Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Sim 10D Complete





It's August 31st in sim time!

Major Injuries for Playoff Hopefuls
- Dizzy Dean, OFB - 10 Games (6-7, 5.65 ERA)

Other Notes
- With 4 consecutive wins, Londonderry would be in the playoffs if the season ended today. After season long mediocre play, the Machine have strung together a solid August going 16-11.

- Hathsin has lost 7 in a row and appear to be done. Their August record is 10-17. Reverse jinx comment in effect.

- The Fishbiscuits have lost 5 in a row and are now 3 games out of a playoff spot.

League Reports

Standings Charts - Week 10

Question: Will John McDonald continue to soar? They hit rock bottom on June 27, an excruciating 10 inning loss to Hathsin, in which an intentional walk to Ted Williams backfired and resulted in two 10th inning runs.

A day later, they exploded for 12 runs behind Albert Belle and a solid start from Dwight Gooden. Since then, in 57 games, Belle has smacked 18 HR and driven in 59. Gooden is 5-1 with a 3.56 ERA.

In the same span the team is an ATB leading 45-16 thanks to a brilliant 3.37 ERA while their margin of +82 is also tops. How is this for a rotation:

5-1, 3.11 - Cy Blanton
5-2, 3.94 - Ron Guidry
5-1, 3.56 - Dwight Gooden
4-2, 4.63 - Guy Hecker
5-1, 2.23 - Silver King

Out of the pen, Dan Quisenberry (1.97 ERA), Gabe White (2.88 ERA), and Les Lancaster (2.10) have contributed mightily as well.




League Reports

Players of the Month - August

Kevin Millwood is the August Pitcher of the Month. The Lady made 6 starts, tossing 43 innings while giving up 28 hits and 1 walks. His WHIP was 0.91 and ERA 2.74.





The DC Chips' Stan Musial is our August Batter of the Month. "The Man" batted .357 / .392 / .713 with 9 HR, 8 2B, and 3 3B. He drove in 29 and scored 21.






League Reports

Players of the Month - July

I goofed and forgot the July players of the Month. They are:

Ted Williams (HS): .417 / .492 / .718, 1.210 OPS, 9 HR, 25 HR, 32 RBI
Pedro Martinez (GCG): 5-1, 1.39 ERA, 52 IP, 30 H, 13 BB, 46 K

League Reports

Injuries Taking Their Toll on Playoff Hopefulls

In Sim 10, several vital cogs to playoff hopefuls have gone down with serious injuries:

Joe Horlen - SP, NSD (20 days). Horlen is out until the third week in September, putting a pinch on the Slam Dumps rotation. A middling starter (5-5, 4.38 ERA), Horlen nonetheless will be sorely missed down the stretch.

Wade Boggs - 3B, NSD (7 Days). In the same game the Slam Dumps lost Horlen, they lost Wade Boggs for a week as well. Boggs was having perhaps his finest ATB season yet (.323 / .403 / .373) and Newark's bench is slim.

Ty Cobb - CF, DC (23 Days). Perhaps most crippling is the loss of star center fielder, Ty Cobb. Cobb was having a slightly down year, but his stats were still among the best of the center fielders - .317 / .351 / .454. Cobb also missed three weeks in April, and if DC misses the playoffs one can't help but wonder if a healthy Cobb would have made the difference.

Cy Blanton - SP, JMF (10 Days). With the new playoff rules in place, John McDonald suddenly finds themselves in the midst of a heated battle for a playoff spot. Losing their #1 starter for 2 turns in the rotation is not going to help. Blanton was just 7-9, but he had a 3.83 ERA and 1.35 WHIP.

League Reports

Tuesday, June 28, 2011


I likely can't do daily standings summaries every night, but we'll see how it goes.





League Reports

Monday, June 27, 2011

Sim 10B Complete



League Reports

Major Commish Blunder - Vote Needed - Please Respond!

Gents

Due to the fact 18 owners signed up for ATB XIII, I designed a 3 division league. At the beginning of the season I stated 6 teams would make the playoffs - 1 Division Winner and a Wild Card from each division. This has been reinforced each week through the weekly summary standings which track the Wild Card races.

The 6 team playoff structure creates a critical problem. After the first round, we'll have just 3 teams remaining, which is a tilt. As a result, in late August of all freakin times, I need to amend our playoff rules. There is no great answer and we'll need to chose between the lesser of evils. So, we'll put it to a vote.

