PT21 Diary - A Tale of Three Teams

[trman73]

Surely I’m jinxing all three of my teams with this update, but two-thirds of the way into 2034, and there’s a decent chance every one of them may be playing Sunday baseball.

The Hammers look strong in S272, posting the 4^th-best record in the league at 64-42. Unfortunately, we’re destined for the Wild Card Game as the top team in the league is in our division. Still, we’re seven games clear of a playoff spot and doing our usual thing: struggling to score runs, but being led by solid pitching and elite defense. One roster change: we pull an old friend, Live Xander Bogaerts (89), and replace Future Legend Brandon Rogers.

The bigger news is the two Diamond teams. The Warlocks have a 2.5-game lead in the division in D353, even as we continue to tinker with the roster. We make one additional move... out goes SP/MR SE Randy Johnson, and in comes Peak Frank Viola (92). Viola has posted a 1.23 ERA and 0.82 WHIP in limited duty thus far as we continue to transition to a bullpen that minimizes walks. Bryan Harvey has struggled with the longball since he stepped into the closer role, but he’s saved 15 out of 17. This remains easily my best team as we’ve transitioned from a lot of the Live Mission players and have a fairly well-balanced roster. I’ve probably spent 75% of my time over the past month with this team, and it shows.

Last, the Frogs looked out of it in D354, but are riding a seven-game winning streak that moved us to 52-54, and miraculously we’re just 2.5 games back of the Wild Card. We finally purged Ozzie Smith from the roster, replacing him with SS Omar Vizquel (82), who is in a straight 50/50 platoon with Rafael Furcal at shortstop. I would be shocked if this team actually made the playoffs, but hey, two days to go and we’re still in it, with a team that remains dominated by Live Mission guys.

[trman73]

With the Hammers basically locked into a Wild Card spot in their Silver league, all eyes were on the two Diamond teams Saturday as they tried to make the playoffs for the first time at this level.

At 68-65, the Frogs enter September with a two-game lead over the Las Vegas Sun Kings, and have a whopping 10 games with them in the final month. It comes down to seven head-to-head games against the them in the final 11 games of the season. We enter those games 1.5 games back, with a third team, the Calgary Cannons, also in the running for a division where the winner may possibly finish .500 or below. We win the opener of a four-game set but lose the next three, and with seven to go we’re 3.5 back. The losing streak extends two more games, and with three to go we’re knocked out of contention.

The Warlocks have an awful August, going 11-16 to sit at 66-69 overall heading into the final month. Miraculously, we still own a 2.5-game lead as the teams chasing us also had miserable months. The division comes down to a pair of head-to-head matchups with the team chasing us, the Charming SOA, who we play six times in the season’s final 12 games. We enter the first series at 74-76 and hold a three-game lead, but lose two of three. We each sweep our next series before squaring off again with the Warlocks holding the two-game lead at 78-78.

We take the first game but lose the next two, and hold a one-game lead with three to go. We win the first game of our final series and SOA loses, meaning we just need one win for the Diamond playoffs. And we get it behind Greg Maddux, winning 5-2. The Warlocks are in the Diamond playoffs!!!

[trman73]

The Hammers are in the Wild Card Game in S272 and with a win we’re likely to see ourselves back in Gold next season, as we finished with the 4^th best overall record in our league. We get the Rocket City Trash Pandas. We’re going to start Noodles Hahn against these guys as they went 12-22 vs. LHP and Hahn had a nice year, going 14-4 with a 3.56 and a 1.29 WHIP. They counter with... wait for it... SE Greg Maddux! Awaiting the winner is the passive-aggressively named OOTP Deletes All My Team Names, which probably speaks more to the owner’s selection of team names than to some nefarious conspiracy on the part of the developers. Regardless, they won 118 games and are the favorites to win this league.

We lose the game, 4-3, thanks to an error by sure-handed Bill Mazeroski that leads to a tie-breaking run in the top of the 9^th, and we’re back in Silver next season. Frustrating.

