Neat Stuff, Post-Sim Thread: 2035, Season 29

[Underground]

The second IL wildcard is going to be crazy this year. We went all in at the deadline to try to pull away and then crapped the bed with all those close losses to London. None of the new acquisitions endeared themselves to our fans. Pablo Ortiz and Christian Webb combined to go 3 for 36 with no extra base hits. Shinkichi Hasegawa had a save but then gave up that 10th inning home run to Valdez. The offense had a .465 OPS over the course of the 6 games. Just ugh. We've got some work to do to.

My hope is to build a big enough cushion to survive your inevitable resurgence once all those big new pieces settle in to their new team. Will be keeping a close eye on how they are adjusting from across the pond!

[Borealis]

With rookie CF Tony Munoz hitting the DL for two weeks, Aurora brings up the 'Otter' - Angel Silva, who is hitting .331 with 14 HR. A successful debut may see Munoz do two weeks of rehab before rosters expand.

This sim also has Aurora embarking on a 34-straight game stretch - brutal timing. In an effort to keep the pitching fresher, a 6-man rotation will be in effect - fingers crossed then 'pen doesn't get taxed...

[Ghosts]

During a 6-1 week that included a 5 game stretch where they outscored the opposition 55-9, the Dawson City Gunslingers saw the single game record for RBI set at 7 by Nestore Masini in a 7-9 loss. Three days later, the record fell to Jose Bojorquez's 8-RBI, near cycle effort (he would have had it if one of his doubles were merely a single!), but Masini would steal some fame back by setting the single game hit record that same day with a 5-hit effort. Not one to miss out on the offensive fun, Carlos de la Garza set the single game run record with 5 runs scored during the same game.

[Underground]

I was pretty happy to hold court at 3-3 for the sim until I saw Amsterdam's incredible 6-0 sim in which he completely dominated teams. My time atop the wildcard was thus short lived, but we are still very close (0.5gb) and there's a lot of baseball left.

My concern is my next series is on the road against Amsterdam, who suddenly look to be an incredibly hot team all of a sudden and we are below .500 on the road for the season. We'll actually be on the road for the entire sim, so there is reason for concern all around. I also am concerned that we lost Gilberto Galvez for 3-4 weeks. While his batting still hasn't really come around since I made him my starting 3B his defense and speed are both very useful and he has been contributing meaningfully. More concerningly my backup options in that position are pretty slim and less useful defensively and on the basepaths as well. With the margins as narrow as they are in the IL right now any setback is noteworthy! That said, we took 2/3 from Havana this sim and continue to look like a team that compete against anyone at the moment so I am feeling pretty good. If nothing else it gives me hope for next season if we narrowly miss this season.

[Ghosts]

I was pretty happy to hold court at 3-3 for the sim until I saw Amsterdam's incredible 6-0 sim in which he completely dominated teams. My time atop the wildcard was thus short lived, but we are still very close (0.5gb) and there's a lot of baseball left.

My concern is my next series is on the road against Amsterdam, who suddenly look to be an incredibly hot team all of a sudden and we are below .500 on the road for the season. We'll actually be on the road for the entire sim, so there is reason for concern all around. I also am concerned that we lost Gilberto Galvez for 3-4 weeks. While his batting still hasn't really come around since I made him my starting 3B his defense and speed are both very useful and he has been contributing meaningfully. More concerningly my backup options in that position are pretty slim and less useful defensively and on the basepaths as well. With the margins as narrow as they are in the IL right now any setback is noteworthy! That said, we took 2/3 from Havana this sim and continue to look like a team that compete against anyone at the moment so I am feeling pretty good. If nothing else it gives me hope for next season if we narrowly miss this season.

I'm both jealous of and happy for the Underground. Kudos on the rebuild/retool coming to life!

[Nigel]

How well I'm doing in my first season in San Antonio lol. As the team hurtle towards their eight straight losing season, I have improved their wining Pct by .004, the teams batting average by .006 and the team's ERA is .13 better I am on course to make a few shekels for the first time since 2030, won't be anywhere near the $55m I've lost in that time though.

[Apollos]

A 2-4 week with series against Aurora and Bakersfield was to be expected, so hoping for better results in the coming sim with a trip to Reno and a home set against the Codgers on tap. The team continues to hang on to 3rd in the DH which would be sentimental victory if nothing else is achieved this season.

The much ballyhooed arrival of CF Roberto Gutierrez in the majors has been an unsurprising disappointment thus far as he has posted a slash line of .133/.152/.222 in his first 11 starts. It’s likely that the 21 year old will need a little more seasoning in AAA before he’s ready to stick at the big league level, but given there’s only 5 weeks left in the campaign, it’s likely we’ll ride it out this year and see how the young man responds to adversity.

[Underground]

A 4-2 sim puts me back atop the IL Wildcard. Quite happy with this given it was 6 straight on the road against two divisional foes, and Amsterdam was coming in hot.

