Round 1 Themes Topic

schwarze
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Here are the Round 1 themes for the 2015 What-If-Sports Championship.  Post any questions on the themes here.
5/31/2015 9:16 AM
schwarze
Posts: 44817 (1)
Hall of Famer
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Hall of Famer
Can’t Move or Can’t Catch, $70M
Which type of defensive player is preferable? A player who can get to everything, but makes a ton of errors or a guy who can’t move, but makes the plays when he can get to the ball?  That’s the basis for this theme. Every position player on your roster must have EITHER a range factor of D+ or worse (Can’t Move) OR a fielding rating of D+ or worse (Can’t Catch). This applies to the player’s primary position and all his secondary positions. You can include both types of players (Can’t Move and Can’t Catch) on your roster. However, you cannot roster a multi-position player where one position qualifies as “Can’t Move” and another qualifies as “Can’t Catch”. The Theme League Wizard won’t allow it. Pitchers can have any defensive rating.

For example:
1991 Bobby Bonilla has three positions 1B (A+/D-), 3B (D+/B-) and OF (B+/D-). He is not eligible since he’s a “Can’t Catch” 3B and a “Can’t Move” 1B and OF.

1989 Bobby Bonilla has three positions 1B (D-/A+), 3B (D+/A+) and OF (D-/B-). Here, all three positions qualify as Can’t Catch, so he is eligible.

Other Specifics
Seasons: All
DH: No
WW: No
AAA: No
Trades: No
Clones: No
Injuries: Turned On
Live: Not allowed
Multi-team players: No restrictions (i.e., you can use partial or combined)
Ballpark: Any
300K Exception: None
Team Name: Anything
Division Alignment: Random
5/31/2015 9:21 AM
schwarze
Posts: 44817 (1)
Hall of Famer
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Hall of Famer
Q/A for 70M Theme:

Q: Any restrictions on catcher's arm rating?
A: No restrictions on catcher's arm.  The catcher's fielding/range are still part of the theme though.

Q: Can we use players who can't catch AND can't move?  (e.g. D/D+)
A: Yes
6/9/2015 8:10 AM (edited)
schwarze
Posts: 44817 (1)
Hall of Famer
1842 74 4 1 1
Hall of Famer
Alphabet Soup, $80M
The first letter of a player's last name must be different for all 25 of your players.

Other Specifics
Season: All
DH: No
WW: No
AAA: No
Trades: No
Clones: No
Injuries: Turned On
Live: Not allowed
Multi-team players: No restrictions (i.e., you can use partial or combined)
Ballpark: Any
300K Exception: None
Team Name: Anything
Division Alignment: Random
5/31/2015 9:23 AM
schwarze
Posts: 44817 (1)
Hall of Famer
1842 74 4 1 1
Hall of Famer
Q/A for 80M Theme:
5/31/2015 9:23 AM
schwarze
Posts: 44817 (1)
Hall of Famer
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Hall of Famer
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, $90M
This classic Clint Eastwood movie came out in 1966, so eligible years are from 1966-2014.  Pick any three single-season teams during this period (they don't all have to be from the same season, but can be).  One team must have a real-life winning% of .550+ (The Good), one team must have a winning% between .440 and .499 (The Bad) and the third team must have a winning% of .400 or lower (The Ugly).  Build your roster using only players from those three teams.  And to make things even tougher, there will be no 300K exception so make sure you have enough cheap scrubs to use.  You must roster at least $20M of salary from each of your three teams.
 
Based on 162 games
The Good:  .550+ equates to 90 wins or more
The Bad:     .440 to .499 equates to 72-80 wins
The Ugly:    .400 equates to 64 wins or fewer
(If a team played fewer than 162 games, then use the percentage for eligibility, not the wins)

Other Specifics
Seasons: 1966-2014
DH: No
WW: No
AAA: No
Trades: No
Clones: No
Injuries: Turned On
Live: Not allowed
Multi-team players: No restrictions (i.e., you can use partial or combined)
Ballpark: Must use a park that one of your three teams called home.
300K Exception: None
Team Name: Include your three teams/seasons as part of your team name
Division Alignment: Random
5/31/2015 9:24 AM
schwarze
Posts: 44817 (1)
Hall of Famer
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Hall of Famer
Q/A for 90M Theme:

Q: Can you have 2 or more teams from the same franchise, just different seasons?
A: Yes
6/15/2015 10:07 PM (edited)
schwarze
Posts: 44817 (1)
Hall of Famer
1842 74 4 1 1
Hall of Famer
Clone Hitter & Teammates (w/DH), $100M
This is a similar to a theme used last year, except instead of cloning a pitcher, you must clone a hitter.  You can clone any one position player as many times as you like (must use at least two versions of a player).  The rest of your roster can be filled with teammates of your clones (i.e., same seasons).  The more clones you use, the more teammates you have access to.  Seasons 1920-2014 only.  There will be a 300K exception (any <300K player from the seasons of your clones may be used).


