Archive for the ‘online gaming’ Category

Dynasty 1973 League Divisional Round Preview Twins vs Orioles, Cubs Vs Reds, Royals vs Brewers, Pirates vs Dodgers

Posted: July 17, 2025 by datechguy in dynasty baseball, fun, gaming, online gaming
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Well the wild cards rounds are done so now it’s time for the divisional rounds

AL

Kansas City Royals (95-67) 3rd Seed at Milwaukee Brewers (92-70) Beta Division title

Season series Milwaukee 6-4

Kansas City Royals

The Royals have one big bat in the person of veteran Frank Robinson who found the fountain of youth this season with 25 HR leading the team. Former MVP Bobby Murcer has not come back to the levels he had in NY but he put up reasonable numbers for the team.

But the strength of the team is their ace Bert Blyleven who dominated the majors winning the AL Cy Young in a walk winning 25 (most in majors) with the 2nd best ERA in the majors 2.41. Bob Reynolds managed 10 wins in relief. Doug Bird picked up 6 saves in six chances and Ramon Hernandez added 18 more but also blew seven. The rest of the rotation Nelson Briles, Bill Greif and Mike Cuellar were adequate with mid range ERA’s (3.69- 4.15)

The individual numbers aren’t earth shattering but they were good enough to be 3rd in the AL in batting and 2nd in the league in doubles. It all added up to 95 wins and kept KC in the fight for the division until the very end of the season.

Secret Weapon: Contact. Only the Yankees and the Cardinals stuck out less that the Royals this season.

Milwaukee Brewers 92-70 1st AL Beta

Milwaukee lives and Dies with Pete Rose who led the league in batting hitting .339 and hits 224 hits including 10 triples and 34 doubles. Rose scored 102 runs and drove in 100 despite only hitting 2 HR all season. This was made possible in part thanks to two things. Ron Fairly (146 walks) and Denis Menke (119 walks) batting ahead of him and Billy Williams last year’s triple crown winner in the NL who not only did not make Atlanta’s cut but somehow dropped to 17th in the draft allowing Milwaukee to pick him up to bat behind Rose, where he hit .296 with 22 HR and 122 runs driven in (2nd in AL). Rookie Catcher Darryl Porter finally got some full time play and kept the balls going out adding power to a team that lacked it. The final pieces came in a trade with Boston which lost them Bernie Carbo’s great bat, OBP and Arm, but gained the Bud Harrelson’s defense and Willie Davis’ range and Bat to round them out.

On the Mound the Rotation of Ken Holtzman 18-14 3.12 , Don Wilson 20-8 3.33 and Al Downing 14-11 2.81 (plus 3 saves in 4 chances) is one of the best in the majors. Add to that George Stone 11-7 3.68 as the #4 man who might be a #2 or 3 on any other team and you have one of the most devastating rotations in the game, particularly 2-4. Ellis Sosa managed 15 saves but led the league with 8 blown and veteran Bob Miller did much better saving 8 and blowing only two.

Secret Weapon OF Steve Byre .286 9 HR & 58 RBI might not seem like much but hit .300 with a .386 OBP vs LHP

Peter’s pick. (Full disclosure I manage Milwaukee) In a five game series Bert Blyleven might get 2 starts which is bad news for Milwaukee but Milwaukee has the advantage both in pitching for games 2-4 and in Batting overall. The wild card that might make the difference is that the Brewers Rotation leans heavily left and KC as a team was 34-18 vs LHP (.654) It’s going to be a tight series thanks to that stat but I just don’t think Kansas City has enough bats to overcome a Milwaukee team that constantly wears down pitching staffs. But of course if it goes to a game 5 and Blyleven starts with the game on the line KC can feel pretty good about themselves.

Brewers in 4

Orioles 101-61 vs Twins 80-82 Season Series even 6-6

Baltimore lived by the long ball. Their 222 HR were not only the most in the AL by 55 they were a full 35 HR over Cincinnati which has one of the most devastating lineups in the game. They lead the majors in slugging and OBS with four players hitting over 30 HR (Amos Otis 36, Doug Rader 34, Davey Johnson 34 and Gene Tenace 32. Otis excelled in almost every category coming in 2nd in the MVP vote by only a point. In a league where only five qualifying batters hit .300 or better Baltimore had two (Otis .308 and Al Bumbry .302) along with Rich Coggins who with 407 plate appearances didn’t qualify but hit .322. That meant plenty of men on base as the balls cleared the fences. Tenace, Coggins, Otis, Bumbry and John Milner all had OBP from .360 (Tenace) to .387 (Otis) Three men scored over 100 runs (Otis, Johnson and Bumbry) and Tenace was only 3 runs short of being the 4th.

