Any Given Sunday - The Journey Continues

[NYY #23]

Back in November I started the original journey after reading a blog about what baseball would be like at 16 games, and I started down the path of finding out. The plan was to go back to the beginning of baseball, and re-imagine baseball's history.

One game per week, and come playoff time it's one and done. It's a cruel world, but I've had quite a bit of fun doing it. I'll be the first to admit that I jumped into things without too much planning, and figured things out as I went. The benefits of vacation time at the start gave me time to figure things out though, but there were a lot of changes and movement during the earlier years, and a mass shift of teams to align more closely to the current NFL structure. I also added some college teams into the picture, and had a mix of real historical players importing into one college league, and fictional players importing into the other league.

But there are a few things that I intend to change to hopefully make things easier going forward, and thought it would be good to take this opportunity to start a fresh thread since I'm changing things up a little.

Here is a summary of those changes:

• Teams will go back to playing 16 games per year. I'm tired of loading the schedule every year, and the 16 game per year schedules work, but the 18 games schedules don't auto load. I'm probably doing something wrong, but the 16 games works just as well
• I am going to return to having the playoffs scheduled within the game. I'm at the point now where I prefer the history to be kept inside of the game. That may mean extra tie breaker games, but I'm at the point that's ok.
• Reserve rosters are out, and each team will be pared with one "development team", or minor league. They'll play the same number of games, once per week, but I like seeing how the next generation of players pans out.
• The number of college teams was cut down to 32, and consists of fictional players only.
• A Canadian Baseball League where historical players will import. They'll have an opportunity to jump ship to the big leagues after 6 years, if they can cut it. They too will play a 16 game weekly schedule.
• Updated the milestones so that players will have an opportunity to reach them playing just 16 games per year.

I've gotten pretty attached to some fictional players. I feel more interested in seeing the Aaron Jackson's and Cameron Cotter's of the world. I hope that this set-up will allow them to play a big part in the league, but also allow some historical players to make an appearance. In testing it seemed to work pretty well. For the most part, the Canadian Baseball League will be background only, and I don't plan to do a lot of reporting on it, unless something catches my eye. I'm more interested in a place to give historical players some history before they enter the league. I expect that these will be the last big changes for a while. Of course my timeline is off with the rest of the world, and I'm ok with that, but I'm planning on no further changes until the turn of the century.

And finally, the switch over didn't go off without a hitch. I did a lot of testing to make sure things worked well, which is the good part. I got a little confused as to which league was which. That left me with three choices - 1) Continue in 1881 and lose the league history, 2) Roll back to the end of 1880 and make all the changes again, or 3) Skip ahead to the end of 1882.

So welcome to November 1882, and I'll try and cover at least at a high level what was missed. That was the closest point in the future where I maintained the league history. Up next, the teams.

[NYY #23]

Update: After some further thinking I'm going to make one last change to the team names, and go with the NFL nicknames. Originally I felt that teams like the Bisons and Crescents had too much success to change, but I would rather get things in line now rather than do multiple changes over time.

Each team's minor league franchise should look familiar, for the most part. Sorry for yet another change, but I promise this is the last one. The changes are denoted with an asterisk.

ABC East
**New England Patriots (Boston Pilgrims)
**Miami Dolphins (Miami Whales)
**New York Jets (New York Metropolitans)
**Buffalo Bills (Buffalo Wings)

ABC North
**Cleveland Browns (Cleveland Spiders)
**Pittsburgh Steelers (Pittsburgh Rebels)
Baltimore Ravens (Baltimore Black Sox)
**Cincinnati Bengals (Cincinnati Tigers)

ABC West
**Oakland Raiders (Golden State Warriors) formerly Los Angeles Blue Sox
Denver Broncos (Denver Bears)
**Kansas City Chiefs (Kansas City Comets)
**San Diego Chargers (San Diego Seals)

ABC South
**Houston Texans (Houston Roughnecks)
**Jacksonville Jaguars (Jacksonville Acorns) formerly Orlando ducks
**Indianapolis Colts (Indianapolis Clowns)
**Tennessee Titans (Nashville Sounds)

