I have not, as a rule, had much success in TOCs. My self-appointed nickname is "one and done" as it's very rare that my teams make it out of the first round. But I just won a TOC for the 2nd time, and thought I'd share some of the details; it was a pretty crazy ride.

The team was Season Soup 08-32, which won the world series in Season 5 of eastvanmungo's War of the Themes in which each owner assigns a unique theme to another owner. (commercial interruption: Season 6 is in the classifieds and needs a few more owners - if you like a real drafting challenge, please consider joining.)

As the team's name implies, this was a season soup theme, and I used the years 1908-1932. There were a few other restrictions as well.

The roster was:

1908 Frank Smith
1909 Addie Joss
1910 Cy Alberts
1911 Birdie Cree
1912 Cy Morgan
1913 Frank Gibson
1914 Tiny Graham
1915 Babe Ruth
1916 George Gibson
1917 George Sisler
1918 Jake Northrop
1919 Art Nehf
1920 Frank Brower
1921 Hal Janvrin
1923 Cy Williams
1924 Eddie Collins
1925 Ike Eichrodt
1927 Wilcy Moore
1928 Jimmie Foxx
1929 Harry Rice
1930 Joe Stripp
1931 Marv Olson
1932 Arky Vaughan

100M cap, and they were in a 100M TOC bracket. I can't remember who I used originally from 1922 and 1926, because they were sent down for 2 AAA scrubs and never made it onto the TOC roster.

Foxx plays catcher, and the club has a decent offense with the cookie seasons of Williams and Sisler and a .441 (unnormalized) OBP from Collins. Birdie Cree is one of my favorites. Too expensive to use in an OL but for this cap he's perfect.

The rotation is pretty good, but not dominant at 100M. Smith and Joss are perennially strong performers. Ruth is a little over his head at 100M; Moore is excellent, but challenging to use because of his low IP/G. Nehf is awesome. Northrop was an OL cookie once upon a time; don't see him much anymore but he's still a pretty good closer even up to 120M in my book.

Going into the TOC I did not know what to expect. I was most concerned with fatigue, as the club has only 7 decent pitchers, total of 1300IP among them. On offense, Foxx has < 500PA, and Stripp is a bit light there as well. The team plays in (Chicago's) Wrigley Field, +2 for 1B and +2 for HR.

We ended up playing 28 out of a possible 29 games, as every series except one went the distance, so the fatigue was a real issue. Along the way I learned a LOT about the SIM and about managing a pitching staff.

While the fatigue in a TOC is challenging, I do feel it's much more realistic than the playoffs in a regular season, where you can often use a two man rotation. Smith and Joss pitched almost every game during this team's original post-season run. Impossible to do that here.

Series 1 was against unclejohn's Labradoodle Gunners. Can't be 100% sure from his roster, but my guess is this was an OL team. Played in Petco, and as we were seeded 6th, he had the home field advantage.

We did not get off to a promising start, as Cy Young and Doug Rau combined to shut us out on 8 hits. Foxx had four of them, all singles. Smith pitched a decent game, but gave up 11 hits (in Petco, remember), and Birdie Cree dropped a fly ball that led to a 3-run 1st inning.

Game 2 looked like more of the same, as Lefty Grove was brilliant through 7 innings. Was starting to look like Petco was going to be our graveyard, as we had not scored through the first 16 innings of the series. Joss was pitching well though, and we were only down 2-0 going into the 8th. Stripp and Vaughan led off with singles, and with two outs Jack Glasscock booted a grounder and we had our first run. Still down 2-1 going into the 9th. Cy Morgan pitched a 1-2-3 8th inning for our guys, and in the 9th Cree led off with a single. One out later, Williams crushed a 2-run homer off Gene Nelson for a 3-2 lead. Nehf pitched a perfect 9th and the series was tied.

