I left the game run overnight and simmed 1975-2006 to see how my results would be. There were no minors, and rookies were drafted, rather than being assigned to their original teams.
Interesting notes:
The AL won 14 World Series, the NL 17
The Red Sox won the World Series in 1975, 1976, 1978, 1985, 2002, and 2003.
The Astros won it all in 1980, 1983, 1984, 1998, and 2004.
The Yankees have made only two World Series appearances, in which they lost both times (once to Houston in '83, and once to Atlanta in 2006).
Oakland and Montreal have never even made the playoffs.
Only 8 players have hit 50 or more HRs in a season, and none were named Barry. The HR record is currently held by Mark McGwire, with 65 in 1991. Sammy Sosa's best record was 49 in 1992, and Barry Bonds managed to hit 47 in 1987.
Barry Bonds did not make the Hall of Fame. He spent his entire effective career with the Angels. He played 5 games in 1998 with 3 seperate teams - the Brewers, Expos, and Orioles. He hung on until 1999 when he signed a minor league contract with Pittsburgh and was used as a defensive replacement for 5 innings over 3 games.
Mariano Rivera developed as a starter, and pitched the Cubs and Tigers before having his career cut short with a fractured elbow in May of 2005. He retired at the end of the year. During his 11 year career he went 132-57 with a 2,88 career ERA, and won the Cy Young in '98, '99, and 2000 with Detroit.
The record for saves in a season belongs to Dave Smith of Philadelphia, who threw 56 in 1981.
The only player to steal over 100 bases after 1975 was Kenny Lofton, with 101 in 1992. Lofton had posted 517 before he had a CEI in 1998.
Speaking of stealing bases... Ricky Henderson managed only 515, before retiring in 1995.
The following players threw over 300 strikes in a season (between 1975 and 2006): Randy Johnson 325 (1991); Joe Nathan 311 (2006); Joe Nathan 311 (2001); John Wetteland 307 (1996); Ugueth Urbina 306 (2002); Joe Nathan 302 (2002).
In 'Art Imitates Life', Nathan was THE number one draft pick overall in 1998 by Boston. They traded him after 3 very poor seasons to the Braves in 2000 for Manny Ramirez, Ryan Hawblitzel, and and Jack Cust, plus $800,000. After going 16-30 over three seasons with the BoSox, he has gone 112-59 with Atlanta. He has 2,285 career K's and is only 32.
In the "Just HOW does he still have a career?!" category falls one Brian Cooper. I'll let his stats speak for themselves.
Code:
Year/Team/League G GS W L SV ERA IP HA R ER HR BB K CG SHO WHIP BABIP VORP
1999 CHN - MLB 22 0 0 2 0 9.69 26.0 43 33 28 7 21 6 0 0 2.46 .343 -9.7
2000 CHN - MLB 15 8 2 6 0 10.12 40.0 73 47 45 11 18 13 0 0 2.27 .388 -18.8
2001 CHN - MLB 64 7 8 8 0 8.30 116.0 164 113 107 35 46 47 1 0 1.81 .316 -35.2
2002 CHN - MLB 67 0 2 6 1 8.75 85.1 128 93 83 23 35 50 0 0 1.91 .350 -30.4
2003 CHN - MLB 46 29 5 27 0 8.56 184.0 277 179 175 48 75 79 2 0 1.91 .355 -52.7
2004 CHN - MLB 19 6 1 6 0 8.44 48.0 80 51 45 14 35 22 0 0 2.40 .377 -14.7
2005 CHN - MLB 85 0 5 6 0 6.44 102.0 130 82 73 15 77 34 0 0 2.03 .322 -10.3
2006 PIT - MLB 12 4 0 4 0 10.16 28.1 53 34 32 6 16 9 0 0 2.44 .395 -15.8
Total MLB 330 54 23 65 1 8.40 629.2 948 632 588 159 323 260 3 0 2.02 .348 -187.7
If anyone has any questions about any players or teams or whatever, let me know.
