Posts Tagged ‘dynasty baseball’

Rules for the 1974 Dynasty Draft Baseball League

Posted: August 21, 2025 by datechguy in baseball, dynasty baseball, gaming, online gaming
Tags: , ,

How the league is to be played

We will be playing the 1974 season under 1974 rules with three exceptions:

  1. There will be at least one interleague home and away series played to allow each player to play each other player at least once.
  2. The DH rule was introduced into the AL in 73 but not the NL. Therefore all games played in AL parks will be played with a DH. No games played in an NL park will have a DH.
  3. The playoff structure will include wild cards (3 per league)

The schedule

We currently have 20 teams two which are vacant (Cubs and Montreal) the schedule will remain as it was before as the system automatically migrates the old schedule. This will save a lot of work My goal will be to have the schedule ready before the draft. It is possible that we might expand to 24 teams but it is unlikely.

Number of games:

We will be playing 162 games Two series (one home and one away 6 games ) against teams in the opposite league and Four series against in league teams. Because of the number of teams there will be a slight imbalance

Six same league teams (Four 3 game series 12 games)
Three same league teams (Two 3 game series, Two 2 game series 10 games)

All those team determinations will be random.

Frequency of games

There will be two scheduled series per week. Most series will be 3 games there will be 6 two game series during the season.

Number of teams

We currently have 20 teams, 18 full at the moment, we can expand to 24 if there is interest. We will play with at least 20 teams even if one or both of the currently empty teams are computer teams.

Division setup:

Barring expansion with 20 teams we will have two five team divisions in each league. There will be three wild card teams. Both division winners and the wild card team with the best record will get a first round bye in the playoffs.

PREDRAFT AND DRAFT DAY TRADE WINDOWS!

Pre-Draft Trade window:

There will be a 48 hour window before the formal draft where trading will be allowed.

Any player on the roster (rookie or retained player) may be dealt along with drift picks up to the 7th round at this time.

Only draft picks for the upcoming draft will be tradable.

The trade window will end 15 minutes before the start of the formal draft to allow for any updates to lists to be recorded before the start.

Draft Day Trading up or down window.

At the end of each round there will be a 10 minute window for rosters to be adjusted and all the paperwork to be done.

For the first five rounds of the draft During those 10 minutes teams will be allowed to Trade. NO PICKS BEYOND THE 7th ROUND ARE TRADABLE. At the start of the 6th round Trading is closed in the league till after the 5th series of the regular season.

In Season Trades and waivers (Note change in when waivers starts).

After the fifth series of the season teams may trade. Any player on the current roster may be traded along with any of the first seven draft picks for the next season (1974) If a trade is made that increases a roster beyond the 40 man limit a player must be released before the next series is played. Any trades agreed will not be executed until all the teams involved have the same amount of games played.

Waivers takes place after the 2nd series. Teams make waivers picked based on their current record and are made from the undrafted players not on rosters.. If a pick brings a Roster over 40 a player must be released or an injured player not on the DL must be placed there to make room.

Contested, Uncontested and Emergency Waivers

Contested Waivers

Contested waivers are waivers picks made after week 5 and works like this:

  1. A team submits a waivers pick from Friday to Sunday
  2. Another team may usurp that pick and make it theirs if
    • It has a worse record than the 1st team
    • It has not already made waivers pick
    • It has not already tried to usurp a different pick
    • No team worse than them has tried to usurp it
    • They make the attempt 9 PM EST Monday
  3. If no team makes a counter claim on the pick by 10 PM EST Monday the waivers pick is successful.
  4. If a team successfully usurps the tip go to step 1 as if the usurping team make the pick

UNCONTESTED WAIVERS

Uncontested waivers picks are waivers picks that take place from weeks 2-5.

The picks are automatically successful and are decided on a first come first served basis. If you unknowingly submit a pick for a player who has already been claimed you may pick again.

Regardless of success the player won’t be added to your roster till your Friday games for that week are completed.

EMERGENCY WAIVERS

On rare occasions due to multiple injuries, suspensions or very long extra inning games or any combination thereof a team may not have a pitcher available to start or a player to play a position for their next series. In such a situation a team may contact the commissioner for Emergency Waivers.

If granted said team may make an uncontested waivers pick to either get the needed starting pitching or position player to fill the spot.

