PT21 Diary - A Tale of Three Teams

[trman73]

Fort Worth Frogs

Finally we come to my least successful and most depressing team, my “primary” team, the Frogs. I spent $400 on these guys in PT20 and zero in PT21. And with the new FOTF situation, I can’t imagine shelling out one cent the rest of the way, so it is, as they say, what it is. Essentially this is a packs team now.

Overall Record: 1,384-1,419, 8 playoff appearances, one Series appearance, one title (in Rookie)
Best Season: A 95-67 2031 season in Gold that ends with a Sub-League Series loss
Highest Level Achieved: Diamond

Franchise MVP: SE CF Ichiro Suzuki (93)
Runners-Up: SE LF Carl Yastrzemski (99), SE SP Greg Maddux (99), SE 1B Jeff Bagwell (97)
Again, the usual suspects here. Ichiro gets the nod with a 60.9 career WAR. This Yaz has been better than my Warlocks Yaz, but this Bagwell has been far worse. Meh.

Biggest Surprise: DH Sherry Magee (93)
Runners-Up: SE 3B Carlos Correa (94), 3B/OF Randy Ready (84), Peak MR Doug Jones (91) I guess?
Magee is a quality DH even at the Diamond level, with a speed/power combo that’s gotten him the 20/20 bonus four times. Correa has been a real surprise as a trained-up 3B. That’s basically it, although Jones hasn’t completely sucked.

Biggest Disappointment: Every one who has played one inning at SS
Runners-Up: SE SP Steve Carlton (96), SE MR Joe Nathan (93)
Ozzie Smith. Rafael Furcal. Omar Vizquel. Pee Wee Reese. Everyone at this position has not been able to hit themselves out of a wet sack. Carlton is really, really good on my Warlocks team and awful on this one, with a 15.3 WAR in 11 seasons as a starter and a career ERA approaching 5.00.

Best Decision: I honestly don’t know. Signing Magee I guess and pairing him with Ichiro at the top of the order.

Worst Decision: Not spending some cash on this team during the first 3-4 weeks to motivate me to put more time into it. I honestly felt like at some point I’d do a big blowout and buy like $250 worth of points and do it up for these guys, but... nope.

Overall Assessment: I am having way more fun with my other two clubs and these guys have been left behind. It’s going to take some major pack luck to get me to devote any more than about 20% of my PT time to this team.

[trman73]

At the 2037 All-Star break there is one thing, and only one thing, that matters. And that is that the Minglewood Warlocks are absolutely killing it in Diamond 371.

We puttered along for a while and hovered around .500 or so for the first 40 games. Then starting June 15, we went on the best run I’ve had with any team in PT21. We are 30-5 over our last 35 games and have opened up a 17.5-game cushion in our division. We currently have the third-best overall record in the league and are on a six-game winning streak. This little FTP team is playing way, way over its head, and I love it.

New addition Dizzy Trout has been a significant upgrade over Jack Stivetts, posting an 11-6 record with a 3.97 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP. Four out of the five starters have ERAs under 4.00, and the one who doesn’t, Steve Carlton, is 11-6 anyway The offense is 4^th in the league in runs scored and 3^rd in OPS. Edd Roush has an .825 OPS playing every day in right. Brian Downing has 13 homers in 193 plate appearances. Everyone is contributing to a shocking season. At this point, it will take a massive collapse for us not to be in the post-season for the second time in Diamond, and maybe, just maybe... (nah).

Also the Hammers and Frogs are playing baseball, but who cares. The action's in Minglewood.

[trman73]

2037 has turned out to be a pretty successful season... for two of the teams.

Not the Hammers though, who have a disappointing season in Silver 251. We waste another great year for the pitching staff (1^st in runs allowed) and defense (1^st in efficiency) with our inability to score, and finish 80-82. But... we may have at least a temporary fix to our catcher problem as we pull 1999 Jason Kendall (85) from a pack, and he has a decent season, albeit in Silver. The bigger news with this team is the bizarre season of reliever Clay Carroll. He gives up a run in his first appearance of the year, then proceeds to give up one additional run for the remainder of the season, spanning 27 games and 46 innings. He finishes with a 0.38 ERA. So there’s that.