NFC East
**Washington Redskins (Washington Senators)
**Dallas Cowboys (Dallas Tycoons)
**Philadelphia Eagles (Philadelphia 76'ers)
New York Giants (New York Americans)

NFC North
**Green Bay Packers (Milwaukee Bisons)
**Detroit Lions (Detroit Wolves)
**Minnesota Vikings (Minnesota Timberwolves) formerly Minnesota North Stars
**Chicago Bears (Chicago Blues)

NFC West
**Seattle Seahawks (Seattle Warriors)
** Arizona Cardinals (Phoenix Suns) formerly Phoenix Flame
**San Francisco 49'ers (San Francisco Sea Lions)
**St. Louis Rams (St. Louis Terriers)

NFC South
**New Orleans Saints (New Orleans Crescents)
**Atlanta Falcons (Atlanta Hawks) formerly Atlanta Generals
**Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Tampa Pirates)
**Carolina Panthers (Charlotte Bobcats) formerly Carolina Panthers

[NYY #23]

The college teams were also streamlined down to 32, and I tried to keep things somewhat geographically aligned.

AL East
Boston College Eagles
North Carolina Tarheels
Penn State Nittany Lions
Virginia Cavaliers

AL North
Illinois Fighting Illini
Iowa Hawkeyes
Michigan Wolverines
Minnesota Golden Gophers

AL West
Arizona Wildcats
Stanford Cardinals
UCLA Bruins
USC Trojans

AL South
Alabama Crimson Tide
Auburn TIgers
Florida State Seminoles
Miami Hurricanes

NL East
Florida Gators
Ohio State Buckeyes
South Carolina Gamecocks
Syracuse Orange

NL North
Indiana Hoosiers
Missouri Tigers
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Wisconsin Badgers

NL West
Arizona State Sun Devils
California Golden Bears
Oregon Ducks
Washington Huskies

NL South
Georgia Bulldogs
Kentucky Wildcats
Louisiana State Tiger
Texas Longhorns

[NYY #23]

For 12 years no team has been a better example of success than the Saints, despite how you want to measure it. The Saints have more wins than any other team (137), a higher winning percentage than any other team (.672), more playoff appearances (11), league championship game appearances (5), World Championship Game appearance (4), or World Championships (3) than any other team.

They've won their division 10 of 12 times, and finished no lower than second. Their worst year came in 1876, their only losing season at 7-11.

The Saints performed very well in the two "lost seasons", and captured their third championship in 1881 after an 11-5 season, and a World Championship win over the Denver Broncos. 1882 featured another 11-5 season for the Saints, but 5 errors led to 5 unearned runs and the Saints fell to the 49'ers 7-6 in the opening round of the playoffs.

From the early days of Mark Batch the Saints have had four primary starting pitchers over the years, with 3 of the 4 occurring in the first four years:



Then came Aaron Jackson:



Now 37 and still cruising along as one of the top pitchers in the league. His 87 career wins place him third on the all-time list, behind Dan Anderson (95), and Milt Foss (93). Based on all three players roles, don't count Jackson out as the first to 100 career wins. He already is the career leader in strikeouts (760), shutouts (11), and WAR (53.9). He's won 17 Player of the Week awards, 7 Pitcher of the Month, 1 Pitcher of the Year, and he's been runner up to Pitcher of the Year four years in a row.

There are warning signs that their dynasty may be crumbling - Aaron Jackson's age and no obvious replacement, an anemic offense that ranked 14th in the league in runs scored and batting average, and some poor recent drafting, but if I remember correctly I proclaimed the Saints dead once prematurely, and I'm not going to do that again. They've been known to pull a rabbit or two out of their hat.

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A preview of the new look Saints uniform, which was done by eriqjaffe, who also did the college uniforms that I'm using. The Crescents was one of my favorites, and done by txranger, and I'll still be using many of his wonderful retro logo's and uniforms for the development league. This game wouldn't be the same without the great work that they and others do on logos and uniforms, so I did want to give thanks before I got too far along. I also have to say that I think the Crescents definitely earned a place in whatever fictional league I do in the future.

