Promotion/Relegation Dynasty with Real Teams

[camly]

I am a big fan of both baseball and soccer. When I was watching soccer this morning, I thought about the promotion/relegation system, in which the worst teams in a league are sent down to the lower league, and the best teams are promoted to a higher one. And then I thought, this could be a cool idea for an OOTP league. I combined all of the Major League teams into one 30-team division, and I did the same for the 7 minor league levels (I added the independent Atlantic League with Rookie level teams to balance the number of teams). The bottom 4 teams from each league (except for the league at the bottom of the rung) will be sent down to the next lowest league, and the top 4 from that league will take their place. There is no affiliation between teams, and I will not change the names of current affiliates, so there theoretically could someday be 5 MLB teams named the "Braves."
I am simply observing this league, I am not coaching any teams or players. I fully expect the current Major League teams to dominate the current minor league teams, but after a few years of free agency and player aging, it should balance itself out. I will also increase stadium capacity once a team reaches the majors. As for the playoffs, the top 2 MLB teams will play in a 7 game World Series. I believe I've pointed out everything important, but if anyone has any questions or sees any gaping problems, feel free to let me know. So without further ado, it's time to simulate the 2015 season.

2015- Note: In the future, I will post season predictions and All Stars, but I wanted to get a season under my belt first.

Standings-


As you can see, there was a 3-way tie for the 4th relegation spot. I decided to go to head-to-head records to break the tie. Against the other 2 teams, the records were
Toronto 8-4
Miami 6-6
Seattle 4-8

So the first 4 teams to be sent down to AAA are Minnesota, Tampa, Cincinnati, and Seattle, who were in dead last the majority of the season and were actually 8 games above .500 after the All Star Break . The Cubs at one point were 10 games up in first, but they were passed on August 1 by the surging Dodgers, who were 46-16 after the All Star Break. Another thing I noticed was that the Phillies, despite playing with the same team as in real life, managed to finish close to .500, proving that anything can happen, even over the course of The Big 162. The league leaders looked like this.

Colorado had 3 of the top 7 batters in WAR, but gave up more ER than any other team, en route to finishing a respectable 9th place.
Awards:
MVP: Carlos Gonzalez (COL): .325/38/125
CY: Jordan Zimmerman (WAS): 16-5/2.56 ERA/0.97 WHIP/175 K
ROY: Kris Bryant (CHC): .256/39/129

There was still playoff baseball to be played, and the Cubs were in their first World Series in 70 years, could this be their year?

Nope.

Here are the top and bottom 4 from the lower level leagues. No ties needed to be broken.
AAA International League:



It'll be interesting to see how the next season will turn out for the 4 teams promoted.

AA League 3 (Eastern League):




High A Florida State League:




Single A Midwest League:




Low A Northwest League:




Rookie Pioneer League:


As I probably should have expected, the independent teams dominated the lowest league. The league will work itself out eventually, but it was probably a mistake in hindsight to include them.

So there you have it, the first season is complete. Again, please let me know what you think. If you have any questions or suggestions, I'm all ears! Thanks for reading this crazy long post, and I should have the next season up tomorrow.

[boogeyboard1]

This is really cool.

[JaBurns]

I'll follow I am intrigued with the idea and want to see how it works.

[boogeyboard1]

How did you set this up?

[camly]

Originally Posted by boogeyboard1

How did you set this up?

I just made all of the leagues unaffiliated with the majors, and I moved all teams from each level into the same division.

[camly]

Here are some of the major signings of the offseason.














Griffey and Piazza were both inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Here are the predictions for the 2016 season.



As you can see, the real-life minor league teams are projected to be overmatched, but to a much lesser degree than I expected. The Fresno Grizzlies are even projected to finish above a couple Major League teams. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

[Izz]

*subscribed*

[boogeyboard1]

What did you do about drafts?

[camly]

Originally Posted by boogeyboard1

What did you do about drafts?

