16 Event Franchise League Archives

[jpgavin]

[b:1911ef72d0]The Steamer is steaming[/b:1911ef72d0]

"Furious... Disgusted." That was all Red Sox reliever Bob Stanley could say in response to questions about his performance in games 3 and 4 of the Championship Series. In the last two games Stanley has been credited with two blown saves and two loses. The Red Sox feel like they should be up 3 games to 1 and looking at a chance to close out the White Sox. Instead, they find themselves facing elimination at Comiskey tonight.

Game four was a particularly difficult loss to swallow. Eddie Cicotte pitched the Red Sox to a 2 to 1 lead going to the bottom of the 8th. The Red Sox had been out hit 7 to 4 through the first 7 innings, but Cicotte was able to pitch out of trouble and Carl Yastrzemski made a great throw to cut down Luke Appling at the plate in the fifth with the potential tying run. The decision to try to score Appling from first on Dick Allen's one out double was questionable and White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen could be seen screaming at his thrid base coach Jeff Cox in the dugout when the inning ended.

The game remained 2 to 1 until Stanley entered to start the eigth. Despite Stanley's struggles the night before, Red Sox manager Joe Cronin decided to try to get six outs from his closer. After getting Appling to fly out, Stanley walked Allen who advanced to third on a single by Harry Lord. Tommie Agee followed with a deep fly to right field that Reggie Smith was able to track down, but Allen trotted in with the tying run.

Neither team threatened in the ninth. In the tenth Rico Petrocelli drew a one out walk after Terry Forster struck our Rich Gedman. Cronin then decided not to pinch hit for his struggling closer, and Stanley was able to sacrifice the Red Sox short stop into scoring position. The fleet footed Patsy Dougherty ran for Petrocelli and Pete Runnels came to the plate. Runnels had given the Red Sox the lead with his RBI single in the fifth and it looked like he'd come through again when he singled up the middle. With two outs Dougherty was off at the crack of the bat and looked like he'd score easily, but he stumbled rounding third and Agee's one hop throw to Mike Tresh nipped him at the plate.

Appling opened the home half of the tenth with a single to left and Stanley then walked Allen. The White Sox three and four hitters seemed to be involved in every Chicago threat all night, and the winning rally would be no different. Cronin had seen enough and went to Bill Lee to face the left-handed hitting Lord. Lord lined Lee's first pitch right back through the box, but with nobody out Cox didn't dare try to score Appling despite the fact that Appling got to third base well before Fred Lynn got to the ball in center field. When Agee fouled out to Gedman, Cox wondered briefly if he'd been too conservative with Appling. But Tresh singled to left to bring in the game winner and save Cox from Guillen's wrath.

Cicotte looked particularly dejected after the 3-2 loss. He hadn't had his best stuff, but he got big outs when he needed them and even contributed with the bat driving in the first Red Sox run. Asked if he thought he should have been pulled, the Boston junk-baller said, "Of course I thought I could finish the game, but we'll never know. Don't pin this one on Bob though, we win as a team and we lose as a team."

Game three was no better for the Old Towne Team. They lost by an identical 3 to 2 score, once again in walk off fashion. Stanley entered this game in the 9th with a 2 to 1 lead. Tony Lupien pinch hit for Earl Caldwell who had given up a solo home run to Runnels in the 8th to give the Red Sox the lead. Lupien barely made contact with a Stanley sinker, advancing the ball about 20 feet in front of home plate, but he was able to beat Gedman's throw to first for a single.

Guillen then put himself in the game to pinchrun. As it turns out, the old guy still has some wheels, and he was able to score from first on Tim Raines' double into the right-center field gap. Dougherty, who had replaced Lynn defensively in centerfield in the eighth, appeared to be shaded too far to left-center. Lynn got up limping after trying to break up a double play in the top of the seventh. He was able to play the field in the bottom of the seventh, but didn't come out for the eighth. He could be seen on the top step of the dugout yelling to Dougherty to shade Raines toward right, but with the boisterous Comisky crowd, he couldn't get the outfielder's attention. Dougherty was able to cut the ball off just shy of the wall. He wheeled and threw home, but his throw was up the first base line. Guillen scored easily and the wide throw allowed Raines to take third. That proved critical as Wally Moses followed with a weak ground ball to short. Raines never hesitated, breaking on contact and beating Petrocelli's throw with a great slide around Gedman's tag.

