Daylight Fading: A solo fast-sim dynasty

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1897 EXPANSION
12 teams from the Union League have split and created their own league called the Presidents League starting with the 1897 season.

As a result, the UL went and added two more teams for that season. The new schedule will include interleague play and for the first-time ever, an All-Star Game between the leagues.

The new playoff format is 3 division champions and 1 wild card from each league.

Union League
East
New York Gothams
Boston Yanks
Philadelphia Baseball Club
Wilmington Quicksteps (EXPANSION)

Central
Minneapolis Millers
Chicago Blue Collars
Pittsburgh Grays
St. Louis Perfectos
Eau Claire Paws

West
Fresno Haymakers (Expansion)
Santa Rosa Peauts
Victoria Cougars
Salt Lake City Elders
Los Angeles Seraphs

PRESIDENTS LEAGUE
East
Carolina Wrens
Buffalo Blue Wings
Bantam Originals
Cleveland Broncs (formerly Evansville Triplets)

Southern Division
St. Petersburg Pelicans
Memphis Elephants
Washington Maroons
Jacksonville Red Caps

Western Division
Santa Ana Oranges
Colorado City Gold Sox
Houston Buffalos
Shreveport Gassers

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AWARD NAMES
The Pitcher of the Year award is named after Nelson Mares. While he may no longer be the all-time wins leader (that's now an honor that's bestowed upon David Bowman), this guy's career was insane.

Considering he spent most of his years playing on a below average Colorado City team, he has SIX seasons of ERAs under 2.00 during his career. He had thirteen 20+ win seasons.

The MVP is named after Lars-Erik Johansen, given his performance as both a starting pitcher AND a hitter during his illustrious career, as the only guy to win pitcher of the year AND an MVP during his career. (No one has ever done it the same year.)

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The Jacksonville Red Caps moved to the South Side of Chicago, IL for the 1899 season and are now known as the Chicago Red Caps.

Mat Johansen's second son Pete Johansen is entering the draft this year, too. He's a second baseman and project a bit better than his brother who save for a cup of coffee a few years ago has been hiding out in the minors in LA for the past few years.

New York signed him as a minor league free agent and he's slated to be a reliever there, he's only 24 (Thom Johansen) so he can still have a productive career, but that Swedish magic isn't on him like his forebears, maybe his baby brother can pick up the luster.

[darkcloud4579]

Here's a tweaked version of the Manager Firing tool (I've dubbed it FireMe)

It's been updated to award points if you win 20 games more than the previous season, so if you go from 30 wins to 50 wins and so forth, you get 25 points. And I've edited the instructions so you should give 50 points to 3rd place teams in non-playoff leagues and 100 points to 2nd place teams in non-playoff leagues, though people can do whatever they want with those bonuses if they think they're too high or something.

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Well, the last time I checked in it was 1898. It's over 20 years later and things have changed in the league somewhat. Let's recap and get you familiar with 20th century baseball, shall we?

First, there are now two leagues instead of just one. The Presidents League was created in 1897, from 12 teams in the UL. There are now 15 teams in each league, after a series of expansions led to a total of now 30 teams.

Inevitably, some teams have left the stage since we last met up and some new ones have joined the scene.

SAY GOODBYE TO (last season)
Memphis Elephants (1909)
Shreveport Gassers (1917)

SAY HELLO TO (first season)
Albuquerque Dukes (1910)
Augusta Tigercats (1910)
Dallas Steers (1916)
New York Knights (1910)
Newark Terriers (1916)
South Bend Greens (1918)

FROM HERE TO THERE
Buffalo Blue Wings became the Baltimore Blue Wings in 1910.

Santa Rosa Peanuts became the San Francisco Peanuts in 1918.

Wilmington Quicksteps became the Miami Amigos in 1920.

Santa Ana Oranges became the Hawaii Islanders in 1918.

WHERE YOU GOIN'?
I'm still debating where I'll go, but I think I'm going to take over a team starting this off-season. So many of the older franchises are having a devil of a time winning titles (which is kinda what I wanted when I started, this push of old v. new franchises, etc., history and all that) and it'd be interesting to help some of them end their droughts. Los Angeles's drought isn't all that long, but it's notable is that they made the playoffs 14 of the first 17 years of the franchise existence and won 3 titles during that stretch, but haven't won another since. (1874)

Here are a few notables: (last title)

Bantam (1833)
Cleveland (1829 in Evansville)
Philadelphia (1827 in Pacific)
San Francisco (1854 in Santa Rosa)
Victoria (1860)


So it'd be interesting here, as three of these franchises are in new cities (or in the case of Philadelphia, their 3rd city and haven't won it since their first) and it'd be cool to see if they could manage to win one.