Said pick MUST be made at the end of a series or before the next as the Dynasty system doesn’t allow changes to the 40 man roster while a series is active.

If an emergency pick puts the team over 40 players a player must be released to get the roster back to 40.

If an emergency pick needs to be made for a computer team the commissioner will make the pick. Priority will be given to any qualifying player whose card is from the team needing the pick.

NOTE if a player drops out of the league and we have an empty team any draft picks he has traded those trades are still valid and will be picked by the team that received it.

Example: If the Cubs traded the NYY their 3rd round draft pick last season but were not an active team this year then during round 3 the Yankees would get the 2nd pick of the round as if they were.

The DL:

The DL WILL count toward your roster but to make up for it we will have a maximum 40 man roster. We will still only draft to 30 players but players may expand their rosters via trade and waivers. NEW: A team’s rookies will not count toward the 30 player draft but will count toward the 40 man roster.

Playing Games.

All games must be completed before the next scheduled series. the Dynasty system will take over and auto play any games that are not completed one hour before the next scheduled game (even if said unfinished game is in progress) Players are encouraged to use the chat room and the Dynasty message system to reschedule games if needed and are also encouraged to make a manager profile in case a game has to autoplay. Instructions on how to do that are here.

Be aware that if you have your team on AUTO and your opponent requests a rescheduled in the system Dynasty will automatically allow it so keep this in mind when or if you turn auto on. Also be aware if both team are on auto and you reschedule the game will be played automatically so make sure your team is not on auto before you do this.

Etiquette for no/call no show

This is a game and real life trumps it so there will be times when people miss their game days. Here is some suggested game day Etiquette:

  1. If you know in advance you can’t play on the scheduled game day and time try to contact your opponent to arrange a different time both through the chat room and the dynasty system.
  2. If gameday comes and your team is on AUTO your scheduled opponent should assume they can play all or part of their series if they choose.
  3. If gameday comes and you haven’t heard from your opponent check your “Friends” list to see when the last time they signed on was. If it is 10 days or more then play the series vs the PC
  4. Give two five minute waits: Wait 5 min for opponent to show periods before starting the game//If your opponent hasn’t shown up by then begin game 1.
    • Once game 1 is done. You have 2 choices. Either if followed is officially considered valid:
      • Give one 5 minutes period for your opponent to show if he doesn’t, Autoplay
      • Exit and let the system auto schedule for 24 hours from now. Then go to step 1
    • If you have to leave in the middle of a game or series your opponent has the right to continue to play. They may choose to agree to reschedule but experience tells me it’s bet to get the games done.
  5. On occasions when you and your opponent are in touch but just can’t seem to find a time when both are available I make the following suggestion.
    • The player who shows up on gameday should play one game (2 game series) or two games (3-4 game series) against the pc.
    • When those games are finished exit the system and put yourself on Auto being sure to check the “Take my team off auto after this series”
    • Then your opponent can finish the series as his or her time permits
  6. Keep in mind that the Dynasty system is designed to keep games moving the default position should always be to get games played when possible.
  7. Be aware if you’re running late you can join a game in progress and take over
  8. If you do show up and take over please let your opponent know via chat.

If you know you’re going to be gone let your opponent know. 

Expansion and Expansion draft

If there is a sudden interest in the league we may have an expansion draft under the following rules:

Selecting a franchise:

New players who do not take an existing franchise will be allowed to select any of the four currently open franchises they are:

AL

  • Chicago White sox
  • Detroit Tigers

NL

  • San Diego Padres
  • Houston Astros

They will automatically gain the rights to any rookies for the 1974 team of that franchise.

If we again have multiple expansion teams they will pick franchises in the order that they confirmed their intent to join the league.

If a current player expresses an intent to leave the league before the expansion draft the expansion players will in the order above be given the option of taking over that existing franchise including their roster and current draft picks (or lack thereof)

Expansion Draft:

If an expansion draft is announced each team will have two weeks to submit a list of protected players currently on their 40 man rosters. These players will not be eligible to be drafted in the expansion draft. There will be a maximum of 7 players on each teams protected list. it is recommended (but not required) to submit an additional twelve players to be protected once a player or two is drafted from their team.

