ATL Team Preview: Worcester Ruby Legs

The Worcester Ruby Legs, managed by Phil George, had the 5th pick in the draft. Phil's the only manager to go with a full vintage baseball team name, based on this team that played in the National League in the early 1880s. I caught Phil off-guard when the draft got underway. He was not in a position to do a little research on his first pick, so he selected Frank Robinson, a phenomenal player, but a player he probably could have selected a round or two later. Nevertheless, I think he made out all right.








Originally blue, I put in a little work on this old logo and made it very fitting for Phil's team.
Team Colors: Ruby and White
Home Stadium: Worcester Driving Park Grounds. Obviously, because of its age, I had to take some educated guesses as to its dimensions and park factors.

The position players: (click on picture to enlarge)(Note: if you didn't read the team preview for any of the other teams, please disregard the stars on the right side; they're part of the game's internal "scouting" and should have no in-game effects)
Phil came out of the draft with quite the stable of position players. He has as many left-handed hitters as he does righties, so he should be well-prepared for all sorts of pitchers. This isn't the best power-hitting team in the league, despite having some big-time sluggers like McGwire and Robinson. However, with premier hitters like Cobb and Shoeless Joe joining other players who can get on base often, Phil might be able to produce some quality runs without having to lean on the long ball. Behind the plate, Dickey and Campanella form a good hitting platoon; Campanella should still get the majority of games played due to being a little better at handling pitchers. With Ty Cobb and Joe Morgan leading a full cast of players, getting that extra base on a hit or via the stolen base is definitely not an issue with the Ruby Legs. The Driving Park Grounds is not conducive to home runs at all, so hopefully the speed will help give Phil an extra built-in home field advantage.

The pitchers:
Projected Rotation: Grove, Gibson, Brown, Sabathia, Bunning
It should be interesting to see if this rotation will hold up for Phil to make a run to the championship series. Undoubtedly, well-known legends like Grove & Gibson should be effective for the Ruby Legs, but plenty of question marks remain in the back end of the rotation and in the bullpen. As the only lefty in the bullpen, Santana has a very important role to play, and he does have plenty have of actual experience pitching in relief. The closer should be another pitcher with mostly starting experience but major success finishing games: John Smoltz. Overall, there's a good blend of both historical flamethrowing strikeout artists and finesse out-makers that ought to make for a decent staff.

ATL Team Preview: Cumberland Sedohcs

The Cumberland Sedohcs, managed by Michael Miller, had the 3rd pick in the draft. Cumberland, MD, represents Mike's original home. The Sedohcs part? I'll let you figure that out on your own. Due to the "mystical" nature of his team nickname, Mike chose an orange & white cat as his logo/mascot, so I did my best to accommodate this wish:








I know, this logo (designed by the same person who designed the one I'm using for my own team) is supposed to be a tiger, but there's enough non-black in the face to do the job.
Team Colors: Orange and White
Home Stadium: Kingdome

The position players: (click on picture to enlarge)
(Note: if you didn't read the team preview for any of the other teams, please disregard the stars on the right side; they're part of the game's internal "scouting" and should have no in-game effects)
What's immediately noticeable is Mr. Miller's draft style, which focused on more contemporary players over players from long ago (Hornsby, Cochrane, & Banks being exceptions). Mike definitely has an enviable outfield not only for its superior power, but also for its dominance on the basepaths. My one concern with his position players is how his defense will hold up behind his pitchers; although the hitting should be there, there's a lack of premier glove talent among a few regulars in his lineup. Both of Mike's catchers should be serviceable on defense while providing top-notch hitting for the position. Overall, if his bunch can hit for average to accompany the noticeable power, the sky's the limit on offense. I would not expect playing in the turf-laden Kingdome to have a significant effect either way on his hitters' total numbers.

The pitchers:
Projected Rotation: Martinez, Clemens, Roberts, Dean, Plank
Luckily for Mike and a couple others, I reasonably deemed it necessary to keep everyone's career numbers as they actually compiled them, rather than punish certain players (you know who you are) for their possible use of performance-enhancing drugs. There are more hard-throwing pitchers in the rotation than in the bullpen, so other teams' hitters may be befuddled by the finesse stuff when they enter the game. As the only left-handed arm in the bullpen, Rube Waddell's success may be crucial to the Sedohcs' success due to the high number of left-handed power hitters in the ATL. Should his games require reaching deep into his roster, Wes Ferrell could be a valuable resource for Mike as both a durable arm and a very effective hitter. Like the offense, if the modern guys can lead the rotation, Cumberland should be in it for the duration.