The Red Sox had jumped out to an early 1 - 0 lead in the second inning when Dick Stuart tripled off the top of the wall in center and scored on Gedman's RBI ground out. George Winter pitched brilliantly for the Red Sox, holding the south siders scoreless until the seventh when Appling singled in Rip Radcliff with the tying run.

The White Sox now have a three games to one lead, the teams having split the first two at Fenway. The Red Sox only win came in game 2 when Jack Quinn beat Sloppy Thurston 6 to 3 on the strength of home runs by Yastrzemski, Smith and Lynn.

Dick Allen had two home runs and four RBI to pace the White Sox to a 10 - 6 win in game 1. Billy Pierce got the win over Bruce Hurst in the opener. The two lefties square of again tonight at Comisky, where the Red Sox either win or go home.

[jpgavin]

[b:177041a103]White Sox take championship in seven[/b:177041a103]

The Chicago White Sox are champions of the 16EFL's second season. Chicago needed all seven games, but in the end easily defeated the Boston Red Sox 9 to 1 in the decisive seventh game. Johnny Rigney allowed only 1 run on 8 hits and 3 walks for the complete game victory. He got 16 of his 27 outs on ground balls, including four double plays. For Rigney the win was especially satisfying. The ERA leader among starting pitchers during the regular season, Rigney was known as a hard luck loser, going 14 and 20 despite giving the White Sox a solid performance every fourth day all season long. "I'm pretty sure those nine runs tonight are more support than I got in any [i:177041a103]month[/i:177041a103] during the regular season," Rigney said. "But it sure was worth the wait."

Rigney was staked to a 1 - 0 lead early, as the White Sox went ahead in the second inning on a two-out Bobby Knoop double that scored Tommie Agee from first. Things stayed that way until series MVP Dick Allen hit a solo shot off of Red Sox starter George Winter with one out in the sixth. One out later Agee singled on a slow roller to short, just beating Rico Petrocelli's throw. With two outs, Winter payed little attention to Agee and the south-siders' speedy centerfielder easily stole second. Red Sox manager Joe Cronin elected to walk Mike Tresh to get to the light hitting Bobby Knoop. The strategy seemed to work perfectly when Knoop tapped back to the mound, but Winter's throw to first short hopped Dick Stuart and skipped into canvas alley allowing Agee to score and putting runners on second and third with two out. Rigney followed with a routine grounder to third that Frank Malzone booted to allow Tresh to score.

The game was never in question after that. The White Sox tacked on a run in the seventh on Allen's rbi double and then scored four in the eight against Red Sox reliever Bill Lee on three walks and four singles. The Olde Town Team's only run came in the bottom of the eighth when Mike Easler scored on Carl Yastrzemski's double play grounder. Rigney got anohter double play ball off of the bat of Stuart in the ninth. Then, after Fred Lynn walked, Luke Appling did the honors once more, retiring Rich Gedman on yet another ground ball. Tresh was the first one to the mound as the White Sox mobbed Rigney in front of a silent Boston crowd.

The Red Sox faithful had hoped for a different outcome after watching their team come back from a three games to one defecit to force a decisive game seven at Fenway. After heart breaking losses in games three and four, Boston got back to it's style beating the White Sox 11 - 4 in game five and 12 - 7 in game six. The Red Sox pounded out 29 hits in the two victories. Gedman led the offense with two home runs and seven rbi. The Boston catcher delivered the decisive blow in game five with an eigth inning grand slam that put the game out of reach.

[jpgavin]

Division Winners :
Reds (82-80)
Cubs (92-70)
Giants (90-72)

Wild Card:
Tigers (88-74)

MVP - Babe Ruth (Braves) hitting .352 with 67 HR and 177 RBI, leading the league in OPS at 1.290, slugging at .801 and OBP at .489, and finishing second to MVP runner up Jimmie Foxx (Phillies) in HR (71) and RBI (197)

Cy Young - Jack Chesbro (Pirates) 23-12 with a 3.88 ERA and 173 K, leading the league in wins

Batting champ - Tris Speaker (Twins) .3724 edged out Ty Cobb (Tigers) .3721 (Cobb's 253 hits led the league)

ERA leader - Pete Alexander (Phillies) 2.77

Strikout leader - Dazzy Vance (Pirates) 293 (the second time he's led the league)

There were 5 twenty game winners, Chesbro, Three Finger Brown (Cubs) 21-11, Ed Willet (Tigers) 21-15, Early Wynn (Twins) 20-13, and Dizzy Dean 20-13 (Cubs)

Ty Cobb (Tigers) stole 52 bases.

