Category: Jack Bauer Squared

Rationally, sure, I know a sim doesn’t understand momentum. The game engine doesn’t care what happened in the previous game, or even the previous at-bat. So players or teams getting hot or going cold only exist as the product of a series of imagined connections. 

Eventually as the sample sizes increase and the law of averages comes into effect, any initial outcomes due to luck should start to fade away. If you did a decent job assembling your team relative to the rest of the league and manage it effectively, you will hopefully see results that mirror the appropriate expectations.

We opened our four-game series against A Rod, some Wood and a Big Unit with an extra-inning walkoff 6-5 victory, but quite a few unusual occurrences led up to that. We trailed 5-1 with one out in the bottom of the 9th but put together five straight hits (three for extra bases) to tie it and even had a chance to win with a runner on 3rd and still one out. 

By the bottom of the 12th, we had run out of position players so Burt Hooton came on to pinch hit for a reliever and delivered the unlikeliest of leadoff doubles. After two outs and two walks, Bobby Murcer singled to give us our first one-run win of the season.

Ace starter Mike Cuellar again delivered a poor performance, giving up 5 runs in 7 innings to run his ERA to 7.18. The bullpen continued to make up for our starters, however, with one hit allowed over 5 scoreless innings.

Game 17

Teddy Higuera, our 1st-round draft pick, justified his selection in Game 18, giving up 1 run in 7 innings to improve to 3-2. Third-round pick Ryne Sandberg had 3 hits and scored twice as we won 3-1.

Game 18

Hooton continued the trend and showed he wasn’t just drafted for his pinch hitting (hah!) by throwing 8 innings and giving up just 1 run in a 2-1 victory for our third straight win. Sandberg’s two-run homer was all the offense we needed, and Bob Woodward pitched the 9th for his 6th save in 6 tries. Our second one-run win moved us to 2-6 in that category, and it’s starting to feel like we’re turning the tide.

Game 19

We had a chance to sweep the series and were only trailing 2-1 through 7 innings. But Bert Blyleven gave up three more runs in the 8th to put it out of reach. The bright spot is the bullpen ran its scoreless streak to 16 innings over the past six games.

Game 20

Next up: Our first interleague matchup, a two-game series (one home, one away) against P Niek! at the Disco.

The story of the Jack Bauer Squared season has quickly become about one-run losses. We managed to suffer two more of them in our four-game series with Steroids Make You Fast and have now lost all six games decided by one run in just the first 16 games of the season.

This makes us profoundly unlucky, as our 6-10 record should be 9-7 based on our expected winning percentage (we have outscored opponents 82-75). There’s reason to believe the law of averages will turn around the bad luck, but it’s also possible there’s a deficiency in the team that is leading to this trend.

Game 13 was a 3-2 loss that extended our slide to five games. In the bottom of the 9th we put runners on 1st and 3rd with no one out but couldn’t get a run home. For some reason (I’d say go ask him, but we don’t have postgame interview abilities here), Joel Youngblood didn’t score on a double play grounder. Runners on 3rd almost always would break for the plate as soon as the first throw didn’t go home but to 2nd instead. The next batter flew out to deep center, and the rally fizzled.

Game 13

The second game of the series found a new way to create disappointment. We led 3-0 after 6 innings and then it all fell apart. Steroids Make You Fast put together a 6-run 7th and we dropped our 6th straight game, this time 6-4.

Game 14

We finally snapped the streak in Game 15, flipping the score for a 6-4 win. Our bullpen continued to be a strong element of the team, pitching three scoreless innings to preserve the lead. No outstanding individual performances, but at this point it’s just a relief.

Game 15

Alas, it didn’t take long to return to our one-run losing ways, however. Instead of salvaging a split of the series, Bert Blyleven gave up four runs in the top of the 1st and we never led. We rallied for three in the 2nd but didn’t score again until the 8th and would up losing 5-4. 

Game 16

Despite being just 6-10, we don’t face a big deficit in the division yet. The leader sits at just 8-8, and the rest of us are all 6-10. We have another four-game series coming up with A Rod, some Wood and a Big Unit, another of the 6-10 teams in the division. Clever name, but let’s just say that we aren’t curious to see what their team mascot would be. 

Our three-game series against Royal Gamers didn’t go well at all. The hosts swept us, sending us to a four-game losing streak overall and dropping our record to 5-7. We are fortunately only 1 game behind in our division still, and 12 games is still very early, but 6 losses in 7 games definitely starts to mess with your confidence.