[NYY #23]

I wanted to move next to an 1882 recap, give some summaries, and then begin moving forward. First a look at the standings:




The Seals and the Bengals got the bye's in the American League, with the Tycoons and Blues earning the National League bye's. In the American League the Dolphins get cheated out of a playoff berth with the tie breaker results, but that is something that I think I have the power to correct going forward.

Round 1
Ravens defeated the Jets 9-6

It was a pretty good day if you were a Sylvester on both teams:



Jaguars defeated the Sounds 13-3



Nick Erby picked up the win for the Jaguars. Erby was a new name for me, although he's been on the reserve roster since 1871, last year with the Acorns Erby went 10-4 with a 2.08 ERA to earn the promotion this year, and he's gone 7-5 with a 2.67 ERA in 15 starts, and finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting.

49'ers defeated the Crescents 7-6


Cardinals defeated the 76'ers 6-5

Two on in the top of the ninth with one out, and the 76'ers failed to get the job done and complete their comeback against the Cardinals after trailing 6-0.

Round 2

Ravens defeated the Seals 7-5

Jim Britt lost his starting pitcher's job this year to Josh Lederer for most of the year. Lederer went 8-4 with a 3.17 ERA while Britt made an end of season return to the starter's job and went 2-1 with a 1.04 ERA, and continue his hot pitching with a playoff win as a starting pitcher's controversy is brewing in Baltimore.

Bengals defeated the Jaguars 12-2

I feel like I need to take a closer look at the starting pitchers around the league, as 41 year old Josh Osteen was released and has signed on with the Comets. The Bengals decided to go with the youth movement, and gave the job to 37 year old Harry Jenks, who went 6-4 with a 2.82 ERA this year, but allowed just 2 runs in the Bengals playoff victory.

49'ers defeated the Tycoons 5-1

Sean Thompson pitched a 4 hitter to lead the 49'ers to victory.

Cardinals defeated the Blues 8-4

A big part of the Blues' success this year was 24 year old starting pitcher Jim Conway, who went 11-5 with a 2.25 ERA for the Blues in his first season as the starter. He was roughed up in his playoff debut though, and the Cardinals advanced to the League Championship game.

Round 3

Ravens defeated the Bengals 4-3

Warren White came up with the big seventh inning hit to break a 3-3 tie as the Ravens advanced to their third World Championship Game , still looking for their first win.

49'ers defeated the Cardinals 5-4

Scott Young was pitching a one hit shutout against the 49'ers when a lengthy rain delay hit after the sixth inning. The 49'ers scored five runs off reliever Dan Boudreau in the final three innings to return to the World Championship Game for the first time since 1879.

World Championship Game

Ravens defeat the 49'ers 2-1

Jim Britt shook off a shaky second inning to shut down the 49'ers the rest of the game and lead the Ravens to their first World Championship.

------------------------
Note - I'm going to leave the 1882 standings alone, and the changes will be effective with the 1883 season.

[NYY #23]

Let's take a look at the team's all-time records:

1) Saints (137-67)
2) Broncos (127-77)
3) Packers (126-78)
4) Steelers (120-92)
5) Raiders (114-94)
6) Ravens (112-93)
7) Seahawks (110-94)
8) Texans (109-95)
9) Patriots (111-97)
10) Jaguars (109-96)
11) Redskins (106-97)
12) Cardinals (105-97)
13) Buccaneers (106-101)
14) Colts (106-102)
15) Eagles (103-100)
16) Cowboys (102-101)
17) Jets (101-102)
18) Bengals (103-105)
19) Chiefs (103-105)
20) 49'ers (100-102)
21) Bills (101-109)
22) Titans (98-108)
23) Vikings (97-107)
24) Lions (96-107)
25) Chargers (96-110)
26) Bears (89-114)
27) Panthers (89-116)
28) Dolphins (89-117)
29) Browns (89-118)
30) Giants (87-116)
31) Rams (71-131)
32) Falcons (69-133)