ATL Team Preview: Jigger Bushes

The Jigger Bushes, managed by Seth Thompson, had the advantage of having the #1 overall draft pick, and thus could stake claim to The Sultan of Swat, Babe Ruth. Evidently, Jigger is a town in Louisiana, and will be easily the southernmost city ATL teams will play in this season. If you're unsure how Seth came up with this name for his team, then you're probably not from western Pennsylvania.








Putting a vintage picture of Donnie Iris in a black background may have been my favorite part of constructing any of the teams.
Colors: Black and Gold
Home Stadium: Fair Grounds Field (Shreveport, LA)

The position players: (click on picture to enlarge)(Note: if you didn't read the team preview for my own team, please disregard the stars on the right side; they're part of the game's internal "scouting" and should have no in-game effects)
In a funny coincidence, A-Rod can't wear #3 on this team either because Babe Ruth occupies it.
There's power to spare in this lineup, and there's a very good chance multiple players on this team will be up near the top of a number of power hitting categories. Even with the obvious power, there's some sneaky good average hitters on this team such as Babe Ruth and Jimmie Foxx, as well as some good fielding throughout the regular lineup in the form of Mike Schmidt and Ryne Sandberg. Although I don't consider Thurman Munson and Pudge Rodriguez to be the most premier duo of catchers in the ATL, they should be a serviceable offensive and defensive pair for this team. There's no major terrors on the basepaths on this team, but players like Sandberg and A-Rod should get their share of stolen bases. The Bushes' home stadium of Fair Grounds Field is a classic pitcher's park, so despite the glut of power on this team, don't expect their power numbers to be too overwhelming. Perhaps the power will travel to other parks well.

The pitchers:
Projected Rotation: Koufax, Mathewson, Hubbell, Marichal, Palmer
Seth constructed his pitching staff a bit differently compared with the rest of the managers, going with a vast majority of closers to shut down teams late in games. His 6th starter, Curt Schilling, should serve a long relief and spot starter role on his team. The rotation features plenty of power arms, but his best pitcher may be a finesse pitcher and a first employer of the screwball, Christy Mathewson. If Seth's starters can regularly get to the 6th or 7th inning with leads, teams will likely have a great deal of difficulty recovering; Gossage, Fingers, and Rivera compose probably the best back end of a bullpen in the ATL. This team should be a good test of whether the total reliever route is favorable over having other starters serve most of the relief roles.

ATL Team Preview: Providence Reds

I'm doing team-by-team season previews, mostly so everyone can see each team's full roster before games begin to be played. I stuck our team names into a random generator, and wouldn't you know it, my name came up first. I dubbed my team the Providence Reds as a play on the Providence Grays, a prominent 19th century baseball club, and the hair color of this group's Peerless Leader (it's my title now, Frank Chance). I had the 4th overall pick in the draft.









Note: As much as I'd love to say I designed this logo myself, I found it on a fantastic OOTP creator's set of logos he made for the game and thought it fit my team perfectly.
Team Colors: Red and White
Home Stadium: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

The position players: (to save on space, I made the picture smaller; please click on the picture to see it in full size)
(Don't worry about the star rating on the right; it's the game's internal "scouting" and shouldn't have an effect on anything in-game)
I hope that I end up accomplishing my goal of having the most balanced position players in the ATL. Sluggers occupy some spots in my lineup, but so do tremendous average hitters like Wagner and maybe Gwynn. The infield looks tremendous with the gloves; despite Brooks Robinson not being as steady with the bat as my other hitters, his magical glove at 3rd base should play a pivotal role on my team. Gary Carter and Yogi Berra form a mean platoon for the men donning the tools of ignorance. Manny and Mantle both are tremendous sluggers, but they have some limitations (especially as anyone who's seen Ramirez play left field knows) in the field, so I drafted two big defensive upgrades for them in Clemente and Gwynn. The team lacks a premier base-stealer, so a number of different players will all have to pitch in to wreak havoc on the basepaths. In addition, I think my players' power statistics should be at least slightly boosted by playing in the L.A. Coliseum, a favorable hitters' park.

The pitchers: (once again, please click on the picture to see it in full size)
Projected Rotation: W. Johnson, Young, R. Johnson, Feller, Ford
Since I knew many pitchers that would be prime draft selections would be able to pitch complete games on a fairly routine basis, I expected to have only 9 or 10 pitchers on my roster. However, I ended up addressing many of my defensive and offensive platoon concerns with my position players in fewer draft spots than expected, so the pitching total inflated to 11.
I drafted my starting rotation very early compared to the rest of the managers, so I think it's a very loaded staff composed of greats from various eras in baseball. Conversely, all of the other managers selected at least one "closer" before I did (relievers were used a bit differently in eras before today's closer), so there's a solid chance that I missed out on the best relief arms in the draft. I have a few starters that will assume relief roles and should do so without much issue, and they may also fill in a rotation spot should one of my starting 5 suffer an injury. Overall, I think it's a good mix of righties and lefties, flamethrowers and finesse pitchers that could spearhead a championship run.

