My MLB 08 The Show Mod- 30 All-Time Teams in Franchise Mode!

[Shea Knight]

It took over a year, but I finally created the 30 teams' All-Time team versions using the great players of now (the Madduxes and the David Wrights), the Golden and Silver Age players, and 600 or so created players, everything from HOFers not in the game (the Say Hey Kid Mays and Koufax and on) to fan favorites and important non HOFers for the teams (see: Tug McGraw.)

And now that they are all done, finally, I've started them all in Franchise Mode: a virtual Field of Dreams where day after day Babe Ruth, Joe D. and the Mick share the same outfield and bat against Pedro and Cy Young whilst in the NL Jackie, Pee Wee, Sandy, and the other Brooklyn/LA dodgers battle Mays and McCovey and Cepeda in the West.

And my teams are "clean' teams: no Barry Bonds or Sammy Sosa or Clemens will be found, and likewise banned blayers, ie the 1919 Black Sox and Pete Rose, are not on the rosters.

I play as my favorite team the Mets; the computer controls the others.


Results 10 games into the season:

NL West:
-The Padres, with a soft schedule, have jumped out to an early division lead behind Adrian Gonzalez, Tony Gwynn, and Kouzmanoff.
-The Rockies.... see The Padres.
-The Giants offense is the best in the NL West and one of the best in the league statistically; Cepeda is leading the league in doubles,and Cepeda, Ott, and Mays are all among the leaders in hits, Batting Average, HRs, and on. However, Christy Mathewson and Carl Hubbell have had the bullpen fail them a few times, and so the pitching staff (the bullpen in particular, Rob Nen is just being rocked each time out of the pen) has this team at .500.
-The biggest surprise hands down in the whole league, the Dodgers just cannot get it together, and are currently saddled with a 3-6 record. Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese have a modest amount o hits, SBs, and modest BAs, and Gil Hodges is among the top 12 HR hitters in the NL- but Duk Snider had been a virtual non factor, and ditto for Campanella, Ron Cey, and, most shockingly, Sandy Koufax. Koufax, who's attributes, particularly his fastball, curve, and K ratio are, as with the real Sandy, among he best in this All-Time league- however, in two starts he's only 1-1 with a 3.50+ ERA and only 6 K's.
-The Diamondbacks have Randy Johnson, a couple members from the 2001 WS team, and their current roster. They're being killed, unsurprisingly.

NL Central:
-The Cubs are in 1st place- that's not a typo, the Cubbies are in 1st. No real stat leaders, aside from Ferguson Jenkins and Hippo Vaughn being tremendous on the mound, and the whole Cubs offense contributing; no standouts, but solid all around.
-The Astros started off against weak teams and have Noland Ryan, Biggio and Bagwell, so they've gotten off to a fast start; with games against the NL West and Central powerhouses coming up, don't expect it to last.
-Just behind the Astros by 1/2 a game, and with definitely more staying mainly power, the Cardinals have kept in the hot and frantic NL Central race mainly through scrappy hitting and a nearly perfect fielding perecentage. Stan Musial and Rogers Hornsby have been standouts, and yet Bob Gibson's been anything but overpwoerin, and ditto Pujos and Dizzy Dean and Lou Brock and on and on- this team has a LOT more talent, and really should be doing better.
-The Pirates have some of the weaker pitchers in the NL Central, but a great offense lead by Stargell, Mazeroski (though obviously he's more of a defensive player) Clemente, Jason Kendall and Smoky Burgess platooning at catcher, Honus Wagner- and on and on and on. This team is just behind the Cardinals- like them their pitchers have not shown up as muchas they should have and like them only a few of their offensive stars have performed up to snuff; Clemente's barely hitting, ditto Mazeroski, but Stargell is among the NL's elite in the category.
-The Reds, largely composed of The Big Red Machine with "spare parts" from he early 1990's teams under Schott and a couple from the 1940's-50's era Reds. The pitching staff are among the league leaders in giving up HRs and have one of the worst team ERAs, but, to be fair, they HAVE had a tugh schedule. And it has not helped that the Big Red Machine, supposedly upgraded by the presence of 90's stars Eric Davis and Barry Larkin, has been a dud, as Davis and Larkin are hitting at mediocre clips, sluggers like George Foster and Ken Griffey, Sr. have been ineffective, Pete Rose is banned, Tony Perez has been incredibly defensively but a non-factor on onffense, ditto Johnny Bench...... only Joe Morgan, among league leaders in doubles, triples, SBs, and BBs, has playe like a HOF.
-The Brewers may have Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, Cory Hart, and Robin Yount, but with one of the worst pitching staffs out of the 30 teams in arguably the most offense-minded division, the Brew Crew have been slaughtered, and are currently a sad 2-8.

NL East:
-Imagine the pitching staff the Braves have: Warren Spahn, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Phil Niekro, Johnny Sain, Lew Burdette, Rafael Soriano, Steve Avery, and Gene Garber. That starting rotation has a full 5 current or locked-in future hOF players, and the bullpen is incredile as well- if seldom used. The Braves starting pitchers have, undertandably, been going deep into games, often into the 7th and 8th, and nearly all of them sport great W-L records, ERAs and K's. Greg Maddux in particular deserves special notice for pitching one of two shutouts thus far this year, with his being the only complte game shutout (and, indeed, the only complete game- though I'd like it better if it hadn't come against my Mets.) With so much attetnion on the pitching, it could be easy to overlook the offense- buthere too the Braves are incredible, with Hank Aaron hitting for great average and power (though surprisinly with only 1 HR in 10 games thus far) Eddie Matthews hitting for great average, Joe Adcock and Del Crandall supplying the power, and a wide range of others (Chipper, Jeff Blauser, Rabbit Manaranville, to name just a few) have chipped in. Looking like the NL's super-team, tough it only has been ten games.....
-The Florida WHO? The Marlins have had a soft schedule, but with the core of their 1997 and 2003 teams playing reasonably well, this team, while not at all that scary, is certaily looking like a possible spoiler team.
-The Phillies are in a virtual tie with the Marlins. The Phillies, too, have a great pitchin staff- Grover Cleveland Alexander, Steve Carlton, Robin Roberts, Curt Schilling, Brett Myers in good form, Brad Lidge closing..... and the offense, with Rollins, Howard, Utley, Mike Schmidt, and a few others have have made the Phillies a dark horse early on.
-Ah, the poor Mets. Of their first 9 games, 7 have been decided by one run, and 4 have gone into extra innings; of those 4 games the Mets lost three. The Mets were also swept by the Braves in Atlanta. The offense, featuring Mike Piazza, Jose Reyes, David Wright, Carlos Beltran, and Darryl Strawberry, has been dismal batting just over .200 in the 9 games, and the team has had only three HRs total in that stretch, one each by Wright, Piazza, and Strawberry. However, just like the Braves and Phillies the Mets have an incredible pitchin staff (if the NL Central is the division of offense, the NL East is the division for low-scoring pitchers' duels.) Tom Seaver, Dwight Gooden, Jerry Kooseman, Bob Ojeda, and Leiter, with nasty late-inning men Jesse Orosco and John Franco anchoing the bullpen. The Mets are 3-6, and face the Brewers next for a three game series; that should be interesting, as te Brewer's pitching staffhasn't been able to get outs consistently and the Mets lineup has not been able to hit and score consistently. One bright spot: Dwight Gooden has been INCREDIBLE in his 2 starts, going 2-0 with 11 K's and going 16 innings, while enjoying a league-leading low ERA with 0.69.
-The Nationals/Expos are 2-8, like the Brewers, and simply have been crushed regularly.

AL West:
-The A's are coasting in what is easily the weakest division in the league. Jimmie Foxx, Reggie Jackson, and Mickey Cochrane have all stood out, an the pitching has been spot on.
-The Angels, with a few "older" players but mostly with players from the 2002 WS era team and the recent playoff teams, have been largely unspectacular, but have still remained around .500.
-The Mariners have seen Ken Griffey, Jr., Ichiro, and Harold Baines flaot amont the offensive leaders of the AL, with Ichiro and Griffey, Jr. in particular being impressive; other than that, this defensively and pitching-weak team is a sub .500 team that has been totally overpowered by rivals.
-The Rangers, at 1-8, share the title of currently being the worst team in baseball- so bad, I cannot even think of a bright spot.

AL Central:
-The Tigers are easily one of te strongest teams in baseball. With Jim Bunning leading a stellar pitching staff, and Ty Cobb, Al Kaline, Charlie Gehringer, Lou Whitaker, Alan Trammell, and George Bell, among others, leading one of the league's most potent offenses, the Tigers are looking simply amazing early on.
-Walter Johnson, Jim Kaat, and Mudcat Grant give the Twins an effective
1-2-3 starting pitching combo, while Harmon Killebrew, Kent Hrbek, and Kirby have lead the Twins into a tight race with he Tigers for the division crown.
-Bob Feller has been the sole standout, with a great ERA end record, but on the whole the Indians have been unspectacular- they're at .500, and very much on the verge of either moving straight up or straight down.
-George Brett is leading the AL in Batting Average, and is among the leaders in hits; other than that, the Royals are the Royals, and have been doormats.
-It's been absolute carnage on the South Side: a 1-8 start, tied for the worst record in baseball with the lowly Rangers. No standouts at all, and with Luis Aparicio, Minnie Minoso, Frank Thomas, Kenny Lofton, A.J. Pierzynski, one would think they'd be a lot stronger......

AL East:
-Is there any doubt which team would be leading here in an All-Time format? The New York Yankees ARE the Super Team: Berra, Gehrig, Bobby Richardson, Derek Jeter, Phil Rizutto, Dimaggio, Mantle, and Ruth, just as the starters, stars like Billy Martin, Elston Howard, Thurman Munson, just to name a few, White Ford anchoring the starters and Goose Gossage and Mariano Rivera being quite possibly the best 8th-9th inning comb in the league. The Yankees are not only first in their division, and not only first in the AL, but the players are, predictably, elading many of the offensive categories. DiMaggio, Mantle, Ruth, Berra, and Jeter appear in the top 12 of many if not ALL the offensive categories, and through 10 games the Babe, fittingly, is leading all of this All-Time MLB in HRs, with 6 already, and he leads the league in RBIs as well. Simply scary.
-A bit of a surprise here, but at this juncture the Orioles are a game ahead of the Red Sox and in second place. Goerge Sisler (from the St. Louis Browns days) and Cal Ripken, Jr. are two of the leaders in hits and SBs, and a pitching staff that is lead by Satchel Paige (Browns again) Jim Palmer and Mike Mussina has the Orioles flying high and doing it The Oriole Way.
-The Red Sox have, too, played great, and in this highly competitive division it is misleading to think of thi team as "just" in third place. Ted Williams and Yaz haven't been too loud yet, but Fisk, Big Papi and Tris Speaker, as well as Nomar (somewhat surprisingly) have provided some real punch to the lineup. Cy Young has pitched well.... the Yankees-Orioles-Red Sox competition looks to be one of the hottest of the season.
-The Blue Jays' Roy Halladay and Joe Carter have been rather silent, though Roberto Alomar has shone thorugh nicely. Still, this team just doesn't have the punch to keep up with The Big Three of the division.
-The Rays are really almost entirely the WS lineup- and simply no match for the other teams in this amazing division.

So- comments?

[Francoeurstein]

Well first off I would like to tip my hat to you for the dedication you had to fill over 30 teams with historical players. I hope you keep us posted often I'm very interested in this kind of stuff.

[Shea Knight]

Thanks.

By the way, if anyone wants the rosters for the 30 teams, or even a few, let me know. They're not too hard to make; most of the minor leaguers in the game are fake, basically random-generated created players, so I just went in, gave them the names, skin color, hair, attributes etc. of each player, and the game says a version of their name (often their last name or a close-sounding alterative, or, in the case of a player where the computer doesn't know the last name and/or has a first name/nickname that's famous, like Goose Gossage, I have the announcer call him that.)

Just did that...... about 500 or 600 times.

