Looking For "Friends" to join "Our League" Season 3

[Charlatan]

Hidden Valley Taking Victory Lap in Gold

The crown has not officially been awarded in OL Gold, but Hidden Valley is preparing for a coronation when the season ends. They've dominated OL from start to finish and I don't think it's possible for them to be caught.

The playoffs are shaping up as follows:

Norwood and Krikkit are fighting for the AC East crown. The loser will probably make the Wild Card game so it seems pretty certain that those two teams will be in the playoffs. Norwood is going to easily win the NC East crown. Annandale has a shot at the NC Wild Card game. One of the teams they must pass is a division rival so it could happen.

Six teams will be promoted so if anyone is moving to Diamond we won't know for a little bit. Nobody is close to being relegated.

[Charlatan]

Originally Posted by Edster007

The Diamond race may be over. Highland took 2 of 3 from the Warriors (why not everyone else does) to finish their slate of OL games. Cary has 14 games remaining and would have to win 13 of the 14 to surpass the Raccoons.

On a side note, I don't know if its just my imagination but some of luster in building a team seems to be missing in this version. I had four OL teams and my Coney Island team outside of OL last year and I had one repeat player, Martin Dihigo who was on two of my teams due to the number places you can plug him in. Now you go to the auction house and see the same players, lists of them over and over again. Although right now there are only 14 Ralph Kiners in the AH an all time low....

I am going to hang in for a bit but to be honest I am starting to get bored with it and am beginning to considering letting the teams go adrift in the next few weeks.

I definitely hear ya. Last year I had a strict rule about no duplicates but I've relaxed it for this year. I'm still trying to move away from that though. It's so difficult to think of selling that Greg Maddux or Suzuki card though.... I'm weak.

One way I'm making it easier on myself is by trying to create specific (and different) identities for my two teams. When I have a clear picture of what I want the team to be like, that informs my choices as to who I want on the team and who I don't. Which in turn makes selling those SE guys easier (granted, if I'd done this much earlier in the season I would have gotten more for those SE cards, but it is what it is).

I'm still toying with the thought of creating a 3rd team, completing the collections, and selling all of the rewards without playing them at all. And then building the team from scratch, just to see how it would turn out. I don't want to do that before I figure out THAT team's identity though. I haven't done this yet because I'm still actively tinkering with Brigadoon.

I guess I could create the team, do the collections, and never mess with them until I have figured out exactly what I'm doing. Hm, that's a thought.

[Edster007]

Originally Posted by Stanley Kuppchaser

I don't repeat any of my players on my teams. Even Willie Mays was added to that stricture this year. If I feel I want to "trade" a player to one of the other teams, I make sure he's gone from the other roster before I acquire him. If it's a guy I pull, I jettison the other first. I have to admit, since my prime focus it get guys I like, I don't even take much notice whether they're an SE or whatever. I look at the name and the ratings. It wasn't until after I bought him that realized I had a Ralph Kiner that so many others have. What my Ralph Kiner has that they don't is memories. Memories of a Ron Hunt or Ray Charles on Kiner's Korner, holding the toy car model they were given for appearing. What I wouldn't give for one of those Dodge Dart 1/24 scale beauties!



I realize he became famous for his malapropisms as he got older, but he was a wonderful story teller in the early days with Bob Murphy and Lindsay Nelson. What a great crew! I still listen to old time baseball radio on the internet and they still sound terrific.



I have to admit that sometimes sentiment gets in the way of an upgrade. I had a chance to replace Kiner with a '21 Babe Ruth, but just couldn't get myself to do it. Ah well, maybe the Bambino will someday end up on one of my other teams.



The thing that keeps my interest up is my narrow focus on OL. I will admit that if not for that, I'd be playing FHM 6. PT success just doesn't seem important to me. In the seasons I've made the playoffs, I just let the team run. I don't bother with changing the rotation or lineups because I don't care that much about it. Besides, OOTP's strategy system makes it seem like you're only offering the AI suggestions, which seem often to be ignored. Now, put me in against another OL team...

With the pandemic I can look at my teams any time of day and I do. I think I have just spent too much time on PT this season. I started to build a custom random debut league and abandoned it. I think I am going to spend the amount of time I used to on PT and focus time on some solo play. Of course I want to be competitive but in the end I don't really care what my record is.

