Sluggers Beer League

[bourboncream]

Idea:
A semi professional league under the banner of the Slugger Beer Association, is born in New York at the turn of the millennium as 6 teams get together hoping to put out a product that will capture the imagination of their city/state and ride the Baseball 'hype train' to the bank.

With the Majors' belief that brain > brawn, the Beer League (as it will be called) comes in with the opposite view, if you have beef, you're in. There are no questions asked, no samples taken and no needles shared.

If you want an edge in the BL, well go get it is their motto. The premise or even promise of this league is; Dingers, Shells, Bombs, Jacks, Tapers, Big Flies... you get the picture. If you want to pitch, then good on you!

The 6 teams ready to start the league are:


Rochester Roid Ragers


Brooklyn Cheaters


New York Injection


Albany Juicers


Buffalo Cansecos


Yonkers Dopes

It will be a 60 game split season format, playing each other 6 times and the split winners will face off in the Beer Series, however should the same team win both splits, then the overall standings 'runner up' will make the 5-game showdown.

There is one player award going to a hitter, called 'Mr Jack' and other player based settings include, no trades, free agency available after 1 years service and a 22-man roster limit.

Lets see where this goes...

[bourboncream]

League Concepts:

Structure
6 teams
Will play each other 12 times in 4 series of 3 games each (60 game total)
Season is played over a split format, producing 2 stage winners
Stage winners* faceoff in Beer Series; 5 games to decide Beer League Champions
*If same team wins both stages, overall table runner up competes in the Beer Series
No Spring Training
No All-Star Game
There is no Player Draft

Notable Rules
DH is employed throughout the league
Outfield fences must be 5ft at all points
Outfield distance at all points must not exceed 300ft
Trades are disabled
Roster size is limited to 22 players at all times (no roster expansion)
Arbitration disabled
Players are eligible for free agency after 1 years service
No team salary cap
No league revenue sharing
Players are not tested for substance abuse (ie bans are disabled)

Honours
Beer Series Pennant awarded to team who wins the Beer Series
The Leagues best player is awarded the 'Mr Jack Trophy'
Players can be voted into the Leagues 'Hall of Pharm'

[bourboncream]

Team by Team Season Preview:

*Note as this is the first season of the league, there is little history available and as such everything is based on how OOTP has generated the opening set of rosters per team


Rochester Roid Ragers

Info:
Rochester come into the league thanks to the backing of owner Ronald Hunt, owner and founder of 'Bunch of Hunts', a moderately successful Grape importing business.

As such the Roid Ragers are not the wealthiest of teams and will rely on its external income to keep the team afloat. Their payroll sets them 5th out of the 6 teams in the league and unless grape demand increases, its unlikely to change in the near future.

The 'Ragers will play at Roids Field, a small ballpark in Rochester with a 2100 capacity. Interestingly the team do have one of the biggest outfields (to center), coming in at 282ft just shy of the league maximum.

Personnel:
Rochester will be managed by 44 year old Cary Taylor, a local man with 7 years experience of coaching at 'Pee-Wee' level, he will hope to step up to the mark set by the teams ownership. Fortunately, for the lack of finance in the team, he inherits a solid looking lineup, headlined by Ray Bell (RF) and Chris Miller (2B).

On the flipside the team will go into the season with one of, if not, the leagues worst pitching staff and with the matchups looking to be 'run-heavy', there could be a few shellackings at Roids Fields in their debut season.

Overview by Position:

[bourboncream]

Apologies if anyone was following this, basically I setup the game without knowing the full amount of options I could change... since learning about them, I have made the league even more how I wanted and as such, rather than start a new thread I will re-vamp the above and continue as if this was new.

[bourboncream]

Brooklyn Cheaters

Info:
Brooklyn head into the season, hopeful that their relative spending spree will bring them results. Team Owner Darrell MacGregor mainly resides in Scotland these days, but has enlisted the help of Josh Barron to run the team as General Manager.

Barron immediately employed his neighbour Carroll Stone to manage the team and spent all he could on piecing together a team to compete at the top end of the league from the get-go.