My rules for making the rosters and the league:
-NO STEROID USERS or BANNED PLAYERS; in THIS league Hank Aaron is still the all time HR king (although he's only got one HR so far this season, while Ruth has a league-leading 6,) no Sosa or Bonds or Jason Giambi or the like are involved, and Shoeless Joe and Charlie Hustle are also barred.
-Obviosuly there are plenty of exceptions, but when it comes to an old player vs. a new player for a starting spot or even a roster spot the oldie gnerally gets it (ex. Chipper Jones is great, but he gives up 3rd base to Eddie Matthews and plays part-time; an exception is Jeter retains the SS spot over Rizutto who shifts and plays 3rd instead.)
-This is supposed to be like a "Field of Dreams" league, so everyone is in their prime- in fac, all the created players are 22!
-Since everyone is in their prime, I gave out their attributes accordingly, and carefully. Obviously HOF players like Willie Mays and Stan Musial and Sandy Koufax that had to be created have near-maxed out stats in the appropriate areas (Mays is probably the closest created player to being fully maxed out, he and Mantle and a couple others.) For other players this is a bit more tricky, especially as old-timers come into play (most batters in the league from the first 30 years or so of the 20th century have quite a bit less power than those players of later eras.) Also, as they are in their prime, the player's attributes reflect their best years- for the most par. The end result? Dwight "Dr. K" Gooden of the Mets has great stats, is probably one of the top 20 or 30 starting pitchers in the game (and with the pitchers in the game, that's saying something,) and, in general, throws like he did pre-1991 (the injuries and then the cocaine finally ctching up in full.) However, Johnny Podres does NOT get judged by th one huge year he had in 1955 but rather by the majority of good years he had (the rule generally being one good year doesn't constitute great stats, but a player with a great few yeas in their prime before a downfall get judged on those years.)
-Player assignment is usually due to the team he plaer spent the most time with and/or had the most statistical success with, with variances dealt with case by case. For example, Mike Piazza had his best statistical years with the Dodgers, but spent more time with, hit more HRs and hits and nearly every offensive category with, and had his most dramatic career momnts with the Mets- hence, he is a Met (that and he's said before he thanks all his fans but "especially the ones in NY..... I loved playing here." Conversely, Gary Carter had most of his years with the Expos, but won his one ring with and had the best years of hi career with the Mets- and since Carter actually requested either a split on his HOF cap between Expos and Mets or just Mets (they ignored him and made his cap an Expos one) he is on the Mets (plus I AM a Mets fan; Jerry Grote is the THIRD catcher on this team. Only the Yankees have as many as three catchers as well- Berra, Elston Howard and Thurman Munson (sorry, no Dickey or Posada.) Some players are split right down the middle in terms of stats and success, and here the player is assigned to the team for a specific reason. For example, Frank Robinson was great with the Reds and Orioles, but as he asked his HOF ap be as an Oriole, that is who he plays for. One case was very difficult doing this- Reggie Jackson and Catfish Hunter. Both had great success with the Yankees and A's, and obviously whichever team they played for would get a huge boost in league play (maybe it goes without saying, but no duplicate of "clone" players so both teams can "have" a Reggie Jackson.) How I decided it- since the Yankees were offensively-heavy already, and Jackson wouldn't be able to start if Mantle, DiMaggio, and Ruth all played, he went to the A's, who needed another good bat, an the A's, who are rather stocked on pitchers, gave up Catfish to the Yankees, where he is the #2 man behind Whitey Ford.
-In league play, no trades, no calling up, no free agents. Jackie Robinson is a Dodger; no one wants to see the Yankees using their huge stockpile of stars to trade for the great second baseman.

So that's my league.

I like it a lot.

If anyone wants a roster or two or 30, tell me, I (finally) have them......

[Francoeurstein]

I would like all of the roster if it is not a hassle.

[Shea Knight]

Francouerstein, I will get you the rosters bit by bit- if I type all that in one go I'll go mad. Which couple do you want first (they're written on just paper for me, didn't type them so can't copy and paste, unfortunately.)

A league update through 16-18 games (different teams have played differing amounts so far):

NL West:
-Certainly surprising, but the Rockies have held onto their early lead and are still captains of the NL West. Manny Corpas is leading the league in saves, and, while no Rockie is in the lead or often top5 in any offensive category, they are thoroughly sprinkld throughout them, as the balls have been jumping off their bats and sliing out of oors Field, as could be expected.
-Just a game behind the Rockies are the Giants. Willie Mays, Mel Ott, and Orlando Cepeda are pacing the entire NL in all the offensive categories, leading or in the top 12 in each category. Christy Mathewson has been quiet, as has the rest of the Giants staff- they've been good, just not overpowering, and one wonders when Christy Mathewson and Carl Hubbell wil come alive......
-The Padres have been a very .500 club, with a win here, a loss there- and Trevor Hoffman in a close second for saves.
-Easily one of the biggest, if not the biggest dissapointments of the season so far, the Dodgers are 4 games below .500, with their star pitching staff of Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Don Newcombe, Johnny Podres, and the rest being mediocre at best while the Boys of Summr on offense, Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee, The Duke, Gil Hodges, and Campy have all been silent.
-They're the Diamondbacks in a league filled with Hall of Famers and legends, what would you expct?

NL Central:
-The Cubs continue to hold onto the NL Central lead thanks to good pitching and timely hitting.
-The Astros have benefitted from Nolan Ryan and a soft schedule and are a game behind the Cubs.......
-The Reds have made a surge since the last update, moving from 4th-5th place to 3rd, jut a 1/2 game behind the Astros for second place in the division. No real stars have emered statisically for the Reds, it would seem to be a true team effort......
-The Pirates have only one league lader, and it's not who you'd expect- Harvey Haddix has won all three of his starts and is tied for the NL league lead in wins. Just as the Reds are just behind the Astros, the Pirates are just behind the Reds in the NL Central battle.
-The Brewers took two of three from the Mets, but other than that, they have played a sorry game so far, with nearly all their pitchers sporting sky-high ERAs.
-A shocking turnaround, the Cardinals in 5 or so games have gone from a game behind the Cubs to the bottm of the heap and 5 or so games under
.500. Bob Gibson and the othes just aren't being effective, an Stan Musial and Lou Brock, offensive leaders at the time of the last pot, have hit a dry spell.

NL East:
-The Marlins have just overtaken the Braves for a 1 game lead in the East; no real stars, but players like Dan Uggla andHanley Ramirez just pop up here and there in the stat charts, and doing just enough to keep the Marlins a step ahead of the Braves.
-As just mentioned, the Braves are playing brilliantly, but are just a game behind the Marlins.
-In the middle of the division, the Phillies are sos-so pitching-wise at the moment, as Citizen's Bank Ballpark has been a bit crul to the staff; however, it's been a godsend to the offense, who, like many other contending teams, have players sprinkled here and there throughout the stat leaderboards.
-The Mets have quite a dilemma- their staff has allowed the least amount of runs, home runs, and has one of the lowest ERAs in all of MLB, and yet their hittin has been one of the worst groups, with an anemic and barely over .200 team aveage. Darryl Strawberry and Jose Reyes have began to join Keith Hernandez as offensive plusses (Hernandez is batting over .300 and is one of the top 10-20 in the NL in bating average) while Mike Piazza has the most RBIs on the team and yet a sub .200 average- and the rest of the offense is just to he dogs. And as if that weren't enough drama for this team the #1 and #2 pitchers could not be more different- Tom Seaver is a dreadful 0-4, has an ERA over 12.00, and hs been rocked on every outing except his first, while Dwight "Doctor K" Gooden has proven to be, surprisingly, the NL's best pitcher, with the lowest ERA at 0.90, is tied for the most wins in the NL with 3, and is among the NL league leaders in K's with 20 in his 3 starts.
-The Nationals have been the Nationals/Expos, and just terrible in every respect.

AL West:
-The A's are cruising in the AL West relatively uncontested.
-The Angels are in second, and solidly there- not able to get near the A's, and too good for the other two teams to displace.
-The Mariners have had some good flashes, but not all that much......
-The Rangers are one of the worst teams in baseball, enough said.

AL Central:
-The Tiger's pitching has not been headline news, but it's been decent, while it's Kaline-Gehringer-Cobb-Greenberg-Trammell offense has been crushing.
-Not much has changed since last time: holding steady behind the Tigers are the Twins with alter Johnson, Jim Kaat, and Mudcant Grant proving a very effective pitching combination.
-The Indians have just been hovering up and down and around .500- and not muh else.
-A sub .500 club with just George Brett as a standout, he Royals have been predictably feeble thus far.
-The White Sox are truly the saddest story in all of MLB at the moment. Not only are they sub .500, they're 13 games below tht mark. Not only are they in last place, they are far behind even the Royals. And, sadly, not only do the White Sox have the worst record in all of MLB, that record is a tragic 2-15.

AL East:
-A team of greats is leading this league as of right now, but probably not who you'd guess. The Orioles are just a game ahead of the Bronx Bombers, and have the MLB leader in wins- Satchel Pige with 4, and right behind him Jim Palmer and Mike Mussina with 3 apiece.
-The Yankees are just a game behind the Orioles for the divsion lead, most of their offensive stars (you know their names) are among the league leaders in the offensive categories, and the Bronx Bombers are also just a game ahead of their arch-rivals.......
-The Red Sox are in third place in a divison where the top slot and the three slot are sperated by just 2 games; CY Young is also tied for 2nd most wins with 3, and Re Sox players, Big Papi and Bobby Doerr in particular, are well-represented in the offensive charts.
-The Blue Jays are stagnant and going no where fast in 4th place.
-The Rays just can't keep up with the division powers (or the league powers, for that matter) and find themselves in 5th place in the division.

Comments?

[Ralph Zig Tyko]

Francouerstein, I will get you the rosters bit by bit- if I type all that in one go I'll go mad. Which couple do you want first (they're written on just paper for me, didn't type them so can't copy and paste, unfortunately.)

A league update through 16-18 games (different teams have played differing amounts so far):

NL West:
-Certainly surprising, but the Rockies have held onto their early lead and are still captains of the NL West. Manny Corpas is leading the league in saves, and, while no Rockie is in the lead or often top5 in any offensive category, they are thoroughly sprinkld throughout them, as the balls have been jumping off their bats and sliing out of oors Field, as could be expected.
-Just a game behind the Rockies are the Giants. Willie Mays, Mel Ott, and Orlando Cepeda are pacing the entire NL in all the offensive categories, leading or in the top 12 in each category. Christy Mathewson has been quiet, as has the rest of the Giants staff- they've been good, just not overpowering, and one wonders when Christy Mathewson and Carl Hubbell wil come alive......
-The Padres have been a very .500 club, with a win here, a loss there- and Trevor Hoffman in a close second for saves.
-Easily one of the biggest, if not the biggest dissapointments of the season so far, the Dodgers are 4 games below .500, with their star pitching staff of Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Don Newcombe, Johnny Podres, and the rest being mediocre at best while the Boys of Summr on offense, Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee, The Duke, Gil Hodges, and Campy have all been silent.
-They're the Diamondbacks in a league filled with Hall of Famers and legends, what would you expct?

NL Central:
-The Cubs continue to hold onto the NL Central lead thanks to good pitching and timely hitting.
-The Astros have benefitted from Nolan Ryan and a soft schedule and are a game behind the Cubs.......
-The Reds have made a surge since the last update, moving from 4th-5th place to 3rd, jut a 1/2 game behind the Astros for second place in the division. No real stars have emered statisically for the Reds, it would seem to be a true team effort......
-The Pirates have only one league lader, and it's not who you'd expect- Harvey Haddix has won all three of his starts and is tied for the NL league lead in wins. Just as the Reds are just behind the Astros, the Pirates are just behind the Reds in the NL Central battle.
-The Brewers took two of three from the Mets, but other than that, they have played a sorry game so far, with nearly all their pitchers sporting sky-high ERAs.
-A shocking turnaround, the Cardinals in 5 or so games have gone from a game behind the Cubs to the bottm of the heap and 5 or so games under
.500. Bob Gibson and the othes just aren't being effective, an Stan Musial and Lou Brock, offensive leaders at the time of the last pot, have hit a dry spell.

