of a terrible April and promptly lost 12-1 to Fenerbahce. But things turned around in the next two games, which they won 5-2 and 8-1 to finish the series at 7-17. Fenerbahce is not much better at 11-3. Cross-town rivals Besiktas and Istanbul Basaksehir are looking down on the two clubs from the top of the table. Nicosia Derby: APOEL v Omonia. Cyprus’ two big clubs meet and it’s all APOEL. The Champions League team dominated Omonia, sweeping them by a total score of 23-8. APOEL pitcher Edward Ruth (GER) held off an Omonia rally in game one, while April’s Player of the Month, Jayden Bull took home his first L of the season. In game 3, APOEL 3B Alanzo Petrocelli (ITA) went 4/5, with 3 R and 2 RBI. The two teams are hovering at .500, both at 14-13. Copenhagen Derby: Brondby v Kobenhavn. Big brother Copenhagen took two from Brondby in their high scoring series. The games were evenly matched, going Copenhagen 8-5, Brondby 7-3, Copenhagen 3-2. The two teams left the series a couple of games above .500. Tel Aviv Derby: Hapoel v Maccabi. Rival clubs from Israel met and it was all Hopel Tel Aviv. The Red Demons came in to the series 24-12 and left 27-12, good for third place in the South. Double Istanbul Derby: Basaksehir v Galatasaray and Besiktas v Fenerbahce. Two Istanbul derbies must have created crowd control nightmares when all four Istanbul clubs were in action against each other on the same weekend. Of the four, Basaksehir is in better shape, currently 4th in the South and fighting for a Champions League place, but they dropped 2 of 3 to Galatasaray who are otherwise having a poor season. Besiktas are in first in the South, and they took 2 games from Fenerbahce, who are a lukewarm .500 team. Standings, Leaders, and Awards Standings Standings are in the attachments. Gold represents Champions League places, green is promotion places, red is relegation. The lighter colors indicate teams in the hunt. Still early days for most leagues, but in the Europa League North, IHK is off to a strong start. In the South, Galati is doing terribly. It’s all bad news for the Romanian side at 4-43 after two months and with the Champions League Group Stage looming in July. In Italy, the Milan clubs are going strong out the gate, while Coppa winners Crotone are out in front of Serie B and gunning for promotion. Spain’s heavyweights are off to good starts with an El Classico matchup not on the books until July. Leaders Let’s talk stats! In the Premier League, Manchester United 1B Danny Lara (ESP) is hitting well with 11 HR and a slash line of .408 (4) / .500 (T-1) / .930 (1). He also leads in OPS (1.43)) and RBI (27). On the mound, Chelsea’s Petr Cech (CZE) is in good form with a 4-1 record, 3 complete games, 42.0 IP, and 54K. Suprs’ Brad Friedel (USA) leads in ERA, 0.45. La Liga is dominated by two hitters, you know who they are. Messi and RONaldo lead in almost every category. Ronaldo is more consistently in first, leading the Argentine in AVG (.566 to .560), HR (13 to 10), SLG (1.276 to 1.053), OPS (1.896 to 1.689) and H (43 to 42). Messi has the edge in OBP (.635 to .620), R (37 to 34), and SB (16 to 15). Competition on the mound is a lot more varied. Valencia’s Francisco Aguirre (ESP) leads with a 0.77 ERA over 35.0 IP. Villarreal’s Victor Tzintzun (ESP) leads with 5 W and no losses with 35.1 IP. Granada pitcher Armin Loidl (AUT) has 57 K to his name. Juve’s Arturo Vidal (CHL) is that league’s leading hitter so far with a slash of .532/.623/1.129. Haunting Vidal is Milan’s Zlatan (SWE) who’s second or third in almost every category. In HR, however, Genoa CF Romao Laires (VEN) is the league leader with 13. On the bump, Lazio ace Sean Doyle (ENG) has a 0.00 ERA over 39.2 IP with 5 wins. Inter’s Anatole Beal (CAN) is the leader in Ks with 74. Eden Hazard continue’s his dominant form from the Coupe de France, leading Ligue 1 in hitting, .576/.677/1.045, RBI (28), H (38), R (27) and OPS (1.723). He’s only sixth in HR, that lead goes to three players tied for 9. The pitching stats are spread around the league. PSG’s Oscar Veiga (BRZ) has a 0.56 ERA and 4-0 record, 32.0 IP. Brest’s Johannes Jahina (MLI) has a 5-0 record. Dijon’s Felix Sena (POR) has 49K. Month two in the Europa League sees familiar face Felicio Soranzo (Astana, KAZ) ahead in most stats in the Northern League: 15 HR, .450 OBP, .719 SLG, 1.169 OPS, 44 R. He’s joined by Southern League superstar in the making, Manny Alvarado (Besiktas, TUR), who is batting .460/.556/.937, 1.492 OPS, 20 HR, 60 R. The pitching stats in the NoL have IHK’s (SWE) Adrian Adabash (MDV) on top in ERA with 1.02, Astana Devis Aliu is top in wins with a 7-2 record, he also leads with 72.1 IP. Champions League side Basel (SUI) have the lead in K, Diepolt Kurtz (GER) has 90. In the south Omonia’s Jayden Bull continues his strong start, leading in ERA with 0.88, K with 110, and in a multi-way tie for W with 7. Awards Awards for hitter (H) and pitcher (P) for the month are in!
Pro/Rel Watch The fight for promotion and relegation is on across Europe. Here’s how things stand on 31 May. In most leagues it’s still too early to start picking out likely candidates, but there are some outliers. In France, Thonon is winless in 19 games and is already looking like relegation fodder. Europa South’s Galati is similarly miserable, they’re 4-43 and will need a miracle to stay in the league. Meanwhile The pre-season has started in Portugal, Belgium, and Russia. Those seasons will open in early June. Some other trivia:
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01-14-2023, 09:39 PM
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#42 |
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Minors (Double A)
Join Date: May 2022
Posts: 100
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2012 Regular Season: June
Standings, Leaders, and Awards
Standings In England, Spurs, Chelsea, and Liverpool are duking it out for first, while United holds the last Champions League spot with City and Fulham within a couple of games. In the pyramid below, there aren’t too many surprises, but Huddersfield Town in League One has a pretty strong hold on first place. Germany’s two biggest clubs – Dortmund and Bayern – are battling at the top of the Bundesliga table. The third and fourth place spots are shaping up for a scrap with Mainz, Schalke, Leverkusen, Kaiserslautern, and Monchengladbach within a couple of games of each other. It’s all Barca and Madrid in La Liga, and Villarreal is in good shape in third. Competition for the last Champions League is tight with five clubs within one good series of fourth place. Way down in Division B, Alaves is making a strong case for promotion. They have a 4 game lead on first place 53 games through the 126 game season. Milan, Roma, and Inter are close atop the Serie A table, while the last Champions League spot is up for grabs. In Serie B Juve Stabia and Gubbio already look like locks for relegation, while Benevento in Lega Pro, who signed American free agent Landon Donovan in January, are pulling away from the competition. The Stregoni have only lost two games out of 41 played. Donovan is batting .442 / .624 / .959 with a WAR of 7.2. Bordeaux and Lille are top of Ligue 1. With three Champions League spots, competition for the final spot is going to be fierce. Third place Nice are holding off six teams within three games. Thonon, meanwhile, continue their futile season, they’re still searching for their first win of the season. The Eredivisie in Holland has a single Champions League spot, and Utrecht has four teams within 6 games. At the bottom of the table, three teams: Excelsior Rotterdam, NAC Breda, and de Graafschap all seem to be trying to cram into two relegation spots, the teams are 1-30, 2-29, and 3-28 respectively. Portugal’s top flight, Liga Portugal, the Belgian First Division, and Russia’s Premier League kicked off this month. The table is still shaping up 16 games in. In the Europa League North, IFK (SWE) continues its dominance. They’re 50-23 with Astana in second, 5 games back. Eleven teams are within 2 series of third place. It’s a Sweden sandwich in the North, AIK are the back of the line, but they’re close to Kosice (SVK) and Young Boys (SUI). In the South, Steaua Bucharest (ROM) had a 14-game win streak that pushed them ahead of Besiktas (TUR). It already looks like a two-way race for first with the third Champions League place held by Trabzonspor (TUR) for now. Five teams are within six games of the Istanbul club. At the bottom end, Otelul Galati are not quite Thonon bad, but they’re close: 5-68 and a 25-game losing streak. Leaders RvP (NED) has put together a great season for Arsenal and he’s leading the Premier League in BA (.427), OBP (.513), SLG (.822), OPS (1.335), and HR (17). Chelsea’s Petr Cech (CZE) continues to dominate from the mound. With 71.2 IP, he’s got 94K, less than one BB/9, and 0.54 WHIP. Chelsea’s season is helped by Jose Delgado (ESP) who leads the league in W (9) and is in the top six in ERA, IP, K, and WHIP; he’s on a 9-game winning streak. The Bundesliga batting leaderboard is all Rot. Bayern Munich is dominating. Arjen Robben (NED) is top in AVG (.508), H (65), and R (55). Franck Ribery (FRA) leads in HR (18), SB (22), and TB (121). Bastian Schweinsteiger (GER) leads the rest of the categories: RBI (54), OBP (.571), SLG (.927), and WAR (5.3). Cristofor Valbusa (ITA) is also a frequent appearance on the leaderboard. Bundesliga pitching is a mixed bag, but Dortmund’s Corey Martel (CAN) is having a good season: 60.0 IP, 5 W, 69 K (nice). Schalke’s SS Joey Murphy (ENG) had a 24 game hit streak but went 0/4 against Koln. In La Liga, Messi (ARG) is heating up. He’s been on a tear through June and now leads the league in AVG (.512), RBI (79), OBP (.589), H (83) R (76), and SB (34). His main competition is Ronaldo (POR), of course who has cooled off a little but still leads in SLG (1.096), OPS (1.655), and WAR (8.0). He had a 29 game hit streak until going hitless against Mallorca. Villarreal’s Victor Tzintzun (ESP) is the league’s best pitcher so far/ He leads in W (8), WAR (4.2), and K/9 (13.4 !!!) and is second in K (92) and K/BB (23.0). Fan-favorite Zlatan (SWE) is cruising in Serie A. He’s .519 (1st) /.627 (1st)/1.019 (2nd). He leads with 25 HR, 84 H, 73 R, 73 RBI, 165 TB. 1.645 OPS. He’s already talking about what his statue outside the San Siro will look like. Gigi Buffon (ITA) is having a strong season for Juve, despite the team’s slow start (8th, 12 GB). He’s notched 132 K in 70.1 IP. He has 3 complete games and 3 shutouts. Can he help power the Old Lady up the standings? PSG’s Javi Pastore (ARG) and Lille’s Eden Hazard (BEL) are competing for the batting crown in Ligue 1. Javi leads for now he’s .493/.582/.914 to Hazard’s .464/.593/.843. Javi leads in H (75) and TB (139), Hazard leads in R (53). Neither hitter seems to produce many RBI to go with their hitting. Hazard is only 6th in RBI in the league (43) and neither is on the HR leaderboard. Javi is on a 26 game hitting streak. Can he top Ronaldo’s mark? No pitcher is dominating Ligue 1, but Bordeaux’s Mohamed Darra (FRA)s is having a good season: 0.94 ER (1st), 7-0 (t-2nd) 67.1 IP (t-2nd), 85 K (2nd), 2 shutouts. Ajax’s Christian Eriksen (DEN) is the Dutch Eredivisie’s hitting leader. He’s .538/.650/1.096. Meanwhile Heracles leads the league in HR (15, LF Jeffery Krause, CAN), RBI (54, RF Johane Bermudes, BRA), and H (67, Montae Bassano, ITA). Meanwhile, Feyenoord’s Tonny Veldhuis (NED) has a 25 game hitting streak ongoing. AZ’s Felix Bergman’s (NED) pitching is shaping up to be the best in the league so far. With 80K, 55.0 IP, and 2.9 WAR, he and teammate Rudolf Bolt (NED) are trying to pull AZ out of 11th place. Portugal, Belgium, and Russia are only 16 games in, how those leaderboards shape up is to be determined. The Europa League North batting leaderboard has fractured a bit. Copenhagen (DEN) LF Zach Reed (ENG) leads in AVG (.369), H (103), and R (55). Grasshoppers’ (SUI) 1B Joe Kramer (USA) is tops in RBI (60) and SLG (.649). Astana’s (KAZ) Felicio Soriano (ITA) is first in OBP (.439) and OPS (1.086). The HR leader is Malmo’s Graham McMillan (ENG) with 23. IHK and Astana have the best arms. IHK’s Adrian Adabash (MDV) leads with 1.43 ERA; he’s 9-1 in 88.1 IP with 80 K. Astana’s Devis Aliu (SRB) leads with 12 W and 110.1 IP. In the south it’s still all Manny Alvarado (PUR) of Besiktas (TUR). He’s .431/.532/.846, 28 HR, 79 RBI, 82 R, 8.3 WAR, 115 H, 226 TB (first in all categories). Pitching leaders are Maribor’s (SLO) Norman Tiller (CAN) – 1.53 ERA, 5.6 WAR; Besiktas’ Nikolaus Brown (GER) – 11 W; Omonia’s (CYP) Jayden Bull (ENG) – 102.2 IP, 146 K. Omonia’s 1B Durkin Hughes (NIR) currently has a hit in 22 straight games. Awards Here are your award winners for the month:
Highlights Some standings matchups are starting to play out. A four-way battle in England may be turning into a three-team race, as United have lost 4 in a row. Chelsea benefitted from games against midtable teams, beating up on Everton, Norwich, QPR, Sunderland, and Swansea City. United meanwhile had tough battles against Spurs, Liverpool, City, and Arsenal. The two teams are 2 games into their series and Chelsea have won both. Spurs schedule has benefitted them as well, they’ve dropped points only to United and Liverpool. Real Madrid and Barcelona have had a strong month ahead of their Champions League campaigns kicking off. There’s also a Classico coming up in July, so both teams will need to pick up points against the rest of the league. Juventus came into the month at the top of the table but since then have struggled. They dropped two games to Fiorentina, got swept by Roma, and lost one each to Parma and Catania. They’re now in 8th place looking up at the Milan clubs and Roma. PSG have also struggled. They came into the month in 3rd place, but a miserable month has them back in 6th. Without Champions League baseball ahead, will PSG be able to reset and put some wins together? On the other end of the table, poor Thonon is so, so bad. The closest they’ve been to a win was a 3-0 loss to Olympique Lyon. I’m wondering what the game has against Alpine France to keep this team so bad. Maybe one of the devs got hurt skiing out there once? At the turn of the month, Southern League bottom feeders Galati faced off against fellow Romanian club Bucharest, 25 places above them. Otelul actually eked out a win in the series, 1-3. That win would be Galati’s only win of the month and there’s no chance the club avoids relegation. Fellow Champions League Group C members Manchester United, Benfica, and Basel must be excited for the prospect of 6 guaranteed wins. Champions League In related news: The Champions League schedule is here! The groups are posted here. Group stage games will run on the following days:
Groups play three 2-game series against each opponent and the top two teams in each group advance. Game Performances A quick rundown of top-tier no-hitters and perfect games for the month:
Single Game Feats
Upcoming Only two leagues are left to start: Scotland starts its Premier League Season on 14 July. Austria’s Bundesliga’s begins on 28 July. Additionally, the non-league teams in each country (except France, Italy, and Spain) start on 1 July, so the little teams fighting for a shot at the Bigs get their chance starting now! Last edited by Lucky_Will; 01-15-2023 at 10:11 AM. |
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01-16-2023, 08:55 PM
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#43 |
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All Star Reserve
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Guadalajara, México
Posts: 578
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Some interesting races starting to shape up already! Loving the reports so far, very dense but as expected for a project of this caliber.
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01-18-2023, 08:49 AM
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#44 | |
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Minors (Double A)
Join Date: May 2022
Posts: 100
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Quote:
I’ve been using ChatGPT to help write code that writes my standings files that I’m attaching, so those graphics are Excel spreadsheets with conditional formatting that I import from CSV files written in R that are extracted from the CSV files in the game’s dump folder. I’m also working on code that will let me maintain team colors in an access database and then write those into colors XML files for imports to the game. It’s totally diverted me from the game for now. I’ve got July’s results ready to go once I write them up, but for the moment I’m working on XML files for 2013. Also I’m insanely envious of these database graphics from @RyMACtizzle’s world, so I’m inching my way towards developing a similar product before I get too far down the road in my own world… |
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01-19-2023, 11:23 PM
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#45 |
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Minors (Double A)
Join Date: May 2022
Posts: 100
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2012 Regular Season – July
Standings, Leaders, and Awards
The season is in full swing! All of the leagues have started play and across Europe teams are vying for promotion, trying to avoid relegation, or reaching for a coveted spot in the next year’s Champions League. Standings Speaking of which, the Champions League group stage has begun! Each team is 4 games into an 18-game run. Here are your group leaders: A – Bayern (3-1), City (3-1)Around the leagues, competition for Premier League spots is heating up as most leagues are about midway through their seasons. In England, 5 teams are within striking distance of fourth place, while six teams are fighting to avoid relegation. Wigan is ending the month the worst for wear: they’ve lost seven straight to end up 3 points (1 win) above the relegation zone. Southampton in the Championship is looking like a strong contender for promotion, while League One’s Huddersfield continues to dominate the league. Art imitates life in the Bundesliga. It’s a one horse race for first, Bayern Munich is 27 points (9 wins) in front at the midway mark; the Reds are without a league loss in over a month. Six other teams are in the hunt are in the hunt for the remaining three Champions League places. Competition up and down the German pyramid is tight with numerous teams in contention for promotion and relegation. In Spain, Real Madrid are cursing with a 15 game win streak while Barca got swept in el Classico, putting them seven games back of los Blancos. The fight for the Champions League is incredibly tight; the distance from 4th place to 12th is only 6 wins. Meanwhile, Racing Santander has slipped my notice with the sob story happening in France, but they are winless in 60 games. Can they achieve perfection? AB Milan and Roma are pushing towards the Champions League. They’re riding 7 and 6 game winning streaks, respectively. At the bottom of Serie A, five teams are struggling to stay in the league, while Crotone and Torino are making strong pushes for promotion. Landon Donovan’s Stregoni of Benevento are riding a 19-game win streak and trying to get into Serie B. Ligue 1 is topped by Bordeaux and PSG, but the big news out of France is that the Roses of Thonon got not only their first win but their second too! Thonon held off Valenciennes for a 4-3 win and followed it up eight days later with a 4-2 victory over Sochaux. With 56 games to go, it is not mathematically impossible for Thonon to stay up, but they’d need perhaps the best two-month run in the history of baseball to do it. The Portuguese season is about a third of the way through and the race for two Champions League spots is tight, with 8 teams in contention. Neymar, down in the Segunda Liga, is beating up on the competition. He’s on pace for 50 HR, 112 RBI, and 133 H in the 84-game season. Russia’s Premier League has half of its 16 teams in contention for Champions League spot. Zenit is in first, only a game ahead of Grozny. RKC Waalwijk is leading in Holland, 5 games ahead of second place Utrecht. In Belgium, Club Brugge atop a closely packed table, but with only 35 games played, there’s a lot of baseball left. Austria is only three games into its season, Scotland only 10. It’ll be a lightning round in the highlands for those two leagues; their season are only 54 and 66 games long, respectively. Across Europe the race for the Europa League’s six places is still close, particularly in the North. IFK’s stranglehold on the top spot was finally broken by Astana, who’ve won 8 straight. In the South, Bucharest is still on top. Hapoel Tel Aviv put together a strong month to take the third spot, but 7 other teams are within 6 games of the Red Demons. Galati’s fruitless season in the South continues, they’re 6-88. They’re 25 games back of 25th place with 56 games to go. Leaders This month, with all of the seasons underway, I’m going to take a look at overall stats leaders across the world. This is complicated by the differing season lengths, so I’ll give comparative averages where needed. In league play, Bayern’s Franck Ribery has the HR lead, he has 32 HR in 265 PA in 50 G (1 HR every 8.2 PA). In all competitions, Ronaldo is on top with 46 HR in 364 PA in 75 G (1 HR every 7.9 PA). Other leaders are Zlatan (34 HR in 306 league PA in 60 G, 42 HR in 387 PA in 76 G in all competitions), Rio Ave’s Danny Aguero (21 HR in 183 PA in 35 G), and Cluj’s Antonio Blandon (36 HR in 357 PA in 94 G). The best slash lines belong to Arjen Robben at Bayern with .519/.592/1.073, Messi with .511/.590/.979, Ronaldo at .507/.587/1.079, and Ajax’s Christian Eriksen at .517/.626/.948. Hits leaders are Messi, who has 119 H in 289 PA (1/2.5) in the league and 143 H in 342 PA in all competitions (1/2.4). The Eredivisie’s Montae Bassano (Heracles) is putting up Messi numbers through 50 games, 103 H in 245 PA (1/2.4). Robben is in similar territory: 107 H in 255 PA (1/2.4). Messi and Robben are plating the most RBI in the league. Messi has 112 RBI/289 PA and Robben has 96 RBI/255 PA, that’s 1 RBI in every 2.6 trips to the plate for them both. The top base stealers are Gerrardo Alvarez (ARG) from Europa North’s Zilina (SVK) with 53, Messi with 55, Nice’s Geoffrey Clerc (FRA) with 57, and Southern League team Famagusta’s (CYP) RF Kerrin Miller (IRL) with 61. Offensive WAR is topped by Besiktas star Manny Alvarado (10.3), Messi (10.2), Javi (9.3), and Robben (9.1). On the mound, Lyon’s Hugo Lloris leads Europe with 23 SV. Gigi Buffon (Juventus) has a 0.90 ERA, 187 K in 99.2 IP, 7.9 WAR. The 34 year-old ace is in the last year of his contract at Juve. Awards Player of the month awards are attached below with some new faces appearing.