Gene Garber (Pirates) saved 48 games.

The Cubs scored over 900 runs (954) for the second straight season, and the Braves became the only other franchise to score 900 runs (916).

The White Sox led the league in ERA for the third season in a row (4.01).

[jpgavin]

We'll use the same scoring system as Barnstormers for the rankings here. One point for each regular season win, five points for making the playoffs, five points for making the finals, and ten points for a championship.

[b:a5fb2c01a4]Managers Rankings [/b:a5fb2c01a4](Total points)

1. 2cityfan - 284(2 playoffs)
1. Pjatscfy - 284 (2 playoffs, 1 final, 1 championship)
3. Cubs48 - 281 (2 playoffs, 1 final, 1 championship)
4. AeroDave - 266 (1 playoff, 1 final, 1 championship)
5. FAaron - 262 (1 playoff, 1 final)
6. Idanred - 252 (1 playoff)
7. andycummings - 249 (1 playoff, 1 final)
8. buster j ratt - 244 (1 playoff, 1 final)
9. novie - 241 (1 playoff)
9. jpgavin - 238
11. majicmg - 223
12. rosenthm - 212


[b:a5fb2c01a4]Franchise Rankings [/b:a5fb2c01a4](Average points)

1. Giants - 98.3 (3 seasons, 2 playoffs, 2 finals, 1 championship)
2. White Sox - 93.7 (3 seasons, 2 playoffs, 1 final, 1 championship)
3. Pirates - 93 (2 seasons, 1 playoff)
4. Reds - 87.7 (3 seasons, 1 playoff, 1 final, 1 championship)
5. Red Sox - 86.5 (2 seasons, 1 playoff, 1 final)
6. Twins - 86 (1 season)
7. Braves - 83.7 (3 seasons, 2 playoffs)
8. Dodgers - 83 (3 seasons, 1 playoff, 1 final)
8. Cubs - 83 (3 seasons, 1 playoff)
10. Tigers - 81.3 (3 seasons, 1 playoff)
11. Phillies - 78.7 (3 seasons)
2. Indians - 77.3 (3 seasons)
13. A's - 74 (1 season)
14. Orioles - 72.3 (3 seasons)
15. Cardinals - 0
16. Yankees - 0

[jpgavin]

Season 5:

majicmg (Giants) - $80 million cap/no DH/advanced 5-10-20 waivers

rosenthm (Reds) - rule/divisions
Autodraft
Divisions by State Lottery high to low

4-3-1 OPS

4 - Max starters OPS 8-9
3 - Max starters OPS 7
1 - Starter with an OPS < 7
1 - Must have at least one bench player with 6 or less OPS

Here's some answers to questions you may have:
No players with 1000 OPS in starting lineup. You could, if you choose have them on your bench. (I could have Bench on the roster as back-up catcher in case my starting catcher gets injured.) You can also play the back-up as a defensive replacement.

If you platoon, that players OPS counts as .5, so you could have two 7 OPS players counting as one if they were platooned. The OPS is not averaged. Both halves of the platoon must have an OPS within the appropriate range or lower. (You can have a .900 and .700 OPS platoon for the .800 to .999 category, but not a 1.001 and a .800.)

[jpgavin]

rosenthm:
Next season Cap: 125 MIL
DH: yes
Frenzy!
we defaulted to 5-10-20 free agent pickups

FAaron:
For Season 6, each team must have a 25 man roster. You can have 9 pitchers and 16 hitters, 10 pitchers and 15 hitters or 11 pitchers and 14 hitters. I don't care. You shall not have 24 players, unless you intend to add one more before the season starts. 26 is one too many, and 27 and 28 are flat out. Got it? Sounds easy, right? Well, there are just a few catches.

First, you cannot have more than 10 players on your team who are not on one of your 4 rosters (so, the minimum roster players is 15 and the maximum nonroster invitees is 10).