While wins don't always equal championships, they've been a pretty good indicator of success. The number of Championships per team -

3 - Saints (1st in wins)
2 - Broncos (2nd in wins)
2 - Packers (3rd in wins)
1 - Ravens (6th in wins)
1 - Jaguars (10th in wins)
1 - Cowboys (16th in wins)
1 - Chiefs (19th in wins)
1 - 49'ers (20th in wins)

Finally, the number of playoff appearances -

11 - Saints
9 - Packers
8 - Steelers
7 - Broncos
6 - Raiders, Patriots, Seahawks, Texans, Bengals
5 - Buccaneers, Cardinals, Ravens, Jaguars, Redskins
4 - Chiefs, Titans, Colts, Vikings, Jets, Bills, Eagles, 49'ers
3 - Dolphins, Lions, Browns, Chargers, Cowboys
2 - Bears, Giants, Panthers
0 - Falcons, Rams

[NYY #23]

American League Outstanding Pitcher of the Year



Jim Britt of the Baltimore Ravens captured his second Pitcher of the Year Award after going 11-4 with a 2.15 ERA. Britt struck out 47 batters in 138 innings, while walking just 4 as he edged out Jonathan Lyons of the Broncos and Erik Wilson of the Texans.

Jim Britt, Ravens - 11-4, 2.15, 138 IP, 47 K
Jonathan Lyons, Broncos - 12-4, 2.70, 143.1 IP, 50 K
Erik Wilson, Texans - 10-5, 2.10, 141.2 IP, 17 K

National League Outstanding Pitcher of the Year



Matt Kelley of the Packers won his second Pitcher of the Year Award of his career, and has won two of the three past awards. The 38 year old went 12-3 with a 2.05 ERA in 145 innings. Kelley finished ahead of Aaron Jackson of the Saints and Cameron Cotter of the Cowboys.

Matt Kelley, Packers - 12-3, 2.05, 145 IP, 93 K
Aaron Jackson, Saints - 11-5, 1.38, 143.2 IP, 90 K
Cameron Cotter, Cowboys - 8-8, 1.29, 147 IP, 91 K

American League Outstanding Hitter of the Year



Tom Dyson of the Jaguars has been around the league since the beginning, and made his debut at the age of 29, hitting .333, and seems to be getting better every year, winning his second Outstanding Hitter Award at the age of 35. Dyson has played his entire career with the franchise, going from a Durham Eagle, to an Orlando Duck, to finally a Jacksonville Jaguar, and this may have his best season to date with the bat, hitting .354 with 2 home runs, 14 RBI, 6 walks, and just 1 strikeout with 1.1 WAR. George Gore of the Texans finished second in the voting, with Fred Lewis of the Chargers coming in third.

Tom Dyson, Jaguars - .354, 7 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 14 RBI, 13 R, 1 SB
George Gore, Texans - .377, 3 2B, 0 3B, 1 HR, 9 RBI, 23 R, 6 SB
Fred Lewis, Chargers - .405, 8 2B, 1 3B, 0 HR, 16 RBI, 13 R, 4 SB

National League Outstanding Hitter of the Year



Catcher Cal McVey of the Packers wins his second straight Outstanding Hitter of the Year Award in the National League, hitting .357 with 13 RBI. Cap Anson of the Giants finished second, with Brian Keenan of the Vikings finished third.

Cal McVey, Packers - .357, 3 2B, 2 3B, 0 HR, 13 RBI, 21 R, 0 SB
Cal Anson, Giants - .453, 5 2B, 1 3B, 0 HR, 5 RBI, 19 R, 6 SB
Brian Keenan, Vikings - .426, 6 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 7 RBI, 12 R, 1 SB

American League Rookie of the Year



Dan Brouthers made sure the Titans paid attention during his rookie year, hitting .377 with 10 runs scored and 13 runs batted in to win the American League Rookie of the Year.