Highlights Chelsea’s Petr Cech threw three 15+ K games in July: 16K against Villa, 18 K in a no-hitter against Wigan, and 15K against Stoke City. Chelsea is holding Liverpool off for first place while maintaining a perfect record in Champions League Group E. The Premier League had three no-hitters in the month, Cech, Gideon Brown (ENG, Bolton) against QPR, and Rourke Rice (ENG, United) against Galati in the Champions League. In Ligue 1, Javi had a 32 game hitting streak though 8 July before going hitless against Caen. Eden Hazard picked up a two game suspension for taking part in a brawl against Sochaux. Portugal’s Braga LF Victor Jimenez has a 35 game hitting streak ongoing, the longest of the year so far across all top tier leagues. The Americans abroad are hard at work. Fulham’s Clint Dempsey is .351/.551/.977, 86 H, 13 HR, 47 RBI in league play. Stu Holden at Bolton Wanderers is .356/.411/.550, 79 H, 9 HR, 35 RBI, but is reportedly “very unhappy” with Bolton, who are last in the league in a relegation dogfight with Norwich, Stoke City, Wigan, QPR, and Swansea. At Everton, P Tim Howard has a 1.91 ERA, 94.1 IP in 13 G, 85 K, the Toffees are 12th, 6 games behind 10th place Villa. Way down in Italy’s Lega Pro, Landon Donovan is batting .427/.604/1.018, 97 H, 41 HR, 103 RBI. Brad Friedel is having a good year at Spurs, 2.35 ERA, 95. IP in 13 G, 76 K. It’s the last year of his contract and we’ll see what the future holds for the 41 year-old veteran. Next month, it’s more Champions League action and the leagues head down the stretch towards the end of the season in early November and the European Championships in December. Last edited by Lucky_Will; 01-19-2023 at 11:26 PM. |
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01-25-2023, 11:55 PM
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#46 |
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Minors (Double A)
Join Date: May 2022
Posts: 100
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2012 Regular Season – August
Standings
The top four in the Premier League is solidifying around Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs, and United. City is within 6 games of fourth place, can they muster enough in the next two months to reach Europe? At the other end, Bolton look relegation bound, while six other clubs are fighting for the Premier League lives. Down the ladder, Southampton seems likely to win the Championship, and Brighton is looking like a strong bet for promotion too. Huddersfield Town is still going strong atop League One, who will join them in the Championship next year? Bayern ends the month in Germany with a magic number of 21. With two months left in the season, it’s Munich’s title to lose. The battle for the rest of the European spots is tight, particularly the battle for second. Mainz and Dortmund are a game apart. Promotion to the Bundesliga is still anyone’s ball game; 9 teams are within two series of first place. In Spain, Barca are trying to rally to challenge Madrid for first place. This title fight is going to come down to the wire, as is the final relegation spot. Places 14 through 18 are closely contested and Gijon have won two in a row to keep them fighting to stay in La Liga. Racing Santander are looking like they’re going to run the table, they’re winless in 60 games. The top three in Italy are up for grabs. Milan is 6 games out in front but Roma and Inter are in the hunt and Inter is coming off a remarkable 17-game winning streak. Coppa winner Crotone are on the way to the Serie B title, they’re 5 games in front of Torino with 40 games to go in a magical season. Landon Donovan is powering Benevento to the Lega Pro championship, Spezia are going to make it a race, but promotion for those two teams seems certain. Lille are cruising atop Ligue 1 with a 20 game winning streak to leapfrog Bordeaux. The chase for the French title is going to be a good one down the stretch. PSG is in third, the final Champions League spot, but Dijon, Lyon, and Rennes are close to les Bleus. Thonon, meanwhile, found a third win this month! In Portugal, Porto have climbed the standings into first, while Rio Ave is close on their heels and bidding for Champions League baseball. The league table is closely packed, places 1 through 9 are within 6 games of the Champions League places. Neymar’s Moreirense in first place in the Segunda Liga with a magic number of 33 to win the league. Russian minnows Rubin Kazan are on the top of the league for now, but Grozny and Zenit are within two games, and two Moscow clubs, Lokomotiv and Dynamo are within four games. Holland’s Waalwijk is still on top, still holding a 5-game lead on Utrecht. Big clubs Feyenoord, PSV, and Ajax are struggling to keep up, they’re in 3rd, 4th, and 6th respectively. In Belgium, Club Brugge is out in front and has increased its lead to 5 games. Four teams are in the danger zone for relegation. Mons and Lierse are in the drop zone, while Westerlo and Lokeren are two games ahead of relegation. Austria’s short season helps keep things close. For now Sturm Graz is off to a strong start, but 21 games into the 54-game season the table is still a toss-up. Scottish clubs Celtic and Kilmarnock are off to good starts with the Glasgow club currently in first. Hearts, Dunfermline, and Inverness are in a three-way battle to avoid the two relegation spots, they’re all sitting on only 6 points (2 wins) on the season. Astana has stayed in first, pulling ahead of IFK by five games. The third spot in the north is anyone’s ballgame. Grasshoppers are currently in third, 6 games behind IFK, but six other teams are within that same margin of the final Champions League place. The Southern League is all but over, barring strong months from the teams below 3rd place. Only Fenerbahce is within six games of 3rd place Tel Aviv. In the Champions League, there have been another 4 gamedays and the groups are starting to take shape. It looks like there will be some good battles for second place in several of the groups. A – Munich (7-1), Manchester City (4-4), Villarreal (4-4), Napoli (1-7)Ten games left to play in the group stage, so those second place spots have a long way to go! Awards Player of the month awards are attached below. Some strong performances in the smaller leagues mean some new faces from new teams.
Highlights Champions League baseball has provided plenty of entertainment. In Group A, Man City and Villarreal are in tight quarters, each with a .500 record. In Group F Arsenal and Marseille are sitting 5-3, each only a game behind group leaders Dortmund. Other matches are much more lopsided, such as Chelsea’s 26-0 beatdown of Belgian club Genk, or United’s 25-0 win over Galati. Pitching from Premier League Clubs was dominant in this month’s group stage. Chelsea hurler Petr Cech struck out 18 against Leverkusen and 15 against Genk, while Man U pitcher Ricciardo Macchi put up an incredible 20 and 22 against Galati and Basel, respectively. Messi ended the month with a hit in 34 straight games in all competitions. In August he hit .545, 8 HR, 28 RBI, 36 R. Serie A was a pitcher’s paradise this month. Eight pitchers recorded 15K or more in August and Gigi Buffon did it four times, the last of which was a perfect game against Fiorentina. Three of the lowest leagues have already finished play and teams that will be promoted to the bigs are: NED – Sparta Rotterdam, EmmenMost of the other small leagues will be done in September. Next month: we’ll see how the title races shape up, who’s going up, who’s staying up, and who’s making their way to the Champions League knockout rounds. |
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02-02-2023, 05:42 AM
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#47 |
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Minors (Double A)
Join Date: May 2022
Posts: 100
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2012 Regular Season - September
September comes to a close and the leagues are going into the last full month of the season. There will be a handful of regular season games in November, but most of the focus will be on the Europa League and Champions League playoffs. September may be the pivotal month of the season for many teams, we’ll see how it goes!
