Month: August 2020

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Baseball Jack Bauer Squared Sim Baseball Sim Dynasty

Quick Updates

Dear Reader, I apologize for a few days’ hiatus in posts as my work schedule and other responsibilities took me away. Here are a few highlights and I’ll try to get us caught up soon.

As of this writing, my Jack Bauer Squared team that I’d basically left for dead early in the second half has somehow managed to crawl within 2 games of first place with 31 games to go. Our division leader is under .500, so that certainly helps!

Another Sim Dynasty season recently wrapped up. We had a furious wild-card race in the National League, and I held off Montreal by just 1 game to make the playoffs. 

But a return to the World Series was not in the cards, as the Chicago Street Hounds showed why they were the better regular-season team and survived a 7-game series to beat us and then went on to win the World Series. We’ve made a big offseason trade to try to make up some ground and get revenge on the Hounds next season, though.

And today is the MLB trade deadline. The Padres are making huge moves to give the Dodgers reason to worry in the NL West. Could we have an all-SoCal championship series played in Texas? Oh, we have to talk about that!

More to come soon!

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Baseball MLB Sim Baseball Tournament

My “Juice” Tournament Teams

I’m taking a look at the teams I drafted for Round 3 of thejuice6’s annual tournament for Sim League Baseball. I had seven teams advance to this round of eight leagues, so I had one pick in seven of the leagues, three in the National League and three in the American. Each league includes 15 seasons of baseball history, so this round covers 120 seasons in all from 1899 to 2019.

These are the years and teams I drafted. I can build my 25-man roster out of anyone from these three teams for that season:

  • League 1: 1906 Chicago White Sox / New York Highlanders / Cleveland Naps
  • League 2: 1920 Cleveland Indians / Chicago White Sox / New York Yankees
  • League 3: No team
  • League 4: 1950 Philadelphia Phillies / Brooklyn Dodgers / New York Giants
  • League 5: 1966 Los Angeles Dodgers / San Francisco Giants / Pittsburgh Pirates
  • League 6: 1985 St. Louis Cardinals / New York Mets / Los Angeles Dodgers
  • League 7: 1993 Toronto Blue Jays / Chicago White Sox / New York Yankees
  • League 8: 2013 Boston Red Sox / Oakland Athletics / Detroit Tigers

I picked 9th out of 12 in League 1’s American League draft (1899-1914) and went with 1906 for a strong combination of starting pitchers in Doc White, Addie Joss, and Ed Walsh along with the best lineup combination among the remaining teams when it came my turn to pick. My hitting star will be 2B Nap Lajoie (as in, they named the team for him in Cleveland back then). Don’t expect many home runs on this team, as no one hit more than 3, and the whole league is deadball-era pitching.

I picked 2nd in League 2’s American League draft (1915-1929) and had a very difficult time selecting. The only team off the board was 1927 (of the famed Murderer’s Row Yankees), and the trick is that the league divides between one division of deadball teams (1915-1919) and two once Babe Ruth showed how to excite crowds with home runs (1920-1924 and 1925-1929).

Though some excellent pitching could be found in those teen years, those offenses really were painfully weak. In 1920, I landed a lineup with four sensational hitters: Ruth, Tris Speaker, Joe Jackson, and Eddie Collins, all of whom hit at least .370 that year. Ruth hit 54 home runs, about as many as the rest of my team combined, and it’s hard to turn down that firepower. There’s a bit of decent pitching to go with them, but offensive numbers will be big for most of this league. 

I picked 4th in League 4’s National League draft (1945-1959) and narrowed it down to a few times pretty quickly. The 1950s were pretty awful for pitching, and some of the 1940s hitting was nothing to get excited about either. In this draft, it seemed the teams with a few decent arms lacked any good bats. 

My 1950 group will have good power throughout the lineup, though it slants too far to right-handed hitting and lacks speed. Fortunately this league uses a DH, because I have two second basemen worth putting atop the lineup in Jackie Robinson and Eddie Stanky.

I had the 5th choice in League 5’s National League draft (1960-1974) and had some very good pitching seasons to choose from in 1966, 1968, and 1969. I went with ‘66 for the twin ace starters in Sandy Koufax and Juan Marichal, which should be as good or better than anyone else can field in the league.

That was not a great era for baseball offenses, and few of the teams will have even one truly elite hitter in their lineups. So for me the ‘66 group will have some depth with sluggers Willie Mays, Willie Stargell, Willie McCovey, and Roberto Clemente. My coworker once told me to name my son Willie because it’s the best way to end up with a baseball star in the family, and maybe he was onto something.

For League 6’s National League draft (1975-1989), I had the top choice. In fact, I initially had the top choice of which of all the 16 drafts I wanted to pick first in, essentially making this the top pick of the entire round. That’s actually a lot of pressure, and I didn’t have time to analyze every draft before I made it. 