NL East:
-The Marlins have just overtaken the Braves for a 1 game lead in the East; no real stars, but players like Dan Uggla andHanley Ramirez just pop up here and there in the stat charts, and doing just enough to keep the Marlins a step ahead of the Braves.
-As just mentioned, the Braves are playing brilliantly, but are just a game behind the Marlins.
-In the middle of the division, the Phillies are sos-so pitching-wise at the moment, as Citizen's Bank Ballpark has been a bit crul to the staff; however, it's been a godsend to the offense, who, like many other contending teams, have players sprinkled here and there throughout the stat leaderboards.
-The Mets have quite a dilemma- their staff has allowed the least amount of runs, home runs, and has one of the lowest ERAs in all of MLB, and yet their hittin has been one of the worst groups, with an anemic and barely over .200 team aveage. Darryl Strawberry and Jose Reyes have began to join Keith Hernandez as offensive plusses (Hernandez is batting over .300 and is one of the top 10-20 in the NL in bating average) while Mike Piazza has the most RBIs on the team and yet a sub .200 average- and the rest of the offense is just to he dogs. And as if that weren't enough drama for this team the #1 and #2 pitchers could not be more different- Tom Seaver is a dreadful 0-4, has an ERA over 12.00, and hs been rocked on every outing except his first, while Dwight "Doctor K" Gooden has proven to be, surprisingly, the NL's best pitcher, with the lowest ERA at 0.90, is tied for the most wins in the NL with 3, and is among the NL league leaders in K's with 20 in his 3 starts.
-The Nationals have been the Nationals/Expos, and just terrible in every respect.

AL West:
-The A's are cruising in the AL West relatively uncontested.
-The Angels are in second, and solidly there- not able to get near the A's, and too good for the other two teams to displace.
-The Mariners have had some good flashes, but not all that much......
-The Rangers are one of the worst teams in baseball, enough said.

AL Central:
-The Tiger's pitching has not been headline news, but it's been decent, while it's Kaline-Gehringer-Cobb-Greenberg-Trammell offense has been crushing.
-Not much has changed since last time: holding steady behind the Tigers are the Twins with alter Johnson, Jim Kaat, and Mudcant Grant proving a very effective pitching combination.
-The Indians have just been hovering up and down and around .500- and not muh else.
-A sub .500 club with just George Brett as a standout, he Royals have been predictably feeble thus far.
-The White Sox are truly the saddest story in all of MLB at the moment. Not only are they sub .500, they're 13 games below tht mark. Not only are they in last place, they are far behind even the Royals. And, sadly, not only do the White Sox have the worst record in all of MLB, that record is a tragic 2-15.

AL East:
-A team of greats is leading this league as of right now, but probably not who you'd guess. The Orioles are just a game ahead of the Bronx Bombers, and have the MLB leader in wins- Satchel Pige with 4, and right behind him Jim Palmer and Mike Mussina with 3 apiece.
-The Yankees are just a game behind the Orioles for the divsion lead, most of their offensive stars (you know their names) are among the league leaders in the offensive categories, and the Bronx Bombers are also just a game ahead of their arch-rivals.......
-The Red Sox are in third place in a divison where the top slot and the three slot are sperated by just 2 games; CY Young is also tied for 2nd most wins with 3, and Re Sox players, Big Papi and Bobby Doerr in particular, are well-represented in the offensive charts.
-The Blue Jays are stagnant and going no where fast in 4th place.
-The Rays just can't keep up with the division powers (or the league powers, for that matter) and find themselves in 5th place in the division.

Comments?

Hey, kindred spirit. great job!! Might I suggest...?
Kaline may be in the lineup for Detroit at the expense of Sam Crawford and/or Harry Heilman. Food for thought?
Too many great Yankee 3rd baseman for Rizzuto to be in there, other than as a leadoff man at short if Jeter takes a proverbial dump.
Keep us posted along the way.
Z

[Shea Knight]

And so here we are, another season update though 23-25 games; the season's first month is almost over, and definite patterns are forming, while early injuries, surprises, and disappointments surface.

NL West:
-The Rockies and their bruising offense continue to hold a narrow lead in the division, as players that are hardly All-Stars and yet solid producers, such as Brad Hawpe and Chris Ianetta, are being crushingly consistent.
-The Giants are just a game and a half back of the Rockeis and Willie Mays is now the NL leader in batting average (by one point) over Stan Musial, Mel Ott still leads the league in HRs with 11, and the offense is star-studded. If the Giants pitchers besides Christy Mathewson would just be a bit more consistent....
-The Padres are sub .500; a few bright spits include Gary Templeton and Tony Gwynn, but on the whole, the team is just being overpowered.
-The Dodgers continue to be the biggest disappointments inthis league. What most would hve guessed would be a Giants-Dodgers division race, almost resembling the days of old, has become a one-sided affair for the Giants as the dodgers are just not performing up to par. Don Newcombe and Sandy Koufax are havng decent years, but given their reputations and the Dodgers' schedule, they should have more wins and much lower ERAs; Jackie Robinson and Duke Snider continue to place high on the league leader list for SBs, but other than that the vaunted Boys of Summer and their LA-era counterparts have been meek.
-They're the Diamondbacks in a league of greats, and it does show.......

NL Central:
-The Cubs continue to cruise along, leading the divison by 2.5 games over the second-place Reds. Ferguson enkins has been his usul self, and Hippo Vaughn has proved to be a pleasant suprise for the Northsiders, playing even better than expected; on offense no one has stood out, but several players, suc as Derek Lee and Ryne Sandberg, have been putting up solid numbers and routinely coming through with key hits.
-The Reds' Big Red Machine has come to life. Joe Morgan and Tony Perez have been playing great and hitting the NL offensive leader charts, Johnny Bench has been solid, and Adam Dunn has been a huge source of power for the team.
-The Cardnals are playing a bit over .500 ball, and are a team that soonr or later will likely surge; the offense has been great, the defense is a sgreat as you'd expect from the Cards, and the pitching, while not being as over-powering as one might've guessed, is holding its end up. It just seems not all of the Cards' great cylinders are firing at the same time........
-The Pirates are treading water- too talented to fall back too far, but under-performing too much to seriously challenge the teams ahead. Harvey Haddix, a #3/4 pitcher, is leading the team with 3 wins in 4/5 starts- good, but therest of the staff doesn't measure up. And the vaunted offense featuring Clemente, Stargell, the Waner brothers, Honus Wagner, and Jason Kendall has so far been a dud, with only Honus Wagner performing as well as would be imagined, hitting close to/over .400 and in the top 10 of the NL in batting average and hits.
-The Brewers have a pitching staff that is not at all intimidating as K throwers, they're all grind-it-out types, and right now they can't seem to do that; for them to have any chance they need their offense to be its usual HR hitting self, but with a few key injuries, including Ryan Braun out for 1-2 months, the Crew is in serious trouble, eventhis early in the season.
-The Astros' staff has proved a slight surprise in that pitchers besides Nolan Ryan are holding up their end, and Ryan still holds a slim lead over the rest of MLB in K's. But the offense is a virtual no-show.

NL East:
-The Phillies have caught fire and surged ahead of the Marlins and Braves to take a half-game lead in the division. Everything is clicking for the Phils- Schmidt, Howard, Utley, Rollins, and the rest are tearing up the league, with Howard in the thick of the HR race in MLB with 9 HRs. Meanwhile, Steve Carlton is tied for the NL lead in wins with 4, and the rest of the staff is hitting its marks perfectly.
-The Marlins continue to contend with strong output from a multitude of blue-collar players; the Marlins don't have the star-power many teams have, but so far they have the win-power that few can match.
-The Braves are another one of those teams that's just cruising all around. Greg Maddux has 4 wins and a complete-game shutout, while Warren Spahn and Phil Niekro have 3 and join Maddx as among the leaders in the pitching categories in the NL. Meanwhile Hank Aaron, with 6 HRs, and Eddie Matthews with (surprisingly more) 8, are spearheading the Tribe.
-The Mets are, sadly for me (they're my team!) struggling in the truest sense of the word. The hitting in particular has been a nightmare- outside Keith Hernandez and Darryl Strawberry (both over .300, and while Hernandez has more runs scored and has been the most consistent hitter on the team, Strawberry has 4 HRs to Hernandez's 0 and has 5 SBs) and possibly Edgardo Alfronzo (fluctuates between .250-high .280's, but has plenty of runs, SBs, and is a good producer for an 8-hole hitter) the entire team is a streaky mess at the plate. To give an example- Piazza went 4-5 in one game that seemed to almost bring him finally to life, and then proceeded to go 1-9 in the next two games. Piazza, Beltran, Reyes, Wright, Cleon Jones- all .220 or worse and struggling. The pitching hs been great, but with so little run support, their records don't entirely support that. Tom Seaver is 0-4 in 5 starts with an ERA over 8.00; his last outing was a 2 run, 7 hit gem with 9 K's over 9 innings, but with a lack of run support, he just missed the victory (Jesse Orosco picked it up, his first of the year, in the 11th.) Even Dr. K has finally had a pitching misfortune this season- yes Dwight Gooden, going into his last game an NL leading 4-0, lost a 1-0 heartbreaker, giving up a HR to Ryan Zimmerman o the Nationals in the 5th that would be the only blemish on an otherwise great game (8 innings, 6 K's, 8 hits, just the 1 run) and becoming one of the last pitchers to lose that undefeated status. Gooden is still tied for the NL lead in wins with 4, and sill has a sub-1.00 ERA (just barely at 0.97 in 5 starts.) All in all, this club needs som good medicine, and from someone more besides just Dr. K.
-Aside from spoiling wins away from their division rivals, the Nationals are feeble cellar-dwellers.

AL West:
- The A's continue to lead the division as comfortably as usual; with Jimmie Foxx, Reggie Jackson, and Mickey Cochrane all off to great starts, and the pitching has been solid, as Dennis Eckersley has the lowest ERA of any pitcher starting or relieving (Dwight Gooden holds the lead for starters only.) One bit of bad news, however- Darold Knowles, part of that great bullpen of the A's starring Knowles, Eckersley, and Rollie Fingers, is out of the lineup with an injury and could miss as much as 2 months.
-A reasonably distant second to the A's, the Mariners lack both the firepower and, more so than that, the pitching to even begin to challenge the A's; Ichiro and Griffey, Jr. are off to All-Star worthy starts, but other than those two......
-The Angels are stymie in third and going no where fast.
-The Rangers are simply one of the worst teams playing in the league.

AL Central:
-The Tigers are nothing if not consistent, widening their lead in the Central as their offense (Cobb, Kaline, George Kell, Alan Trammell, Charlie Gehringer) continue to maul opposing pitching staffs while their own pitchers, particularly Jim Bunning and Mickey Lolich, have been superb.
-The Indians have leapfrogged over the Twins into 2nd place with a team effort, but can't seem to approach the Tigers.
-The Twins have hit a rough patch and have not been in form since Jim Kaat's last spectacular performance over the Royals.
-The Royals still have George Brett on many of the offensive leader charts for the AL........ and not much else.
-The poor White Sox are still satistically the worst team in MLB with a league-leading 19 losses against just 4 victories.

AL East:
-In one of the more interesting stories in the AL, the Orioles have held the lead in the AL East, and have actually widened their lead to 2 games. George Sisler, Cal Ripken, Jr., and Frank Robinson have made the offense go, while the staff has been superb; Satchel Paige has an MLB-leading 5 wins against 0 losses thus far, and Jim Palmer and Mike Mussina follow not too far behind. In fact, pitching is clearly the strength of the O's; their 1-2-3 punch of Paige-Palmer-Mussina is rivaled only by Spahn-Maddux-Niekro of the Braves.
-The Yankees offensively have performed as might be expected- they simply are immaculate. Berra, Gehrig Jeter, Mantle, DiMaggio, Ruth, Elston Howard off the bench- it doesn't seem to end for them. The pitching has been solid, if not a bit head-scratching: the Yanks replaced Waite Hoyt in their rotation, without his bein injured, with young Joba Chamberlain; as if that weren't strange enough, Chamberlain is currently one of the Yanks' best pitchers, with 3 wins. However, it's not all milk and honey for the Yankees- in the most serious and impacting injury thus far, Roger Maris, who split time in the outfield and was the DH, is out for at least 2 months with a fractured foot. As the Yankees have on their bench spare parts that would be top-of-the-line stars on other teams (Elston Howard, Thurman Munson, Billy Martin) this may not be too debilitating, but sluggers like Maris are not too common, and losing him won't help them gain ground in the division.....
-Outside of Cy Young, who is as great as ever, the Red Sox pitching staff has been in a recent slump, and the team is just below .500.
-They show some grit, but the Rays just seem overmatched.
-Plummeting within their own division to rock-bottom, the Blue Jays simply are the bottom now- a 4-18 record has the tied with the White Sox for the least amount of wins in MLB and, for all intents and purposes, the worse record in MLB along with them.

