Note: if you haven't read any of the previous posts setting out the background, rules, and team rosters in the All-Timers League, click here and start from the bottom post if you want the full details. Click here for the ATL Message Board, which provides constant updates on the standings, along with the daily games being finished and any injuries or roster changes that occur.
I had a great deal of fun carrying out this session of the ATL regular season, which consisted of games 14 through 28 for all of the teams. A great deal of highly impressive feats occurred during this period, and some of these will likely not occur again during this season. Let me present them to you in fancy bullet points:
- Three players, Ryne Sandberg of the Jigger Bushes and Stan Musial & Joe DiMaggio of the Funkstown Funk, had five-hit games. Sandberg & DiMaggio each hit a homer as one of the five.
- The Jigger Bushes & Newark Legion combined for seven home runs in an 11-8 slugfest.
- Had this game taken place in the National League, the Cumberland Sedohcs & Providence Reds would have the set a new NL record for runs in the 2nd inning with 15 (Sedohcs 8, Reds 7). The Reds shockingly came back from being down 8-0 to win that game 9-8.
- Five pitchers tossed shutouts during this time period. Warren Spahn, Walter Johnson, Lefty Grove, & Robin Roberts all had phenomenal outings, but they paled in comparison...
- ...to Nolan Ryan's NO-HITTER for Funkstown against Jigger. In true Ryan Express fashion, he struck out 10 Bushes batters, while issuing 5 walks. I can't believe all those great hitters would let something like that happen to them.
Stan Musial of the Funkstown Funk. Batting Line: .424/.518/.620, 3 HR, 14 RBI. The Man is doing all he can to carry a weak Funk offense, from a 5 for 5 game that included the walk-off hit, to providing clutch run-scoring hits that led to multiple victories during this time period. He's hitting lefties as well as his righties. He's even "slumped" a bit in the latest week with a .278 AVG & .825 OPS. You will see in the Stat Zone section below the dominance he's asserted over the entire ATL.Musial may be the quietest superstar Major League Baseball has seen. Like the majority of the ATL's managers, he was born in Western Pennsylvania. He posted a career average of .331, had 3,630 career hits, 475 HR, & a career OPS+ of 159 (15th best all-time), all of which are ridiculously great numbers. Once he finished his lengthy Cardinal career, he became President Lyndon Johnson's physical fitness advisor, helping to improve the fitness of America's youth. He's married with four children. At Hall of Fame induction ceremonies & other events, he's known for playing tunes on his harmonica. Anything controversial about him arise out of any of those facts? I couldn't find anything either; he really is a true athlete/role model. Stan is approaching his 90th birthday, and here's to still many more.
The Standings:
1. Providence Reds 22-6: Honestly, I solemnly swear that I'm not fixing this to give me this kind of outcome. Overall dominant hitting led the way, followed by some extremely effective pitching, especially out of the bullpen. Having an team OPS north of .800 is quite the team accomplishment. The only regular truly struggling is Manny Ramírez, and he already has 6 HR & 20 RBI. Roberto Clemente did an admirable job as the main replacement for the injured (and now just returned) Mel Ott. My rotation and bullpen have both collectively done well so far; with a bit of a surprisingly high BABIP (batting average on balls in play) of .310, I think this a very hopeful sign moving forward that the pitching can sustain its high level of performance.
Best hitter: Albert Pujols (.339/.424./.652, 8 HR, 33 RBI). Although his strikeout number is unusually above his normal level, Phat Albert is exhibiting the same dominance we've all grown familiar with over the past decade. After a bit of a slow start, basically all of his at bats resemble the ones you will traditionally see out of him as a St. Louis Cardinal. Honorable mention to Yogi Berra, Jackie Robinson, & Honus Wagner.Best pitcher: Bruce Sutter (2-0, 0.47 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, 16 K in 19 1/3 IP). I surprise even myself by picking my best pitcher to be the late-inning shutdown man. Even still, he's been a near given to give the Reds at least one shutout inning, and his WHIP indicates that he's not putting many baserunners on in the process. Being able to consistently hold onto leads when starters run out of gas, as well as having a fabulous beard, is crucial to winning a few more of the closely-decided games. Honorable mention to Walter Johnson & Dan Quisenberry.
2. Worcester Ruby Legs 17-11: They've slipped slightly in the last few games at the end, but the Ruby Legs are still managing to get it done in a little bit of the "smoke & mirrors" fashion. Despite low power & average numbers, Phil's bunch is scoring many of their runs by way of doubles, triples, & stolen bases. With old-timers Cobb & Jackson mostly carrying this offense so far, the team could transform into a formidable offense once Joe Morgan & Barry Larkin get out of their funks (no pun intended), and Frank Robinson decides that perhaps a .147/.257/.189 line doesn't quite work for an everyday cleanup hitter. For the most part, the pitching has been superb. Four of the five Ruby Leg starters boast ERAs below 3.50 (the league average is exactly 4.00); CC Sabathia has struggled mightily in his past few outings. As long as the starters can keep getting at least seven innings, the starter-turned-reliever combo of Santana & Smoltz has shut down teams late in games with plenty of success. If the offense can get going, perhaps the team won't have to rely on their tenuous pitching stats to carry them to more wins.