I did look through historical ranges of pitching excellence and found that the three teams offered in this 1985 grouping (Cardinals, Mets, Dodgers) allowed me to put together a significantly better pitching rotation than anyone else in the era. With Dwight Gooden, John Tudor, and Orel Hershiser, I have three of the four best starters available in the entire range of years. I’d almost call it unfair, but I still have to find a way to build a team around them and win with the burden of expectations. That said, anything less than a World Series with this team would be disappointing.

I traded leagues with another owner who wanted to be in the AL, so I picked third in the League 7 NL draft (1990-2004). This was a really difficult choice, because the great temptation is to take one of Greg Maddux’s insanely great seasons from 1994 or 1995 even if the rest of the team were weaker. I went with 1993, however, because I still get a solid Maddux season to top the rotation along with several good arms right behind him for depth.

With ‘93 I also get a solid lineup top to bottom that stars Mr. Barry Lamar Bonds in his smaller head phase, when he was “just” an MVP but not yet shattering records. We can back up his power with the likes of Fred McGriff, Matt Williams, and Ron Gant to give the lineup plenty of strength.

For my final team in the League 8 AL (2005-2019), I had the 10th pick out of 12, which meant only six possible groupings left by my turn. I went with 2013 because it had the best single SP available in Max Scherzer and a super closer season with Koji Uehara. I also got the best remaining offensive season with Miguel Cabrera, who was actually a little better in 2013 than in his Triple Crown season the year before.

Overall, though, it’s not a great team. Drafting low means if you wind up being competitive that’s a bonus. My hope is just to steer this team to enough wins to advance to Round 4. The more teams I move on, the more chances I have at getting to the final Round 7 where the prizes are. I managed to get one team there last year and made the LCS, so I’d really like to have two shots at least this year. 

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Baseball Jack Bauer Squared Sim Baseball Tournament

Back in Business with Tournament Talk

The start of the second half for my Jack Bauer Squared team was anything but what was needed. Instead of a push toward that playoff spot, we started 1-7 and tumbled into last place. I had a plan to keep updating that season, but I got busy and the losses piled up and I fell a few series behind.

I may still go back and catch up on that season drifting away, but what had my attention in the sim world over the past week primarily was a series of short drafts for a tournament I’m in the middle of.

Each year a longtime owner named thejuice6 puts on a multi-round tournament that draws so many owners the site puts up prizes in the form of site credits. Juice has a forum just for his tournament because it’s such a big undertaking, and he changes up the details every year.

Round 1 this year included 12 leagues of 24 teams each. Owners could select historical franchises with a particular set of two seasons for each. You had to build your whole roster from those two seasons of your team, plus two drafted free agents. The goal is to qualify your teams for Round 2 and keep moving forward.

I entered seven teams in Round 1, and all of them advanced. I had two reach the World Series, with one winner. So that meant I had seven spots in Round 2, which comprised 10 leagues of 24 teams this time. We drafted from five-year ranges this time, and somehow I ended up with four of my seven teams from the Cleveland Indians franchise history.

All seven of my teams advanced once again, and one had the best regular-season won-loss record of all 10 leagues at 104-58. Alas even that squad was felled in the first round of the playoffs and none of my three playoff teams from the round made a World Series.

But because I kept all seven of my spots, I had to draft in seven of the eight leagues that comprise Round 3. My 104-win team earned me the right to choose any league to take the first pick in, and I hope I chose wisely. This round divided up so that each league included a range of years, and for each year you have to build your roster out of three selected teams.

So here are my seven entries in Round 3 as selected in the draft for each league:

  • League 1: 1906 Chicago White Sox / New York Highlanders / Cleveland Naps
  • League 2: 1920 Cleveland Indians / Chicago White Sox / New York Yankees
  • League 3: No team
  • League 4: 1950 Philadelphia Phillies / Brooklyn Dodgers / New York Giants
  • League 5: 1966 Los Angeles Dodgers / San Francisco Giants / Pittsburgh Pirates
  • League 6: 1985 St. Louis Cardinals / New York Mets / Los Angeles Dodgers
  • League 7: 1993 Toronto Blue Jays / Chicago White Sox / New York Yankees
  • League 8: 2013 Boston Red Sox / Oakland Athletics / Detroit Tigers

I’ll break down my picks in another post soon.

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Baseball Jack Bauer Squared Sim Baseball

Games 79-81: First Half Concludes

We moved on to Atlanta Fulton County Stadium, a homer haven, for the final series of the first half.

The first inning started us off well as we parlayed a single and three walks into a 3-0 lead. Piazza Blues rallied to tie it, however, and through 8 it was still 3-3.