Playing at the 2400 capacity Ballpark of Brooklyn, the Cheaters fans wont be shy of balls to collect, especially with the right field wall coming in at 212ft away.

Personnel:
Ironically for the Cheaters, their best piece of business was in acquiring local 36 year old Corey Mitchell to pitch for them from their bullpen. The irony being, you dont want to be a pitcher in this league!

As for their lineup, Roger Patton at 1st could be their biggest threat, whilst Frank Scott another 1B, will probably slot in at the teams DH given the logjam in his position.

Overview by Position:

[darkcloud4579]

Intriguing!

[phillyboy19]

This looks good!!!

[bourboncream]

Originally Posted by darkcloud4579

Intriguing!

Thanks for taking your time to have a look, I hope it pans out that way too.

Originally Posted by phillyboy19

This looks good!!!

Thanks mate, appreciate you having a read and the feedback.

[bourboncream]

New York Injection

Info:
The leagues behemoth? Who knows, but any baseball team named New York (bar the Mets of course) can generally put a decent lineup together. The Injection appear to have their own mini-Steinbrenner running the show, as Jim Smith (born in Buffalo, NY) is a 54 year old millionaire with money to burn.

Their Win Now' philosophy is ideal if things go well, but the pressure is on GM Rich Snell and Manager Tim Lopez to deliver the goods and the initial signs are a bit hmmm...

Currently the Injection play at New York Fields which holds upto 2200 fans. Plans will potentially see the team move into a bigger stadium, however their RHB favored ballpark might be a blessing in disguise for the lineup.

Personnel:
Well it appears that Mr Snell has bitten off a few duds here, as the money has gone in and not alot has come back out. Salary wise, they sit 3rd in the league for spending but are not far off those ahead of them. Yet going through the players in their possession, only 30 year old Dan Blair sticks out as a lock for a good season.

Overview by Position:

[bourboncream]

Buffalo Cansecos

Info:
The Cansecos are a mess, they are currently seeking a Manager and have a owner who clearly looks like here is here to make some money from the new setup.

Canseco Yards is a bit of a mess, with Left-Center coming in at a league high 293ft, whilst Right-Center is 207ft as the team will have to adjust to make the most of their surroundings.

With the team spending almost $10,000 less than the league high in salary, the work of GM Jeff Fletcher has been nothing short of a miracle in putting a team together. However the lack of funds show a gap in quality and the reality is, the Cansecos are a disaster in waiting.

Personnel:
With a small budget and no manager thus far, its been a tough time piecing together something for someone to work with. Shortstop Mike McGee appears to be the teams shining light, but there appears to be little else here for anyone to work with.

Overview by Position:

[bourboncream]

Albany Juicers

Info:
An exciting time for all Albany residents as the Juicers look to be one of the best backed teams in the league. Manager Angel Solis who has had experience of managing teams throughout the Caribbean comes in under owner Peter Porter's ambitious plans to be the dominant factor in the Beer League.

Albany who have the leagues smallest ballpark (The Albany Lookout) will probably be a part of some of the highest scoring games in the league, with all parts of the outfield coming in at under 230ft. Add this to the small 1900 capacity bleachers coupling the infield lines and its a tight, unforgiving place to play if you are having an off night.

Personnel:
As with all the teams, the Juicers will rely heavily on their lineup to produce enough runs for their pitching staff to sustain. With that in mind, the signings of Walt Menke (C) and Francisco Gomez (CF) are arguably the best deals of any team for the debut season of the league. This double punch of power (especially based in a small ballpark) could well erupt into something spectacular.

Overview by Position:

[bourboncream]

Yonkers Dopes

Info:
The final team in our opening season preview and its the Yonkers Dopes, the team with the biggest payroll and favourites to claim the first Beer Series crown.

Owner Jim McCauley (famous for his fast food chain Jimbros Burritos) has given his full financial backing to the team and this has been taken advantage of by GM Donald Wilson as he has pieced together a soild looking roster.

The team will play at the 3000 capacity Yonkers Grounds, an average looking park that has a short reach to dead center.