If all that power wasn’t enough Baltimore’s 3.72 ERA was very respectable and their top four starters Dave Roberts 18-11 3.22, Steve Renko 18-8 3.40, Andy Messerschmidt 21-11 3.61 and Rookie Jim Slaton 15-8 3.62 (a steal from Milwaukee last season) all with WHIP’s running from 1.16-1.35 means very few teams will get a chance to match them run for run. Closer Bob Locker managed 23 saves with only five blown and a 1.10 WHIP meaning that if they get to the 8th with a lead it’s likely not going anywhere.

Secret Weapon. In a league with few steals Al Bumbry 11 SB 1 CS and Don Baylor 8 SB 1 CS are a threat to run if given a chance

Minnesota Twins 80-82 2nd Wild card:

For the Twins team evaluation from wild card series click here.

Minnesota beats Cleveland 2-1

Game one:

Stan Bashan did his best Bert Blyleven imitation holding the tribe’s bats to five hits and one run over 9 innings. Meanwhile the twins two runs in the second on a Hisle single the third of three to start the inning and a fielders choice was more than enough to do the job even if they hadn’t added 3 in the sixth and another in the 8th

Twins 7 Indians 1

Game 2:

The Twins and the Tribe traded single runs back and forth off of Bob Moose and Dave McNally until Tony Perez went long with a man on in the 6th one of only 5 hits given up by McNally in 7 innings but Moose pitched 9 and gave up only one hit more to even things up

Indians 4 Twins 2

Game 3

The indians had their ace Jon Matlack for game three while the Twins answered with Alexander. The tribe struck first with one in the 3nd off a Hebner error after a walk and single but in the bottom of the inning. Al Oliver singled and Ray Fossie doubled him in to tie the game and then Mark Belanger throwing error plated Fossie and Sent Grich to 2nd with nobody out. He made it to 3rd on an Appricio single and scored on a Sac fly making it 3-1 when Buddy Bell returned the favor with an error of his own loading the bases and allowing Aparicio to score on a fielders choice. They never looked back. Each team traded a run later on but once Sparky Lyle came on the mound in the 9th the series belonged to Minnesota as he retired the side in order.

Twins 5 Indians 2

The pick: Baltimore is facing a Twins team that just won a close and played them even all season but it’s impossible to ignore the combination of this lineup with this rotation. I can’t see Minnesota pulling it off although if they can get a lead Lyle can give them a game

Orioles in 4

Chicago Cubs (79 – 83 ) at Cincinnati Reds: 120-42

Cincy won season series 8-4

Cubs 79-83 Won wild card in 3 games For team eval click here

Game 1 Burt Hooten held the Braves to a single run while Jeff Burroughs went deep on Catfish Hunter who was removed for a pinch hitter after giving up 4 runs in two innings. Those four were all the Cubs would need.

Chicago 9 Atlanta 1

Game 2

It was Fergie Jenkins who went long only giving up a pair of runs over 8 innings while Chicago went hitless with runners in scoring position. Rick Reuschel pitched into the 7th giving up 4 runs and a pair of homers but while Rollie Fingers gave up a solo shot it in the 9th it wasn’t enough to save the day.

Atlanta 6 Cubs 3

Game 3

Neither starter lasted Kooseman out after three innings and two runs while Decker also gave up a pair of runs but lasted an inning longer. However the Cubs advanced getting one in the 6th, two in the 7th and adding one more in the ninth thanks to going 5-17 with runners in scoring position while the Bravos managed only a single hit in seven such opportunities as three Cubs relievers managed six innings of shutout ball.

