Saturday Night Sim

I'm sorry everyone, but I got home *much* later than I thought I would last night and did not get to run the sim.  Next sim on Saturday night.

Sim's Done

Game Date:  Oct 19 2029

Next sim:  Thursday night

Sim's Done! Welcome to the Offseason.

Game Date:  Oct 10 2029

Welcome to the offseason!   Time to start working out your plans for next season.

There are a few things that we all need to take care of this sim.

If you check your mailboxes, you'll find notices from players who have team options for next year.  Please respond to those (in-game) emails and either exercise the option year or decline it.

In addition, *you* have a say in the offseason awards!  If you look under the league menu, you'll see a Manual Award Voting option.

There you can vote for first, second and third place for the Outstanding Batter, Outstanding Pitcher, Reliever of the Year and Outstanding Newcomer Award.  In addition, you can vote for the Slick Fielders and Platinum Stick Awards.    (My apologies... I didn't realize that this was for commissioners only.)

Next sim:  Wednesday night

Now This Is A Bit Insulting...

Yeah, I know the Wolves didn't have a good year, but really, OOTP??

:)

Seattle Sweeps, Monarchs Once Again Wear The Crown

The Seattle Monarchs completed their sweep of the Brick Barracudas to win their 14th(!) Cecil Cup championship.  1B Luis Lozano was named the Cecil Cup MVP.  Congratulations to Mack on another well-played season.

We'll give Mack a few days to revel in the championship and resume operations with the first off-season sim on Monday night.

Seattle Smashes Brick, Takes 3-0 Lead

The Seattle Monarchs blasted the Brick Barracudas today in an 11-0 victory to take a 3-0 lead in the Cecil Cup series.

Monarchs bats erupted against Brick pitching in the sixth inning.  By the time the half-inning was over, eight Monarchs crossed the plate on nine hits, including a two run Yvon Settingnino.  Meanwhile, Monarchs starter Ernest Metcalf threw the game of his life, going the distance and allowing only two hits (and no walks) while striking out nine.

Game 4:  Wednesday night.

That's Two for the Monarchs...

The Seattle Monarchs took a 2-0 lead against Brick today with a 4-0 victory over Brick.  Toyoshige Takahashi limited the Barracudas to six hits in seven innings of work and Pat Carmichael worked the last two to close out the victory.

Game 3:  Tuesday night.

Seattle Takes Game 1

Seattle takes the first game of the Cecil Cup on the strength of Chris Williams's 8 innings of four hit ball and Mike Minty, who went 3-4 with two RBI.

Game 2:  Sunday

Brick Prevails in 14!

It took a game and a half to settle, but the Brick Barracudas are heading to the Cecil Cup series.

After the Monks put four runners across the plate in the bottom of the sixth and took a 7-4 lead, it looked like they would put the Barracudas away, but it was not meant to be.  Brick responded in the next half inning with four of their own to take an 8-7 lead.  Mepkin Abbey tied it up in the 8th with a home run by Esteban Vargas.

Mepkin Abbey had a chance to win it in the 11th when they got Jonathan Anderson to third base with two out, but Ron Wood flied out to right to end the inning.

Brick finally put two runs across in the top of the 14th and then had Esteban Valenzuela (he of the 7.35 ERA for the season) shut the Monks down 1-2-3 to secure the championship.

Game 1 of the Cecil Cup:  Thursday night.

Amazing Accomplishment Award

I'm starting to go through team stats for the recently completed season and wanted to call out the biggest defensive turnaround ever in our league. Houston dropped its ERA this year by almost two full runs, going from 6.64 last year to 4.68 this year. That's incredible,

Looking back, the three biggest drops in team ERA I found were substantially less:

• Shackamaxon (then Los Angeles) dropped from 5.57 to 3.92 in 2016-17.
• Atlanta (then Cleveland) dropped from 5.26 to 3.96 in 2013-14.
• Brick dropped from 5.30 to 4.13 in 2025-26.

Hopefully, Will can share some of what he did, but a quick glance makes me believe that he added some new pitchers, got better performances from some he kept, and improved the defense behind them. Regardless though, that's a phenomenal improvement.

Mepkin Abbey Ties It Up -- On To Game Seven

The Mepkin Abbey Monks kept their season alive with a 5-3 victory over the Brick Barracudas.  The major damage came when the Monks pushed four players across the plate in the fourth inning against Brick starter Will Hickford.  The big blast was a three run homer from the bat of SS Luis Romano.

Game 7 will be on Wednesday night.

Seattle Finishes Off Maui, Brick Takes 3-2 Lead

The Monarchs advanced to the Cecil Cup today with an 8-2 victory over the Maui Mashers.  Seattle batters ganged up on Juan Ramirez, pelting him for seven runs in six innings.  Series MVP George Hendricks went 3-4 with a home run.

In the nightcap, the Brick Barracudas pulled to within one game of the Cecil Cup series with a 4-3 victory, courtesy of small ball.  With the score tied 3-3 in the bottom of the ninth, the Barracudas manufactured a run with a leadoff walk, a sacrifice bunt, and an error.

Game 6:  Tuesday night.

Maui Stays Alive, Brick Ties Series

Maui's Jose Montanez (and three relievers) kept the Monarchs to five hits and no runs to bring the series to 3-1.

Brick batters jumped all over Mepkin Abbey's pitchers in the sixth for a six-run inning to tie the series at two games apiece.

Game 5:  Monday evening.

Seattle Takes 3-0 Lead, Mepkin Abbey Up 2-1

Game 4:  Thursday night
Game 5:  Monday night

Seattle Takes 2-0 Lead, Mepkin Abbey Ties Series

In Game 2, Seattle blew Maui out of the water with a 10-1 victory.  By the time the first inning was over, Seattle had a 4-0 lead and never looked back.

In the nightcap, Victor Rivera and Rafael Rojas pitched a five hit shutout to even up the series.

In addition, the injury bug hit Maui when they lost two players.  OF Don Jones injured himself installing a bathroom fixture (?) and will miss about a week.  2B Tom Lyons, on the other hand, is done for the playoffs after a base collision during Game 2.

Game 3:  Wednesday night.