Standings In England, the top four race is still in play. Chelsea remain on top of the table but both Liverpool and Spurs are within striking distance, 2 and 4 games behind respectively. United is trying to put space between itself and Arsenal, they’re currently in fourth place and 6 games ahead of the London club. At the other end of the table, Bolton and Wigan look doomed to relegation, but three teams: Swansea, Stoke City, and QPR are in touching distance for Norwich City who are trying to escape the drop. Mainz 05 has had a strong month, dropping only 3 games in September to leapfrog Dortmund for second. Schalke are close on third place and are slowly pulling away from Leverkusen to tighten their hold on Champions League baseball next season. The race in the 2. Bundesliga is a close one, six teams are still in the mix for the league’s three promotion places. Barca started the month seven games back of Real Madrid and ended it having picked up two games to make it a title race in Spain. Can Messi keep the team in good form to challenge for the title? Sevilla is desperately hanging on to fourth place. Teams all the way down to 12th place Real Sociedad are within two series striking distance of the fourth position. Meanwhile, Racing Santander finally won one! They managed a 3-1 win over Espanyol to spoil the bookies’ odds on their perfect season. Milan, Inter and Roma stay atop Serie A but second through fourth are still up for grabs. Meanwhile, Siena have had a terrible month and now find themselves in the relegation zone a game behind Catania. Crotone in Serie B are charging towards promotion and the league title. Meanwhile, a scheduling error has been discovered wherein third-tier Lega Pro will continue to play well into December. League officials report that “Auto adjust date if matching XML schedule found” has been unchecked for next season. Bordeaux and Lille have continued their battle atop Ligue 1 and they end the month with Bordeaux a game ahead. PSG, meanwhile, is still trying to hold off Dijon for the final Champions League place. At the bottom of the table, however, relegation is basically determined for Valenciennes, Toulouse, and Thonon. Montpellier in 17th place is 13 games clear of relegation. Portugal’s Pacos de Ferreira have had a strong month to put them within 4 games of second place Rio Ave. Rio had a strong start to the month and briefly took first from Porto but now find themselves having to look nervously in both directions as they try to hold on to a shot at the title and the league’s second Champions League spot. Club Brugge has maintained first place in Belgium and is pulling away as the teams below them fight each other. At the bottom of the league, Mons are trying to catch Lokeren and avoid relegation, but Lokeren have a 5 game lead. In Holland, Uttrecht is closing on Waalwijk and ends the month only 3GB. A late season charge could see them in first and in the Champions League. Nothing will prevent Excelsior from going down, but NAC Breda are hoping to catch de Graafschap, they’re 4 games clear of safety. With 15 games to go in Austria, Sturm Graz has a 5 game lead over Admira Wacker, but Red Bull Salzburg have only dropped two games in September to climb into second place. No one in the top half of the table is eliminated from the title yet. Rubin Kazan are staying strong in Russia. Several big Moscow clubs are faltering, but Lokomotiv is in second, tied with Grozny. There are 20 games to play, so Champions League is anyone’s ballgame. In Scotland, Kilmarnock have pulled ahead of Celtic, they have a 4 game lead after Celtic had a tough month with 9 losses. They’ll need a strong showing to catch back up with the Killie. At the bottom of the league, the three-way fight to stay up continues. Dunfermline, Hearts, and Inverness are within 2 games of each other. The top 6 in the Europa League look certain: Astana (KAZ), IFK (SWE), and Donetsk (UKR) in the North, Bucharest (ROM), Besiktas (TUR), and Tel Aviv (ISR) in the South. Galati (ROM) is sure to go down, and Kosice (SVK) needs a miracle to catch Salvia Prague (CZE) and avoid relegation. There’s a big series between the two this month that will determine the fate of the North. In the Champions League, the second place spots are widely contested, while each group seems to have a pretty solid winner and loser: Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H
Awards Monthly awards are attached below. Here’s who took home the honors in each league:
Highlights This month let’s talk cycles! Premier League
Bundesliga
La Liga
Serie A
Liga Portugal
Belgian First Division
Eredivisie
Europa League
One last highlight: in the Champions League, Man United had back-to-back no hitters against Galati. Hanno Aman (GER) pitched a perfect game and the next day Brendan Bagely (ENG) did the same with an error by RF Sebastiaan den Boer (NED) marring the performance. Next month the title races, promotion and relegation, and the Champions League group stage will all come down to the wire! |
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02-08-2023, 10:26 PM
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#48 |
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Minors (Double A)
Join Date: May 2022
Posts: 100
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2012 Regular Season – October
The regular season is only days from finishing and many of the league titles have been clinched while there are trophies, Champions League places, promotion places still in platy and relegation is still on the table.
Standings – Clinched Races In England, Chelsea clinched the title on 26 October with five games to go, and second through fourth places are set: Liverpool, Spurs, and Manchester United will be in the Champions League next season. Bolton and Wigan are heading down to the Championship, while two games separate Stoke City in 18th and QPR in 17th. If Stoke can win both games against Chelsea and QPR drop their two games to Wolves, Stoke will stay up based on head-to-head record against QPR. The season in Germany is complete! Munich clinched the Bundesliga title on 7 October with 12 games to go. Joining the Reds in the Champions League are Mainz, Dortmund, and Schalke. Schalke held off a late charge by Leverkusen to keep a hold on the final Champions League place. Going down are Hertha Berlin, Nurnberg, and Werder Bremen. Milan clinched the Scudetto on 19 October with 8 games to go. The rest of the top four are Roma, Inter, and Genoa. Headed to Serie B are Novara and Palermo, but Siena have hope against Catania, they’re tied on wins and head-to-head record. Catania has the last safe spot based on a tiebreaker criteria I can’t figure out, but with two games to go, either team can reach safety with a strong performance. Catania face 10th place Atalanta, Siena face Roma. With two games to go, Bordeaux have clinched the Ligue 1 title despite only having two games on Lille. Bordeaux crushed Lille head-to-head this year, 5 games to 1. Lille have put together a nine-game winning streak to finish the season, but it’s not enough. Dijon and PSG are tied on points and head-to-head for third. Dijon play 13th place Auxerre, PSG play the champions. Both Dijon and PSG won the first games of their respective series in extra innings. PSG need to win out and have Dijon stumble to capture third, a tall order against the league winners. At the bottom of the table, Thonon have two games left to make it four wins on the season, they’re headed to Ligue 2 with Toulouse and Valenciennes. Porto clinched the Liga Portugal title at the end of the month, they’re five games up on second place with three games to go. In second place are Pacos de Ferierra and Rio Ave. Rio had a terrible month, falling out of second place early on and notching 7 losses in October to find themselves out of the Champions League with a series against 10th place Guimaraes. Pacos have three against Setubal, who sit 15th and who need a win (or two) to avoid relegation alongside Coimbra. Russia’s Rubin Kazan clinched on 27 October and will play in Europe next year. Going down are Sovetov and Tom Tomsk. The Dutch league is complete and the winners are RKC Waalwijk who clinched on 21 Oct and finished 5 games ahead of Utrecht. NAC Breda and Excelsior are going down to the Eerste Divisie. Club Brugge are Belgian First Division champions with 3 games to go, they clinched on 27 October. Lierse are relegated, but only one game separates Mons and Lokeren for the second relegation place. Austria’s season is over and Strum Graz are headed for the Champions League. Mattersburg escaped relegation by two games despite a three-game losing streak at the end of the season. Innsbruck and Kapfenburg are going down with only 7 wins apiece out of 54 games. In Europe, Astana have cliched a trip to the Europa League championship, they’re five games up on IFK with four games to play. Bucharest have won the South, they clinched on 26 October to beat Besiktas. IFK are through to the Champions League, while Donetsk and Plzen are separated by just one game with four to go. The last Champions League place is anyone’s ballgame. Donetsk have a chance at the Champions League knockout stage and a series against Astana, but they’ll clinch third place on head-to-head if Viktoria can’t put some wins together. In the South, however, the race is over: Besitkas and Hapoel Tel Aviv have clinched second and third place respectively. Going down are Kosice and Galati. Standings – Races to Go The big contest is in Spain. With two games to play, Barcelona are only a game behind Real Madrid. Barca play Valencia who are in 14th, while Madrid play Osasuna who are in 15th. The fourth Champions League place is still up for grabs, Seville are only one game up on Real Betis and two on Levante. The relegation places are set: Gijon, Espanyol, and Santander, who are still sitting at one win. In Scotland, Celtic are only a game behind Kilmarnock with four games to play. They need to pick up wins against St. Johnstone and Motherwell to hoist the trophy and play in Europe. Kilmarnock have one game against Motherwell and then go away to Hibs to finish the season. Standings – Champions League With two group games to go, the action is in the middle of each group table. Group A – The first two places are still up for grabs. City-Bayern will make the difference here as Villarreal have a favorable draw against struggling Naples.
Group B – Inter and Lille are through in that order. Inter clinched first after last match day and will play the second place team in Group G.
Group C – Are two wins from running the table, and the second place spot is down to the last two games as Benfica and Basel are tied. Benfica play perennial losers Galati and must like their chances to go through. Basel have the head-to-head advantage 4-2 over Basel.
Group D – No worries for Ronaldo and Madrid, they’ll face the Group E runners-up. Lyon and Ajax, meanwhile, are close and Ajax has the better odds, they face Zagreb while Lyon have to play Madrid.
Group E – Chelsea and Valencia go through without any trouble. Chelsea will play either Ajax or Lyon, while Valencia will play Real Madrid.
Group F – Dortmund are through but Arsenal and Marseille are tied for second. Marseille have to hope Dortmund are coasting because Arsenal have Olympiacos and can expect two wins.
Group G – Porto are through, but Zenit and Donetsk are tied and they’ll play each other for a chance at the knockout stage. Donetsk are fighting for a Champions League place in the Europa League, so their season is hanging on the next few days, while Zenit hope a win will salvage a forgettable 7th place league finish.
Group H – Barca and Milan are through easily. Messi and Barcelona will play the Group A runners up, Milan will face the winners.
That’s the run down for the Champions League. Two games will make or break the group stage for teams on the bubble while the group winners have a chance to rest and recover before the knockout stages. As a reminder, it’s a three game series through the semifinal with a HAH format. The final will be played at the Baseball Arena Munchen. Awards It’s the last round of monthly player awards until we hear about who takes home season honors. As usual, it’s a mix of new and old faces: ENG – (H) David Silva (ESP), Man City| (P) Jose Delgado (ESP), ChelseaHighlights Last month it was cycles, this month we’ll look at dominant pitching in the top five leagues. In England, Man United continues to benefit from its Champions League draw. Two pitchers no-hit Galati, a repeat of September’s performance. Hanno Aman (GER, 18K 2 BB) and Ricciardo Macchi (ITA, 15K) went back-to-back against the poor Romanian side, and as with last month’s double, the second game this time was a perfect game. Meanwhile, Adelfried Brown (GER, 13K) no-hit last-place Wigan. Roberto Dominguez (ESP) threw 15K for QPR against Norwich but ultimately Queens Park lost the game 1-0 in the 14th inning, keeping QPR within touching distance of relegation. In Germany, Jon Melendrez (ESP, 12K 1BB) throw a no-hitter for Schalke against Dortmund, while Lukas Klein (GER, 10K, 2BB) did the same for Bayern against Werder Bremen. The Bundesliga ends the season with comparatively modest pitching standouts: three no-hitters and one 15K game across the league this year, and no 15-game winners. Real Madrid’s Ilker Casillas threw his third no-hitter of the season in October, 10k and 0BB against Espanyol. The ace is a free agent after this year. Two hurlers notched 15+ Ks this month, Villarreal standout Victor Tzintzun (ESP) struck out 15 against Racing Santander, and then Rayo Vallecano did the same when Willie Montalvo (ESP) threw 16K against the cellar dwellers. Italy saw more no-hitters than anywhere else this year: 13 to this point, with two gamedays to go, maybe there’s one more out there. The most recent was Parma’s Emmanuele Philarghi (ITA, 14K, 1BB) against Palermo. There have been too many 15K games to bother counting with Gigi Buffon (Juve) as the most likely suspect. He accomplished the feat 11 times. Montpellier’s Jose Medrano (CUB) threw Ligue 1’s fourth no-hitter of the season, throwing 13K and 1BB against Thonon (poor Roses). Three players have 20+ wins: Tristan Malaret (POR, Bordeaux, 20-2), who has the chance to win number 21 in his last start of the season in a few days, Oscar Veiga (BRA, PSG, 21-2) who can earn number 22 against champs Bordeaux, and Andrew Sharratt (ARU, Lille, 20-4). That does it for October! My next update will cover the end of the regular season and the conclusion of the Champions League group stage. The we’ll get into the Champions League knockout rounds and Europa League playoffs and look ahead to the Euros! |
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02-09-2023, 12:28 PM
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#49 |
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Major Leagues
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Baltimore
Posts: 307
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I continue to just absolutely love this series. This is a dream for any fan of in-depth customization and big worlds.