The Frogs looked out of it at the All-Star break, and were 4.5 back in our Gold 304 division heading into Saturday. But we go 18-12 and the team we were chasing goes 12-19, propelling us into the playoffs as a division winner, with a chance to get back to Diamond with a win in the Division Series.

Finally, the Warlocks had a tough August and a mediocre September in Diamond 371, but had built up enough of a lead to cruise to a division title, and at 93-69 we have easily our best season in Diamond. We’ll face a team that won just one more game than we did in the Division Series, so we’ve got a chance here.

The season ends at almost the exact same time the Warlocks get two packs from a second-place finish in a tourney. And in those packs is a nice treat to cap off a great 2037 campaign...

[trman73]

2037 Playoffs – Minglewood Warlocks

We start with the Warlocks, who are in the Diamond League playoffs for the second time in the past four seasons. Last time we reached the postseason, we advanced to the Sub-League Series, and if we’re going to do that again we need to overcome the Bloomfield Barons, a team that won just one more game than we did but were in a tougher division and have a superior club.

I actually didn’t get to watch this series so all I can really report is that their superior talent was on full display in sweeping us. They set the tone with an 11-2 thrashing in Game 1, took Game 2 6-3, and closed us out with a 10-5 win. That’s 27 runs allowed in the three games.

Still, another step in the right direction for the Warlocks, who can now boast that they have a 93-win season under their belts in Diamond.

[trman73]

2037 Playoffs – Fort Worth Frogs

The Frogs need to win their G304 Division Series matchup with the Hickory Crawdads to advance back up to Diamond next season. This team’s had success at the Diamond level and I really like their club... they don’t have any of the usual Special Edition players and are a nice mix of high-quality historicals (including an all-Perfect starting rotation), and a smattering of live players. They have a Diamond league title under their belts as well. We have our work cut out for us.

Game 1 is a matchup with Perfect Pedro, and he’s masterful, giving up just one run over seven frames. But Greg Maddux is even better for us, tossing eight shutout innings before giving way to Dave Smith, who saves it as we win, 1-0.

It’s another pitcher’s duel in Game 2, as Steve Carlton matches up with Bobby Mathews for them. They had Mathews in the pen all year but he starts this one, and is great, getting the best of Carlton in a 3-0 win that ties the series.

They start Perfect Maddux in Game 3, and we get to him for five runs in the first inning, highlighted by a bases-loaded, three-run double from Carlos Correa. Bert Blyleven makes that lead hold up, as we win 6-3.

We can close it out in Game 4, and it’s 2-2 in the 8^th. It goes to the bullpens, and with two outs we get three straight singles off Roger Clemens, the last of which scores a run to put us up 3-2. Dave Smith pitches a 1-2-3 9^th, and we are on to the SLS and will be back in Diamond in 2038.

[trman73]

The 88-win Berkshire Bees upset the big dog in our league, the Big Tomato Fan Club, in the Division Series, giving the Frogs home-field advantage in the SLS against a team we beat four times in six games. These guys have won two Gold titles with a team that complements the usual collection of SE players with the likes of Dennis Eckersley, John Hiller, Mickey Mantle, and Lou Gehrig.

Maddux is excellent for us again in Game 1, making four first-inning runs off Steve Carlton hold up as we win, 4-2. It’s the opposite pitching matchup in Game 2 and our Carlton performs better than their as we win 7-2 to take a 2-0 series lead.

We head to their place and take Game 3, 4-3 as Bert Blyleven moves to 2-0 in the playoffs. Hal Schumacher makes his post-season debut for us in Game 4 and is battered as we don’t get the sweep in falling 8-7. But that result was just putting off the inevitable. We return to Greg Maddux in Game 5, and he continues his mastery, giving up just a run in seven as we build a 6-1 lead and hang on for the 6-4 win. The Frogs are on to the Gold League Series!