Comments?

[Francoeurstein]

Weird that the Sox are 4-19. Knowing them I would expect them to be around .500. Also I am very suprised with how the rockies are doing considering their lack of pitching.

Who are the last two pitchers of the Braves? Please say Smoltz and Glavine...

[Shea Knight]

Weird that the Sox are 4-19. Knowing them I would expect them to be around .500. Also I am very suprised with how the rockies are doing considering their lack of pitching.

Who are the last two pitchers of the Braves? Please say Smoltz and Glavine...

Yes, the White Sox are 4-19 (now 5-19, and the Blue Jays are 5-20.) They ARE in a division with the Tigers, Indians, and Twins (and the Twins have the first Washington Senators on the team, so they have Walter Johnson.....)

Yes, the last two pitchers for the Braves are Smoltz and Glavine- and the bullpen is made up of Lew Burdette, Johnny Sain, Rafael Soriano, Steve Avery, and Gene Garber.



There haven't beenenough games to do a whole 30-team recap, so just a quick trip around the horn as "April" draws to a close:

-Howard Johnson, the Mets backup 3B and "favorite" pinch-hitter, was injured by getting hit on the wrist by a Phil Niekro...... knuckleball.
-Stan Musial has not only retaken the batting title from Willie Mays, he is hitting an unbelievable .470; Mays, George Kell, and Mickey Mantle are all also hitting over .400
-Warren Spahn picked up his second complete game (a win over the Mets,) as now 3 NL East pitchers (Spahn, Greg Maddux, and Dwight Gooden) have 2 complete games
-Hank Aaron is a puzzling player right now- hitting under .250, and yet still being a great producer with 7 HRs
-Speaking of the Braves, they have caught fire to take the lead in the NL East, with a MLB-leading 7-game win streak; the A's have the sedond-longest streak with 5 straight wins, and have an unbelievable .800 win percentage and a 9 game lead over the Mariners and A's in the AL West
-The Giants have now caught the Rockies and are tied for the NL West lead
-A truly bipolar team, the Mets' offense ranks near the bottom or at the bottom in MLB, and yet its pitching and defense ranks at the top or near the top in the pitching and defensive categories; between these extremes the Mets are 9-15 and solidly 4th in the NL East
-And finally, the Tigers' pitching staff is taking charge in the AL Central, but their best pitcher isn't who you might think- with a 2-1 record and one of the league's lowest ERAs and hits allowed ratios, Jack Morris is proving to be an X factor

Comments as we go into "May?"

[Shea Knight]

What's intersting is looking at the top 4 teams in each league:

AL- A's, Tigers, Orioles, Yankees
NL- Rockies, Giants, Cubs, Braves

Just looking at those teams show the differences between the leagues.

The AL teams all are great across the board; the A's, Tigers, Orioles, and Yankees are all among the leaders in the AL in every offensive and defensive/pitching category. Each team has a fair amount of sluggers (Mickey Cochrane, Jimmie Foxx, Eddie Collins, Reggie Jackson; Al Kaline, Ty Cobb, Charlie Gehringer, George Kell; Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson Cal Ripken, J., George Sisler; Yogi Berra, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio) and a killer staff (Lefty Grove, Vida Blue, Eddie Plank; Jim Bunning, Jack Morris, Mickey Lolich; Satchel Paige, Jim Palmer, Mike Mussina; Whitey Ford, Catfish Hunter, Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez.) They are simply super teams, and seem to be squeezing the life out of other clubs that are also good but just can't muster the same firepower (the Twins, White Sox, and even perhaps the Red sox, who are .500 and just hanging in there.) In the AL, it's an aristocracy; it's a bit odd the Yankees would be the "wild card" team right now, but some issues with their staff (they keep rotating in different starters after the first few; "El Duque" was originally a reliever but they've put him in as a starter and he's been doing great, 3-0) and an injury to DH Roger maris are no doubt somewhat resonsible.

And then you have the NL.

Rockies, Giants, Cubs, Braves- and more.

The NL races are all tighter than the AL races which, with the excpetion of the Yankees-Orioles battle in the AL East, has been somewhat predictable and orderly, with a few surprises but those being few and far between.

Look at those 4 teams- only the Braves have that "Super-team" feel the AL clubs have with their great staff (possibly the best in MLB) and great offense (Hank Aaron, Eddie Matthews, vintage Andruw Jones....)

The Giants have had a super offense, with Orlando Cepeda, Jeff Kent, Willie Mays, and Mel Ott (for starters) all putting up huge numbers. But the staff's been mediocre.

The Cubs- how could the historically-woeful Cubbies be in 1st? They DO have their best players, all their crown jewles and HOFers- but so do the Cardinals and Reds and Pirates; the Piarates are floundering, while the Cards and Reds are giving chase.

And the ROCKIES?!?!?!

They are easily the biggest head scratcher in this All-Time League. How? How are they doing it? It's not like their pitchers are getting lucky or catching fire- none of their men rank anywherer close to the greats or even the "good" pitchers (Harvey Haddix, Al Leiter and Bob Ojeda, Johnny Podres) and yet Manny Corpas has the most NL saves, with 10, while no Rockeis pitcher has had great win totals or a low ERA.

So HOW are they doing it?

My guess- they have the right players for the right field in this All-Time League.

Coors Field is a blessing to hitters, and the Rockies' hitters are no slouches, comprising most of their 2007 World Series team plus a few oldies like Larry Walker. The Rockies have a good offense, and their park is just making it better- in more ways tha one.

The Giants pitchers (Christy Mathewson, Carl Hubbell, etc.) and the Dodgers' brilliant staff (Sandy Koufax, Don Newcombe, Don Drysdale) are all greats, all HOFers.

And yet their stats are no better than the "good" pitchers in the league like Haddix or Leiter; in some cases, they're doing worse.

And they play a LOT of games........ at Coors Field against the Rockies.

So that explains why the Rockies are in the lead- but why are the Giants tied for the division lead and so close to taking it while the Dodgers, just as good as the Giants on paper, in 4th place and in dire straights?

My guess- because the Giants play at AT&T Park, another good HR park, and have the offense for it.

Compare the Giants' best 5 hitters vs. the Dodgers best 5:

-Gil Hodges, Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider, Roy Campanella
-Orlando Cepeda, Jeff Kent, Willie Mays, Mel Ott, Willie McCovey

All greats.......... but look closer.

Cepeda, Mays, Ott, and McCovey were all great HR hitters.

Who do the Dodgers have to compare with that?

Hodges? Great slugger, but not good enough average here. Robinson? He's singles and doubles and speed in a bottle, not a basher. Reese? Same as Robinson. Snider? Probably the most well-rounded out of all of them. Campanella? Good power down the lines, but lacks the strength to drive it staight out of centerfield like Mays or McCovey.

What do we end up with? The Dodgers' and Giants' pitchers are all good, the Dodgers' ones may even be a bit better- but because they play a good number of their games in HR fields like AT&T Park and Coors Field (and that's just in their own division) they are going to get bounced around a lot, and indeed they have been.

But the Giants have the big bats, and ultimately enough power to somewhat offset their pitchers' getting punished (Mel Ott's leading the NL in HRs with 11 and Mays and the others are not too far behind) while the Dodgers' pitchers don't have enough HR hitters (Gil Hodges is the only one in the Top 12) to help their pitchers when they come to face the Giants or Rockies in their HR-happy ballparks.



The bottom line learned so far from the leading teams: in the aL, it's about who has the best players; in the NL, it's about who is able to use their players best to their advantage.

[Shea Knight]

The All-time Season finally has reached mid-May, and it's time for another update here:

First, some bad news. The game doesn't let me block trades; I was hoping with the high quality of players (each team is made up of HOFers, Gold Glovers, and All-Stars after all) the computer wouldn't trade. However, on 5/5 of the season, the Yankees in a huge headscratcher traded Yogi to the Phillies for..... Brandon Werth? Yes, it happened, and I have no idea why- Yogi was hitting .279 and tearing up th league, and the Phillies already had an offense that had them ahead in the division..... I can't stop it. I can only hope nothing worse happens.

And now to the standings:

NL West:
-The Giants have opened up a 4 game lead over the Pades and Rockies and are settling in atop the division. The usual cast of characters, Ott and Mays and Cepeda and Kent- all are among the leaders or are the leaders at their position. The G-men are riding high.
-The Padres have made strides and come to tie for second place in the division, and hold the "tiebreaker" over the Rockies. Nothing too special; Gwynn's been predicatbly incredible at the plate, though Jake Peavy is nowhere to be found among the NL pitching leaders.....
-The Rockies and their "live by the long ball" ways have finally caught up with them, as they (and the Padres) are four games back of the Giants. The Rockies just don't have the pitching, and even with Matt Hollday and the like hitting as they do, it seems if the Rockies can't win games 10-9 or 12-10, they can't win them at all.
-The Dodgers are stuck at 5.5 games back. A three-game sweep of the Mets hasn't provided any lasting help, and the team just cannot sustain any long winning streak (outside of that sweep) or much life at all. Jackie, Hodges, Pee Wee, Ron Cey, Campy, Duke, Koufax- all are performing "well," as you'd expect of such a group, and yet in this league (and especially in this division with such long-ball teams as the Giants and Rockies) hitting a respectable .285 or so with 6 HRs, as just about all those offensive players are, sin't good enough, while Sandy has been "respectable" with a "good" 4-1 record in 8 starts. Good- but not overpowering. The only truly overpowering Dodger (and a bit of a surprise) is Don Newcombe, with a 6-1 record, best in the NL, and also pacing the NL in K's and ERA.
-The Diamondbacks are... the Diamondbacks. They are just being picked apart.

NL Central:
-The Cubs have hit a bit of a dry spell as of late, but still cling to a .5 game lead over the Cards. No one has been outstanding- they've just been trying to hang on and re-ignite their offense.
-The Cardinals have been roaring as of late. Stan Musial is hitting
.393 and is just proving to be, along with Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle in the AL, the greatest 5-tool player. Lou Brock, Red Schoendist, Rogers Hornsby and the rest are also on a hot sreak.
-The Reds just got off a three game seris with the Mets at Shea (that's right- this is MLB 08, so baseball, even if it is "Field of Dreams" baseball, is still being played at Shea and the REAL Yankee Stadium) losing two in that set. The starting pitching has ben adequate; no one blows you away or strikes fear, and no one really has great stats. But the Big Red Machine (plus newer parts like Eric Davis and Adam Dunn) keeps on rolling, and has kept the Reds, though just under .500, in contention in the Central.
-The Astros have nothing to boast of, really- they just sort of get lost in the shuffle.....
-The Brewers have been nothing if not consistent- boom-or-bust hitting from folks like Robin Yount, Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun, and a travesty of a pitching staff.
-The Pirates pitching staff seems to have completely capitulated, ad the offense has been underwhelming; just like the Dodgers' key players, the Pirates' sluggers are playing "good" in a league where to contend most members of a team must be "great."

NL East:
-The Phillies have opened up a small lead in the NL East. Mike Schmidt is simply spectacular, as are the rest of the Phillies in on the attack (even "fake Philly" Yogi Berra.) The pitching staff has also been spectacular as Robin Roberts, Steve Carlton, and the old Alexander have been spot on.
-The Marlins have been charging as of late, with young hitters like Uggla and Hanley Ramirez chipping away at the rest of the NL.
-The Braves have stumbled a bit as of late, out of 1st place and into 3rd (albeit only 2 games back.) The offense has hit a collective slump, made worse as it coincides with the Marlins' getting hot, while the pitching staff's been good, but not quite as overpowering as it was in April, and the starting pitchers all seem to be cmin out a bit sooner.....
-The Mets have a lock on 4th place, far ahead of th Nationals, and far behind the other three in the division. The Mets' offense as started to finally show some signs of life; no regular now bats under .200, Mike Piazza, Carlos Beltran, and Jose Reyes have started to hit like their "old" selves, and Darryl Strawberry has been on fire (.320, 6 HRs, 17 RBIs.) So hy are the Mets stuck as they are? They are hitting now, but hitting in just about the worst possible fashion- they bunch their hits, and bunch them badly. Run support always seems to be lacking for poor Tom Seaver, with a 1-4 record and a +5.00 ERA. Dr. K has continued to perform admirably, though has cooled off just a tad after his 4-0 start in his first 4 starts; his record after 8 starts stands at 5-3 with a 1.69 ERA, just .10 points behind Don Newcombe for the league ERA lead and still one of the best pitchers in the NL.
-They're the Nationals, they're the Expos- whatever name you give them, it comes down to no power, few hits, few pitching K's, and few wins.

