I've currently got three teams active (one in this tournament). Of the three, one is on an L5 (2-8 in the last 10), one is on an L5 (3-7 in their last 10) and the third is on an L2 (3-7 in their last 10). Plus, my 108-Win team was just knocked out of the playoffs in the LCS round. I guess I should be happy that they made it past the divisional round...

My Royals are staying right there with ya...1-9 in our last 10 and on an L7. We gotta figure something out because Barracuda sure doesn't need any help to win this division...lol.

Last 5 losses by my Rangers (one of my few remaining over-500 teams).

Lose 6-5. RP Nathan with blown save (3 runs in 8th)
Lose 5-4. RP Feliz with the loss (allowed HR in 8th)
Lose 4-3. RP Holland with the loss (allows 2 runs in 10th)
Lose 5-4. RP Nathan with the loss
Lose 4-3. RP Soria with loss and blown save (3 runs in 9th, after 2 outs)

That's 0-5 for RPs. Overall, the bullpen of Nathan x2, Soria x2, D.Holland, Feliz is a combined 4-12 on the season.

I'm not making this up. (I wish I were)... My Padres last 5 losses...

Lose 2-0. RPs M.Adams and Meredith give up 2 runs in 8th inning.
Lose 3-2. RP M.Adams blows 9th inning lead w/2 outs, Hoffman loses game in 11th
Lose 8-7. SP Peavy ('07) drops to 9-4, gets pounded early (8 runs in 2.1 ips), his ERA drops from 3.57 to 4.27
Lose 1-0. RP Hoffman comes in for Maddux (pitch count) and loses the game while pitching 0.1 IP.
Lose 4-3. RP M.Adams gives up a 2-out nobody-on HR in the 9th.

Well, at least my RPs pitched well in the 8-7 game, with 5.2 shutout innings in a game I was down 8-4 early. Oh wait, SP '05 Jake Peavey pitched 3 of those 5.2 scoreless innings.

Also, this is almost impossible...

Thru 43 games, my Royals were 24-19, averaging 5.9 runs per game. Since then, my Royals are 2-17 with the following run totals...

2, 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 0, 3, 4, 2, 1, 1, 3, 4, 3, 1, 3, 1, 2. The two games they scored 4 runs, they won. That's 1.9 runs per game over a 19-game span. Unreal.

Three of my four teams are in last place. Two of those are over .500 and in position to advance anyway. Brutal divisions.

Pitcher #1
Real life stats: 277 ip, 1.92 erc#, 0.99 whip#, .206 oav#, 13 HRs, Salary = $12.3 million
Sim stats: 131 ip, 4.66 era, 1.50 whip, 268 oav, 20 HRs

Pitcher #2
Real life stats: 239 ip, 2.87 erc#, 1.13 whip#, .249 oav#, 20 HRs, Salary = $6.8 million
Sim stats: 130 ip, 4.15 era, 1.26 whip, 261 oav, 12 HRs

Pitcher #1 is 1985 Dwight Gooden
Pitcher #2 is 1996 Shane Reynolds

Please, somebody... Make this make sense.

38, 14
17, 26

The first row represents IPs & Runs allowed by my Expos starting pitchers over the last six games.
The second row represents IPs & Runs allowed by my Expos relief pitchers over the last six games.

4.99 is the ERA of my best RP.
5.82 is the next best ERA among my RPs
etc.

The definition of mediocrity. Six of my eight teams have records between 42-44 and 44-42. even my two best teams are only at 46 and 47 wins.

My worst teams are on winning streaks to get close to .500. My best teams are losing a lot lately, and are back down near .500.

Odds that all eight teams finish exactly 81-81?

The first two picks of this round were the 2008 Padres followed by the 2007 Padres. I am really having trouble coming to terms that the sim record of the 2008 Padres (57-50) is significantly worse than the 2007 Padres (68-39) so I decided to do a deep drive to try and understand why.

First, lets compare the raw sim stats of the two teams.
.