Personnel:
This is where the Dopes should excel as they have a good looking lineup to at least get them runs throughout their order, whilst although pitching is probably going to get smashed around for all teams, the Dopes do have the best staff in the league.

Key players such as Matt 'Boomerang' Dillon, Kevin Fox and Starter Steve Thompson should carry this team throughout the season, but alongside the talent, there is the issue of ego and that is something rookie Manager Mike Darcy will have to deal with as the season progresses.

Overview by Position:

[bourboncream]

Beer League predictions presented by:

Beer Googles; Seeing things you cant for Generations



Take these with a pinch of salt if you will, the main reason being the predictions dont cater for the split season format and as such any of these teams could well be in the Beer Series. However odds are that teams with a winning record will do well and as such placing the Cansecos at the top with a 33-27 record is a punt.

Overall it points to a close run season, the HR numbers look lower that expected, but all teams will finish the season with ERAs above 5.00 as we can expect high scoring encounters throughout.

With regards to players, New York could spring a surprise or two as they are predicted to house 3 of the bigger offensive powers in the league, but again its the Cansecos with 4 players (headlined by McGee) who may well take the league by storm.

If we have to talk about pitching, 3 players predicted to have an ERA under 4.00 could be locks for the Hall of Pharm if they stay on that path, but in all honesty, hitters may well as use tee's...

[bourboncream]

Season 1 (2000) 1st Stage:

3rd June and its opening day for the Beer League with all the teams involved and plenty of runs scored. The Injection would be the first team to light up the boards, bringing home 12 in a 11 run win over Rochester, whilst Buffalo and Brooklyn would also open their home-stands with victories.

The interesting insight would be the 15 home runs smacked out of the 3 parks combined, as both Yonkers Matt Dillon and Albanys Francisco Gomez would nab a pair.

From there on in it became almost a highlight a day for the league as in the next matchups we would get our first shutout as Bob Garrison of Rochester would hurl a 14K, 1H gem as he helped the Roid Ragers get revenge on New York 8 to zip.

In terms of standings, both Brooklyn and Albany would lead out the division early on with 7-2 records, however it would be Yonkers who would manage to string together wins at the crucial stage, going from 11-8 to 19-11 thanks to a run of 6 straight wins, to take their place in the innaugural Beer Series at the end of the season.

Albany would head up the best of the rest, whilst heavy spending New York looked in desperate trouble going 11-19 and in need of a rethink come the 2nd stage.

Notables:
Bob Garrison throws the leagues first complete game shutout in Rochester win over New York. His line reading 1H, 14K and 2BB.
Zack Garcia (BUF) is the first player to knock it out of the yard 3 times in a game. He did it against New York in Buffalo's 7-4 win.
Highest scoring game: Yonkers 15 @ New York 12
Biggest winning margin: Rochester 1 @ New York 12

Standings:

[bourboncream]

Season 1 (2000) 2nd Stage:

In essence the 2nd 30 games of this years campaign proved why the split season format is arguably the most exciting way to go for the league.

Only in these conditions can a team go from 11-19, to 30-30 and wind up making the Beer Series thanks to a ferocious fightback from a crew of players that looked out of its depth in the opening exchanges.

New York following a public rollicking from their owner Jim Smith, would recover from a slow start in the stage and although Albany again would come close by finishing 2nd, it wasnt enough for the Juicers to overhaul the Injections charge.

Their recovery began after losing out in a 3-set to Albany to slump to 12-23 overall, 1-4 for the stage. From then on in, they picked up 18 wins, in no small part due to the contributions from Dan Blair, who hit 28 bombs whilst driving in 45 runs. Then also a surprise recovery in their pitching fortunes with Richard Wynn stepping up to win 5 straight and go 5-3 on the year, with a league best 3.75ERA.

For the Juicers its heartbreak, they wind up with the 2nd best record overall, but will look back on their miserable offense (323 Runs 2nd lowest in league) being the main problem they will need to address.

