Fri Feb 21, 2014 9:45 am
I run full season draft leagues, using players from the 80s. The league started with the 1982 pool of players, and is now in season #3 (the 1984 player pool). The MVP of 1983, playing for San Francisco, was Floyd Bannister, who went 23-7. This over Jim Rice, who hit 41 bombs and drove in 141 runs (for what team I don't remember). Bannister's actuals: 16-10, 3.35ERA 217.1IP 191H 71W 193K. Don't have the computer here with me, but Floyd threw around 260 inns, gave up less than 200 hits, and K'd over 200. Jim rice hit 39 in actuality, drove in 126. Note that my 1983 season is not deluxe--no ball park effects.
I don't think there's any sort of wonky stuff going on in the game engine. In a game with "dice," there are outliers, especially in the online leagues, in which park factors come into play. This is how it happens sometimes. The fact that we think we have some sort of actual control is illusory. We have probability, and our "control" is even less because we cannot manage each game and play the percentages ourselves.