Whenever a player is chosen off a team in the expansion draft said team will be able to immediately protect an additional five players. No team can lose more than three payers to the expansion draft. If a list is not submitted before the draft and not submitted at the time the first player is taken from the team then said team will not have additional players protected until such a list is provided. I will allow a reasonable amount of time in case the player is not in the chat room for me to try to contact said player before another player is takin from his team.

Expansion teams must draft a minimum of four players and may pick up to a maximum of 12 players to their rosters before the regular draft. The number of players picked in the expansion draft by an expansion team will determine where they will draft in the regular draft.

As soon as all expansion teams have completed their drafts two things happen

  1. All teams must submit the list of players retained in the regular draft. The players drafted by the expansion teams are considered to be that list.
  2. All Rookies become property of their franchises and count toward their current rosters. but NOT toward their number of protected players.

Franchise locations and parks

Every team is presumed to have the park their team played in during the season they entered the league.

Franchises whose teams move in real life are not required to relocate their teams. So the Washington Senators are not required to move to Texas but they retain the option to do so at any time.

Franchises are NOT required to build new stadiums and may continue to play in their old stadiums if they wish but they retain the right to move into those new stadiums at any time so another team may NOT select that stadium. If a team chooses to move into their new park in the same city the old park is considered demolished UNLESS said park was still active in the year we are playing. It is considered by be undergoing renovation.

A team may NOT move into a park that in a different city because the Dynasty system bases the weather on the park used NOT the city that a team’s label claims it is in. Thus if the Seattle Pilots HAD to move to Milwaukee to play in Country Stadium.

A team may NOT move into a park in the same city that belongs to a future franchise. Example. If the Washington choose to remain in DC rather than move to Texas they may NOT move into the Nationals park. It is considered reserved for that franchise when it becomes available although I suspect none of us will live long enough to reach that point.

Old parks

A team MAY move into an old park from the same city under the following conditions:

  1. The park was once the home park of the franchise OR
  2. The franchise that once owned the park is now located in another city

Examples,

  • In 1971 the Seattle Pilots moved to Milwaukee the Mariners if taken MAY move into Sick Stadium.
  • The Cardinals may move into Sportsman’s park because it was once their old stadium.
  • The Yankees were able to move into the Polo Grounds for 1972 because that park was in NY and the team was once based there. If at some future date they choose to move back to Yankee Stadium the Mets will be able if they choose to move to the Polo grounds because it was once their home park. If both teams move there and eventually move out then the park is considered demolished.

Rookies

A “Rookie” is define as any player who did not have a card for the previous season.

A rookie is considered to be part of the team listed on their card regardless of who they actually played their first game for (Dynasty lists cards based on who a player finishes a season with thus any rookie that was traded by an MLB team in his first season will have their card listed for the team they were traded to NOT the team they played their first game with.

All teams retain rights to their rookies prior to the draft and rookies for a franchise are not eligible to be drafted in any expansion draft.

A Rookie becomes a part of a team after said team names their protected players for the draft. They count toward the 40 man roster, NEW: Teams will have the option if a rookie counts toward the 30 player draft limit.

NEW: All teams will retain any rookies assigned to them until after the draft is completed. They may choose to have some all or none of their rookies count toward their 30 man draft.

Any team that doesn’t want to retain a rookie may release them after the draft to open up a roster spot but once release all rights to said player are surrendered.

Players retained list

All teams may retain a number of players based on their finish in the 1972 season.

  • World series winner 4 players (Orioles)
  • World series runner up 5 players (Reds)
  • non-world series Division winners 6 players (Dodgers), Brewers)
  • Wild Card Teams Winners that don’t make the series 7 players (Pirates, Royals, Cubs, Twins)
  • Wild Card game losers 8 players ( Cleveland, Braves (Bananas) )
  • Non division winning teams with the 5th and 6th best records 9 players (A’s, Cardinals)
  • Non division winning teams with the 7th and 8th best record 10 players ( Senators, Yankees)
  • Teams with the 3rd-6th worst records 11 players (Angels, Expos, Daytraders (Mets), Redsox)
  • Teams with the worst and 2nd worst record 12  players (Giants, Phillies)

Note 1: The Cardinals, Senators and Yankees all finished with identical 73-89 records the Cardinals were considered ahead of the others for keepers due to their 3rd place finish vs the Yankees & Senators who finished 4th in their respective divisions.