Brouthers had an interesting path to the majors, being drafted in the first round by the Cleveland Spiders, where he spent four years with the organization on the reserve roster, too young to be called up before the Spiders released Brouthers, and he returned to Auburn, hitting .313 in what should have been his senior season, before again entering the draft and being selected by the Sounds.

(I'm not sure about his career path, it doesn't make much sense as he was top prospect for the Spiders, but he did get caught between the time college was added, and was forced to wait until he was old enough. I'm guessing that 15 enforces some of the age restrictions better, because I've noticed a few like this that were released after I upgrade the league).

[NYY #23]

American League Outstanding Pitcher of the Year



George Derby of the San Diego Chargers won his first Pitcher of the Year Award after going 13-3 with a 2.54 ERA. Derby edged out Dave Thompson of the Jets and Josh Karic of the Raiders.

George Derby, Chargers - 13-3, 2.54, 138 IP, 42 K
Dave, Thompson, Jets - 9-6, 2.63, 133.1 IP, 33 K
Josh Karic, Raiders - 8-6. 2.14, 138.2 IP, 48 K

National League Outstanding Pitcher of the Year



Matt Kelley of the Packers won his second Pitcher of the Year Award of his career, and has won two of the three past awards. The 38 year old went 12-3 with a 2.05 ERA in 145 innings. Kelley finished ahead of Aaron Jackson of the Saints and Cameron Cotter of the Cowboys.

Cameron Cotter, Cowboys- 13-3, 1.27, 134.1 IP, 80 K
Aaron Jackson, Saints - 11-5, 1.75, 139 IP, 112 K
Scott Young, Cardinals - 11-5, 2.13, 147.2 IP, 67 K

American League Outstanding Hitter of the Year



Sandy Griffin of the Jaguars has completed his journey from first round pick to Hitter of the Year by the age of 24. Griffin helped lead the high powered Jaguars offense, which scored more runs than any other team in the American League. Teammate Tom McGuigan finished second in voting, with Emil Gross of the Patriots finishing third.

Sandy Griffin, Jaguars - .537, 3 2B, 3 3B, 0 HR, 10 RBI, 15 R, 0 SB
Tom McGuigan, Jaguars - .426, 4 2B, 0 3B, 1 HR, 11 RBI, 16 R, 1 SB
Emil Gross, Patriots - .361, 2 2B, 5 3B, 1 HR, 15 RBI, 16 R, 5 SB

National League Outstanding Hitter of the Year



30 year old Dave Valek felt that he had nothing left to prove in the Canadian Baseball League, so when the San Francisco 49'ers gave him a chance to come to play in the National Baseball League he jumped at the chance. Many felt he would be overmatched, but the 30 year old proved everyone wrong by hitting .364, driving in 15 runs, and scoring another 14 runs to win the National League Outstanding Hitter Award. Second place went to Chris Gulch of the Cardinals, with Robby Jackson of the Blues finishing third.

Dave Valek, 49'ers - .364, 2 2B, 0 3B, 3 HR, 15 RBI, 14 R, 0 SB
Chris Gulch, Cardinals - .304, 6 2B, 1 3B, 4 HR, 14 RBI, 19 R, 0 SB
Robby Jackson, Bears - .324, 4 2B, 4 3B, 0 HR, 15 RBI, 11 R, 5 SB

[NYY #23]

On the cusp of the 1883 season let's take a look at tomorrow's stars, or potential stars, today. The top prospect list was released, and on top of that list is the #1 overall pick from the 1882 amateur draft.

1) CF - Joe 'Mudcat' Chapman, Rams -



Mudcat spent the past four years manning centerfield for the Stanford Cardinals, hitting .319 for his college career with 25 RBI, 42 runs scored, and 27 runs scored. The Rams made Chapman the number one pick in the draft, and Chapman first is tasked with winning the starting center field job, then helping turn around a franchise that has never seen the postseason. The Rams are hoping that Chapman can join a lineup featuring 25 year old 2B Benjamin Boyd, 25 year old C King Kelly, 23 year old 1B Ed Cartwright, 23 year old SS Yank Robinson, and 27 year old 3B Curtis Cottrell to form the core that will take them to the next level.