[trman73]

The Frogs’ opponent in the Gold Series, the Boston Spaceships, score runs. 902 of them during the regular season to be precise, good for tops in their league. And they did that while hitting just 155 home runs. They manufacture runs, and that makes up for what looks like a very average pitching staff. Then again, we’re not exactly great on the mound either, so this will be a good series.

The first two games are both close, and we take both of them. Yaz hits a three-run homer in the bottom of the 8^th of Game 1 to give us a 6-4 win, then we win a battle of Blylevens, 4-3, to go up 2-0.

Hal Schumacher’s gone 17-33 in three seasons with us, including 3-20 last year in Diamond, but he finally justifies his spot in the rotation in Game 3, pitching 8 and 2/3 shutout innings as we win it, 5-0, to take a commanding lead. But Maddux and Carlton both fail us as we drop Games 4 and 5 and need to take care of business at home to clinch the title.

We send Bert Blyleven and his 3-0 postseason record to the mound for Game 6 against Frank Tanana, the hard-throwing lefty. We stake Blyleven to a 2-0 lead after one, then increase it to 3-0. But Blyleven surrenders that early lead, and we head to the 8^th tied, 4-4. With two out and two on in the bottom of the inning, my favorite Frog, Sherry Magee, steps up and delivers a two-run double to give us the 6-4 lead.

With two outs in the 9^th, Dave Smith gets Christian Yelich to fly out harmlessly to left, and...

[trman73]

It’s been a pretty rough early going in 2038. The Hammers are middle of the pack in Silver 300, and seem to be regressing. Prior to last season, we had won 97, 97, 95, and 98 games in our previous four Silver seasons. But we fell to 80-82 last year and are just 21-22 this season. We’ve won ourselves a bunch of packs from tourneys but have not gotten anyone decent from them (although we are stocking up on Historical Golds and Silvers for the oncoming run on those cards when new FOTF sets are posted). Such is the fate of a packs-only team. We are at the mercy of the pack gods.

After celebrating their Gold title last season, the Frogs are, as expected, stinking up Diamond 353. Someone posted a thread the other day about “Finding Your Level,” and this team’s level is Gold. We are 9-34 and riding a 17-game losing streak! Yeah baby!!!!

The Warlocks’ level... is Diamond. Not consistently winning in Diamond, but we belong there. Even more so now that we leveraged the Turkey Stearns pack pull from Saturday, plus a fortunate pull of Live Jack Flaherty from Challenge Mode, to make a significant move...

OUT: SE LR Mike Mussina (93)
IN: SE SP Lefty Grove (99)

In the past two weeks we’ve upgraded our rotation from Jack Stivetts and Ted Lyons to Dizzy Trout and now Grove. I love the SE Grove as a great alternative to the Perfect version, for 40,000 PP less. We get him for 49K PP, an overpay but we had the PP, and I wanted him. Lyons moves to long relief, and Moose goes to the AH, where he nets us 5,300 PP. I have one more move in mind, also for a pitching upgrade. We're left with 11,500 PP... for now.

The team itself is 25-21 in D367, in the running for our third Diamond playoff berth in five seasons.

[trman73]

Well I picked a good weekend to head off for vacation, because none of my teams will be playing meaningful games on Saturday or Sunday.

There is truly nothing to report on the mediocre Hammers or the terrible (in Diamond) Frogs, as we’re just trying to accumulate PP and waiting for the next set of FOTF cards to drop so we can auction off some historicals we’ve been storing.

I did spend a fair amount of PP for the Frogs accumulating every historical Iron card currently in the game, so that no matter which five teams are selected for FOFT tonight, I should have five packs waiting for me. And we’re set up nicely to get 25 packs over the next couple months as the new collections are revealed. So maybe we can strike lucky on a few of those packs.