Bill Freehan put us ahead with a pinch-hit double, and another pinch hitter, Butch Davis, singled him in for a 5-3 margin. Bob Woodward nailed down the win with a perfect 9th for his 17th save.

Game 79

Fulton County lived up to its reputation in the next game, as the hosts hit four homers against Mike Cuellar and another against Rod Beck. All were solo shots, however, and Jack Bauer Squared was able to tie it in the 9th inning with a two-run rally.

Alas, the hosts didn’t need a homer or even a hit to create a walkoff rally. They combined two walks and a sacrifice fly to win it 6-5.

Game 80

That set up the rubber game of the series and a chance to end the first half on a positive note. It didn’t happen. Piazza Blues chased Bert Blyleven in the 6th after scoring 7 runs and hitting three homers. We were never in it and lost 7-2.

Game 81

So the first half ends with a 36-45 record, now 7 games out of first place and in third in the division. We are “only” 5 games behind the wild card leaders, but it’s a pack we’ll have to move through first. There are two teams tied 41-40, two more 40-41, another 39-42, then us and one other team at 36-45. 

The second half will begin with our third straight road series, at Tigers of the Ontario Peninsula at, of course, Detroit’s old Tiger Stadium.

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Baseball Jack Bauer Squared Sim Baseball

Games 76-78: Tough Start to Trip

Jack Bauer Squared headed on as tough a road trip as we could imagine to end the first half, playing the two best teams in our National League back to back. First up was a visit to the Oakland Coliseum to face Hitmen 24×24. 

The first game was tight and low-scoring, as Mike Cuellar and Dennis Eckersley dueled to a 1-1 tie that went into extra innings. Unfortunately another error by Bobby Bonilla (his 16th) helped the hosts score in the 11th and win 2-1 and extend our losing streak to four.

Game 76

The second game was a case of karma coming back to bite me, as I had made light mockery of the opposing pitcher, La Marr Hoyt, during the draft. So of course he held us hitless through 5 innings as Hitmen took a 7-0 lead. 

We picked up a few late runs to make it a little close but lost 7-3, our fifth straight setback. To say the least, not the direction we wanted to be heading.

Game 77

We needed one win just to avoid a second straight sweep now. In the 6th inning, we racked up four runs on five hits to take a lead, but Hitmen closed the gap. In the top of the 8th, however, we picked up another four, including a three-run homer from Ryne Sandberg.

Sandberg has been light on first-half highlights, and this was just his 4th homer. But we’ll take the 9-4 victory and the end of the five-game slide for now. 

Game 78

Another tough series awaits, alas. Just trying to hang in these races.

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Baseball Jack Bauer Squared Sim Baseball

Games 73-75: The Wrong Direction

The halfway point of the season is fast approaching, and Jack Bauer Squared has largely pulled out of the deep hole we started in. We might have been a bit too optimistic about getting to .500 by the 81-game mark, but we definitely needed to keep moving closer.

Entering a three-game series at home against Royal Gamers, we needed to win two to keep the forward progress. It didn’t happen. Alas, we folded.

In the opener, Bobby Bonilla hit a two-run homer in the 1st inning for a promising start, but we didn’t score again. A couple errors, one by Bonilla, hurt our cause as we watched Royal Gamers rally for a 5-2 victory.

Game 73

Mike Cuellar took the mound for the second game, and it’s worth noting that he’s turning his season around nicely now. Cuellar allowed 3 runs (2 earned) in 7 innings, marking the 9th time in 10 starts he allowed 3 earned runs or fewer — a far cry from what he was doing earlier in the season. His ERA over those 10 starts is 3.00, so he’s dropped his season ERA to 4.79, the lowest it’s been all season.

Alas, it wasn’t enough to secure a win. The game went to extra innings, and again Bonilla made a costly error that helped Royal Gamers put up 3 runs in the 10th inning. Their 6-3 win left us badly needing a win to avoid a sweep.

Game 74

It didn’t happen. Our old enemy, the one-run loss, came to play again as we fell victim to the three-game sweep, 3-2. Another error led to what proved to be the winning run, and defensive woes cost us in a big way in this series.

Game 75

Dropping to 34-41 wasn’t the worst part. It’s looking at the next two series on the schedule and seeing the top two teams in the league back-to-back, and both on the road. We’re going to need to play respectably in these six games to avoid losing all the gains we’d made to get into the race.

If we don’t, we might be looking at a really long second half.

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Baseball Jack Bauer Squared Sim Baseball

Games 70-72: Hot Hitters Help Out

I’ve fallen a couple of series behind on my recaps due to a busy week. In our first series, against Tulo? More Like Too High, we needed a good showing to keep pushing for the division lead and a wild card spot.

