Arena The Sixth Baseball Draft - The FODEUSS Awakens (HEELS HAS WON)

Someone needs to contact Jason Stark and get him involved in FODEUSS because I'm genuinely interested if there's ever been anything like what the Demonbags just had, where they had back-to-back thirteen inning games (against two different teams), with both games ending on a single from the same player.

EDIT

BREAKING NEWS

Speaking of the Demonbags, Sandy Koufax nearly made FODEUSS history today, as he took a no-hit bid into the ninth inning. He would retire the first batter of the inning - Derek Jeter - before losing his no-hit bid with one out in the ninth on a double from Jose Altuve.

 

Have we not had a FODEUSS no-hitter before?

 

None in the OOTP era that are from someone not named "Old Hoss"

 

Lemme guess, though. After all that, he's charged with the 1-0 loss?

 

IntyCenter



Standings





Power Rankings



Injury Report

Day-to-Day Injuries

Shane Bieber of Northern Shores Gales of November - sore shoulder, D2D for 2 weeks
Josh Gibson of Northern Shores Gales of November - bruised thigh, D2D for 2 days
Nap Lajoie of Sithi of Osten Ard - sprained elbow, D2D for 2 Days
Tris Speaker of The Family Madrigal - sprained wrist, D2D for 1 week

OUT

Warren Spahn of Amazings - torn rotator cuff, OUT for 2 months, on the IL (3 days remaining)
Joe Kelley of stone temple seattle pilots - elbow strain, OUT for 3 weeks, on the IL (1 day remaining)
Deacon White of A Shaq of Their Own - hamstring strain, OUT for 2-3 weeks, on the IL (eligible to return)
Johnny Evers of Let's Play Two - fractured fibula, OUT for 3-4 months, not on the IL
Mel Ott of Sithi of Osten Ard - bone spur (elbow), OUT for 2-3 weeks, on the IL (eligible to return)
Sam Crawford of The Family Madrigal - hip strain, OUT for 2-3 week, not on the IL
Frankie Frisch of The Family Madrigal - partially torn labrum, OUT for 2 months, on the IL (38 days remaining)
Tom Candiotti of Zodiac Guardians - torn rotator cuff, OUT for 4 months, on the IL (10 days remaining)
Chief Meyers of Cartagena Romancing Stoners - fractured finger - OUT for 4-5 weeks, not on the iL

Upcoming Games and Probable Starters



April 30 - May 2

stone temple seattle pilots at Amazings
Bender vs. Gooden
Johnson vs. Dean
Lincecum vs. Partlow

The Family Madrigal at Performance Enhancers
Hubbell vs. Hecker
Johnson vs. Blue
Foster vs. Santana

San Francisco Six Demonbags of Chinatown at Northern Shores Gales of November
Whitney vs. Gibson
Valenzuela vs. Brown
Arietta vs. Brown

Every City Bandwagoners at Let's Play Two
Rusie vs Maddux
Richard vs. Clemens
Driscoll vs. Overall

Game of Throws at Zodiac Guardians
Day vs. Ryan
Waddell vs. Bumgarner
Cueto vs. Sabathia

A Shaq of Their Own at Sithi of Osten Ard
Blanton vs. Ruth
Brecheen vs. Smith
Chandler vs. Leonard

May 3rd through 5th

Amazings at Every City Bandwagoners
Seaver vs. Schilling
Feller vs. Ramsey (!!)
TBD vs. TBD

stone temple seattle pilots at The Family Madrigal
Martinez vs. Wright
Brown vs. Hubbell
TBD vs. TBD

Performance Enhancers at San Francisco Six Demonbags of Chinatown
Radbourn vs. Koufax (!!)
deGrom vs. Paige (!!)
TBD vs. TBD (!!)

Let's Play Two at A Shaq of Their Own
Carlton at Phillippe
Scherzer vs. Tannehill
TBD vs. TBD

Northern Shores Gales of November at Zodiac Guardians
Walsh vs. Young
Niekro vs. Verlander
TBD vs. TBD

Sithi of Osten Ard at Game of Throws
Wood vs. Newhouser
Alexander vs. Rijo
TBD vs. TBD

Note: Box Scores and Logs are uploaded

Note: Pitching, Batting, and Fielding stats are available in this spreadsheet. Can a mod type update the OP to reflect?

