Cloverland Leagues: NL Southeast and West

OK, here's a few words about the remaining two divisions, the NL Southeast and NL West.


NL Southeast



1997 Marlins: I am not a fan of the Marlins franchise. Even having Mattingly and Jeter on board has only blunted my dislike. Still, this league needs a Marlins representative, so here they are. This was their first World Series team, from a time before they'd built up a lot of bad karma. This team could even be seen as plucky, knocking off the big Atlanta dynasty and then squeaking out a World Series win over a not-great Cleveland team. There was plenty of star power on the team, from Kevin Brown and Gary Sheffield to Bobby Bonilla and even Al Leiter!  I think this team is going to get killed.






1998 Braves: This was not only the best team of the 90's Atlanta dynasty but the best team this franchise produced in the entire 20th century. They won 106 games, and would be predicted to win 106 games. They got tripped up by San Diego (see below) in the playoffs. The famous members of the team were all there--Maddux/Glavine/Smoltz, plus this was when Kevin Millwood was one of their main pitchers. Chipper Jones and an aging Andres Galarraga led them on offense, along with a still-young Andruw Jones.




2008 "Knights":  This team needs a bit of explanation. As I said in the opening post for this season, if we took the best editions of all 30 current teams, we'd of course end up with 15 in each league in theory.  However, two teams have switched leagues in the DH era--Houston and Milwaukee. It turns out the best year for both of those teams occurred when they were members of the American League. Since it doesn't make sense to stick a DH team into a league where they can't use the DH, I put them both into the AL.  And rather than have one 16-team league and one 14-team league, I opted to add two teams to the NL--the 1994 Montreal Expos and this team, the "Charlotte Knights".  Basically, it's another Marlins team (which is ironic given how much I dislike the Marlins), pretending that they actually went through with a relocation in 2007 as they threatened. I was going to put them in Portland, but the divisions were more compact geographically if I put them in Charlotte, so here they are. The Knights are the name of Charlotte's minor league team. This was a mediocre team in real life, and by all rights they should lose 110+ games facing off against all-time greats every day. But more about that in a season preview post I plan.





2012 Nationals:  Well, here's another case where I misread and took the wrong team--both the 2014 and 2016 teams had higher Pythagorean winning percentages than this team.  Oh well.  Those teams were only a tiny amount better than this team, which has a 19-year-old Bryce Harper and Steven Strasburg just back from TJ surgery. I'll fix it next time around.


NL West




1993 Giants: Two teams tied for the best Pythagorean record in the DH era, I opted for 1993 since they had more real wins and since Barry Bonds was, well, not under a cloud. This team famously missed the playoffs although they won 103 games, and were led by Bonds, Matt Williams, and Will Clark.




1998 Padres: This Padres team won the most games in franchise history and also has the best Pythagorean record, in both cases by rather a bit. This was a pennant-winning team, led by Tony Gwynn putting in a typical Tony Gwynn season and Greg Vaughn putting in a 50-HR season (that was overshadowed by the McGwire-Sosa race).  Kevin Brown and Trevor Hoffman also show up on this team in major roles.




1999 Diamondbacks:  This team, not their World Series winner, was easily the best of the franchise. Jay Bell and Luis Gonzalez led the offense but the story was Randy Johnson and an absolutely monster year he had as a pitcher--364 Ks and an ERA of 2.48. He easily won the Cy Young Award.




2019 Dodgers: Winners of 106 games, their Pythagorean record suggests they "should" have won 107. It's always interesting to me when these franchises that have been around for ages and ages produce one of their best players or best teams just now when we're watching, but it definitely happened--this was the best team in the 60+ years the Dodgers have been in Los Angeles. Joc Pederson had a great year, but may only have been the 4th-best person in the lineup.  Cody Bellinger had a huge year, and Max Muncy and Justin Turner weren't tooo far behind.