The Warlocks win the “Most Disappointing” prize this week, as since acquiring Lefty Grove we’ve gone 22-31 and are well back in D367. It hasn’t been Grove’s fault. He’s 7-2 with a 3.51 ERA and 2.0 WAR in 12 starts. But the rest of the staff has been terrible, with the starters’ ERA 13th in the league and the bullpen, normally a strength, 12th. It’s just one of those seasons. We still do have 13,000+ PP built up after the Grove purchase, and in a recent pack pull we got a pair of historical golds that we’ll hang on to until the price goes up.

[trman73]

Having initially been part of the chorus of people whining about what Face of the Franchise would do to my chances as an FTP player, I’ve completely turned it around. FOTF has been very, very good for my teams.

For the Hammers, it’s given us a good 24 hours of pack openings from sales of duplicate Historicals. Now, nothing’s come from those packs, but that’s not FOTF’s fault. On the field, we’re surging a bit, now 71-66 and just three games back of the Wild Card. We've also got a Jose Fernandez in our pocket in case I get itchy for packs.

The Warlocks haven’t made any moves (yet), but have built up 19,268 PP and have a big chip to play if we want to sell the effective bullpen lefty Frank Viola, who’s going for 40,000 right now. I’ve got my eye on a couple upgrades once the cost of some guys goes down. This team’s also seen an uptick on the field, and as of Saturday morning is a half-game up in the Wild Card in D367 at 70-68.

Which brings us to the Frogs. The team in most desperate need of upgrades got two big ones thanks to pre-completing all of the FOTF Iron missions, some valuable sales of FOTF mission duplicates and Golds, and a fortuitous Gold Luis Gonzalez pull from Challenge Mode. And those upgrades address our biggest issue, the rotation:

OUT: MR Robb Nen (92)
IN: SP Peak Jim Whitney (98)

OUT: Peak CL Mel Rojas (91)
IN: SE SP Lefty Grove (99)

Woo hoo! Nen sells for 58,000 PP and Rojas goes for 30K, more than enough to bring in both Grove and Whitney, huge upgrades from Steve Carlton and Bert Blyleven, who move to the bullpen. I’ve got one more guy in the bullpen who’s going for significant PP in the AH, and am biding my time, but in 24 hours this team made two nice Diamond-level upgrades. It won’t save us this season as we’re going back to Gold in 2039, but hopefully the next time we return to Diamond we can stick around.

[trman73]

Spent this week on vacation and didn’t devote much time to two of the teams. I had big hopes for the Warlocks heading into 2039, and they’ve been a complete disaster in D354. At the All-Star break we’re actually seven games back of the relegation line at 36-62. I’m shocked we’re this bad. The Frogs are chugging along in their quest to return to Diamond, as at the break we’re 52-46 and half-game up in the Wild Card race. The new pitching additions, Lefty Grove and Jim Whitney, have really solidified the rotation, which is 2^nd in our league in starters ERA. We pre-completed a number of the new missions, but didn’t get anything.

Which leaves the Hammers, suffering through a third straight season in Silver. I’d been itching to cash in on SP Jose Fernandez due to his inflated price tag related to the Marlins FOTF mission, but have been waiting to find a decent replacement from a pack pull. And we got it...

OUT: SP Jose Fernandez (92)
IN: SP Peak Eddie Plank (95)

There it is. Plank is excellent as a lefty in Silver and Gold, and he’s been fabulous for us in his first seven starts, posting a 2.86 ERA and 1.06 WHIP and allowing just a single homer in 50 innings. That was a very nice pull from a tourney second-place finish pack.

So we sell Fernandez and collect 38,000 PP. In the first 38 packs we get a fair number of historical Silvers and Golds to hang on to and sell when they come up for FOTF, but add no one who joins the actual team. But once we complete all of the little sales from the pack pulls, we get a big-time addition:

OUT: Live DH Freddie Freeman (94)
IN: 1912 RF Tris Speaker (96)

Yes! Speaker fills a huge need at the top of our order, bumps the (very good) Paul Waner down to the 6^th spot (and to DH, thankfully), and makes Freeman expendable.

