Commissioner's Top 12 Pre-Tournament Ranking (2023)

Here it is again, my fourth annual (and final) pre-tournament ranking. For the second year in a row I have expanded the participants mentioned from 34 to 40. I believe we have 26 participants in this year's tournament who were not in the tournament last year, so they should know which players they do not want in their leagues! This isn't necessarily a list of the best mystery set players, but these are the folks who have proven to be highly competitive in this tournament year after year. In addition to the top 12, I also have a list of 16 honourable mentions (up from 12 on the list last year) who I expect to be strong contenders for the top 24 as well. I have also highlighted 6 participants who struggled in last year's tournament who I think will be stronger this year and could potentially be contenders, as well as 6 participants who did not participate in last year's tournament who might have some unexpected success this year. Both of those lists had just 5 last year. So again, in all I'm naming 40 participants - will all of the top 24 come from that group of 40?

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Commissioner's Top 12 Ranking:
12. Rigged Splits - He falls in the list as he failed to reach the semi-finals last year after making the top 12 championship round the previous two years. He has placed in the top 30 five years in a row. Look for Rigged Splits to get off to a fast start as he has a .529 winning percentage and 19 championships in 90 leagues across the 60's and 70's sets combined.(Last year rank: 8)

11. Lee300 - For the second time in 3 years he failed to make the top 24, but he reached the semi-finals of the top 12 championship round in 2021, and was the tournament champion in 2016.(Last year rank: 6)

10. jmdziuban2 - Made it to the top 12 championship round last year after finishing 5th overall through 6 rounds. It marked the 4th time in the past 5 tournaments that he has finished in the top 24.(Last year rank: none)

9. Takanahana - For the second time in 4 years he made it to the top 12 championship round in 2022. Last year was the second year in a row Takanahana made it to the semi-finals despite not winning any of his league championships in any of the rounds. He has a lifetime winning percentage of .525 or higher in 3 of the 5 mystery sets.(Last year rank: none)

8. jaywalker72 - Finished 3rd through 6 rounds last year after winning 88 or more games in all 6 of his leagues. He has a .541 lifetime winning percentage in the 70's set, .555 lifetime winning percentage in the 80's set, and .579 lifetime winning percentage in the 2000's set, (Last year rank: none)

7. Jimmy_C - He drops in the list a little after a rare off year in which he did not reach the top 24 semi-finals. Before last year he had finished in the top 15 in 7 of the previous 8 years, including 5 straight trips to the top 12 championship round from 2017-2021. (Last year rank: 5)

6. daveaq31 - He made it to the top 12 championship round last year, blowing a 3 game division lead on the last day and missed the playoffs on a tie-breaker to tournament champion franky35. Last year marked 6 straight years that daveaq31 finished in the top 24, reaching the top 15 in 4 of those tournaments. (Last year rank: 12)

5. pushpin76 - He has finished in the top 25 in 7 of the past 8 tournaments, making it to the championship round four times and winning the tournament championship twice. He has made the playoffs in 79 of the 134 mystery set leagues he's played in, winning his mystery league championship 33 times. (Last year rank: 3)

4. sphilipp8 - He made it all the way to the top 12 championship round for the 6th time in the past 9 years last year, making it to the semi-final round before losing to gritch. He is particularly strong in the 90's mystery set where he has made the playoffs in 66% of his total leagues in that set. (Last year rank: 7)

3. gritch - For the second straight year he finished 2nd to franky35 in the tournament standings, and for the 2nd year in a row he lost to franky35 in the championship series in the top 12 championship round. The lifetime records for gritch are incredible - he has a .540 winning percentage or better in all 5 mystery sets, making the playoffs 72% of the time. He simply looks unstoppable in these mystery set leagues, except when facing our #1.(Last year rank: none)

2. hallerose - His consistent dominance in this tournament is unparalleled, making it to the top 12 championship round in every year of the tournament, although he needed a tie-breaking coin toss to make it last year. His dominance disappears though once he reaches the championship round, as he has never won the championship. In the mystery sets hallerose has a lifetime winning percentage of .525 or higher in each of the 5 sets, and he has the highest winning percentage (.566) across all sets of any player in the history of Strat Baseball 365 with more than 101 seasons played. (Last year rank: 2)

1. franky35 - What more can be said about the GOAT. He won it all again last year against great odds, his second straight tournament title and 3rd in the past 4 years. The GOAT has now finished in the top 20 in the tournament 9 straight times, and has won a total of 109 championships in 314 seasons across all mystery sets - a mind-boggling 35% championship percentage. (Last year rank: 1)