NOTE 2: If a player on your current Roster does not have a card for the next season due to injury, military service etc but WILL the following year a team may choose to retain the rights to said player but will have to spend a protected spot for it and will have to keep a space for him all season.

Example: Rico Carty was out for all of 1971 due to injury. Boston could have decided to hold his rights playing 1971 with 39 players and thus hold the 1972 rights to Carty. If he had done so and then at any time he chooses to release him Carty would have been considered a rookie for Atlanta Rookie because

  1. He had no card the previous year
  2. No team held his rights
  3. His 1972 card says “Atlanta”

Boston choose not to retain so Carty was considered released. Carty’s 1972 card was with the Braves thus they did not have to put him on the retained list as he was considered a rookie for the team.

NOTE 3: If Either the Cubs or the Expos are not taken within 1 week of the Draft the Commissioner will determine the keepers for the computer teams

The draft order of teams has been posted here and will be repeated below taking into account the possibility of expansion teams. Any team that is not retained will of course not be drafting BUT If a team holds the draft pick of a team that is no longer in the league he will draft those picks as if that team was still in the league in the round that he holds them. Naturally if there is expansion this wouldn’t apply.

  1. Worst team (12) New York Giants1
  2. 2nd worst team (12) Philadelphia Phillies
  3. 3rd worst team (12) (Montreal Expos3) (if an expansion team picks only 4 they draft ahead of the Orioles)
  4. 4th worst team (11) (California Angels)
  5. 5th worst team (11) (New York Mets (Daytraders) ) (if an expansion team picks only 5 they draft ahead of the Senators)
  6. 6th worst team (11) (Boston Redsox)
  7. 7th worst team (10) (Washington Senators2) (An expansion team that picks only 6 drafts ahead of the Giants)
  8. 8th worst team (10) (St Louis Cardinals)
  9. 9th worst team (9) (New York Yankees) (An expansion team that picks only 7 picks ahead of the the Tribe)
  10. Best non playoff team (9) (Oakland A’s) 
  11. Wild Card game loser with worst record (8) Cleveland Indians (An expansion team that picks only 8 picks ahead of the Halos)
  12. Wild Card game loser with best record (8) (Atlanta Braves (Bravos))
  13. Divisional round loser with the worst record (7) (Chicago Cubs3) (An expansion team that picks only 9 picks ahead of the Halos)
  14. Divisional Round loser with the 2nd worst record (7) ( Minnesota Twins)
  15. Divisional Round loser with the 2nd best record (7) (Milwaukee Brewers) (An Expansion Team that picks only 10 picks Ahead of the Bucs)
  16. Divisional Round Loser with best record (7) (Pittsburgh Pirates)
  17. Worst Team that made it to the Pennant Series (6) Kansas City Royals
  18. Best team that made it to the Pennant Series (6) ( Los Angeles Dodgers)
  19. World series loser (5) Cincinnati Reds) (An expansion team that picks only 11 picks ahead of them)
  20. Word series winner (4) Baltimore Orioles Expansion Team(s) if any that draft 12 players pick after them

NOTES:

  1. The Giants and Phillies had identical 59-103 records but the Phillies went 7-5 against the Giants and thus are considered the better team for the draft.
  2. The Washington Senators, St. Louis Cardinals and New York Yankees finished with identical 73-89 records. The Cardinals were 3-3 vs both the Yankees and Senators and the Yankees were 7-5 vs the Senators. Therefore the Senators MUST pick ahead of the Yankees. Their combined head to head records were Yankees 10-8, Cardinals 6-6 Senators 8-10 therefore the Senators having the worst combined record will pick 7th, the Cardinals 8th and the Yankees 9th.
  3. If either or both the Cubs and the Expos are unclaimed by draft day their pick will be determined as follows
    • A die roll will determine if a pitcher or position player is taken
    • If it’s a position player the player with the highest WAR available for a position the team did not fill with a keeper will be drafted (rookies are not considered)
    • If it’s a Pitcher the highest WAR starting pitcher with unlimited starts will be taken. If a team already has 5 starters then the highest WAR pitcher will be taken
    • Computer teams will pick until they have at least 12 pitchers and 15 position players with a minimum of 2 players to play each position.