[trman73]

The Warlocks may have finished just 81-81 in D353, with a run differential of zero, but that doesn’t mean we’re cannon fodder in the Division Series. We draw the Minneapolis Worldbeaters, who, despite their name, went just 85-77 and dropped five of seven to us during the season. I am dreaming of one of those miracle runs that undeserving teams seemed to catch me in constantly in PT20. If we can win this series, if the 126-win team in our conference somehow falls in the LDS, if, if, if... so you’re saying we have a chance!!!!

We can’t solve Carl Hubbell in Game 1 as he throws a four-hit shutout and we fall, 4-0. But we even it up, getting to Steve Carlton in Game 2 to take it, 7-4. We get a gem from our own Steve Carlton to take Game 3, 4-2, and have a chance to close it out at home. And we do it, with Jack Stivetts getting plenty of run support to lead us to a 9-2 Game 4 win.

The Warlocks are eight wins from Perfect League.

[trman73]

Talent-wise the Warlocks are not even in the same universe as our Sub-League Series opponent, the Glendale Golden Grizzles. These guys went 126-36 in the regular season, beat us all seven times we played, and already have a Diamond title to their name. They scored 1,0003 runs and allowed 499. The offense boasts 1941 Ted Williams, Perfect Oscar Charleston, Roger Connor, Cap Anson, it never ends. So... we’re the rag-tag underdogs in this one. We will see Perfect Maddux, Perfect Hubbell, Perfect Bartolo Colon, and Perfect Ed Walsh in what may be the only four games of this series. Then again, stranger things have happened.

Game 1 goes as expected, with Glendale scoring four in the first two innings and us not having anything against Maddux as we fall easily, 5-1.

Game 2 is a different story. We have nothing for five innings against Hubbell but Virgil Trucks keeps us in it and we trail 1-0. In the 6^th we take our first lead of the series thanks to a two-run homer from Mookie Betts, but Trucks surrenders the lead on a homer from Stan Musial and we’re back down 3-2 after six. They replace Hubbell with Lee Smith in the 7^th, and the first batter he sees, Dave Winfield, hits a grand slam. We’re up 7-3. But Frank Viola surrenders the lead in the 7^th and we head to the 9^th tied, 7-7. They bring in 99 Rollie Fingers, and Duke Snider takes him deep, giving us an 8-7 lead that Bert Blyleven holds in the 9^th to tie the series.

We come home for Game 3 and two of our first three batters, Ichiro and Bagwell, homer off Bartolo Colon. But a grand slam from Cap Anson in the 3^rd opens the floodgates for them, and we fall, 11-2. We get a quality start from Jack Stivetts in Game 4 but can’t solve Ed Walsh, and lose 5-1 to put us in a 3-1 hole. Our 99 Maddux outduels their perfect Maddux in Game 5, and Yaz homers to give us a 2-1 lead in the 8^th. But Blyleven blows the save in the 9^th, and we lose, 4-2, to end the series.

All in all, a really enjoyable season. Our first Diamond playoff berth, a series win, and we take a game from a super good team that has its sights set way higher than what we can currently do. We end the season with 15,000+ PP as well, so some ammunition to continue to improve.

[trman73]

2035 Preview

The Hammers are spending a second straight week in Silver after a stinging Wild Card defeat prevented us from being promoted. Not much to report here. We had some packs from tourneys, and got three Diamond cards – all three of them were Live Aaron Judge’s. Talk about disappointing. Once all’s said and done from those quick-sales, we get nothing and have the same team as last season.

Fresh off our first Diamond playoff appearance, the Warlocks are in D374. I’m under no illusion that we have a good Diamond team. We lucked into a weak division last year in a conference where one team dominated. So the stars aligned for us. It will be tough sledding this year.

We make two additions:

OUT: SE CL Joe Nathan (93)
IN: Peak SP/MR Joe Niekro (93)

I actually made this move late last week but did not report on it. Niekro joins Cole Hamels and Frank Viola in the middle relief corps, and we purge another Live Mission player.

OUT: Peak CL Bryan Harvey (96)
IN: Peak CL Lindy McDaniel (96)

Harvey was just God-awful for me once I brought him on, to the point where I replaced him as closer with Blyleven for the stretch run. He gave up 14 homers in 45 innings (!!!!). I could not get rid of him fast enough, and we upgrade to the more well-rounded McDaniel, although it costs us basically all of our accumulated PP, as we sell Harvey for 20,000 PP and get McDaniel for 30,000.