With only 7 quality pitchers available, I had all 4 SP set to be used in relief if needed. I also set all the scrub pitchers to "rest." I knew this could backfire, and in game 3, Ruth got hit pretty hard, allowing 5 runs in 6 innings. Morgan pitched again (3rd time in 3 games), and Cy Moore had to come in to get the final outs. Cy Young pitched another brilliant game (at 97 fatigue) and we lost 7-1.

Since Moore had pitched in relief in game 3, he was fatigued and Frank Smith had to go in game 4 on two days rest, at 95 fatigue. He was battling Grove, who gave Labradoodle their 4th straight great start. Smith pitched very well too, and we were down 2-1 after 7. Joss pitched a scoreless 8th, and in the bottom of the inning we got our 2nd dose of late inning HR heroics. Again Cree started the rally, with a walk, and this time Foxx homered off Grove to for a 3-2 lead. Nehf again pitched a scoreless 9th and the series was 2-2.

In game 5, scheduled starter Joss was unavailable, but somehow Ruth was back to 100 after pitching 6 innings in game 3, so he got the nod. And the Babe was brilliant, finding Petco very much to his liking and tossing a 4-hitter to beat Roy Halladay. My opponent made 4 errors, Eddie Collins homered, and we advanced to round 2, but with no opportunity for rest.

Series 2 was against batandball's Big Mix Up. They were a 7 seed, so we actually had home field advantage. Again, I think this was an OL squad. Lots of classic OL cookie pitchers, including 03 Jack Taylor, Northrop, Rasmussen, Carlos, Elmer Steele, 87 McDowell, etc. Lots of speed too, with McGee, Raines, Dave Collins, Bip Roberts. Foxx has an A+ arm at catcher, but I didn't know how good his A+ was so I figured we might get tested on the bases.

Game 1 was sloppy - lots of hits, not a lot of runs. Joss against Taylor, and it was 3-3 until the 8th when Nehf gave a up a run and we lost 4-3.

I really needed Cy Moore to give me every one of his 65-70 pitches in game 2, and thankfully he did, pitching 5 very strong innings. We exploded for 8 runs in the first 2 innings and coasted to an 11-4 win. Unfortunately, Morgan was ineffective in relief, meaning Northrop and Frank Smith (at 92 fatigue) had to pitch as well.

In game 3, the staff was now showing real signs of fatigue. Smith had to skip his turn, and Ruth took the mound at 93, probably still feeling the effects of his 2 starts in round 1. But the Babe was brilliant again, this time in Colt Stadium, and allowed 3 hits and no runs in 7 1/3 innings. Moore finished it off with 1 2/3 IP of relief (at 96). Williams hit his 2nd homer, drove in 3, and we had our 2nd straight easy win.

For game 4 I gambled a bit. Joss was scheduled to start. If a game 5 was necessary, neither Ruth nor Moore would be rested, so I needed Frank Smith to be able to pitch deep into the game. I decided to uncheck his relief box, and hoped Joss would do well enough in the 4th game.

He got hit hard, but stayed in to absorb a beating as Dennis Rasmussen and Elmer Steele mostly shut us down for a 12-4 defeat. Morgan had another tough relief outing, and Northrop had to come in to get the final out. One thing I noticed after this game was that Williams, despite a .184 average, had driven in 10 runs already.

So game 5 was necessary - after the easy wins in games 2 and 3 I was really hoping to close it out in game 4. My next opponent was schwarze, who had swept each of his first two series and was no doubt benefitting from all the additional rest.

Turns out my game 4 gambit of resting Smith worked. My opponent started Northrop, and led 1-0 until the bottom of the 5th. Collins led off with a triple and came home on Sisler's ground out to tie it up. We scratched out a 2nd run in the 6th when Northrop got wild, walking 3 including Harry Rice with the bases loaded. Then in the 7th, the offense came to life. Northrop loaded the bases again, and Steele could not get out of the jam. Foxx singled in 2, Smith helped himself with an RBI double, and we exploded for 6 runs and an 8-1 lead. Smith went 8 1/3 IP, Moore got the final 2 outs, and we were on to round 3.

