Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365

Even though the Invite Codes are shared here publicly, only the semi-final participants listed are to join the league. If anyone else joins they will be removed from the league. Be sure to join your league before Tuesday May 30th. Once you join your league, be sure to set your team as "Ready for Draft" once your draft list is set. Closers can set as ready once all 12 correct teams have joined the league. You don't have to be the last to set as ready, just don't set until all 12 are in.

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League 1
sphilipp8 (closer)
mburatti76
SteadyEddie33
ed1447
davehaller
colormeimpressed
hallerose
Lee300
stratorat
pwoelfle22
canauscot
MochaDog

League: https://365.strat-o-matic.com/league/65389
Invite Code: TLVPY
Deadline to Join: Tuesday May 30th

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League 2
franky35
gritch
barrmorris
fakesportsfan
djkalle
jaywalker72
Juiced JC (closer)
jsanders3rd
waynick
TallEd
Match
MGoren5166

League: https://365.strat-o-matic.com/league/465390
Invite Code: ZGCQM
Deadline to Join: Tuesday May 30th


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League 1 just needs steadyeddie to join and a few guys to set as ready.

sphilipp8 wrote:League 1 just needs steadyeddie to join and a few guys to set as ready.

Anyone hear from steadyeddie. I think today is the deadline to join.

Thursday May 25th – Semi-final leagues membership will be randomly generated and leagues created
Tuesday May 30th – All teams must join their assigned semi-final league BEFORE this date
Monday June 5th - Opening Day for the semi-final leagues

We’re full. Just need pwoelfle and canauscot to set their teams as ready and we draft.

League 1 has drafted.

semis – League 2 Preview
Since the 12th ranked manager at the end of the tournament’s regular season (colormeimpressed) has 482 points, I’m going to refer to teams relative to 482 points. For example, Juiced JC is (-4) since he is in 14th place with 478 points.

The East division is split with two teams in righty-biased stadiums (DC and Shea) and two teams in stadiums where lefties hit better (Yankee and Wrigley). barrmorris (+12) only needs to avoid a disastrous season to make the finals and his team looks solid – lead by Bob Gibson and outstanding defense (Brooks, Kaline and Mazeroski). The one glaring weakness is at short with only Larry Brown and Schofield on the roster. djkalle (+2) is going to need a pretty good season to remain in the top 12. Frank Robinson is the big star and entering the season with 28 on the roster this team will probably need to sort through some players before settling into the season. waynick’s Whiskers (-5) need a strong season and have a balanced team with good starting pitching (Chance, Horlen, Peters) and a good outfield unit (Williams, Flood, Oliva). jsanders3rd (-4) team is loaded with players that could be great or mediocre (Boog, Rusty) and the ultimate boom-or-bust player in the 60s – Rico Petrocelli who is a “2” rated ss and his .992 OPS ’69 year will carry a team to the playoffs but his other 4 seasons are much worse and not worth the salary. I think jsanders3rd has made a smart gamble – he’s currently in a 4-way tie at 14th and a so-so season is not going to make the finals. Overall, it looks like the East will be a very competitive division with barrmorris almost sure to make the finals and djkalle, waynick, and jsanders3rd needing a good season and probably a playoff spot to make the finals.

Based on past performance, the Central Division looks unfair. TallEd (-9) and MGoren (-20) need to at least win the division to make the finals. The other two managers in the Central franky (me) and gritch have met in the World Series of the Finals the last 2 years. franky (+38) got a good draft getting both Mantle and Aaron. Then picking up Ashburn on waivers making a scary top-half of the lineup. My low budget pitching is looking awful but hopefully can improve. Since the 90s doesn’t have a clear choice for the first draft pick, there is no logical reason for wanting to win, but I can’t help wanting to win against the competition in this league. gritch (+14) has a typical (for him) assortment of value players. Joe Morgan and Maris look like the team leaders. TallEd has got a chance. His team is crammed with top-level talent (Jenkins, Tiant, Dick Allen, Colavito, Stargell, Allison). As an aside, having played a lot of 60s and 70s SOM, it is clear to me that Dick Allen deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. MGoren has Cepeda at 1st, Killebrew at 3rd and 4 OF (Carty, Bonds, Altman, Conigliaro) but the situation at 2nd and SS is a little iffy with Beckert and Groat and no available free agent replacements. To make the finals, MGoren has to win League 2’s world series, but before that, he has to win the division with two of the best Mystery players and what is looking like a very strong team for TallEd. A rabbit ain't going to do it, it’s going to have to be a magic trick where MGoren pulls an elephant out of a hat.