2) CF - Pete Browning, Panthers -



Browning struggled with injuries in college, and was limited to just 21 games during his college career at LSU, but after hitting .354 as a junior Browning felt he had nothing left to prove and declared for the draft a year early, and was selected by the Panthers with the third pick in last year's draft. The Panthers are hoping that last season was an anomoly, and they are closer to their 1881 record of 9-8 rather than last year's 5-11 record. They feel that Browning is already an upgrade in centerfield defensively, so he'll get a chance to contribute from day one.

3) SP - Jason Jackson, Packers -



Jackson was a first year starter at college for the Ducks, but struggled going 3-8 with a 3.81 ERA his first year, and the Ducks held him back until his senior year, where it looked like he finally put things together going 6-3 with a 2.29 ERA in 110 innings. Jackson will get a chance to learn under Matt Kelley, the 40 year old veteran, and is next in line to take over for Kelley once age starts to catch up with Kelley.

4) SP - Jamie Dickerson, Texans -



Dickerson is an interesting pitcher to be listed fourth. In reality he's been a highly regarded prospect since his college days with the Tarheels, and despite not getting into a game showed enough for the Texans to spend the ninth overall pick on him. He's got the potential to be an elite starting pitcher, but he's not there yet, and not too close either. He'll start on the Roughnecks development squad where he'll attempt to go from prospect to pitcher.

5) LF - Bobby Cushman, Pilgrims -



The 23 year old Cushman got on everybody's radar with two years playing for the California Golden Bears, hitting .351 and .365 in back to back seasons, but Cushman made a strange decision to play for the Miami Hurricanes his senior season, where he hit just .262 and looked overmatched.

The Pilgrims liked what they saw and drafted Cushman though, and last year Cushman hit .294 with a .400 on-base percentage with their development squad, the New England Patriots. However, when the Pilgrims had a left field opening this season they opted to sign 32 year old Canadian League import Johnny Glick instead of hand the job to Cushman.


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I should note that Jackson was a player created on request, and looks like he made it through the college journey unscathed. If you'd like to create a player and follow them through college to potentially the pros please let me know.

[NYY #23]

The 1883 season began and put the "there's no place like home" theory to test. Home team's went just 4-12 this week.



Game of the Week



It took 16 innings before rookie Elmer Foster was finally able to get his first big league hit, but his single in his 7th at-bat of the game was a walk off hit that gave the Steelers the 9-8 16 inning victory. It was a game that featured sloppy defense, with both teams combining to make 20 errors on the night, including 5 by Steelers first baseman Jim Forman. Dylan Smallwood pitched 11 innings for the Steelers while allowing just 1 earned run, but 8 runs overall.

Recap



There are a lot of unfamiliar faces among the starting pitcher's this year, but Scott Young of the Cardinals is one of the familiar ones. Young started this season with a 5 hit shutout win over the Bears, with the Cardinals winning 5-0. Henry Larkin picked up 4 hits for the Cardinals and drove in 2 runs with a pair of doubles.

The Tennessee Titans beat up on Jim Britt and the defending champion Baltimore Ravens with a 6-3 victory. Dan Brouthers tripled twice and added a single for the Titans, with Cletus Boyer connecting on a grand slam.

In Cleveland it was a surprising decision when the Browns announced that Tom Belles was the starter over Tim Keefe, but the 29 year old reliever, who hasn't pitched an inning in the majors picked up the first win of his career with a complete game 8-2 win. Belles added 2 hits and drove in 2 runs - both team highs. Not a bad debut for Belles.

Aaron Jackson allowed just 2 runs in the Saints complete game 4-2 win over the Colts. Mike Mansell drove in a pair of runs with a seventh inning triple for the Crescents.