AL West:
-With the best record in baseball and a whopping 13 game lead in the AL West the Athletics are seemingly unstoppable. Reggie Jackson, Mickey Cochrane, Eddie Collins, Home Run Baker Jimmie Foxx, Sal Bando- its a seemingly never ending onslaught on offense, with Jackson being particularly murderous, hitting well over .400 with 15+ HRs and an appropriateamount of RBIs already. The pitching staff is just as dominant, as Lefty Grove, Eddie Plank and Co. start it out strong before Eckersley, seemingly without fail, slams the door in the 9th.
-The Angels may be "2nd," but at 13 gams back and not even .500, it's not much to brag about.
-Just as with the Angels, the Mariners are 13 games back, uder .500, and going nowhere fast.
-The maligned Rangers have been keeping pace, in a backwards race with the White Sox and Blue Jays for the worst record in MLB.

AL Central:
-The Tigers still hold the lead in the Central, but the lead's been cut to just .5 games. The offense has been just as crushing as always, but a pitching staff that has started to lose its edge and a tough schedule (three games against the Yankees never help, especially when they lose the series) has knocked the Tigers down a peg.
-The Indians have been holding pace with the Tigers; no small feat, but the fact they are just a .5 game from the division lead is due a bit more to the Tigers' troubles than the Indians' consistency.
-The Twins seem to be treading water at .500- too talented to sink, too vastly underperforming to take off. Walter Johnson, Mudcat Grant, Jim Kaat, Kirby Puckett, Harmon Killebrew- just more cases of "good" not bein good enough in this league (especially in the AL, which seems ruled by superpowers like the Yankees, 70s-80s Orioles, A's, and Tigers.)
-The only real reason the Royals aren't in the cellar is due to the fact they play in the same division as the next team.
-Why are the White Sox so woeful? A.J. Pierzynski, Luis Aparicio, Minnie Minoso, Frank Thomas, a decent staff- why? They're in a battle with the Mets for the worst BA in the league, the ERA's sky-high.........

AL East:
-Somehow the Orioles continue to hold the lead over the Yankees here. Sporting one of the best 1-2-3 pitching punches in the AL or in all of MLB with Paige, palmer, and Mussina, ad with Ripken and Co. hitting at amazing clips (George Sisler in particular has lived up to his name, proving tobe absolutely sizzling at the plate.)
-The Yankees once gave a Curse to another team as they traded for Babe Ruth, a seemingly untradeable star. Hve they inavertently invoked a "Curse of the Berra?" Trading Berra to the Phillies is bad enough, but it doesn't stop there; just as they gave the Red Sox peanuts for Ruth, the Yanks, for parting ways with one of the greatest backstops of all-time, received the immortal...... Brandon Werth? Not only do they committ the sin of trading Berra, but they trade him for a (in the context of this league) nobody, and not just a nobody, but an OUTFIELDER nobody? With Ruth, Mantle, and DiMaggio (and Hideki Matsui, other bench-stars, and Roger Maris in a couple months as soon as that injured foot heals) why an outfielder? Why trade at all? To their credit, the Yankees are still playing great ball all-around (though the staff has gotten a bit more roughed up as of late than usual) but they still have failed to overcome that 2 game gap between them and the Orioles.
-The Red Sox are .500... why? They have the best pitcher in baseball, Cy Young, who is just beyond incredible- 7-1, right in there contending for the K lead, and a microscopic 1.07 ERA. Tris Speaker, Fisk, David Ortiz, Bobby Doerr, Ted Williams- all playing great, not "good' but truly "great." I have no clue why this team is at .500 and in 3rd except they have the sad misfortune of playing in the AL East; aside from the A's, Yankees and Orioles they have no serious contenders that could beat them in a division, not even the Tigers, and really no team in the entire NL could likely keep them from 1st place. The Re Sox have the guns- they just have to keep them blazing and hope for a few lucky shots here and there.
-The Rays are in a division of titans- it would be cruel to say any more.
-The Blue Jays too are simply too woeful to speak of, "battling" the White Sox and Rangers for the worst record in MLB.

[Shea Knight]

An update, not a full stadnings one, but a briefer one.

First, another trade that I couldn't block: David Ortiz for Tony Gwynn. As much as I don't like that trade (Gwynn belongs in the crappy uniform of the Padres and nothing else) it at least makes some sense from a roster standpoint: The Padres had a severe power shortage, and the Sox had power to spare plus a couple other good 1B players (including Youkilis.)

Quickly going around the horn standings-wise... The Giants have begun to open up a lead between themselves and the 2nd Place Rockies, as the latter team has finally begun to sputter after a great month of April... the NL Central lead is changing by the day, with the Cardinals, Cubs, Pirates and, to a lesser extent, the Reds all in the hunt... the Braves have a hold on 1st in the NL East, followed closely by the Marlins and Phillies, my poor Mets, like their real-life counterparts, are locked in 4th, and the Nats are still just appalling and in 5th... The Yankees have finally caught the surprising Orioles and have a very slim lead over them in the AL East... the Twins and Tigers are battling it out daily for the AL Central lead, while the White Sox struggle to rid themselves of the worst record in baseball (followed by the Blue Jays)... the A's are AMAZING, ripping up the AL West with a 21 game lead over the woeful rest (the Angels are 2nd in the division and are below .500) while Reggie Jackson and Jimmie Fox are both hitting over or near .400 and are swatting HRs at a nearly unmatchable rate (only Babe Ruth has seriously challenged Jackson for the HR title, the two of them trading off leading day by day) while their pitching has been incredible as well, as the A's look to be the team to beat-even if it IS just May...


Final order of business before I go- some folks have asked me for the
All-Time rosters for the 30 teams I made. I can try to get them to you (would love to do so) but a few things first:

-First off, I'm going to update a few of them shortly to keep with what's going on in real MLB (ex. In keeping with my "no steroid users allowed" rule, I'm going to be taking both Manny and Big Papi, as much as I hate to do so, off the Red Sox roster; I WILL add Wade Boggs, though, as he was going to be a free agent, but seeing as he was great with the Sox and they've got the room now, he'll be taking over the hot corner.)

-I can give you the rosters, but how you fashion them, if you choose to do so, will in all likelihood be different from me, as there are no number ratings that go with the attributes on MLB 08... your rosters will still probably be roughly similar, maybe some teams will be better than I have some of mine and vice versa, but just a heads up, it won't be exact...

-Making these rosters is no easy feat. I did it by taking the current MLB players that fit, the set of Gold and Silver Age players the game gives ou, and CREATING about 150-250 players, each of which take anywhere from 5-15 minutes, depending on the depth you go into (ex. I spent a great deal longer on Mickey Mantle than I did on, say, Tim Salmon.) You "create" the players by editing the stock set of minor leaguers that every team has, and this, and balancing your lineups and roster and then making sure teams are proportionally set (ie, making sure the Yankees are #1 in offense and overall, and that a team of recent sluggers like the Phillies isn't "higher" than them.)

-Creating a team takes a few hours, and then I always played a test game to make sure all was well, sometimes making adjustments... it took me anywhere from a solid 8 or so hours for "lesser" teams (Marlins, Rays, Rangers) to a day or sometimes even a few days for the titans (ex. the Yankees, Dodgers, Giants, Red Sox, Cards and Cubs all took about a week each to get down.)

-And finally, the players and rosters themselves are, just to remind everyone, JUST MY HUMBLE PICKS. I don't want to start a war or words, or someone thinking I'm dumb for leaving so and so off a team or whatever (assuming, of course, that anyone actually READS this message.)

So no one have a fit because I start Piazza at catcher and bench Carter (Piazza IS my favorite player after all, plus I do think he's better than Carter and he playe for the Mets longer) or because Reggie Jackson's an Athletic and Catfish is a Yankee (it was the most fair way I could see to split them up, as the Yankees wouldn't have been able to start Reggie with DiMaggio, Mantle, and Ruth out there and Maris as the DH/4th OF.)

So- rosters, anyone?

[CircleChange11]

My biggest thing with all-time rosters is to use equalized/neutral stats in the ratings formulas ... otherwise it's often just dominated by dead ball era pitchers, and even pitchers from the 60s to a lesser degree.

[Shea Knight]

My biggest thing with all-time rosters is to use equalized/neutral stats in the ratings formulas ... otherwise it's often just dominated by dead ball era pitchers, and even pitchers from the 60s to a lesser degree.

Yes and no... I do "equalize" the player rankings a bit, as different eras do play out differently... the two things I do to combat this are:

1) I give every player stats from their prime (ex. Dwight Gooden is a great,
95mph flamethrower with some control issues and a ton off innings and K's, as opposed to the later, decent-at-best Gooden.) So all players are good and not too many are overpowered...

2) I DO take eras into account when giving stats; thus, a player in the '90s who had the same power numbers as a guy in the '50s or so will probably have lower power stats (not too low, but a bit lower) as the '90s player's numbers are most likely somewhat do to the culture of his times. And yes, that's true of all times, I know- all eras are dealt with that way.

A prime example of my method- "Home Run" Baker from the early Philadelphia Athletics. He played against good pitching and in expansive ballparks, and in a relatively "deadball" era, yet he clearly had some power due to his doubles and nice-for-the-time HR numbers. Thus, he has power stats on par with a slugger from a more lively era, very roughly equivalent with say... a Don Mattingly or a Gil Hodges.

I've gotten a request, and so, here is the first roster I'm posting (if you have a problem with it, first note Catfish is on the Yankees for reasons I've already said, and this is jsut for fun, I'm not Cooperstown...)

Without further ado: THE ALL-TIME PHILADELPHIA/K.C./OAKLAND A's!

*= Special Note

STARTERS:
C: Mickey Cochrane
1B: Jimmie Foxx
2B: Ed Collins
SS: Bert Campaneris
3B: Sal Bando*
LF: Al Simmons
CF: Reggie Jackson (As previously said, Yankees got Catfish, A's got Reggie)
RF: Rickey Henderson
DH: Dave Henderson

BENCH:
BN: Stuffy McInnis-1B
BN: Home Run Baker-3B*
BN: Walt Weiss-SS
BN: Carney Lansford-3B
BN: Elmer Valo-RF
BN: Joe Rudi-LF

PITCHERS:
SP: Lefty Grove
SP: Vida Blue
SP: Eddie Plank
SP: Charles Bender
SP: Dave Stewart
RP: Barry Zito*
RP: Tim Hudson*
RP: Darold Knowles*
BP: Rollie Fingers*
CP: Dennis Eckersley

*= Bando and Baker were both up for the 3B job; but while Baker has better offensive stats, he's not the best defensively (throwing arm's a lot weaker than Bando's cannon, and for some reason I can't figure out he just looks lost at 3B sometimes) and Bando's better overall

*= Sometimes my bullpen includes a "6th Starter" for teams with either a lot of great starters or not enough decent relievers; I felt that the A's didn't have a long-term (how long a player's with a team matters to me) reliever outside the obvious three here... and when I first made the roster, Zito and Hudson were on the A's and doing great (back when Zito could still pitch.) I put them on there to represent the "modern" A's, and I have yet to find better replacements, as I want them to be players from the 2000's on (I try to get a decent mix of eras in each team.) Anyway, they had a few good years... I think there are worse choices. Then you have the Big Three of Knowles, Fingers, and Eck; Eck obviously is the closer, and I have it set that Fingers is the setup man, and Knowles is the long-relief/7th-inning man. Hudson and Zito occasionally pitch out of the bullpen, but in LONG relief roles (such as if Blue or Stewart or whoever gets knocked out early) and they actually do extraordinarily well in that role, so well they really seem to belong on an All-Time team. As far as "straight" relief (not 7th-8th-9th and not long relief, but simple fireman need-a-pitcher-now) goes, Knowles is usually the go-to guy, while Fingers and very occasionally Zito see some action as well. Generally, however, the A's starting pitching is murderous, and unless they uncharacteristically choke or are facing a juggernaut equal to themselves (see: All-Time Yankees and All-Time Giants) Zito and Hudson aren't seen, and it's a starter for 7 innings or more, a bit of Knowles and/or Fingers, and Eck slams the door.