The Frogs stand pat this off-season and enter D355 crossing our fingers that we may be relegated back to Gold. We’re in a strong division where we look like the 5^th best team, so maybe these division foes will beat us back down to Gold.

[trman73]

At the 2035 break, some pack luck makes up for generally bad play.

The Hammers enter the break having just taken over first in their S255 division. We sit at 51-43 with a two-game cushion. We head into the All-Star break with a 20-11 win that gets us 800 PP.

But the big news is that after significant period of roster stagnation, we make some changes. We pulled our second straight Perfect duplicate, Live Max Scherzer, sold him, and got a prize... One-Hit Wonder SP Matt Harvey (95). Harvey will be fine in the rotation in Silver and probably in Gold, then can potentially transition to the bullpen for Diamond (although I don’t like what I see when looking at his Diamond stats on other teams). This move allowed us to sell off Live Justin Verlander, which got us 21 more packs. We get a Peak Ron Cey (95) and a couple other guys that get immediately sold in the AH, building us back up to 18,000 PP.

The Warlocks were hanging tough in D374 until a pair of long losing streaks pushed us to also-ran status. We had a three-game lead in our division a third of the way through, but are on a 5-18 run right now and 7.5 games back. We’re toast. The good news for this team also came from a pack pull... SP Bob Rush, who sold for 16,000 PP, replenishing our bank, which now sits at 23,500.

The Frogs are also a team that exists. We are stinking up D355 at 37-55 and have endured both a nine-game and a 13-game losing streak. Woo hoo!

[trman73]

Well when all is said and done with the Hammers' 18,000 PP, we make one addition. He's decent, I guess.

[trman73]

Now that my shock at landing easily my best pack pull of PT21 has worn off, the question becomes... does a Perfect Bruce Sutter going for 309,999 PP right now in the AH have more value than the 279 packs I would get for selling him?

279 packs is 1,674 cards. Based on the odds that's 1.67 Perfect cards, and 11 Diamond cards. If it's true that the Live/Non-Live breakdown is 70-30, that would be .5 Historical Perfects and 4 Historical Diamonds.

For now I'm sticking with Sutter. Stats thus far:

5 Games, 5 Saves, 4.1 IP, 1 hit allowed, 0 BB, 8 K, 0.23 WHIP.

That'll play.

(We've also won 5 of Matt Harvey's 7 starts and he's 4-2 with a 3.89, 1.10 WHIP, and 1.4 WAR. Yesterday was a good day.)

[trman73]

The 2035 season comes to a close with somewhat expected results.

The Hammers killed it in July and August, going 35-16 to easily pull away in our S255 division. Bruce Sutter has been fantastic, saving 17 of 18 chances with a 1.50 ERA, 0.75 WHIP and 29 K’s in 24 IP. We finish with the 5^th-best record in the league at 98-64, and have won 95+ games each of our last four seasons in Silver. It’s time to see what this group can do back in Gold, and even if we fall in the Division Series we may get that chance.

The Warlocks teetered on the edge of relegation for a while in Diamond 374 but played .500 ball after the All-Star break to remain safe. We go 76-86. This team has 25,000 PP to play with and we plan to use it between now and the start of the 2036 season. We need to upgrade the offense, as the pitching finished 6^th in runs allowed but the lineup was good for just 13^th. One bright spot is our new closer, Lindy McDaniel, who leads the league with 41 saves.

The Frogs... ugh, man. We enter the final series of the season at 68-91 in D355, just one game clear of relegation. We need to win on the final day of the season to stay up, and finish 69-93. We make one move, and it proves disastrous, as we dump SE Mike Mussina for Peak Hal Schumacher (95), who promptly loses all seven of his starts for us. Peak indeed.

[trman73]

With just one team in the playoffs this week, I decided to do a quick comparison this morning of the status of my three teams compared to each team at this stage in PT20. Like many people on the boards, I’m finding this season to be somewhat frustrating for a variety of reasons, most notably...

