Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Dakota hire Smokey


The city currently ranked as the 93rd angriest in the US, primarily due to their baseball team's awful bullpen has finally addressed the situation. After being swept by the heavy underdog Seminoles, GM Jason Wendt, whos previous claim to fame was being the best gringo jumping pool man in Mexico, hired the best fireman in the business. Last season the Dakota went with a veteran starter turned closer who blew up with an ERA over 100.00 in the playoffs (at least thats how the Dakota's 175 fans remember the stats). This year they went the opposite route and went with rookie, Andy Pagnozzi, who blew game 3. They tried a hippo, who like the GM spends 5 hours a day grazing and can eat up to 150 lb of food a day, and he blew game 2. They even tried a castoff from archrival Mexico City, Oswaldo Owen, who will always remain loyal to the Bandejos, just like Freddie Garcia and the White Sox.


But be prepared next season as the one person who can put out all fires is the new closer in Sioux Falls. Here's hoping Smokey can finally stop the madness in Sioux Falls, which currently sees more scoring than hometown favorite, Mike Martz' offense.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Great Americans steal series


Only one 1st round series went the distance. The Cincinnati Great Americans and the Scranton Nittany Lions met in game 5 today with veteran Max Molina squaring off with fellow veteran Alex Martin. Martin lasted just 4 and 2/3 after his 8 inning, 118 pitch performance in game 1. Molina went just 3 innings after pitching on short rest to end the season and in game one.

But the real story was the base burglers. Down a run in the 7th, Manny Corey singled and stole both second and third before a Mota ground out scored him to even the score. Then, in the 8th with 2 outs and 1 on, Kevin Chang, a 23-year old, was called upon to close the door. He wasn't up to the challenge and a walk and a line shot double later, and the Great Americans were marching off to the Divisional Series.

Bulldogs shock Crownrificos


Despite dire reports in the press and rumors of clubhouse tension, the upstart Burlington Bulldogs shocked the San Juan Crownrificos in the 1st round of the playoffs, taking 3 straight after a game one loss at home.

In game two the dogs got 7 shutout innings from Footsie Wall and held on very a 3-2 win as closer Mateo Mairena finished up.

Game 3 saw a return to San Juan. Everyone expected a blow-out victory, but Burlington had a secret weapon. 21-year old Alfonso Ramirez is from San Luis Potosi, Mexico but has 304 cousins that live in Puerto Rico! Turns out that one of them is the head groundskeeper's assistant. He
"forgot" to mow the lawn for a week and Ramirez threw 6 stellar innings relying on ground balls to slow the 'Rifico attack.

Then, in game 4, the Dogs jumped on Cy Young candidate Phil Martin. Martin, a Japanese citizen and son of a GI stationed in Okinawa decided to revive his tradition of eating pre-game sushi. Martin never lost a game in the Japanese league after sushi from his favorite restaurant. Since reviving the tradition in Rochester in season 6 and had gone 3-1 with 2 complete games in 6 starts after eating 3 Underground Dragon Rolls from this place. San Juan ain't Rochester and the photo at the left is the "dragon roll" from Paco's Sushi in San Juan. Needless to say, 8 runs and countless dry heaves later, the Crownrifico season was over and the Bulldogs were off to play the Bandejos.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Playoff Podcast #1

Hello,

Here is the latest podcast with final power ranks, award voting talk, and playoff brackets. It is about 14 minutes long. Have fun and be sure to read all of the playoff previews on the blog too.


Playoff Preivew (NL)

1- Mexico City (119-43) - The Bandejos hit 36 more HR's than any other NL team and allowed 79 fewer runs than any other NL squad. That's how you win 119 games.
Key Player: The murderer's row of Alex Shibata, Jalal Rivera, and Del Gil each hit 50 HR's (exactly) this season.
Weakness: Only San Juan, Pittsburgh, and Memphis had fewer + plays in the NL. Ok, I'm stretching, they won 119 games, what should I say?
History: In the last 6 years, the Bandejos have won 3 division titles and 3 World Series. Oddly, the two have never occured in the same season. Will this be the year the division title jinx fails?