 

... I don't think all of them quite made it yet? (also, looks like the 25th got uploaded as the 26th?)

 

Someone remind me why Lloyd is playing again?

Also, who gave up the triple to Eddie Gaedel down in Honk (if it was us, then I retract my query)?

 

Hey, I'm using 1957 Internet to upload them, how quick do you expect them to upload?

 

Waaaaaaiiiiit a minute:

 

Thanks, Al Gore!

 

Bert Blyleven

 

Blyleven should be the Commissioner of Honkbal.

Amazing.

 

My offense is just a total turd. My season feels eerily similar to how the 2023 Guardians are playing. If my starter gives up more than 2 runs, I'm doomed. Being shutout 3 (or 4 times, I don't want to go back and look) this week was garbage. Ugh.

Anyways, keep it rolling. I'm giving this team one more week to figure it out. The offense may be overhauled. And Babe, you've got one more turn in the rotation, so go out and throw a no-hitter, or something.

EDIT: However, two single-season Sithi records have been broken- Hughie Jennings has now been hit by 7 pitches (breaking Dobie Moore and Carlton Fisk's previous record) -and- Smoky Joe Wood (4) and Pete Alexander (5) have broken the team record for Complete Games in a single-season. The previous record, held by Mike Scott and Smoky Joe Wood, stood at 3. Crazy enough, Dutch Leonard and Hilton Smith are currently sitting at 3 CGs.

 

Roster Transactions

Sending Down: Paul Molitor
Calling Up: Joe Mauer

Pitching Changes

5 Man rotation

1. Hippo
2. Brown
3. Nekiro
4. Rogan
5. Walsh

Gibson to LR

Pitch count set to 100 for Rogan and Brown

Depth Chart Changes vs LHP and RHP

C: Mauer (Starter), Gibson (Tired)
1B: Martinez (Starter), Mauer (Tired)
2B: Carew (Starter), Arraez (Tired)
SS: Bancroft (Starter), Larkin (Tired)
3B: Santo (Starter), Arraez (Tired)
DH: Gibson (Starter), Mauer (Tired)

Lineup

1. Carew
2. Bancroft
3. Brown
4. Gibson
5. Yelich
6. Martinez
7. Santo
8. Flick
9. Mauer

 

What The Hell is Wrong with the Bandwagoners

An Investigative Report by the Inty-Grated Press

Because we never learn our lessons, expectations were (relatively) sky high for Every City Bandwagoners coming into this season. With a strong foundation, several great draft choices, and a roster that really came together, many in the business were truly thinking "this really could be heels year". But, after an 8-game losing streak, the Bandwagoners find themselves ten games under .500 with one game left in the month of April, and already 7.5 games out in the PISS OFF DP division and 4.5 games out of the last Wildcard spot.

You can't win the title in April, but you can lose it in April. Not all is lost for the Bandwagoners yet, but let's take a look at what's working (and not working) and what their chances are to right the ship.

Pitching

The Bandwagoners find themselves with the third worst ERA in FODEUSS so far this season, sitting at 4.62. They've given up the fourth most homers at 28, and perhaps more worryingly, they are one of three teams threatening to issue 100 walks in the month of April (with one game to go, they are sitting at 96 free passes issued; Gales of November are at 98 and Game of Throws is at 99).

J.R. Richard, thought to be a steal in the draft when heels broke B's heart, has issued 20 of those walks himself, in just 35.1 innings pitched. On top of that high walk rate, Richard has a .316 Batting Average Against, one of three pitchers for the Bandwagoners who have a BAA over .300 (the others are Barry Zito at .312 and Curt Schilling at .331). In three of his five starts, Richard has given up 5+ runs, and the Bandwagoners are winless in his six starts.

First round pick Toad Ramsey has been playing a game of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde so far this season. In three of his starts, he's been phenomenal, going 9 innings and giving up one run, going 11.2 innings and giving up 3 runs, and tossing a complete game shutout in his most recent start. But, in his other three starts, he's given up 8, 7, and 8 runs - all of them earned runs - and putting his team in a bind. Ramsey's .312 BABIP suggests he's either not hitting his spots, he's unlucky, or the defense behind him is gawdawful, or perhaps a combination of all three.