Cloverland Leagues: NL Northeast and Central

Though the National League has no DH (of course) and thus in principle I had more flexibility, I still decided to keep the teams to the DH era for consistency (with hobgoblins of little minds noted).  I have no doubt that the Cubs, Pirates, and Cardinals, for instance, have better representatives from the pre-1972 time period, though I think the other teams here have a decent case to be made (in many cases because the teams themselves didn't exist pre-1972.

A case could be made to rearrange these teams (and the AL teams) into chronology-based divisions. But that's not what I did, at least not this time around...

NL East

1972 Pirates: As noted in another post, I pushed the allowable time range for this team, which had the best record of any Pirates team back to 1925 and the best Pythagorean record of any Pirates team going back to 1901. Since they only missed the cutoff by a year, that seemed fair enough. However, this team, though the reigning World Series winners, couldn't beat the Reds in the NLCS.





1976 Phillies: The start of a pretty successful run for Philadelphia, which eventually resulted in a World Series winner in 1980. This edition of the Phillies won 101 games, and had the best Pythagorean record in franchise history going back to 1883. The big stars were Mike Schmidt and Steve Carlton, and Tug McGraw makes an appearance.





1986 Mets: I was a high-schooler when this team made its appearance, and growing up outside NYC (even as a Yankees fan) there was no getting away from them. The 1969 team may have more sentimental value, but this is clearly the best team in franchise history, led by Gooden, Strawberry, and Carter.





1994 Expos: One of the great what-if teams, they were on their way to cruising to a division title and possibly more when the strike hit and wiped out the rest of the season. They had two hall of famers, but the team was dismantled after the strike and the team moved within 10 years.


NL Central



1975 Reds: The Big Red Machine is generally considered one of the dominant dynasties in baseball history, and this was their best year. Their pitching staff wasn't famous, but their batters included Hall-of-Famers Bench, Morgan, and Perez, and some argue Pete Rose should also be in the Hall of Fame.  I expect this team to do well.




2007 Rockies:  This team had an absolutely bananas stretch run, winning 14 of their last 15 games to clinch a tie for the Wild Card, then went on a winning streak that took them to the World Series (where they got swept by the Red Sox). The Wild Card game was a legit classic, even if it ended on a dubious call.  I honestly expect this team to do very poorly in this league, but it's just a gut feeling.




2013 Cardinals: The Cards have been in an extended period of success, with only a few years out of contention this century. The 2013 team has the best Pythagorean record by a little bit, and that's what I used to choose, but I could have gone with the 2004 or 1985 teams and not degraded team quality much if at all. The franchise seems to have a pattern of winning the World Series with mediocre teams (2006, 2011) and losing (usually to the Red Sox) when they have especially good teams (2013, 2004, 1985). Perhaps that's karma for 1946 and 1967. In any case, Pujols had moved on by this time, so it's a Beltran/Holliday team. 




2016 Cubs: Not only was this team famous for breaking the long World Series drought for the Cubs (as maybe you'd heard), but they also are certainly the best Cubs team since the 1930s and possibly since the previous time they'd won the World Series. It seems silly to mention the main players since this was so recent, but for completeness the team was led by Bryant, Rizzo, and Lester. 

Cloverland Leagues: AL Southeast and AL West

On we go, counting down to Opening Day and moving (probably too slowly) though the divisions. So, I'll start doubling up...


AL Southeast Division:  I claimed in the last post the I thought the AL Central was a funny grouping, but really these are all funny groupings.



1973 Baltimore Orioles:  The very best Orioles teams were pre-DH, but this team from the very first year of the DH has many of the same players--Brooks Robinson, Boog Powell, and the pitching staff. This team also has a Pythagorean record just a bit better than the 1979 team, which was the other reasonable choice. The 1997 and 2014 teams, the best of the post-1979 years, don't come particularly close.





2010 Tampa Bay Rays: This division-winning team won 96 games, one less than the 2008 pennant winners, but had a better Pythagorean record. David Price shows up again for this team, and is probably the biggest star (other than maaaaaaaaaybe Evan Longoria?). I honestly don't think this team is going to do very well.