Chicago 6 Atlanta 2

Biggest surprise: Caesar Cedeno who had a spectacular season managed only one single in 11 trips to the plate

Cincinnati Reds 120-42

Cincinnati dominated the National League and everyone else making deal after deal to improve their team until they rolled up a final lineup Trades brought the Willie Stargell (.280 31 HR 117 RBI) Bill Sudakis (.282 26 HR 66 RBI) John Mayberry (.253 24 HR 80 RBI), Thurman Munson (.302 11 HR 68 RBI) and Ken Singleton ( .302 13 HR 78 RBI’s) Meanwhile hometown talent Joe Morgan scored an amazing 164 runs thanks to an obp of .402 while stealing 54 bases and Toby Harrah managed 16 HR and 69 RBI while batting .278 and Rookie Ken Griffey batted .322 in part time play a sign of great things to come.

Meanwhile when you look at the stats of the arms in Cincy you notice one amazing fact: The worst ERA for any pitcher who even pitched part of a season for the Reds is 4.80 and the WORST on the current roster who pitched 20 innings or more is Don Gullett who went 15-8 with an ERA of 3.83. Again trades made the difference Jim Brewer 6-1 out of the pen with an ERA of 3.50 & a WHIP of 1.27, Starter Jack Billingham acquired early in the season won 19 of his 20 wins for the Reds with a 3.44 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP. Bill Bonham 5-3 with a 3.40 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP. Mel Stottlemyre 15-3 3.01 ERA and 1.34 WHIP and finally ageless Don McMahon who went 4-0 with an ERA of 0.96 at the age of 43. But home grown relivers like Pedro Borbon 13-8 22 saves and Dick Barney (10-0) certainly did their share.

And if all of that wasn’t enough their .986 fielding percentage was 4th best in the majors and only a single point behind the 3 leaders.

Secret Weapon: In a league full of base stealers Reds Catchers threw out 14 in 29 attempts (.483)

Peter’s pick: One has to give the Cubs credit for pluck they managed to eliminate a stronger Braves team in three games but facing a team 2nd in the majors in pitching (3.23) OBP (.346 1st in NL) slugging (.429 1st in NL) , 4th in fielding (.986) and first in batting (.265) in the Majors I can’t see pluck managing to win more than one game at best.

Reds in 4

Pittsburgh Pirates 95-67 vs Los Angeles Dodgers 110-52 Pittsburgh 6-4 season series

Pirates 1st Wild Card

Rod Carew hit .353 to lead the majors and scored 121 runs thanks to a .419 OBP while driving in 83. Tommy Harper had a resurgent year scoring 117 of his own while hitting 17 HR and stealing 19 bases. George Scott (.295 16 HR 83 RBI) and Bill Melton (,279 23 HR 88 RBI) gave plenty of people fits but Hammering Hank Aaron ruled the roost smacking 53 Home Runs and driving in 147 while scoring 113 of his own with an OBP of .389. Only Cincy drove in more runs than the Pirates

On the Mound Gaylord Perry had another banner year going 15-7 with an ERA of 2.42 and a WHIP of 1.19. Despite giving up 18 HR in 247 innings Jim Colburn went 15-6 and posted a 3.17 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP. Bill Singer was the hard luck man in the rotation. Batters only hit .213 against him, he put up a WHIP of 1.21 and an ERA of 3.11 but only managed a 14-14 record. Even worse for the Pirates foes if the game got to the 8th or 9th on came Mike Marshall who saved 25 of 29 and went 13-8 in 63 games of relief.

Finally the Pirates had the best defense in the majors with the fewest errors in the majors.

Secret Weapon. Tom Bradly who worked both a starter and a reliver and was highly effective in both locations.

Add these things together and it means a lot of trouble for a lot of good teams with better records.

LA Dodgers 1st in NL Beta Division:

Batting: Willie McCovey .261 34 HR and 90 RBI was a terror to pitchers in the league, so much so that they walked him 132 times (against only 107 k’s). Joe Ferguson only managed to hit .210 but hit 24 HR and drove in 77 when he did hit. Mike Lum and Garry Maddox both hit over .300 to support the cause which helped them to a +243 run differental.

But the real reason for that number was the pitching. The TEAM ERA of the Dodgers was 2.49! That’s just under 3/4 of a run less than any other major league team. The duo of Tom Seaver (7-3 2.50) acquired from the Daytraders and Don Sutton 22-10 2.32 are a devastating pair. The underrated Wayne Twitchell went 16-7 with a 2.49 ERA a WHIP of 1.07 and an avg against .191 while pitching 3rd in the rotation. To put it all in perspective. The pitcher who did the worst for them was J. R. Richard who had a 3.46 ERA with batters hitting .206 against him. He’s the #5 man.