4- Burlington (74-88) - Only Sioux Falls had fewer - plays than the Bulldogs but finishing 4th from the bottom in runs scored and with the worst record ever to make the playoffs tags them as a longshot.
Key Player: The Bulldogs might start sub .500 pitchers in the first two games of the series, so slugger Miguel Gutierrez better come through against the Crownrificos.
Weakness: Closer Mateo Mairena was a stellar 32-36 in save opportunities, but the rest of the pen managed to blow 16 leads late in games.
History: This is a 3rd straight division title for the Bulldogs, but a first round matchup with defending champ San Juan followed by a potential date with the powerful Bandejos makes them the longest of longshots.

5- San Juan (103-59) - The Crownrificos are back to defend their WS title (their 3rd in 8 years). They've scored more runs than any NL team, but do so without running. If fact, no team stole fewer bases the San Juan's 63.
Key Player: A balanced offense saw 11 players hit double digit HRs, but Lenny Ohman will be counted on to make key starts after Cy Young candidate Phil Martin.
Weakness: This team plays awful defense. It's not that they make errors, it's that they just don't get to balls. They finshed ahead of only Memphis is + plus and - plays. Perhaps nowhere is the lack of range more apparent than in CF where Felix Turner lumbers around.
History: They've never missed the playoffs and have won 3 WS titles. Interestingly, they either win the WS or fail to get out of the Division Series, so there fate may decided early, particularly in a looming 2nd round matchup with arch-rival Mexico City.

2- Sioux Falls (99-63) - The Dakota are arguably the best fielding team in the playoffs and they can pitch too with Bartolo Gonzalez and Paul Rhodes forming a dominating 1-2 punch. However, the lineup doesn't exactly strike fear into opponents, finishing a middling 7th in the NL in runs scored. Only San Juan stole fewer bases.
Key Player: 3b Jesus Astacio had a breakout year. He must be a run producer in the playoffs for the Dakota to succeed.
Weakness: They just don't hit enough, primarily because the top of the order has lacked consistency and performance throughout the season.
History: The Dakota have won their division every year, but are just 1 for 4 in trips to the league championship series. In the past, the bullpen has failed in the post-season, will this year's acquisitions help break that trend?

3- Cheyenne (95-67) - The Seminoles hit just 176 HRs but managed to finish 4th in the NL in runs scored because they led the league in batting average and stole the 2nd most bases in the NL.
Key Player: C Bart Carlyle can dominate a game, especially if speed merchants Ichiro Kuo and Sherman Prince manage to reach base.
Weakness: The bullpen is a mess. "Closer" Adam Edwards boasts a 6.63 ERA and the team blew 23 saves this year.
History: Cheyenne is in the playoffs for the 3rd time in 4 years but they've yet to make an LCS. However, this is the first time they'll avoid the NL South powerhouses in rounds 1 and 2.

6- Helena (93-69) - Nobody topped the 96 quality starts of the Helena rotation. Will their 5th in the NL scoring offense be enough?
Key Player: Curtis James and Carl Prince, Helena's two young starters must keep the team in the game until their balanced but unintimidating offense can give them a chance.
Weakness: They don't like to walk and the team's .339 OBP is far and away the worst in the playoffs.
History: The Hound Dogs finally return to the playoffs after a 7-year abscense. Can they scratch the itch?

Fearless predictions: Burlington get's swept after almost deciding to forfeit their opening round series when more tickets are sold to Crownrifico hooligans than locan Burlingtonites for the home games. Cheyenne and Helena play a knock-down, drag-out series that turns on Cheyenne's ability to run on Helena's battery. The Seminoles sneak through on experience. Mexico City overcomes the division title jinx by eliminating San Juan but is stunned by Cheyenne in LCS.

Playoff Previews (AL)

As the playoffs approach - a quick preview of each team:

1-Richmond (115-47) - The top team in the AL leads the way with pitching. They allowed the fewest runs in the AL by a wide margin. The solid offense relies on speed, with a league-high 263 SBs and power (324 Hrs).
Key Player: 60-60 man Julio Nunez hit .330 while stealing 67 bags and pounding 62 HRs.
Weakness: Tough to find one on a team that won 115 games, plays good defense, and had their closer go 37-38 in save opportunities. Three starters did strike out 100+ times so we'll go with that.
History: 4th straight year in the playoffs but they've never been to the World Series.