As it turns out, Foxx allowed 5 SB in 6 attempts, but perhaps his A+ arm dissuaded more attempts, and the opposition running game never became a big factor.

As mentioned, series 3 was against schwarze. His team was named Dickshot (as in Johnny) and did not appear to be an OL team as there were no AAA players and everyone on the team came from the White Sox franchise. They had swept their 1st two rounds. Good ballclub, and of course schwarze is one of the most legendary owners in WIS.

It was time for gamble #2. With none of my 4 SP at 100 for game 1, I gave Art Nehf the start, recognizing that it would render him useless for (at least) the remainder of the series. This also worked out. Nehf was brilliant, firing a 7 hit complete game shutout. We got 17 hits and 12 runs, led by Birdie Cree's 5-5 performance and 4 RBI from Foxx.

I have not mentioned position player fatigue yet, because all my attention was on the pitching staff, but at this point (11 games in), I had 5 players under 100. Foxx was at 94 and I figured would need a rest soon.

As good as game 1 was, game 2 was equally bad. Not just a loss, but an extra inning loss. Moore was ineffective as the starter, Northrop gave up the tying run (on Vaughan's 4th error of the tournament) in the 8th, Smith (at 97) pitched the last 1 1/3 in relief and game up the game winning hit to Cass Michaels in the 10th. Not good.

I rested Foxx in game 3, and AAA catcher John Warner drove in 4 runs as his replacement. Ruth (at 97) did not pitch well, but we hammered Monty Stratton and won a 12-8 slugfest. Vaughan had 4 hits (but committed 3 errors, bringing his total to 7). Moore had to come back in relief on no rest and pitched 2 innings at 94 fatigue.

Needed a strong start from Joss in game 4. If a game 5 was necessary, Smith would have to pitch it at less than 100%. I again unchecked his relief box. Joss did pitch well, but we were losing 3-2 in the 8th. Cree and Williams led off with singles, we got the tying run home on a groundout, and Northrop came on to pitch the 9th. Neither team scored. Northrop allowed 2 singles in the 10th, but got out of the inning. In the bottom of the 10th, Cree singled home Collins with the series winning hit. Cree was now hitting .446 for the tournament.

Into the semifinals. No additional rest as my next opponent daronb also won his series in 4 games. Green River played in Forbes Field and was led by the starting rotation of 08 Joss and 10 Walsh. With guys like Milacki, McDowell, Steele, Leever, and 15 Walsh in the pen. Offense built around more speed (McGee, Raines, Furcal, Ozzie); looked like Foxx might again get a workout.

Game 1 started badly, as Smith did not pitch well (10 hits, 7 walks, 8 runs in 3 2/3 IP), and Nehf pitched 3 IP at 95, Moore pitched 1 1/3 at 94. Vaughan made his 8th error, Foxx allowed 3 SB in 3 attempts, and Walsh pitched a complete game against us. Ugh.

In game 2, the pitching staff really started to come apart. Everyone was tired. Moore had to take his turn at 93, pitched gamely but only lasted 4 2/3. Morgan (2 1/3 IP at 94) and Ruth (1 IP at 90) had to pitch more than I would have liked. Vaughan made his 9th error, Rice contributed 2 miscues in the outfield, Joss pitched well for Green River, and although McDowell hit 3 of our guys with pitches in the 9th, we could only score 2 runs and the rally fell short, 6-5.

At this point, I had pretty much lost hope. Our opponent was too tough, and our pitching staff was in shreds. daronb went for the jugular in game 3 and trotted out Steele for the start. Smith again was ineffective, but kept us in the game for 6 1/3 (at 99) despite allowing 8 hits and 5 walks. We were down 3-0 in the 6th, but Steele came out of the game and we broke through against Dave Rozema. McGee made a critical error, Collins singled in 2 runs, and it was tied up. Joss came in (at 91) and pitched 3 2/3 brilliant innings for us, then executed a key sac bunt in the 10th, and Sisler doubled in Harry Rice with the winning run.