The All-Timers League: The Background

Pedro Martínez vs. Babe Ruth. Walter Johnson vs. Barry Bonds. Who will prevail?

It's taken a bit longer than expected to get this league going, but the inaugural draft for the All-Timers League (ATL) has reached its conclusion, so games are extremely close to starting. With this in mind, I want to make sure everyone actively participating in the ATL, as well as anyone who's interested in following the ATL, knows the entire background regarding the league's rules, settings, player creation, and anything else that doesn't fall under those categories. Here's the hopefully comprehensive FAQ:

How many teams are there? 6 teams composed of 25 players each. There's been some talk of doing this again next year with more willing participants.

Which players are eligible for the ATL? Any player who has played a substantial amount of seasons in the major leagues since 1901, the year the American League was formed. For example, Cy Young's career spanned from 1890-1911; his 11 seasons certainly are a substantial amount since 1901. 1901 is a good year to denote when our national pastime became what it is today because the vast majority of rules, major league setup, and dimensions match those used in 2010.
Unfortunately, this excludes the best of the 19th century, as well as Negro League greats. As much as I'd want to include the Negro Leaguers, I would have a great deal of difficulty predicting what kind of hitting, pitching, and fielding statistics these men would post as compared to their major league counterparts.

How are games being "played" in this league? I purchased Out of the Park Baseball, a fantastic program for carrying out many different simulations of seasons over whatever time period one wants. I entered each player's statistics into the game, and we'll all see how each player will produce as the season progresses. The games are simulated in a text-based format; it's not like a video game where the players are literally playing on the screen.

Which statistics did you use for hitters and pitchers? I used the players' career statistics, usually cutting off a year or two at the beginning and end of their careers to make them more in line with their better major league seasons, and averaged them out for an average season of production over their careers. For hitting stats, I had to conform them to what they would look like over 550 ABs. Unfortunately, fielding and baserunning were purely ratings based (0-250 scale), so I had to make some highly educated judgment calls based on a combination of statistics, awards won (e.g., Gold Gloves), well-studied accounts of their performances, and strategy of that era of the game (e.g., players stole bases frequently in the first 2 decades of the 1900s).
Pitching worked a little differently. Outside of the above-listed stats, others like stamina and holding runners on base were also entered utilizing highly educated judgment calls; certainly, "Deadball Era" pitchers who threw complete games every time out were near the maximum for stamina. I selected the types of pitches that each pitcher threw with tremendous help from The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers. ERA served as a way of ranking pitchers: I consulted 2 phenomenal sources (The Baseball Page and The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract) that gave thoroughly studied rankings of the pitchers, and I rearranged their positions slightly thanks to Baseball-Reference's ERA+, which shows how dominant the pitcher was compared to his league. The counting numbers are a bit imperfect; for instance, many great pitchers from the early part of the 20th century got their strikeout numbers raised considerably in order to bring their ERAs down and make their performances more in line with the modern game.
**Note well that this season is being played under conditions as they are today. Power numbers and playing strategy reflect how the game is being played now as opposed to, say, those in 1908, 1930, or 1968.

How long is the season going to be? In the game's time it will be 154 games, as it was in the bigs until 1961/2 (AL switched a year earlier than NL). In real life time I am not completely sure because it will depend on how busy I am with my life. I will make prompt updates after playing a series of 14 games.
The top two finishers in the league will square off in a best-of-seven series for the All-Timers Championship.

Can players get injured, and what happens if one does? Yes, players can get hurt in this game. Because I hope that as many of the best players can stay healthy throughout the season as possible, I leaned toward low injury proneness ratings for the vast majority of players. Should one get hurt, the team manager will choose from all the players not selected in the ATL draft. Once the injured player returns, the manager does not completely lose one of his players to free agency; the player who gets booted off the 25-man roster goes onto the team's Reserve Roster, where he's still under that team's control.

Will players get traded? I wasn't planning on anyone making in-season trades, and I would think that at least at this point, each manager is content with the players currently occupying his roster. Still, I will definitely not go as far as saying that trades are forbidden.

How unique is each manager's team? Each manager got to select not only his team city and nickname, but he also got to choose what ballpark (real but did not have to still exist) will house his team's home games. So due to potential differences in park dimensions/factors, each team's scoring outputs could be much different from one another.

What does the winning manager get? Outside of bragging rights, we never decided on a tangible prize. This could change.

Are you stoked to get thing thing going? You bet I am! It should be both educating and entertaining, and I'll do my best to entertain you all with what happens.

I'll have a team preview for each of the 6 teams coming extremely soon. Stay tuned!