So the trade is, essentially, Jose Fernandez and his career .500 record in Silver and Gold, for Tris Speaker and Peak Eddie Plank. I will take that.

[trman73]

Fully back from vacation. 2039 ended with a big thud, as the Warlocks were relegated after a 100-loss season, and the Frogs finished 81-81 in Gold. The Hammers’ new additions, Tris Speaker and Eddie Plank, bolstered us in the second half and we finished 87-75 in Silver, but that was nowhere near good enough to earn a Wild Card spot. We did get a shocking Pitcher of the Year Award for Noodles Hahn in our league, as well as four Gold Gloves.

So it’s on to 2040.

The Hammers are currently riding a 12-game win streak in Silver 262 and have a five-game lead in our division at 27-15. Speaker has nestled in nicely to the #2 hole, posting an OPS of .835. This team has a legit shot at moving back up to Gold next season, especially with eight teams being promoted this week. All we need to do is win our division.

The Frogs made a roster move as we transitioned to the new season...

OUT: SE SS Pee Wee Reese (93)
IN: SS Ray Chapman (91)

I like Chapman’s speed, and Reese’s bat was just killing us. We’ve still got more than 13,000 PP to play with and we’re holding on to it as I want to sell someone and upgrade the pitching staff, but am waiting for the right guy (and for the new FOTF announcement this week).

The Warlocks made the biggest roster move this week, and it’s one of the biggest AH moves I’ve made in PT21.

OUT: MR Frank Viola (92)
IN: FOTF DH David Ortiz (100)

Took a flyer on Big Papi for 55K. Obviously Viola for Papi isn’t the actual roster trade, but Viola selling for 30K allowed the Ortiz pickup. For now, Live Roberto Osuna fills Viola’s spot and former DH Mike Tiernan hits the bench and I’ll wait to sell him until he hits the FOTF collection for the Giants. Papi has an .889 OPS and 10 homers through the first quarter of the season starting exclusively against righties for now.

[trman73]

Needless to say, the new release of FOTF created a packs windfall for us last night, as did the new Twitch drops (which is just a great addition for those of us who log on to the streams anyway).

So there’s pretty big news for each team as we head to the final third of the 2040 season.

With stored-up player sales the Hammers opened 12 packs last night, and got an incredible collection of trash, which was disappointing. But... the team is having its most successful season in about six weeks, and will be in Gold next season. We’re 70-41, a full 13.5 games up in our division, with the second-best record in the league. Our newest addition, Tris Speaker, earned an All-Star nod. Bruce Sutter has saved 34 of 35 chances and has not allowed a run in 25.2 innings. Eddie Plank has become our ace, on pace for a 5.7 WAR. This team is rolling despite no new additions yesterday.

The Warlocks had a 32,000 PP game this week (described here: https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...d.php?t=319646) and are in a division title race in G318, currently one up and riding a six-game win streak. We also made an addition...

OUT: Live MR Roberto Osuna (86)
IN: Peak SP Tom Seaver (100)

I am a real-life fan of Tom Terrific, although he pitched before my time, and he was my favorite pitcher on my PT20 teams. So I jumped on him for 68K, which I had following the monster game from earlier in the week and a 20,000 PP sale of Evan Longoria for a FOTF buyer. Seaver went out and pitched a five-hit shutout in his second start. Steve Carlton moves to the bullpen, and Osuna, who was surprisingly good in limited duty, goes back to reserves.

And, not to be outdone, the Frogs, despite a sub-.500 record in G319, finally made a move to address our lagging offense.

OUT: LF Randy Ready (84)
IN: RF Rusty Staub (97)

I love Staub and this move still leaves us with 30,000 or so PP after a lucky pull (and sale) of Jacob DeGrom this week. Staub replaces Duke Snider in right. One more move is on the horizon for this club, which has an improved pitching staff but still an offense that’s not good enough.

