I joined the Sim League Baseball game on What If Sports (aka WIS) in August 2016 and decided to enter the 96-owner WIS Championship tournament (aka the WISC) in 2017 to test out how well I’d picked up the subtleties of the game. The tournament consists of two rounds, with 24 owners advancing to the second round. Each round consists of six unique themes played at a range of salary caps with different challenges, so in theory the better owners should have a good opportunity to rise to the top without too much random bad luck interfering.
I finished 46th in my first year and learned a lot. Another year of experience got me into Round 2 (aka The Cage) my second time and I finished 15th out of the advancing 24 in the final standings. My confidence only increased when I advanced again in 2019 and finished 7th in the final standings. I was even leading the standings one-sixth of the way through Round 2. Clearly I belonged here, right?
Cut to 2020, which has of course not been like all other years in so many ways. Should I have expected it to be any different in the game world?
I received a ranking of 26 for the 2020 tournament, based on a formula that weighs owner strength in a variety of variables. The overall field was definitely stronger, possibly a reflection of more people having time in covid quarantine to devote to hobbies, and the site seems to have had a noticeable uptick in business.
I was pretty busy in the weeks leading up to the tournament, even working from home, but I thought I put in the necessary effort to create competitive rosters. My expectations were certainly another spot in The Cage and my eyes on getting back to the top 10. Ideally, you get better each year, right?
Well … success has eluded me this year in a big way. We are 137 games into the 162-game season, and I’m probably mathematically eliminated from advancing. I’m in 47th place and 30 total wins below The Cage cutoff. That means I’d have to average more than a win per cycle (that’s the six games played at each of the three times daily) more than the teams ahead of me. So if everyone above me went an average 3-3 the rest of the way, I’d have to average better than 4-2. Realistically, my teams would have to play .700 ball cumulatively to have a shot. And that’s really no shot at all.
It’s not like I’m just missing the cutoff either. I’m way back, basically middle of the pack. While that’s nothing shameful, it’s hardly my expectation. There’s a little bad luck involved, as three of my teams are underperforming expected win percentage significantly (one is actually overperforming, and two are nearly spot on). Yet even if I add on 17 wins from the underperforming teams, I’d still only be in 36th place. Better, with a prayer still, but still low.
Like most people, I’m pretty eager to put 2020 in the rear-view mirror. Fitting I suppose that my WISC experience should be no better than the rest of life this year.
A little perspective never hurts either, and a covid death toll topping 130,000 in the United States reminds me that it’s a privilege to be talking about a computer game at all right now. We should all be lucky to make it through the year, period.