As of now, only teams in the Majors are included in the draft, which is what I will continue to do until I think of a better way. Does anyone know if it will be possible to make the draft 15 rounds and put the undrafted players in a draft pool for the next league?

[camly]

The 2016 season began with 4 AAA teams in the majors. I soon realized that since there was only one division, there would be no All Star Game played. It's slightly disappointing, and I'm not sure if there's any way to have the game create a single all star team. Anyway, I decided to advance through the first three months of the season.



Toronto jumped out to an early lead in the league, and defending champion Los Angeles was tied for second, while the Cubs were nowhere to be seen.



The new teams have definitely exceeded expectations. Fresno and Colorado Springs were even in 9th and 10th respectively at one point. The biggest disappointment has been the Pirates, who were second to last, and all of their starters had ERAs above 4.50.

You would think that the 4 major league teams would dominate against all AAA teams, right?



Somehow, the Louisville Bats found their way to first, ahead of the Reds, with whom they are affiliated in real life. Tampa and Seattle weren't even on pace to be promoted back to the Majors. With a month to go, the league looked like this.





The Dodgers, with a couple strong months, gave themselves a huge lead in first. After narrowly missing out on the World Series last year, the Nationals established themselves in second with a month to go. Two of the new teams found their way to the bottom, while Colorado Springs was only 2 games out of relegation, and Fresno continued to play near .500 ball.



With 2 weeks remaining, the Dodgers all but locked up a spot in the Series, but who would be their opponent was wide open, with three teams tied for the second spot and two more only a game back. Here is the top of the league with only 6 games left.



Well that sorted itself out. With one game left, Kansas City, Nashville, and Salt Lake had all clinched relegation, but the Indians and Phillies were tied for the 4th spot. Cleveland played the 11th place Braves in their final game while Philadelphia played the 23rd place Tigers.

The Indians ended up winning, and the Phillies lost, guaranteeing relegation. Here were the full final standings.




The Phillies, Royals, Sounds, and Bees will spend the 2017 season in AAA. Colorado Springs had a strong September, and managed to even finish above the Grizzlies. The Cards and Dodgers will face in the World Series. I will post the playoff results tomorrow, but first, here are the league leaders.



Thanks for reading!

[Trebro]

What do the budgets look like for the AAA teams? Are they going to have a prayer at trying to get any free agents or retain talent?

And are you using reserve rosters?

[camly]

Originally Posted by Trebro

What do the budgets look like for the AAA teams? Are they going to have a prayer at trying to get any free agents or retain talent?

And are you using reserve rosters?

The AAA budgets are around $25,000,000, and lower leagues are around $10,000,000. Like in European soccer, it will be difficult for them to sign top level talent, but it is not entirely out of the question. I did find a setting where lower leagues can have their players bought by teams in the higher leagues. This should reward minor league teams for developing good players. They may not climb the ladder with one player, but they can use the money to sign other players.

And yes, I am using reserve rosters.

[faithful2thecall]

As a soccer (real football) fan myself, I find this premise to be interesting. I look forward to reading where it goes.

[camly]

The 2016 World Series was between the St. Louis Cardinals and the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers won 4 of 6 meetings between the teams, and were tied for 4th in runs scored and were third in runs allowed. The Cardinals were also tied for 4th with LA in runs scored, and they were first in runs allowed, in large part to Cy Young contender Michael Wacha. Wacha went 22-4 with a 2.40 ERA. He also only gave up 10 home runs in over 230 innings, to lead the majors with a 0.4 HR/9. Despite these stats, Wacha was only scheduled to start game 2 of the series.

Game one of the series was underway.



St. Louis took game 1 in a very long game at the packed Dodger Stadium. Peter Bourjos, who only hit 4 all season, hit a 2-run homer in the top of the 13th to put the Cardinals ahead for good. However, they brought out 7 pitchers over the course of the game, and they may have some tired arms going into Game 2...