The Dodgers have a good offense but not overpowering however their rotation is so much better than anyone else how does a team manage to have a chance?

Peter’s Pick

If there was a series of the week this one would be it. Two formidable teams with two excellent managers. By sheer numbers one must make the Dodgers who finished a full 15 games ahead of the Bucks the edge but that didn’t stop Pittsburgh from winning the season series. Basically star studded hitting (Pit) with one great pitcher and plenty of very good ones vs a star studded rotation with one star hitter and an excellent supporting cast. With the #1 & 2 NL Cy Young pitchers and a team ERA almost a full runner better than Pit the Dodgers will be stingy but I have a feeling that Hammering Hank will get the last laugh.

Pirates in 5 but just barely

Dynasty 1973 League Wild Card Preview Indians vs Twins, Cubs vs Braves

Posted: July 10, 2025 by datechguy in baseball, fun, gaming, online gaming
Tags: , , , , ,

Well it’s playoff time again in our Dynasty 1973 league and we begin with the best of 3 series Wild card games

Indians 80-82 vs Twins 80-82 (Twins won season series 7-5)

For a while it wasn’t sure that the Indians would make the playoffs, the Yankees, Senators and A’s all made runs but they finished strong to secure a playoff spot.

As always they are led by their bash brothers Tony Perez (23 HR 114 RBI’s) and Sal Bando (28 HR 93 RBI’s) but they had a lot of help from Catcher George Mitterwald and Dave May who who both managed to add over 20 HR each (25 & 20) to be part of the power supply hit not to mention Mitterwald’s glove behind the plate and May’s 14 outfield assists to help things out. Their strength isn’t just the long ball. The team’s .261 avg lead the junior circuit. With Mark Belanger and Dave McAuliffe up the middle the defense is pretty solid. Of playoff teams only Cincinnati and Pittsburgh have better fielding stats than Cleveland.

On the Mound Jon Matlack has been the leader (22-11) but after that it becomes very ordinary with Mickey Lolich (10-15 5.17) , Bob Moose (6-12 4.83) and Steve Busby acquired from Cincy (4-8 4.89) all being very average. Only Alan Foster has an ERA below 4 and didn’t manage a winning record (9-11 3.82) On the plus side no AL team gave up less Home runs (102)

Secret Weapon: Dick McAuliffe who hit .556 with 17 RBI with the bases loaded

The Job is for Matlack to win his game and for the bats to come through for someone else can they do that vs the Twins?

Minnesota Twins 80-82

The Twins have one great bat in Al Oliver .300 27 HR 108 RBI and one very good bat in Richie Hebner (.282 21 HR 91 RBI) who have spent a lot of time driving in Bob Watson (91 Runs scored 90 walks). Oliver has also provided great defense with Bobby Grich taking plenty of hits away from left handed batters and Catcher Ray Fosse throwing out 14 of 21 trying to steal.

But the real strength of the Twins comes from their killer closer Sparky Lyle (7-1 0.86 ERA with 33 saves in 39 chances. Their starting rotation Ross Grimsley (11-10 3.63) , Dave McNally (15-15 3.92 ) and Doyle Alexander (11-9 4,28) have been very average but if they can get the ball to Lyle it’s pretty much all over. He has gotten some help from Cecil Upshaw who spent a fair time on the DL has come back to hold batters to a .214 avg with a WHIP of 0.94

Secret Weapon Lou Pinella who batted .314 with 6 HR and 21 RBI vs LHP

Peter’s Pick On paper the Indians offense outdoes the Twins particularly when facing avg pitching, They hit 50% more homers but Because Matlock pitched game 162 we’re not likely to see him for the opener and that means the twins get a shot against the tribe’s B team. Their pitching overall is practically equal other than the tribe being HR adverse. Logic and the overall stats says Cleveland takes the day but my gut tells me the Twins are able to get leads which means Sparky Lyle ends the discussion, if however they get to a game 3 then the Indians ace gives them an advantage but their closer Ray Corbin is 18 of 24 but I suspect the twins won’t let it get that far and their park doesn’t favor the long ball. Again all logic says otherwise but I’m going with my gut.

