Friday, February 1, 2019

2018 Indians Sim Season

Hey everyone, long time no talk, but I am excited to finally unveil what I have have been working on for the past month or so. I am playing the Cleveland Indians 2018 schedule with their 2018 team that was released on the blog site, if you haven't checked them out yet click here.  Here are some of the specifics for the season that I am running. I built a 5000 point team for every other team in the MLB of 20 players no bench discount from the 2000 and 2001 original sets. The only team that didn't have to follow the 5000 point rule was those damn Yankees and evil George Steinbrenner's open check book. Now I am only playing out the Indians schedule not the other teams, so what I have done is taken the team records from 1999 and 2000 season and added them together to get a win percentage. The records for them from the games I play against them will also count against that same winning percentage. That is how the playoffs will be determined. My goal from this is once a player reaches the same amount of plate appearances and at-bats as they did in the 2018 season is to compare the statistics and see how close they came or if they exceeded their card value. Same with the pitchers and their innings pitched.

I also do not want to be doing write ups for every series or even game until I finally get to the playoffs so my plan is to give in season monthly updates and this will be the first one as I have officially played through the last 2 days of March and through the month of April. I will give a monthly summary on the players and how I feel they have contributed through the month as well. I am excited to see what type of results I will get and hopefully you will be as well.




Lets Get Started!

Starting with looking at this team I am super excited about the starting rotation as they will give me chances in most games to stay competitive. The bullpen on the other hand will make me need to have a lead when my starters leave the game. Offensively I know I will need big seasons from the top of the order, Lindor, Brantley and Ramirez to carry the offense and take what everyone else does as some added surprises. They seem like an average team and through the first month the Cleveland Indians come in at 15-14 just above .500. The biggest surprise was Brad Hand getting absolutely rocked in the first series against the Seattle Mariners and picking up 2 losses already. The pitching dominance in the rotation picked up as i was able to get to a record of 8-3. Sadly after that a 5 game losing streak took me back to 8-8 with 3 of those losses coming from the bullpen blowing a lead. From that point a three game winning streak was the hottest I could get and traded wins and losses to reach the 15-14 record. Here is the played out schedule:


DATEOPPONENTResultsW:L:S:Record
Thu, Mar 29@SeattleL 9-5Nelson (1-0)Hand (0-1)--0-1
Sat, Mar 31@SeattleW 5-0Bauer (1-0)Sele (0-1)--1-1
Sun, Apr 1@SeattleL 4-2Mesa (1-0)Hand (0-2)Sasaki (1)1-2
Mon, Apr 2@Los AngelesW 2-0Clevinger (1-0)Bottnefield (0-1)Allen (1)2-2
Tue, Apr 3@Los AngelesW 5-0Kluber (1-0)Washburn (0-1)--3-2
Wed, Apr 4@Los AngelesL 5-4Holtz (1-0)Bauer ((1-1)Percival (1)3-3
Fri, Apr 6vsKansas CityW 4-2Carrasco (1-0)Suzuki (0-1)Allen (2)4-3
Sat, Apr 7vsKansas CityW 6-3Clevinger (2-0)Suppan (0-1)--5-3
Sun, Apr 8vsKansas CityW 2-1Kluber (2-0)Rosado (0-1)--6-3
Mon, Apr 9vsDetroitW 5-2Bauer (2-1)Moehler (0-1)Allen (3)7-3
Tue, Apr 10vsDetroitW 4-0Carrasco (2-0)Mlicki (0-1)--8-3
Wed, Apr 11vsDetroitL 2-0Nitkowski (1-0)Cimber (0-1)Jones (1)8-4
Thu, Apr 12vsDetroitL 5-4 14InJones (1-0)Cimber (0-2)--8-5
Fri, Apr 13vsTorontoL 6-1Halladay (1-0)Bauer (2-2)--8-6
Sat, Apr 14vsTorontoL 4-3Painter (1-0)Otero (0-1)Koch(1)8-7
Sun, Apr 15vsTorontoL 5-0D. Wells (1-0)Clevinger (2-1)--8-8
Tue, Apr 17@MinnesotaW 4-1Kluber (3-0)Milton (0-1)--9-8
Wed, Apr 18@MinnesotaW 1-0Bauer (3-2)B. Wells (0-1)Allen (4)10-8
Fri, Apr 20@BaltimoreW 16-6Hand (1-2)Kohlmeier (0-1)--11-8
Sat, Apr 21@BaltimoreL 4-3Erickson (1-0)Clevinger (2-2)Timlin (1)11-9
Sun, Apr 22@BaltimoreW 6-4Kluber (4-0)Ponson(0-1)Allen (5)12-9
Mon, Apr 23@BaltimoreL 7-5Timlin (1-0)Otero (0-2)Kohlmeier (1)12-10
Tue, Apr 24vsChicagoW 7-4Hand (2-2)Lowe (0-1)Allen (6)13-10
Wed, Apr 25vsChicagoL 1-0Baldwin (1-0)Clevinger (2-3)Howry (1)13-11
Thu, Apr 26vsSeattleL 5-2Garcia (1-0)Kluber (4-1)Sasaki )2)13-12
Fri, Apr 27vsSeattleW 2-1Bauer (4-2)Halama (0-1)Allen (7)14-12
Sat, Apr 28vsSeattleW 9-1Carrasco (3-0)Sele (0-2)--15-12
Sun, Apr 29vsSeattleL 3-1Meche (1-0)Clevinger (2-4)Sasaki (3)15-13
Mon, Apr 30vsTexasL 7-4Sele (1-0)Kluber (4-2)Venafro (1)15-14

Now lets break down the pitching stats from the early season. 