In the series opener we were facing Sid Fernandez, a longtime Met who was famously hard to hit. In fact, he started off our 24×24 season by throwing a no-hitter! We put an end to his hopes of doing it again in the 2nd inning and held a 4-3 lead until Royal Gamers rallied for 4 runs in the 6th and went on to win, 7-4.

Game 10

In the second game, once again we held a one-run lead in the 6th inning and gave up 4 runs in the bottom of the inning. Bob Bailey hit a solo homer in the 9th inning to get us within a run but we fell short, 6-5.

Game 11

The final game of the series was another close loss, this time 3-2. We scratched out a couple of runs off Catfish Hunter, and he was just a little bit better than my Bert Blyleven. That made us 0-4 in one-run games, which is a very frustrating stat. If those break 2-2, we’d be 7-5 instead. And based on our 66 runs scored vs. 57 allowed, we should be 7-5. That’s a sign we should even things out soon.

Game 12

We start an eight-game stretch of division games at home next, with Steroids Make You Fast; Just ask Jose coming in first. They are off to a 3-9 start so maybe it’s a chance to get this team back to winning ways. 

Now that the season is under way, we’ll switch to recapping by series or day rather than game by game.

Jack Bauer Squared took a 4-2 record into Wrigley Field for a three-game series and promptly lost a 5-4 decision in the opener. 24 Hours at Wrigley never trailed, but we had opportunities to tie or take the lead in the 7th and 9th innings. Both times Bobby Murcer could not deliver the clutch hit. Kal Daniels continued his hot start with a 4-for-4 day and raised his average to .500.

Game 7

The second game of the series featured another surge of offense. We used a 4-run 9th inning to blow open a close game and then held on for a 10-7 victory. The wind picked up in the bottom of the 9th as 24 Hours at Wrigley hit three solo homers off Rod Beck before Bob Woodward came in for his 2nd save. Daniels hit his 3rd homer, and Rafael Ramirez homered and drove in four runs to raise his average to .387. 

Game 8

Our chance to win a third straight series to open the season went awry as we fell behind 7-0 before coming up short, 7-5. We had the tying runs on base with one out in the 9th inning, but a pair of ground outs ended the rally. 

Game 9

Our first series loss put us at 5-4 and tied for 1st place in the division. Our next series takes us to Royals Stadium for three games against Royal Gamers, who are also 5-4 thus far. 

Royal Gamers are second in the league in runs scored so far with 56, and we are right behind at 55. Both pitching staffs have been vulnerable to home runs as well, giving up 13 each, tied for second most in the league. It’s pretty early, though, so I won’t be surprised if pitching comes up big.

Once again, our pitching came out strong to start the second game of the series, with Burt Hooton holding Block Chain hitless through the first 5 innings. His luck ran out in the top of the 6th, however, as he gave up 5 runs on a pair of home runs and left after recording just one out. 

We still trailed 5-3 in the bottom of the 8th before breaking out for a 6-run inning to turn the tide. The big hit came from Kal Daniels for the second straight game, a grand slam this time. If you’re going to give up a big inning, you might as well return the favor.

Game 5

Jack Bauer Squared improved to 4-1 and for the moment sits alone atop the division. Sure, it’s great to start off well, but there are still 157 to play.

Our home opener continued the pitching-first trend of the previous two games, as it remained scoreless through 6 innings. Block Chain’s Jose Deleon matched up with my Bert Blyleven to allow a combined 5 hits to that point. After Blyleven shut down the middle of the Block Chain lineup in the top of the 7th, the singing of Take Me Out to the Ballgame must have inspired my offense.

Pinch hitter Alex Cole hit for Blyleven with the bases loaded and one out and hit into a run-scoring force play but used his speed to avoid the double play. That kept the inning alive for leadoff man Kal Daniels, who drove Deleon’s 108th pitch over the wall in center field for a 4-0 lead.

Rod Beck pitched an easy 8th inning and should have emerged unscathed from the 9th as well. Rafael Ramirez booted a ground ball for his third error of the season to give Block Chain extra opportunities. Slugger Harmon Killebrew didn’t miss it, homering to bring the lead down to 4-2. 

Closer Bob Woodward came in to get the final out and wrapped up his second save. We moved to 3-1 on the season and into a 3-way tie atop the National League West. 

Game 4

So far my emphasis on pitching in the draft has paid off with the league’s best ERA (2.21), but it’s very, very early. Team stats, and even individual ones, don’t start taking on significance until 20-30 games because of the skewing effects of outlier performances.