SEASON FIVE – MLB 119205: Twist w/ a Hero League (That Seventies League)

We soon will be launching Twist with a Hero (Season Five) – That Seventies League. This will be the fifth of what I hope to be many seasons for Twist with a Hero. With Season Four wrapping up very soon, we are ready to begin filling the open spots for our fifth season.


THE PREMISE:

I love twist leagues, but some of the teams I’d like to use aren’t ideal because they are extremely weak at one position or because they come from an era in which the WHIPs and OAVs are a little too high. Being able to select a “franchise hero” could help even things up a little. (Who wouldn’t like to see if they could improve the 1971 A’s by adding either Jimmie Foxx or Dennis Eckersley to the roster?)

Another thing that bugs me is that the same few choices get used in virtually every single twist league. It seems like it’s hard to be competitive if you don’t select one of those oft-used, cookie-filled teams. To curb that effect, each iteration of the Twist w/ a Hero League will feature a sub-theme to significantly narrow the list of available teams to choose from. Season Five’s sub-theme will be That Seventies League. All teams/selected seasons must come from the years 1970-1979. Players can still be twisted to any season. (Ex. The 1974 Cardinals can still twist their roster to include 1968 Bob Gibson.)

Other future possible sub-themes are listed below.

THE RULES:

1. Basic rules--

• $110 MM cap.
• Clones – No
• DH – No
• WW- No
• Trades - No
• AAA – No.
• Injuries – On.

2. Your team. Subject to restriction by the "sub-theme," you may pick any single season team from MLB history, and twist any player on their roster. (Rosters are determined by baseball-reference.com). No 200K exceptions in Season Five. For Season Five, you may select two teams, but must do so in a manner that ensures that your teams will be in opposite leagues. (Ex. If you choose the 1971 Pirates as your first team, you’re going to want to select a team from the late-1970s for your second team to ensure that your teams will be in opposite leagues.)

3. Your hero. You are allowed to select one “hero” to improve your roster. A “hero” must come from the same franchise as the team you have selected, and cannot have a salary over $9,999,999.

4. Team blacklist. Teams are exclusive each season. Teams that make the playoffs will be blacklisted for all future seasons. See below for the listed of blacklisted teams.

5. No consecutive seasons. We’re looking for variety in this season. We don’t want the league to made up of nothing but Reds and A’s teams. Therefore, consecutive seasons for the same franchise will not be allowed. (Ex. If another owner has selected the 1975 Reds, no one can select the 1974 Reds or the 1976 Reds. Under this scenario, the 1970-1973 Reds and 1977-1979 Reds would still be available to be selected.)

6. Heroes blacklist. Heroes used in one season will be blacklisted for use as heroes the following season. They will be removed from the blacklist before the season after that. (Example: If a team used 1993 Mike Piazza as their hero in Season Four, no team can use any version of Piazza as its hero in Season Five. All versions of Piazza would be available to use again in Season Six.) See below for the list of blacklisted players for Season Five.

7. Stadium. Use the stadium your team actually played in during your selected season. If that stadium is not available in WIS, then use WIS Park.

8. Division alignment. Divisions will be realigned and teams will be placed in chronological order of the selected seasons.

9. Team Names. Please include your selected season and franchise in your team name.

10. Sub-Theme. Season Five’s sub-theme will be That Seventies League. All teams/selected seasons must come from the years 1970-1979.

I will have two teams in Season Five. I will select my teams no earlier than 12^th and 24^th.

SEASON FIVE-- MLB 119205: TWIST W/ A HERO: THAT SEVENTIES LEAGUE

OWNERS LIST:
1. finn2030 - 1970 Chicago Cubs
2. frank_drebin - 1970 New York Mets
3. ronblood - 1970 Oakland Athletics
4. burningcouch - 1970 St. Louis Cardinals
5. Chisock - 1971 Baltimore Orioles
6, sawbuxx - 1971 San Francisco Giants
7. steve9955 - 1972 Atlanta Braves
8. dcates - 1972 Cincinnati Reds
9. Jesters - 1972 Los Angeles Dodgers
10. Yaz2Schill - 1972 Oakland Athletics
11. mars2010 - 1973 Baltimore Orioles
12. ETSTim - 1973 San Francisco Giants
13. Rattlers - 1974 Boston Red Sox
14. pmwksw - 1975 Cincinnati Reds
15. sawbuxx - 1975 Cleveland Indians
16. finn2030 - 1975 Los Angeles Dodgers
17. winterhawk - 1976 Philadelphia Phillies
18. mars2010 - 1977 Boston Red Sox
19. Chisock - 1977 Cincinnati Reds
20. specsman - 1977 Los Angeles Dodgers
21. ETSTim - 1979 Cincinnati Reds
22. dcates - 1979 Kansas City Royals
23. frank_drebin - 1979 Montreal Expos
24. zephyr1949 - 1979 New York Yankees

