So would just like to start with the reminder that the Power Ranks are an indicator of who has the best chance at winning the World Series.
Before I get a series of messages why am I, number 9? I have more wins than number 6. If you want to see a listing of the teams in the order of wins click on World----Standings-----League Standings
Now is where I take a self-congratulatory lap, the original top 10 power rankings represented 9 of the top 10 records in Hunter so far and the team not in the top 10, is one win short. This is to say the top 10 stays pretty static in terms of the teams but the order does get shaken up.
Honourable Mentions: (In no particular order)
Washington General: Record 48-40, Last Rank (LR): 1
The King is dead. Long live the King. The original power rankings king has fallen. Mdukes has blamed the curse of the Power Rankings on his failures and there may be something to it as his pitching staff is cruising towards a teams ERA more than have a run higher than last year and it's most apparent in Jacob Kalish who sports a 4.01 ERA which for most pitchers would be fine but I suspect that ownership expects that ERA start with a 3 and then a low number next to it or perhaps even a two. While I say the honourable mentions are in no particular order Washington is the number 11 team I really struggled over spots 10 and 11 but ultimately Washington Exp Win % matched their wins so something is going on in DC.
Iowa Cornpickers: Record 47-41, LR: Honourable Mention
So I joked in the first power ranks that Cristobel Baerga face was going to plastered all over the Water Towers in the Iowa countryside. It turns out that might not have been enough...….it's likely Cornpicker fans carry pictures of him as if he was a son. Baerga leads Hunter in HR and OPS and the runner up in OPS isn't even close (1.200 OPS compared to runner up Phillip Goodwin 1.073). For perspective the gap between Baerga and Goodwin is the same as the gap between Goodwin and the 18th best player in Hunter. The Cornpickers will go as far as Baerga carries them which will likely be the playoffs at least.
New Britian Yorkies: Record 47-41, LR: Honourable Mention
In my first set of Power Rankings I said I saw a roster that was going to miss the playoffs but because Djbradford is the Bill Belicheck of HBD he was going to make the playoffs and go on a run..... Here we are NB leads the NL north and looks set to continue their 24 season streak of playoff appearance. Dj's ears were likely burning Sunday afternoon as myself and timf discussed his uncanny ability to pull all the right strings to get wins out his franchise. We decided at the end of the conversation that he must have a cheat code it's the only rationale explanation.
Scraton Tailgaters: Record 47-41, LR: Not Ranked
I will admit to start the season I thought it was a forgone conclusion that Montreal was going to win the AL North but 88 games into the Tailgaters have lived up to their name and sit right on the bumper of the Rippers. Scraton has been riding a dominant bullpen headlined by likely All-Star Dan Tomilson and a magical career year from Max Leon. My concern for the underdog Tailgaters is the magic runs out in the 2nd half.
Boise Bombers: Record 45-43, LR: Honourable Mention
The Bomber started the season like they were shot out of a cannon racing out a 17-7 record but have scuffled along since with a particularly bad stretch of 7-21 ball which wiped away the Bombers good start. Young catcher Raymond Houston and veteran pitcher Hal Sheldon have been particular bright spots for the Bombers. Expect Boise to potentially push for the AL 6 seed.
Baltimore Baydogs: Record: 47-41, LR: Not Ranked
The Baydogs look poised to improve their record for the 3rd consecutive season and are one year ahead of schedule in terms of their eventual playoff push. The team's push has keyed off of pitching and defence especially Ace Hughie Kohn and closer Wladimir Cervelli both just entering their prime. To continue to grow the Baydogs will need to add some additional firepower to their lineup.
Monday, August 26, 2019
Saturday, July 27, 2019
Power Rankings S48- Start of Season (5-1)
As the prophetic band Europe once espoused this is the "Final Countdown". We have reached the top 5 the cream of the crop and you will notice a heavy lean towards one league.