2011 Texas Rangers: The best team in franchise history both by real number of wins and by Pythagorean record, they had a heartbreaking finish in the World Series that year. Nelson Cruz seems to have shrugged it off, though.





2018 Houston Astros: Sandwiched between two pennant winners, it's this team that had the best Pythagorean record, which "should" have given them 109 wins on the year instead of "just" 103. One of the reasons this is a funny grouping is because I can kind of imagine how Tampa, Texas, and Houston might all do against each other--all are recent. I think Houston is clearly the best of those teams. But throw in Baltimore, and I have no idea. I think Baltimore is better, but I have no idea if it's because I've heard about those great Baltimore teams my entire sentient life and it's tough to believe that a team from two years ago can really compete?  I guess we'll see. And of course, there are no trash cans to help the Astros hitters here...



AL West Division:  So, this is an interesting division in that unlike the other AL divisions, all of these teams are spread in time from one another. That exacerbates the issue I just mentioned in that I have no idea how these teams will stack up against each other, though two of them are alums of the solo computer APBA leagues I ran in the past.



1977 Kansas City Royals:  The Royals, for instance. This franchise has been around for 50+ years, and has had their share of competitive teams--a mid-70s to mid-80s stretch that was consistent, and then a handful of mid-2010s teams. They won two World Series in that time, and appeared in two others. This team missed out on the World Series after the Yankees knocked them out of the playoffs, but was a great team--the greatest Royals team. How do they stack up against the greatest of other franchises?  I expect them to lose consistently.





1988 Oakland A's: Oakland has had several stretches of excellent play, with their best team (while in Oakland) coming just before the DH era. Their best team since 1973 is nearly as good, from the late '80s-early '90s dynasty. On paper, this looks like a dominant team.  In the APBA league, they regularly had trouble scoring runs and ended up a doormat. We'll see how this goes.





2001 Seattle Mariners: There is no other credible choice for best Mariners team of all time. The all-time record holder for most wins in a season for an AL team, plus the league as a whole would miss out if it had no Ichiro. I managed this team for APBA one year, which was a somewhat frustrating experience. I got them into 2nd place, but the 1995 Cleveland team was just too strong and we couldn't catch them. Again, I don't know how this will go. It could go well.





2014 Los Angeles Angels: I have no sense of what this team is about. I don't remember them as they were happening.  I also realize, as I'm writing this, that the 2002 World Series-winning team had a better Pythagorean (and real) record than this team, by a bit. Sorry about that, Angels fans. At least this way we get Mike Trout involved?

Cloverland Leagues: AL Central

On we go to the AL Central. It's a bit of a funny grouping.

1982 Milwaukee Brewers: Harvey's Wallbangers! They won 95 games in real life, close to their Pythagorean projection of 96. The 1978-1983 period was really the only period of sustained success in franchise history. A couple of more recent teams (2011 and 2018) won 96 games, but had worse predicted records. Besides, when push comes to shove, how do you not go with these guys?




1984 Detroit Tigers: I wasn't quite old enough to be a baseball fan when the Big Red Machine was active, so this was the first team I remember that was touted as one of the all-time greats. And here it is. They outplayed their Pythagorean record by a few games, but are still pretty handily the best Tigers team of the past 50 years (but not the past 52). 



1994 Chicago White Sox: A strike victim, they were on a 96-win pace (with a 98-win Pythagorean projection) but of course got nothing. Frank Thomas had a monster year. I kind of feel like they're going to get killed in this league, but maybe not as badly as I feel like the Brewers will..



2019 Minnesota Twins: A 101-win team, and easily the best Pythagorean record of any Twins team since 1969, but damned if I could tell you anything about them (even though they're the most recent team in the league). The Yankees beat them in the playoffs, because of course the Yankees beat them in the playoffs. I suppose I'll learn more about them as the season goes on!