I'm still debating my next move, but I should know soon what I'm going to do. It'll probably be Bantam, since that's my FOBL team.

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As I mentioned earlier, I've created an entirely new GM to start my career with and I'm going to use GMEXcel to determine how long I get to keep my job, based on my performance.

Since it's a new guy I'm creating he has no pedigree and therefore, won't be able to shoot for the top. Instead, we'll get a team that's down on their luck.

Just for readers of this dynasty, here's an updated version of GMEXcel already. I've added a section that helps you figure out what sort of team you can go to after you've decided you wanna move.

So say you want to GM a 85-win team? Well, you input that figure into the column and based on your performance that past year, you'll be told whether you can go to that team or not. It factors in your owner confidence score and how well your team did that year to come up with a decision as to whether you can go.

Check it out, as I'll be using it going forward in this dynasty.

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I'm thinking about what team I should pick and the question is "if you take over a 100-win team, shouldn't a 75-win season get you fired?" Probably not, because you could be in rebuilding mode. But the owner might not care about that. So I'm thinking of a formula that could can you after the first year if you fall too fast or something.

I've updated the link above to reflect my most recent changes. Now, take whoever you who want. If you say, take over a 100-win team and somehow managed to end up in a rebuilding job and only won 49 games, you'd be fired after your first year. If you won 80 games, you'd be skating on thin ice and would need a playoff appearance the second season in order to keep your job. I like the tweaks because it really does keep you on the proverbial hot seat as you play solo.

So check that out.

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I have indeed taken over the Bantam Originals for the 1922 season. The O's won the PL East last year with 85-77 and lost in the PLCS in six games to eventual Daylight Series champion St. Petersburg.

I made some pretty large wholesale improvements to the roster. Or at least what I perceive to be improvements, whether they'll work out or not, is anyone's guess.

What's interesting is, I've increased salaries over the years, not just as a house rule, but as a way to ensure that good teams can't stockpile a ton of great talent cheaply. If they want star players, they're gonna have to pay.

The cash max is $15m and the salary structure is (in order) 8m/4m/2m/1.275m/1m/775k/500k/325k Min sal: 125k

So anyway, we'll run the year, see how it goes and then break down the team after that happens.

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1922 BANTAM ORIGINALS

REGULAR SEASON FINISH: (76-86) 4th, PL East

Well, it looks like I completely misread the market. I picked the wrong guys, put them in the wrong spots and picked the wrong division and team in which to be competitive. Now, I'm on the hot seat. If we don't make the playoffs next year, I'm out of a job already.

I spent $10.4 million on 36-year old infielder Alvin LaBrie and he did pretty much what he does, gave us decent production, yet it was really a bad signing in retrospect. He had a career high in home runs (20) and tied his RBI production last year (89) and was the team leader in both categories, but...we needed a lot more and we just didn't get it.

9th in the PL in batting average, 10th in ERA and it just didn't get it done. I think I might have thought the division was weak, but I didn't take a look at the other teams in the division like I should have -- one of the peril situations of playing fast-sim fast, you just wanna go and don't assess the lay of the land as well as you should -- and well, I paid for it pretty badly and now it might cost me my job.

The good news is that the team can improve and I can make some tactical moves that might benefit us next season, but really...this situation might be completely unsalvagable and as it stands right now I have NO idea how I'll fix it.

That said, this is a ton of fun for solo play and the most immersed I've been in years.

FINAL 1922 STANDINGS
Union League Standings
Eastern Division	W	L	PCT	GB
Philadelphia Quakers	105	57	.648	-
Miami Amigos		90	72	.556	15.0
New York Gothams	86	76	.531	19.0
Newark Terriers		66	96	.407	39.0
Boston Yanks		65	97	.401	40.0

Central Division	W	L	PCT	GB
Cleveland Broncs	95	67	.586	-
St. Louis Perfectos	88	74	.543	7.0
Minneapolis Millers	85	77	.525	10.0
Eau Claire Paws		73	89	.451	22.0
Chicago Blue Collars	63	99	.389	32.0

Western Division	W	L	PCT	GB
San Francisco Peanuts	86	76	.531	-
Salt Lake City Elders	85	77	.525	1.0
Los Angeles Seraphs	84	78	.519	2.0
Colorado City Gold Sox	73	89	.451	13.0
Victoria Cougars	73	89	.451	13.0