Amos Rusie has been a bright spot in the rotation, limiting hitters to a .224 BAA, and owning a WHIP of 1.30. While he has been plagued by allowing homers - he's given up 7 dingers in his 39.1 innings of work - he's also second on the team in strikeouts, getting 23 so far this season. Cliff Lee has also been a beacon of hope, though in more limited time, posting an ERA of 3.21 and a WHIP of 1.21 in three appearances totaling 14 innings. Frank Tanana has a BAA of .167, and Eric Gagne has yet to surrender a run in his three appearances.

Ultimately, though, the Bandwagoners can only reach their potential if Richard and Ramsey can be the stars they were expected to be. For Ramsey, it's about finding the consistency and bringing more of the "Year of the Toad" gems. He's demonstrated he can dominate lineups in this league, but he needs to do so more often. For Richard, it might just be a down season? It might just be a slump? But in any case, he's got to discover his form and quickly. And he needs to get some help from the defense behind him.

Batting

The Bandwagoners have been about League Average at the plate. They are fifth in team OPS at .712. They sit eighth in team batting average at .252, but only .005 from being in the top half of the league. Their 103 runs scored are seventh in the league, their 23 homers are tied for sixth in the league, they've drawn the second most walks at 106, and they sit ninth in doubles at 32.

Lou Gehrig, Jackie Robinson, and Bryce Harper have been sensational individually at the plate. Gehrig is already sitting at 1.2 WAR, slashing .308 / .414 / .549, and his 7 homers is a 43 homer pace for a full season. Forty-Two has been worth a full WAR, and has fourteen extra base hits, and an OPS of .928. Harper has an astounding 1.026 OPS so far this season, second in the league among players with at least 60 at-bats.

In addition to those three, Nolan Arenado has fifteen RBI, Mickey Mantle has socked five homer, and Judge Judy has shown herself to have a knock for offensive substitutions so far this season, with her pinch hitters owning a .285 batting average.

Alex Rodriguez continues to struggle at the plate, owning a .193 batting average and having struck out 21 times in 88 at-bats. And, the position of catcher has been a disaster for the Bandwagoners, with Yogi Berra slashing .159 / .183 / .170 and Thurmon Munson checking in at .214 / 2.14 / 357. Sure, both of those would look Ruthian for the 2023 Cleveland Guardians, but that's not hte level of production we should be striving for, now is it?

At the end of the day, the bats are fine for the Bandwagoners. Rodriguez should eventually start hitting. Yogi Berra should eventually stop looking like Austin Hedges, pre-broth incident. I don't think we can point the finger for their struggles on the offensive production.

Fielding

A year after Gary Sheffield famously committed 417 errors in the first six games of the season*, we all figured the Bandwagoners defense had to be better.

*note - this might be a slight exaggeration

And, while they have been better than the absolute disaster of a train wreck into a dumpster fire of a year ago, they still have major issues. They rank fourth in the league in most errors, having committed 17. They also sit in the bottom half of the league in Zone Rating, with a cumulative ZR of 2.4, well off the pace of league leaders Performance Enhancers with their 12.1 (though, to be fair, also well ahead of the three teams with negative cumulative zone ratings, which are Gales of November at -1.6, Zodiac Guardians at -5.1, and Let's Play Two at -6.2). They have turned the second-most double plays in the league with 30 turned.

Robinson, with his stellar season at the plate, has been one of the culprits for bad performance in the field, already committing five errors, leading to a fielding percentage of .964 and a zone rating of -0.6. On the flip side, Arenado is looking like a potential gold glove third baseman, having a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage on 56 total chances sent his way so far this season, and a +2.4 Zone Rating, putting him neck-and-neck with Ron Santo for the best ZR by a third baseman so far this season. Mickey Mantle has been disappointing in center field, with three errors and a -1.2 ZR, and the only outfielder for the Bandwagoners with a positive zone rating is Steven Kwan, with a +0.3 ZR, though that comes in a very small sample size. Berra has been an at least somewhat decent defensive catcher, not allowing a passed ball yet and throwing out 62.5% of would-be base stealers. Munson, however, is yet to throw out a baserunner and has a catcher's ERA of 6.62.