Game 4 almost extinguished our last hopes. Moore was hit hard in 3 2/3 IP, Nehf (at 93), Northrop (at 92) and Morgan (at 85) all had to pitch in relief. Foxx allowed 6 SB. Walsh was brilliant again. 6-1 loss. Down 3 games to 1. Pitching staff held together with duct tape.

Game 5. Needed another big game from the Bambino. Got it again. Babe was terrific, getting the start at 98 and allowing only 3 hits through 7 innings. Unfortunately, Joss was throwing a 1-hit shutout against us. In the 8th, Joss came out for a pinch hitter, and Ozzie doubled in the game's first run. McDowell pitched a perfect 8th. Babe had to finally come out with 1 out in the 9th, and Northrop (at 85) somehow got 2 outs. McDowell retired Collins and Sisler to lead off the bottom of the 9th. Facing elimination, Cree singled. Then Williams singled. Then Double X clubbed a 3-run homer to center for a walk off win, and hope was alive. It was Foxx's second big late inning HR of the tournament, and we could not have had our backs more to the wall when he delivered it.

Game 6 was our Addie's turn to pitch a big game. He outdid the performance by their Addie from game 5, as our Joss pitched a complete game 1-hit shutout (at 98). Steele started again for Green River,and again pitched well but again after 4 IP. Vaughan and Collins each hit solo homers and we won 2-0. Series tied at 3.

In game 7, we had a starter at 100% for the first time in a long time. Frank Smith allowed a couple of early runs, but a big 4-run rally in the 6th, led by Cree's 2 run single, gave us a 4-2 lead. We tacked on 2 in the 8th, and when Smith tired in the bottom of the inning, Nehf (at 92) got the final 4 outs to close out the series.

The other semifinal also went 7 games. My opponent in the finals was thunder1008, with an excellent OL team that had lost only 1 game in the first 3 rounds before going the distance in the semis. His 9th Inning Gumbo team had Castillo, Ozzie, McGee plus some terrific power in 19 Ruth and 44 Wakefield. 96 Lajoie was part of a solid platoon with AAA, and 07 Joss and 06 Doc White led the staff.

After reviewing the state of my pitching staff, I decided to go for the 3rd big gamble of the tournament. I tanked game 1. Rested all my position players and let 1910 Cy Alberts take a beating to rest the beleagured staff. No surprise that 07 Joss pitched a 2-hit shutout.

Cy Moore started game 2 at 100, and pitched very well, but as usual had to leave the game early. In the 5th, Morgan (also at 100 for the first time since very early in the tournament) came on. He didn't pitch badly, but walked Castillo in the 7th with the bases loaded for the first run. Slim Sallee pitched 6 shutout innings against us, but we broke through with another 9th inning rally, this time against George McQuillan. With two outs and Foxx on first, we got consecutive singles from Sisler, Rice, and Stripp. The latter drove in 2 runs for a 2-1 lead, which Northrop (at 93) almost gave away immediately. With 1 out in the bottom of the 9th Castillo and McGee singled to put runners on 1st and 3rd. Ruth walked to load the bases. The infield elected to play deep and concede a run, but Pendleton hit sharply to Collins for a 4-6-3 game ending DP. Series tied 1-1. Bullpen exhausted.

In game 3, for the first time in the tournament, we were victimized by a late inning comeback. Williams and Foxx homered, and Ruth pitched 7 strong innings. Frank Smith (at 97) came in to relieve in the 8th, with the score 5-2, and fell apart with 2 outs and 2 on in the 9th. Ruth doubled in a run, Pendleton made up for his failure in game 2 with an RBI single. Vaughan bobbled the third out allowing Ruth to score the tying run (his 2nd error of the game and 12th of the tournament), and Wakefield singled in the go-ahead run. Jack Quinn closed out the 9th.