We didn’t start off well, though. For just the second time all season, Jack Bauer Squared was shut out. It didn’t help that Burt Hooton got shelled for 8 runs, but even if he’d only allowed 1 we still were coming out on the wrong end. An 8-0 loss means not much went well.

Game 70

The second game of the series didn’t look promising either as we fell behind 4-1 early. The offense came alive, as both Kal Daniels and Carlos Delgado had three-hit games including homers as we charged back to win 8-4.

Game 71

That set up a rubber game for two teams fighting for respectability. Once again we trailed and came back. Daniels and Delgado had three hits apiece again as we rallied for 2 in the 8th to win a rare one-run game, 3-2. Bert Blyleven pitched well, allowing 2 runs in 7 innings, but he was gone before the rally and didn’t earn the victory.

Game 72

That earned us a series victory, and we need as many of those as we can get. We’re now 34-38 and inching toward .500 still. Our six-game homestand at Olympic Stadium continues next with Royal Gamers coming to town. 

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Baseball Covid MLB

MLB Stat of the Day

After 18 games of the 2020 MLB season, outfielder Charlie Blackmon of the Colorado Rockies has 34 hits. He actually had 34 after 17 games but went 0-for-4 Wednesday to drop his average from .500 to .472.

But the most 2020 stat you can imagine (at least so far) has to be this:

Those 34 hits tie Blackmon with the St. Louis Cardinals. The whole team. For the whole season.

Of course, that’s only possible because the Cardinals have played only 5 games due to Covid-19 suspensions. Thursday’s game is suspended as well. By then six teams will have played 20 games. There is no clear plan for how many games the Cardinals will get to play, but they’ll finish way below the target 60 for all teams.

Still, just wrap your head around one player outhitting an entire team any point past maybe opening day, and it just could never happen except like this. Blackmon is crushing the ball, and the Cardinals are sitting around waiting for clearance.

2020 is just off the charts.

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Baseball Jack Bauer Squared Sim Baseball

Games 67-69: Fighting to Compete

Our series opener with Block Chain started out well, with a leadoff homer by Kal Daniels to open the game. It was Daniels’ 10th of the season, and he’s slashing a very fine .298/.410/.535 leading off against right starters. No complaints there.

We still led 2-1 into the 7th, but the ever-maligned Mike Cuellar gave up a three-run double to flip the script. In 1969, Cuellar went 23-11 with a 2.02 ERA for the Orioles. Even normalized because of pitching’s edge in that time, his ERA is still 2.08. He really should be much better than 5-7 with a 5.01 ERA.

We got within a run in the 9th and had the tying run on 2nd with no outs, but we couldn’t budge him and fell 4-3. That makes us 7-13 in one-run games now.

Game 67

The offense rebounded in the second game of the series, fortunately. Bobby Murcer hit a three-run homer, his 8th, as we opened up an 8-1 lead and cruised to a 9-4 win. 

Bert Blyleven notched his 10th win to lead the team. He’s 18th in the league in ERA, too, and again he was drafted as the 4th starter!

Game 68

That brought us to the rubber game, and it would certainly have been nice to come out of this series a step closer to .500. Alas, Block Chain broke a 1-1 tie in the 6th inning with a pair of solo homers off Teddy Higuera, then tacked on three more runs off Rod Beck in the 8th to pull away for a 6-1 win.

Game 69

At 32-37, Jack Bauer Squared remains 5 games out of first place and 3 behind the wild card leaders. To reach my goal of .500 at the 81-game mark, we’re going to need a really nice run now.

Next up: our first series with Tulo? More Like Too High since the season’s first three games. Always tough going against my friend NebHusker, whose team is also fighting to compete at 34-35. This is one of the teams I need to pass in the wild card chase, plus there is potential for trash talk if we can put up a good showing.

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Baseball Jack Bauer Squared Sim Baseball

Games 65-66: Joining the Wild Card Race

The first game of the series with Throw the Spitball, Gaylord had a few highlights … for them. For Jack Bauer Squared, it was a forgettable 9-1 loss featuring poor starting pitching, relief pitching and hitting. 

Game 65

We fell behind 5-1 early in the second game back in Olympic Stadium, but we chipped away with two in the 6th and then exploded for six runs in the 7th. Six consecutive hits produced the rally, and it left enough cushion for some shaky relief so we emerged with a 9-7 win and a split.

Game 66

That was enough to make a small move in the division race, though, as the teams above and behind us got swept. So after 66 games, we sit 31-35, 5 games out of first place and 2 ahead of third place.

There are four teams ahead of us in the wild card race, all bunched at 32-34 or 33-33. We are definitely in the race now though, as we head to Shea Stadium for a three-game series against Block Chain.