A couple setup questions: 1) How do you set up year-long tournaments like the Champions League/BA Cup? As recently as 21 or so I remember the setup for that kind of thing being nearly impossible, and having to do long postseason association tournaments instead. Is there a cleaner way to do this kind of thing now, or do you just have to schedule every game manually? The duality of the Champions League and the domestic league makes things really interesting. 2) Do games work on soccer or baseball schedules (i.e. are they once a week or nearly every day?) And do your starting pitchers have rotations, or is it just a goalkeeper analogue going out there every day? Also just for fun: who are some of the best prospects in the world right now? |
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02-09-2023, 01:07 PM
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#50 | |
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Minors (Double A)
Join Date: May 2022
Posts: 100
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Quote:
1) Setting up the tournaments is tough. For the Cup tournaments I basically just turned them into preseason tournaments. Because of the playoff nature and the way the game handles playoff series, trying to do it midweek would require so much real time adjustment that it would be an absolute chore. I wish I could import post-season schedules like you can do with regular season schedules but oh well. The Champions League group stage is easier because those games follow a regular season schedule. So using the schedule builder tool, I set my schedules up with a rough sketch of the season. So for example in the Prem, I set a 20 team, one sub league, one division, 114 game season. I tell it to start on a Saturday and then skip Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Then I have to go into the output txt file (or whatever it is) and manually adjust the days to fit the schedule and build gaps for the Champions League. Then I do the same with the Champions League like an inverse of the previous process. I schedule 18 group games only on Tuesday and Wednesday and then adjust them to fit the gaps in the league schedules. All of my leagues have a staggered start based on size, so the Europa League (2x 26 team sub leagues, 150 games) starts first in like early April, while Austria (10 teams? I can’t remember) starts in mid-July. I do this so every league and the Champions League group stage all end at the same time, the first week of November. That way the league calendars are clear and the Champions League knockout rounds can schedule organically. In previous play tests I ran into scenarios where the Europa League playoffs clash with the knockout stage (e.g. Donetsk makes the knockout stage and also wins the Europa League North), so that takes some monitoring. But I have the regular season schedules all set to conform to my set XML files and then make sure they start on time and align with the Champions League annually. The initial schedule adjustment is tedious but can be done in Notepad++ pretty easily. And I have a pretty gnarly spreadsheet to make sure the dates line up correctly. I’ll post a screenshot of it later. 2) The schedule is closer to a baseball schedule because of my setup. Instead of playing each team twice, like in soccer, they play two 3-game series, home and away. So the use of pitchers is more like in real baseball. Teams generally have one rest day a week, except once the Champions League starts, teams that are in the tournament have a travel day on either side of their two game series while non-Champions League teams would have four days off. 3) I’ll post this later, but I don’t have 100% of my world as real soccer players. I created 50 real players plus 5 Americans from the FIFA 12 database and based their ratings on their FIFA ratings. Each year I’m going to bring in 10 more top players and one American as free agents and just see where they wind up. For example, Neymar was a free agent to start the year and he signed with a second tier Portuguese team, so who knows what that’s about. I’ll post some more on game admin later and throw some prospects at you too. Thanks for reading! |
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02-10-2023, 05:51 AM
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#51 | |
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Minors (Double A)
Join Date: May 2022
Posts: 100
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Quote:
Here is the schedule maker I use to generate the initial pass at each league. Shoutout to u/Fishbreath for the tool. It has its quirks, but it gets me in the ballpark (ha!) so I can fine tune the output. Once I write the schedule file, I reference my crazy Excel spreadsheet to adjust days and dates. I basically have a setup for each league size so I can cross reference which days have a game. Fishbreath's tool sets the starting day as day 1, then counts sequentially. So if in OOTP I tell the league to start on Saturday, 1 April, that would read the schedule file and look for day 1 and start with those games. Day 2 is Sunday, 2 April, and so on. Any day that gets skipped is an off day. So I go through and make sure the off days and game days in the schedule file match the setup in Excel and adjust as needed. Then, in the preseason for each league, I delete the automatically generated schedule and import the one I built. I make sure the starting date is correct for each league, and then make sure I have a properly named schedule file in the OOTP/schedules folder and tick the "adjust schedule if matching XML file" box so that it will stay the same. That way it will import the right schedule annually. You can see in my attachments what the schedule file looks like, it's just a text file that you can mess with. I use Notepad++ because it's easy and looks nice when using it. And you can see what I want my final output to look like in the team schedule screenshot. The only scenario this doesn't work for is the playoffs, which you can't easily adjust in game and you can't import a template for them, which would be awesome if you could. So the Cup tournaments happen in March, the league schedules all have to end at the same time, ideally the week of the Champions League group stage ending, and then I have to monitor the Europa League playoffs and Champions League playoffs to avoid double-scheduling teams that might be in both stages. I would love to be able to import a playoff schedule structure that would let me space out the Champions League and Cup games from the outset, then you could have all three competitions (Champions League, Cup, and League play) run concurrently, which would be bonkers. [Tagging that in bold in case a bored dev comes in here looking for ways to make his life more complicated/for a way to create a new feature and impress the bosses...] One of the weak points of OOTP's brain is that it will double-schedule games without notifying you of the clash and there's no easy way to reschedule a game. I would love to have a button in the schedule editor that said "Reschedule Game" and you could click it and select a date/time. Heck you could have a popup if the game detects a double-scheduled team that gives you the option. On your last question, I'm going to hold off on it because the prospects aren't super exciting, it's a bunch of randomly generated names that won't mean anything to any of us. But I am closing in on the end of the 2012 year in my game and then I'll import 10 new actual football stars and 1 new American star and I'll give a rundown of their ratings and we'll see where they end up! As a preview, you can expect players like Andrea Pirlo, Yaya Toure, Robert Lewandowski, and Brad Guzan to show up in 2013! |
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02-15-2023, 09:31 AM
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#52 |
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Minors (Double A)
Join Date: May 2022
Posts: 100
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2012 Regular Season - November
Standings – League Play
The last few games of the season have finished and now we know the fate of each league! Only the Europa League and UEBA Champions League playoffs remain. Here’s how the races for championship trophies and Champions League places finished up: In Spain, Barcelona lost two games in a row to Valencia while Real Madrid took two in a row against Osasuna. The Blancos from Madrid clinched the La Liga title with one game to go and finished two games up on their arch rivals. Catania and Siena, mired in a relegation dog fight, both lose to stay tied on record, and head-to-head record. Whatever the game uses as a third tiebreaker had the Elefanti ahead, so Catania escape relegation by the thinnest of margins! Liga Portugal’s Pacos de Ferriera swept Setubal while Rio Ave dropped two to Guimares, completing their late-season collapse to fall out of Portugal’s second Champions League place. Rio Ave have got to be gutted, on 21 September they were in first, a game ahead of eventual league winners Porto. Belgium’s Mons needed a big series against Mechelen but could only manage one win on the last day of the season. They were up against Lokeren to avoid relegation, and although Lokeren lost all three of their games against Cercle Brugge, with only one win in their own series Mechelen was doomed by their head-to-head record against Lokeren. The teams finished with identical records but Mons goes down. In the Scottish Premier League there’s great action at both ends of the table. Up top, it’s Celtic and Kilmarnock who have been the two teams in contention almost all year. Celtic are a game behind first place, and Kilmarnock needs a strong finish to claim the trophy and a place in the Champions League. With four games to go, Celtic loses to St. Mirren and Kilmarnock loses to Motherwell to stay tied. In the last series of the year Kilmarnock goes 1-for-3 against Hibs and Celtic takes 2 out of three from Motherwell. The table ends with Celtic and Kilmarnock tied with 47-19 records, but Celtic win the head-to-head matchup 4-2. In the three-way fight to avoid relegation, Hearts and Dunfermline win the first of their November games to stay static in 10th and 11th place, respectively. They both lose out in the last three games of the year. All Dunfermline needed was a win, but they couldn’t muster one against Dundee United, and Hearts finish the season one game ahead of relegation. In the Europa League, Donetsk just need to match Plzen’s record to clinch 3rd place and a trip back to the Champions League on head-to-head record. Shakhtar got a crucial win against Nordsjaelland before being swept by Astana. If Plzen could pick up three wins out of four to close the season, they’d pass Donetsk for third. But it was not to be. They play two Swiss teams in a row, losing one game to Grasshoppers and picking up 2 out of 3 from Young Boys. It’s not enough and both Donetsk and Plzen finish 91-59 but Donetsk went 4-2 against the Czech side and will head back to the Champions League in 2013. Standings – Champions League It’s the last series of the Group Stage and it’s down to the wire. Here’s how they shook out: Group A – City, Villarreal, and Munich are all in contention. City face Bayern and Villarreal face Napoli. Munich took game one against City to give themselves a fighting chance at advancing. In game two, City came back from 5-1 down to tie it in the 7th. Munich put one more across in the 8th, but Vincent Kompany was the hero City needed, he hit a 2R walk off HR to clinch a trip to the Round of 16. Villarreal’s fate was now in their own hands, and against Napoli they got the job done, winning 4-1 to advance to the playoffs based on head-to-head record against Munich. An amazing finish to the group stage. The crucial game was witnessed by 17,000 people at the Etihad, which is a weirdly low attendance level.
Group B
Group C – Another dog fight here, this one for second place, where Benfica and Basel enter the last series tied at 8-8. Benfica can’t miss against Galati, crushing the Romanian minnows, while Basel are swept by Man United who don’t bother to take it easy despite clinching first place. Benfica go through.
Group D – Ajax and Lyon start within a game of one another, with Lyon in front. But Ajax benefits from the draw against Zagreb. They sweep the Croatian side while Lyon are swept by Madrid. It’s enough to allow Ajax to leapfrog Lyon and put the Dutch team into the round of 16.
Group E
Group F – Arsenal and Marseille come into the last series tied at 9-7. Arsenal gets the easier draw against Olympiacos, while Marseille get group winners Dortmund. The Gooners sweep the Athenians, and Marseille narrowly lose both games to Dortmund to put Arsenal through.