[trman73]

It’s playoff baseball for two teams on this Sunday.

But first, the other one. The Fort Worth Frogs will spend a third straight season in Gold next week after a lackluster 2040 campaign that sees us go 76-86. Rusty Staub did bolster the hitting a bit, batting to an .826 OPS, including .932 vs RHB. So we set our sights on getting someone who can hit for power vs. lefties, and we found him...

OUT: DH Sherry Magee (93)
IN SE DH Frank Thomas (97)

I’ve seen Thomas be great in Gold on many teams, and poor on a few. So I took the chance for 29,000 PP. Magee had really fallen off the past two seasons but overall I loved him as a great speed guy who consistently put up .750+ OPS seasons. But I need and want The Big Hurt’s power, and he slots in as the full-time DH now. I really wanted Joe Medwick, but couldn’t wait for the additional 20,000 PP. With Staub and Thomas now in place, we’re better.

The West Ham United Hammers were not challenged in their division and cruised into the playoffs at 98-64, the third-best record in S262. We will be in Gold next season. We made two pack-pull additions:

OUT: IF Future Legend Carter Keiboom (86)
IN: HH 2B Roberto Alomar (92)

OUT: LR Tommy Bridges (89)
IN: Live Gerritt Cole (100)

Alomar is a slight upgrade at second against righties from Bill Mazeroski, so they will platoon. And I’m adding Cole to the rotation to replace live Scherzer, who we’ll try in long relief for now. We face a big-time offensive team in the Division Series, but our pitching finished first overall in runs allowed in our league (thanks again to the #1 defense in the league), so we’ll see if the Hammers can get their first medal today.

Finally, the Minglewood Warlocks fended off a Saturday challenge and won their division by going 7-2 against the team that entered the day two games behind us. Seaver was excellent for us down the stretch, finishing 7-4 with a 1.11 WHIP. We won eight of his 12 starts. With four teams being promoted to Diamond, we are three wins away from promotion, and we’ve got home field in the Division Series.

[trman73]

The Hammers get the Maine Guides in the S262 Division Series in a battle of offense vs. pitching and defense. The Guides scored 911 runs in the regular season, 123 more that us. They have an all-Live Mission rotation of Maddux, Blyleven, Unit, and Carlton. But the offense boasts Perfect Willie Mays and Peak Paul Molitor to go with the usual collection of Bags-Ichiro-etc. I’m making us slight favorites here despite going 2-4 against them in the regular season.

Game 1 is a barn-burner, as we hold a 5-3 lead in the 9^th thanks to two homers from Christian Yelich. But Bruce Sutter, who saved 49 of 51 games in the regular campaign, blows it in the 9^th, then gives up a run in the 10^th and we go down, 6-5. We tie it in the bottom of the inning, and in the bottom of the 11^th, Paul Waner, a forgotten man much of the season, hits a walk-off, three-run homer to give us the win.

Game 2 sees Matt Harvey throw a gem and Dustin May save it for us instead of Sutter, as we win, 5-3, to take a 2-0 lead.

We go down 5-0 early in Game 3 as Noodles Hahn can’t get the job done, and we fall, 6-3. In Game 4, Randy Johnson is great for them, and it looks like we’re heading back to England for Game 5 as we trail 3-1 in the 9^th. But we get a leadoff homer from George Foster, a single from Yelich, and Tris Speaker triples home Yelli to tie it. Paul Waner singles home Speaker, and we’re up 4-3. In the bottom of the 9^th, Sutter gets a 1-2-3 inning, and it’s on to the Sub League Series!

[trman73]

The Warlocks face the Houston Reapers, with the winner earning promotion to Diamond next season. We finished two games better than these guys and have a statistically better offense and pitching staff. They start Maddux and four lefties in their rotation, and we’ll see Peak Fernando Valenzuela, Peak Newhouser, and Peak Matt Kilroy. We do well against lefties (32-22), so we’ll see. We lost four of six to these guys during the season.