4-Monterrey (89-73) - They rank 8th in the AL in runs scored, 7th in runs allowed, and 9th in fielding. At 211 their HR total was the 3rd lowest in the AL. How is this team the 4 seed? Creative managing and a non-traditional 3-man tandem rotation have meant wins.
Key Player: Catcher Carson Sherman leads the way with .325 average and 49 HRs.
Weakness: Closer Ned Rivera saved just 20 of 34 attempts and threw over 100 innings in 75 appearances
History: One of just a handful of franchises never to miss the playoffs, the the 'Quistas have made just 2 LCS and 1 WS appearances in 8 seasons.

5- Baltimore (99-63) - They're sortof like Richmond-light, with 326 HRs and 231 SBs to go with a staff that allowed the 2nd fewest runs in the AL.
Key Player: A trio of players hit 50+ HRs and drove in over 140 runs but ace hurler Rico Lecuona might be the key to the Homies hopes.
Weakness: Their baserunners have been caught stealing a league-high 142 times.
History: The franchise has missed the playoffs just 3 times in 8 years, but they've made it out of the division series just once, a season 2 trip to the World Series.

2- Salem (103-59) - This team trailed only Colorado in hitting .308 for the season. However, pitching and defense both ranked 8th in the AL. The offense defined balance with 9, count 'em 9 players hitting 20+ HRs.
Key Player: Free agent addition Carl Brooks was brought in to closer the door and he has, 49 of the 55 times he's been asked. Does the 35-year old have enough gas in the tank for the playoffs?
Weakness: Only Memphis had more - plays in the field and only Houston had fewer plus plays in the AL than this defense. They're also one of the worst in the league at throwing out base stealers.
History: Bossmao's boys have never lost the division and have made an AL-high 4 trips to the World Series. They've been there before.

3- Cincinnatti (96-66) - The Great Americans scored fewer runs than any other AL playoff team and only Monterrey slugged for a lower percentage. On the flip side, they finished 4th in the AL in runs allowed and posted a solid 67 quality starts. Seven players stole 20 bags or more.
Key Player: 33-year old Max Molina is the best starter on the staff (13-6 3.10 ERA), but he pitched into the 7th just 4 times on the year and has been battling a tired arm. Will he step up in the playoffs?
Weakness: They lack the offensive firepower of the rest of this bracket and will have to rely on gritty pitching, manufactured runs, and solid bullpen work to succeed.
History: After cincyredlegs took the franchise to its first playoff birth last year, he orchestrated the first division title in franchise history this year. A first playoff series win would be a great achievement.

6- Scranton (97-65) - This team of extremes has the most HR's, fewest SB's, and highest ERA of any team in the AL field. No doubt, the cast of the Office will be in the stands.
Key Player: C.C. Morgan hit .328 as a rookie but his biggest contribution in the playoffs might be made with his arm where he's led the Nittany Lions to the best CS% in the entire AL.
Weakness: The pitching staff has the highest walk rate of any in the AL playoffs and the hitters tied Cincy's for the most strikeouts of the playoffs teams.
History: Scranton set a franchise record for victories but finished just third in their division. This is their second appearance in the playoffs.

Bold Predictions:
Scanton nips Cincy in a series that goes the distance. Monterrey proves scrappy but not enough to take down Baltimore. Powerful Richmond bests a surprising Scranton team to take the pennant.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Final Power Ranks of Season 9

Hello,

Congrats to the playoff teams! It should be a great fight for the championship.
Here are the final regular season power ranks by expected win percentage.
We also show the offense and defense ranks by runs scored and runs allowed. The blue and red show you the #1 and #32 spots. On the runs scored/allowed columns the green represents the best and the yellow the worst. Lastly, you can see the Playoff Seedings for both leagues. Hope you enjoy. - Darren


Change of scenery for faultering Double Downs?