Twins in 2

Chicago Cubs 79-83 at Atlanta Bravos (Braves) (86-76) Season Series Even at 5-5

Chicago Cubs

Jeff Buroghes has come in to his own and Rusty Staub put up the best numbers of his career last season Danny Cater managed to hit .356 in 100 games. Meanwhile Steve Garvey put up solid numbers at the plate but exceptional numbers in the field (.994) but however good Garvey and Patek did in the field it pales before Tito Fuentes who has only committed a single error in over 1400 innings and 700+ chances. Everyone knows Freddie Patek is best known for his glove and only hit .210 but he also managed 10 triples to make his a danger to any pitcher and stole 11 bases in 13 chances.

On the mound Burt Hooton (14-10 3.10) and Rich Reuschel (13-10 3,13) have put up pretty good numbers for playing half the season in a hitter’s park and left Jerry Koosman’s 10-11 3.57 has been more than adequate but the bottom pair in the rotation Dick Tidrow (3-15) & Milt Pappas (6-10) have been horrible. Closer John Hiller has managed 26 saves in 34 chances holding hitters to a .199 avg. have combined fore a 9-25 record.

As for their fielding, the less said about the Cubs defense the better, the bad news is they were the 2nd worst fielding team in the majors, the good news is Atlanta was the worst.

Secret Weapon: Long ball averse. Desipte playing in one of the ultimate HR parks and playing all day games Cubs pitchers gave up only 108 HR this season. Only 3 teams gave up fewer

It’s a short series so the Cubs can keep Tidrow & Pappas for garbage time, will that be enough to win?

Atlanta Bravos (Braves)

Last season Atlanta was favored to go to the series but was eliminated early. While they weren’t able to repeat the division they had a strong season despite Dick Allen spending most of it on the DL or on KC. Caesar Cedeno picked up the slack with a triple crown quality line .324 39 HR 110 RBI but after him while many players had respectable number from Al Kaline: (.275 12 HR 58 RBI) to Dusty Baker (.254 19 HR 87 RBI) nobody else brought star power at the bat although Paul Schaal hit .294 and scored 94 runs

The stars were on the mount with Catfish Hunter (16-11 3.25) & Fergie Jenkins (21-16 3.45) giving a powerful 1-2 punch with Rollie Fingers picking up 18 saves and 8 wins with an ERA of 2.80 (along with starting two games). Despite blowing 5 of 7 save chances workhorse reliever Tom HIlgendorf went 11-5 and put in over 100 innings on the mound.

In the field the Bravos were the single worst fielding team in all the majors which makes the performances of Hunter and Jenkins even more impressive.

Secret weapon: Norm Cash hit .294 with runners in scoring position and two outs alas he now plays for KC.

Peter’s pick. At first glance the Braves would seem to have the advantage based on their overall record and their 1-2 punch on the mound but the Cubs top 3 are almost as good and managed to give up over 50 fewer HR’s as a team. Combine this with Dick Allen not expected to be back until late in the next series and it seems to me we’re going to have at least one more day playoff game once this series is over.

Cubs in 3.

And Finally the NL Beta Division of our 1973 Dynasty league

Posted: May 25, 2025 by datechguy in Dynasty, dynasty baseball, gaming, online gaming
Tags: , , ,

We’ve looked at the AL Alpha Division here:

We’ve looked at the AL Beta Division here

We examined the NL Alpha Division here

Now let’s go and check out the final division in our 1973 Dynasty the NL Beta division.

TeamWinsLossesPercentageGBWCGB
Los Angeles Dodgers8140.669—–+22
Pittsburgh Pirates7462.5978 1/2+13 1/2
Chicago Cubs5962.48822—–
New York Giants5170.42130-8
Montreal Expos5171.41830 1/2-8 1/2

Los Angeles Dodgers:

LA has risen from the ashes of a last place season to the top of their division and like the Reds in the Alpha division has not been shy about big deals. Nolan Ryan dealt to the NY Giants while Tom Seaver and Denny Doyle acquired from the Daytraders. Vida Blue to the daytraders, Ted Sizemore from the Giants.