On the Mound



It seems like there has been a mass changing of the guard with starting pitchers, so I'm trying to piece together who is who. Up first is the Detroit Lions, with second year starter Sam Johnson. Last year Johnson went 5-6 with a 1.65 ERA as a first year starter, after pitching out of the bullpen for three years. Johnson's season came to a premature end with an injury to his tricep, but he returned to the mound tonight with a complete game win over the Jets.

Johnson was a former first round pick, and took over from former starter Lee O'Neill after eleven seasons. Johnson appears to be the Lions starter for the immediate future though, and recently was ranked as the 20th best starting pitcher in the league.

[StLee]

Question about team name changes: are you planning to eventually change all team names to their NFL counterpart?

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by StLee

Question about team name changes: are you planning to eventually change all team names to their NFL counterpart?

I think so, at least that's the way I'm leaning. I'll probably wait until the 1900's though, and play it by ear, depending on how team's are doing.

[tcblcommish]

I'm loving this so far. Such a cool idea

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

[NYY #23]

Standings



Week 2 Recap



Larry Corcoran went the distance while allowing just 6 hits, 2 runs, and striking out 7 to pick up the win for the Panthers as they beat the Buccaneers 5-2 to pull into a four way tie in the NL South. Corcoran added an RBI with the bat as well with Ned Williamson going 3-4 with 2 RBI for the Panthers.

The Raiders came back with 2 runs in the ninth inning to edge the Titans 11-10. Adam Larson picked up his second hit of the game and doubled in the two winning runs for the Raiders. Catcher Len Stockwell added four RBI for the Raiders on a pair of hits. Mike Blain came on in relief of Josh Karic, who gave up 15 hits and 10 runs in 5 2/3 innings, and allowed just 1 hit over the final 3 1/3 innings to pick up the win.

The Browns got 3 RBI from rookie catcher Marty Barett as they beat the Rams 5-3 to go along with another solid pitching performance by Tom Belles, who improved to 2-0 in his professional career.

I'm still puzzled why Hugh Bond is no longer starting for the Chargers, because based on ratings Zack Harris is an inferior pitcher, but Harris allowed just 2 hits in 9 innings and has yet to allow an earned run this year as the Chargers improved to 2-0 with a 4-1 win over the Jets. For his efforts Zack Harris was named American League Player of the Week.

The Cowboys played 10 innings in New Orleans today, with the Cowboys scoring 4 runs in the tenth off reliever Wally Moraine to win the game 11-7. Peter Ennis, Chub Sullivan, and Frank Jones each drove in 3 runs in the Tycoons win. Frank Jones was named NL Player of the Week with the 3 runs scored and 4-6 night at the plate.

Auburn junior Charlie Geggus was named Player of the Week after a 7 hit complete game shutout win against the Texas Longhorns.

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by tcblcommish

I'm loving this so far. Such a cool idea

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

Thank you! I'm definitely having quite a bit of fun with this, but it always helps to know people are enjoying it too!

[NYY #23]

Edit: The new format will now make it's debut in week 5 (First up, I've been experimenting with some different formats in order to summarize some information using the csv exports. I wanted a quick way to see divisions at a glance with some relevant information, last game's results, a team's next couple of games, and a little bit of information about the team's starting pitcher.)



Week 3 Recap

The 'Bye era' begins this year, and I'm not sure how they'll effect things, or even have an impact. They are probably totally unnecessary, but they were one of those things I wanted to get working, mostly just to see if I could get them working. Someday in the future the Browns, Bengals, Raiders, and Texans will be the answer to a trivia question about which teams in the league had the first Bye.



38 year old Dave Cartwright of the Jacksonville Jaguars didn't start the season as the Jaguars' starting pitcher, but after Nick Erby was shelled in the opening game of the season he was promoted to starting pitcher, and this week was named Player of the Week after a complete game 5 hitter in which he only allowed one unearned run to pick up the win in the Jaguars 10-1 win over the Buccaneers. Tom Dyson added 3 hits for the Jaguars.

