Friday, March 28, 2008

Sioux Falls announces Game 3 Entertainment


With the World Series making it's first appearance in the great state of South Dakota, the franchise is sparing no expense with the entertainment.

Myron Floren, best known as the accoridanist on The Lawrence Welk Show between 1950 and 1982, will play the National Anthem prior to Game 3 in Sioux Falls. Floren headlined the Strawberry Festival in Plant City and PolkaFest at the Welk Resort in fabulous Branson, MO. Floren was inducted into the International Polka Hall of Fame in 1990.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Vegas players threaten forfeit


After sweeping the Los Angeles Banditos in round 1, the Las Vegas Double Downs are threatening to boycott the first two games of the NLDS against the Sioux Falls Dakota. Vegas and Dakota have battled numerous times in recent years, both for playoff position and in the playoffs.

This time, it's personal. After personally pledging to stay in Las Vegas throughout the series, Dakota owner jwendt issued a challenge to gtc, the Double Down owner. But gtc's player's had a different thought on their minds. After spending most of the week high in LA, the team is not happy to be traveling to the heartland. In fact, several veterans, led by Haywood Hunt, are threatening to sit out the game unless demands for out-of-town hookers, legalized gambling not run by Native Americans, and all-night eateries. Because all 3 are illegal in the state of South Dakota, the Double Downs may decide to sit out the series.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

AL Playoff Previews

As promised here are the AL playoff previews.
Using the same format as the NL here are the team leaders of the playoff teams.
This shows you the ACE, FIREMAN, CLUTCH, AND best SLUGGER on each team.

Now reviewing the Team stats you can uncover each team's strength and weakness. Keep in mind these are playoff teams so a weakness is sometimes hard to find.

Lastly, we compare the hitting and pitching coaches. In a close game it may come down to the strengths of the coaches.

After completing both the AL and NL playoff previews, it is clear that the AL is HITTING dominant and the NL is PITCHING superior. Expect some fireworks in the NL pennant chase as these teams will put up Whiffle-ball scores on each other.
Enjoy the show!

Thursday, March 13, 2008

NL Playoff Previews

Get ready for the playoffs! Here is a breakdown of the TEAM LEADERS of the playoff teams.
ACE - best starting pitcher, FIREMAN - top closer,
CLUTCH - best overall hitter most likely the #3 in the lineup,
SLUGGER - best power hitter most likely the #4 cleanup hitter
The best in each category is noted in RED.

Also not to be forgotten is the Coaches. While there are many I thought the Hitting and Pitching coaches would be the best focus. Once again, the best in each category is shown in RED.

Lastly, a quick snapshot of one STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS of each team.

It was hard to find major weakness since these have made it to the playoffs.
But overall, I see that the NL has some powerful pitching talent and depth. The batting while not the highest in the ML categories are well balanced in the middle.
Especially in short series, the pitching matchups will be very close.

Looking forward to some great matchups!
Soon the AL Playoff Previews.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Cy Young Prototypes

I did the same prototype review of ratings for the Top 5 pitchers in 3 major categories. Here are the results.



You may draw your own conclusions but the four things I saw are:
1. ERA prototype - had the most dominant pitches (P1-P4) of all the pitchers.
2. WHIP prototype - the pitchers with the lowest WHIP had the best control and LH/RH spilts
3. SO prototype - the best SO pitchers did have the highest velocity and additionally the best GB ratio.
4. Lastly and not surprisingly, the Cy Young prototype is 80's across the board (ST, CT, LH, RH, P1, OVR). The ratings that were least significant in this study were VE, GB, P3-P5.

Coming soon PLAYOFF PREVIEWS!!

Monday, March 3, 2008

Triple Crown Prototypes

I wanted to know the ratings averages of the Top 5 players in the main current stat categories of AVG, HR, and OPS (since RBI's is team dependent). I made a table showing the Top 5 in each with the current ratings of each player. I then averaged each rating to come up with the "prototype" player for that stat. I then combined these three stats to come up with the "prototype" triple crown if you will player.
Take a look at the table and see what you think.



Some of the interesting points I saw were nearly all 80's ratings for the AVG prototype in Contact, LH, RH, and Batting Eye.

For the HR prototype I saw 98 for the Power but only 70 for contact, lower LH and RH ratings, and a surprisingly low 50 for Batting Eye.

For the OPS prototype, you see Contact 80's, Power 90's LH/RH mid 70's, and batting eye still a little surprise at just the 60's.

Lastly when you average them all for the Triple Crown you see 80's across the board on Contact, Power, LH, RH drops to 70's and Eye down to 60's.
Clearly as well Baserunning, Bunting, and Push/Pull do not have any noticeable effect with just 50's ratings.

One last note you can still get an overview with the Overall ratings and how they all averaged around 80 and the average ages were 27-30 as you would expect.
Just some interesting points.

Great work on all of the other blog posts by Jason and David.
P.S. - Most of my stats are in tables and I'm trying to figure out the best way to show them on the blog. Please tell me if it is readable or if you know of another way.
-Darren

Season 7 Surprises, Part Four (Closers)

Of all the position on a baseball team, the ones that seem to suffer through the wildest year-to-year swings are relief pitchers. Several closers have lit up Second City in Season 7. A number of those have managed to do so despite little history as successful closers. We re-cap them here.

Nigel Baxter
Boise
Flyers
Age: 25B/T: S/R
Born: Decatur, MS
Position(s): P (ClA)
View Hardball Dynasty Profile


Nigel Baxter made his ML debut as a 24-year old in Season 6. The Boise Flyers used him as a setup man and closer after a dominant minor league career that saw the Season 1 second-round pick save 45 of 58 minor league games while posting a 3.58 ERA. His 1.15 ERA in Season 5 at AAA foreshadowed a dominant reliever. But the majors proved to be a rude awakening, when Nigel went just 9 of 16 saving games while putting up a monster 6.15 ERA. The .457 slugging percentage he allowed was a full 100 points above his minor league career. But the Flyers kept the faith and Baxter has turned in an impressive performance. He's saved all 21 of his chances this season and his 2.42 ERA indicates that's no fluke.

Dan Lowe
Scranton
Nittany Lions
Age: 32B/T: L/L
Born: Franklin, TX
Position(s): P (ClA)
View Hardball Dynasty Profile


Dan Lowe has toiled in the Charlotte, El Paso, and Scranton pens for all 7 HBD seasons. Aside from a 16 save performance in Season 4, he's never really done anything remarkable. Then Scranton hands the 32-year old the closer role and he never looked back, saving 27 or 29 while holding opponents to a .204 BA.

Willis Gordon
San Juan
Crownrificos
Age: 31B/T: S/R
Born: Oakland, CA
Position(s): P (ClA)
View Hardball Dynasty Profile


Thirty one year-old Willis Gordon was one of the top closers in the game in Season 1-4, saving 145 gams for the Los Angeles Banditos. During season 5 Gordon was traded to the San Juan Crownrificos, adding another weapon to their formidable arsenal. But a funny thing happened on his way to World Series; Gordon became very average. In Seasons 5-6 he converted just 37 or 53 save opportunities while posting an ERA of more than 5.00! But the Crownrificos kept the faith in the all-time saves leader and he bounced back big. Gordon is 8-1 with a 1.65 ERA. Opponents are hitting just .161 against sinkerballer and he's converted 30 of 33 save opportunities. Look out playoffs, the Crownrificos are not going to be blowing late leads this year.