Joss started game 4 for the first time since his 1 hit shutout in the semis. He pitched pretty well, going 8 1/3. Vaughan made his 13th error but atoned with 4 RBIs. Nehf (at 94) got the final two outs for an 8-4 win and a 2-2 tie.

In game 5, Smith started at 100, but got shelled. It had been a tough TOC for him, and with the loss (11 hits, 6 runs in 6 1/3 IP) he fell to 2-5 with a 5.33 ERA. Coupled with the blown save in game 3, he was looking like the goat of the finals, though by the time the series was over he would have stiff competition for that title from Arky Vaughan. Cy Williams hit his 4th homer and delivered 3 RBIs (21 for the tourney), upping his average to .280, but we were down 3 games to 2.

Two games . Smith and Joss would not be able to start again, but they would be available in relief in game 7 if we got that far. They rested in game 6, as did Nehf. I needed Moore to get out of the 5th inning and would need a strong relief effort from Morgan. Decided to save Babe to start game 7. Doc White was on the mound for thunder1008. A nice rally in the 3rd inning gave us a 3-0 lead, as Stripp doubled in a run and scored on Collins's triple. Moore pitched perhaps his best game, going 5 2/3 shutout innings. Morgan came on and promptly allowed a run, but got through the 7th and 8th unscathed. Northrop pitched the 9th, and despite a Snodgrass-like dropped flyball by Williams with 2 outs, Northrop retired Ozzie and it was 3-3.

In assessing the staff for game 7, I had 5 pitchers at or above 90. All were made available in any inning. Northrop and Morgan were done. Ruth got the start at 99. Smith (96), Joss (93), Nehf (91), and Moore (somehow still at 90) were in the pen. I would need them all.

Joss started for my opponent at 96. Foxx singled in a run in the top of the 1st for a 1-0 lead, but Ruth couldn't hold it. He gave up a three run homer to the 1919 version of himself in the bottom of the inning.

In the top of the 2nd we retook the lead, as Collins singled in 2, and Cree just beat out a double play grounder for the go-ahead run. Ruth allowed the tying run on a wild pitch in the 3rd, then gave up another homer to his namesake in the 5th. Joss had settled down and was holding the 5-4 lead until he was removed for a pinch hitter in the 6th. Dizzy Dean held us scoreless in the 7th, while our version of Joss pitched 1 1/3 IP of scoreless relief as well. In the 8th, Cy Williams led off with a game tying homer off Dean, his 5th round tripper (and 22nd RBI) of the TOC. Two outs later, Sisler also homered, and it was 6-5!

Frank Smith (96) pitched a scoreless 8th. Art Nehf got 2 outs in the 9th, but Pendleton singled to put runners on 1st and 3rd, and for the 2nd time Arky Vaughan made an error on what should have been the game ending play. This time his bobble allowed Castillo to score the tying run. It was Vaughan's 14th error of the TOC.

Steve Kline had pitched the 9th inning for thunder1008 and stayed in for the 10th. Williams led off with a walk. Foxx singled him to 3rd. Pinch hitter Warner grounded out, moving Foxx to 2nd. Sisler promptly singled in both runs, and we had an 8-6 lead. Wilcy Moore (at 90) came on to pitch. If he could not hold the lead, we were in trouble, as there were no other available pitchers, and I figured Sparky would use one of the mop-ups rather than a tired Northrop or Morgan. But Moore got it done in the bottom of the 10th, allowing a 2-out double but retiring Castillo to end it.

If we had played more innings, or more games, this team was done. But somehow squeezing every last pitch out of the 7-man staff they won it.

I learned a lot going through this - mostly about managing a pitching staff in a TOC (you need to be very flexible). But also about the risks/rewards of tactical gambles - when to rest a pitcher you might otherwise need, when to start a pitcher you normally use in relief, when to even perhaps tank a game, in order to buy your guys some rest for the future. If we hadn't tanked game 1 of the finals, I doubt we would have won.