Presidents League Standings
Eastern Division	W	L	PCT	GB
Chicago Red Caps	97	65	.599	-
Baltimore Blue Wings	89	73	.549	8.0
Pittsburgh Grays	79	83	.488	18.0
Bantam Originals	76	86	.469	21.0
New York Knights	64	98	.395	33.0

Central Division	W	L	PCT	GB
Augusta Tigercats	87	75	.537	-
St. Petersburg Pelicans	80	82	.494	7.0
South Bend Greens	78	84	.481	9.0
Washington Maroons	77	85	.475	10.0
Carolina Wrens		66	96	.407	21.0

Western Division	W	L	PCT	GB
Houston Buffalos	95	67	.586	-
Hawaii Islanders	85	77	.525	10.0
Dallas Steers		83	79	.512	12.0
Fresno Haymakers	83	79	.512	12.0
Albuquerque Dukes	74	88	.457	21.0

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OWNER CONFIDENCE SCORE YEAR 1: The team had 85 wins last year, we had 76 this year, leaving me with an owner confidence score of 41.

That means, that in order to keep my job next year we need to:

1. Make the playoffs and/or
2. Win 97 games

Needless to say, I have my work cut out for me. Time to get to work.

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1922 PLAYOFF RESULTS
-----
Philadelphia def. San Francisco 4-3
Cleveland def. Miami 4-1
Chicago def. Augusta 4-3
Baltimore def. Houston 4-1

ULCS
Philadelphia def. Cleveland 4-3

PLCS
Chicago def. Baltimore 4-1

122ND DAYLIGHT SERIES
Philadelphia def. Chicago 5-4

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I deleted that Detroit move, because it didn't happen. Instead, the two relocated franchises in the PL are:

Albuquerque Dukes ---> Portland Roadrunners
South Bend Greens ---> Toronto Blueshirts

And yes, I intentionally have both Canadian teams as former Stanley Cup winning hockey clubs. I wanted to name them the Maple Leafs since that name was a baseball team name, not a hockey club name first, but...when I saw those guys were the Blueshirts in a past life, it was an easy choice.

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1923 BANTAM ORIGINALS OFFSEASON

I'm pretty much dead set on eating Alvin LaBrie's contract. Because he's a high star player, someone would take him off of our hands , especially since he's an expiring contract. I'd just as well release him all together, though and that might be what I do. He'll make $11.15 million next year and I could allocate that a lot better I think understanding the league a bit better.

The goal is to build through pitching right now. I'm going to make offers on guys specifically who can do just that...and try to retool the roster a bit otherwise.

I'll also update the HTML tonight, so when I link to player cards, they're not from a bunch of years ago.

I don't think I'll steamroll through the off-season tonight, mostly because I want to take a bit of time, see what's out there and then make offers that really make us better or at least, try...and then go ahead and sim the season after that and see where we land.

Should be an interesting off-season though in Bantam, for sure. Stay tuned.

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Thanks to some beta testing and suggestions by dynasty readers, I've updated GMExcel again, still just tweaking FireMGR to version 2.0

Here are the changes:

- Reformulated Owner confidence.
- Adapted criteria for GM's to be able to go to new teams.

I tested it a bit and I think it works more realistically than it did before, but if you see anything else, feel free to keep letting me know.

Again, this version is updated beyond what I released the other day, I won't update that one until this one is tested well and I'm sure it does what I intend it to do with no problems...I've attached it here.

Found more bugs, made another update again.

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1923 BANTAM ORIGINALS

SAY HELLO TO:

CL Philippe Maillet (Trade)
RF Tony Williams (Trade)
1B Silas Barnes (Trade)
LF Vern Hewitt (Trade)
SP Eric Baker (FA)
SP Bobby Arnold (FA)
P Carl Tait (FA)

SAY GOODBYE TO:

CF Larry Boyer (Trade)
2B Alvin LaBrie (Trade)
SS Al Joyner (Trade)
RF Dan Mooney (Trade)
SS Juan Zavala (FA)
3B Ollie McDermott (FA)

The Originals, two years removed from a division title and with a new GM at the helm in youngster D.C. Daly backslid a bit last season. With a year under his belt, Daly went and remade the ballclub in his own image, taking some risks along the way that he hopes pays off in the form of a much improved team or Bantam's notoriously trigger-happy ownership might decide they've had enough.