As the season's last day approaches, the Las Vegas Double Downs are assured of missing the playoffs for the first time in the franchise's history. The Double Downs 86-75 record will put them at least 1 game below the franchise low point (88-74 in season 3). They'll fail to win the division title for the first time ever (8 seasons). The team's 4.36 ERA is the worst since the superball era of season 1 (4.48).
Francis Bird
Las Vegas
Double Downs
Age: 27B/T: L/L
Born: Huntington Beach, CA
Position(s): P (SP4)
View Hardball Dynasty Profile

So what happened? Some say this is just time and low draft picks catching up with a historically good team. Others say the lack of bullpen stalwart and team glue, Haygood "The Duke" Hunt hurt the clubhouse. Team owner gtce98 has a different opinion. The season's turning point occurred when the owner had his guard down. As he moshed to Rage Against the Machine, franchise ace, former #1 overall pick Francis Bird had turned to the dark side. An all-night craps bender left the wunderkind sleepy and fatigued for his 3rd start of the year. 2/3 of an inning later, Bird's elbow failed. Two hours after that, team doctors confirmed a stress fracture.

"I'd spent a lot of time with Francis, cautioning him about the dangers of Sin City. I thought he was in a good place, his demons behind him. I guess I was wrong."

Bird made it back to throw 12 more starts, but he wasn't the same. His 5 wins were the fewest he'd amassed as a professional. His 4.63 ERA the worst he'd posted since rookie ball. The kid is clearly at a crossroads.

So how will the owner turn around the team? Team officials are publicly silent. But inside sources tell WCM that gtce is looking for a safer place to call home. San Diego, near Bird's parents in Huntington Beach, CA is one possible destination. The photograph seen here pictures gtce, league commissioner jwendt, and an identified real-estate agent inspecting Petco Park, the possible destination of a relocated Double Down franchise.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Is the East the new West?


Burlington currently leads the NL East with a 67-75 records, 8 games below .500. That's good enough enough for them to lead the division by 6.5 games over the Augusta Storm and makes it very likely the Second City will see it's first sub .500 playoff team.

In fact, Burlington's current record makes them the 10th best team in the 16-team NL, earning them the tallest midget award.

Friday, September 12, 2008

This Week in Second City Podcast 9-12-08

Hey guys,
Here is another podcast about 11 minutes long. Topics include:
Current Standings, League Leaders, Right-handed strategy, Team Spotlight on Mexico City and Player Spotlight on Julio Nunez of Richmond.
Hope you like it.

Monday, September 8, 2008

Season 8 Team Defense rankings

Well, I've been meaning to post this for awhile now. We hear all about the individual accomplishments of hitters and pitchers, but rarely do we recognize the contributions of team defense. A quick, and very unscientific study of team defense follows. Three categories are ranked:

Balls in Play: A rough measure of a team's ability to turn hits (no walks or K's) that don't leave the yard into outs. This is an approximate measure, but roughly in line with the Moneyball theory.

Fielding Percentage: assists plus putouts all divided by total chances (assists + putouts + errors)

DP Rank: A rough approximation of a teams ability to turn a double play given a double play opportunity. It's not really a percentage, but I've reporting it that way.

Below you'll find each team's rank from Season 8 in each category and a weighted average for determining an overall score. These metrics may favor NL teams a bit as the AL doesn't get to face the pitcher who is known to hit tappers on the infield.