5. Atlanta Cheese Grits (96-66)
Hitting (B+)- (7)
Pitching (A-)- (7)
Fielding (15) (+43)
When you look at the overall grades you may wonder why Atlanta cracks the top 5...….. well as Rick Flair once said to be the man you have to beat the man...… Woooooooooooooooooo!!!. The Cheese Grits are the defending champs and a solid overall team. It will be interesting to see if they suffer from the championship hangover of delivery the first title in 47 seasons to Atlanta. The Cheese Grits for the most part are looking to run it back but key pieces on the roster are a year older and Kevin Fujikawa has now reached the point in his career where he is good.... but the sands of time have zapped most of his greatness. Father time remains undefeated. Expect Atlanta to be back in the playoffs and challenging for the Thunderdome title (AL South)
4. Montreal Rippers (107-55)
Hitting (A+)- (4)
Pitching (B+)- (4)
Fielding (11) (+63)
In season 47, Montreal ownership announced their presence on the title contention scene winning their 3rd division title but with a 18 win jump. Before losing to the eventual champions in the ALCS. Gatesfanelli has been one of the most active owners on the trade market since joining the league and has amassed an amazing collection of talent especially hitters. His core of Terrance Wood, Jonathan Griffin, Wendall Cooke is likely the best trio combination in Hunter, the three have combined for 5 MVPs, 17 All- Star games & 17 silver sluggers. I think the Rippers will continue to outhit the competition the jury is still out on whether they have the pitching to go all the way.
3. Jacksonville (97-65)
Hitting (A-) (9)
Pitching (A+) (6)
Fielding (6) (+20)
They say that pitching and defense wins championships which is what drives Jacksonville to the position as the top NL team. Jacksonville's pitching staff in my estimation is the best in Hunter with Jim Morandi, Bret Gyorko, Ivan Posada and David Pineda all at ace level. That level of pitching depth should have delivered a title but the Juicers seem snake bitten in the playoffs. On top of elite pitching the Juicers do boast a fearsome lineup headlined by S45 NL MVP Erubiel Belliard and S42 MVP Albert Ibanez. Jacksonville's depth of pitching and hitting makes them the favourite to represent the NL this year
2. San Francisco Night Demons (106-56)
Hitting (A) (8)
Pitching (A-) (1)
Fielding (4) (+50)
The Night Demons are one of the most successful franchises in Hunter history with 8 World Series Titles and 46 trips to the playoffs in 47 seasons, they have made the playoffs every season since season 12 and expect that streak to continue. The Night Demons were upset last year by the Louisville Sluggers in the first round (SF now 7-6 in playoff matchups versus Lou), they return in S48 with a great roster top to bottom, pitching, fielding, hitting, minor league talent stream and management infrastructure. San Fran is lead Yadina Molina, an ace in a long line of Night Demon aces, who has racked up 7 Cy Youngs with the skill to add more. Expect the road to the World Series to go through San Francisco.
1. Washington Generals (107-55)
Hitting (A) (5)
Pitching (A-)(3)
Fielding (3) (+41)
I was very happy when Mdukes returned to Hunter after a 21 season hiatus in S39, as world get better when you add strong owners...…I was also very wary about Washington's return to dominance. Mdukes sent 4 seasons rebuilding a broken franchise and has now made the playoffs 4 consecutive years with back to back 107+ win seasons. Similar to San Francisco there are no holes in Washington they are great in all facets of the game (Pitching, Hitting and Fielding). As of today Mdukes is 4th in Hunter Championships with four (NB-11, SF-8, Lou-5), despite the aforementioned hiatus. I believe this is the season that the title returns to Washington for the first time since season 16.
Sample:
Team Name (Last Season Record)
Hitting (Subjective Ranking Current Season)- (Last Season Rank by Run)
Pitching (Subjective Ranking Current Season)- (Last Season Rank by ER)
Fielding (Last Season Rank Fielding Percentage)-(Net Fielding plays (+ plays less - plays)
5. Atlanta Cheese Grits (96-66)
Hitting (B+)- (7)
Pitching (A-)- (7)
Fielding (15) (+43)
When you look at the overall grades you may wonder why Atlanta cracks the top 5...….. well as Rick Flair once said to be the man you have to beat the man...… Woooooooooooooooooo!!!. The Cheese Grits are the defending champs and a solid overall team. It will be interesting to see if they suffer from the championship hangover of delivery the first title in 47 seasons to Atlanta. The Cheese Grits for the most part are looking to run it back but key pieces on the roster are a year older and Kevin Fujikawa has now reached the point in his career where he is good.... but the sands of time have zapped most of his greatness. Father time remains undefeated. Expect Atlanta to be back in the playoffs and challenging for the Thunderdome title (AL South)
4. Montreal Rippers (107-55)
Hitting (A+)- (4)
Pitching (B+)- (4)
Fielding (11) (+63)
In season 47, Montreal ownership announced their presence on the title contention scene winning their 3rd division title but with a 18 win jump. Before losing to the eventual champions in the ALCS. Gatesfanelli has been one of the most active owners on the trade market since joining the league and has amassed an amazing collection of talent especially hitters. His core of Terrance Wood, Jonathan Griffin, Wendall Cooke is likely the best trio combination in Hunter, the three have combined for 5 MVPs, 17 All- Star games & 17 silver sluggers. I think the Rippers will continue to outhit the competition the jury is still out on whether they have the pitching to go all the way.
