2017 Finals Vote for CAP/DH/Draft Order

Hello All,

So everyone knows, I'll be in Australia from Dec 20-Jan 8. Do we think the finals draft will be within that time window? The sooner I know, the sooner I can make arrangements so as to minimize my chances of screwing up the draft for everybody. Thanks! -matt

Playoffs for the semifinals leagues won’t be done until early February so finals draft will not be while you are gone. Enjoy!!!

I put out a schedule of upcoming dates in another thread. Thanks for the assist, MrBBW !

Rosie now has the capabilities of adding the missing players to the live draft app. Does anyone here have a definitive list of the new players that need to be added ? If such a list of just "all the new players added to the game in the last x months" were fed to me, I could check them with a mock LD. This will be the last chance to get the new players added to the Dope Live Draft app. If they aren't there when the Finals draft is done, you'll have to work around it.

Congratulations on former Barnstormers Champion andycummings65 on winning his semi-final league. Based on the fact his team had 91 wins and none of the remaining teams wrapping up their playoffs won more than 91 wins, he is guaranteed the 10th spot. He will be summoned here make his vote for cap/dh/draft pick.

Congratulations also to sociophil who also won his semi final league.

1. The Last Druid - 100 Mil / (80 NO DH 100 DH) / 1st pick
2. Hank O - Not playing
2. labratory - 80 Mil / (80 NO DH 100 NO DH) / 2nd pick
3. DonFESQ - 100 Mil / (80 DH 100 DH) (confirmation needed) / 3rd pick
4. hallerose - 100 Mil / (80 DH 100 DH) / 4th pick
5. cristano1 - 80 Mil / (80 DH 100 DH) / 5th pick
6. JohnnyBlazers - 80 Mil / (80 DH 100 DH) / 6th pick
7. mjruth - 100 Mil / (80 NO DH 100 NO DH) / 7th pick
8. tmfw30 - 80 Mil / (80 NO DH 100 NO DH) / 12th pick
9. BDWard - 100 Mil / (80 NO DH 100 NO DH) / 8th pick
10. andycummings65 (91 wins in semi)
11. Semi-finals winner with the next most Wins in their Semi-Final League
12. Semi-finals winner with the fewest Wins in their Semi-Final League

Draft picks 9-10-11 are available.

Running total

100 Mil - 5
80 Mil - 4

Congratulations on former Barnstormers Champion andycummings65 on winning his semi-final league. Based on the fact his team had 91 wins and none of the remaining teams wrapping up their playoffs won more than 91 wins, he is guaranteed the 10th spot. He will be summoned here make his vote for cap/dh/draft pick.

Congratulations also to sociophil who also won his semi final league.

1. The Last Druid - 100 Mil / (80 NO DH 100 DH) / 1st pick
2. Hank O - Not playing
2. labratory - 80 Mil / (80 NO DH 100 NO DH) / 2nd pick
3. DonFESQ - 100 Mil / (80 DH 100 DH) (confirmation needed) / 3rd pick
4. hallerose - 100 Mil / (80 DH 100 DH) / 4th pick
5. cristano1 - 80 Mil / (80 DH 100 DH) / 5th pick
6. JohnnyBlazers - 80 Mil / (80 DH 100 DH) / 6th pick
7. mjruth - 100 Mil / (80 NO DH 100 NO DH) / 7th pick
8. tmfw30 - 80 Mil / (80 NO DH 100 NO DH) / 12th pick
9. BDWard - 100 Mil / (80 NO DH 100 NO DH) / 8th pick
10. andycummings65 100 Mil (80 DH 100 DH) / 9th pick
11. Semi-finals winner with the next most Wins in their Semi-Final League
12. Semi-finals winner with the fewest Wins in their Semi-Final League

Draft picks 10-11 are available.

Running total

100 Mil - 6
80 Mil - 4

The fact that none of the three entries into the finals managed to win more than 91 games, to me illustrates the lottery like nature of the 3 qualifying spots from the list of tournament also rans.

Doug Howser clearly dominated in the second semi finals league but a team that had a negative run differential instead goes to the finals. This was his last hurrah, in part as a result of losing to a Dale Murray team where Murray shut him down with 1 hit over five innings of relief and in part because of his disgust with how SOM treats customers. That is too bad, he is a good man and I will miss him.

I applaud that Mighty Moose and his board made some changes to this year's format, somewhat deemphasizing the playoffs, in favor of greater weighting of overall performance during the regular seasons That they did so was instrumental in my deciding to participate again in the tournament.

I appreciate the notion of the Barnstormers attempting to determine the best manager by having all who participate run in what is essentially marathon like gauntlet. That is a reasonable test of managerial acumen. The structure of the playoffs in the tournament, wherein three finalists are selected by winning a semi-final league, should in my opinion, be subject to rigorous review for future tours.

The two playoff finalists that have been so far added to the legitimate 9 qualifiers, finished 25th and 46th respectively in the overall event standings. Both happened to be fortunate to win the playoff lotteries with teams that were just not very good. Based on their performance in the current Barnstormers, neither manager deserves a spot in the overall final event IMHO, at least not in a merit based event.

I understand the rationale for having the current playoff format, it keeps people from dropping out and provides some interesting spectacles. But these reasons are both inimical to the reason there is a tour - to determine the best manager over the course of the entire event.

There is always going to be the element of a crapshoot with the finals. The year Labratory won (after finishing 14th), djmacb and Springer0432 completely dominated the tour. Both stopped playing ATG entirely until returning recently. Last year, of the four teams in the finals playoffs, three teams were very solid, yet the worst of the bunch won the tournament. Not much can be done about that, it is the nature of the playoff beast.