Group G – Donetsk and Zenit have their fates in their own hands. The two sides play each other to get to the knockout round. The Ukrainian side wins a tight game one, 4-3, and then opens up in game two, winning 8-4. The result is Shakhtar goes through and Zenit is out of the competition.
Group H
Stats & Records With the regular season in the books, here’s a rundown of stat leaders across the top tier leagues: Ronaldo is the overall batting leader, he ended the season .522 (1st) / .597 / 1.009 (1st). He finished fourth in HR with 51, second in RBI with 180, 3rd in SB with 100. He led all leagues with 1.606 OPS, 24.1 OWAR, 233 H, and 450 TB. Archrival Messi was no slouch, he went .506 (2nd) / .609 (1st) / .958 (4th), 44 HR, 185 RBI, 200 R, 108 SB (2nd), 20.6 WAR (2nd). Messi had the longest hitting streak of the year, with a 48-game streak that lead all leagues. The closest competitors were Braga’s Victor Jimenez (ARG) in Portugal with 39 games, Celtic’s Willie Bernal (COL) with 37 games, Club Brugge’s Nicoli Canavaro (ITA) with 33 games, and Javi at PSG with 32 games. Munchen’s Arjen Robben was the home run king across all leagues with 55 HR! (in 102 games!) Robben hit .471 (5th) / .560 / .983 (2nd), 169 RBI (6th), 171 R (5th), 57 SB, 16.2 WAR (T-5th). On the mound it was Juve’s Gigi Buffon who led the most categories, despite Juve’s poor form in Serie A. He led all leagues in ERA (0.71!), Ks (411!), WAR (17.1), shutouts (6), WHIP (0.44), and K/9 (17.2). Astana’s Devis Aliu (SRB) powered the team to the Europa League playoffs and next year’s Champions League tied as the wins leader (24, with Sal Vargas, MEX, Inter Milan) and leader in IP (234.2). Elder Morioka (BRA) led in saves with 43 for Widzew Lodz. Here’s your batting leaderboards: AVG
HR
RBI
Hits
Runs
Stolen Bases
ERA
Wins
Saves
K
In my next post I’ll drill down a little into each season’s results, including a comparison with the real world of European Football. I’ll get into the playoffs and award results from the top tier leagues. We’ll also look at next year’s Champions League draw. After that’s done, it’s off to the Euros! And then I’ll do a meta post about all the work I do between each game year to get ready for the next and then we’ll close the door on 2012 and start on the 2013 season! |
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02-22-2023, 09:29 PM
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#53 |
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Minors (Double A)
Join Date: May 2022
Posts: 100
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2012 Post-Season
2012 Post Season
Changing it up slightly from the order described in my previous. I’m going to dig into the end of the Champions League season and then spend my next post(s) on league wrap ups while I continue to prep for 2013. It’s a long annual checklist, so I’ve gotta stretch out 2012… Europa League Playoffs The Europa League holds a single round of playoffs, a best-of-seven series. The two league winners, North and South, play against each other for bragging rights and a slightly higher Champions League Group seed. This year, Astana comes in as the winner of the North. They finished 104-46 and 4 games ahead of second place IFK. Steaua Bucharest won the South with the exact same record, finishing five games ahead of Besiktas. Fortunately, with neither team in the Champions League playoffs, the two teams can totally focus on the Europa League trophy. In game one, Bucharest hosted the Kazakh side and rallied from 4-2 down to tie the game in the bottom of the 9th and send the game to extra innings. The hero was Bucharest LF Thomas Renard (FRA) who hit a walk-off RBI double to win game one. Game two, however, was a romp for Astana. The Blue and Yellows plated nine runs to Bucharest’s one to tie the series at one. In Astana, game three saw Steaua score five runs in the first three innings, but Astana found the pace they needed and held Bucharest scoreless for the rest of the game while scoring seven runs of their own to win game two. Game three was a tight battle, 9 hits between and three runs between the two teams. Astana P Michel Cormier (FRA) outdueled Louis Corfield (ENG), pitching 6.0, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER to Corfield’s 5.2, 4, 2, 2. Astana are within one game of the Europa League trophy! In game four, Astana jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second, but Bucharest tied it in the fourth, and the stalemate persisted. The game stayed deadlocked into the 12th inning when P Filip Prishvin (UKR) stepped into the box with two outs and brought home C Tatsuki Okumura (JPN) to walk off the series in the bottom of the 12th. Astana win the Europa League Championship, 4 games to 1! The series MVP is Astana 3B Murat Dragomanovic (SLO) who batted .467 / .467 / 1.133, 3 HR, 3 RBI. Champions League Playoffs The Champions League winners automatically qualify for next year’s competition. That means the following teams, who finished outside the qualifyin places, could make it anyway, knocking out the lowest placed qualifier from their country: Valencia – Would knock out SevillaScroll down to the attachments for a spoiler graphic of how the playoffs shook out. I’ll work through the Round of 16 (best of three) quickly, here are the matchups: Villarreal 1-2 BarcelonaOf the series, Arsenal/United was the most consistently competitive. The games were 7-2 United, 4-3 Arsenal, 2-1 United. The quarterfinals saw the following matchups: Barcelona v. CityAs you might expect, Barca/City was close-fought. In game one, City got out to a 4 run lead only to see Barcelona rally for 3 runs in the 8th. Alas, it wasn’t enough and the Devils held on to win game one at Camp Nou. At the Ethiad City once again got out to an early lead, 5-0 in the 5th, but they blew that lead in the 6th, surrendering 3 runs to City. With the score now 8-5, Barcelona scored two more to come within one run in the 7th. But City held on to their lead to win the series 2-0. Another clash of Spanish and English clubs saw Ronaldo’s Madrid versus Drogba’s Chelsea. In game one Madrid rallied from four runs down to score three in the late innings but they couldn’t find the equalizer and Chelsea won game one at Stamford Bridge 4-3. In game two, the teams traded punches but Chelsea held on to a one-run lead for half the game and blanked Madrid in the 9th to win 9-8 and advance. United took on Dortmund and made quick work of the German team. In game one, Dortmund kept the game tied at one run apiece until the 10th inning. United managed to find their bats and scored 3 in the top of the 10th and Dortmund couldn’t muster a response. United win game one 4-1. Game two was a 13-0 romp for United in front of their home fans and the two Manchester sides are now on a collision course… Inter and Lille went the distance to three games. Inter convincingly took game one 4-1 at the San Siro. In game two, the teams stayed tied at 4 into the 11th inning. Inter scored one in the 11th but Lille 2B Bernard Maisonneuve walked it off with a one run double to put Lille’s second run of the inning across and send the series back to Milan tied at 1. In game three, Milan took a two run lead in the 4th off a 2-run HR by RF Hisanori Pontes (BRA). Lille countered with a one-run single by LF Robby Delgado (BRA), but could only must two hits on the night and Inter won the series 2-1. The Quarterfinals summarized: Barcelona 0-2 CityIn game one of City-Chelsea, the Manchester squad took the lead 4-1 in the 5th and didn’t look back. They scored two more in front of Chelsea’s home fans to win 6-1. Game two and it’s a must-win for Chelsea’s search for a double (League trophy and Champions League title). For some reason, with aces Petr Cech (CZE) and Jose Delgado (ESP) both rested, the Blues started their number 4 starter Sorcha Powell (ENG). Powell went four innings behind Chelsea’s bats who scored 9 to City’s 3. Chelsea headed to the bullpen and held City to two more runs, scoring two of their own to take game two 11-6. In game three, it’s the rubber match for the final and once again, Cech and Delgado are on the bench. City pounce on the poor decision and batter Chelsea’s pitching for 8 runs. Chelsea get to City’s bullpen in the 7th and score 5 runs in the late stages, but it’s not enough. Didier Drogba, at bat as the tying run in the bottom of the 9th with two on, grounds out 4-3 and City head to Munich for the Champions League Final! Game one of at Old Trafford is a day at the park for United against Milan. United P Phil Cunningham (ENG) pitched a complete game gem, 9.0, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER and hit a 2-run home run to help his own cause out and United crush Inter 8-0. Game two in Milan goes better for Inter, they score 8 runs, but United’s bats overpower Milan’s pitching and they get 12 runs to win the series. City 2-1 ChelseaThe Champions League final is set: cross-town rivals Manchester United and Manchester City meet for a single game in Munich in front of 40,000 fans. The game will also determine qualification for the Champions League next year. Manchester United have to win to stay in Europe, City, who finished the league in 6th, have to win to qualify and knock out their archrivals. (Fun fact, IRL Tottenham finished 4th in the 2011-12 Premier League and qualified for Champions League, but when Chelsea, who finished 6th, won the Champions League final on a penalty kick from Didier Drogba, Spurs were knocked out of qualification for the group stage. Art imitates life!) City’s all-star lineup plays station-to-station baseball in the third: Kun Aguero singles, Carlos Tevez singles, David Silva walks, Nani singles to score Aguero, Balotelli walks to score Tevez. City is up 2-0. In the 7th SS Dave Sanchez (VEN) hits a solo shot and City is up by three. But in the bottom of the 8th, United standout Danny Lara (ESP) hits a 2-run HR and Wayne Rooney follows it with a solo shot to tie the game. The game is tied 3-3 in the ninth. City can’t score in the top of the 9th and Lara comes to bat with the bases loaded and two outs. On the 2-0 pitch Lara line drives a walk-off single and wins the game and the Champions League for United! Around the stadium the Man United fans sing "We know who we are! We know who we are! Champions of Europe! We know who we are!!!" The Player of the Tournament is Real Madrid’s Mezut Ozil, who batted .590/.699/1.154, 10 HR, 4.1 WAR. Golden Arm is Petr Cech, 8-1, 0.70 ERA, 77.0 IP, 7.1 WAR. Champions League Seeding With the Champions League and Europa League complete, the numbers are in to seed next year’s Champions League group stage. Here’s how it works. Teams are seeded by win percentage times a modifier times the natural log of their run differential: Seeding Coefficient = Win Pct x Modifier x ln(Run Differential) The modifiers are as follows: Champions League winner: 1.3 Top four leagues (ENG, ESP, GER, ITA): First place: 1.15France: First place: 1.1Portugal: First place: 1.0Russia: 0.95 Netherlands: 0.95 Belgium: 0.93 Austria: 0.93 Scotland: 0.93 Europa League: League champion: 0.93The Champions League winners league (English Premier League in this case) have an increased modifier, an increase in their factor by 0.05-0.1. Under this setup, top seed for the 2013 Champions League is AB Milan, who had a .921 win pct and +956 run differential. Groups are seeded in a tournament style, with the top seed, bottom seed, and middle seeds in Group A, Group B is seeds 8, 9, 24, 25, and it gets pretty complicated after that. See the attached graphic for the whole process. Group A Milan (ITA)Group B Bordeaux (FRA)Group C Chelsea (ENG)Group D Barcelona (ESP)Group E Roma (ITA)Group F Bayern (GER)Group G Inter (ITA)Group H Real Madrid (ESP)Next year’s tournament begins on July 16th and the final will be in Wembley Stadium in London. My next post will probably be the first in a series of league-by-league wrap ups, and then we’ll talk Euro 2012! |
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03-03-2023, 08:36 PM
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#54 |
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Minors (Double A)
Join Date: May 2022
Posts: 100
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[Deleted because I'm changing tacks to get back to baseball!]