There it is, the first of my All-Time Rosters.

Questions and Comments? (Keep it civil, guys; this is just for fun, no need to call folks stupid, and anyway, the A's took a week or more to make and the whole 30 teams took over a year for me to make between my senior year and plays and stuff, so if it's not Cooperstown worthy, I'm sorry- but it's fun, and pretty good, I think.)

[NJMetfan4life]

I have a question, How did you decided which teams get who? For example Nolan Ryan, would he be on the Astros or Angels, or Reggie Jackson, A's, Yankee's, or Angels.

[mr.baseball123]

That's a good roster. Please post more.

[Shea Knight]

I have a question, How did you decided which teams get who? For example Nolan Ryan, would he be on the Astros or Angels, or Reggie Jackson, A's, Yankee's, or Angels.

OK, a LONG time since I've updated this thread... So here I come to do just that, but first this question.

What team gets who?

I take into account:

-Legacy
-Player's wishes
-Numbers
-What teams need what

For a good example- take Reggie Jackson/Catfish Hunter.

One went to the A's, one went to the Yankees.

Now, both have a great legacy with both teams, both had good ties to both teams, both had good numbers.

So... what team needs what?

Look at the Yankees- with DiMaggio, Ruth, Mantle, Roger Maris as a 4th... do they NEED another HOFer OF?

Nope. But do they need someone behind Whitey Ford? Yes.

The A's- great pitching, could use a bit more power, so...

Reggie goes to the A's.
Catfish goes to the Yankees.

Also, number of years matters, but play wishes usually trump that; Frank Robinson split his career with the Reds and O's, but he wanted and go an O's cap in the Hall, so he's there, and Gary Carter wanted either a split cap or a Mets cap all alone- the Hall ignored him, I didn't... he's a Met.


Now, standings to be posted tonight... we're into June now...

[Shea Knight]

And now, the team standings as of early/mid June:

AL West:
-Well, this divison is basically clinched already for theAthletics. There's not much more to be said... Reggie, Jimmie Foxx, Sal Bando, Lefty Grove- this is a superteam, and maybe the best team right now
-Far, FAR back, almost 20 GAMES BACK, are the Angels... and... well, they're not too great, recently losing a 3-game set to the Mets, and on an on... they have Thurman Munson now (?) but it doesn't seem to matter
-The Mariners are the third team in this division... they have Ichiro and Junior... and that's all, folks, nothing to see here...
-The Rangers continue to battle with the Royals and White Sox for the Worst Record in Baseball

AL Central:
-The Tigers seem to have recovered from their late-May slump and are back in a solid lead atop the AL Central... Cobb and Crew are pounding out runs, which is a good thing, as the pitching, while decent, hasn't been anything much to write home about thus far, so while George Kell, Cobb, Greenberg, Trammell, Whitaker and the rest pound out run after run, Tiger fans have to hope they don't go down injured, because if they do...
-The Twins are surging a bit as of late, moving past the Tribe and trying now to close the gap in the AL Central. No one thing is doing it for the Twins- the pitching's been good (but with Walter Johnson, Jim Kaat, and Mudcat Grant you'd think it'd be great) and the hitting's been solid, defense... but nothing stands out. Is that a plus or a minus; they seem to be pretty interchangeable for the most part (if Walter Johnson or Kirkby Puckett goes down, of course, that's a whole differet story) and so no matter what keep chugging along, but do they have that extra inertia to overtake the Tigers?
-The Indians have been struggling as of late... Bob Feller in ANOTHER bad trade (the owners seem to specialize in them) has been dealt, traded for some offense that's... not done much,
-The Royals have managed to jsut stay ahead of...
-The White Sox continue to be one of the worst teams in the league- and it just defies logic... granted maybe you could argue they wouldn't have the tools to take on the Tigers or maybe the Twins... but last place, and with near-league-lows in batting average, HRs, etc.?

AL East:
-The Orioles continue to hold on to 1st place, and George Sisler continues to be batting close to .400... Ripken, Frank Robinson, and then the 1-2-3 of Paige-Palmer-Mussina has the O's flying high.
-The Yankees seem to be playing a game this season- how much CAN we trade away and still win? Really, first Yogi Berra to the Phillies, then Thurman Munson to the Angels, they've shifted people up and down in their farm system (which itself contains the good CURRENT players they have, so shifting Bobby Shantz and Chien-Ming Wang around really isn't too bad at all) and yet they STILL win, and STILL stay on the heels of the Orioles and far, far ahead in the Wild Card race, albeit in June. But the Yankees that have stayed have played, for the most part, like the... Yankees. Lou Gehrig's Lou, Jeter's Jeter, Mantle's The Oklahoma Kid, Ruth's already hit 40+ HRs, DiMaggio... well, Joltin' Joe's been the one "weak link" in that line of greats- but even HIS "off" year (mostly due to injuries) has been pretty good, and would be considered great for most players. Roger Maris off the bench and DHing... the offense is locked in a three-way battle with the Giants and the Athletics for best in the league. The pitching's not been as mythical as the offense, but still great with Whitey and Catfish and Rivera. Love or hate them (and look at my name- why do you think I am?) the Yanks are amazing.
-The Red Sox are the answer to the following riddle- what team has done nothing wrong and yet seems to be stuck out of contention? Really, Ted Williams, Yaz, Carlton Fisk... and the PITCHING! Cy Young's already about 14-1 with an ERA jsut around 1.00! That's INSANE! WHY is this team in 3rd? The answer- the Yankees are the Yankees, and the Orioles have had a great year with their great players, too.
-The Blue Jays in this reality still Have Halladay, and Joe Carter and Roberto Alomar and some really good players- but as it's been stated over and over, "good" is not nearly good enough in this league, and ESPECIALLY in a division with the Orioles, Yankees, and Sahx.
-The Rays are just dogmeat in this divison.

NL West:
-Look at those Giants go! Look at the LINEUP! Orlando Cepeda, Jeff Kent, Travis Jackson, Rich Aurilla, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Mell Ott, Bill Terry of the BENCH- their offense is almost like an NL-version of the Yankees. Willie Mays and Mel Ott deserve special mention, as they've been having years that are just amazing even by amazing's standards- Mays with a near .400 batting average, 40+ HRs, near 100 RBIs, and up there on stolen bases, too... and Mel Ott ALSO with a great BA, around .390, and keading the league with 50 or so HRs. Christy Mathewson and Juan Marichal have had great years, but they really are getting very much overlooked and overshadowed... when the Giants are pounding out HRs and winning 12-3, the fact Mathewson had 7 scoreless innings or Marichal having a 9 K game or so tends to get overlooked... but all-in-all, the Giants are a superteam, a top five, maybe the best in the NL, deep, and, barring some huge injuries or a huge collapse, this team should play well into October the way they're playing now.
-The Rockies have had a surprisingly good year, and if the Giants hadn't been having a season for the ages, they'd be the story of the NL. Great offense, and a surprisingly decent pitching staff.
-The Dodgers have been, without a doubt and bar none, the biggest disappointment thus far this season. Far back of the Giants, stuck in 3rd place... WHY? Sandy Koufax and Don Newcombe have been having spectacular years, each up among the league leaders in ERA, wins, and K's. But after them, the staff's only been average, and the OFFENSE... where is it? Roy Campanella, Gil Hodges, Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese, Steve Garvey off the bench... where's the production? Jackie's producing as one would expect him to, and Duke Snider's having a great season, but the rest are having the dreaded "good" season, and some are having only "OK" years. With the Giants rolling, the Rockies a surprise contender, and the NL Wild Card looking to be a HUGE battle, if the Bums don't right the ship soon, they might just sink.
-The Padres trading Tony Gwynn for David Ortiz did nothing, as the Sox got the better of the deal, and the Padres got a double-whammy in little production and now a loss some of the little prestige they had...
-They're the Diamondbacks, and they're getting squashed.

NL Central:
-It took them long enough, but at long last here come the Cardinals. Lou Brock's up there in most offensive categories, and joining him is Musial with 35-40 HRs and in a battle with Reggie Jackson, Willie Mays, and a surprise contender (I'll name him later on in this article) for the NL batting crown... Pujos is Pujos, Hornsby's Hornsby, Bob Gibson and the rest of the staff, the Wizard's out there at short- the Cardinals have arrived.
-Of course, just as the Cardinals arrive, the Cubs look to start hibernating. They're still playing well, but they've lost the lead to the Cardinals... and they're the CUBS. They still are tight with the Cardinals and even tighter on the Wild Card hunt... but, again, they're the Cubs- and they'd better watch out...
-The Reds can't decide if they want to contend this year or not- one day Ken Griffey Sr. and Johhny Bench and Joe Morgan and Kluzewski and the rest will be smashing the ball everywhere, and the next... poof. It doesn't help that an already "good" staff by this league's standards has underperformed.
-The Brewers have Braun and Fielder and Hart and Yount hitting well... and after that a sos-so offense and one of the worst staffs in baseball.
-The Pirates have just not performed at ALL this year...
-The Astros have some muscle, but not nearly enough to compete, and with no pitchers that can really stop a Stan Musial or Roberto Clemente or Gabby Hartnett cold...

NL East:
-The Phillies continue to stave off the rest and cling to their lead. Yogi, the "fake Philly" is having a great year, and all the "real" Phillies are too.
-The Marlins have always, throughout their history, either been an atrocious team or that dark horse contender that's ready to shock everyone. This year... they're that dark horse. True, no none's coming to their games (even in the fanstasy world their stands are rather empty... pretty accurate...) but they're still playing well, and hats off to Hanley Ramirez... yes, HE's that other one vying with Reggie Jackson, stan the Man and Say Hey Willie for the Batting Average Crown.
-The Braves have hit a bit of a slump... no, they're not... they're playing WELL- the Marlins and Phillies are just playing a tad better...
-Ah, the Mets. My team, and, true to their heritage, they this season have been perhaps the streakiest team in the league. One night no one can cam miss and they'll win 10-2, the next no one can hit and they'll lose 10-2... or they'll have a pitcher's duel and just win 1-0, or have a pitcher's duel or lose 1-0. You never know... but this much can be said for the Mets- they're finally playing better, and playing like themselves after that disasterous April-mid May. In the last month, the Mets have a .500 record, maybe over or under by a couple games, and are vastly improved... well nearly all of them are. Jose Reyes is Jose Reyes again, with a great .290 averae and great OBP and SBs and runs scored and everything. Piazza's hit about half of his now 12 HRs in that last month, and that, coupled with his BA rising about 30 points, looks like it's hailing the return of the real Piazza. Keith Hernandez is, in a bit of a surprise, the team's most consistent hitter for average, nearing .390 himself and red-hot. Beltran's doing well, Strawberry's cooled but still solid at .280 or so and 21 HRs... Cleon Jones. And then you have Tom Seaver and David Wright, both goats in the early part of the season... Seaver, after starting 1-4, is now 7-4 and in the NL's top 10 in K's and ERA, and is back in his HOFer form. Wright... is still a .220 hitter with little power, and remains the weakest link... and I have no idea why (his defense is still good, though, to his credit.) Dr. K Dwight Gooden's experiencing an odd phenomenon- he seems to get nearly all no-decisons... but the Mets still do well when he pitches and he still is up there in K's. All in all, the Mets are one of the teams that have turned it around the most in the last month, and while it might be too late for a division title shot as they're still 10 games under .500 and about 17 back of the Phillies, the way they're surging and with more than half the season still to go, a Wild Card shot is possible.
-The Nationals are simply terrible... but for Lastings Milledge and Ryan Zimmerman and a couple others, the might join the White Sox and Rangers in that Hunt for Futility

So there's the update... a long time between updates, I know, sorry.

And if anyone wants the rosters...

[Francoeurstein]

Update please?

[Shea Knight]

So here we are another update as the MLB All-Time Season ends June and heads into July...

