It’s hard to imagine what preseason baseball would look like, if Bill Veeck and Horace Stoneham never moved the spring training headquarters of their teams (the Indians and Giants respectively) to Arizona in the spring of 1947. Over the next sixty years, so many teams would follow suit, that now we have a perfect division of 15 teams in the Arizona Cactus League and 15 Teams in the Florida Grapefruit League, which is the perfect setting for a theme league. I wanted it to be a league with a random element, but also where we all could choose the teams that make up our player pool. Welcome to the ……
CACTUS GRAPEFRUIT CLASSIC
Here is how to play.
1. Choose Cactus or Grapefruit- Sign up to build either a Cactus League team or a Grapefruit League team. Please see the list below to see which teams make up the current Cactus and Grapefruit leagues.
2. Pick the first team in your pool- You will receive 2 random years between 1947 and 1995. Choose one year, and then choose a team from your chosen league (Cactus or Grapefruit) from that year. This will be the first of four teams that will make up your player pool.
3. Jump in to the future to complete your player pool. In the chart below, each team has a number in parenthesis which is generated randomly each season. This number represents the amount of years you will need to jump in to the future before selecting your next team. Continue in to the future until you have the selected 4 Cactus / Grapefruit teams that will make up your player pool (but remember you may not mix Cactus with Grapefruit). Then build a team with the following parameters:
$100M Cap
No AAA
No DH
No WW
No Trades
No Twisting / Clones
Live OK, not required
No Min/Max Players Rule- There is no minimum or maximum amount of players that you must select from any of the teams that make up your player pool.
Stadium- If you built a Cactus League team, you can use the stadium of any post 1946 Cactus League team. Same goes for Grapefruit League teams. They can use the stadium of any post 1946 Grapefruit League team.
Standard 24 team league. NL will be Cactus League and AL will be Grapefruit. Teams will be randomly placed in their respective leagues.
Cactus League
Arizona Diamondbacks (+11)
Chicago Cubs (+6)
Chicago White Sox (+14)
Cincinnati Reds (+3)
Cleveland Indians (+7)
Colorado Rockies (+8)
Kansas City Royals (+12)
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (+2)
Los Angeles Dodgers (+9)
Milwaukee Brewers (+10)
Oakland / KC Athletics (+15)
San Diego Padres (+5)
San Francisco Giants (+4)
Seattle Mariners (+3)
Texas Rangers (+13)
Grapefruit League
Atlanta / Mil Braves (+9)
Baltimore Orioles (+10)
Boston Red Sox (+1)
Detroit Tigers (+5)
Houston Astros (+14)
Miami Marlins (+11)
Minnesota Twins/ Senators (+12)
New York Mets (+7)
New York Yankees (+13)
Philadelphia Phillies (+3)
Pittsburgh Pirates (+15)
St. Louis Cardinals (+8)
Tampa Bay Rays (+4)
Toronto Blue Jays (+6)
Nationals / Expos (+2)
Example: I join the league and sign up for a Cactus League Team. Next, I’m given the following randomly generated years: 1972 and 1981.
I begin by selecting 1981, and since I’m a Dodger fan, I figure I’ll begin my player pool with the 81 Dodgers, the WS champs.
In the chart above, the Dodgers have a (+9) next to them. This means that the next Cactus team I choose must come from 9 years in the future, in other words from 1990 (1981 +9 =1990). My next selection is the 1990 Reds, which means my next team will have to come from 3 years in the future, or rather in 1993. I take the 1993 Giants , advance another 4 years in to the future (because the Giants are (+4) in the chart above) and for my final team, I take the 1997 Seattle Mariners. In this example, it doesn’t matter what number is next to the Mariners in the chart above because I don't have to pick another team. You may not select a chain of teams that takes you beyond the 2014 season. Your chain must fit between 1947 and 2014.
SEASON 2
LEAGUE NUMBER: MLB113385
Owner List:
Big_T;
CACTUS TEAMS
1. Big_T (1990, 1949)
2. chisock (1968, 1970)
3. dlchow (1987, 1992)
4. dweigel (1958, 1985)
5. parking31 (1953, 1960)
6. redwingscup (1989, 1981)
7. RWHAY (1995, 1959)
8. newarkwilder (1947, 1988)
9. ht44601 (1978, 1954)
10. moses_k (1948, 1977)
11.mebyst (1952, 1973)
12. Drawdexer (1956, 1961)
GRAPEFRUIT TEAMS
1. Busterglen (1965, 1955)
2. DoctorKz (1980, 1969)
3. specsman (1975, 1957)
4. Contrarian23 (1972, 1966)
5. coachgreat1 (1994, 1974)
6. pg99 (1963, 1983)
7. Rattlers (1991, 1993)
8. Heyhey1970 (1964, 1982)
9. midknight (1951, 1962)
10. pinotfan (1976, 1967)
11. yaz2schill (1971, 1986)
12. beezneezy (1979, 1984)
WALL OF FAME:
Season 1
Champs: beezneezy's The Grapefruit Technique (GRAPEFRUIT)
Runner up: chisock's Cactus Crunch (CACTUS)
8/19/2015 4:35 PM (edited)