Murphy, Nelson and Kiner were an excellent trio as were Messer, White and Rizzuto for the Yankees. I know some didn't like Rizzuto but I did. None of them over explained the game like announcers do today. I am interested in where you find old games on the internet. When the pandemic first hit in NY WFAN aired a Met radio broadcast from 1970 it was great.

[Stanley Kuppchaser]

Before I resumed working from home, I also had too much time. I solved it by doing a replay of the Braves from Boston on. I actually managed the team, making trades, etc., and even played out an occasional game. Put in more than 30 seasons before work came calling. I studiously avoided checking in on PT too much, only checking about every two hours or so to see if the teams were in tourneys. I've found that my aggravation level has gone way down. I've just accepted the fact that their strategy system sucks and their game engine is top down, whereas a game like Strat-O-Matic generates play with the battle between the batter and pitcher, and lets the universe turn the way it does.


As for the radio broadcasts, just search in youtube for old time baseball radio and you'll get tons for many teams. I believe even the first All Star game might be there. It's wonderful.

[Stanley Kuppchaser]

As if a dream season couldn't get any dreamier, that one pull rescued the morning. On my last team, having ripped 40 of 45 packs, I pulled the attached card. Yes, the Asylum Keepers will be bidding him a fond farewell tomorrow. Gotta let him finish the season with them. I feel so effing lucky!

[Stanley Kuppchaser]

That picture might be from '54.

[OMGPuppies]

Krikkit you have a solid bronze team!

[allenciox]

So, essentially, there are three OL teams competing for two playoff spots, with a small probability of getting three playoff spots, and almost no probability of getting only one playoff spot.

In all there are four teams competing for those three slots: Inner Circle and Caspers-OL are tied for lead in ALW, with Inner Circle being the more likely team to win the division--- they have more games at home remaining and they are the better team. Whichever one of those "doesn't" win the division would be the favorite for hosting the WC game, being 1 1/2 games ahead of Southpaws-OL and 2 games ahead of Kansas Rangers-OL. The only other team possibly competing for a WC spot is the IronPigs, but they are given only 0.1% chance of that as they are 8 games back.

So the OL will likely have either 2 Wild Card teams, or one WC team with one division leader, with Inner Circle the other likely WC team. There is a small probability Inner Circle could completely collapse and leave two OL WC teams, and one division champion in the Caspers. The "pennant chase" tab gives currently a 14% chance of that scenario occurring.

There are no OL playoff possibilities left in the NL, with the Highland Raccoons 11 1/2 games back of the second wild card position with 19 games left to play.

[Bottom Of The Sixth]

Originally Posted by Stanley Kuppchaser

As if a dream season couldn't get any dreamier, that one pull rescued the morning. On my last team, having ripped 40 of 45 packs, I pulled the attached card. Yes, the Asylum Keepers will be bidding him a fond farewell tomorrow. Gotta let him finish the season with them. I feel so effing lucky!

It is easy to see who...

[Stanley Kuppchaser]

Last year, on June 29th my younger son got married. They rented a private park near us and everything was set up for a beautiful outdoor wedding. Just as they finished lining up, a violent thunderstorm stuck and for a good hour the wind howled, the power went out, and all manor or horrible things happened. Only the bride, who was in a car was spared a drenching. I recounted how we recovered in the OL forum in PT 20. It's a beautiful story if you'd care to check back on it.


At the beginning of the pandemic, I convinced them to stay with us, as well as my older son, which I'm grateful for. Anyway, I will be cooking for their anniversary dinner, so I will be quite busy with baking and cooking. The only shortcut I'm taking is broth for the soup. Had nothing to make my own. With that in mind, the posting of crowns, etc., may have large gaps of time. I've attached the menu.


By the way, next year they're kicking around a four horseman theme.

[Stanley Kuppchaser]

It came down to final game between the Rebels and Port Ruppert, as Jefferson came out and took the first two. The Mundys bats woke up and they managed to (just) taken the crown.


In PT play, I've attached the playoff tree. Hooterville will be relegated. As I said, I off now to cook and bake and will check in when I can.

[Stanley Kuppchaser]

Congratulations! Willie Mays has joined the Mundys for the playoffs.

[Edster007]

Highland takes home the OL Diamond crown. Cary had a large mountain climb to catch them and it proved to be too much.

