One day later - an OL team in its second game of the season: Clayton Kershaw is player of the game for us in a winning effort - FOR HIS HITTING  - I did a double-take as it read: "Clayton Kernshaw gets 4 hits" and I thought , "no, he didn't pitch a 4-hitter" - no, they really wrote "he got 4 hits". 

Believe it or Don't ! 

http://whatifsports.com/slb/Boxscore.aspx?gid=22611938&pid=1&pbp=0&tf=10

Over the past four seasons in the NWP prog, my team's put up these combined W-L splits:

vs. division:
127-41 (.756)

vs. everyone else: 
240-241 (.499)

Which explains how we occasionally capture a division title with win totals of 82, 70, etc.

Believe It or Don't!

Posted by crazystengel on 6/19/2014 9:50:00 AM (view original):
Over the past four seasons in the NWP prog, my team's put up these combined W-L splits:

vs. division:
127-41 (.756)

vs. everyone else: 
240-241 (.499)

Which explains how we occasionally capture a division title with win totals of 82, 70, etc.

Believe It or Don't!

I, and all of Boston's fans, hate you.  

Posted by chargingryno on 6/19/2014 1:05:00 PM (view original):

Posted by crazystengel on 6/19/2014 9:50:00 AM (view original):
Over the past four seasons in the NWP prog, my team's put up these combined W-L splits:

vs. division:
127-41 (.756)

vs. everyone else: 
240-241 (.499)

Which explains how we occasionally capture a division title with win totals of 82, 70, etc.

Believe It or Don't!

I, and all of Boston's fans, hate you.  

But in all seriousness, our inability to close out the division this year was one of the most frustratingly entertaining progressive seasons I've been a part of

Just to break it down for the folks at home:

Going into the final 4-game series of the 1984 NWP, Boston (ryno's team) had a 1 game lead on my Toronto squad in the AL East.  Boston had 4 games vs. Detroit (47-111 heading into the series) and Toronto had 4 games vs. Baltimore (48-110).  For some nutty reason, I figured Boston and Toronto would both go 4-0 against the division's weak sisters.  Nope.

Game 1:
Toronto loses 7-3
Boston loses 11-10 (after blowing an 8th inning 10-3 lead; the quartet of Detroit pitchers had fatigue ratings ranging from 65-78%)
Boston retains its 1 game lead

Game 2:
Toronto wins 7-6
Boston loses 2-0 (7 shutout innings from Mike LaCoss, who entered the game at 80% with a record of 6-22 and a 9.53 ERA; a 69% reliever closes it out with 2 more shutout innings)
Division is tied

Game 3:
Toronto loses 6-4
Boston loses 7-6 in 10 innings (Detroit's pitchers, as usual, are tired: 81, 96 and 64%)
Division remains tied

Game 4:
Toronto wins 9-8 (overcoming an 8-3 deficit in the 7th)
Boston loses 7-3 (Detroit's two pitchers at 80 and 69%)
Toronto wins division by 1 game

Believe It or Don't!

Posted by crazystengel on 6/19/2014 1:26:00 PM (view original):
Just to break it down for the folks at home:

Going into the final 4-game series of the 1984 NWP, Boston (ryno's team) had a 1 game lead on my Toronto squad in the AL East.  Boston had 4 games vs. Detroit (47-111 heading into the series) and Toronto had 4 games vs. Baltimore (48-110).  For some nutty reason, I figured Boston and Toronto would both go 4-0 against the division's weak sisters.  Nope.

Game 1:
Toronto loses 7-3
Boston loses 11-10 (after blowing an 8th inning 10-3 lead; the quartet of Detroit pitchers had fatigue ratings ranging from 65-78%)
Boston retains its 1 game lead

Game 2:
Toronto wins 7-6
Boston loses 2-0 (7 shutout innings from Mike LaCoss, who entered the game at 80% with a record of 6-22 and a 9.53 ERA; a 69% reliever closes it out with 2 more shutout innings)
Division is tied

Game 3:
Toronto loses 6-4
Boston loses 7-6 in 10 innings (Detroit's pitchers, as usual, are tired: 81, 96 and 64%)
Division remains tied

Game 4:
Toronto wins 9-8 (overcoming an 8-3 deficit in the 7th)
Boston loses 7-3 (Detroit's two pitchers at 80 and 69%)
Toronto wins division by 1 game

Believe It or Don't!

Boston also puts a lineup of: Brett Butler, Don Baylor, Wade Boggs, Rickey Henderson, Daryl Motley, Dave Concepcion, and Mike Scoscia on the field...so not a shabby lineup by any means...to go with Mario Soto and Fernando Valenzuala (each started 2 of the last 4 games and were between 94-98%)

Yeah, it was pretty shocking that you lost those games.  If you played those lineups 162 times in the Sim Matchup thingy your team would probably win 140 games...

Yeah crazystengel, your NWP division has two .800 teams and two teams that won 101 games combined ! 

Two .500 teams, not .800 teams.  We are a horsecrap division, for sure.

Not just 12 runs in the top of the 9th to win a game that had been 3-1, but Ted Simmons hit TWO 3-run homers in the same inning, a 6 RBI 9th for him. 

http://whatifsports.com/slb/Boxscore.aspx?gid=22738353&pid=1&pbp=0&tf=9.95

Believe it or don't ! 

  

In my current OL, 80 Miguel Dilone (zero real-life homeruns) went deep off 08 Addie Joss in Target Field. 

http://www.whatifsports.com/slb/Boxscore.aspx?gid=22679507&pid=1&pbp=0&tf=12.95

Believe it or don't!

In a recently started OL, about 20 games in, a rookie shortstop named Pille - real-life slugger Eddie Brinkman - went deep twice in the last game.

He now has more HRs (2) in 16 plate appearances than Bonds, Ruth, Zobrist and Ted Williams have combined (1) in 262 plate appearances, playing in Coors.

http://www.whatifsports.com/slb/Boxscore.aspx?gid=22785230&pid=1&pbp=0&tf=12.95 

Believe It or Don't!

Winning 10-2, bottom of the fifth, two out, man on third.  Trammell (A+ fielder) boots the inning-ending grounder and a the runner scores.  They go one to score 13 more 2-out runs and eventually beat us 17-12.  The last 10 runs they scored that inning were after my rookie starter was replaced with Dumont.

http://www.whatifsports.com/slb/Boxscore.aspx?gid=22835984&pid=1&pbp=0&tf=10

Believe It or Don't!

After backing into the playoffs because the division leader imploded, my team had the worst record of the playoff teams, a .283/.346/.445 offensive line and a fatigued Bert Blyleven and a bunch of mediocrity as a pitching staff. How did we do in the playoffs? We only lost one game the whole time and hit .363/.431/.598 while scoring twice as many runs as any other team. Of course we did. Exactly as planned.

Believe It or Don't!

What might be the weakest hitting team of all time: The New York Yankees 1965-69 (ah my childhood) - in a theme league of franchises in those four years (players on your team must be from those four years when they were on your team) just scored 38 runs against the Boston Red Sox: 

http://whatifsports.com/slb/Boxscore.aspx?gid=22868138&pid=1&pbp=0&tf=9.95

Two homers each in the game by Murcer, Pepitone and Cowan, one by Boyer and one by Elston Howard. 


Believe It or Don't!