It's clear that the Bandwagoners won't win games because of their defense, it doesn't seem like they are losing games because of the defense.

Other Factors

The Bandwagoners are an eye-opening 1-7 in one-run games, indicating either incredibly bad luck or a really poor bullpen (possibly both). On top of that, their entire .500 record can be attributed to left-handed pitching and away games. The Bandwagoners are 7-7 against righties, and an unfathomably poor 1-11 against southpaws. Similarly, they are 6-6 in the friendly confines of xyz, but 2-12 on the road.

None of those three trends seem sustainable for the entire season, right? Right? They are already -3 in Pythagorean Win Differential, again furthering the idea that they've been more unlucky than bad, and by Pythagorean record, they would sit just 1.5 games out of a playoff spot.

Conclusions

It seems as if the Bandwagoners might not be as bad as their record indicates. It's early in the season, and it's easier for a bad April to jump out than a bad August, for instance. And, there's plenty of time to turn it around. What they need is their ace pitching to pitch like aces, and to get a few lucky breaks to win a close game here or there and give them momentum, even if momentum isn't real and it's only perceived. This team absolutely can make the playoffs, and maybe even win the whole effing thing, but they can't afford to dig their hole any deeper. It's not time to panic, but it is time to right the ship.

 

EDIT: Just to talk about errors a bit... the sim's gone wacky, so there is probably a lot of hope for @heels1785 here.

I have to assume that Lou Boudreau is one of the better fielding SS in the league, with the significant nerfs to DEF across the board and still maintaining 65s for all ratings... and he's leading my team with 4 errors already in April! And my second leading error recorder is Tommy Holmes, with an 80 OF Error. So that's nice!

 

All right, let's do some things:

Spend 5 Intybucks to sign Joe Cronin 1930 and add to active roster.
Send down Martin Dihigo.
Send down Adley Rutschman, call up Biz Mackey.
Activate Artie Wilson and send him to Honkbal.

New lineups:

Lineup v RHP

Ty Cobb CF
Wee Willie Keeler DH
Dan Brouthers 1B
Joe Morgan 2B
Wade Boggs 3B
Turkey Stearnes LF
Johnny Bench C
Joe Cronin SS
Charlie Blackwell RF

Lineup v LHR

Ty Cobb CF
Wee Willie Keeler RF
Joe Morgan 2B
Wade Boggs 3B
Joe Medwick LF
Jimmie Foxx 1B
Dan Brouthers DH
Joe Cronin SS
Biz Mackey C

@DarthIntegral

Amazing.

 

i'm shocked that cronin wasn't already rostered.

 

And now that someone has picked him up, I can't wait for Rx to try and sign him

 

FYI looking at Friday Night FODEUSS this week

 

Couple adjustments. Wells' bat is warming up some, but we can't have a negative defender at 2B every day. And yeah, Mike Trout has just kinda been... there.

Lineup vs. RHP

1. Ichiro Suzuki (RF)
2. Ken Griffey Jr. (CF)
3. Ed Delahanty (LF)
4. Sam Thompson (DH)
5. Jeff Bagwell (1B)
6. Jack Glasscock (2B)
7. Al Rosen (3B)
8. Charles Johnson (C)
9. Cal Ripken Jr. (SS)

Lineup vs. LHP

1. Ichiro Suzuki (RF)
2. Jack Glasscock (2B)
3. Ed Delahanty (LF)
4. Ken Griffey Jr. (CF)
5. Jeff Bagwell (1B)
6. Sam Thompson (DH)
7. Al Rosen (3B)
8. Charles Johnson (C)
9. Cal Ripken Jr. (SS)

Depth:

C - Jason Kendall (every 6th game)
1B - Ketel Marte (when starter tired)
2B - Willie Wells (every 8th game), Ketel Marte (every 15th game)
3B - Ketel Marte (every 10th game)
SS - Andrelton Simmons (every 12th game)
LF - Sam Thompson (every 10th game)
CF - Mike Trout (every 12th game)
RF - Dave Parker (every 10th game)

@DarthIntegral

 

I'm buying a car, but I'll try and run over some of my players later..