		Hitting
Season	…	AB	…	R	…	H	…	2B	…	3B	…	HR	…	BB	…	AVG	…	OBP	…	SLG	…	OPS
2007		3860		647		1113		210		14		138		455		0.288		0.367		0.457		0.824
2008		3742		517		966		165		14		129		433		0.258		0.341		0.413		0.754
		Pitching
Season		IP		R		H		WIN		ERA		HR		BB		OAV		OBP		SLG		WHIP
2007		959		448		893		68		3.95		68		383		0.242		0.316		0.350		1.33
2008		951.7		446		928		57		4.03		77		343		0.251		0.320		0.369		1.34
		Fielding
Season		PO		A		E		DP		Plus		Minus		Fld%
2007		2877		990		43		217		49		13		0.989
2008		2855		974		32		194		49		20		0.992

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As you can see, the offense for 2007 is significantly better than 2008 and the 2007 pitching is roughly even. So let's dig in deeper to why that is.

Before we look at player performance, let's check the ballpark data and home/road splits.

The 2008 team is playing at Bennett Park which is +1, 0, -2, +3/+3 with a 1.02 run scoring factor.
The 2007 team is playing at Sportsman III which is 0, +3, 0, 0/+1 with a 1.08 run scoring factor.

The 2008 team has scored 293 runs in 52 games at home (5.42/game) and 224 runs in 55 games on the road (4.07/game).

The 2007 team has scored 337 runs in 55 games at home (6.13/game ) and 310 runs in 52 games on the road (5.96/game).

The biggest outlier here is the poor offense on the road for 2008. Should Sportsman III really produce 13% more runs than Bennett Park though?

Let's look at the individual players.

Both teams rostered 13 hitters, of which 5 are the same, and 8 are different.

The 8 different players are as follows (in order of sim usage):

2008

Player	Year___	AB___	AVG___	OBP___	SLG___	OPS
Edmonds, Jim	2000	408	0.243	0.338	0.417	0.754
Greene, Khalil	2007	397	0.214	0.252	0.317	0.569
Edmonds, Jim	2004	386	0.275	0.357	0.528	0.885
Iguchi, Tadahito	2006	314	0.217	0.299	0.334	0.633
Hundley, Nick	2011	214	0.322	0.375	0.467	0.842
Clark, Tony	2005	211	0.303	0.384	0.54	0.924
Hundley, Nick	2015	184	0.255	0.294	0.38	0.674
Iguchi, Tadahito	2007	105	0.229	0.289	0.314	0.604
		2219	0.253	0.325	0.416	0.741
			0.288	0.365	0.529	0.894
			88%	89%	79%	83%

.
2007

Player	Year___	AB___	AVG___	OBP___	SLG___	OPS
Giles, Marcus	2003	415	0.289	0.333	0.417	0.749
Ensberg, Morgan	2005	382	0.291	0.391	0.542	0.933
Barrett, Michael	2004	316	0.247	0.29	0.339	0.628
Bradley, Milton	2008	278	0.295	0.394	0.532	0.926
Bradley, Milton	2003	264	0.288	0.371	0.451	0.822
Clark, Brady	2005	240	0.288	0.328	0.367	0.695
Bard, Josh	2003	100	0.24	0.276	0.35	0.626
Ensberg, Morgan	2003	64	0.234	0.269	0.25	0.519
		2059	0.279	0.348	0.434	0.782
			0.301	0.386	0.509	0.895
			93%	90%	85%	87%

.
The red number represent the actual stats of these players, weighted to sim usage. The last row of percentages is a comparison between real life stats and sim stats. As you can see, the unique hitters for 2007 has a better avg/obp but worse slugging. Overall, the OPS is similar. But, the sim performance has been significantly better for these players (.782 vs .741 ops).

There are five identical hitters on the 2007 and 2008 rosters. Here is a comparison of their stats.
.
2008

Player	Year___	AB___	AVG___	OBP___	SLG___	OPS
Giles, Brian	1999	265	0.211	0.332	0.321	0.653
Giles, Brian	2002	378	0.272	0.412	0.466	0.877
Bard, Josh	2006	51	0.235	0.339	0.294	0.633
Gonzalez, Adrian	2011	432	0.285	0.362	0.431	0.792
Headley, Chase	2012	397	0.277	0.348	0.408	0.756
		1523	0.265	0.366	0.410	0.776

.
2007

Player	Year___	AB___	AVG___	OBP___	SLG___	OPS
Giles, Brian	1999	384	0.289	0.398	0.529	0.927
Giles, Brian	2002	379	0.230	0.367	0.414	0.782
Bard, Josh	2006	147	0.354	0.411	0.476	0.887
Gonzalez, Adrian	2011	449	0.356	0.423	0.532	0.955
Headley, Chase	2012	442	0.290	0.361	0.459	0.820
		1801	0.299	0.391	0.484	0.876

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Well, this is a huge difference. Our Giles are reversed (my 2002 is better, his 1999 is better), but if you simply switched the Giles, all five of his identical players are significantly better than my players. Not really sure what I can do about that, except hope that positive regression kicks in for my guys.