In PT play the AC will have two playoff teams. Weston Pointe won the West and Kansas who won their last five overtook Cary who went 3-7 in their last 10.

All teams avoided relegation. Palolo started September by losing 11 in a row and looked like they may be headed to gold but bounced back going 11-4 in their last 15.

[Charlatan]

Bombers Dominate Gold OL

It should surprise exactly no one that the Hidden Valley Bombers have won the Gold OL crown this year. They've played strong from start to finish and fought off all the (mild) challenges they've seen this year from their pals in the OL league. Maybe they will find some worthy competitors in Diamond next year!

Hidden Valley and Norwood made the playoffs. While last month Krikkit seemed a lock for a playoff berth, they had a big swoon in September and not only lost their division lead, but fell out of Wild Card contention. Also, a belated apology to Asylum - I mentioned Annandale had a chance for a Wild Card berth yesterday but Asylum was close also and they made a good run for the last WC spot in the NC, eventually falling short.


Norwood plays in the Wild Card game in the NC, and the Bombers enter as the NC East division winner. Six teams will be promoted so it's possible they will both move up to Diamond next season.

No team will be relegated.

[Stanley Kuppchaser]

Congratulations!

[Stanley Kuppchaser]

Congratulations!

[jeffstified]

Originally Posted by OMGPuppies

Krikkit you have a solid bronze team!

Thanks! I've been running an Iron team and getting 30 or so packs a week. But, lately the packs have been terrible, at least relative to my team's needs. Early in the year, Golds were great at improving the team. Now, I need historical diamonds and those just don't drop often.

So, I decided to see if I could win points instead of packs. This week I've finished 1st or 2nd in 22 out of 113 tournaments (19.5%) for 11,000pp. I think that's pretty good, well above random luck.

Now I have to decide if about 10,000-ish points/week is worth more than 30ish packs. I'm leaning towards the packs.

[stl jason]

Originally Posted by stl jason

those long term saving projects are tough when you want those players now I know the feeling.... sitting here with about 8k points in the war chest which is nowhere near enough to afford any of the players on my watchlist.... so barring a monumental pack pull, what you see is what you get from Waffletown

new distraction project for me this season: track all the starting pitchers I face this season to see if I really do face Greg Maddox/Randy Johnson/Steve Carlton that much more than anyone else (and track how I do against them, whether it's a win, loss or no decision)

end of season update to my opponent starter tracking.... faced 48 different starters in 162 games. Four pitchers faced double digit times:

-Randy Johnson (faced 19 times) - surprisingly enough, my bunch did pretty well againt the Big Unit (11-4 with 4 no decisions by Johnson)

-Ted Lyons (faced 14 times) - 6-6 with 2 ND

-Greg Maddux (faced 14 times) - 4-5 with 5 ND

-Eddie Plank (faced 12 times) - 6-4 with 2 ND

so not a bad run against the popular-four.... 27-19 with 13 ND (didn't bother to track how each of the no decisions went, though we went 20-23 in those).

[Magus978]

Final bronze standings...Otonokizaka and Asheboro are on that Iron/Bronze yo-yo and are heading back down. Transylvania and Ring Road will have a chance to be promoted.

Transylvania: 5-1 (.833)
Ring Road: 4-3 (.571)
Otonokizaka: 5-5 (.500)
Asheboro: 2-7 (.222)

[Bottom Of The Sixth]

Originally Posted by Stanley Kuppchaser

Last year, on June 29th my younger son got married. They renterd a private park near us and everything was set up for a beautiful outdoor wedding. Just as they finished lining up, a violent thunderstorm stuck and for a good hour the wind howled, the power went out, and all manor or horrible things happened. Only the bridge, who was in car was spared a drenching. I recounted how we recovered in the OL forum in PT 20. It's a beautiful story if you'd care to check back on it.


At the beginning of the pandemic, I convinced them to stay with us, as well as my older son, which I'm grateful for. Anyway, I will be cooking for their anniversary dinner, so I will be quite busy with baking and cooking. The only shortcut I'm taking is broth for the soup. Had nothing to make my own. With that in mind, the posting of crowns, etc., may have large gaps of time. I've attached the menu.


By the way, next year they're kicking around a four horseman theme.

What a wedding story; something everyone will for sure remember for years to come.


Dinner menu looks really good.


Good luck with it all and hope you can get some kitchen help!