3. Jacksonville (97-65)
Hitting (A-) (9)
Pitching (A+) (6)
Fielding (6) (+20)
They say that pitching and defense wins championships which is what drives Jacksonville to the position as the top NL team. Jacksonville's pitching staff in my estimation is the best in Hunter with Jim Morandi, Bret Gyorko, Ivan Posada and David Pineda all at ace level. That level of pitching depth should have delivered a title but the Juicers seem snake bitten in the playoffs. On top of elite pitching the Juicers do boast a fearsome lineup headlined by S45 NL MVP Erubiel Belliard and S42 MVP Albert Ibanez. Jacksonville's depth of pitching and hitting makes them the favourite to represent the NL this year
2. San Francisco Night Demons (106-56)
Hitting (A) (8)
Pitching (A-) (1)
Fielding (4) (+50)
The Night Demons are one of the most successful franchises in Hunter history with 8 World Series Titles and 46 trips to the playoffs in 47 seasons, they have made the playoffs every season since season 12 and expect that streak to continue. The Night Demons were upset last year by the Louisville Sluggers in the first round (SF now 7-6 in playoff matchups versus Lou), they return in S48 with a great roster top to bottom, pitching, fielding, hitting, minor league talent stream and management infrastructure. San Fran is lead Yadina Molina, an ace in a long line of Night Demon aces, who has racked up 7 Cy Youngs with the skill to add more. Expect the road to the World Series to go through San Francisco.
1. Washington Generals (107-55)
Hitting (A) (5)
Pitching (A-)(3)
Fielding (3) (+41)
I was very happy when Mdukes returned to Hunter after a 21 season hiatus in S39, as world get better when you add strong owners...…I was also very wary about Washington's return to dominance. Mdukes sent 4 seasons rebuilding a broken franchise and has now made the playoffs 4 consecutive years with back to back 107+ win seasons. Similar to San Francisco there are no holes in Washington they are great in all facets of the game (Pitching, Hitting and Fielding). As of today Mdukes is 4th in Hunter Championships with four (NB-11, SF-8, Lou-5), despite the aforementioned hiatus. I believe this is the season that the title returns to Washington for the first time since season 16.
Friday, July 26, 2019
Season 48- Power Rankings Start of Season (10-6)
New start getting down to the nitty gritty. Feelings will be hurt, people will feel shunned, heads will likely be shaken in disagreement with my assessment but that part of the fun.
10. Vancouver Lumberjacks (88-74)
Hitting (A)- (8)
Pitching (A)- (14)
Fielding (26)- (+25)
Timf is on his 2nd tour of duty in Hunter and have been a very competitive owner in both runs (almost became the Buffalo Bills losing 4 straight World Series before winning the 5th in Season 22). Last season pulled a first round upset on Jacksonville who we will be seeing later in this list.... that's called foreshadowing. Vancouver lost Charley Pettyjohn in the off-season but has been active in the trade market adding two high caliber starters in Oscar Tomlin and Raphael Rodriguez. A disappearance mid-season last year hurt his overall record and pitching staff. If the manager pays attention for the full season this is a team likely to rise in the rankings
9. New York Yankees (99-63)
Hitting (A)- (15)
Pitching (B+)- (2)
Fielding (12)- (+14)
Last season the Yanks came within one win of the championship. The Yankees are a well rounded team whose pitching staff likely slightly overperformed last season and owner shucky must have thought so as well. As it's big off-season additions are two useful arms Albert Heisler and Torey Witt from the type B bargain bin. NY is likely a lock to return to the playoffs having won their division by 18 games last season. We will see if game 7 season 47 was the best opportunity for the Yankees to take home a championship
8. Monterrey (97-65)
Hitting (A)- (1)
Pitching (A)- (17)
Fielding (20) (-3)
Welcome to Thunderdome…..wait I'm being told this isn't Thunderdome it's the AL South...….Monterry is the defending AL South Champion but two other AL South teams progressed further last post-season and the title resides in Atlanta. The AL South lead all divisons in total wins and 358 wins (.552 Win percentage as a divison) and playoff teams (3). Last year the Heat knocked the cover off the ball and look poised to do so again. Their weakness was pitching which mjs22 has aggressively addressed this off-season with the additions of three elite pitchers in Jiovanni Guyer, Apollo Mitchell and Al Oviedo. I think it's safe to the say the AL South will rise again
7. Louisville Sluggers (90-62)
Hitting (A)- (3)
Pitching (A-) - (14)
Fielding (7)- (+42)