Let's look at the pitching. One of the reasons I chose 2008 over 2007 was to get Mike Adams. Of the 12 pitchers we each rostered, 8 are identical, 4 are different, including each of us selecting a different second Trevor Hoffman. Not surprsingly, my four 2008 pitchers are noticably better than his four 2007 pitchers...
.
2008

Player	Year___	G___	GS___	IP___	OAV___	OBP___	SLG___	WHIP___	ERA
Hoffman, Trevor	1999	58	0	35.7	0.269	0.358	0.379	1.63	3.53
Hensley, Clay	2005	36	0	33.3	0.238	0.298	0.285	1.20	3.51
Adams, Mike	2009	38	0	26.3	0.160	0.218	0.287	0.84	1.71
Adams, Mike	2011	59	0	39	0.268	0.329	0.427	1.44	4.62
		191	0	134.3	0.031	0.039	0.371	1.31	3.48

.
2007

Player	Year___	G___	GS___	IP___	OAV___	OBP___	SLG___	WHIP___	ERA
Wells, David	1989	22	0	22	0.152	0.302	0.190	1.32	2.86
Hoffman, Trevor	1996	47	0	61.7	0.235	0.344	0.419	1.52	5.55
Brocail, Doug	1998	6	0	4	0.200	0.333	0.267	1.50	11.25
Thatcher, Joe	2010	29	0	17.7	0.239	0.282	0.239	1.13	2.04
		104	0	105.4	0.021	0.033	0.351	1.41	4.61

.

Well, you can probably figure out by now that of the eight identical pitchers, I once again got the short end of the stick.
.
2008

Player	Year___	G___	GS___	IP___	OAV___	OBP___	SLG___	WHIP___	ERA___
Maddux, Greg	1994	28	28	199	0.250	0.293	0.344	1.18	2.94
Maddux, Greg	1995	25	22	163.3	0.222	0.265	0.318	1.01	2.87
Hoffman, Trevor	1998	50	0	42.7	0.228	0.317	0.265	1.31	4.85
Peavy, Jake	2005	17	10	74	0.313	0.376	0.518	1.70	7.05
Meredith, Cla	2006	45	0	30.7	0.256	0.323	0.388	1.37	4.11
Bell, Heath	2007	57	0	42.7	0.270	0.353	0.362	1.45	3.80
Peavy, Jake	2007	26	26	151	0.261	0.345	0.408	1.50	5.13
Young, Chris	2007	26	21	114	0.249	0.361	0.384	1.61	4.58
		274	107	817.4	0.253	0.322	0.372	1.34	4.12

.
2007

Player	Year___	G___	GS___	IP___	OAV___	OBP___	SLG___	WHIP___	ERA___
Maddux, Greg	1994	28	28	194	0.234	0.288	0.285	1.16	2.74
Maddux, Greg	1995	27	27	167.7	0.222	0.253	0.302	0.98	2.52
Hoffman, Trevor	1998	45	0	45.7	0.253	0.323	0.352	1.38	4.14
Peavy, Jake	2005	47	0	114	0.268	0.342	0.449	1.49	5.05
Meredith, Cla	2006	31	0	27.7	0.257	0.322	0.419	1.27	3.58
Bell, Heath	2007	49	0	54.3	0.238	0.340	0.277	1.42	2.98
Peavy, Jake	2007	27	27	139.7	0.260	0.354	0.429	1.59	5.28
Young, Chris	2007	25	25	110.7	0.247	0.347	0.360	1.54	5.29
		279	107	853.8	0.244	0.315	0.352	1.32	3.87

.
Six of the eight identical pitchers from 2007 are doing better than my 2008 counterparts. This is very frustrating. If the ballpark really was a difference in the offense, then shouldn't that difference translate to my identical pitchers being better? This Padres experience has been very tilting.