Other Specifics
Season: 1920-2014
DH: Yes
WW: No
AAA: No
Trades: No
Clones: Only the designated clone hitter. 
Injuries: Turned On
Live: Not allowed
Multi-team players: No restrictions (i.e., you can use partial or combined)
Ballpark: Must use a park one of your clones played in.
300K Exception: You may use any <300K player from any of your clones' seasons.
Team Name: Include your clone as part of the team name.
Division Alignment: Random
6/14/2015 5:43 PM (edited)
schwarze
Posts: 44817 (1)
Hall of Famer
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Hall of Famer
Q/A for 100M Theme:

Q: The park must be one of the parks your designated clone hitter played in *in a year that you put on your roster*, right? I can't use a park just because my guy played in it some other year in his career.
A: Correct, must be a park he played in, in a year that you put on your roster.

Q: For a player who played on two or more teams in the same season, are all the players on any of the teams considered eligible teammates (that is, could I have a teammate from each team the player played on in that season?
A: No, you can only use teammates from the version you roster.

Q: May any of the pitchers inadvertently be clones, each of them corresponding to a cloned fielder?
A: If you decide to use somebody like Rick Ankiel as your cloned hitter, can you also use Ankiel as a pitcher?  Yes, but just one version, and you don't get to use teammates of Ankiel the pitcher.  Other than that, no pitching clones.

Q: Must the team names include the names of all cloned fielders?
A: You are only allowed to clone one hitter (but as many times as you like).
6/12/2015 9:09 AM (edited)
schwarze
Posts: 44817 (1)
Hall of Famer
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Hall of Famer
Dual Franchise, $110M
Pick any two franchises and build your roster using players from only those two franchises.  You must spend at least $50 million on each franchise.  You must spend at least $20 million on pitchers from each franchise.  Years 1901-2014 only.

Other Specifics
Season: 1901-2014
DH: No
WW: No
AAA: No
Trades: No
Clones: No
Injuries: Turned On
Live: Not allowed
Multi-team players: No restrictions (i.e., you can use partial or combined)
Ballpark: Use a park that one of your franchises called home.
300K Exception: N/A
Team Name: Include both your franchises in the team name.
Division Alignment: Random
5/31/2015 9:31 AM
schwarze
Posts: 44817 (1)
Hall of Famer
1842 74 4 1 1
Hall of Famer
Q/A for 110M Theme:

Q: How is "franchise" defined? Are the Brooklyn Dodgers and LA Dodgers treated differently or as a package deal?
A: The standard franchise rules (i.e., Washington Senators (thru 1960) & Minnesota Twins are the same franchise.  So is Brooklyn Robins/Dodgers & LA Dodgers.

See the following LINK

Q: B-R.com very publicly last year stated they no longer consider the 1901-02 Baltimore club to be part of the modern Yankees franchise.  Are we following suit?
A: I've excluded the 1901-02 Orioles from the Yankees franchise.

Q: I cannot have the same guy even if he played for both of my franchises in the same year, correct?
A: Correct, no clones.
6/10/2015 8:36 AM (edited)
schwarze
Posts: 44817 (1)
Hall of Famer
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Hall of Famer
Playing Time Puzzle, $120M
You must roster exactly 14 hitters, adhering to the following restrictions. 
Exactly one hitter must come from a different decade (i.e., 1880's, 1890's, …, 2010's)
Exactly one hitter must come from each of the following PA/162 bands.
750+
700-749
650-699
600-649
550-599
500-549
450-499
400-449
350-399
300-349
250-299
200-249
150-199
<149

You must roster exactly 11 pitchers with the following restrictions. 
Exactly one pitcher must come from each of the following time periods:
(1885-99, 1900-19, 1920-39, 1940-49, 1950-59, 1960-69, 1970-79, 1980-89, 1990-99, 2000-09, 2010-14)

Exactly one pitcher must come from each of the following IP/162 bands. 
280+
240-279
200-239
160-199
130-159
100-129
80-99
60-79
40-59
30-39
25-29

Other Specifics
DH: Yes
WW: No
AAA: No
Trades: No
Clones: No
Injuries: Turned On
Live: Not allowed
Multi-team players: No restrictions (i.e., you can use partial or combined)
Ballpark: Any
300K Exception: Not applicable
Team Name: Anything
Division Alignment: Random
5/31/2015 9:32 AM
schwarze
Posts: 44817 (1)
Hall of Famer
1842 74 4 1 1
Hall of Famer
Q/A for 120M Theme

Q: Assuming "Exactly one hitter must come from a different decade (i.e., 1880's, 1890's, …, 2010's)" means each hitter must come from a different decade, correct?
A: Yes, you need 14 hitters and there are 14 decades

Q:  What about fractional innings?  You have 20-29 and 30-39 IPs.  What if I want a guy who pitched 29.2 innings?
A:  29.2 innings falls into the 20-29 category.  You should use 29.9 as the upper bound when searching that category.  And it's whatever shows up in the search engine.  So if baseball-reference shows a pitchers as throwing 29.2 innings but the search engine shows him as throwing 30 (i.e., he shows up in the 30-39 search), then he qualifies as 30.
6/10/2015 9:31 AM (edited)
ozomatli
Posts: 10694 (0)
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Veteran
These look great. Very excited.
5/31/2015 1:47 PM
contrarian23
Posts: 23153 (1)
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Hall of Famer
70M theme: Any restrictions on catcher's arm rating? I assume no, since none are specified in the rules (and if it is also restricted to, say, D+ or lower, we're likely to see 96 high SB teams entered, which I think defeats the purpose of the theme).
5/31/2015 3:24 PM
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