Cloverland Leagues: AL Northeast Division

So, I'm going to keep the Cloverland Leagues moniker, at least for now. As noted, I'm going to go through the teams and say a bit about each of them, starting with the AL's Northeast Division:

1998 New York Yankees:  Won 114 games during the regular season, which was an American League record to that point (the current record holder is in the AL West in this game), and went on to win the World Series. As a Yankees fan I'm rooting for them and will be managing them. At the time it was claimed that even though they were among the all-time greats they didn't have any Hall of Famers, but of course Jeter and Rivera proved that wrong.





2015 Toronto Blue Jays: Winners of only 93 games during the regular season, they scored and prevented runs at a clip that "should" have won them 101 games (i.e. their "Pythagorean record"). That's the best in Blue Jays history, and that's the metric we're using, so here they are. They also were involved in perhaps the single craziest inning I have ever seen in my 40+ years of baseball fandom. Josh Donaldson, Edwin Encarnacion, and Jose Bautista lead the hitters, and David Price makes his first appearance among the pitchers.  We'll see if they can keep out of 4th in this division.



2017 Cleveland Blues: I noted the name change in the last post. This team won 102 games in the regular season, but had an even better Pythagorean record (predicting 107.5 wins). This is another Edwin Encarnacion team--even given the sort-of compressed timeframe of this league I'm surprised at how many people show up on multiple "best-of" teams. Perhaps I'm used to the long tenures of the best recent Yankees? Or not acclimated to the late summer shuffle of good players from contending teams to non-contending ones?



2018 Boston Red Sox: Another recent team. This one is considered by a lot of folks to be not only the best Red Sox team of the last ~50 years, but the best of all time. In the old APBA game I used the 1912 Red Sox, it would be interesting to play them against one another (though perhaps hard to have a single group of game settings that could fairly apply to them both).  David Price makes his main appearance here, though I think he shows up on yet one other team. Mookie Betts was the superstar, of course...

Next up, we'll go to the AL Central.

Social Distancing and New (Baseball) Beginnings

Well!  It's been quite some time since I've updated this blog, and what a decade the teens were, eh? Whoo. I never got terribly far with the last league--I didn't have time to really learn a new game and make it do what I wanted, so I used a quickstart that was available rather than trying to replicate the kind of leagues that I wrote about earlier in this blog's history.  Eventually that petered out, though I don't remember whether it was work and travel ramping up or if other things just took up my free time.

With the COVID-19 pandemic currently underway and affecting sports around the world, including the start (and perhaps the entirety) of the Major League Baseball season, I thought I'd give this another go. Technology has advanced, and while my free time is structured very differently than it was when I was last successful at running a league like this, I'm game to give it a go.

I'm using Out of the Park Baseball, the newly-released version 21. Rather than try to continue with what I was doing before, I'm basically rebooting. I'm using the best edition of each current team in the DH era, as determined by Pythagorean record (rather than real record). This is mostly for ease and so I don't have to deal with what's "fair" when the 1927 Yankees play the 1995 Indians (for instance). It turns out both the Astros and the Brewers have had their best seasons while in the AL, so the AL has 16 teams and the NL would have 14. To bring the NL up to a more aesthetic (to me) 16 teams, I've added the 1994 Expos (the Expos' move is the only relocation of the era) and a more fantastical choice, pretending that the Marlins moved to Charlotte in ~2006 or so and adding a "Charlotte Knights" team that's really the 2008 Marlins in different uniforms. They won't be competitive for the title or anything, so it shouldn't throw things off very much (I'm using a balanced schedule). It also seems like it'll be an interesting (perhaps only to me) experiment of how a not-great-but-decent team does when facing all-timers every day.

I did two other things of some (though perhaps little) note: I broke the DH-era rule for the Pirates and included the 1972 team. They're a bit better than any other Pirates team in the DH era, it's only off by a year, and that way Roberto Clemente can be included. Finally (I think), I rebranded the Cleveland team to be the Blues, one of the original names for the AL franchise. I figured since I objected to their current name (a feeling which has evolved over the decade this blog has been on hiatus) and I could do something about it, I would.

The next few posts will talk about the teams in each league. I certainly plan to have the time until that post be much less than the time taken from the previous test to this one.