In the West, Match (-18) starts the season with four lefty starters in a neutral stadium (Memorial). He’s got 7 OF on the roster plus Torre, Sievers and Mathews. Shortstop could be a challenge unless McMillan or Maxvill get one of their best hitting years. jwalker (+2) has an excess of starting shortstops with Aparicio and Maury Wills. Can you say “trade capital”? Looks like jwalker’s plan is to start Wills at 3rd but I see an in-season deal involving a natural 3rd baseman as the logical move. jwalker’s team is tailor-made for Forbes Field: Koufax and Drysdale on the mound; Clemente, Pinson, and Rose in the outfield and on top of that, I know for a fact that he spent a high draft pick on Rod Carew. Wow a great draft and my favorite to win the West although, as always, luck in the player years is critical. fakesportsfan (+11) has a really solid team with good pitching, hitting and fielding. The big names are Gaylord Perry, Yaz, McCovey and Ken Boyer. With this team it’s hard to see fakesportsfan not making (his first?) Mystery Tournament finals. Last but certainly not least, our fearless leader, Juiced JC (-4). His regular season 60s team won 97 games and hit 351 homers. So, he copied that team. In the 97 win season, he cut Willie Mays on his worst season but we’re likely to see Mays stick around and lead this team of hitters including big Frank Howard in left and Ernie Banks at short. The weak spot looks to be at 2nd with Tommy Helms. Helms has got to improve on the .170 avg he posted the first time around, but we’ll see whether he’s good enough or whether Juiced can find a replacement. I wouldn’t be surprised to see 3 teams from the West make the finals.

good luck everyone in League 2 for a fun semi-finals.

What a tremendous write up/analysis! Really looked like everyone executed their roster builds the way they wanted to and I think Franky nailed the recap. And now the work really begins.

Love the breakdown - excellent insights! Thank you Franky! Good luck, League 2!

league 2 -midseason hitting stats

A few comments on hitting performances up through Game 84. The leading OPS player is Bob Allison of the Shufflers leading the league in OPS (1.018), BA (.336) and OPB (.444). I'm a baseball fan but I hadn't heard of Allison so I looked him up. He was a 3 time all-star but I guess playing for the Senators and Twins he didn't get a lot of press. Gritch's Roger Maris is currently ranked 4th in OPS but with only 10 HRs so far I suspect he'll slip in the rankings. Evening Empire's Killebrew leads the league with 33 homers but only 65 RBI. Evening has got to win the division to have any chance of making the finals so the fan base is angry that the current roster has a grand total of one stolen base while Orlando Cepeda and Billy Williams haven't made an attempt. Speaking of steals, fakesportfan's Clinton Colts have zero stolen bases for the entire season and the current roster is composed of only "D" and "E" rated base stealers. jaywalker's Get Ready leads the league in steals (Wills, Aparicio, Pinson) and despite having the fewest homers in the league (and playing in Forbes), Get Ready is 5th in runs scored. Meanwhile, our commissioner's Ottawa Swingers are killing it from the hitting side - MVP leader Frank Howard has 32 homers and 74 RBI. The Swingers have 5 players in the top 25 (Howard, Banks, Mays, Santo and Berra) and even little Tommy Helms is getting in on the action with a league leading 23 doubles. Overall, League 2 is turning out to be a well-balanced, highly competitive league where I'd say 11 teams still have at least a decent chance of making the finals. The current wins-leader is TallEd's Shufflers with a balanced team having some outstanding pitching performances by Tiant and Ferguson and led on the hitting side by Rocky Colavito, Dick Allen and the aforementioned Bob Allison. The situation on who is making the finals is far from settled.

I'm no Franky when it comes to league wide assessments, but I'll give it a shot for League 1 as we head towards game 100:

East

Colormeimpressed: 54-45, +6 from drop zone

Giving himself a real shot to reach the FInals, still limited margin for error. Not exactly a star studded offensive attack but getting nice production from Mincher with 25 HR's, 14 from Menke who appears to be playing SS so that is always nice. He's also made astute pickups from other team's rejects in Morgan and Staub to bolster the attack.

SteadyEddie33: 52-47, +16

Doing exactly what he needs to, avoiding a total disaster and his ticket to the FInals looks safe barring a serious collapse. He's sporting the 3rd worst OBP in the league but 2nd in slugging. He's gotten quality starting pitching from Peterson, Lary, WIse, and Pierce who give him a shot each night. No shortage of bombers on this team with McCovey, Powell, Allen, Pinson, and Maris all with 22+ HR's.

Hallerose, 51-48, -6

He's just outside the top 12 right now. He has a quality team and a real shot to get in. His biggest problem is probably his division. All 4 teams in the East have been pretty competitive. He's gone with the low cost junk baller SP and it's worked out pretty well, Al McBean is an impressive 10-3 with a 2.94 ERA. Like with SteadyEddie, the Heroes rely on the long ball, tied for the league lead. Several guys with 20+ HR"s from Kaline, Wynn, Banks, Cepeda, and Howard. SB"s are not their forte as they've been successful on just 6/18 attempts!