Rookie Al Atkinson has made a big impact in a short time on the Giants. Atkinson improved to 2-1 on the season after allowing just 2 hits and 1 unearned run in the Giants 10-1 win over their division rival the Redskins. The 22 year old was the Giants first round pick this year out of Syracuse, and immediately moved into the rotation. Last year the Giants struggled with a 5-11 season and former starter Dan McAleer went 1-7 with a 5.35 ERA.



Sam Johnson improved to 3-0 for the Lions as they remained undefeated with a 6-4 win over the Bears. Bill Long homered and drove in 3 runs for the Lions. Mark your calendars for a week 6 showdown against the Packers, which will help determine whether the Lions are contenders or pretenders.

[NYY #23]

Week 4 Recap



Zach Graziano is continuing to enjoy his rookie season after improving to 4-0 on the year as the Bills remain the only undefeated team in the league. Graziano pitched the complete game, but allowed 10 hits and 5 runs, although just 2 of those runs were earned. He also picked up a hit with the bat and scored a run.



Things are getting interesting in Cleveland where the 2-0 Tom Belles was benched in favor of Jake Scott, after Tim Keefe was benched in favor of Belles. Scott was charged with the loss, although 4 of the 5 runs were unearned in their 6-4 loss to the Colts. Cleveland also has 24 year old Ed Kent in the minors, undefeated and 3-0 for the Spiders.

Pat Rehberg may be a new name, but he's actually been with the Jets franchise from the beginning, when they were known as the Philadelphia Athletics. The 36 year old made his first start of his career this year, and is now 1-4 with a save in 64 2/3 innings with a 1.67 ERA for his career. 35 of those innings have come this year though, with his previous high of 10 innings in 1880, all coming in relief. Rehberg was named AL Player of the Week after his complete game win on the road against the Titans.

The National League Player of the Week went to Larry Corcoran of the Panthers, who allowed just 1 run in the complete game 7-3 win over the Bisons. The Panthers are now tied with the Saints for first place in the NL South. Despite the Saints win there has to be some concern about soon to be 38 year old Aaron Jackson, who allowed 10 hits and 8 runs before exiting the game after 8 innings. Lucky for Jackson the Saints pounded out 15 hits and scored 11 runs. Leading the way was Joseph Knight, who went 4-4 with a home run and 4 RBI.



James Burke (3-0,1.80 ERA,30 IP, 17 K) continues to dominate in college for the Florida State Seminoles, winning again to remain undefeated. The junior is now 22-9 with a 2.07 ERA in his college career for the Seminoles, and will be one to watch in the future.



I'm still trying to get caught up from jumping forward two years, but I did miss out on some fairly notable retirements. First up is Erik Wilson, one of the original members of the league. Entering the league at 32 years old Wilson spent his first six years of the league in the bullpen before earning his first starting pitching job with the then Hartford Owls (now Houston Texans). He started out pretty good his first year as a starter (9-8, 2.46), but at the age of 40 Wilson was 14-4 with a 1.66 ERA, and won the Pitcher of the Year Award. He retired following the 1882 season, but ended up with a 57-30 record and 2.29 ERA in 787 IP. There is just something about an unusual career path like Wilson's that I enjoy.

A couple other players calling it quits include -

SP - Chris Justice - 35-19, 2.68 ERA
SP - John Caron - 21-54, 3.72 ERA
1B - Joe Start - .292, 78 RBI, 97 R
CF - Jelani Gideon - .324, 84 RBI, 130 R, 37 SB

[StLee]

I dig the Browns' hat.

[Tigers84]

Go Wolves! As a Detroit fan, I certainly wouldn't be opposed to seeing them don the Honolulu Blue and Silver of the Lions to conform to your NFL theme...especially if they can have more success than their NFL counterpart!

[jaysdailydose]

Originally Posted by Tigers84

Go Wolves! As a Detroit fan, I certainly wouldn't be opposed to seeing them don the Honolulu Blue and Silver of the Lions to conform to your NFL theme...especially if they can have more success than their NFL counterpart!

Seconded. My prospect would push for a trade to try to win a Lions title.