Notables:
Yonkers dish out a league best 18-1 spelunking of Albany at the Yonkers Grounds
In the same series as above; the Dopes' Steve Thompson throws the leagues first no-hitter, walking just 1 batter with 13Ks (Dated 13/7/2000)
Francisco Guzman rides the cycle as he has a banner day going 4/4 with one of each in the Injections victory over Yonkers (Dated 15/7/2000)
Wilfred 'Zipper' Hyling (ROC) and Matt 'Boomerang' Dillon (YON) join the 3HR in a game club in back to back days

Standings:

[bourboncream]

Preview:
Here we are, a best of 5 series to decide the first ever Beer Series Champions and its a tale of opposites, as Yonkers dominated the league with 35 wins and comfortably winning their place in the Series.

On the other side we have New York, after a miserable 11-19 opening stage, they would recover from a slow start to reverse that record and edge out Albany for their shot in the Series.

Keys to Victory:
Dan Blair (NY) who shone with 28 homers in the regular season has struggled in his appearances against the Dopes, hitting just .213 with 3HRs in 47ABs against the Yonkers staff.

For Yonkers its a case of who hasnt impressed against New York, with Kevin Fox, Matt Dillon and Russ Watson all putting up big numbers, especially the latter who has 7HR, 12RBI and is slugging 1.048 against them.

Pitchers Duel:
With the series opening with Juan Ruiz (YON) and Will Huff (NY) posting starts, the chances are that they are just a sideline in the show to come. Games 2 to potentially 5 will see 'double matchups' as both teams put their cards on show.

Game 2 and potentially 4 will see veteran and league Mr No-No' Steve Thompson face off against Richard Wynn (NY), he whom led the league with a 3.75ERA.

Games 3 and 5* then have Milton Hamm of Yonkers, another player who posted a sub 4.00 ERA with a 8-2 record, square off with Edward Hardin, a surprise choice given his 1-4, 5.35ERA over the season, but he did rack up 28Ks in 2 starts against Yonkers earlier this year.

Head to Head:
Yonkers hold the edge beating the Injection 8-4 over the 12 game regular season schedule.

Projected Pitching Matchups:

[bourboncream]

Lets Go Bonkers for Yonkers!
Dopes take it in 4; Richard collects MVP for efforts

NY - After all is said and done, the first year of the Beer League has proven to be a relative success, with attendances over and above the expected. Whilst the talent and performances on show, lived up to more than the belief that its a bunch of guys down the park.

Tonight saw the culmination of the 3 month long season, as the Yonkers Dopes finished off the challenge from the New York Injection, beating them 10-1 at the Yonkers Grounds to seal a 3-1 series win.

Yonkers came into the series as favourites but fell to a 7-6 loss in the opening game as the Injection fans had a little hope to cling onto. However the Dopes would pull it back with single run wins over their own in games 2 and 3 to setup tonights finale.

In Game 4 with everyone expecting another tense battle, just shy of 3000 fans would see Milton Hamm dominate the Injection lineup, giving his team a chance to swing away and club 3 home runs en route to the 10-1 shelling.

Surprisingly it would be Yonkers RF Frank Richard who would collect the series MVP as after a ropey regular season where he hit for just .189, with 13HR and 20RBI, he would marmarlise the New York pitching for 3HR and 4RBI as he played the key role in unlocking the close wins for the Dopes.

Ups/Downs:
UP - Frank Richard (YON) comes up big in the series to win the MVP thanks to home runs in games 2,3 and 4.

UP - Milton Hamm (YON) 28Ks from 14.1IP as he dominates the Injection including the decisive win in game 4.

DOWN - Dan Blair (NY) flopped and fumbled his lines, hitting just .118, as his 2 hits were both solo shots.

DOWN - Richard Wynn (NY) manages just 6.1IP as the league ERA leader is bruised following 4HR and a whopping 7.11ERA

Series Wrap:

[bourboncream]

Mr Jack Announced!
To complete a perfect year for Yonkers their Catcher Russ Watson collects the first ever Mr Jack award for being the leagues best player. He pips team mate Matt Dillon to the honour, as although Dillon club in a league high 34 dingers, Watson proved more consistent at the plate as the only player to hit over .300, with a .355 return.



League Leaders: