Thanks!....Once I get down to the final days of the transaction period, due to the standings, I felt strongly about who the 2 teams were that I'd have to get past for the Championship (I was also battling a team in my own division with about a .500 record). I felt I had zero chance of beating either of those 2 likely playoff teams based on the players matchups and my record against them. I saw that those 2 tops teams had made some modest changes on their own (to better match up with and win their own divisions).
Both those teams were built on powerful left handed hitting and pitching. I sacrificed 9 or 10 of my best pitchers/hitters (on the last trading day) and chose players to best exploit that dynamic (I had already made a fair amount of transactions during the season focused on strengthening my team against my division rivals). I probably had 3 or 4 of my original players left from opening day!
My team was reconstructed just to beat those 2 teams I'd be playing in the postseason. I knew I'd be risking losing my own division with these drastic changes - but I also felt I had no chance to do anything in the playoffs with the team I had. I had a 3 - 4 game lead in my division at the time - and ended up winning it by a tiebreaker with a .500 record.
First series was won 3-1,..then Championship 4-0. Boggles the mind! Lots of luck was surely involved. One player I remember was Javy Lopez (his monster 2003 season) hitting homeruns every game (3 in one game) in the WS sweep (my last high priced player). I wish I could put up a link but it seems SOM hasn't stored them as far back as 2004, when this happened. I saved screenshots of all this but not sure what drive I have them on...
(Are all the records from the Sporting News years gone?).
By the way,....My next 2 teams after that finished with the league's best records,....both 3 and out in the 1st round.