Option 1: 1st Round Buy for the two teams with best record.
Con: Many would not be thrilled that their playoff team has to sit for 7 days and 'get cold'.
Con: A buy in baseball!?
Pro: We stick with the original 6 playoff team idea.
Option 2: Add two more wild card teams.
Con: 8 of 18 would make the playoffs, which is very excessive
Pro: No bitter owners for having been jipped at sitting or missing the playoffs.

Option 3: Could have been eliminate 2 playoff teams. I am completely opposed to kicking two teams out and therefore not somethign we'll vote on.


Please vote for Option 1 or Option 2. If the Option 2 is the most popular, we'll have a second vote to determine playoff procedures. i.e., straight 3 rounds vs all road games for 2 new teams vs reseeding etc.

Because 1/2 of you will ask ( ha ha), below is the playoff picture possibilities:

CURRENT
  • Helena - National Division Winner
  • Big Dan - Federal Division Winner
  • Gold Country - American Division Winner
  • Willet's Point - ND WC
  • Kakadu - FD WC
  • Rusty Kuntz - AD WC

the following teams are X games out of the playoffs:
0.5 - DC
0.5 - Otherton
1.0 - John McDonald
1.0 - Hathsin
3.5 - Island Creek
6.5 - Newark
9.5 - Londonderry

OPTION 1 (1st Round Buy)

  • Helena (for arguments sake) and Gold Country would sit for a week
  • 1) Rusty Kuntz would play Big Dan
  • 2) Kakadu Would Play Willets Point
  • In 2nd round the winner with the worst regular season record would play Gold Country. The other team would play Helena.
OPTION 2 (add two playoff teams)
  • Helena - National Division Winner
  • Big Dan - Federal Division Winner
  • Gold Country - American Division Winner
  • Willet's Point - ND WC
  • Kakadu - FD WC
  • Rusty Kuntz - AD WC
  • Newark - 1st New WC
  • 1 Game Playoff between DC and Hathsin - 2nd new WC
The following teams are X games out of the playoffs:
0.0 - Hathsin (for arguments sake)
0.0 - Otherton (percentage points behind)
0.5 - Londonderry
1.0 - John McDonald
2.5 - Planet 10
2.5 - Island Creek

As you see, Option 2 adds several new teams to the playoff hunt. I am personally voting for Option 2, but several owners I spoke to already thought it wasn't cut and dry. Because of this, Democracy rules. My vote will count as 2 in the case of a 9-9 split.

(I am also posting the blog. Feel free to discuss in the comments)



League Reports

Is Greg Maddux Having the Best Starting Pitcher Season in ATB History

After Sim 10A, Willet's Point star pitcher Greg Maddux is 18-2 with an outstanding 1.86 ERA. His peripherals back him up as well, in 25 starts he's already tossed 198 innings giving up just 171 hits and 31 walks. Just how good has Maddux been?

Looking back through ATB history, the top-10 pitcher seasons of all time list is currently headed by Pedro Martinez of ATB VII. Martinez went 17-4 with a 2.29 ERA and 0.87 WHIP. Here's a tally comparison of the pertinent stats, pro-rating Maddux through the end of the year at his current pace.



This will be an interesting case. Pedro maintains a better strikeout rate, WHIP, and RCERA while Maddux doubles his Shutouts and almost Complete Games. His W-L record and total innings pitched also overshadows that of Martinez. If pressed, I would rather have Maddux of ATB XIII then Pedro of ATB VII.

However, Maddux is currently trending the wrong way. Looking at cumulative ERA and WHIP over their respective seasons, Maddux is slowly but clearly increasing both statistics. Martinez hit a rough spot around this very time frame - the end of August around his 25th start - but closed out the season on a great run going 6-0 with a 0.92 ERA and 0.63 WHIP in his final 7 starts.

Since August 1, Maddux has a 3.00 ERA and a 1.45 WHIP.





One final item to note is park factor. Martinez enjoyed a pitchers park, with factors averaging 92 / 95 / 70 / 125 (singles, doubles, triples, home runs). Maddux has less of a advantage, with his park averaging 96 / 109 / 108 / 118.

Maddux has a shot at the best starting pitching season in ATB history, but he needs to change the momentum the rest of the way, exactly like Pedro Martinez was able to.

League Reports