He signed 16-game winner Eric Baker to a deal in the off-season to help anchor a rotation with returnees Ronald McAuliffe (9-12, 153 K, 4.27 ERA last season) and surprise 16-game winner Guillaume Adam

Rounding out the rotation are free agent pickups Bobby Arnold (9-13, 132 K, 4.35 ERA with St. Louis last year) and closer turned starter Carl Tait (4-6, 31 SV, 2.99 ERA with the Chicago Blue Collars last season)

Offensively, adding three 100+ RBI guys is surely a step in the right direction. CF Julian Ayala hit 33 HR and 123 RBI last year in Hawaii, the 28-year old was 2nd in the league in RBI and inked a six year deal this off-season.

Joining him is hard hitter Silas Barnes who spent the last three years in Cleveland and hit 35 HR/118 RBI and has 12 triples while hitting at a .255 clip. He should add some much needed punch to the O's offense. Rounding out the 100+ club is 25-year old free agent signee Mike Strickland who hit .278 with 29 HR and 115 RBI in Philadelphia last year.

If nothing else, the new middle of the order (Barnes-Strickland-Ayala) should take immense pressure off guys who remain from last season like 2B Ben Day who is two years removed from a 100 RBI season before faltering last year, his first in the Nutmeg State (.268/12 HR/ 75 RBI)

All in all, the Originals are a remade ballclub. Whether they're better or not, is subject to debate. But one could probably say they're going to have to be a better ballclub than last year's. Whether this installment of club is enough to get them to the postseason is another guess.

PREDICTION: 88-74, 3rd place PL East

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Here are the standings at the all-star break

STANDINGS AS OF JUNE 26, 1923

Union League Standings
Eastern Division	W	L	PCT	GB
Newark Sentinels	55	30	.647	-
New York Gothams	45	38	.542	9.0
Philadelphia Quakers	44	41	.518	11.0
Miami Amigos		44	44	.500	12.5
Boston Yanks		32	52	.381	22.5

Central Division	W	L	PCT	GB
Minneapolis Millers	52	34	.605	-
Cleveland Broncs	50	33	.602	.5
St. Louis Perfectos	43	41	.512	8.0
Chicago Blue Collars	42	43	.494	9.5
Eau Claire Paws		35	49	.417	16.0

Western Division	W	L	PCT	GB
Victoria Cougars	46	39	.541	-
Los Angeles Seraphs	44	40	.524	1.5
Colorado City Gold Sox	43	43	.500	3.5
San Francisco Peanuts	41	44	.482	5.0
Salt Lake City Elders	25	59	.298	20.5

Presidents League Standings
Eastern Division	W	L	PCT	GB
New York Knights	47	37	.560	-
Pittsburgh Grays	47	39	.547	1.0
Baltimore Blue Wings	43	40	.518	3.5
Bantam Originals	38	47	.447	9.5
Chicago Red Caps	34	50	.405	13.0

Central Division	W	L	PCT	GB
Toronto Blueshirts	47	38	.553	-
Washington Maroons	43	43	.500	4.5
Carolina Wrens		43	44	.494	5.0
St. Petersburg Pelicans	40	43	.482	6.0
Augusta Tigercats	36	47	.434	10.0

Western Division	W	L	PCT	GB
Houston Buffalos	45	39	.536	-
Fresno Haymakers	45	41	.523	1.0
Hawaii Islanders	44	40	.524	1.0
Dallas Steers		41	43	.488	4.0
Portland Roadrunners	37	50	.425	9.5

If you're wondering what our problem is, it's a pretty easy answer. We are 1st in the league in batting average, OBP, hits, runs scored, 3rd in home runs and 2nd in walks.

Pitching? 14th in ERA, 15th in hits allowed, 14th in strikeouts.

If we don't turn it around, I'm basically done. And it looks like we've got quite a hole to dig out from.

We were 6-2 in March, 11-15 in April, 13-16 in May and 8-14 in June. Let's hope they can score runs and offset our pitchers not being good.

[darkcloud4579]

Well, I guess that's why they play the games out.

After sputtering through June at 10-15, the Originals went 16-11 in July, 18-10 in August and 13-6 in September to finish 87-75. (Just a game behind my prediction!) But that was good enough for 2nd place in the PL East and strangely enough, 3 games better than the Carolina Wrens (84-78) for us to claim the PL Wild Card for 1923. We face Pittsburgh in the first round, but before we get to that, let's just recap.

Julian Ayala led the league in home runs with 44. Darby Mason who hit .195 last year for us, really had a hell of a year, hitting .306 with 17 HR and 66 RBI, all career highs. Pushing him down in the lineup was precisely what the doctor ordered it seems.

As for the pitching staff? The leader for wins were Eric Baker and Carl Tait[/B] who both won 12 games. It was a decidedly average below average year as only one (Bobby Arnold) had an ERA under 4.00 (3.93) and that points to a notion that this ballclub basically had to slug its way to victories this year.