Havana has been struggling of late, which has suddenly thrown the entire Trans Atlantic into the blender. Just 4 games separate first and third, with just 6 games from first to fourth. As noted previously I won't play Amsterdam again this season, which is a shame because I seem to have their number recently and they seem to be cleaving through everyone else. I also don't play Havana again, so the top three of the Trans Atlantic right now are largely going to fight their own battles for the division from here on out. San Juan is 2.5 back of me at the moment though and we do play 9 times in September, so once again just underscoring the Trans Atlantic and the last IL WC spot is an absolute blender right now. Next on tap I have six more away games coming up against the Scots and Gloucester. While these look like easier series on paper, they are nonetheless important to absolutely maximize positive momentum on. Every loss from here on out matters.

As for interesting things specific to my team this sim, the most notable is Jorge Lopez. He was called up to cover for Galvez's injury this sim and after going 0-for his first game his second game he hit two home runs including a game winning grand slam in the 13th. In total he scored 7 RBIs in that game.

I had a pretty high number of home runs this sim, 9 total in my 6 games, although 5 of those did come in the extra inning affair.

Last but not least, after 78.0 innings pitched, Norm Batstone finally blew a save opportunity. Though we would eventually win the game, it was sad to see nonetheless. Already back on the upswing though he threw three more scoreless innings later on in the sim.

[KenH]

The Farstriders have broken the season record for team shutouts in a single season, now resting comfortably at 32 with five weeks left in the season. Aurora had the previous record at 29. Kind of interesting since the F'striders also only have 5 complete games! Here's a fun statistic: Florida is averaging 1 shut out every .2443 games which means we that the Vegas line on us would be at +/- 40 shutouts this season. Personally, I'm taking the under since I probably need to start pulling my starters, but it is fun to consider.

Speaking of pulling starters, there is still an outside chance that we could come for the best winning percentage of all time, but with a loss to San Antonio, we are on the outside looking in. To put it in stark relief, we need to go the next five weeks only losing four more games. So, we gotta have one more perfect week and the rest we can only lose one. The next three weeks either include games against WV or AMA, so I'm not positive we can do it, but we will see.

Not so neat includes Edgardo Trevino also being out until the playoffs. Honestly, a forced sit isn't the worst thing that could have happened, and his DL stint looking to last until right at the end of the season is, in a way, a blessing, it is kind of a bummer. I will be the first to admit I have been very lucky with injuries this year (thank you to my insane PT guy who I hope never retires) but to see George Moss, Vito van Wondel, and Edgardo Trevino all laid up on the IL hurts just a little bit.

[Underground]

Considering my high hopes for the sim, 2-4 is pretty crushing. The good news is that Amsterdam only fared slightly better, resulting in them making up just 0.5 games in the wildcard, meaning we are now TIED with Manchester 2 back and San Juan close behind. As far as the standings the most notable thing was Havana had a good sim which has stretched their lead in the Trans Atlantic back to 6 games. It's still doable but it's looking pretty likely that they will hold on to the division, especially with only 3 total games left for them between Amsterdam and myself. Their September schedule is pretty favorable, as well.

Of note this sim, Felix Reyes earned a win in his start which put him just one beyond Cipriano Pena for 4th all time in career wins for a London pitcher. Reyes already leads all active London pitchers and in fact is one of just two in the top 10 for the category still actively playing. David Tucker, now with Yuma, is the other at 10th.

Pretty decent chance Felix at least ties Pena for 4th this year and should surpass him next year if not sooner. From there it's 11 more wins to get to 3rd all time which is certainly doable, though Felix has not had that many wins in a season since 2031 so he may need a couple years to do it...and he is going to struggle to find a regular rotation spot as early as next year.

While we're on Felix, he also is the all-time losses leader for the Underground with 105. He is 10th in career ERA, 9th in single season ERA, 7th in career WAR, 3rd in games started, 4th in complete games, 5th in shutouts, 3rd in innings pitched..etc and soforth. It is unfortunate that his ratings have already begun to decline somewhat at age 32 because he's certainly young enough to go after a number of Underground milestones but his ratings and performance will likely hold him back from getting the necessary innings and certainly it is hard to imagine re-signing him in two years given our bench depth at pitcher. Perhaps if he is willing to take a pay cut he could become a useful bullpen arm once he hits his mid-30s.

[Ghosts]

I think an underrated thing that's happening is London and now Manchester in true pursuit of a wild card spot.

London seeks its first playoff berth since 2023 while Manchester since 2012 (excluding the WIL stint). While Florida enjoys a historic season despite losing some of the game's finest players and West Virginia looks nearly as unbeatable, again, the thing I like to remember is that once the playoffs start, anything can happen. The baseball gods are fickle, cruel, and short-tempered. We could be looking at crowning either of those squads champions in just a few short weeks.

I love baseball.

[Nigel]

Bartolo Mojica, the PEBA's #5 prospect, is on the mound next sim in the vital Game 5 of the AAA Wildcard Round on the back of a 3-game winning streak. This is only his second post season, he went 1-2, 3.65 in seven A ball games in 2032, and marks the end of his minor league career. Next season he will be up in the PEBA, we can't justify any further delay; sure he can grow a little still but he's proved this year that the minors hold no fear for him anymore. 28 AAA starts and 191 IP shows he can handle the rigors of a full season, 208 strikeouts in that time with a 0.85 WHIP shows he's ready, further growth can only come now from challenging himself in the bigs. A 15-7 record and 6.8 WAR suggests he's already close to Ace level in San Antonio, the only thing that worries Bartolo now is the number of ticket requests he's going to get from former teammates for Calzone's games

[Arroyos]

YUMA'S BEST SEASON IN 20 YEARS!

The Yuma Arroyo's organization celebrated yesterday as reports came in confirming 2035 as the club's best season in 20 long years. Despite being eliminated from the playoffs for the 14th consecutive season, the major league club has its best winning percentage in a decade. But more importantly, EVERY minor league team in the organization has made it to the playoffs! Kivalina (S A) and Salta Sea (A) have both clinched division titles, while Henderson (AAA) and Calgary (AA) currently sit in first place in their leagues. Charlotte Amalie, the organization's rookie league team, is in second place and has qualified for that league's playoffs.

Success has been such an elusive experience in the Front Office of the Yuma organization that a professional counselor was hired to help staff deal with the stress of this extraordinary season.

[Ghosts]

Our sincerest wishes for a speedy recovery from the shock of the success that Yuma is enjoying this season. Hopefully the front office gets acclimated to winning quickly, because I doubt Mr. Pin is going to quit his habit any time soon.

Neat stuff happened with the Ghosts this sim!

-We went 5-1 after going 6-0 the previous sim, enjoying the culmination of a ten game win streak therein.
-The victory over Tempe to complete a sweep gave the Ghosts a 72-71 mark. That's the first time the team has been above .500 all season.
-The offense is on fire! Since 8/25, the team is enjoying a collective .861 OPS.
-Gilberto Fernandez, Garry Charron, and The Celestial Jaguar (E-Rod) went deep back to back to back. I've never before seen the Ghosts do that.
-John MacVurich not only made two relief appearances, but continued his transcendent hitting since being recalled with a 9th inning, go ahead 2 run HR. He's gone 9-18 with 1 BB, 1 2B, 3 HR, and only 1 K since 8/25.
-Sean Peters is alive and well. He's gone 9-19 with 4 2Bs and 2 HRs in that same frame.
-Charron and G-Fernandez have combined for 11 HRs in that frame.
-Rookies Roberto Tall and Gigantor have each hit 3 HR in that time, and have combined for 9 2Bs as well. Zambrano is up to 4.7 WAR as his case for ROTY grows stronger. The race appears to be a contest with three leaders: Gigantor, Okinawa OF Tynan Stuckey, and Aurora rookie SS Jose Aleman. The SL qualified rookie leaderboard is just these three names on repeat (with international free agent OF Julio Jamarillo of Bakersfield also listed, though the debate on IFA rookie status is one the league's leaders have discussed for years and years). Several pitchers have been impressive, but not so much as these rookie hitters.
--Aleman leads qualified rookies in WAR, AVG, OBP, R, and SB
--Zambrano leads in SLG, OPS, ISO, wOBA, and XBH
--Stuckey leads in H, HR, and TB

[Underground]

After countless Slack messages and some forum posts deriding him for failing to live up to my expectations, the "Prince that was promised" Rocky Nichols has finally taken up that mantle.

Among qualified rookies he is now:
3rd in Batting Avg
1st in Home Runs
1st in RBI
2nd in OBP
4th in Slugging %
4th in OPS
1st in Hits
6th in Doubles
1st in Total Bases
4th in Walks

While Roberts probably has Wunderkid locked up on account of being a freakish Ichiro clone, I'd like to believe that Nichols power and direct run production at least puts him in the conversation to get some looks.

Nichols and co. had another successful sim which saw Felix Reyes move to 4th all time in wins for an Underground pitcher AND 2nd in games started . Enjoying a late season renaissance (like the rest of the team) Reyes has now won 4 of his last 5 starts and has achieved his greatest win total since 2031. As a whole London sits just two games back of the Trans Atlantic crown and 4 games up on the wildcard. Reasons to be optimistic include a decent cushion with a dwindling schedule, an overwhelmingly at-home remainder of the season, and the "easiest" strength of schedule among the trio of Havana, London, and Amsterdam. Reasons to be pessimistic include just the general disaster that this team was until July and what feels like a still tenuous streak of sudden success.

Checking in quickly on Jorge Lopez, now in his third week covering for injuries (first to Galvez, then to Hernandez), in 22 starts he's hitting .270 with 5 home runs, despite having no particular power in his game. He had just 5 HR in his 111 games in AAA this year for comparison sake, so I don't really know what is going on there. But I like it.