Some rookies have been dealt. Davey Lopes and Mickey Rivers to the Daytraders but others have remained to be the core with Don Sutton 16-7 2.15 ERA with 193 K’s leads the rotation while Wayne Twitchell 13-5 2.38 in his 2nd full season along with veteran Reggie Cleveland having the best season of his career and Grant Jackson has been perfect in the bullpen 12 saves in 12 chances and an ERA of only 1.25. Young J. R. Richard has not quite gotten there yet although he has 94K’s in. The team ERA of 2.53 is a full .7 runs less than every other team giving up only 63 home runs and the 307 earned runs are a full 100 less than any other MLB team.

Veteran slugger Willie McCovey meanwhile has done the job with 29 HR and Dave Roberts has put up fair numbers but the offense has not been the star of this show but they’ve managed a bit of slugging 3rd in the NL

The Dodgers have winning records against both the Braves and the Dodgers and every current playoff team except Baltimore (1-2) and Pittsburgh (3-4) with a series left against each. This bodes very well for the post season in a division that they have pretty much locked up.

Pittsburgh Pirates

Pittsburgh surprised everyone by easily eliminating Cincinnati last season and fought the Giants in one of the most epic playoff series in league history. This year they’re led by Hammering Hank Aaron who leads the majors with 40 Home Runs and 112 Runs Batted In while Rod Carew sets the table hitting .349 with 172 hits and 14 triples all best in the majors and OPS of .948 and 92 runs scored (4th in the league). Rookie Dave Parker looks promising, Bill Melton’s 16 HR are below is peak but up from last year’s injury prone season, George Scott keeps flashing the glove with enough hitting to go along with it

On the mound Gaylord Perry is having another great year, 12-6 with a 2.41 ERA 5th in the majors. Bill Singer 13-9 with 2.61 8th in the majors. Starters Jim Colburn 12-6 2.98 & Tom Bradley 11-6 3.45 are both having career years. And keeping the games they pitch in hand at 9-5 with 21 saves blowing only 3 is Mike Marshall.

Put simply Pittsburgh has the stars and the pitching to win any series they’re in and only Cincy is more deadly on turf.

Between LA & Cincy they are .500 and as well managed as they are will be a deadly threat to any team that faces them in the playoffs. They have the stars and the pitching to carry them all the way all they have to do is get past the two best teams in the league and I wouldn’t want to be the guy who has to bet against them.

Chicago Cubs

The Cubs are an enigma. While Starters Burt Hooten & Rick Reuschel have done yeoman’s work Jerry Koosman is still not up to his days with Oakland although in fairness he’s doing better than last season’s disaster. Fortunately John Hiller 25 saves with only 5 blown means if Chicago can get a lead to him they’ll usually keep it.

Le Grande Orange Rusty Staub has been instrumental in getting those leads, his numbers .320 17HR 63 RBI are the best he’s had. Young Jeff Burroughs 20 home runs are making Washington regret not keeping him and Steve Garvey is also putting up the best numbers of his career. With a supporting cast hitting .259 as a team (2nd in NL 3rd in majors) they’re getting on base a lot but not enough. Their -44 run differential does not impress.

Nevertheless they have a commanding lead for the final wild card spot but are the same distance away from Atlanta for the 2nd. So a playoff spot is nearly assured, what remains to be seen is if they can do better than just a playoff spot. They’ll have to punch up to win a wild card series but with the potential competition they’ll have to get by (LA, Pittsburgh & Cincinnati) they’ll really have to go above their weight grade to even think about going farther.

New York Giants

The only thing more surprising than the the franchise swap between the A’s and Giants was the decision to return to NYC and share the Polo Grounds with the Yankees.

It’s very clear the Giants are building for next year and their acquisition of fireballer Nolan Ryan is a real sign of it. His 4-2 record and 1.67 ERA since joining the team and his .185 avg against leading the Majors means the NY ace is capable of stealing a game from any team they face by pitching alone.

But he’s not alone Reggie Jackson’s 39 HR and 98 RBI and .305 avg is just behind Aaron for the lead and Craig Nettles, now playing for his 3rd NYC team keeps improving. but this is a team building for the future. Their team ERA of 4.69 is rock bottom despite

  1. the top rated Defense in the Majors
  2. Bill Freehan who, while not hitting remains one of the best game callers in baseball
  3. The addition of Ryan

Unless the young bats develop and the pitching improves It will be a while before we see this team back in contention for a pennant.