Arky Vaughan could easily have been the series goat. His 14 errors included 2 that allowed the tying run to score with 2 outs in the 9th. And despite his .309 average, he really didn't contribute much with the bat (2 walks, 2 XBH in 27 games, for a .673 OPS). Still, I think this shows you can still win, even playing a C- fielder at SS.

Eddie Collins (.362, .408 OBP, 9 2Bs, 16 RBI, 20 runs, .543 SLG) was brilliant. Williams (5 HR, 22 RBI, 18 runs) provided necessary power. Birdie Cree slumped a bit at the end but still hit .371 with 6 doubles and 21 runs. Foxx hit .299, drove in 17, and was mostly good enough behind the plate.

The real stars though were the pitchers. The "Big 7" pitched 242 1/3 IP across the tournament - many of them at less than 100%. Smith (2-5, 1.99 WHIP, 5.23 ERA) and Morgan (2.12 WHIP, 6.35 ERA) were disappointments, though each had their moments. The other 5 were terrific. Joss (4-1, 1.13 WHIP, 2.98 ERA), Ruth (a surprising 2.70 ERA), Nehf (3-1, 4 saves, 0.86 WHIP, 0.35 ERA), Moore (2-1, 6 starts, 7 relief appearances, 1.09 WHIP, 2.27 ERA), and Northrop (2 saves, 1.09 WHIP, 0.82 ERA) all pitched wonderfully. All told, the team ERA was 3.34 for the TOC, which included the tanked game. The big 7 allowed a total of only 4 homers (we hit 12), despite playing in a +2 HR park.

If you read this far, thanks for coming along for the ride. I know this is a bit of a narcissistic exercise, but who knows if I'll ever win another TOC, and this one was so much fun that I had to share some of it with you.

good stuff.

Congrats on the win contrarian23, and thanks for posting.

I wouldn't have thought it possible to win a TOC when playing that many games, but I guess you proved it can be done even without an easy win somewhere along the line.

And tanking a game in the finals, wow, bold move. In nearly all my TOCs I tank the very first game, and occasionally (if I make it that far) the first game of round two, as well. I've never had to make a decision about tanking a game in the finals, though. That'd be a tough one.

I enjoyed Contrarian's chronicle so much I almost forgot I was the victim of the 7-game loss in the TOC finals. Contrarian flat out outmanaged me, especially with the bold move to tank Game 1 and his brilliant roster management in Game 7.

With 20/20 hindsight, I should have had Joss `07 at a "1" pull rating in Game 7 (I kept him at his usual "2"). He's the guy who got me there... 31-7 in the regular season, a dominant performance in the playoffs and WS and 7-1 in the TOC. He got lifted for a pinch-hitter in the 6th after only 84 pitches (TPC 100, MPC 110) when I was leading 5-4, and Dizzy Dean came in and coughed up the lead.

I will always be haunted by Steve Kline ending up on the mound for me in the 10th. He "looked" like poor Jim Burton in Game 7 of the `75 WS out there. It was only a matter of time before SeasonSoup would get to him. McQuillan was toast for Game 7, but I had a rested Ed Walsh `15 in the bullpen who never came in.

Babe Ruth `19 continued to be worth every penny of the $8.4 MM I spent on him, and Dick Wakefield `44 was a revelation. He carried me through most of the TOC, and in the finals he was running in the low 70's in fatigue. It proved that fatigue really kills defense before offense (not that Wakefield had good D to begin with). He kept right on hitting .400, but every game was a tough decision whether he would help me more with hits or kill me more with errors and - plays. He stayed in and was a gamer to the end.

Wilcy Moore will haunt me in my sleep. He broke our hearts. Congrats again to contrarian23 -- truly the best managing I have ever seen in the SIM.

Congrats Contrarian!