1. The utter uselessness of Live players. Last year I had teams that consistently made the Perfect League playoffs with the likes of Live Scherzer, Trout, Rendon, Mookie, Yelich, Kirby Yates, Severino, hell even Will Harris and Ryan Pressley. This year, there’s just no way any of those guys, or any Live players, can get it done in the higher-level leagues. That’s a problem, IMO.
2. The year-to-year inconsistency of everyone except the absolute best players. I’ve seen Perfect Koufax with an ERA over 6.00. Perfect Seaver the same. It seems like everyone under the absolute top tier of guys, guys who cost 300,000 PP or more, just can’t be consistently counted on. It’s maddening.
3. And last, the sameness of all the teams due to the Live missions. This has been super annoying. My solution for this would be that for each Live mission you get to open a team-based pack that includes one Gold or Diamond player. There are, say, five options for each team. So for the Red Sox, maybe a Pesky, a 2018 Betts, a Dewey Evans, etc. You get one quality player, but everyone does not get the same guy. I don’t know if this is the best solution, but it’s got to be better than seeing 18 Greg Madduxes in every league, every week.

So below is a comparison of last year’s teams and this year’s in terms of advancing through the levels.

I should note that one thing that’s helped with easing my frustration is just recognizing that I will never, ever get to Perfect League. So really, with the amount of money I plan to spend, which is zero, Diamond League is my Perfect League.

Fort Worth Frogs ($$$)
PT20: Perfect League in Week 12 (2031) – never left PL, title in 2065
PT21: Diamond League in Week 10 (2029)

I spent $400 on this team last year, and by this point last season I believe I spent something like $150. Have spent $0 on them this season.

Minglewood Warlocks (formerly Castle Black Crows) (FTP)
PT20: Perfect League in Week 15 (2034) – made it for good in 2046, title in 2070
PT21: Diamond League in Week 11 (2030)

West Ham United Hammers (PO)
PT20: Perfect League in Week 9 (2038; started team in 2030) – made it for good in 2045, no titles
PT21: Never in Diamond

So for me, other than the PO team, we’ve basically achieved the highest level earlier in PT21 than in PT20. Which is not to say we are anywhere near having success in Diamond, but we’re there.

I’m not sure I’m trying to make some big point here, other than trying to justify my own frustration with PT21, which these numbers actually seem to refute.

Anyway, on to the playoffs!

[trman73]

The Hammers face the Boston Avengers in the Division Series. They’re a 102-win team that finished second in our league in runs scored and first in runs allowed.

In Game 1, we get a masterpiece from Max Scherzer, who goes eight shutout innings before giving way to Bruce Sutter with a 2-0 lead. And Sutter, so brilliant during the regular season, gives up a game-tying dinger to Ralph Kiner to send it to extras, where we leave him in to give up a walk-off three-run shot to Duke Snider.

Matt Harvey, our other fantastic in-season addition, stinks up the place in Game 2, and we lose 6-2, to go down 2-0.

Things look bad in Game 3 as we don’t get a baserunner off Steve Carlton through four. But George Foster (kind of a forgotten man on our roster), hits a solo homer in the 5^th to cut our deficit to 2-1, and in the 7^th, down 3-1, he doubles home two more, then scores on an error, to give us a 4-3 lead. Sutter shuts the door this time to cut the deficit to 2-1.

Jose Fernandez has traditionally been poor for us in the playoffs, and that continues in Game 4, as he exits after five with us trailing, 3-1. We’re down 4-2 in the 9^th as Boston brings in Aroldis Chapman to close it out. He walks Brooks Robinson, gives up a base hit to Xander Bogaerts, and then up steps Dick Dietz, who promptly deposits a fastball into the right field seats to give us a 5-4 win that evens the series!

We go back to Scherzer in Game 5 and once again he’s great. He makes a run in the 1^st hold up until Boston ties it in the 7^th. We go to the 9^th and bring in Bruce Sutter with it tied, 1-1, and he gives up three straight singles, the last of which scores the series-winning run.

Sutter’s final numbers: 0-2, 23.14 ERA, 8 H, 6 R, and 2 HR in 2.2 IP. My day is over, although we do finish 6^th overall in the league, and we’ll play in Gold next season.

