SIM COMPLETE - 1986 - Playoffs 1

[Andrew]

Next sim: Sunday

Not a very interesting 1st round. Our bats completely went to sleep in this series. 43 strikeouts in 4 games.

[Lintyfresh85]

Congrats to all the winners! Us losers certainly didn't put up much of a fight!

[Whale]

14 runs put up in 5 games. Pretty much what I expected with Schmitz out and the drop off in run production the last month and a half. Happy to have made the playoffs and not get swept like the Guides. Good luck to everyone other than Dallas the rest of the way.

[Sully]

Congrats Jistic! I knew it was a tough matchup before I lost my top two starting pitchers. Best of luck to you in the IL championship!

[Guest]

At least Los Lunas didn't sweep me I guess...

[Jistic]

Congrats Jistic! I knew it was a tough matchup before I lost my top two starting pitchers. Best of luck to you in the IL championship!

I didn't know you were that banged up til I "scouted" you right before the series. You were in a tough spot there for sure.

Nice to get a win. The rookie Rosales has stepped up HUGE in Burgetts absence. I was shocked that Maine got swept. Now it's really anybody's to win. Should be exciting.

[Guest]

The rookie Rosales has stepped up HUGE in Burgetts absence

Millers want back...

[Gyrodork]

Who's Your Piggy?!

WooHoo! Believe in the power of the pig!
For my next trick, I will pull a Toyota Tundra out of my ass.

I submitted the following article for the "front page":

Swine Flu Causes Guides to Run Aground
Furry Pigs Do IT Again!

A year ago it was the heavily favored Pittsburgh Millers that were supposed to slaughter the Javelinas on their way to the Brewmaster's Championship Game. Instead, the tiny-market-team from Los Lunas shocked the baseball world and swept the Millers out of the playoffs. This season, the Maine Guides were brutally and utterly dominant, as they waltzed into the playoffs with their league-best 114 wins. If last season's first round results were inconceivable, then the odds of Los Lunas duplicating those results for a second year in a row were incalculable.

Welcome to the impossible world of the Los Lunas Javelinas.

A few years ago, Javelinas fans began to refer to themselves as "Los Lunatics", because you'd have been crazy to root for this team. These days, they're just plain crazy about their beloved Javelinas. And who wouldn't love a small-market team that turned out to be giant killers (excepting the giants, of course)? Well, despite their propensity for generating dramatic upsets in the playoffs, the Javelinas' style of baseball remains an acquired taste.

As a minor league baseball coach twenty years ago, Jim Cox (now General Manager of the Los Lunas franchise) was considered a baseball "purist". He was religiously devoted to teaching the fundamentals of the game. And always, ALWAYS there was a deep, abiding love for the art of pitching..."The great equalizer", as he would often refer to it.

Jump forward a couple of decades to a BLB sponsored charity auction, and witness a chance encounter between a young dot-com millionaire (Los Lunas owner Phil Grates) and a grizzled baseball veteran (Cox). Grates was young, wealthy, and bored. Cox was old, almost poor, and becoming irrelevant. No one could say it was a perfect match. But something extraordinary happened in that first meeting. As they shared with each other their perspectives on the state of professional baseball; both men came to one fateful conclusion: In order for a small market team to be competitive in a high-priced league, it would have to spend its money on pitching; especially relief pitching. That's where the biggest bang for the buck could be had.

The theory is that good pitching keeps games close, and gives its team a legitimate chance to win every game. The same amount of money could be invested in only one or two big bats. The team would score in double digits occasionally, but there would likely be fewer wins when all was said and done. Grates immediately hired Cox as GM. Cox immediately hired Gyrodork Smith, a former disciple, to manage the club.

Implementing this philosophy has not garnered national headlines for the franchise. And although they have won their division two years in a row, it has not turned Los Lunas into a baseball juggernaut. That was never a goal for this organization. But as promised, the Javelinas have been given a legitimate chance to win every game. And so The Los Lunatics once again find themselves in the improbable but enviable position of rooting for their beloved pigs in the Domestic League Championship Game. If Grates, Cox and Smith have their way, you can expect a nice long, boring series. And we wouldn't want it any other way.

[Guest]

WooHoo! Believe in the power of the pig!
For my next trick, I will pull a Toyota Tundra out of my ass.

Hook me up with a Viper while you're at it.

[liquidcrash]

Apparently Andrew was feeling a bit guilty and decided to give the Pigs a gift as his last act of simming.

Damn shame he didn't do it last year.

[Clay]

It's common in the BLB... there's a 1st round upset every year since the wildcard.

[Gyrodork]

It's common in the BLB... there's a 1st round upset every year since the wildcard.

Loaded question, but...Any chance another #4-seed has knocked off the team with the best record in the league two years in a row (or more)?

[Gyrodork]

Hook me up with a Viper while you're at it.

Let me know what color you want, and I'll change my diet accordingly.

[Clay]

Yeah... Windy City definately has had a perfect run. Hot at the right times, Cold at the right times.

Dallas showed some sack to rally back and make it a series.

Should be a fun series. Really solid pitching matchups but have to give the edge to the Playboys.