Montreal Expos

On paper Montreal should be a lot better team that it is. Rookie Starter Steve Rogers 10-6 2.74 ERA WHIP 1.02 is top 10 in multiple categories. They boast of Luis Tiant with a 2.81 ERA despite a 10-12 record and Lou Brock who has stolen 39 bases while hitting .315 and Dave Nelson stealing 29 of his own while only being caught 4 times.

Alas closer Tug McGraw has an ERA over 5. Rookie Ron Cey while showing power (14 HR) has not reached anywhere near his potential and the rest of the batting crowd while hitting a respectable .251 and driving in runs above the league avg just aren’t getting it done. The .980 fielding percentage tied for 3rd worst in the Majors might have something to do with it.

They’re good enough to make a team pay that takes them lightly but they’re just as likely to let a game get away. By the numbers they should be doing better perhaps even contending for a wild card spot, but the breaks just haven’t been there.

The AL Beta Division of the 1973 Dynasty league

Posted: May 24, 2025 by datechguy in baseball, dynasty baseball, gaming, online gaming, Sable Baseball, Uncategorized
Tags: , , ,

Write-up of the AL Alpha here:

NL Alpha here

Now let’s go and check out the AL Beta division.

TeamWinsLossesPercentageGBWCGB
Milwaukee Brewers6556.537—–+6
Washington Senators5962.4886—–
Boston Red Sox5863.4797–1
Minnesota Twins5764.4718-2
Oakland A’s 5470.43512 1/2-6 1/2

Milwaukee Brewers:

Full disclosure This is my team.

It is very rare in this league that a team repeats a division win but Milwaukee has managed to sneak by with pitching (WHIP 1.26 best in AL fewest hits given up in the league) despite the 4th fewest k’s in the majors. They also are 4th in RBI’s and 1st in walks in the majors and 3rd in the AL in hits thanks to Pete Rose (169 2nd in majors 1st in AL). And Ron Fairly tied for the MLB lead in walks (101). All of this is despite being 2nd to last in homers.

There are some weak spots. Don Wilson despite a 14-7 record a .201 avg against (7th in MLB) and a no-hitter thrown this season has given up 27 home runs in only 192 1/3 innings and Ken Holtzman 221 2/3 innings and 20 home runs. Jerry Bell 2nd year man has been 8-13 with a 5.31 ERA. Elias Sosa has been on and off with 10 saves but seven saves blown. Dennis Menke has 88 walks but is only hitting .152 and has been a defensive liability but his move to DH with the Harrelson & Davis for Carbo trade will mitigate this at least vs RHP

The lead is only six games and Washington, Boston and Minnesota are all only one good run away from catching up so if Milwaukee is going to pull this off their huge trade of on base Machines and incredible arm Bernie Carbo for SS Bud Harrelson and CF Willie Davis is going to have to pay off in addition HR’s and better defense

Washington Senators:

Washington has spent a ton of time in the cellar this season, due to the worst defense in the AL (.980) and a team batting avg (.233) tied for worst in the majors. However in their last mainly to their inability to get on base.

Yet they’ve gone 19-10 in their last 29 games including series wins against the powerhouse Reds, and Boston and sweeps of both Cleveland all teams that are either playoff teams or were playoff teams at the time of said series wins. They now hold the 3rd wild card sport and are only 6 games out of first.

Del Unser’s 11 triples (tied for the AL lead) and Dave Kingman’s 33 HR leading the AL have something to do with this along with the steady numbers of Jim Northrup along with Bob Johnson’s 19 saves in 22 chances and the workhorses of the staff, Bill Lee, Joe Coleman and Carl Morton have made a big difference.

The wild cards? Jim Kaat missed some time due to injury and Blue Moon Odem who was a winner in Milwaukee last season has been a bust at 1-10 his only win coming in relief. Furthermore while Washington is only a game behind Cleveland for the 2nd wild card spot and 6 out of 1st in the division they are a full 13 games behind the Royals for the top spot and Boston and Minnesota are right on their heels.

In short with 4 teams vying for 2 playoff spots and less than 3 games separating the top from the bottom there isn’t a lot of margin for error but so far Washington’s determination to keep fighting has paid off

Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox started the season at the top of the division and then began dropping, first slowly then faster till at the moment they find themselves a game behind Washington for the final playoff spot and the Twins right behind them. How far has Boston fallen? You won’t find a single Red Sox player on any of the leaderboards.