But what can be done, going forward, is to do away with the lotteries to determine the last three spots in the finals. I would much rather see a 7th event and the top 12 finishers over that 7 event marathon, determine the finalists. Alternatively, have 11 finalists chosen on merit and have one semifinal league consisting of the managers who finished 12-24 in the standings. Both of these are far more equitable than a system that allows the manager who came in 46th, averaging only 85 wins per season, a chance to win the Barnstormers title.

As an undeserving finalist I thought I'd respond. First, thank you for acknowledging my hard work. Second, my not very good team was designed to win my division, which it did handily. Third, run differential is deceptive. I lost 7 games by 10+ runs. Drop those and I have a run differential of + 55. Fourth, I beat Doug's team head to head in the regular season. And finally, I won game 7 with 2 HRs by Williams who I acquired the last day of drops specifically to clobber the lhp I would face in the playoffs. So yes, I won the lottery. Now back to prepping my undeserving finals team. Maybe I'll win this year having fallen short the last two finals.

Thanks for the comments Driud but the fact remains that SOM was hedging on providing the requested credits for all finalists and semi-finalists until after we reached the 150+ participants. Clearly they want participation over just a tournament for top flight players. That's the way it's always been. Even if I wanted to try to change the format and make it more competitive, SOM would still advertise it without my request for them to do so, and the membership would again be up. If we want the nice prizes that SOM is giving out, and I'm talking the Champion and Runner-Up, we have to be flexible and allow their advertising to bump up the participation level.

So yes, the reason for the semi-finals even way back in the day is to encourage players to hang around. Same for the "drop low" feature. People are encouraged that one bad event isnt going sink their ship.

Addressing the three semi-final winners that get to the finals, I dont recall any of them who have ever won the tournament. I know you say otherwise, but I just haven't researched it. I think the best players are still the ones who know how to live draft their team and manage it over the course of the finals. Is it really so much of a difference to have 9 deserving and 3 "dreamers" in the Finals than it is to have 12 (or 11) strong players? Yeah, the 3 may not "deserve" a spot but they won when it counted, even moreso with the 24 team league. I get your point but 150+ players on the tour but with only 11+12 advancing on to a chance to be Champion, and there will be more players dropping after 1 or 2 events. We don't want that. I take heart to sociophils comments just above mine. While not everyone will be claiming to make behind the scenes moves in an effort to win, some do. And hey, I applaud his efforts and who doesn't love an underdog ? I don't think anyone is surprised to see Andy claw his way out of a 24 team league to make it. How fitting !

I'm all ears for new formats but I have always been very firm that certain Barnstormers elements that are CORE should always stay with the tourney. 6 events / drop low - using stadium groupings / using fairly common event caps consistent with the earliest beginnings of ATG (80/100) are all things I don't want to mess with.

Yes over the years we have experimented with things like card "subsets" and NL/AL only events, most of which were more confusing for people than a welcome addition. Even the 200 Mil event teeters on the edge as I do have players who refuse to play it and that removes their ability to "drop low". I do let the board members offer suggestions and more than you realize get incorporated into the final rules. Some of them are things that YOU YOURSELF either in a roundabout or more direct comment have been fed to and approved by the board. The points change incorporated this year for example. Rosie (the new cards King) and I are working with SOM to get an "unleashed" card set added to ATG and then maybe have one event to use it.

Now with all that being said, I haven't decided if I want to continue in this capacity. I'm not playing any teams, I didn't play in a single event in the last tourney, and I just find that SOM's mistakes (as you yourself feel) are bordering on losing all interest in this site. I've only been hanging on here for the benefit of the players, as their thanks in e-mails and forum posts keep me encouraged to continue. I always encourage players to send me their suggestions for what needs improving, keeping the CORE elements in mind. Druid, if you could think of a way to make the Finals more competitive other than just the LIVE DRAFT, I'd be open to hearing them and passing them on to the board. Maybe the finals itself could be a multi league event, counting wins from 3 "finals" seasons (just as an example).

But as with everything, you cant please everyone. I'm pulling for you Druid to win this year. Or Andy or Labrat. It would be nice to retire finally having a 2-time tournament winner.

To sociophil. My initial post was not meant to be personal. But given your response, this one is. Undeserving is an understatement given your performance during this year's tour, not to mention your stratospheric era in the postseason where you continued to sport a negative run differential. You are basically a moderately successful ATG tourist who was extremely fortunate to squeak by two post-season series. I wouldn't brag about the Mathews for Williams switch either. You could easily have lost Williams for the entire playoffs and most of the lefties you putatively got him for were reverse lefties anyway.

I very much look forward to your presence in the finals.

To Rick,

I've cut back starting new teams and plan to run maybe half a dozen at most going forward. I do still like the game so I continue despite SOM's abysmal customer service and their utter indifference to our needs and issues. You have rendered yeoman's service to the ATG community, and would respectfully suggest that you don't allow SOM's bad behavior to determine your decision to continue running the tour or not. You've definitely evolved over the years, shedding what was a somewhat autocratic management style, moving instead to a more thoughtful and inclusive role, a model leader. My suggestion would be to do what YOU want, not to base your decision on frustration and anger with SOM. I hate the company, but that is not a reason for me to walk away. Just my two cents.

I do have some ideas for "improving" the finals. I just need time to let them percolate and I will get back to you.