As of July 1st:

AL East:
-The Orioles continue to hold onto the lead out in the East... nothing much has changed for them over the season, as they've been consistent winners with Brooks and Frank Robinson, Ripken Jr., Boog Powell and George Sisler all having good years (Sisler leading the league in Batting Average and Hits) while Satchel Paige and Jim Palmer continue to pitch well, with Mussina backing them up as the #3 starter.
-No matter WHO they get rid of or call up from the farm, the Yankees can't stop winning. Get rid of Munson, Berra... DiMaggio goes down with an injury, Maris goes down with an injury, they come back only to see the Mick get hurt... but it doesn't matter- the Yanks keep on winning. The lineup's unstoppable- Gehrig, Jeter, Ruth, Maris/Mantle, DiMaggio, Elston Howard, Rizutto, Billy Martin, and then Posada or Matsui or Mattingly... WHOEVER doesn't quite crack the starting lineup DHs for the team. Whitey and Catfish have been very effective, and when he's been needed, Rivera's been his shut down self. The Yankees have closed the gap on the O's, closing to three games, and they have a seven-game lead on the wild card... the Bronx is Burning for sure- because the Yankees (damn them) are on fire.
-The poor Red Sox have done everything right... but with the Orioles and Yankees playing the way they are, it just doesn't seem to matter...
-The Rays are far, FAR back of the Big Three, and would be even further back if it weren't for...
-The Blue Jays remain locked in that battle with the Rangers and White Sox for the worst team in the league.

AL Central:
-The Indians have surged and snatched a half-game lead over both the Twins and Tigers for the division lead in what is shaping up to be the tightest division race. No one player has played a part in the surge, it's just been a total team effort.
-Just a half-game back of the Tribe, the Twins are right there in the race, and just like the Indians, it's the whole team, not just one or two standouts, getting the job done.
-The Tigers have ALSO been playing well of late, and are just a half game back in the race... but is it telling that they let a reasonably good lead evaporate first before keeping tight? No real flaws can be seen... George Kell's remained amazing, Trammell, Whitaker... Kaline's posting strong power numbers... the pitching's been enough... Cobb? Cobb hasn't been much of a headliner this year... odd... maybe The Georgia Peach needs to ripen a bit more to re-launch the Tigers.
-The Royals... well... better than...
-I can't get over it... WHY are the White Sox so terrible? Luke Appling, Aparicio... Harold Renolds... A.J.... some good members from the 2005 squad... and all to no avail. They can't hit... I'd say they have a power outage (and they DO... giving the Mets a run for their money for least HRs in the league...) but it's EVERYTHING.

AL West:
-I wonder what the earliest is a team's ever clinched... the Athletics are ahead by 23 GAMES! The next closes team is 11 games under .500! Jimmie Fox STILL leads Babe Ruth in the HR race (by one... Lou Gehrig, Ryan Howard, Adam Dunn, and Mel Ott are all in on the chase) and the rest of the team has jsut dominated in every facet... the Orioles, Yankees, Indians, Twins and Tigers ALL better watch out... if they're not careful, they might be in for a rude awakening come October.
-The Angels... are the best of the worst in this divsional race for second place. No great stars, the team that stole America's hearts as a group of over-achieving underdogs has underperformed this season... granted they likely don't have the on-paper fireworks to really challenge the A's even if the DID over-achieve again but... 11 games below .500 and 23 games back? Ouch.
-The Mariners have... Ichiro and Griffey, their two saving graces that keep them form possibly joining the likes of...
-The Rangers continue to just be flat-out awful.

NL East:
-Whatever WAS wrong with them, the Braves have righted the ship and taken back their spot atop the division. Greg Maddux leads the league in wins with 10, Spahn's right behind with 9, and Smoltz right behind HIM with 8. The offense, surprisingly, hasn't produced any league leaders to speak of, but they ARE in a divison with GREAT pitching between the Braves, Phillies, and Mets, and the Marlins staff is decent if not necessarily too frightenign or over-powering. Still, they've done their job, and, as has already been said, the Braves' staff hasn't dissapointed the critics, and if you've ever wondered what a Spahn-Maddux-Glavine-Smoltz-Lew Burdette starting staff with Johnny Sain as a long relief/6th starter and Steve Karsay and Gene Garber closing things down can do... rest assured. The Braves staff is quite possibly the best in the league right now, and could be the Braves ticket to October baseball.
-The Phillies have stumbled just a bit... maybe a rough few games on the road, nothing seems out of whack... in any case they've still got a great lead on all the other teams in the Wild Card Standings (even if it is only July 1st.)
-The Marlins are steadily holding in their "3rd place and ready to be the dark horse or spoiler" position, as usual.
-The Mets finished their June schedule 15-12, their first winning record in a month. The Team atting Average rose from around the .245 mark to .270- still not good enough to go to October, but a small step in the right direction, hopefully leading to giant leaps to come. Jose Reyes has cooled a bit, having a hard time getting on base, but remains a terror on the basepaths once there, and scores run after run... David Wright remains a weak-hitting, strong-fielding third baseman, but had some good key hits in the Interleague Subway Series that closed out June (and one game in STL where he again had a hit.) Piazza had 7 of his 12 HRs in June, including two in that Subway Series, has seen his batting average rise, showing all the more the Piazza of old has finally seemed to show. Strawberry's been good... Keith Hernandez remains on fire... and then we come to the pitching, and the staff's fin ally began to pitch like the New York Mets. Seaver and Doc Gooden both have 8 wins ("11th" in the league... as so many pitchers have 9 and 8 wins) and are in the top 10 in the NL in K's, with Gooden in 5th with 102 and Seaver at 6th with 101; both got their 100th strikeouts and 8th wins on the year in victories over the Yankees. All and all, they're still the Mets, still streaky... but have begun to close the gap between them and the Marlins for 3rd if nothing else.
-They're the Nationals/Expos... not much more need be said.

NL Central:
-Hey, Chicago, What Do You Say- The Cubs are winning every day! The Cubbies must have woken up from their beginning of June slumber, because they've taken back their lead over St. Louis and have a 2.5 games lead over them. Three Finger Brown's pitched well, and the Cubs' offense, while seemingly mirroring the Braves in not really contending for awards but getting the job done, has done its job. Summer baseball's been kind so far to the Cubbies... how long can it last?
-The Cardinals are locked in a three-way battle for the NL Central crown, battling the Cubs and trying to stave off the surging Pirates. The offense has had a well-rounded year, though Stan Musial's hit a "slump" and has lsot about 30 points on his batting average... he now bats "only" about .335 or so. The defense has bee the prototypical great Cardinals defense, and the pitching's been stellar, as not only have stars like Bob Gibson and Dizzy Dean done their parts, but lesser-knowns like Harry Breechen (8 wins) are having good years as well.
-It looks like the Pirates have decided to finally join the divisional race... it took them long enough, and they still have no real divisional leaders, but here they are, surging of late and closing to a far-but-reachable 6.5 games behind the Cubs... Clemente, at the very least, has had a great year indeed, on fo the best RFs in all of MLB.
-The Astros have somehow climbed into 4th place... but are so far back of the other teams it might not matter too much...
-The Brewers have seen good offensive years from the likes of Prince Fielder and Robin Yount... but they have an ATROCIOUS staff, one of the worst in baseball, and it just gets ripped to shreds.
-The Reds have fallen and fallen hard, far back of the Big Three in the division... the pitching's just not hitting its spots, and the Big Red Machine seriously needs gas or a tune up or something... but NO! NO... Joe Morgan, Adamn Dunn, and Johnny Bench are all having great years... and the lesser lights aren't doing too bad at all... but the Reds can't seem to get TIMELY hitting, and THAT, coupled with a serious lack of dominating pitching, has seemingly grounded the team.

NL West:
-They're the Giants ... they're the NL's Murderer's Row still... Mays, Ott, Cepeda, McCovey, Travis Jackson, Rich Aurillia, Jeff Kent, Bill Terry and Will Clark and the like off the bench, Mathewson and Marichal and Maglie all having geat years... Nen and Wilhelm all slamming the door shut- the Giants are going on and going strong.
-HEY... the Dodgers have FINALLY shown up to the party! Took them long enough, but their late surge has got them looking more like what they SHOULD HAVE BEEN all year so far, and while they're a distant 2nd behind the hated Giants, it's a start. They still haven't gotten the offense QUITE clicking to perfection yet... when you have Pee Wee and Jackie and Hodges and Snider and Garvey and Cey and Campy and Sax and all the rest, you SHOULD be doing better offensively than they have done and been so far. But Koufax and Newcombe and Drysdale and Valenzuela and all the rest of the staff seem to have gotten the message, and Koufax and Newcombe in particular are having simply magnificent years.
-They haven't done much and haven't gone far- the Padres remain stuck in a quagmire and far back of the leading two.
-The poor Rockies seem to have finally landed to earth after an amazing start, but they grabbed first place at the start of the year, gave way to the Giants, and now over the last few weeks have just seemed to develop an alergy to winning, now FAR back of the Giants and Dodgers.
-The Diamondbacks are in an All-Time League- winning is the great exception for them, not the rule.

[Shea Knight]

OK...so, that was a LONG break.

But we've now reached the All-Star Break, the standings:

AL West:

The A's have a 20+ game lead...and Mariners, Angels, and Rangers are all sub-.500...so yes, it would appear the A's are locked in even at midseason.

AL Central:

The Tigers and Twins are battling for first place, the Indians is in a distant third, and the White Sox and Royals are far, far behind, with the worst records in baseball.

AL East:

1. Orioles (WOW...)
2. Yankees (A game or two back, and they're minus Yogi, Maris, and perhaps Mantle adn DiMaggio as well...if THEY come back...)
3. Red Sox (In a distant third)
4. Blue Jays (In a distant fourth)
5. Rays (In a far distant fifth)

NL West:
1. Giants
2. Dodgers (in a distant second)
3. Rockies
4. Diamondbacks
5. Padres

NL Central
1. Cubs (????? HOW.....?????)
2. Cardinals (A few games back of the Cubbies...wow, that's odd to say...
3. Pirates
4. Astros
5. Reds
6. Brewers

NL East:

1. Phillies (A game over the Braves)
2. Braves (A game hehind the Phils)
3. Marlins (Far behind the first two)
4. Mets (Ten games under .500 but with a good last couple of weeks)
5. Nationals (Twenty games out of first place...)

The Yankees have a LOCK on the AL Wild Card Race, leading all other teams by a nine game margin, so whoever loses that O's/Yanks battle for the crown could very well get the AL Wild Card anyway

The Braves have a one game lead over the Cardinals for the NL Wild Card lead, after which the Dodgers, Pirates, Rockies, and Marlins all trail far behind...

[Iowanic]

Go cubbies!

[Shea Knight]

I honestly don't know HOW they're in the lead...after Three Finger Brown they have, in the context of this being an All-Time League, a REALLY bad pitching staff...heck, even my Mets have a far better one!

And the Cardinals have one of the best!

And then the Reds AND the Pirates AND the Reds have good offenses as well, but they're just not getting it done...

WHAT is with the Cubbies???

[Shea Knight]

Another update as we leave July...

AL EAST:
1. It's simply incredible the sort of race the Orioles are running with the Yanks. The O's had some good All-Star Game representation with Jim Palmer, Brooks Robinson, and Cal Ripken, Jr. all making the game. The Yanks have cut the O's lead to either a game and a half or a game or even just a half a game, depending on the day, but the O's somehow continue to stay ahead, and their doesn't appear anything that can or will stop their postseason push: George Sisler, Brooks Robinson, Ripkens Sr. and Jr., Boog Powell, Mark Belanger having a surprisingly good season, Frank Robinson...and then that 1-2-3 pitching combo of Satchel Paige/Jim Palmer/Mike Mussina has just outpunched the Yankees' Whitey Ford/Catfsih Hunter/Whoever they pitch 3rd. Even if the Yanks do eventually win out and take the divisional title, the two teams are still about nine games behind the nearest AL Wild Card Contenders--which would be the Tigers and, yes, the poor Red Sox--so even if the O's lose the division they're nearly assured the Wild Card, meaning we could see a GREAT AL East matchup this postseason...just not, perhaps, the one most people would have picked.

2. The Yankees are the Yankees, no matter what. Really, when most of the races in baseball involve two or three teams and there's so much tension as to who will win it out, the Yankees only have two main questions: will we win the Division or just the Wild Card and can Babe Ruth beat out Jimmie Foxx and Reggie Jackson for a Silver Slugger, for a HR title, for an MVP...really, the American League as a whole is, in most categories, FAR ahead of the National League statistically, and the Athletics, Yankees, Tigers, and Orioles are almost exclusively the cause of that. Elston Howard, Lou Gehrig, Billy Martin or bobby Richardson (or whomever they call up for the spot, perhaps Robinson Cano), Derek Jeter, Phil Rizzuto (and a couple others), and then that outfield of DiMaggio, Mantle, Ruth, and Maris, depending on who's healthy and who's playing DH, Don Mattingly and the like on the bench, good rotation, Rivera locking down games...those DAMN YANKEES...