The first tiebreaker for non-playoff teams with identical records is head to head matchups The 2nd tiebreaker if teams had identical records AND split their season series is draft order for the previous season,

If two or more expansion teams draft the same number of players their draft position will be determined by a dice roll

When all teams have drafted that will be considered the end of a round and the next round will commence.

DRAFT ENDS AT 30 PLAYERS

Teams must continue to draft in this order until their team reaches 25 men a team with 25 or more players may leave the draft at any time. NEW (NOTE this 25 may include some, all or no rookies)

Once a team has dropped out of the draft they may not re-enter it and must increase their roster either through trades or waivers.

Teams who do not drop will will draft till they reach 30 men. NEW (NOTE this 25 may include some, all or no rookies)

Formal & Informal Draft

Draft on designated Draft day(s):

A date and time will be set for the initial rounds of the draft. It will almost certainly be a Saturday or SUNDAY as those are the days I currently have off. All teams will be expected to be either:

  1. Available in the slack chat room (preferred)
  2. Available by phone
  3. With me in my home at the time of the draft
  4. Have a list of players to be drafted submitted

All current players are presumed to have looked over the card(s) for 1974 online or at least looked up stats by draft day. All expansion teams (if any) encouraged to start doing so at once.

  1. There will be one designated draft day per week.
  2. On a designated draft day a strict 5 minute limit will be allowed to make a pick.
  3. If a team misses their pick will be moved to after the next player on the list who will be considered on the clock and allowed to pick. Example Philadelphia misses their pick and Montreal is next, Montreal is allowed to pick and Philly picks after them
  4. If a team who has been skipped has to be skipped twice their pick can be made any time before the end of the round. Example Washington is scheduled to pick 10th They miss their pick If they figure out who they want they can make a pick or submit a list any time before the end of the round and that pick will be valid.
  5. If a team that has been skipped has not picked by the end of the round then a pick will be made for them by me. Said pick will be the player from your franchise who played the most games that season based on their card. Example: Boston does not pick or submit a list for round 5 I will look at the Roster for the actual 1972 red sox to see who is available. If Billy Conligiliaro has the most games played among unpicked players he will be Boston draft pick. If Boston already has 6 outfielders that will not matter Billy C becomes the pick.
  6. As soon as a round ends there is ten minute period to update rosters and list and confirm players. During that period Draft day trades may be made as per above.
  7. The opening Scheduled draft days will go on for 100 picks. Other scheduled draft days will be 60 picks. Once the number of picks is reached the clock is turned off
  8. The Formal Draft generally begins at either 11 AM or 1 PM EST to give west coast folk the time to be awake. Be aware of that if you are scheduled to pick

BE AWARE THAT EVEN WITH A FIVE MINUTE LIMIT THAT CAN MEAN 100 MINUTES FOR 20 TEAMS TO PICK IN ONE ROUND. PLEASE DO YOUR BEST TO PREPARE FOR THE DRAFT TO CUT DOWN ON THE TIME REQUIRED. The more prepared everyone is the faster things will go.

Picks off the clock and on non-draft days

As soon as the initial draft ends the “informal draft” begins

During the informal draft a team has 24 hours to make a pick. Picks can be submitted in the draft room or via the Dynasty message system or in person if the person picking is local or via the phone to me. If there is an existing list from the formal draft it will be used to continue the informal draft.

Once the pick is made and recorded on the draft sheet and the player moved to the roster I will announce the pick in the slack chat room and inform the person up, the person on deck and the person in the hole to be prepared to pick. Until you see that announcement the pick is not official.

The Informal draft ends when:

  • All teams have either 30 players or have dropped out OR
  • The next formal draft begins

The informal draft resumes after any formal draft that still has teams picking.

Be aware that trading can be made at any time during the informal draft until:

  • round seven is complete
  • 15 minutes before a formal draft that has not completed round 7

IMPORTANT: Once round seven of the draft is complete trading is finished until the end of week 5 of the season.

The season will begin one to two weeks after the draft is complete depending on my schedule.

Also be aware that during work hours (Mon-Fri 7 am-3:30) PM I have no access to the net nor do I own a cell phone if an issue comes up during that time which can’t wait refer it to the assistant commissioner

Important Update: The SF giants and the Oakland A’s switched teams so they have switched their spots in the draft and keeper list as well

If you have any questions not covered here please let me know.

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.

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