Stratorat, 47-52, -10

With 63 games left, the math is beginning to look difficult. It's certainly not over, but he will surely need to get very hot and probably at least make it to the league Finals. The other 3 teams in the division are over .500 so the path won't be easy. He's playing in a bomber park, Atlanta Stadium, and has 138 HR's. Not terrible, but in that park you're probably hoping for a little more power to the carry the team. Tony Perez is going crazy with 36 HR's, he pulled Berra, Koufax, and Clemente out of the pool that were rejects from others and gotten nice production from them. He did drop Haller, Staub, and White who are all playing regularly elsewhere, but White's not exactly setting the world on fire.

Central

mburatti76, 52-47, +17

Yours truly, doing what I need to and avoiding total disaster. Playing in Fenway, the pitching has been pretty terrible all around. 1st in runs scored, last in ERA.

Ed1447, 49-50, +10

Looking in pretty good shape to reach the FInals. Hovering around .500 in a weak division. He could easily come back and overtake me for the division. He's bottom 3rd in runs score, middle of the pack in ERA. Aaron leads the offensive charge with 34 HR's. Surprising production from Clarke $.97 batting .346 over 188 AB's. Whitey Ford has been a nice ace with a sparkling 2.58 ERA, and Klippstein has been lights out on the backend with 18 saves is 22 opps and a 2.71 ERA.

MochaDog, 44-55, -30

His FInals hopes are on life support. His current life line is the weak Central Division. He's 8 games out of 1st place. He definitely needs to find a way to come back and win the division and then steal the Championship to make it. Only 105 HR"s in DC Stadium with a 4.58 ERA. He's gone through a multitude of pitchers so far. Drysdale, Bunning, and Jenkins were all kicked to the curb with 6+ ERA's and that seems to tell the story of his season. Killebrew has been the main cog offensively with 26 HR"s.

pwoelfle22, 39-60, -25

If Mochadog is on life support, pwoelfle22 has coded and they're trying to shock his FInals hopes back to life. He also will need to win the Championship to make it but 13 games out of 1st place with 63 games to play is a big ask. The offense has been a challenge all season slashing just 242/302/381 as a team. Frank Robinson and Bob Gibson have both been solid, but at 19+ million you need them to be dominant and that has not materialized to date.

West

Lee300, 61-38, +9

The Hammers are hammering the rest of League 1. They are 9 games clear in the division, so they are pretty much assured to reach the Finals. Playing small ball in Dodger Stadium, they by far and away have the best ERA in the league. He was able to settle his SP early with Marichal, Kaat, Spahn, and Nash all with 128+ IP and ERA;s 3.40 or lower. Shantz has been dominant on the back end with 24 saves and a 1.77 ERA. The offense isn't particularly remarkable, it looks like they do just enough to win but Minosso has been the leader slashing 330/423/531. Wills 34 SB's are higher than 10 other teams in the league total for season.

davehaller, 52-47, +8

Currently sitting in 10th place which keeps him out of the tenuous 11th and 12th place spots which could potentially be knocked out by a team further down winning a Semi Championship. His team is performing well so I"m sure he's cautiausly optimistic but clinching a playoff spot may be needed. He's 9 back in the division but tied for the WC. Petrocelli clearly on '69 is carrying the offense with sold contributions from Diety and Stargell, Not much help beyond that though.

canauscot, 49-50, -19

Another team that is running out of time but still has hope. He's only 3 out of the WC. Playing in a LH Bomber Park Candlestick, he has 140 HR's. I'm sure he was hoping for more slugging than that. The OBP is only .305 which has left him in the middle of the pack in runs scored. The pitching has been sparking with a team ERA of 3.77 second best in the league. Faily low cost SP's with Veale, Moose, Duren, RIchert give him a shot most night. Bailey with 27 HR"s out of the catcher is nice and Eddie Mathews producing well with 25 bombs.

sphilipp8, 44-55, +49

Just a formality really and just playing to see if he gets the 1st or 2nd pick in the Finals draft. He has several teams to try to jump to get the WC and he has a 4 point lead on Franky for the overall MT lead, so the top pick could be in jeopardy. Mantle in a rarity in this set is having a nice season with 36 HR's. A trade for Jackson seems to be working out as he's slashed 247/370/500 since coming over.

Thanks to both franky and mburatti for great analysis of their league. There are only a few locks for the finals and several teams just outside the top 12 are looking in good position to make the playoffs and get those crucial extra points. Just looking at my team, if playoffs started today, I would drop from a tie for 8th to 11th with a couple of playoff teams right behind me. The final 60 games and playoffs will be exciting as many teams in both leagues have a legit shot to make the finals and a lot will likely change when playoffs arrive.