We take Game 1, 6-2, thanks to a solid pitching performance from Greg Maddux and some timely hitting off Valenzuela. But Seaver is shaky in Game 2 and we lose, 5-3, to even the series.

Lefty Grove is equally ineffective in Game 3, and they blow it open late on us, winning 13-6. Our backs are against the wall with Dizzy Trout on the mound in Game 4, and we have a 5-4 lead after seven. We send Trout back out for the 8^th, and that proves to be fatal. He gives up a run and leaves men on 1^st and 3^rd for Blyleven to clean up, and Blyleven can’t, as he gives up a two-run double to put Maine up 7-5. We go down meekly in the 9^th, and that’s it. We fall three games to one, and it’s back in Gold for us in 2041. So we’ll have three teams in Gold next season.

Very disappointed with this result.

[trman73]

It’s an all-European Sub-League Series in S262, as we face the Paris Beavers, a 102-win team who we inexplicably took five of seven from early in the season. These guys have a unique lineup, leading off with Yogi Berra and batting Ichiro 6^th, with Morrie Rath starting at 2B. They also have the FOTF Chuck Finley in their rotation, who I’ve never faced before, so I’m interested to see what he looks like. He went 19-5 with a 3.06... but this is Silver.

Eddie Plank lost his last four starts of the regular season for us, and his struggles continue in Game 1, as he’s outmatched by Greg Maddux and we lose, 4-2. I had wanted to get a look at Finley, and I got one in Game 2. I’ve seen enough of him, as he throws a five-hit shutout and outduels Matt Harvey, 2-0, to put us in an 0-2 hole.

We travel from Paris to London for the next three. Home cooking is good to us in Game 3, as Jason Kendall knocks a three-run homer in the bottom of the 8^th to give us a 6-4 lead. Bruce Sutter loads the bases in the 9^th, but strikes out Rickey Henderson and we’re back in this thing. I really debate the Game 4 starter but go with Gerritt Cole over Cliff Lee, and Cole rewards us with a complete-game two-hitter and a 6-1 win, aided by Christian Yelich’s second two-homer game of the post-season, that evens the series.

We turn back to the struggling Plank in Game 5, and he rewards us through seven as we carry a 4-1 lead. But he gives up two in the 8^th and it’s 4-3 with men on 1^st and 2^nd. Then, incredibly, they get two straight singles to right, and on consecutive plays, Tris Speaker throws men out at the plate to preserve the lead. Sutter handles the 9^th, and we have turned a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 series lead.

Harvey matches up with Greg Maddux as we head back to Paris for Game 6. We’re all over Maddux, scoring five in the first two innings. That’s more than enough for Harvey, who tosses a complete game as we win, 5-1, to advance to the Series.

Yelich wins his second straight Series MVP, and is hitting a cool .522 with a 1.751 OPS in the post-season.

[trman73]

The Houston Oilers are the class of our league, winning 116 games in the regular season. They have an excellent rotation that features Peak Seaver, Peak Dizzy Dean, SE Maddux, and Peak Nolan Ryan, with Peak Eck closing. We allowed 659 runs this season, tops in our league, and they allowed 105 fewer than us. This will be a challenge.

But our pitching staff, while not stocked with Perfect players, is pretty darn good, and we show it in Game 1, as Eddie Plank appears to be out of his funk. He tosses eight innings of three-hit ball and out-pitches Tom Seaver in a 3-0 win. A day later, we stretch the shutout streak to 18 innings as Noodles Hahn gives up three hits and a walk in eight. Jason Kendall plates the only run of the game, Sutter pitches a perfect 9^th, and we escape Houston up 2-0 despite scoring just four total runs. Two games, two shutouts for the underdog.

We’re 5-0 at home in the post-season, and Matt Harvey takes the hill in Game 3 with a post-season ERA of 1.17 and a WHIP of 0.87. He matches up with Houston’s 23-game winner and likely Pitcher of the Year, Peak Dizzy Dean. Our shutout streak ends quickly, as Mookie Betts takes the third pitch of the game out of the yard. We get to Dean for four in the third, but Harvey gets walloped and we lose our first October home game, 7-4. Game 4 is a frustrating one, as down 3-2 we load the bases in the bottom of the 8^th but can’t score, and Houston ties the series. Plank is rocked in Game 5, and we’re a game away from elimination after losing all three home games.

We need to win our final two games on the road, and in Game 6, we’re tied 2-2 in the 8^th before we get back-to-back RBI singles from Paul Waner and Jason Kendall. We win, 4-2, and there will be a Game 7.

[trman73]

I really want this win this Game 7, which will give all three of my teams a championship. We face Dizzy Dean again and toss Matt Harvey. Carl Yaztrzemski hits a two-run homer in the first, and I’m not feeling too good. But we scrape together a run in the 3rd, then get back-to-back jacks from Yelich and Brooks Robinson in the 4^th to go up 3-2. We tack on one in the 6^th, then Yelich hits another dinger, a three-run shot, in the 7^th. It’s his third multi-HR game of the playoffs.

It’s 7-3 in the 9^th, and we send Dustin May out to close it. He induces two harmless fly balls and a grounder to Ozzie Smith, and West Ham United has won the Silver League Series.

The season ends with Gold Gloves for Mazeroski (his 9^th in 11 seasons), Brooks Robinson (his 11^th in 13 years), and Ozzie Smith (his 14^th in 19 years). Bruce Sutter wins Reliever of the Year, and we get our first medal.

[trman73]

We’re just about halfway through 2041, and it’s going to be a struggle for a couple of our teams to rally to make the playoffs. So... let’s focus on roster moves.

For the Hammers (34-44 in G342, 1.5 games back of relegation zone), we picked up two guys from packs who created interesting dilemmas. The first was “SP” Ellis Kinder (90), who has a 29 stamina rating and who I added to the long relief role, benching Live Max Scherzer. Kinder’s been good (2.80, 1.02 WHIP, 0.5 WAR in 26 IP), which has me really pondering a sale of Scherzer, who I think has a good chance to losing his 100 rating with a bad start IRL this weekend. Gerritt Cole has also been a dog in the rotation, so I could sell both those Live guys and take my chances with the 42 or so packs, hoping to add just one starter who can replace them with Kinder holding the other’s long relief spot. The other pickup was Future Legend Dylan Carlson (89), who should probably replace George Foster as a fourth outfielder, but remains on the bench for now as he can’t hit lefties.

The Warlocks (37-39 in G331) have had 24,000 in PP burning a hole in our pockets, and we used it tonight.

OUT: Live 3B Anthony Rendon (91)
IN: SE OF Mickey Mantle (95)

Rendon’s averaged 26 plate appearances a year over the past four seasons and had five ABs this entire year. So we get Mantle for a great price, 22,000 PP (his L7 was 29,000), and he takes over the right field spot against lefties from Edd Roush. This really helps the offense, and if Mantle’s a dud, I can sell him at a profit.

The Frogs’ (44-34 in G303) offensive moves over the weekend have really helped, as we have the 4^th most runs scored in our league. Right before the season started we did make one final addition:

OUT: SE OF Duke Snider (96)
IN: HH OF Mookie Betts (93)

I love Betts on my Warlocks team, as he’s got left field locked down against lefties. So he replaces Snider, who had no spot with the additions of Rusty Staub and Frank Thomas. Staub continues to be great (.867 OPS), Thomas has been okay (.698) and Betts has been as expected (.767). We also got a lucky break with a pack, pulling Camilo Pascual, who we sold for 28,888. We now have 41,000 PP back in the bank. Oh... and we’ve played well, riding a five-game winning streak and now leading the wild card race by 2.5 games.