Future Sub-Themes Include (not necessarily in the order listed):

1. World Series Winners- Eligible teams must have won World Series in the selected season.
2. World Series Losers- Eligible teams must have lost the World Series in the selected season.
3. Pennant Winners- Eligible teams must have played in the World Series in the selected season.
4. October Baseball- Eligible teams must have made it to the postseason in the selected season.
5. Early Exits- Eligible teams must have made it to the playoffs, but not the World Series, in the selected season.
6. Wildcard Teams- Eligible teams must have been a wildcard team in the selected season.
7. Wait 'Til Next Year- Eligible teams must not have qualified for postseason play.
8. 100 Game Winners- Eligible teams must have won 100 games in the selected season.
9. .500 Club- Eligible teams must have finished the season with a record of no more than two games below or above .500.
10. Lovable Losers - Owners will be limited to selecting from among the teams that lost at least 90 games in the selected season.
11. The Biggest Losers – Owners will be limited to selecting from among the teams that lost at least 100 games in the selected season.
12. National League Rivals- 6 Cardinals and 6 Cubs teams in the NL; 6 Dodgers and 6 Giants teams in the AL.
13. AL Juggernauts vs. The World- 6 Yankees and 6 Red Sox teams in one league; 12 different American League franchises represented in the other league.
14. New Kids on the Block- Choose a selected season from a franchise that came into existence in 1969 or later.
15. 1961-’62 Expansion Alums- Choose a team/selected season whose roster includes at least one person who played either for the ’61 Angels, ’61 Senators, ’62 Colt 45s or ’62 Mets.
16. 1969 Expansion Alums- Choose a team/selected season whose roster includes at least one person who played for either the ’69 Expos, ’69 Padres, ’69 Pilots or ’69 Royals.
17. 1990s Expansion Alums- Choose a team/selected season whose roster includes at least one person who played for either the ’93 Marlins, ’93 Rockies, ’98 Diamondbacks or ’98 Devil Rays.
18. Expansion Teams- Choose an expansion team in its first 10 years of existence.
19. Movers & Shakers- 12 teams in one league will be made up of franchises in their final 10 years before moving to a new city (examples include 1944-’53 St. Louis Browns, 1948-’57 Brooklyn Dodgers, etc.); 12 teams in the other league will be made up of franchises in their first 10 years after a move to a new city (examples include 1954-’63 Baltimore Orioles, 1958-’67 LA Dodgers, etc.).
20. Cactus League- Choose from teams that currently play Spring Training ball in Arizona.
21. Grapefruit League- Choose from teams that currently play Spring Training ball in Florida.
22. California Dreamin’- Choose from Padres, Angels, LA Dodgers, SF Giants and Oakland A’s.
23. Big Apple- Eligible teams include Yankees, Mets, Brooklyn Dodgers and NY Giants.
24. Windy City- Eligible teams include Cubs and White Sox (or Chicago Whales if you’re daring).
25. Show Me State- Eligible teams include Cardinals, Royals, Browns & KC Athletics.
26. Founding Fathers- Eligible teams must have played in Boston, New York, Philadelphia or Washington or feature a player whose last name is either Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, Hamilton or Hancock during the selected season.
27. Rust Belt- Eligible teams must come from “Rust Belt States” of Pennsylvania, Ohio or Michigan or feature a player named “Rusty” (ex. Rusty Staub, Rusty Kuntz, etc.) during the selected season.
28. Stanley Cup- Eligible teams must have played in an “NHL Original Six” city (Montreal, Toronto, Boston, Chicago, Detroit or New York) or feature a player with the last name of “Stanley” (ex. Bob Stanley, Mickey Stanley, etc.) during the selected season.
29. Super Skippers- Eligible teams must have been managed by a Hall of Fame manager (as determined by http://www.baseball-almanac.com/hof/mgrhof.shtml) during the selected season.
30. HOF Ballot- Roster must include at least one player who appears on the 2018 Hall of Fame Ballot (as determined by http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/hof_2018.shtml)
31. HOF Celebration- 12 teams must feature rosters which include the Original 5 Hall of Famers (Ruth, Cobb, Mathewson, Wagner, Johnson) and 12 teams must feature rosters which include the 5 most recent Hall of Fame inductees (Bagwell, Raines, Rodriguez, Griffey, Piazza).
32. Longball Legends- Select from teams whose rosters include one of the Top 20 all-time career HR leaders (as determined by baseball-reference.com).
33. Hit Kings- Select from teams whose rosters include one of the Top 20 all-time career hits leaders (as determined by baseball-reference.com).
34. Stolen Base Kings- Select from teams whose rosters include one of the Top 20 all-time career stolen base leaders (as determined by baseball-reference.com).
35. Strikeout Kings- Select from teams whose rosters include one of the Top 20 all-time career strikeout leaders (as determined by baseball-reference.com).
36. This Means WAR- 12 teams must feature rosters which include one of the Top 10 all-time career leaders among position players in Wins Above Replacement (as determined by baseball-reference.com); 12 teams must feature rosters which include one of the Top 10 all-time career leaders among pitchers in WAR.
37. The Juice Is Loose- Select from teams whose rosters include notable players cited in the Mitchell Report; choose from any player listed at http://www.baseball-reference.com/friv/mitchell-report-players.shtml
38. Deadball Era- Choose a team from 1919 or before.
39. The 1920s- Choose a team from the 1920s.
40. The 1930s- Choose a team from the 1930s.
41. The 1940s- Choose a team from the 1940s.
42. The 1950s- Choose a team from the 1950s.
43. The 1960s- Choose a team from the 1960s.
44. The 1970s (aka “That Seventies League”) - Choose a team from the 1970s.
45. The 1980s- Choose a team from the 1980s.
46. The 1990s- Choose a team from the 1990s
47. 21^st Century- Choose a team from 2000-2016.
48. Something Old, Something New- 12 teams from the Deadball Era; 12 teams from the 21st Century.
49. Senior Circuit- Choose from franchises that played in the National League during the selected season.
50. Junior Circuit- Choose from franchises that played in the American League during the selected season.
51. NL East- Choose from franchises that currently play in the NL East.
52. NL Central- Choose from franchises that currently play in the NL Central.
53. NL West- Choose from franchises that currently play in the NL West.
54. AL East- Choose from franchises that currently play in the AL East.
55. AL Central- Choose from franchises that currently play in the AL Central.
56. AL West- Choose from franchises that currently play in the AL West.
57. Beasts from the East- 12 teams must feature rosters from franchises that currently play in the NL East; 12 must feature rosters from franchises that currently play in the AL East.
58. Fly Over Country- 12 teams must feature rosters from franchises that currently play in the NL Central; 12 must feature rosters from franchises that currently play in the AL Central.
59. Wild, Wild West- 12 teams must feature rosters from franchises that currently play in the NL West; 12 must feature rosters from franchises that currently play in the AL West.
60. We are open for other suggestions…

