great regular season team, no award respect

http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/815058

Best team record in the regular season. 2nd total runs scored for a team offense. Led the league in team defense. 0 all-stars from my lineup, not even as a backup. 0 gold gloves, not even a 2nd place.

I used some platoons but I also had Barrett, Smith, Raines, and Bradley all have solid if not average seasons playing in Houston. I led the league in SB for my team. The league had a lot of pitcher's parks all around so a lot of numbers weren't very high for anybody.

http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/le ... son/266782

http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/le ... son/266782

My pitching staff was another story. I targeted Youmans in the draft and he had a terrible terrible start to the season. He then proceeded to get real hot for a long stretch, led the league in wins and won the Cy Young Award.

My plan was to draft Youmans, Smith, and Trujillo and then fill in the blanks with junk that other people didn't want that could possibly have good seasons in Houston. I went with Tudor and Viola because of their excellent hold ratings which I used to protect Youmans and sandwich his starts to minimize the SB"s against him a little bit. Trujillo won 20 games. Smith got the Rolaids award. Frank Viola filled the 4th spot in the rotation with about what I would expect. Reuschel over-achieved and Tudor under-achieved. My Righty Specialists and Lefty Specialists were hardly used or needed as Snell, and Trujillo filled their rolls so well. Smith should have had more saves but even with it set to maximize HAL often left Snell or Truijillo in for the beginning of the 9th which messed with the closing stats quite a bit.

I typically struggle heavily to use platoons but this season I had success:

1B vs LHP: Knight 38R 14HR 50 RBI .346BA $2.28
1B vs RHP: Chambliss 44R 7HR 56 RBI .302BA $3.18

RF vs LHP and Rev RHP: Lacy 57R 9HR 48RBI .282BA $1.91
RF vs RHP: Walker 35R 7TR 5HR 34RBI 17SB .267BA $1.41

DH vs LHP: Jones 40R 40RBI 23SB .301BA $1.82
DH vs RHP: Daniels 75R 18HR 95RBI 33SB .356BA $6.53

I thought my C platoon of Knicely/Skinner performed well considering they totaled $1.34. They combined to hit 13HR and 68RBI and only allowed 90SB.

Great team. Possibly one of the best seasons I have ever seen out of Kal Daniels, and I use him pretty every season I can get him. Especially amazing considering that the Astrodome isn't a good park fit for him at all. 262 innings and 20 wins out of Trujillo is pretty sweet too. Funny thing that Trujillo and Smith both pitched much better on the road than at home.

This was a very well put together team. Congratulations. Wish I would have played in this league. All that awards voting stuff seems to really reward HRs above everything else. You got remarkable seasons out of Ozzie, Daniels, Yeomans, Bradley, Raines, Trujillo, Smith, Barrett, and Jones all on the same team.

I actually just put together a 60M 86 team for a 24 team league and it closed remarkably fast before I could get in. Although disappointed, it's good to see that 86 and 99 leagues are still filling up. Now bring back 69! Also I think the community would really like one or two other older single seasons.

Great team. Possibly one of the best seasons I have ever seen out of Kal Daniels, and I use him pretty every season I can get him. Especially amazing considering that the Astrodome isn't a good park fit for him at all. 262 innings and 20 wins out of Trujillo is pretty sweet too. Funny thing that Trujillo and Smith both pitched much better on the road than at home.

This was a very well put together team. Congratulations. Wish I would have played in this league. All that awards voting stuff seems to really reward HRs above everything else. You got remarkable seasons out of Ozzie, Daniels, Yeomans, Bradley, Raines, Trujillo, Smith, Barrett, and Jones all on the same team.

I actually just put together a 60M 86 team for a 24 team league and it closed remarkably fast before I could get in. Although disappointed, it's good to see that 86 and 99 leagues are still filling up. Now bring back 69! Also I think the community would really like one or two other older single seasons.

I really enjoyed this team. I was able to draft most of the players I went for which always is nice. My first season in Houston I went 62-100. I was bound and determined to redeem myself. My second time I went 91-71 and lost in the finals. This time I went 96-66. I am officially over .500 in Houston so I can relax now. Houston record: 249-237

This was my first time using Daniels. He really carried the squad for long stretches. The DH platoon of Tracy Jones and Daniels was deadly overall. Ray Knight had the biggest overachieving season hitting 14 bombs. I expect a high BA and SLUG vs LHP from him but not 14 bombs in around 250 AB's with a home park of Houston. I was expecting 4 or 5.

Just because I find it interesting, here are the comps for three common players between your team here and my last Astrodome '86 team:

Here is my last Daniels' season compared to yours:

you 396 75 141 29 7 18 95 45 77 33 13 0 A 1-16 .356 .427 .601
me 434 88 133 31 17 7 74 67 78 30 8 0 A 1-16 .307 .400 .505

Funny how the triples and HRs were basically reversed. HAL was really quite good in managing this DH platoon for both our teams as Daniels got only 33 ABs for me and 28 for you his bad way. But, you really pulled the lever and got 3 bars when you drafted Kal here!

Then here is Trujillo:

you 20 5 7 7 262.1 230 99 96 99 119 30 -3 0 4 1WR 3.29 1.25
me 19 12 26 11 273.1 208 105 94 99 128 23 -3 0 4 1WR 3.10 1.12

Wish I could have got that 20th victory, but overall I would say my Trujillo pitched marginally better, despite the 12 losses. Close call, but the 7 fewer HRs and better WHIP make up for the additional blown saves and losses over the long haul IMO.

And here are our Ozzies:

you 601 90 160 19 3 0 73 79 63 52 14 14 A 1-17 .266 .352 .308
me 629 88 161 15 6 0 63 106 52 59 11 19 A 1-17 .256 .363 .299

Slight edge for your Wizard, even on defense, but again amazingly close.

Just because I find it interesting, here are the comps for three common players between your team here and my last Astrodome '86 team:

Here is my last Daniels' season compared to yours:

you 396 75 141 29 7 18 95 45 77 33 13 0 A 1-16 .356 .427 .601
me 434 88 133 31 17 7 74 67 78 30 8 0 A 1-16 .307 .400 .505

Funny how the triples and HRs were basically reversed. HAL was really quite good in managing this DH platoon for both our teams as Daniels got only 33 ABs for me and 28 for you his bad way. But, you really pulled the lever and got 3 bars when you drafted Kal here!

Then here is Trujillo:

you 20 5 7 7 262.1 230 99 96 99 119 30 -3 0 4 1WR 3.29 1.25
me 19 12 26 11 273.1 208 105 94 99 128 23 -3 0 4 1WR 3.10 1.12

Wish I could have got that 20th victory, but overall I would say my Trujillo pitched marginally better, despite the 12 losses. Close call, but the 7 fewer HRs and better WHIP make up for the additional blown saves and losses over the long haul IMO.

And here are our Ozzies:

you 601 90 160 19 3 0 73 79 63 52 14 14 A 1-17 .266 .352 .308
me 629 88 161 15 6 0 63 106 52 59 11 19 A 1-17 .256 .363 .299

Slight edge for your Wizard, even on defense, but again amazingly close.

Yeah, those are close numbers other than Daniels. I have been really lucky with him. I would have been up 2-0 in the first round of the playoffs after last night but Lee Smith blew the save in game 2 in the 9th. So I'm tied 1-1.

I really like Houston as a home park now that I understand how to take advantage of it better. My favorite thing about the park is I can freely target the hitters I want and not worry to much about pitching as many pitchers are usually avoided and available in free agency that are good fits for Houston.