Franchise Owner BIPA Fpct DP% BIPA rnk Fct Rnk DP Rnk Average
Sioux Falls Dakota jwendt 0.311 0.988 22.0% 2 3 16 4.45
Las Vegas Double Downs gtce98 0.318 0.993 22.8% 4 1 14 4.45
Mexico City Bandejos dyuen 0.324 0.988 27.7% 8 4 1 5.55
Los Angeles Outlaws PirateFan13 0.318 0.987 23.9% 3 9 8 5.85
Helena Hound Dogs dberube7 0.320 0.987 23.7% 5 11 9 7.70
Burlington Bulldogs mike1184 0.311 0.986 21.0% 1 13 20 8.05
Augusta Storm hartel 0.333 0.990 21.2% 12 2 19 9.55
Cheyenne Seminoles jrooster35 0.320 0.986 22.9% 6 17 12 10.75
Wichita Shockers bigking0505 0.339 0.987 24.1% 14 8 7 10.85
Pawtucket Quahog Crush sriram12078 0.342 0.988 23.3% 16 5 10 11.25
Toledo Boonse Farmers hockey_brian 0.326 0.985 24.7% 9 18 5 11.55
Monterrey Conquistadors kmueller 0.347 0.988 25.2% 18 6 3 11.55
San Juan Crownrificos wang35 0.322 0.986 20.4% 7 14 24 12.00
Cincinnati Great Americans cincyredlegs 0.329 0.984 26.2% 11 23 2 13.85
Pittsburgh Poon Fingers goblkngld 0.328 0.986 19.8% 10 15 28 14.45
Nashville Harmonies drennantom 0.333 0.985 22.9% 13 19 13 15.10
Richmond Confederates szavsza23 0.344 0.987 20.0% 17 10 25 15.75
Rochester Rockets ewd330 0.355 0.986 23.3% 19 16 11 16.75
St. Louis Hell Hogs jets12 0.359 0.987 20.5% 23 7 23 17.40
Scranton Nittany Lions camaro31st 0.358 0.986 19.9% 21 12 27 18.75
Texas Riders jying98 0.340 0.983 19.3% 15 24 30 20.40
Houston Heavy Hitters rudedogg44 0.370 0.984 25.0% 26 20 4 20.60
Salem Grand Salamies bossmao 0.365 0.984 24.5% 25 22 6 21.10
Vancouver Jets hcohenmb 0.356 0.981 22.5% 20 27 15 21.70
Honolulu Dolphins dspahlinger 0.359 0.982 21.2% 22 25 18 22.45
Washington D.C. Honor and Courage darrenmaybee 0.362 0.982 21.3% 24 26 17 23.65
Kansas City Monarchs hodgenice 0.373 0.984 20.7% 27 21 22 24.15
Montreal Clouseaus jackster89 0.388 0.979 19.9% 28 29 26 28.05
Colorado Mountain Oysters buck18 0.405 0.979 20.8% 30 30 21 28.65
New York Hellraisers madmuldoon 0.398 0.981 17.1% 29 28 31 28.95
Santa Fe Fire Hawks reigny 0.416 0.979 19.5% 31 31 29 30.70
Atlanta INFUEGO sonenlaw 0.433 0.969 10.3% 32 32 32 32.00


Sioux Falls and Las Vegas tied for the best overall ranking. Vegas had the best fielding percentage in the league and was #4 in BIPA. Mexico City comes in third as the best double play turning team in the league. The top 3 teams all won their divisions. The top AL team, Wichita, narrowly missed the wild card, while the next 4 AL teams (Monterrey, Cincinnati, Richmond, and Rochester) all made the playoffs.

Also, the long lost sonenlaw's Atlanta INFUEGO managed to finish dead last in every single category, but a fairly substantial margin.

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Byrd back, or is he?

The Las Vegas Double Downs welcomed back staff ace, and former #1 overall pick, Francis Byrd, who had been on the DL with a stress fracture in his pitching elbow.

Francis Bird
Las Vegas
Double Downs
Age: 27B/T: L/L
Born: Huntington Beach, CA
Position(s): P (SP3)
View Hardball Dynasty Profile


Byrd, a 20-game winner and All-Star last season, has made just 6 starts (2-4) on the season. He's thrown well twice against LA and Nashville since his return, but was bombed by Sioux Falls in between. While team sources deny it, Windy City Musings is reporting that Byrd's injury was the result, not of pitching, but of his voracious craps habit. Pit bosses from unnamed Vegas casinos report that ever since Byrd signed a 4 year, $24.4 dollar deal prior to the season, he's been a regular at high-roller rooms up and down the strip, at times spending 6 hours at the table, and often rolling 300+ times. The photo below shows Byrd. Look closely and you'll notice that he's using his right hand while his left appears to be in a cast.

Recent reports have Bryd changing back to his left (pitching) arm after a run of bad luck cost him nearly $1.5 million over a holiday weekend. If those reports are true, the Double Downs, locked in a heated pennant chase for the first time in recent memory, might be in more trouble than anyone knows.

Check out Hardball Dynasty!

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Mid Season Power Rankings

Hello owners,
Here is the latest power rankings as determined by expected win percentage (pythagorean formula) at the midseason time. I have also include the offense (runs scored) and defense (runs allowed) ranks for each of the 32 teams as a new feature. See where you stand as we go into the second half stretch!