Plenty of outstanding options are out there waiting to be claimed. The Seventies didn't just give us Watergate and Charlie's Angels. They also gave us Pops Stargell and the "We Are Family" Pirates of 1979... They're just waiting to be picked up, perhaps with Honus Wagner or Babe Adams to make the team even more formidable.

I'm assuming the dividing line will be before 1975. I will take the 1970 Twins as my second team. If that puts both of my teams in the same league, then I will switch the 1970 Twins out for a team from 1977-1979. Does that make sense?

I know some of you may be a little hesitant to join a new Theme League because you've committed to six new teams in the WISC, but please realize that this league will hopefully start up about a month before the games begin in the WISC. Use this fun twist league to help identify new bargains under the new salaries (the next salary update is scheduled for just a few days from now). So dig out those old 8-track tapes and play ball!

Per sitemail, sawbuxx changed his team from the 1970 Twins to the 1971 Giants.

Season Four's regular season ends today. I will set up the next season and have a league number in just a few days.

1970 A' s

1979 isn't just a catchy Smashing Pumpkins tune. It was a year that featured some exciting baseball...

Eight spots are currently open in Twist w/ a Hero 5: That Seventies League. Lots of excellent options remain, including the 1979 Brewers that won 95 games. (You might consider using Ben Sheets, Teddy Higuera or Rollie Fingers as your team's Hero.) Their offense is loaded, and their roster closely resembles the 1982 Brew Crew that took the title in Twist w/ a Hero 2: World Series Losers.

1976 Phillies

Season Four's World Series starts today with the 1911 Cubs squaring off against the 1965 Giants. Hopefully we'll get those other 7 spots filled before long so we can get Season Five underway with very little "offseason" between the end of Season Four and the beginning of Season Five.

...By the way, for any of you who are considering a second team, it looks like the NL/AL split will occur in the 1973 season. If you've picked a team from 1970-1972, then your second team probably needs to come from 1974-1979 (and vice versa). If you picked a team from '73, you could fall on either side of the dividing line.

I'll take a 2nd team. 1977 Reds