Still Carlton Fisk has 20 HR in his sophomore year and they have a great crop of young players from Dave Winfield to Dwight Evans to Cecil Cooper. If Yaz and Petrocelli can start hitting a bit more anything can happen but Boston seems to be selling rather than buying trading starter Claude Osteen who was 9-3 for Boston and closer Lindy McDaniel to Pittsburgh and veteran Slugger Willie Davis and slick fielding but fragile SS Bud Harrelson for young on base machine Bernie Carbo all sings seem to be a youth movement for 1974 rather than a run in 73.

Oddity: Despite the green monster in left Boston is in the bottom half of the league in doubles.

Minnesota Twins

Minnesota is the epidemy of what you would call an average team. In all kinds of offensive categories they are at or near the league average with one exception this is true on the pitching side as well. The exception is walks allowed. They lead the AL in fewest walks allowed and both Jim Barr (1.80 per 9 innings) and Ross Grimsley (2.11 per 9 innings) are among stingiest in the majors on free passes. This explains their 6-1 record vs Milwaukee which lives by the walk who had the previous year swept the season series against them but in a team that is mostly average closer Sparky Lyle shines with a 6-1 record 24 saves in 30 chances, a 1.16 ERA and not a single home run given up in 38 relief appearences.

Ross Grimsley, Gary Gentry and Stan Bahnsen , Doyle Alexander are all average pitchers who have performed as advertised only Dave McNally has disappointed with a 4.00 ERA and a record near .500. At the plate they have guys who can get the job done. Al Oliver’s 21 HR & 83 RBI’s lead the team and both he and Richie Hebner (18 HR 71 RBI) are flirting with .300 and Lou Piniella has been destroying left handed pitching (.352 4 HR vs southpaws) but on the down side young Jose Cruz is suffering sophomore blues slumping to .190 and committing 9 errors in the field, while Luis Aparicio has gotten his avg back to his career level from last seasons low with the Reds (.272 vs .193) he hasn’t been the spark plug he has been in the past.

In the field Aparicio and young Bobby Grich have been double play machines but Hebner’s 24 errors are a bit much but at the other corner the platoon of Mike Hegan & Oliver have put up range numbers through the roof

In short the Twins are good enough to win games but have not managed to get beyond that level. But being only 2 games out of a playoff spot they like Boston, Washington and Cleveland are just one big streak away from a return to the postseason while one bad streak away from obscurity.

Oakland A’s

It was a wild time when the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland A’s last season swapped names. The A’s moved east to become the NY Giants back in the polo grounds while San Francisco abandoned the city by the bay to take advantage of the DH rule.

SF had been a solid playoff team last season playing in two of the most exciting series of the year, their victory vs the Pirates and their defeat by the Daytraders and they brought some of their star power to the AL with Bobby Bonds (.288 23 HR 88 RBI) and five outfield assists in right against the few who dare run against his arm. Darrell Evans adds 24 HR and 86 RBI’s of his own.

Alas while Ron Hunt at 2B has as usual been an on base machine (.440) he missed three full months due to injury and while Bill Sharp has done yeoman work getting on base at a .375 clip the rest of the supporting cast have not given the stars what they need to shine. They are dead last in the majors in both average at .233 and first in strikeouts. Of course when they hit the ball they can move their 41 triples are 2nd in the majors

The downturn in the pitching hasn’t helped. While Ron Bryant’s 13-11 record & 3.81 ERA is not bad it’s a far cry from last season’s 14-7 record and 3.44 ERA while ace Jim Palmer seems to be keeping up his pattern of outstanding seasons (26-5 1.87 last year) followed by mediocre seasons (11-12 3.04 this year). Their team ERA of 4.12 is not inspiring and while Dave Gusti does have 18 saves in 23 chances holding batters to a .203 avg he has given up six dingers this season so far while surrendering only a single one in 1972.

In theory Oakland is close enough to have a shot to return to the post season but has too many teams ahead of them to get around and no thump to get there. With a better supporting cast next season via the draft there is every chance that they will return to their winning ways as long as they can get Giusti, Palmer and Bryant back to their 1972 form.

Older Entries
Newer Entries