... or maybe not. Carlos Martinez pitched 6 strong innings (I don't know why Wacha didn't start. He now isn't scheduled until Game 6) and the offense scored 4 on Kershaw in the first and didn't look back. The Cardinals headed home two wins away from the championship.



The Dodgers got a much needed Game 3 win thanks to a 2-hit shutout by Zack Greinke. Yasiel Puig's first inning homer proved to be the only runs they needed. For some reason, Wacha started this game. I guess projected starters means nothing. Game 4 was also in St. Louis.



Wow. The Dodgers for some reason sent out Perci Garner to start, who made nine starts all season and had a 5.21 ERA. Garner didn't pitch at all in 2015 in game, and he has never pitched in the majors in real life. His start went about as expected. The series now shifted back to LA (I'm doing the NHL playoff format because I like it better) with the Cardinals hoping to clinch the series.



It's not over just yet! The Cardinals jumped out to an early lead, but Clayton Kershaw found his zone and struck out 13 batters in the win. Mike Napoli's sac fly in the 8th scored Joc Pederson, and proved to be the game winner. St. Louis now had one last home game to try to clinch the series.



We're going to Game 7! Zack Greinke pitched 7 innings and gave up no earned runs. Now the Dodgers head back home looking to repeat as champions, while the Cardinals are hoping to avoid being the first team to blow a 3-1 World Series lead since... well... they did in 1985. Michael Wacha and Nick Schmidt were the Game 7 starters.



The Dodgers are back-to-back champions! Zack Greinke was the series MVP.

Here are the end of season awards.

MVP: Bryce Harper (WAS): .354/35/107

CY: Michael Wacha (STL): 22-4/ 2.40 ERA/ 1.03 WHIP/ 232 K

ROY: Preston Tucker (FRE): .280/21/90


Here are the results of the minors.

AAA:




AA:




High A:




There was a 3-way tie for the 4th relegation spot. Greenville had the worst record against the two other teams, and they will be relegated.

A:




Short A:




Rookie:


Offseason post should be up tomorrow. Thanks again for reading, and don't hesitate to ask any questions you may have!

[camly]

Here's the news from the offseason.



Peter Angelos does not have a son named Peter Angelos Jr. in real life.







This next one's kinda funny. This is one I haven't seen before.



Who knew? Also, Manny Ramirez was the only person inducted to the Hall of Fame. Here are the preseason predictions.



The Dodgers seem to be favorites to threepeat as champions. After two years of narrowly missing out on the World Series, the Nationals are expected to regress despite not losing any key pieces.

[camly]

It's been a busy weekend. Sorry for not posting for a few days. Here is the 2017 regular season.

The Dodgers came into the season to defend their World Series crown once again. However, they face strong threats from the Braves and Angels. Let's see how they do. Full disclosure: As I type this, I have no idea who's going to win the Series.

Here is what the league looked like after three months.





The Dodgers got off to another slow start, much like last year. But the most interesting thing in that picture is this.



The Cardinals were in the midst of a 16 game win streak, one which would eventually be stopped at 18 games. Yet they still were unable to gain any ground due to hot stretches by the Braves and Rays.

Louisville was actually above .500 at this point, and Fresno had been for a long stretch. The AAA standings also looked like they would be close to the end.



All three Major League teams were out of the promotion picture, but they all were within striking distance.



With a month to go, it looked like the Braves would run away with the league. The Dodgers had another strong July and August, as they had in their two championship years.



As for the bottom of the league, it looked like no team was safe from the relegation zone just yet.

With one game to go, the AAA league was closer than ever.



The Mariners put together a 10 game winning streak to bring themselves back into contention. Four teams, including all three major league teams, were tied for two promotion spots. Here are the final results.



Well that worked itself out nicely. Seattle would make it back to the Majors, and Kansas City would be forced to spend another season in the black hole that is AAA ball. Back in the MLB, there was a 4 team race for two World Series spots.