Second, we will have a one round draft. Except, during this draft, you will not be picking a player for your team. No. Instead, on a variation of the famous college theme "Screw Your Roomate", you get to pick a player for another team in your division. This player must be worth $3 million or more, must be a position player, most be on one of your opponent's 4 team rosters, and will have to start every game at one of the position's on his card (except for when he is on the DL). Oh yeah, and this player cannot be used as a DH. So, if you have the Cubs and your opponent puts Riggs Stephenson on your squad, you have to start him in LF or 3B.

Divisions will be set by lottery high to low. The high team in the division picks the player for the second highest team in division; second highest picks player for third; third picks for lowest; lowest picks player for highest.

EAST

jpgavin (Twins) [screwed by Cubs48] - John Stone OF- 3.28
novie (Cardinals) [screwed by jpgavin] - Ed Konetchy - 3.87
Pjatscfy (Pirates) [screwed by novie] - Arky Vaughn SS - 5.60
Cubs48 (Yankees) [screwed by Pjatscfy] - Earle Combs 5.72

CENTRAL

andycummings (Giants) [screwed by buster j ratt] -Fred Snodgrass 3.34
rosenthm (Cubs) [screwed by andycummings] - Joe Tinker 3.56
2cityfan (As) [screwed by rosenthm] - Gene Tenace 5.14
buster j ratt (Phillies) [screwed by 2cityfan] - Pinky Whitney 3.06

WEST

AeroDave10 (White Sox) [screwed by majicmg] - Dummy Hoy 3.35
FAaron (Braves) [screwed by AeroDave10] - Red Smith
errormagnate(Indians) [screwed by FAaron] - Vic Power 3.05
majicmg (Reds) [screwed by errormagnate] - Paul O'Neill

[jpgavin]

FAaron:
$80 million/DH/Waivers/5-10-20 FA pickups

AeroDave:
Small Ball DH League

1. You must select a stadium with no more than 10 combined (L+R) HR chances. Unfortunately, the Red Sox cannot meet this criterion so they can play in Braves Field '41. While it was the home of the Braves, it was located in Boston, and the Red Sox used the field during the 1915 and 1916 World Series.

2. ALL starting position players (not the DH) must have a 1 rating at the defensive position they will play. Backups and the DH can have any rating. If you use a platoon at a defensive position, BOTH platoon players must have a 1 defensive rating at the position.

3. Every manager must have at least one left-handed pitcher in his/her starting rotation. He can be a 4 day or 5 day starter, but he must routinely pitch (no .5M fillers )

4. Claim 10 players carded to your franchise. You will then have the "right of first refusal" to them. This means that if you select a player but do not put him on your draft card, he loses that protection. You do not have to keep these players after the autodraft.

5. We will have a 6 round supplemental draft. Draft order will be determined by state lotteries (high to low) run Monday night (Jan 5, 2009). The players in this draft can either be carded to your franchise or not, but must have had 200 IP or 500 AB with your franchise if not carded. The only exceptions will be for relief-only pitchers (no min. IP). You will also have to place these players on your draft card and will be subject to the same circumstances as in Rule #4.

6. The remaining players selected through the autodraft do not have any eligibility restrictions with respect to AB or IP with the franchise.

7. Divisions will be as follows (determined randomly):

EAST
Red Sox
White Sox
Twins
As

CENTRAL
Reds
Indians
Cardinals
Yankees

WEST
Braves
Cubs
Pirates
Giants

[jpgavin]

The Reds got past the Cubs in 4 games to advance to the season 3 finals. Al Simmons led the Reds, hitting .529 in the series with 2 HR and 6 RBI.

The always formidable Giants took 5 games to defeat an upstart Tiger team. Tim Keefe won games one and five for the Giants. All five games in the series were won by the home team.

[jpgavin]

The season 3 finals are headed to game 7 tonight at the Polo Grounds where the Reds' Dolph Luque squares off against Giant ace Tim Keefe. Keefe had two wins in the Division playoffs against the Tigers and has two years of post season experience behind him. But Luque got the best of him in game 3 of this series, leading the Reds to a 3-0 shutout win at Crosley Field. The Giants are confident their ace will bounce back, especially since they are a perfect 6-0 at home this post season.

It's been an emotional, hottly contested series to this point. There's no love lost between these two teams, especially after Giant legend Christy Mathewson defected to Cincinnati prior to the start of this season. Tonight's game seven is sure to be loaded with drama.

[errormagnate]

This archive thread is very useful for reviewing the many league rules -Thanks!