16 Honourable mentions who are likely strong contenders for the top 24 (in no particular order):
jsanders3rd - He made it to the semi-final round last year. He is particularly strong in the 80's and 2000's set.
RICHARDGAGNON - He finished 4th through 6 rounds and made it to the championship round last year. He also finished in the top 25 in 2020, 2018, 2015.
piloneus382 - He won his 70's and 90's championships and made the finals in 2 other rounds to reach the championship round.
chris_s - A threat in all of the 365 tournaments, he reached the semi-finals last year finishing 14th overall. He also finished in the top 20 in 2020 and 2017.
Ciachefpete - A contender for the top 12 throughout the tournament last year until the 2000's did him in. He ended up making the semi-final round.
waynick - A participant in the championship round in 2019 and 2016, he reached the semi-final round last year.
Dan Gorman - Missed the championship round on a tie-breaking coin flip last year. He owns a .576 winning percentage in the 80's.
guardman9 - Made it to the semi-final round last year, and reached the championship round in 2021 and 2017 under the username mastermosser56.
canauscot - Reached the semi-final round last year after making the league finals in 4 of the first 5 rounds.
stratorat - Made it to the semi-finals in 2021 and the championship round in 2020.
Studmeister - Made it to the championship round last year after making the playoffs in 4 of the first 5 rounds, winning 2 championships.
mburatti76 - Bumped out of the top 12 this year finishing 25th last year, after making the championship round in 2021. He owns a .552 winning percentage in the 60's set.
Rjnewman - Also dropped from the top 12 this year after a disappointing showing last year. He missed the top 12 on a tie-breaker in 2020, but he made the final championship round in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019.
Moodywoody - A 3-time tournament champion, two years ago he was #1 in the rankings, and now he's out of the top 12 after another tournament struggle last year. Will this be a wake up call for this sleeping giant?
ed1447 - He owns a winning percentage above .530 in all 5 mystery sets. He made it to the championship final round last year and is a good bet to do that again.
brifas - Made the semi-final round in 2020 and just missed out again last year, finishing 26th.


6 sleepers who will place significantly higher in the tournament than last year (in no particular order):
mds6101 (47th last year), a1lionfan (72nd last year), JimmyJames209 (88th last year), killermarc (112th last year), jomboy78 (134th last year), Moodymets (159th last year)

6 Particpants who weren't in the tournament last year to look out for (in no particular order):
barrmorris, Radagast Brown, fitzgev, Match, Apoptosis, maestro1

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Disagree with the list? Feel like someone was "snubbed"? Leave a comment and let me know!

Juiced JC, the amount of time, care, and effort you put into running this tournament every year is matched only by your enthusiasm and passion. Many of us really appreciate it, especially including “extras” like these rankings. Well done as always.

I’m pleased to see that I wasn’t mentioned because A) I don’t deserve to be, I haven’t been good enough, and B) now I can secretly act insulted and try to have a chip on my shoulder. My two cents: I feel like daveaq31 is ascending and might be due for a championship. Every league I’ve ever been in with him, it seems like he’s 20 games ahead of everyone else. And Jimmy C to me is a legend in these parts. I’m feeling like one of those two takes it (no pressure guys). I also want to give a shout-out to maestro1, who is jumping into the tournament this year with relatively little Mustery League experience, after asking some questions about it in a currently running league we’re both in (and he’s doing quite well). Sometimes the best way to learn is to dive in headfirst.

There is one massive omission - the one and only JUICED JC !!! In last year's Tournament Juiced was #1 for about half the Tournament before a bit of a crash near the end. I would love to see Juiced in the finals because he deserves it, and I'd like to see JimmyJames in the finals again because last time he did a couple of podcasts based on the finals that were a blast to listen to. I would also add Delbird and Rube to the list of honorable mentions. I agree with daveaq moving up the list because he had a 63/64 chance of making the finals playoffs where he would have been favored due to very good pitching matchups. Moodywoody has won 3 championships and when he makes the finals his winning % of the championship is unrivaled. Since the 60s have been eliminated as a possibility for the finals, we now have a 50% chance of playing the finals in a decade in which Ron Guidry pitched, which, based on past performance, means Pushpin has a 50% chance of winning it all. I'd rank gritch #1 and hallerose #2 as the players most likely to meet in the finals world series. Finally, I would like to thank Juiced JC for another fantastic job as commissioner and, since this is Juiced's last year as commish, I'd urge anyone to learn the ropes from him so we can have a future Mystery Tournament.

I second your point Frankie. I think this is the year Juiced JC makes a deep run into the finals league.

An honour just to be mentioned. Now that I have something to live up to I should figure out how exactly I made the finals last year to deserve such recognition...and quick.

Like the finest meal is reading Juiced’s fantastic previews or any of Franky’s recaps - Gold!

Great stuff, as always, JC. Good luck, all. I'm rooting for Jablowmi.

Appreciate the unexpected shoutout! Given the competition, my expectations are relatively low but this should be a lot of fun. Thanks to Jimmy_C and The Conndor for their advice and encouragement. And echo the thanks to JC, as this has to be a lot of work.

A look back at Juiced's excellent preview of the tourney in the light of the regular season coming to a close.

Some thoughts:

- It is incredibly hard to win right now. Given the variance that is naturally built into this game, you also have to contend with the randomness of who is in your division, your league, etc. In a tourney where every win matters, having a cap by having one of the GOATs in your division makes daily vigilance critical.

- The 2000s claimed some souls in this tourney. Some of the best names in the tourney fell victim to this set, which has leveled the playing field somewhat.

- The GOATs are still GOATing. Juice's top 4 are all in, easily, and looked tracked for the finals.

I would love to know what the field thinks about this tourney! Please reply!

(Edit: of course, we have to celebrate the GOAT commish on his way to the semis - not easy to do, wearing the commissioner’s fedora and still rocking top 12! Nice tourney so far, Juiced!

I love this tournament and being ranked this year made my whole month of January! Had some bad luck with cards and had a hard time replacing bad players leading to 183 total moves. Highlight was winning the 60's division after having 32-57 record but needing 44 moves to finally get rolling. Lowlight was cutting McGwire after 35 games hitting .180 only for him to be picked up a day later to hit .300 and end with 75 HR on his best card.
Congrats and good luck to all those in contention. The GOAT's are amazing again and glad to see some new owners near the top.