The Cubs and Cardinals willed themselves back into contention, and the Dodgers were in first for a short while before a five game slide. Momentum was not in their favor. As the season went into the final game, it was even closer.



The Braves clinched their spot in the World Series, and the Dodgers needed only a win to avoid a tiebreaker. Let's go!



The Dodgers won, and will be able to try to defend their crown once again. Despite late season surges, the Cubs and the Cardinals would not be able to get a second shot at LA. Here are the full standings of the 2017 MLB season.




The Rockies, Mets, Pirates, and Twins will be relegated to AAA. The Rockies lost star hitters Corey Dickerson and Carlos Gonzalez, and their pitching, though better than in years past, could not pick up the slack. None of the Mets' young pitchers have panned out to their full potential. 2016 first round draftee Thomas Szapucki struggled in his rookie season, but he is projected to be better than all of them. The Pirates were mediocre in every way. Besides Andrew McCutchen and Neil Walker, who inexplicably hit 5th and 6th respectively, no regular on the team hit over .230. The Twins were relegated for the second time. Starting Pitcher Ismel Hernandez went 1-12 with a 6.32 ERA after pitching like an ace against AAA hitters the previous season.

So the 2017 World Series will be between the Atlanta Braves and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers finished in the top two for the third year in a row, and they hope to be the first team to threepeat as champions since the '98-'00 Yankees. The World Series results should be up tonight or tomorrow, but first, here are the league leaders.



Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for reading!

[camly]

The 2017 World Series was between the Atlanta Braves and the two time defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers. Game 1 was in Atlanta, and the pitching matchup was between Clayton Kershaw and Alex Wood. Let's get underway!



The Dodgers won Game 1 after a strong start by Kershaw, who pitched 8 innings and gave up only 4 hits. Wood also pitched well, giving up 4 hits in 7 innings, but a 2-run triple by Yasiel Puig in the 6th scored all the runs the Dodgers needed, and the Braves could not give Wood much run support. Los Angeles now had a lead in the series with Zack Greinke scheduled to take the mound in Game 2.



I was not expecting this one to be high scoring. Greinke was pulled after 3.1 innings and 4 earned runs, and was thus ineligible for the win. Shelby Miller pitched worse in his first postseason start with the Braves, giving up 6 earned runs, 6 hits, and 2 walks in only 2.1 innings of work. Despite scoring 12 runs, the Dodgers, who were second in the league in homers in the regular season, only hit one in this game. It was a solo homer by Puig in the 3rd. The Dodgers now headed back home with a 2 game lead in the series, and the Braves were running out of chances.



The Dodgers easily handled Atlanta in Game 3 at home. Puig hit 2 more home runs, and Joc Pederson also hit one. Brett Anderson pitched 6 effective innings, and the bullpen of Kelvin Herrera and Kenley Jansen recovered after giving up 2 runs in the 9th. The Dodgers were now one win away from winning their third consecutive title, and Clayton Kershaw was scheduled to pitch Game 4. Clearly, the Braves had their work cut out for them.



After an 11-inning thriller, the Dodgers have threepeated as champions! Kershaw pitched 8 shutout innnings and gave up only 3 hits. Alex Wood pitched 6.2 shutout innings as well. The game was still scoreless going into the bottom in the 11th, when Yasmani Grandal singled in Yasiel Puig for the series winning run.

Puig was the series MVP.

Here are the league awards.

MVP: Joc Pederson (LAD): .283/33/105

CY: Sonny Gray (OAK): 19-8/ 1.91 ERA/ 0.96 WHIP/ 252 K

ROY: Tyrone Taylor (SF) .284/12/79

Here are the results from the minor leagues.

AAA:




AA:




High A:

San Jose won the tiebreaker, and they will spend the 2018 season in AA.


Rome lost the tiebreaker and will spend the 2018 season in Single-A.

Single-A:

Kane County won the tiebreaker and will spend the 2018 season in High A.



Short Season A:

Orem and Bristol are now the 3rd and 4th teams that originated in rookie ball to make it to the Midwest League.



Rookie:


So there you have it, another season is in the books. Please feel free to leave any questions or comments. The offseason should be up tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

[camly]

Here is some of the news from the 2017 offseason.

















That Greinke injury definitely could shake up the playoff race. Here are the preseason predictions for the 2018 season.



The Dodgers are still heavy favorites to win their 4th World Series in a row. They hope to be the first non-Yankee team to do so. The game also projects a 4th consecutive all NL World Series. The Mariners are expected to struggle in their first season back in the big leagues, and the Sky Sox are projected to end their three-year run in the top flight of American Baseball. The Fresno Grizzlies, meanwhile, could be the first AAA team to actually compete in the majors. I guess we will see...

[camly]

The 2018 regular season began with the Dodgers as favorites to win their fourth consecutive World Series. Hopefully this year can have some new intrigue. Here is what the league standings looked like after three months.



The Dodgers unsurprisingly were off to a hot start, and had a large lead. The Reds were playing well only three years after being relegated to AAA.





The Mets jumped out to a big lead thanks to the league's best pitching staff, led by Noah Syndergaard. The Royals were in 18th place, and they were possibly in danger of being the first Major League team to be relegated to AA.

Here are the standings with one month to go.



The top of the league had a four team race with the Dodgers once again leading the way. The Orioles looked to be the first AL team to play in the World Series, while the Nationals looked to be the 4th different team in 4 years to play Los Angeles in the Series.



After a few strong years, the Sky Sox' tenure in the majors appeared to be up. Meanwhile, the Fresno Grizzlies were in 9th and thriving.



With two weeks left in the AAA season, the top three spots were occupied by MLB teams, while the Royals appeared to be out.



With one week to go, the Pirates were surging and only one game out of a promotion spot.



Unfortunately for Pittsburgh, they would be spending another season in the minors. The Mets ran away with the league, and look to ride their momentum into the next season.

With five days to go, here is the top of the league.



The Dodgers still had the lead, but the surging Orioles and Nationals looked to play spoiler. After 4 more days, here are the standings.



This season was definitely going down to the wire. With one game to go, any combination of four teams could play in the World Series. Here we go!

The final standings are in.




All four teams won their games, and the World Series will be between the Cubs and Dodgers for the second time in four years.

Fresno and Louisville became the first minor league teams to finish above .500. I think it is only a matter of time before one team competes for the title. Atlanta finished in a disappointing 21st place after having the league's best record the year prior. The four teams to be relegated are San Diego, Toledo, Philadelphia, and Colorado Springs.

Here are the league leaders from the 2018 season.


The Cubs will get a second shot at the Dodgers in the World Series. The Cubs, who were swept three years earlier, hope to win their first championship in 110 years. The Dodgers, meanwhile, are hoping to four-peat as champions, a remarkable feat that hasn't been done since the Yankees won 5 in a row from 1949 to 1953. Needless to say, this will be an exciting series.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave any questions or comments!

[camly]

The 2018 World Series was between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs: a rematch of the 2015 Series. Both teams won 102 games in the regular season, but Chicago earned the right to play the first two games at home by winning 4 of 6 games against Los Angeles. Game 1 starters were Clayton Kershaw and Taijuan Walker. Let's get underway!



The Dodgers' quest for 4 consecutive titles got off to a good start in Game 1. Clayton Kershaw had a strong start, giving up 2 unearned runs in 6.2 innings and striking out 8 Cubs. The Dodgers got out to a lead in the 4th after a 2-run homer by Austin Meadows. Yasmani Grandal also homered and doubled, and the Dodgers won the first game 8-3. Zack Greinke and Jon Lester were scheduled to start Game 2.