PitcherWLSGIPHERBBSOHRBSERAWHIP
Trevor Bauer420750291338931002.3401.34
Corey Kluber420857.1492328776003.6301.35
Mike Clevinger240744321238444002.4501.59
Carlos Carrasco300750.2401016862001.7901.12
Adam Cimber020129.1933111002.9701.32
Brad Hand2201518.2221417322006.9202.14
Dan Otero0201111.194342003.2401.08
Neil Ramirez0001111.2171110163008.8402.41
Cody Allen0071010.1427161101.7801.09
The starting pitches come in with a record of 13-8 while the bullpen is 2-6. With not having a full roster the workloads are heavier and I could surely use an Andrew Miller right now in the bullpen even if he wasn't his 2016 self it would surely be better than anyone else in the bullpen. Brad Hand has had the worst luck as he has had some games where he has been shelled right out of the gate. As a manager it is tough because he is my most reliable pitcher and high control with no home runs from the bullpen. Starting rotation wise I can't complain at all from what I have gotten from the starters. Clevinger is 2-4 and has done pretty well from the 4 spot. Cody Allen is 7/8 on save opportunities and has done a very good job when I had no expectations fro him at all. Cookie Carrasco has been the stud of the rotation so far losing three of his wins from bullpen blunders yet is still sitting at 3-0. Over the next month I expect to see Hand improve on his numbers, while the rest of the bullpen be about the same, with Cody Allen potentially regressing.

  

Offensive Statistics:

PlayerABRHRBI2B3BHRBBSOSBBA AVGOn-Base%
Francisco Lindor12023331890712233.275.341
Edwin Encarnacion11514321940910240.278.336
Jose Ramirez114203026130814225.263.344
Michael Brantley11114461215019180.414.458
Yonder Alonso107824137037220.224.272
Jason Kipnis10552695025350.248.282
Melky Cabrera80712130010220.150.244
Greg Allen7210930019118.125.222
Yan Gomes6571364025120.200.257
Rajai Davis6021174003166.183.222
Roberto Perez31391300430.290.371
The star of the offensive show so far has been Michael Brantley and his .458 On-Base percent and .414 batting average. A full season of that would put him at an 11 OB only .002 behind what Mike Trout did for the entire season. How ridiculous is Mike Trout. Home-Run leader Edwin Encarnacion is providing some great power when needed although he doesn't add much more to the team. Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez have done pretty well, although i expect much more from Jose but he has had a slump to begin the season. The production is there, it just seems the advantage hasn't fallen on his side as often as Michael Brantley. After those 4 there is really nothing to talk about with this team. Small sample size Roberto Perez has been a nice surprise with a .371 OB%. Much like me wishing for an Andrew Miller, a Josh Donaldson would be nice to have right now to slide Jose over to second base, but I would even settle for a Yandy Diaz. 

  

For the first month I can say this has been a great amount of fun, especially the team building process for the other 29 teams. The competition is only going to heat up as the Cleveland Indians chase the American League Central Championship.

Here are the current standings with the 99-00 records added in

AL CentralWinsLossWin PCTGames
Chicago17115452.62%325
Cleveland151451.72%29
Detroit15017745.87%327
Kansas City14118543.25%326
Minnesota13819241.82%330
AL EastWinsLossWin PCTGames
New York18513857.28%323
Boston17914555.25%324
Toronto17015751.99%327
Baltimore15417446.95%328
Tampa Bay13818542.72%323
AL WestWinsLossWin PCTGames
Oakland17814555.11%323
Seattle17415752.57%331
Houston16915552.16%324
Texas16715851.38%325
Anaheim15317446.79%327

NL CentralWinsLossWin PCTGames
Cincinnati18114455.69%325
St. Louis17015352.63%323
Pittsburgh14717645.51%323
Milwaukee14717645.51%323
Chicago13219240.74%324
NL EastWinsLossWin PCTGames
Atlanta19812661.11%324
New York19113458.77%325
Miami/Florida14318044.27%323
Philadelphia14218243.83%324
Nationals/Expos
13518941.67%324
NL WestWinsLossWin PCTGames
Arizona18513957.10%324
San Francisco18314156.48%324
Los Angeles16316150.31%324
Colorado15417047.53%324
San Diego15017446.30%324
Let me know what you guys think and stay tuned for more updates as the season rolls along thanks for reading this even though its pretty long. If you have any questions or suggestions about this season let me know!!

2 comments:

  1. This is such an amazing premise and fun/unique way to use Showdown cards!! Brad Hand has GOT to figure his stuff out -- once he does, I think the Indians are going to get some more hot streaks going! The states are really cool, and I think it's a good illustration of the realism of Showdown!

    Definitely excited to see these 5000 point 00-01 teams you put together, they sound epic!

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  2. It’s fun playing it out and managing the teams. Each team had different strengths and any team with high controlled pitchers have been successful against the Indians. Carlos Delgado 01 was a real beast

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