Best hitter: Ty Cobb (.370/.412/.520, 1 HR, 20 RBI). Tyrus Raymond's stats so far are very intriguing to me. He's been able to show thus far how well his century-old style of play can translate to modern conditions batting against more strikeout-oriented pitchers (check out his batting stance). He's stealing bases well, and he's hitting for his legendary high average and solid power (more in the form of doubles & triples) that's made him a great fit for the 3 spot in the Ruby Legs order. Honorable mention to Shoeless Joe Jackson.
Best pitcher: Mordecai Brown (2-0, 1.35 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 17 K in 46 2/3 IP). Although Jim Bunning has mostly better peripheral numbers (e.g. BABIP, WHIP, FIP), He of the Three Fingers will get the nod for now due to his miniscule ERA and two extra starts. Brown is yet to give up more than two earned runs in a start, two of which he didn't allow a single run, and has been essentially the ideal model of consistency on the best staff in the ATL so far. Honorable mention to Lefty Grove (who fired a shutout on the Reds during this period) and Jim Bunning.
3 (tied). Jigger Bushes 13-15: Ah, the power of instant offense via the longball. Seth's team ranks at or near the bottom in all of the rate-based hitting statistics, but his larger number of home runs buoy his total runs up to a tie for third place. It's amazing that they're even at 13-15 with big stars like Pudge Rodríguez, Mike Schmidt, & Carl Yastrzemski hitting well below the Mendoza Line. Although his bat has nearly warmed up to its full potential, Babe Ruth is still hitting at an un-Ruthian .784 OPS. Christy Mathewson has single-handedly brought the Bushes' ERA from an unreasonably high number to 3rd in the ATL; Koufax, Marichal, Palmer, & Hubbell are all pitching at unsatisfactory paces so far. The back of the Jigger bullpen has been extremely good. Henke, Gossage, & Fingers are all doing great work, with the Sandman being able to shut the door all but one time.
Best hitter: Alex Rodriguez (.267/.356/.515, 7 HR, 19 RBI). This one was very close, though it was not because multiple players were completely dominating the competition. As someone with a general distaste for batters with high strikeout totals, it was a bit difficult selecting the man with the second most in the ATL, behind Manny. However, A-Rod has done well at putting runs on the board quickly, as well as playing a solid shortstop (most double plays turned, 3rd highest Range Factor, though he has the most errors at SS). Honorable mention to Jimmie Foxx.
Best pitcher: Christy Mathewson (6-0, 1.80 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 25 K in 50 IP). Say what you want about the value of pitcher wins (I'll probably agree), but Matty has been extremely dominant so far even when not considering record. He has just 5 walks in those 50 innings, and none of his peripheral stats seem to indicate that he's lucky to be situated with a sub-2 ERA. If he's trying to bring back the Dead-ball era to games played in a modern environment, he's doing a darn good job. Honorable mention to Goose Gossage.
3 (tied). Newark Legion 13-15: The Legion have very nice, balanced lineup that's done the most to lead the team to this point. Speed, power, and the ability to get on base are all noticeable in this lineup. Even still, with regulars like Jeter & Eddie Collins hitting well below their career averages, there may be room to improve this already stellar unit. On the mound, the Legion staff has been a bit of a mess. "Ol' Pete" Alexander, the subject of one of the worst sports movies I've ever seen (look at who plays him!), missed some starts with an injury; although Don Drysdale dominated in his two spot starts, stars like Spahn & Carlton have yet to find much consistency in the ATL thus far. Hoyt Wilhelm & Jeff Reardon have been disastrous out of the 'pen so far, and this team needs them to step up and hold leads that this excellent offense will create.
Best hitter: Lou Gehrig (.339/.383/.620, 7 HR, 24 RBI). He continues his fantastic start. His latest big feat is a home run of Ruby Legs closer John Smoltz in the 9th that turned a 5-4 deficit into a 6-5 lead & 7-5 win. Not only is he hitting the cover off of the ball, but defensive metrics like Range Factor & Zone Rating show that he has also been an above-average first baseman in the ATL. Honorable mention to the Legion outfield: Tris Speaker, Willie Mays, & Henry Aaron. Try pitching around Gehrig with Mays & Aaron ready to strike right behind him.
Best pitcher: Ed Walsh (3-3, 3.48 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 19 K in 44 IP). As the not-so-great statistics indicate, Big Ed earns this honor by being the workhorse on the staff. Although he had one poor start in this period, he has generally been an automatic old school, 8-inning, low runs scored guy who has received little support in his last 3 starts (3, 2, 0, respectively). Honorable mention to Don Drysdale & Don Sutton. Warren Spahn's 4-hit shutout of Cumberland was the ATL's best pitching performance according to Game Score until Ryan's no-hitter.