3. There's not a lot, sadly, to say about the Red Sox. They've played well the whole way through, and simply suffer the slings and arrows of such outrageous fortune as to play in the same division with the Yankees and surprisingly-powerful Orioles. Ted Williams and Yaz are having good years, and both made the All-Star Game, and the same may be said of Cy Young, but even still...

4. The Rays are just ahead of...

5. The Blue Jays, both of whom have really been out of it since the beginning of May.

AL CENTRAL:
1. In one of the best races in baseball the Twins, now, have the lead in the AL Central, somehow...a good team, with Killebrew, Carew, and a killer staff featuring everyone from Walter Johnson to Jim Kaat to Jack Morris...the Tigers have more statistical might, and so a bit surprising the Twins now have the lead, but again, this is a race that changes at the drop of a hat.

2. Just behind the Twins are the Tigers, and not much more need be said--they're behind today, and could be ahead tomorrow, with George Kell, Paul Derringer, Ty Cobb, Sam Crawford, Lance Parrish, Lou Whitaker, and Alan Trammell pounding away as Jim Bunning heads a staff that otherwise doesn't have many headliners, but have done well enough, and with the Tigers' offense, "well enough" is definitely good enough for Detroit to claw for the top spot until the end.

3. In it but fading a bit as of late are the Indians, who simply suffer from Red Sox Syndrome, namely being a great team in a division that's dominated by two superpowers; the Indians aren't as far gone as the Red Sox are, and still have a chance, but they'd need to catch fire and hope for at least one of those two aforementioned superpowers to suddenly get a power outtage...and that seems less and less likely with each passing day.

4. The White Sox have stayed just ahead of...

5. The Royals, and both teams continue their own private war with the Rangers and Nationals for the title of "Worst All-Time Fanchise" in this league...

AL WEST:
1. The Athletics have had this division locked up for about twio months now, and it's getting to the point where you almost have to wonder if ANY team will be able to stop them, including the superpowers that are the Yankees, Orioles, Tigers, Twins, Giants, or Braves. It's almost absurd how incredible the lineup has been: Mickey Cochrane, Jimmie Foxx (who, as already mentioned, is battling The Babe himself for those big-time power numbers, and leading quite a few), Sal Bando, Rickey Henderson, and Reggie Jackson (again vying with Ruth and Foxx for the AL MVP) have all simply been as good as you could ever possibly imagine them...and that's not even considering the PITCHING STAFF. Lefty Grove, Chief Bender, Vida Blue, Dave Stewart, and then Darold Knowles, Rollie Fingers, AND Dennis Eckersley as relievers, if they're even needed. It'll be an immense shocker if this team isn't playing in the ALCS, and if the Yankees weren't in their league I'd have already picked them as a lock for the World Series--and even that, at this point, isn't too far-fetched an idea,

2. The Angels are far ahead of the...

3. Mariners, who are far ahead of the...

4. Rangers, as all three are simply playing for pride and statistics...and the Rangers playing simply in the hopes that they can beat out the White Sox, Royals, and Nationals and NOT land at the bottom of the All-Time barrell.

NL EAST:
1. The Phillies, as of TODAY, are a game up on the Braves, and so tommorow, of course, the two may bery well be swapped here. It's a race every bit as exciting as the Orioles/Yankees or Twins/Tigers, and each side brings just as many All-Stars and Hall of Fame names as you would expect, and the Phillie lineup, with Chuck Klein, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Mike Schmidt, and Richie Ashburn has just been phenomenal, as Grover Cleveland Alexander heads a pitching staff that includes Curt Schilling and the ageless Brett Myers as well as other big names.

2. The Braves, as mentioned, are locked in a daily battle with the Phillies, and they, too, have their share of guns, with Addie Matthews, Hank Aaron, Chipper Jones, and the rest all blasting away. But in the pitching-rich NL East--a division that ranks with the AL East and AL Central in terms of overall pitching quality--the Braves simply have the best guns and the most...it's almost scary how incredible their staff is: if you thought Maddux-Glavine-Smoltz was so great a staff it was almost unfair in the 1990s (as I often did when my Mets faced them) try Warren Sphan, Phil Niekro, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz TO START the game, and Lew Burdette, Steve Karsay, Johnny Sain, and Gene Garber on hand just in case. Again, that's Spahn-Niekro-Maddux-Glavine-Smoltz as a starting rotation...ALL FIVE ARE HALL OF FAMERS! And then, if THAT wasn't enough, if one of them goes down with an injury or just has a bad game--a rarity--you have not one, not two, but THREE other good starters/long relief men on hand in Burdette, Sain, and Karsay, and then Garber to close if you should somehow need a closer! WOW...

3. The Marlins are five or six games back of those two titans, and with their staffs and lineups, that looks like it'll be enough, barring a fiery run by the Fish, to lock them down into third place.

4. The Mets have FINALLY arrived and have caught fire, coming out of July one of the hottest teams in the leauge, along with the Phillies and Twins, though it very well may be too late. Two weeks ago they were 16 or so back and 10 games under .500; they have now won something around 10 of their last 15 or so to move to 11.5 games back of the Phillies/Braves (whoever leads that given day) and 5 games below .500, so for two weeks that's a pretty impressive span, and for the month they've been red hot. Jose Reyes is in the Top 5 in SBs, Mike Piazza has struggled at times at the plate and has his average stuck around .240 but still has put up some decent power numbers and has hit in the clutch when the Mets have needed him to, David Wright has been benched in favor of Howard Johnson, which has added a considerable amount more firepower to that attack, Keith Hernandez had begun to hit for more power has remained a .300+ hitter with flawless defense (he's actually in the running for a Gold Glove at 1B in the NL, as is Edgardo Alfonzo at 2B) and Cleon Jones put together a 12-game hitting streak that saw his batting average raise about 30 points...and that's not even counting their biggest gun. Darryl Strawberry's batting .338 with 18 HRs and 49 RBIs, not to mention 30+ SBs. Straw's simply been nothing short of incredible, cracking the Top 10 Batting Averages list in the NL. And then there's the staff: Tom Seaver, Dwight Gooden, Jon Matlack (out of the bullpen to replace the 3-15 Jerry Koosman, who now has been relegated to long-relief duty), Bob Ojeda, and Al Leiter. Seaver: 11-5 with a 3.11 ERA and 130 K's, all of which are good enough to place him higgh in the Top 10 in the NL in those pitching categories, and he leads the NL with an almost-unreal 1.001 WHIP. Gooden: 9-7 with a 3.02 ERA and 138 K's, again plenty to place him in the Top 10 in the NL in those categories. Matlack: 3-4, winning his first two starts since taking over the starting role. Ojeda: 11-5 with a record of 4-1 in the last month. Leiter's run into some trouble and is 7-10, but aside from that the staff's been incredible, and the bullpen (when it's been needed, as Seaver leads the league in both Complete Games with 6 and Shutouts with 3, while Gooden's performed similarly) has performed well, too, with Jesse Orosco representing the Mets in the NL All-Star Game and John Franco's 20+ saves has him in the Top 10 in THAT category. The Mets have come alive and are incredibly hot, though it very well may be too late...

5. The Nationals are approaching August and have only won 38 games thus far...yes, only 38...

NL CENTRAL:
1. WHAT IS WITH THE CUBS?! Either they're waiting to collapse even more dramatically than usual and give all those cyber-Chicagoans an even worse case of the Cubbie-Blue Blues or Lou Pinella's got them practicing in their sleep or something, because despite the Cardinals coming on hard and the Reds suddenly deciding, like the Mets, that they, too, actually want to play up to their potential, the Cubbies have continued to hold on, somehow, in the NL Central...and I MEAN "somehow," I honestly don't know how they're doing it. The CARDINALS are the ones with a ton of All-Star and Hall of Fame power, the CARDINALS are the ones with players in the Top 10 in many categories, and the REDS are the ones that have suddenly caught fire...how is it the Cubs are still ahead? How is it Derek Lee, Ryne Sandberg, Ron Santo, Ernie Banks, and Billy Williams have continued to stave off Albert Pujos, Rogers Hornsby, Ozzie Smith, Scott Rolen, Stan Musial and Enos Slaughter? How is it Three Finger Brown is behind Bob Gibson statistically, as are most of the Cubbies' pitchers in many of those categories, and yet the Cubs still hold the divisional lead? It's close, yes, but still, that almost makes it more unreal...how is it the Cubs ARE NOT collapsing and dropping crucial fly balls and games, blowing saves and leads and watching that slim lead go the way of the dodo in favor of Cardinal Domination? I honestly don't know, but if the Cubs don't watch out, they could be headed for a dramatic Fall heartbreaker instead of an easier, early heartbreak...I mean, they're the CUBS, they HAVE to get heartbroken sooner or later, right? They can't POSSIBLY keep this up into September or October, right? Right?

2. Like I said above, the Cardinals, if the laws of Mathematics and Statistics had their way, really should be leading this division; instead they're locked in a battle with the Cubbies, and somehow for every game they win, the Cubs win one too to just always stay ahead...other that that, the Cardinals are a great team...and yet they trail the Cubs and trail the Wild Card leader (either the Phillies or Braves, again, whoever lost that day) by a couple of games, so really, the Cardinals ARE, flor as good as they are, in a bit of trouble, espeically with the Reds finally warming up...oddly enough, while most of their players have been playing exceptionally, Stan Musial's just hit a cold spell, with Dwight Gooden fanning him not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times when they met a few days ago, once on just three straight fastballs...if the Cardinals want to avoid some embarassment and revenge at the hands of the North Side of Chicago, they'd better get Stan back to hitting like The Man--and FAST.

3. Yes, the Reds have arrived, despite a rotation that's often shaky, and, yes, it could very well be too late...the Cardinals' being a bit wobbly opens up a chance, and if the Cubs happen to act like the Cubs generally do and go into hibernation around this point the Reds could pull out a second-hald steal and still take the division, but with each day the Cubbies somehow stay on top that looks less and less likely...

4. The Pirates just haven't had it this year, and that hasn't changed in the second half of the season.

5. The Brewers have, quite possibly, THE WORST rotation in the game...and are only saved from utter oblivion by the likes of Robin Yount, Prince Fielder, Corey Hart, and Ryan Braun.

6. The Astros have Nolan Ryan...and really, that's about it...

NL WEST:
1. The won the World Series in real life this year, and they're certainly a real threat to win it in the world of All-Time MLB, the Giants are simply the Murderer's Row of the NL. Orlando Cepeda, Jeff Kent, Travis Jackson, Rich Aurilla, Willie McCovey, Willie Mays, Mel Ott, and then the likes of Bill Terry and Will Clark off the bench...Christy Mathewson (who started the All-Star Game) heads a great staff,f and really, the Giants have just about locked up this division...they'd need to collapse like the 1964 Phillies or the '07 and '08 Mets (DAMN...) to blow this, and that really doesn't appear like it'll happen. Willie Mays, Christy Mathewson, and Mel Ott deserve special mention, Mays for...well, being Mays, but besides that for being near the league-leaders in all the offensive categories you'd expect the Say Hey Kid to do well in, Mathewson for his aforementioned All-Star start, and Ott...Ott's having nothing short of an incredible year AMONG incredible years, leading the NL in batting average, doubles, HRs and RBIs, and, naturally, leads the NL MVP race as well.

2. The Rockies...wow, it's almost a shame the Giants are so far ahead, because the Rockies performance this year, in an All-Time league, has been nothing short of amazing, and though they're FAR behind the Giants, they and the Marlins are easily the best post-1962 expansion teams in this contest.

3. The Dodgers continue to disappoint, and iot looks like it's all but over for Big Blue as far as playoff dreams are concerned...Koufax and Newcombe have been great, and Jackie Robinson has had a great year, Duke Snider's produced...but the rest have simply been Bums.

4. The Padres technically have a notable player, but as David Ortiz has never really donned a San Diego uniform and he came at the cost of their trading their only REAL star in Tony Gwynn...oy...

5. The Diamondbacks are the D-backs in an All-Time league, and in the same division as arguably the best team in the NL...so yes, their season ended around the beginning of May.

[Iowanic]

The cubbies rock!