Steve Hartman and Pat O'Brien took full advantage of Whatifsports.com's FREE MLB Dream Team feature and loaded up on the top pitchers and sluggers of all-time. In fact, between the two starting lineups, their big bats thumped over 700 home runs combined. O'Brien's roster edged out Hartman's with 361 dingers to 359. Hartman managed to bounce back with a stronger four-man World Series rotation with not one, but two, 30-game winners taking the mound. Using our MLB simulation engine we "played" the "Loose Cannons World Series" 1,001 times. In the table below you will find Hartman and O'Brien's chances of winning and how often they won in 4, 5, 6 or 7 games.

Loose Cannons World Series - 1,001 Series Simulations
Matchup	Win%	4-Games%	5-Games%	6-Games%	7-Games%
Hartman	81	19	30	16	15
O'Brien	19	1	2	7	9

Despite two rosters boasting maestros of the mound from the last century, the simulation engine gave the edge to the better lineup. No starting pitcher, for either squad, possessed an earned run average under four. In the end, Hartman's roster took down O'Brien. Hartman's "Cannons" won 81-percent of the seven-game series simulations with the most common result being Hartman in five games.


Lefty Grove was in a groove for O'Brien. The 300-game winner allowed no runs and three hits through his six innings of work. Grove's offense supplied some support with three runs crossing home via singles from Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth and a pinch-hit homer off the bat of David Ortiz.

Curt Schilling would replace Grove in the 7th inning. Even a bloody sock couldn't save Schilling (who was a member of the Diamondbacks this season) from surrendering the lead to Hartman. Following a Robin Yount RBI single to left, Jimmie Foxx would strikeout for the second out of the inning. Rogers Hornsby would then blast a liner off Foxx's glove (yes, they were on both teams) for an infield single. With runners of first and second, this set the table for Michael Jack Schmidt. The Phillies great would lift a fly ball to the left field corner that would drop and took a funny hop allowing, Young, Hornsby and Schmidt to round the bases for a rare inside-the-park home run.

Rollie Fingers would close out the game in the 9th as Hartman jumped out to a 1-0 series lead via the 4-3 win.


O'Brien's bullpen cost him Game 1, but it was Hartman's starter in Game 2 that truly hurt his chances of taking a commanding 2-0 series lead. Sandy Koufax got roughed up to the tune of four earned runs and five walks in less than five innings of work. O'Brien's team did most of their damage in the 5th inning with back-to-back home runs courtesy of Mantle and Ruth which accounted for three runs and pushed the lead to 4-0.

Hartman's crew would rally back against Mariano Rivera who was asked to collect a six-out save. It nearly cost O'Brien a win. Rivera watched Ruth and Williams blast back-to-back solo shots to close the gap to 4-3 in the 8th inning. Rivera would escape and Dennis Eckersley would shut things down in the 9th.

O'Brien's all-time roster bounced back with a 4-3 win to even the series at 1-1.


Curt Schilling must have offended our MLB simulation engine at some point. It's either that or he just doesn't match up well with the robust lineups in the "Loose Cannons World Series." For the second consecutive outing, Schilling (2002 season) was roughed up by the opposing offense in relief.

O'Brien's Sandy Koufax (1963 season) exited the game trailing 4-2 in the 7th. Schilling would allow seven more runs over the next three innings. Lou Gehrig led the charge for Hartman, going 3-5 with two homers and drove in four runs.

Hartman's 11-2 win pushed him back in front 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.


After falling behind 2-0 in the first, O'Brien's decision to start Satchel Paige looked like it was going to come back and bite him. Then his offense started to chip away at Hartman's lead. Mantle drove in a run, A-Rod smacked a solo shot to left field and a Williams' single to left put O'Brien on top 3-2.

Things looked good until the fifth inning, when Hartman's bats erupted once more. Paige got rocked by Hornsby and Schmidt and gave up five runs in a matter of minutes. Hartman took a comfortable 7-3 lead.

For the second game in a row, Hartman posted 11 runs on the scoreboard. His team seems very comfortable playing at H.H.H. Metrodome.


Grove pitched six strong innings for O'Brien in Game 1. Lefty lost that positive vibe in Game 5. Already down 2-0, Grove tossed a grapefruit in the direction of Ruth with the bases loaded and the "Bambino" deposited it over the right-field wall (four of his nine (9) runs batted in). Before nine outs had been recorded, Hartman was on top 6-0.

O'Brien's team trailed 12-6 in the eighth inning and all signs pointed to a Hartman landslide win. With runners on the corners, Randy Johnson uncorked a wild pitch and Jackie Robinson scored. Two batters later, with two on and two out, Foxx took Johnson up and out to right-center. All of a sudden, O'Brien had life down 12-10.

In the bottom of the ninth and Fingers on the mound for Hartman, Johnny Bench grounded out to begin the inning. "Big Papi" would come up clutch again with a pinch-hit single to bring the tying run to the plate. But Jackie Robinson hit into a 4-6-3 to end the game and the series.

Hartman wins Game 5, 12-10 and the "Loose Cannons World Series" 4-1.

Player of the Series: Babe Ruth - .375 average, 4 Home Runs, 5 runs and 11 RBIs

Winning Percentage of 1,001 Simulations: Hartman 81% - O'Brien 19%