Biggest Chokes - The Curse of HAL

[jsam9801]

Ever have a team that seemed like a sure fire playoff team before HAL beat it down?

With 21 games to go, my Boston Beaneaters team was up by 5 in the wild card standings. Lo and behold, the curse of the HALbino struck, and the Beaneaters endured a 9 :shock: game losing streak.

The team recovered a bit and ended up winning 8 of its last 12 games to make a run of it, but still fell 1 game short of the Wild Card. :(

js

[Yellow_Dog]

The pain still lingers from my BALCO Juicers team that rocketed to a 69-48 record (.590 winning pct) and then limped to a 13-32 finish, including a horrendous, train-wreck 3-12 final week (2 of the wins coming in the last series after being eliminated), losing the wild card by 5 games. My run differential was 805-728 after the horrible final 45 games.

The team was led by Eddie Murray's .243 batting average (in Royals stadium) on his 1980 (.300 avg) card. He and Willie Randolph are on my "do not draft, they will only disappoint you" list.

[Outta Leftfield]

[quote:cd025f26af="Yellow_Dog"]The pain still lingers from my BALCO Juicers team...[/quote:cd025f26af]

Wow, Yellow Dog! I remember that team...in my first 80's league ever. I remember the Juicers cruising along through most of the season--looking like the team to beat-- then suddenly losing ground. As you say, the Juicers finished with a run differential of 805-728, so they were much better than their record. I think you just got a lot of bad rolls down the stretch.

OTOH, I got lucky with that first team of mine: squeeked out the Wildcard on a tiebreaker and managed to beat a much better team in the semis, then survived the finals to win the ring. BUT, the pain still lingers for me for the Cats5, who were cruising along at 79-56, only to finish 6-21 (including a1-14 stretch), missing the wildcard by one game. Ouch!

Even more painful, though, may be taking a 105 win team into the playoffs and losing in the first round in four games. Double ouch!

[ddeakin]

IN TSN_6383, I was 80-64(.556 ball through 144 games), and managed to go 2-16 in the final 18 games to not only blow a four game division lead(the division winner went 13-5 over the same span) but miss the wild card by one game as well. I quit playing SOM on Sporting News after that for quite some time. :x

Here's that team - http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/80s/team/team_other.html?user_id=35116

My first team back after my hiatus went 5-19 down the stretch after being 73-66 and in the hunt. I went back on hiatus. That team - http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/80s/team/team_other.html?user_id=61379

I came back to give the game one last try, and finally won a championship....

DGD

[Outta Leftfield]

[quote:2eed190f9e="ddeakin"]
I came back to give the game one last try, and finally won a championship....

DGD[/quote:2eed190f9e]

Hey, Hey ddeakin,

Now you've got two free credits, so you'll have to stick around.

I was just looking at one of my current teams who stunk up the place all season, going 61-74. Then, down the stretch, they went 18-9 with one series to go, which gave the team a sort of respectable 79 wins, but didn't win anything. If only I could put that closing together with the first part of my team that choked with the 6-21 finale, I'd have had myself a playoff team.

[TheGoodDoc]

i'm in the midst of a debacle right now as well.. Ontop of my divison for the entire season, i now find myself 2-8 over the last 10 games and 4 games back with two weeks left

If there is any good news to be gleaned from this is that there is an extreme level of parity in the league, so anything can happen over the next few weeks. I hope the dice begin to start rollin' in my favor once again!

[honestiago1]

A 4-10 swoon pulled us back into the crowd. Was lucky enough to take 2 of 3 last series, but it's anybody's ballgame now.

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/80s/team/team_other.html?user_id=76251

[TheGoodDoc]

Well, the collapse is complete...

i was 3 games behind with 6 games left. i got swept, which has eleminated me from the playoffs.

[ddeakin]

I can never understand how a team goes 38-24 to start the season,
plays .613 ball, then proceeds to go on a 16 games losing streak. WTF?!?

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/80s/team/team_other.html?user_id=79026

Is a 16 game losing streak some kind of record?

ddeakin

[YountFan]

Do you ever think of resting your SP once in a while? I believe it help to skip a start every now and then after game 100.