[trman73]

As a new season dawns, there’s nothing to report on either the Hammers, who have moved up a level to Gold 300, or the Frogs, who remain mired in mediocrity (at best) in Diamond.

There is major personnel news, however, with the Warlocks, who had 25,000 to spend heading into the season, and have spent it.

I know most people would argue that incremental changes and slight upgrades are not the way to spend your PP, but I’m a tinkerer, and also impatient. I can’t leave my teams alone long enough to accumulate the PP to bring in a superstar. So I rely on tournament packs and prayers to land the big fish, and then try to make smaller moves to bring in guys who serve specific purposes on the team.

So... meet four new Minglewood Warlocks!

OUT: SE RF Duke Snider (96)
IN: Peak RF Edd Roush (93)

Roush is probably not that much of an upgrade from Snider, if he’s an upgrade at all (although he’s better defensively and I like the speed upgrade). But there’s one big difference: Roush can play vs. LHP. Snider just couldn’t. And I needed to make this move to justify some other moves. Now, vs. lefties, I can bench Yaz in left and replace him with Mookie Betts, keep Roush in right, and upgrade at DH...

OUT: SE OF/DH Dave Winfield (91)
IN: 1972 OF/DH Cesar Cedeno (92)

Winfield was coming off three awful years in a row in Diamond and I had enough. Cedeno is weird: incredible speed, excellent contact and power against lefties, no ability to draw a walk whatsoever. I imagine a .260 average and a .277 OBP for him, but if he can give me 10 homers and 15 steals platooning at DH with Mike Tiernan, I’ll take it.

OUT: SE C Jason Kendall (90)
IN: Peak C Brian Downing (93)

I’d been eyeing Downing for weeks and finally make the move. I’m intrigued by his power and ability to draw walks, and he’s a decent enough defensive catcher for now. I’m excited about this move and how it should boost our offense vs. LHP. To get enough PP for Downing, we have to do this...

OUT: SE SS Troy Tulowitzki (91)
IN: Live IF D.J. LeMahieu (87)

Quick-sold Tulo and his career .163 average in Diamond to get enough PP for Downing. As a 26^th man, Tulo averaged just 55 AB the last three years. There’s no need to have a 4,000 PP player getting 55 AB. I have an upgrade in mind here, but for now DJ is fine being called up from the reserves.

These moves really help us against lefties, which has been a sore spot the past couple years in Diamond.

[trman73]

2036: The (Sorta) Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

There’s only been one week in which all three of my teams failed to make the playoffs. Well folks, it’s going to happen again in 2036.

If there’s been one bright spot thus far, it’s been the Hammers. The packs-only gang has hovered around .500 in their first season back in Gold in three weeks. As of this moment we’re 38-42 in G300 thanks to a recent losing streak. The pitching’s been good, the offense has been poor. Same old story.

The bad is the Warlocks, who lucked into another competitive (i.e. mediocre) division but have not taken advantage at all. We’re 35-45. We did complete the one additional move we wanted to make, placing DJ LeMahieu back in reserves and bringing in SE Carlos Correa (94), a guy who has been quite good for me on the Frogs and can play third against lefties. Of our new additions, Cesar Cedeno’s been the best, but it’s just going to be one of those weeks for us in Diamond.

Which leaves the ugly. The Frogs started 5-22 in Diamond .350 and then after a decent stretch we bottomed out again. This will be our last season in Diamond for at least a week, as our 26-56 record is good for dead last in the league. This team has had some decent luck in tourneys, and scored (and sold) a Live Justin Bieber and a couple Live Golds, so we’re up to 12,000 PP. Building up our cash is about all we can hope for through the remainder of this season.

[mofowitdahat]

Damn man. I love this journaling format! Just letting you know someone is reading

[trman73]

Thanks, man. It's nice to know someone's out there!

[trman73]

Well we enter the final day of a rather disheartening season with all three teams not completely out of it, but close.

Look, for the Hammers in Gold and the Frogs in Diamond, it’s just not happening. The Hammers will remain at Gold level but have fallen to 64-72 and the dream of a .500 season is over. Still, this team is just a hitter or two away from being good in Gold. There’s just an incredibly steep dropoff in our batting order. That cutoff comes after Brooks Robinson in the #5 spot.

