Just took my first 0-6 session. This totally could have ruined my day, until I dug into things a little bit further. The six teams I played have a cumulative record of 180-120 (97-wins per team pace) and includes 5 playoffs teams (if the season ended today). Three of these teams are ranked top 2 overall (1st, 2nd and 2nd) among the 96 teams in their respective themes. This was the second of a 2-game series vs. the other league, and I went 5-1 in the am games against these same teams. Feeling a little better, now...

This reminds me that sometimes having a nice winning (or losing) streak in this tournament has less to do with how your teams are playing and more to do with WHO your teams are playing.

That's the tough part about these schedules and partial season status reports. I suppose since all of the leagues are 24-team, 6-division formats all using the same scheduling algorithm, we should be able to figure out which patterns of early season games will be repeated at the end, thus giving us some predictive value to the way the seasons will finish.

Posted by schwarze on 8/28/2017 1:42:00 PM (view original):
This reminds me that sometimes having a nice winning (or losing) streak in this tournament has less to do with how your teams are playing and more to do with WHO your teams are playing.

I've gone 3-9 over these last two sessions, so hopefully (per schwarze) this means I'm just facing stiff competition. No time to check-most days I'm just logging in, juggling pitching staff to combat fatigue, and logging out...

My first schwarze! Makes up for that mauch a couple days back and gets me back over .500.

My new goal for this tournament is to be .500 overall and get 2 teams into the playoffs. I think that's modest and achievable and I could be proud of it, regardless of where I am in the standings.

I think the most discouraging thing right now is that my XBH team (my best team) is tied for the 9th best record out of 96 teams, and is only in a tie for second in my division.

My struggles in one-run games continue. I am 41-50, and my .451 Win Pct. is 108 points below my Win Pct. in games decided by two or more runs. I don't think this is due to bad luck. I think I constructed my bullpens poorly, and I am paying the price. I've converted 83 of 121 SVO (68.6%) vs. my leagues averaging 73% (81 out of 111). Those five missing saves could be the difference between making Round 2 and missing out. No one to blame for that but myself.

I can't believe how bad some of my pitchers are at Petco Park. Through 56 games in the XBH league:

'68 Gibson: 4.13 ERA, 1.41 WHIP
'08 Wagner: 6.88 ERA, 1.47 WHIP
'63 Tiefenauer: 3.27 ERA, 1.55 WHIP
'15 Stroman: 10.61 ERA, 2.68 WHIP

I realize it's a high-cap league, but Petco should be balancing out at least some of that.

My "Doubles" team is KILLING me and it's mainly my pitching. 86 Mike Scott and 11 Verlander have both been brutal.

Good variety at the top of the leaderboards for most themes. For example, the variable cap theme's best teams are currently (in order) C, B, C, B, A, A

My bullpen did not like being called out in my last post. Since then, I am 14-16 with 11 one run losses and six blown saves. Show some pride, guys!

The top-10 right now is a veritable murderer's row

brianjw
schwarze
rbow923
doctorcc
dougpalm
charliembg
ozomatli
mildnhazy
discodemo
redwingscup

First 0-6 for a while. Makes up a bit for some good luck I've been having.

Can't believe I'm still in second. Five straight series with 3 wins or fewer.

Posted by ozomatli on 8/30/2017 2:49:00 PM (view original):
Good variety at the top of the leaderboards for most themes. For example, the variable cap theme's best teams are currently (in order) C, B, C, B, A, A

My team ("C") used to be among these top teams, then they decided to go 2-11 in their last 13 games.