Ultimately, I'm fine with this because it means that we did what we came to do and I wasn't ready to be done with this team yet, because I felt like another year with them and we could really put it all together. Well I looked at the Run Support per game for our starters and for all of them, it was about 3.5 runs per game for each of them.

That kinda makes sense then.

1923 FINAL REGULAR SEASON STANDINGS

Union League Standings
Eastern Division	W	L	PCT	GB
Newark Sentinels	94	68	.580	-
Philadelphia Quakers	88	74	.543	6.0
Miami Amigos		82	80	.506	12.0
New York Gothams	80	82	.494	14.0
Boston Yanks		71	91	.438	23.0

Central Division	W	L	PCT	GB
Minneapolis Millers	99	63	.611	-
Cleveland Broncs	97	65	.599	2.0
St. Louis Perfectos	78	84	.481	21.0
Chicago Blue Collars	77	85	.475	22.0
Eau Claire Paws		70	92	.432	29.0

Western Division	W	L	PCT	GB
Los Angeles Seraphs	88	74	.543	-
Victoria Cougars	83	79	.512	5.0
Colorado City Gold Sox	77	85	.475	11.0
San Francisco Peanuts	74	88	.457	14.0
Salt Lake City Elders	59	103	.364	29.0

Presidents League Standings
Eastern Division	W	L	PCT	GB
Pittsburgh Grays	94	68	.580	-
Bantam Originals	87	75	.537	7.0
New York Knights	81	81	.500	13.0
Baltimore Blue Wings	78	84	.481	16.0
Chicago Red Caps	68	94	.420	26.0

Central Division	W	L	PCT	GB
Toronto Blueshirts	88	74	.543	-
Carolina Wrens		84	78	.519	4.0
St. Petersburg Pelicans	83	79	.512	5.0
Augusta Tigercats	78	84	.481	10.0
Washington Maroons	77	85	.475	11.0

Western Division	W	L	PCT	GB
Houston Buffalos	93	69	.574	-
Dallas Steers		82	80	.506	11.0
Fresno Haymakers	76	86	.469	17.0
Hawaii Islanders	74	88	.457	19.0
Portland Roadrunners	70	92	.432	23.0

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DIVISION SERIES
Pittsburgh Grays (94-68) v. Bantam Originals (87-75)

We were 6-15 against Pittsburgh in the regular season, but we only need four wins to advance against them in the LDS.

It'll be a tough test. They had the #1 pitching staff in the PL this year and were 5th in hitting. So basically, they're the opposite of us, as we hit well and don't pitch much. They hit some and are lights out on the mound.

They're led by 24-game winner Brad Blanchard and 16-game winner Rob Crocombe. Offensively, they have LF Matt Lloyd (.271/20 HR/104 RBI) and another guy who scored a lot of runs, but couldn't hit much in CF John Crawford (.236/28 HR/99 RBI)

I think we could beat them offensively, but I don't know if our pitching will hold up.

I made some tweaks to the rotation, installing Phiippe Maillet into the rotation and putting Carl Tait in the closer role. It might work, it might not, but I'm debating the idea that a fresh harm might be just what we need to make this deal work out for us, along with a 4-man rotation rather than the 5-man for the playoffs.

So we're gonna run the post-season now and see how it all flops out for us, I guess. I have no real expectations, just getting here saved my job and so, I can't really set the bar much higher than that at this point, to be honest. But it'd be fun to go on a ride for a bit throughout the post-season if the boys can put it together.

Here goes nothing.

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1923 ULDS RESULTS
----------
Minneapolis def. Los Angeles 4-2
Cleveland def. Newark 4-3

1923 PLDS RESULTS
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Pittsburgh def. Bantam 4-3
Toronto def. Houston 4-3

1923 ULCS RESULTS
----------
Cleveland def. Minneapolis 4-1

1923 PLCS RESULTS
------------
Pittsburgh def. Toronto 4-1

123rd DAYLIGHT SERIES (1923)
-----------
Pittsburgh def. Cleveland 5-2

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1923 AWARDS
---------
Union League (UL) Johansen Award: Damien Savary, St. Louis

Presidents League (PL) Johansen Award: Juan Cabrera, Baltimore

UL Mares Award: Sergio Sanchez, Cleveland
PL Mares Award: Brad Blanchard, Pittsburgh

UL Rookie of the Year: Alphonse Ritchie, New York Gothams

PL Rookie of the Year: Michael Carroll, New York Knights