Ichiro (the Gold one)
Paul Waner
Pujols
Yelich
Brooks Robinson
Freddie Freeman
JT Realmuto
Maz
Ozzie

The Frogs are (wait for it!)... 36-100!!!! We are 9.5 games behind... the 29^th team in the league!!! We’re going down.

Which leaves the Warlocks, who have frustrated to no end this week. Our division leader is 67-70 in D358, but we have not been able to put together a win streak of any sort and at 63-74 are four back. The new guys have propelled us to a 27-25 record against lefties, which is an improvement, but it’s been a super-frustrating week that I am desperately hoping can end with a miracle run to the post-season (it’s not going to).

[trman73]

It's an absolute disaster to close out the 2036 season. The Hammers wind up relegated back to Silver after a 9-17 September sees us fall two wins shy of the cut line. The Frogs’ fate was sealed basically by Memorial Day, and their 48-114 record is just a complete embarrassment.

The Warlocks are the only team that will remain at their same level next season, as their 74-88 record is more than enough to keep us up. We also get some really good news on the roster front. A pack yields a Live Gerrit Cole, whose sale gets us 21,000 PP. We couple that with another sale and make a pretty significant upgrade, I hope...

Out: SP Peak Jack Stivetts (96)
IN: SP Peak Dizzy Trout (98)

I’ll take this. Stivetts’ 113-78-72 overall ratings give way to Trout’s 103-88-87. Over the last three years in Diamond Stivetts walked 106, 98, and 102 batters and was 24-44 with a 5.31 ERA. I like what I’ve seen from Trout on other clubs, and when he goes up for sale at 41,112 PP I jump. I had hoped to land a lefty for the #2 spot in the rotation, but I’ll take this.

Hopefully, it’s on to bigger and better things in 2037.

[trman73]

We officially reach the one-third mark of PT21 today as we’re 17 and 1/3 weeks into it. So here’s a recap and some awards for each of the teams, starting with the Hammers. It’s actually most fun to do this type of exercise with this team, as the Hammers being packs-only means I don’t have lot of choice in player selection and have come across some hidden gems, and some duds.

West Ham United Hammers

The story of the Hammers over the first third has been quality pitching, elite defense, and subpar run-scoring ability. We are consistently in the top half in both starters and relievers ERA, and are almost always top three in the key defensive categories. We just can’t score, and it’s been incredibly frustrating, especially since we do have a couple pretty high-level offensive players.

Overall Record: 1387-1409, six playoff appearances, one Series appearance, no titles
Best Result: A 95-67 record and trip to the Silver Series in 2032
Highest Level Achieved: Gold

Franchise MVP: Peak 1B Albert Pujols (99)
Runners-Up: Peak 3B Brooks Robinson (98), SP Noodles Hahn (94), Peak CL Dave Smith (94)
No surprise here. Pujols arrived in 2022 thanks to the sale of 99 Nap Lajoie, and has been great. He’s got a 63.0 WAR in 14 full seasons. He’s got two MVPs to his name, along with four Platinum Sticks and three Gold Gloves. He’s a 10-time All-Star. He’s earned 12,000 PP. He is easily the best player we’ve had.
Robinson has been the best defensive 3B in every league I’ve been in, winning nine Gold Gloves in nine full seasons. He’s also won an MVP (in Silver), three Platinum Sticks at 3B, and is a three-time All Star. Hahn surpassed 200 career wins for us this season and has been our best and steadiest SP since arriving in 2023. Dave Smith was an excellent closer before being replaced by Bruce Sutter, and has been great in the 8^th inning role. Sutter is obviously better, but hasn’t been around long enough for me to fall in love with him. Still, he’s got a 2.04 ERA and 1.04 WHIP in what amounts to two full seasons.

Biggest Surprise: SP Noodles Hahn (94)
Runners-Up: SP/MR Future Legend Dustin May (88), RF Paul Waner (82), MR Peak Tom Burgmeier (88)
I was excited to get Hahn back in 2023 and he’s gone 201-161 for us as our #3 starter. Of course we have not advanced to Diamond, and I believe he’ll struggle when we do get there, but I’ve really liked having this guy. Dustin May has greatly exceeded expectations as both a long man and a setup guy in the bullpen. He’s got a 3.67 career ERA and 1.18 WHIP. And Burgmeier is the type of guy I avoided in PT20 but he’s contributed to what is consistently a good bullpen.

