Tag: opening day

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Baseball Sim Baseball

Opening Day Win

Opening Day is in the books, and I can only hope it’s a harbinger of what’s to come. Jack Bauer Squared opened the season with a resounding 17-7 victory over Tulo? More Like Too High. Catcher Gene Tenace led the way with 2 homers and 7 RBI, including one of our two grand slams in the top of the 6th inning. Ryne Sandberg belted the first one to chase Mike Norris from the game after giving up 10 runs. 

We also got 2 hits apiece from outfielders Kal Daniels and Garry Maddox, and even pitcher Mike Cuellar got in on the action with 2 hits himself. Cuellar was less than dominant on the mound, however. I might have given him too much rope, as he faded badly in the 7th inning in allowing 5 runs. 

On the flip side of this thrashing, I feel a bit bad for my friend and opposing manager NebHusker. That’s a rough box score to wake up to in the morning, and I’ve certainly been there, too. You never want to see your ace pitcher get shelled, let alone in the season opener.

Game 1

But it’s only one of 162, and we’ll be facing off again twice more in the opening series. Game 2 will be a matchup of Dodgers pitchers from 10 years apart, my 1975 Burt Hooton facing his 1985 Orel Hershiser. 

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Baseball Covid MLB Sim Baseball

Here Come the Seasons

July 18, 2020

The season will start tonight, shortly after 10 pm where I live. I’m writing the season narrative as it unfolds, so this could turn into a description of a championship season or the struggles of an also-ran team. Starting off with a team I already had success with and then going back and writing about it would have been cheating. 

Does this raise the stakes a bit? Sure. Do I wish I’d decided to do this before I started drafting the team in the first place? Sure. But does life normally come at you with direct plans that work perfectly? As in baseball, the unpredictable happens.

Five days from now, Major League Baseball plans to start an abbreviated 60-game season that will run roughly parallel with this sim season about to unfold. Our simulated season will play three games a day for 54 days to reach a full 162-game season, starting July 19 and finishing on September 10, followed by a few days of playoffs. 

MLB will attempt a Covid-shortened schedule from July 23 to September 27, followed by a month or so of playoffs, if all goes well. A lot has to go well, too. The sports world, like the one at large, looks drastically different in 2020. The only place nothing has changed is here on the computer, where games go on unhindered 365 days a year. 

Categories
Baseball Sim Baseball

Anticipating Opening Day

July 17, 2020

Opening Day will be here in just over 24 hours, and soon we will find out if hard work pays off on the field. The lineups are set. The pitching rotation is in place. The relievers know their roles. 

Sometime after 1 am Eastern on July 19, a server in some unknown building will kick around some code and issue the outcome in the form of one complete box score of a baseball game. One I will care more about than I reasonably should, considering it is completely a work of fiction.

Simulated baseball games include no baseballs. No equipment. No hot dogs and peanuts. No umpires or coaches or trainers. Not even players. This “team” I have created only exists in a shared fiction for myself and 23 other owners in this unimaginatively named 24×24 Draft League, but there is ample imagination involved.

Hard work, too. All 24 owners spent hour after hour preparing for and executing a draft process that lasted 20 exhilarating days. There was nothing fictional about the commitment and passion we put into it. 

More than a hobby, this is equal parts competition, entertainment, relived youth, mental exercise, camaraderie, and creativity. It’s an investment of mind, heart, and soul … and about $12.95, too.