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:

DATE	OPPONENT	Results	W:	L:	S:	Record
Thu, Mar 29	@Seattle	L 9-5	Nelson (1-0)	Hand (0-1)	--	0-1
Sat, Mar 31	@Seattle	W 5-0	Bauer (1-0)	Sele (0-1)	--	1-1
Sun, Apr 1	@Seattle	L 4-2	Mesa (1-0)	Hand (0-2)	Sasaki (1)	1-2
Mon, Apr 2	@Los Angeles	W 2-0	Clevinger (1-0)	Bottnefield (0-1)	Allen (1)	2-2
Tue, Apr 3	@Los Angeles	W 5-0	Kluber (1-0)	Washburn (0-1)	--	3-2
Wed, Apr 4	@Los Angeles	L 5-4	Holtz (1-0)	Bauer ((1-1)	Percival (1)	3-3
Fri, Apr 6	vsKansas City	W 4-2	Carrasco (1-0)	Suzuki (0-1)	Allen (2)	4-3
Sat, Apr 7	vsKansas City	W 6-3	Clevinger (2-0)	Suppan (0-1)	--	5-3
Sun, Apr 8	vsKansas City	W 2-1	Kluber (2-0)	Rosado (0-1)	--	6-3
Mon, Apr 9	vsDetroit	W 5-2	Bauer (2-1)	Moehler (0-1)	Allen (3)	7-3
Tue, Apr 10	vsDetroit	W 4-0	Carrasco (2-0)	Mlicki (0-1)	--	8-3
Wed, Apr 11	vsDetroit	L 2-0	Nitkowski (1-0)	Cimber (0-1)	Jones (1)	8-4
Thu, Apr 12	vsDetroit	L 5-4 14In	Jones (1-0)	Cimber (0-2)	--	8-5
Fri, Apr 13	vsToronto	L 6-1	Halladay (1-0)	Bauer (2-2)	--	8-6
Sat, Apr 14	vsToronto	L 4-3	Painter (1-0)	Otero (0-1)	Koch(1)	8-7
Sun, Apr 15	vsToronto	L 5-0	D. Wells (1-0)	Clevinger (2-1)	--	8-8
Tue, Apr 17	@Minnesota	W 4-1	Kluber (3-0)	Milton (0-1)	--	9-8
Wed, Apr 18	@Minnesota	W 1-0	Bauer (3-2)	B. Wells (0-1)	Allen (4)	10-8
Fri, Apr 20	@Baltimore	W 16-6	Hand (1-2)	Kohlmeier (0-1)	--	11-8
Sat, Apr 21	@Baltimore	L 4-3	Erickson (1-0)	Clevinger (2-2)	Timlin (1)	11-9
Sun, Apr 22	@Baltimore	W 6-4	Kluber (4-0)	Ponson(0-1)	Allen (5)	12-9
Mon, Apr 23	@Baltimore	L 7-5	Timlin (1-0)	Otero (0-2)	Kohlmeier (1)	12-10
Tue, Apr 24	vsChicago	W 7-4	Hand (2-2)	Lowe (0-1)	Allen (6)	13-10
Wed, Apr 25	vsChicago	L 1-0	Baldwin (1-0)	Clevinger (2-3)	Howry (1)	13-11
Thu, Apr 26	vsSeattle	L 5-2	Garcia (1-0)	Kluber (4-1)	Sasaki )2)	13-12
Fri, Apr 27	vsSeattle	W 2-1	Bauer (4-2)	Halama (0-1)	Allen (7)	14-12
Sat, Apr 28	vsSeattle	W 9-1	Carrasco (3-0)	Sele (0-2)	--	15-12
Sun, Apr 29	vsSeattle	L 3-1	Meche (1-0)	Clevinger (2-4)	Sasaki (3)	15-13
Mon, Apr 30	vsTexas	L 7-4	Sele (1-0)	Kluber (4-2)	Venafro (1)	15-14

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

Pitcher	W	L	S	G	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	BS	ERA	WHIP
Trevor Bauer	4	2	0	7	50	29	13	38	93	1	0	02.34	01.34
Corey Kluber	4	2	0	8	57.1	49	23	28	77	6	0	03.63	01.35
Mike Clevinger	2	4	0	7	44	32	12	38	44	4	0	02.45	01.59
Carlos Carrasco	3	0	0	7	50.2	40	10	16	86	2	0	01.79	01.12
Adam Cimber	0	2	0	12	9.1	9	3	3	11	1	0	02.97	01.32
Brad Hand	2	2	0	15	18.2	22	14	17	32	2	0	06.92	02.14
Dan Otero	0	2	0	11	11.1	9	4	3	4	2	0	03.24	01.08
Neil Ramirez	0	0	0	11	11.2	17	11	10	16	3	0	08.84	02.41
Cody Allen	0	0	7	10	10.1	4	2	7	16	1	1	01.78	01.09

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:

Player	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	SO	SB	BA AVG	On-Base%
Francisco Lindor	120	23	33	18	9	0	7	12	23	3	.275	.341
Edwin Encarnacion	115	14	32	19	4	0	9	10	24	0	.278	.336
Jose Ramirez	114	20	30	26	13	0	8	14	22	5	.263	.344
Michael Brantley	111	14	46	12	15	0	1	9	18	0	.414	.458
Yonder Alonso	107	8	24	13	7	0	3	7	22	0	.224	.272
Jason Kipnis	105	5	26	9	5	0	2	5	35	0	.248	.282
Melky Cabrera	80	7	12	1	3	0	0	10	22	0	.150	.244
Greg Allen	72	10	9	3	0	0	1	9	11	8	.125	.222
Yan Gomes	65	7	13	6	4	0	2	5	12	0	.200	.257
Rajai Davis	60	2	11	7	4	0	0	3	16	6	.183	.222
Roberto Perez	31	3	9	1	3	0	0	4	3	0	.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 Central	Wins	Loss	Win PCT	Games
Chicago	171	154	52.62%	325
Cleveland	15	14	51.72%	29
Detroit	150	177	45.87%	327
Kansas City	141	185	43.25%	326
Minnesota	138	192	41.82%	330
AL East	Wins	Loss	Win PCT	Games
New York	185	138	57.28%	323
Boston	179	145	55.25%	324
Toronto	170	157	51.99%	327
Baltimore	154	174	46.95%	328
Tampa Bay	138	185	42.72%	323
AL West	Wins	Loss	Win PCT	Games
Oakland	178	145	55.11%	323
Seattle	174	157	52.57%	331
Houston	169	155	52.16%	324
Texas	167	158	51.38%	325
Anaheim	153	174	46.79%	327

NL Central	Wins	Loss	Win PCT	Games
Cincinnati	181	144	55.69%	325
St. Louis	170	153	52.63%	323
Pittsburgh	147	176	45.51%	323
Milwaukee	147	176	45.51%	323
Chicago	132	192	40.74%	324
NL East	Wins	Loss	Win PCT	Games
Atlanta	198	126	61.11%	324
New York	191	134	58.77%	325
Miami/Florida	143	180	44.27%	323
Philadelphia	142	182	43.83%	324
Nationals/Expos	135	189	41.67%	324
NL West	Wins	Loss	Win PCT	Games
Arizona	185	139	57.10%	324
San Francisco	183	141	56.48%	324
Los Angeles	163	161	50.31%	324
Colorado	154	170	47.53%	324
San Diego	150	174	46.30%	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!!