Biggest Disappointment: SP/MR Jose DeLeon (94)
Runners-Up: Every catcher who has ever been on the roster
DeLeon was just a total nightmare with the walks. Lasted three seasons and is one of the most inaccurately-rated Diamond players on the market. Just awful.
I just have not been able to fill that catcher spot with anything worthwhile. Jim Pagliaroni, Omar Narvaez, Yasmani Grandal, now JT Realmuto. This position has been an offensive black hole for me from Day One.

Best Decision: Selling Nap Lajoie for 63,000 PP that yielded Albert Pujols, Paul Waner, and Tom Burgmeier, who all remain solid contributors.

Worst Decision: Not saving historical irons, bronzes, etc. to cash in on them during this FOTF period. In the rush to get more packs, I did not see the big picture.

Overall Assessment: I’ve enjoyed this bunch the most out of my three teams, and feel like we’re two hitters away from a legitimate shot to reach Diamond. We can’t advance past where we are with the offense we have. Still, there’s 34 weeks to get a new SS, C, and 2B. And to not have any of the usual suspects on the roster has been a breath of fresh air, even though some of those Special Edition, Live Mission players would clearly be nice upgrades for us.

Current Team Home Screen below...

[trman73]

Minglewood Warlocks

At the one-third mark the Warlocks are the team that I’ve easily devoted the most time to. And that’s good, because this is also the team that I feel best about, and with the Auction House basically closed to me in terms of upgrades for the next who-knows-how-many weeks, I’m glad I made some upgrades over the past three weeks or so. This FTP team has also been my most successful of the three clubs.

Overall Record: 1,435-1,360, eight playoff appearances,one Series, one title (Gold)
Best Season: 2031, with a 99-63 record that culminated in a Gold Series title
Highest Level Achieved: Diamond (current)

Franchise MVP: SE 1B Jeff Bagwell (97)
Runners-Up: SE SP Greg Maddux (99), Peak SS Joe Cronin (100), SE ichiro Suzuki (92)
This remains a team where SE cards dominate. And Bags has been the best of them, winning two Gold MVPs and making the All-Star team five times. Maddux has been Maddux and Ichiro has been Ichiro, but the gem (at least in Gold) has been Cronin, who has shored up the SS position and has a 40.4 WAR in 8+ seasons overall.

Biggest Surprise: Peak DH Mike Tiernan (91)
Runners-Up: Peak IF Jose Reyes (91), SE MR Bert Blyleven (94), Peak MR Bobby Shantz (93)
So Tiernan only bats against righties, but his speed/average/power combo against them is good and he’s got a career .779 OPS across Diamond and Gold for me as a platoon DH. He’s had a couple of really great seasons and was a huge contributor to our Gold title. Blyleven has been an excellent 8^th-inning guy for me and Shantz was a steal when I got him and has been an excellent lefty in the pen.

Biggest Disappointment: SE Duke Snider (96)
Runners-Up: SE Randy Johnson (95), SE Adam Wainwright (91)
I could not get most of the second-tier SE guys to work for me, but Snider really disappointed given his cost. I considered Mel Ott here since he was a “larger” reward (NL West), but he wasn’t on the team long enough to make me that mad at him.

Best Decision: The spending spree before FOTF launched. That spree included Edd Roush, Frank Viola, Carlos Correa, Cesar Cedeno, Brian Downing, Joe Niekro, and I’ll throw Mookie Betts in there. I wouldn’t be able to get those guys today.

Worst Decision: The Bryan Harvey experiment at closer was a disaster for me, and I was excited for like three weeks waiting to afford him.

Overall Assessment: This team can be (and has been) competitive in Diamond given the right division. Right now we lead our division at 23-18. And it’s still (and will always be) a FTP team. Since we’re basically a packs-only team for the foreseeable future, just one or two more great pulls, and we’ll be somewhere.