Last edited by Lucky_Will; 05-06-2023 at 06:50 AM. |
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05-06-2023, 06:48 AM
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#55 |
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Minors (Double A)
Join Date: May 2022
Posts: 100
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I’m back at it after a long delay due to real life being time consuming!
I’m going to abandon the previous thread of top-tier recaps and skip ahead straight to the European Championships. Here’s a quick graphic of how the season ended up for club teams and league award winners. Premier Baseball League (England): Chelsea  Baseball Bundesliga (Germany): Bayern Munich  La Liga (Spain): Real Madrid  Seire A (Italy): A.B. Milan  Ligue 1 (France): Bordeaux  Liga Portugal (Portugal): Porto  Eredivisie (Netherlands): RKC Waalwijk  Belgian First Division (Belgium): Club Brugge  Russian Premier League (Russia): Rubin Kazan  Austrian Bundesliga (Austria): Sturm Graz  Scottish Premier League (Scotland): Celtic  UEBA Europa League (Europe): Astana  UEBA Champions League (Europe): Manchester United  Award Winners  But the big event to close out 2012 is the Euros, a three-week national tournament that will bring together some of the biggest stars of the game! This year’s hosts are Poland and Ukraine, who submitted a joint bid. I spend a lot of time on custom uniforms, it’s one of my favorite parts of the game, so here’s a home uniform preview for the Euros. Group A  Group A might be this year’s “Group of Death,” with three teams capable of moving on and making a run in the tournament. France, Wales, and Northern Ireland have strong squads that can earn results against each other, while Albania is mostly happy to be here, but also hopeful they can play spoiler. Big stars in Group A are France’s P Hugo Lloris (Lyon, FRA), Romain Besancon (Brighton, ENG), and Wales’ CF Gareth Bale (Tottenham, ENG). Amazingly, French standouts Franck Ribery (Munich, GER) and Karim Benzema (Real Madrid, ESP) were left out of the French squad. Group B  England are the clear favorites in Group B and a good pick to win it all, while Poland and Slovenia have strong squads that should challenge one another for second in the group. Austria is a dark horse but will probably mostly serve to boost the chances of the other teams. Notable players in the group include most of the England lineup: 3b Wayne Rooney (Man United, ENG), C John Terry (Chelsea, ENG), CF Frank Lampard (Chelsea), and CF Steven Gerrard (Liverpool, ENG). Group C  Spain is the likely winner of the group, with a stacked lineup that could go all the way (Spain won the real-life soccer Euro 2012 tournament as well!). Ronaldo’s Portugal is also a strong team that should finish second if CR7 can pull the team through with him. Switzerland and Ukraine should put up a fight with the Swiss side capable of advancing as a third place wild card (4 third place teams will go through). Group C superstars include SS Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Spain P Ilker Casillas (Real Madrid), SS Cesc Fabregas (Barcelona, ESP), CF Juan Mata (Chelsea), and 2B Pedro (Barcelona). Group D  Germany and Belgium are the clear group winners with Germany the likely first place team. Serbia and Greece will have to battle it out to stay off the bottom. Germany could be a tournament winner, but winning the group means a likely rendezvous with Spain in the Semifinals. Germany boasts P Manuel Neuer (Munich),and P Rickhart Haar (Tottenham), but for some reason SS Bastian Schweinsteiger (Munich), LF Mesut Ozil (Real Madrid) are off the roster. Belgium brings SS Eden Hazard (Lille, FRA) and 1B Romelu Lukaku (Chelsea), but not C Vincent Kompany (Manchester City, ENG). Group E  Group E favorites Italy are another possible tournament winner, with Ireland or Sweden as strong second place candidates. Croatia might be able to claw its way to third behind 1B Luka Modric (Tottenham), but it’ll be long odds from them and Sweden. Italian P Gigi Buffon (Juventus, ITA), and P Philiberto Ditella (Inter Milan, ITA), while Ireland will rely on P Donahey Jackson (Leverkusen, GER) to get out of the group. Controversially, Sweden 1B Zlatan (AB Milan, ITA) is off the Sweden roster, despite a Serie A Scudetto, MVP, and Golden Glove for him this year. Group F  Another possible Group of Death, Netherlands, Scotland, and Denmark are strong teams with the knockout round written all over them. Romania is another spoiler team, hoping to ruin someone’s party. Dutch CF Arjen Robben (Munich) and P Sean Kwant (Bielefeld, GER) head the Oranje, but CF Wesley Sneijder (Inter Milan, ITA) and 1B Robin van Persie (Arsenal, ENG) are out of the selection. Denmark are hoping RP Martin Fog (Free Agent) can help the team advance, despite the absence of 3b Christian Eriksen (Ajax, NED), who’s out with a torn hamstring. Tournament Format Teams play six games in the group stage with the first an second place teams from each group advancing, and four wildcard third place teams also moving on. The knockout rounds are best 2-of-3 series until the single-game final, which will be in Kyiv’s Olympic Stadium. My next post will be a recap of the tournament before we turn the page to the 2013 season. |
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05-09-2023, 06:43 AM
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#56 |
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Minors (Double A)
Join Date: May 2022
Posts: 100
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Euro 2012 Results
The tournament is over and a new European Champion is crowned! Let’s recap the event.
Group A By the midpoint of the group stage, Group A was still anyone’s ballgame. Wales led with a 3-0 record, while France was 2-1, having dropped their first meeting with Wales after the Dragons rallied for 4 runs in the bottom of the 8th to win 6-4. Northern Ireland was 1-2 but with 3 games to turn it around, and a vital 2-1 win over Wales helped both France and Northern Ireland, who improved to 2-3. When France and Wales met again, France got the better of it, winning 5-2 to take first place in the group. Wales maintained second place, 4-2, while Northern Ireland’s 3-3 was enough to see them through to the knockout round. Albania went winless.
Group B Group B was similarly in play by the midpoint of the stage, with England on top 3-0, while Poland and Slovenia were 2-1 and 1-2 respectively. England ran the table through the rest of the stage, finishing 6-0, while, crucially, the hometown crowds helped spur Poland on to win both games against Slovenia to finish second in the group and prevent Slovenia from mirroring Northern Ireland’s success. Austria suffered the curse of the (English) alphabet, finishing 0-6 like Albania. With more runs scored than any other 2-4 team, Slovenia squeaked through to the knockout round.
Group C Cohosts Ukraine looked out of it from the start, dropping their opening game and then every game thereafter. Surprisingly, at the halfway mark Switzerland looked like a possible spoiler. The Swiss held second place with a 2-1 record, while Portugal sat third 1-2. The second half of the group stage held no surprises for Spain, who won the group, nor for Ukraine, still in last; but Portugal and Switzerland were in a dead heat at 3-3. They split their two games and both went through, with Switzerland winning the tiebreaker (I believe it’s run differential, maybe runs scored?).
Group D Midway through Group D’s campaign, the only question was whether Germany would drop a game and give Belgium a chance of winning the group. Serbia’s only win was against helpless Greece (the curse of alphabetical order obviously fell apart quickly), while Belgium’s Red Devils hoped to turn around from their 9-4 loss to die Mannschaft and win their second game against Germany. It wasn’t meant to be, and the Germans swept Belgium to hand them their only two losses of group play.
Group E Another group where the clear favorite ran away with first place, this time perfect Italy. At the midway point the second spot was up for grabs between Ireland and Sweden, at 2-1 and 1-2, respectively. Ultimately, plucky Croatia spoiled the party for Sweden, handing them a loss (Croatia’s only win, an 8-2 thumping) and allowing 3-3 Ireland to advance. Sweden would just miss out on a wild card spot on runs scored, they were tied for 18th in the tournament).
Group F This group turned into a good fight for first between Netherlands and Scotland, with Denmark struggling but still in the Wild Card mix. At the halfway mark all three of those teams sat 2-1 at the expense of 0-3 Romania. When the dust settled, Scotland had dropped a crucial game against Holland in extra innings 12-9 to finish second. Meanwhile, Romania’s massive 7-5 upset over Denmark meant that the Danes had to rely on their -32 run differential to put them into the knockout stage.
Round of 16 England lost their first game of the tournament in game two of the round of 16, as their big bats went silent allowing the underdogs to grind out a 4-2 win, but it wasn’t enough to rally Slovenia, and England put up monster numbers at the plate in game 3 to advance. Wales’ feelgood story came to an end against the big red wall of the Belgium squad. The Red Devils swept the Red Dragons, but Wales didn’t go down easily, losing by a total of 3 runs. Group Stage surprises Switzerland couldn’t stand up to powerhouse Netherlands. The Oranje swept the Swiss 2-0 to advance with few worries. The same story repeated for Italy against Northern Ireland, who put an end to the underdog story behind 23 runs in two games. Portugal finally found their stride after sneaking out of the group stage. They took down titans Germany, 2-1. Ronaldo batted .500 in the series with 2 HR and 7 RBI. He carried the team which eked out wins 6-2 and 5-4 after Germany’s 4-3 game 1 win. The Cinderella story didn’t end for Ireland, who shockingly swept pre-tournament powerhouse France in a couple of close ones, 6-2 and 3-2. Les Bleus felt the absence of Ozul and Benzema, and the French struggled to find offense against the Irish. Poland hoped to channel some of that magic but instead it was Scotland who came out in front. The Scots put a two game beatdown on Poland to send the cohosts home with their heads high. Spain established themselves as tournament favorites after the round of 16 following a 2-game demolition of Denmark. The Spanish all-stars raked at the plate, putting an end to Denmark’s surprising run. Quarterfinals England returned to form against Belgium, winning game 1 handily 13-4 before grinding out a 1-0 win in game 2 to reassert their status as the favorites to win it all. Italy didn’t need ace Gigi Buffon to take two from the Netherlands. The Azzurri swept the Oranje, 2-1 and 7-4 with the ace resting for the Semifinals. Portugal continued its resurgence, breaking Ireland’s glass slipper behind two 5-run wins in as many games. Ronaldo was relatively quiet in the series, he “only” went .375 with 1 HR and 4 RBI. Scotland would not go quietly in their matchup with Spain. They won game 1 in 10 innings, 5-3 to stun the Spain with their first loss of the tournament. Spain rallied for big numbers in games 2 and 3 to advance to the Semifinals. Semifinals Italy versus England was a tense matchup. England won game 1 of the series 5-4 in the 14th inning thanks to a Wayne Rooney walk off double. Buffon took the mound in game 2 to save Italy’s tournament but it wasn’t enough. England took Gigi to the cleaners for 6 runs in 6.1 IP, while Italy’s bats could only muster 2 runs and England were through to the final! The Iberian Derby kicked off with a tight game between rampant Spain and surging Portugal. Ronaldo went 0 for 3 with 2 BB and a run, and Spain rallied from 3-0 down to win 5-4. Game 2 went better for CR7, who was 3 for 4 with 2 R and 1 RBI. Cesc Fabregas had other plans though, his 3-run HR put Spain up early and they held on for a 5-3 win over their neighbors. Final Pre-tournament favorites England and Spain met for the title in the match bookmakers had all along. Two superstar lineups met to decide the European crown for the next four years. England jumped out to an early 3-0 lead via a bases-clearing double by starting pitcher Phil Cunningham (Man United). Spain tried to rally off a 1-RBI Juan Mata double in the 3rd, but England added three more runs to Spain’s one and Rooney, Terry, Gerrard, Lampard and company triumphed over Cesc, David Silva, Pique, Iniesta, and Mata to win the European Championship 6-3.   In the real life 2012 Euros, Spain defeated Italy 4-0, while England went out in the round of 16 against Italy, losing on penalties thanks to Italy GK Gigi Buffon. Award Winners  The Player of the Tournament was England’s Frank Lampard (FA), who went .456/.557/.965, 8 HR, 1.3 WAR in the tournament. Super Frank is a free agent after a championship season at Chelsea, and this performance will certainly help his next contract.  The Golden Arm went to French P Romain Besancon (Brighton), 2-0, 0.50 ERA, 18.0 IP, 1.6 WAR. Besancon is pitching in the Premier League this season thanks to the Seagulls’ promotion from the Championship. He was the Silver Arm winner last year and hopes to power the Gulls to success. With Euro 2012 complete, Europe looks towards Euro 2016 in France, but first: a new season of club baseball and in 2014 the Baseball World Cup in Brazil. |
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05-11-2023, 04:32 PM
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#57 |
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Minors (Double A)
Join Date: May 2022
Posts: 100
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2013 Season Setup
With the books closed on 2012, it’s time to begin 2013 in European baseball. This year there is no major international tournament, all eyes are focused on next year’s World Cup in Brazil.
Some things that I do each year before beginning the year: Baseball Cards A new year means new designs for baseball cards. This year is based on Panini’s 2012 Champions League cards. I adjust all the standard cards, create updated gold logos for use on award cards, tweak the other graphics and trophies that go on each one, and create specific graphics for the year (this year: a baseball diamond graphic for the player’s position).  This year I leaned into the Panini sticker idea and made front-only cards. This works well for Players of the Month, the Cup competitions, and Champions League, since those stats don’t make the regular card backs.  Logos For some reason, the game is not automatically updating logos for me. I’ve combed through my logos folder with no luck on determining what the problem is. So I have a spreadsheet that has the logo changes by year, so I go through each logo change and make it accordingly (hitting auto-load does the trick usually). This year there are 23 new logos and the Socttish Premier League and First Division have been renamed to the be the Scottish Premiership and Championship, respectively, with new logos to match. Only one team changed its name, Belgium’s Beerschot Ratten became the Beerschott Wilrijk Kielse Ratten.  Uniforms This is the heaviest lift of the year, but one I enjoy. I have a custom template for uniforms, so I make a total of 288 uniform files. Home and away jerseys, pants, and caps for:
This entails a lot of work, since I’m trying to be mostly true to their IRL uniforms, but maintaining a baseball aesthetic. I use several soccer uniform sites to help me out. Thankfully soccer fans are as fanatical about uniforms as baseball fans. One design element I added for 2013 is the colored placket, a design seen a lot in the early 20th Century (especially among Negro League teams). This design fits the tendency of soccer jerseys to use a single big stripe of color on their jerseys, so teams like Barcelona, Dortmund, and Pacos de Ferriera are wearing them (as did Italy, Poland and Wales in the Euros). UCL Groups Groups are seeded by a weighted formula of Win Pct and Run Diff. Here’s the post where I explain the seeding. On 1 Jan I make all the adjustments to the Champions League setup under League Settings.  Standings Export Every month the game dumps CSVs of game info, and I run a script on those files to generate formatted standings that I can import to my excel sheet and keep tabs on how things are going. I’d love to use this to create encyclopedia-style pages like u/RyMACtizzle does here, but I haven’t spent the time and effort yet to do so. Maybe there’s a wiki page source I could modify if/when I have the time. Player Creation I made 50 players for the first year of the game, and I added 5 top American players (Brad Friedel, Landon Donovan, Stu Holden, Tim Howard, and Clint Dempsey). Each successive year, I’ll add 10 top free agents and one American to the mix and see what happens. Because of the settings on my non-league teams, they were able to sign top players without any monetary considerations, so this will be the second year in a row where players like 4.5-star 2B Landon Donovan sign for Italian cellar dwellers Stregoni, or Neymar signs for Portuguese side Moreirense in that country’s second tier. But after this year hopefully things will settle down. This year’s new players are:
I expect they’ll get signed to weird teams and we’ll just roll with it! Colors XML In the real world, soccer teams change jerseys every year, something I’d like to do as well. But the XML creation process for team uniforms can be pretty cumbersome. I have a database of team colors that I update on a whim every once in a while, and eventually it’ll get to the point where I have every team in every league for every season, but it doesn’t make much of a difference really, so I do the custom full uniforms and let the XML generated ones ride, since I at least have a 2012 uniform plugged in for everyone. Whatever prevents my logos from auto updating is also affecting the color XMLs as well, so even if I had every uniform spelled out, I don’t expect it would actually work. So that’s my annual to-do list. With all of that complete, we have two months of pure off-season and then we’re into cup tournaments! |
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05-11-2023, 04:39 PM
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#58 |
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Minors (Double A)
Join Date: May 2022
Posts: 100
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I forgot to mention: the other thing I do is promote and relegate teams on 1 Jan. That's pretty straightforward, except in the Europa League, which has two subleagues that go back and forth with the Conference League's two subleagues, but the game doesn't automatically parcel out the teams by subleague, so I have to change that annually. Pretty minor stuff though.
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06-23-2023, 04:06 AM
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#59 |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 8,663
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What an effort, stumbled into this looking at my own league for ideas for an alternate international league and this is truly epic! Love the FM-ization of OOTP, what a rad effort.
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07-12-2023, 02:22 PM
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#60 |
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Minors (Double A)
Join Date: May 2022
Posts: 100
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2013 Cup Tournaments
Don't call it a comeback, I've been here for years! Two years actually.
I continued my UEBA game on 23 but stopped posting because the 23 forums weren't getting much love. But I've moved the game to 24 and I'm partway through the 2015 season, so it's time for an update. 2012 ended with England capturing the European championship. They have two years to stay in form and follow it up with a World Cup win in Brazil. Meanwhile, the 2013 season kicked off with the Big Five Cup Tournaments. As usual, these preseason trophies are full of surprises. In England, newly-promoted side Brighton & Hove Albion had a Cinderella run to the Semifinals, but lost to a strong Chelsea side coming off their Champions League run. The other side of the bracket was a Manchester derby with United versus City. Ultimately the sky blue Cityzens triumphed, signaling City's status as a rising superpower in English baseball.  A Classico rematch in the Copa del Rey (Barca and Madrid met in the Round of 16 in 2012, with the Blancos coming out on top). Madrid was stunned in the second round of the Copa by Villarreal. Barcelona ran rampant to the final and defeated Real Betis. The 2013 season is looking like a good one for Messi and Barca.  The German Pokal features the ultimate Cinderella story. newly-promoted from the 3 Liga, Arminia Bielefeld went the distance, defeating all comers and standing tall against the kings of German baseball: Bayern Munich. The Blues stunned the Reds in the final, winning 3-2, and hoisted their second trophy in team history. Munich has to rebound in the Bundesliga while Bielefeld will look to capitalize on their success and try to win promotion to the Bundesliga in their first season in the Second Division.  AB MIlan, coming off their Serie A title came to the Coppa Italia ready to win. To raise the trophy they would have to face their archrivals, Inter, in the Semis. The San Siro was packed with opposing fans, but ultimately it was the red half of Milan who emerged victorious. AB Milan swept Inter 2-0 to advance to the Finals, where they made short work of Fiorentina. Milan fans hope to follow up the Coppa win with another Serie A scudetto in November.  Surprise Ligue 1 champions Bordeaux started the Coupe de France determined to prove that their championship was no joke. The champions benefitted from a favorable draw and went undefeated to reach the Stade de France and a showdown with another surprise finalist, Dijon. The Hiboux of Dijon came in strong with wins over titans Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain. But Dijon's luck ran out against the big bats of Bordeaux. The Girondins won the cup 8-2 and hope to make it two league championships in a row.  Some big roster moves: Euro MVP Frank Lampard left Chelsea for Man City (something that happened to the real Super Frank in 2014) John Terry joined the exodus, leaving for Liverpool. Gigi Buffon left Juve for Sparta Prague (???) in the Europa League, which is wild and awesome. Sergio Ramos went to a struggling German club, Weisbaden, from Madrid, which I think has something to do with not having financials enbaled (since fixed!) in that league. And American hero Brad Friedel signed a deal with Man City, the 42 year old joins from Spurs where he posted a 10-1 record with a 2.41 ERA. More on the 2013 season to come! |
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| europe, football, promotion relegation, soccer |
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