The Dodgers had a 2 games to 0 lead and were now headed home. Both pitchers had very strong starts, but Greinke was better. He pitched 8 shutout innings and gave up only 4 hits on 98 pitches. Austin Meadows hit a solo homer in the second, his second of the series, and that proved to be the only run the Dodgers needed. Brett Anderson and Jonathan Pettibone started Game 3 in Los Angeles.



Another low scoring game. There was only a total of 11 hits this game. The Dodgers scored their only run on a solo homer in the 3rd by Hector Olivera, who hit only three in the regular season and was worth -0.1 WAR. Anyone can be a hero in the playoffs. Pettibone gave up 6 hits and the run in 7 innings, while Anderson pitched 7 shutout innings and gave up 5 hits. Kershaw and Walker were the Game 4 starters. It was win or go home for the Cubs, and the Dodgers were one win away from yet another title.



For the fourth year in a row, the Los Angeles Dodgers are World Champions. This is their tenth championship, which puts them in sole possession of third behind the Yankees and Cardinals. Their pitchers shut out the Cubs bats three games in a row, this time thanks to 8 shutout innings by Kershaw. The Cubs have now played 8 World Series games against the Dodgers, winning none and only scoring 9 runs in those games. The Dodgers have now won 11 straight playoff games.

The series MVP was unsurprisingly Clayton Kershaw.

So a fourth season is in the books, and this one will end the same as the previous three, with a Dodgers World Series win. This begs the question if anyone will ever be able to stop them and their $264 million payroll.

Here are the awards from the season.

MVP: Mike Trout(LAA): .328/25/75

CY: Jose Fernandez (BAL): 18-10/ 2.05 ERA/ 1.00 WHIP/ 277 K

ROY: Rowdy Tellez (ATL): .288/40/106

Here are the results from the minor leagues:

AAA:
Promoted:
1. New York Mets 99-45
2. Minnesota Twins 90-55
3. Colorado Rockies 89-56
4. Las Vegas 51s 86-58

Relegated:
27. El Paso Chihuahuas 56-88
28. Round Rock Express 56-88
29. Rochester Red Wings 50-94
30. Oklahoma City Dodgers 44-100

AA:
Promoted:
1. Tennessee Smokies 93-49
2. Albuquerque Isotopes 86-56
3. San Antonio Missions 86-56
4. Harrisburg Senators 84-58

Relegated:
27. Gwinnett Braves 58-84
28. Sacramento River Cats 57-85
29. Buffalo Bisons 56-86
30. Mobile BayBears 50-92

Interestingly, three of the 4 relegated teams from AA are actually AAA teams. The gap in talent between the minor leagues apparently isn't super big.

High A:
Promoted:
1. Salem Red Sox 87-53
2. Visalia Rawhide 84-56
3. West Virginia Power 82-58
4.Tampa Yankees 79-61

Relegated:
27. Springfield Cardinals 59-81
28. Richmond Flying Squirrels 58-52
29. Dunedin Blue Jays 55-85
30. Palm Beach Cardinals 54-86

Low A:
Promoted:
1. Cedar Rapids Kernels 85-55
2. Lansing Lugnuts 84-56
3. Modesto Nuts 84-56
4. Augusta GreenJackets 83-57

Relegated:
27. Lancaster JetHawks 59-81
28. York Revolution 58-82
29. Inland Empire 66ers 52-88
30. West Michigan Whitecaps 50-90

Short Season A:
Promoted:
1. Kannapolis Intimidators 53-23
2. Asheville Tourists 49-27
3. Tri-City ValleyCats 45-31
4. Everett AquaSox 44-32

Relegated:
19. Missoula Osprey 32-44
20. Southern Maryland Blue Crabs 28-48
21. Sugar Land Skeeters 28-48
22. Camden River Sharks 26-50

Rookie:
Promoted:
1. Ogden Raptors 50-26
2. Spokane Indians 49-27
3. Vancouver Canadians 48-28
4. West Virginia Black Bears 48-28

So there you have it! The 2018 season is over, and I will bring you the offseason news soon. Thanks for reading!