The Sluggers finished 3rd in the AL South but were able to upset the Night Demons round 1 before falling to the Rippers of Montreal. The Sluggers return all key members of their 3rd rank offence and add Enrico Amaro to bolster their pitching staff. The majority of the improvement for the S48 Sluggers was made during season 47 as jahu43 addressed a major team issue. No team in S47 underperformed relative to exp. win percentage more than the Sluggers (full 10 games under expectation). This was due to an abomination of a bullpen which was over hauled last season with the addition of Jason Blackmon, Yan Guzman and Angel May, which took a weakness to perhaps the best in Hunter. This writer (who also happens to be Jahu43), will be very interested in how the bullpen performs over the full season.
6. Scottsdale Dawgs (99-63)
Hitting (A)- (2)
Pitching (A-) - (12)
Fielding (14) (+14)
Last year's NL South winner looks poised to repeat however is likely going to face a stiffer challenge from Vancouver this season. The end of last season a sweep at the hands of the Yorkies likely left a our taste in Rocky's mouth. He returns a very balanced team lead by a fearsome lineup which included 5 players with more than 100 runs created last season. The Dawgs have only made minor tweaks to a winning formula signing Mike Roberts a solid reliever to help shore up their bullpen. I expect Scottsdale to have World Series intentions and challenge again to lead Hunter in runs scored.
Sample:
Team Name (Last Season Record)
Hitting (Subjective Ranking Current Season)- (Last Season Rank by Run)
Pitching (Subjective Ranking Current Season)- (Last Season Rank by ER)
Fielding (Last Season Rank Fielding Percentage)-(Net Fielding plays (+ plays less - plays)
10. Vancouver Lumberjacks (88-74)
Hitting (A)- (8)
Pitching (A)- (14)
Fielding (26)- (+25)
Timf is on his 2nd tour of duty in Hunter and have been a very competitive owner in both runs (almost became the Buffalo Bills losing 4 straight World Series before winning the 5th in Season 22). Last season pulled a first round upset on Jacksonville who we will be seeing later in this list.... that's called foreshadowing. Vancouver lost Charley Pettyjohn in the off-season but has been active in the trade market adding two high caliber starters in Oscar Tomlin and Raphael Rodriguez. A disappearance mid-season last year hurt his overall record and pitching staff. If the manager pays attention for the full season this is a team likely to rise in the rankings
9. New York Yankees (99-63)
Hitting (A)- (15)
Pitching (B+)- (2)
Fielding (12)- (+14)
Last season the Yanks came within one win of the championship. The Yankees are a well rounded team whose pitching staff likely slightly overperformed last season and owner shucky must have thought so as well. As it's big off-season additions are two useful arms Albert Heisler and Torey Witt from the type B bargain bin. NY is likely a lock to return to the playoffs having won their division by 18 games last season. We will see if game 7 season 47 was the best opportunity for the Yankees to take home a championship
8. Monterrey (97-65)
Hitting (A)- (1)
Pitching (A)- (17)
Fielding (20) (-3)
Welcome to Thunderdome…..wait I'm being told this isn't Thunderdome it's the AL South...….Monterry is the defending AL South Champion but two other AL South teams progressed further last post-season and the title resides in Atlanta. The AL South lead all divisons in total wins and 358 wins (.552 Win percentage as a divison) and playoff teams (3). Last year the Heat knocked the cover off the ball and look poised to do so again. Their weakness was pitching which mjs22 has aggressively addressed this off-season with the additions of three elite pitchers in Jiovanni Guyer, Apollo Mitchell and Al Oviedo. I think it's safe to the say the AL South will rise again
7. Louisville Sluggers (90-62)
Hitting (A)- (3)
Pitching (A-) - (14)
Fielding (7)- (+42)
The Sluggers finished 3rd in the AL South but were able to upset the Night Demons round 1 before falling to the Rippers of Montreal. The Sluggers return all key members of their 3rd rank offence and add Enrico Amaro to bolster their pitching staff. The majority of the improvement for the S48 Sluggers was made during season 47 as jahu43 addressed a major team issue. No team in S47 underperformed relative to exp. win percentage more than the Sluggers (full 10 games under expectation). This was due to an abomination of a bullpen which was over hauled last season with the addition of Jason Blackmon, Yan Guzman and Angel May, which took a weakness to perhaps the best in Hunter. This writer (who also happens to be Jahu43), will be very interested in how the bullpen performs over the full season.
6. Scottsdale Dawgs (99-63)
Hitting (A)- (2)
Pitching (A-) - (12)
Fielding (14) (+14)
Last year's NL South winner looks poised to repeat however is likely going to face a stiffer challenge from Vancouver this season. The end of last season a sweep at the hands of the Yorkies likely left a our taste in Rocky's mouth. He returns a very balanced team lead by a fearsome lineup which included 5 players with more than 100 runs created last season. The Dawgs have only made minor tweaks to a winning formula signing Mike Roberts a solid reliever to help shore up their bullpen. I expect Scottsdale to have World Series intentions and challenge again to lead Hunter in runs scored.
Thursday, July 25, 2019
Season 48- Power Rankings- Start of Season
All figured it was about time to resurrect the Power Rankings, I'm going to be posting in 3 segments over the next 3 days. This first post will be all the Honourable mention teams. 2nd Post will be 10 to 6, the 3rd post will be 5-1.
A couple notes for my analysis when I talk about fielding and say a team was net (+21), that doesn't mean they had 21 plus plays that means they had 21 more plus plays than negative plays. IE: 27 plus plays and 6 negative plays ends up as a net (+21). Also just for frame of frame of reference as a world last year the average was a net of (+20), which is a great sign for the health of a world as it means overall we are fielding better than average defenders.
While I've tried to take some time to make the list reflective obviously, this is a subjective list.
Now on to the Honourable mentions in no particular order
Sample:
Team Name (Last Season Record)
Hitting (Subjective Ranking Current Season)- (Last Season Rank by Run)
Pitching (Subjective Ranking Current Season)- (Last Season Rank by ER)
Fielding (Last Season Rank Fielding Percentage)-(Net Fielding plays (+ plays less - plays)
Iowa Cornpickers: (90-72)
Hitting B+ - (11)
Pitching B - (14)
Fielding (9) (-24)
Last season made the playoffs to exit in the first round, a solid overall team in terms of both hitting and pitching, leaves a little be desired with the glove. The Cornpickers single biggest asset Cristobal Baerga has been plastered all over Watertowers of sleepy towns in Iowa. One of likely 10 players who in any given year could lay claim to the best player in Hunter. Relatively quite in FA but did add solid CF Bengie Colome and solid pitcher Bob Gray. Improvement will have to come from within.
New Orleans Raging Cajun: (69-93)
Hitting (C+)- (13)
Pitching (B)- (30)
Fielding (32) (-59)
When you look at last season's record and stats especially pitching (underperformed last year in my opinion) and fielding you may wonder why New Orleans made the honourable mention list. It's because Tony made a bit of a splash in FA signing 5-time All Star Bronson Franco (CF/2b), which would normally be a team's top off-season signing however he also added Charlies Pettyjohn. Pettyjohn is likely to go down as the greatest pitcher in Hunter history (sorry Felipie Bournigal), with 8 Cy Youngs to his name. While 38, Pettyjohn still has some tread left on the tires. We will see if you can remake a team in FA
Boston Minutemen: (77-85)
Hitting (B+)- (10)
Pitching (B+)- (21)
Fielding (10)- +51
The Minuteman were a solid team last season, that was a strong offensive and great fielding team. Tlcogan decided to tweak his team in the offseason as opposed to going for a big splash. He went bargin shopping in the Type B FA adding useful bullpen arm Dioyr Nunez and utility INF Sean House. Then acquired Alexi Gonzalez a solid rotation arm and position flexible Cord Durham in small deals. With a bounce back performance from the rotation and the incremental improvements Boston should be pushing for the playoffs
New Britain Yorkies (87-75)
Hitting (C+)- (16)
Pitching (C+)- (10)
Fielding (8)(-8)
So I'm going to be honest New Britain is here because Djbradford is the Bill Belichek of Hardball Dynasty when I look at his current ML roster I see a team that's going to miss the playoffs (I'm not making any conjecture on who's getting called up). However, New Britain has not missed the playoffs since season 25 and has won the NL North 19 of 21 seasons in that span. Plus Dj has won 11 titles during his time in Hunter...… He's likely going to make the playoffs and somehow find his way into the World Series
Detroit Tigers (81-81)
Hitting (B)-(27)
Pitching (B-) -(11)
Fielding (25) (+29)
The Tigers faded hard in the 2nd half of last season to finish at a .500 record much to the frustration of owner Xtrahits. Looking over their roster I have trouble reconciling the hitting talent, I see and their 27th ranked offseason last year. So I've come to the conclusion that the Tigers this season will look more like the team battling for a playoffs spot than the team that swooned in the 2nd half. For the most part they have decided to run it back except for the addition of Jesse Velarde a good 2b/3b who can bat near the top of a lineup.
Boise Bombers (79-83)
Hitting (B-)- (12)
Pitching (B)- (16)
Fielding (5) (+51)
So this is a another vote for infrastructure plus some personal bias. The Bombers had made the playoffs 8 consecutive seasons prior to last season and I kept waiting for them to make a late season push. Fun Fact the Night Demons have won the AL West 43 of 47 seasons, the Bombers are reasonable for 2 of the 4 loses. They are always among the best defending teams in Hunter and I fully expect them to rejoin the playoff hunt. To start this summary I noted a personal bias...…. the Bombers own the soul of the Sluggers in the playoffs and Mettir has robbed me of at least one championship.
Fielding (32) (-59)
When you look at last season's record and stats especially pitching (underperformed last year in my opinion) and fielding you may wonder why New Orleans made the honourable mention list. It's because Tony made a bit of a splash in FA signing 5-time All Star Bronson Franco (CF/2b), which would normally be a team's top off-season signing however he also added Charlies Pettyjohn. Pettyjohn is likely to go down as the greatest pitcher in Hunter history (sorry Felipie Bournigal), with 8 Cy Youngs to his name. While 38, Pettyjohn still has some tread left on the tires. We will see if you can remake a team in FA
Boston Minutemen: (77-85)
Hitting (B+)- (10)
Pitching (B+)- (21)
Fielding (10)- +51
The Minuteman were a solid team last season, that was a strong offensive and great fielding team. Tlcogan decided to tweak his team in the offseason as opposed to going for a big splash. He went bargin shopping in the Type B FA adding useful bullpen arm Dioyr Nunez and utility INF Sean House. Then acquired Alexi Gonzalez a solid rotation arm and position flexible Cord Durham in small deals. With a bounce back performance from the rotation and the incremental improvements Boston should be pushing for the playoffs
New Britain Yorkies (87-75)
Hitting (C+)- (16)
Pitching (C+)- (10)
Fielding (8)(-8)
So I'm going to be honest New Britain is here because Djbradford is the Bill Belichek of Hardball Dynasty when I look at his current ML roster I see a team that's going to miss the playoffs (I'm not making any conjecture on who's getting called up). However, New Britain has not missed the playoffs since season 25 and has won the NL North 19 of 21 seasons in that span. Plus Dj has won 11 titles during his time in Hunter...… He's likely going to make the playoffs and somehow find his way into the World Series
Detroit Tigers (81-81)
Hitting (B)-(27)
Pitching (B-) -(11)
Fielding (25) (+29)
The Tigers faded hard in the 2nd half of last season to finish at a .500 record much to the frustration of owner Xtrahits. Looking over their roster I have trouble reconciling the hitting talent, I see and their 27th ranked offseason last year. So I've come to the conclusion that the Tigers this season will look more like the team battling for a playoffs spot than the team that swooned in the 2nd half. For the most part they have decided to run it back except for the addition of Jesse Velarde a good 2b/3b who can bat near the top of a lineup.
Boise Bombers (79-83)
Hitting (B-)- (12)
Pitching (B)- (16)
Fielding (5) (+51)
So this is a another vote for infrastructure plus some personal bias. The Bombers had made the playoffs 8 consecutive seasons prior to last season and I kept waiting for them to make a late season push. Fun Fact the Night Demons have won the AL West 43 of 47 seasons, the Bombers are reasonable for 2 of the 4 loses. They are always among the best defending teams in Hunter and I fully expect them to rejoin the playoff hunt. To start this summary I noted a personal bias...…. the Bombers own the soul of the Sluggers in the playoffs and Mettir has robbed me of at least one championship.
Friday, June 27, 2014
Hunter History Lesson: Season 21
As Hunter continues to recruit new owners for Season 31, I started thinking about the trials that we went through ten seasons ago. Do you remember the rollover of Season 21? Well, it was starting to fade from my memory a little bit so I decided to do some research to remind myself and maybe give a little history lesson to those who may have missed it.
For the first 20 seasons, Hunter was a solid, private world that normally ran pretty smoothly under Leppykhan’s commissionership. We averaged about 4 vacancies every year and the most we ever had was 7 and that was back in seasons 1 and 2. But then something happened. Several things happened, actually. It was the HBD equivalent to the perfect storm and Hunter almost sunk.
The trouble started when many Hunter owners were annoyed by a chat hog who wouldn’t drop his issues with how HBD’s ratings worked and how one team hit so many homers against his. The owner was voted out in season 20, but not before a few frustrated owners checked out. Also, WIS had just announced that they really hadn’t worked on the Hardball Dynasty program for quite a while and that they might not get back to it anytime soon (and we’re still waiting). This really rubbed owners the wrong way and chased a bunch of them away, not only in Hunter. On top of that, this was a time in our country’s history where jobs weren’t terribly secure and many weren’t willing or able to throw money at a silly game. Add in a couple nervous nellies, who bailed because it looked like a long wait, and Hunter was up to 19 vacancies. Yes, we had more available teams than committed owners at one point.
Hunter became a bit of a whipping boy in the HBD forums. We were accused of having a poor group of owners who didn’t care about their league and of having too many “super teams” so nobody would want to join. These things were not true but people started believing them. Heck, we started believing them.
Things were so bad that a few trolls in the forum began fantasizing about a merge between Hunter and another troubled league, American Baseball Union. WIS was willing to merge leagues so owners could keep their players but all histories and stats would be lost. This forum post actually got the two leagues talking to each other about merging and things got so bleak at one point that we actually agreed to merge. Since Leppy had pretty much checked out, I decided to step-in and look at both leagues and see what teams would stay in what cities and what the new divisions would look like. In doing so, I realized that ABU was filled with mostly owners with 0 years of experience. Obviously, this made us very suspicious and we began to believe that ABU filled themselves with aliases so that they did not look so empty. That was never proven but, even if they weren’t aliases, we didn’t want to merge with a bunch of newbs who might quit and put us in the same boat the next season—but without our storied history.
This is when Hunter bonded together. The remaining owners (who combined for over 250 seasons of experience at the time) decided to keep our teams and the league’s history until WIS pulled it from our cold, dead mitts. We would wait. Perhaps until we were old and senile. But we would wait until the sucker filled.
On October 23, 2011, almost 2 months after Hunter’s season 20 ended, Jahu43 agreed to become the new commissioner of our world, which was now being ridiculed by the bystanders for refusing to merge with ABU. But Jahu was relentless in his recruiting. To make the world more attractive, he devised a plan where all of the veteran Hunter owners would only protect 35 players, instead of 40, to expand the prospects for the Rule 5 draft giving some of the bad teams a chance to catch up quicker.
On October 27, 2011, Hunter was full. In an unprecedented recruiting push, Jahu got 16 owners to join a struggling world in just four days. And he didn’t fill it with a bunch of newbies or aliases which, of course, we were being accused of. To fill the 16 openings, we got 3 previous owners to reup, we accepted two newbies who were asked to work with a mentor and the remaining 11 new owners were veterans who, at that point, had a combined 388 seasons of HBD experience. Three of those recruits are still with us (bigtex1, bigalric, jbburner).
The 35-man rule went off without a hitch as all of the returning teams (plus a few others) followed the rule. This was one of the main reasons we attracted so many users so quickly. Not only did it help the rebuilding teams, it showed we had a creative commish and that we were all in this for the long haul.
So, while we are all impatiently waiting for a few spots to fill, just remember than Hunter has been through much worse and that the 7 remaining founders and long-time owners (over half of the league has been with us for 10 or more seasons) will keep it sailing smoothly.
For the first 20 seasons, Hunter was a solid, private world that normally ran pretty smoothly under Leppykhan’s commissionership. We averaged about 4 vacancies every year and the most we ever had was 7 and that was back in seasons 1 and 2. But then something happened. Several things happened, actually. It was the HBD equivalent to the perfect storm and Hunter almost sunk.
The trouble started when many Hunter owners were annoyed by a chat hog who wouldn’t drop his issues with how HBD’s ratings worked and how one team hit so many homers against his. The owner was voted out in season 20, but not before a few frustrated owners checked out. Also, WIS had just announced that they really hadn’t worked on the Hardball Dynasty program for quite a while and that they might not get back to it anytime soon (and we’re still waiting). This really rubbed owners the wrong way and chased a bunch of them away, not only in Hunter. On top of that, this was a time in our country’s history where jobs weren’t terribly secure and many weren’t willing or able to throw money at a silly game. Add in a couple nervous nellies, who bailed because it looked like a long wait, and Hunter was up to 19 vacancies. Yes, we had more available teams than committed owners at one point.
Hunter became a bit of a whipping boy in the HBD forums. We were accused of having a poor group of owners who didn’t care about their league and of having too many “super teams” so nobody would want to join. These things were not true but people started believing them. Heck, we started believing them.
“Lots of teams open, wrong timing. I just left Hunter, because I find it silly to waste money while waiting for something to happen.”—lets_try
“I'm only holding on because it's my original HBD team (from the day HBD opened). I have 2 other teams to keep me busy. At some point soon, though, I'm giving up and bailing.”—pfontaine
“...this whole damn thing has crushed my spirit to play anymore. So, byebye HBD.”—leppykhan
Things were so bad that a few trolls in the forum began fantasizing about a merge between Hunter and another troubled league, American Baseball Union. WIS was willing to merge leagues so owners could keep their players but all histories and stats would be lost. This forum post actually got the two leagues talking to each other about merging and things got so bleak at one point that we actually agreed to merge. Since Leppy had pretty much checked out, I decided to step-in and look at both leagues and see what teams would stay in what cities and what the new divisions would look like. In doing so, I realized that ABU was filled with mostly owners with 0 years of experience. Obviously, this made us very suspicious and we began to believe that ABU filled themselves with aliases so that they did not look so empty. That was never proven but, even if they weren’t aliases, we didn’t want to merge with a bunch of newbs who might quit and put us in the same boat the next season—but without our storied history.
This is when Hunter bonded together. The remaining owners (who combined for over 250 seasons of experience at the time) decided to keep our teams and the league’s history until WIS pulled it from our cold, dead mitts. We would wait. Perhaps until we were old and senile. But we would wait until the sucker filled.
On October 23, 2011, almost 2 months after Hunter’s season 20 ended, Jahu43 agreed to become the new commissioner of our world, which was now being ridiculed by the bystanders for refusing to merge with ABU. But Jahu was relentless in his recruiting. To make the world more attractive, he devised a plan where all of the veteran Hunter owners would only protect 35 players, instead of 40, to expand the prospects for the Rule 5 draft giving some of the bad teams a chance to catch up quicker.
On October 27, 2011, Hunter was full. In an unprecedented recruiting push, Jahu got 16 owners to join a struggling world in just four days. And he didn’t fill it with a bunch of newbies or aliases which, of course, we were being accused of. To fill the 16 openings, we got 3 previous owners to reup, we accepted two newbies who were asked to work with a mentor and the remaining 11 new owners were veterans who, at that point, had a combined 388 seasons of HBD experience. Three of those recruits are still with us (bigtex1, bigalric, jbburner).
The 35-man rule went off without a hitch as all of the returning teams (plus a few others) followed the rule. This was one of the main reasons we attracted so many users so quickly. Not only did it help the rebuilding teams, it showed we had a creative commish and that we were all in this for the long haul.
So, while we are all impatiently waiting for a few spots to fill, just remember than Hunter has been through much worse and that the 7 remaining founders and long-time owners (over half of the league has been with us for 10 or more seasons) will keep it sailing smoothly.
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