5. Funkstown Funk 11-17: Having a more pitcher-friendly home park in Hagerstown Municipal is certainly no excuse for this team to be struggling as it has in producing power numbers. Only Musial & Ted Williams have three HR. Their ability to be in the middle of the pack in most other hitting stats shows that they're neither providing big multi-base hits nor are they stringing together singles into runs. Starters like Maddux & Blyleven are off to slow starts. GM Barlow's expanding the pitching staff from 9 to 10 proved to be a wise move, as his newer relievers, Roy Face & Robb Nen, have provided effective relief work.
Best hitter: Stan Musial. If you didn't already read my bit about him in the MVP portion of this update, I'm not going to repeat it; to quote my Estates & Trusts professor, "Too bad so sad." Honorable mention to Ted Williams & Wade Boggs.
Best pitcher: Phil Niekro (3-1, 2.81 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 32 K in 41 2/3 IP). "Knucksie" has been working hitters over with that historically devastating knuckleball. Right-handed hitters are managing just a .193 AVG & a .569 OPS against him. His best performance came just in this last game, where he threw the complete game, surrendering 1 run, 8 hits, & 2 walks, and struck out 8. What a great performance so far by a Hall of Famer that pitched in the majors until he was 48 years old. Honorable mention to Nolan Ryan.
6. Cumberland Sedohcs 8-20: I thought they were going to start climbing up the standings a little bit after they swept the Funk, but five straight losses quickly silenced that thought. They've had some impressive victories, including a 5-run outburst in the 10th inning to win one. Unfortunately, their ridiculous losses are just as plentiful: losing after being ahead 8-0 in the 2nd inning and losing by way of a run-scoring error followed by a walk-off walk are two prime examples. As seen below, the Sedohcs really need to get their rough pitching on track if they even want to get out of the basement; having only one starter above league average in ERA just will not cut it.
Best hitter: Rogers Hornsby (.324/.397/.454, 3 HR, 12 RBI). Of the major hitting stars on this team, Hornsby is certainly shining the brightest so far. He provided a crucial RBI double in one of their wins, and his hitting has been present in nearly all of the team's 8 wins so far. If teammates hitting in front of him in the order, most notably Ken Griffey, Jr., can get on base with more frequency, I'd expect that seemingly low RBI total to start jumping in a hurry for him out of the 3 spot. Perhaps his harsh personality toward teammates is taking its toll on the other superstars. Honorable mention to Mike Piazza.
Best pitcher: Pedro Martínez (2-3, 2.87 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 33 K in 37 2/3 IP). I wondered how much Pedro would succeed in the ATL; his statistics are up there with the all-time greats, including the second-highest adjusted ERA+ of all time (minimum 1000 IP. Rivera is #1.). So far he's passed his early tests with flying colors, despite not getting a high amount of support at the plate from his teammates. I certainly would not be surprised to see Pedro maintain these numbers going forward. Honorable mention to Don Newcombe, a starter doing all of his work in the 'pen.
Big Bombs (longest HR)
There were a bunch of balls crushed out of the park during this segment, so I'll make this a top five instead.
#5 Mike Schmidt, JIG 438 ft.
#4 Manny Ramírez, PRO 443 ft.
#3 Lou Gehrig, NWK 446 ft.
#2 Ramírez 453 ft.
#1 Ernie Banks, CMB 455 ft.
Stat Zone (category leaders)
AVG: Yogi Berra, PRO .446
OBP: Stan Musial, FUN .518
SLG: Albert Pujols, PRO .652
OPS: Musial 1.137
H: Honus Wagner, PRO 47
R: Wagner 29
HR: Pujols 8
RBI: Pujols 33
SB: Wagner; Eddie Collins, NWK 11
wOBA (advanced statistic, click on it to see what it calculates): Musial .491
VORP (hitting value over replacement player): Musial 21.9
ERA: Mordecai Brown, WOR 1.35
W: Christy Mathewson, JIG 6 (no one else has more than 3)
L: Carl Hubbell, JIG; CC Sabathia, WOR; Lee Smith, CMB; Warren Spahn, NWK 4
SV: Bruce Sutter, PRO 9
IP: Mathewson 50
K: Bob Feller, PRO; Tom Seaver, FUN 44
WHIP: Jim Bunning, WOR 0.92
K/BB: Mathewson 5.00
FIP (advanced statistic, click on it to see what it calculates): Mathewson 2.68
VORP (pitching value over replacement player): Brown 18.4
Some last notes:
The stupid game still insists on batting the pitcher in the 9th inning when the team is down to its last out and position players are still available to enter the game. What are you saving those extra players for? If it weren't running the entire league, I'd fire this game as manager.
I might start trying to post full stat sheets of the league leaders in various categories onto the message board, so that you can see how the leaders come, go, or stay during days of play. If you want to see these, as well as all the box scores, you have to have an account on the ATL message board.
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