Vol. III, Issue #2 - July 2015

** Bruce Foster Challenge - Skokie Wolfmen - League Play - Part 1 **

(So Bruce has helped me to build our team for this on-line league - I generally don't manage a small ball team
with great starting pitching but this the team I drafted and built to follow the Foster system.  I developed my own 
lineups verse the four types of starting pitched and as I developed what team strategies to use. So now its time
to see how such a team performed and could I do better than the league I played in last year in Barnstormers? )

WOLFMAN's COMMENTS on Team Strategy

Well the use of our pitchers was pretty simple.  Maddux was the best ace we had drafted so he would go first and start every four games thereafter. Then Bruce suggested to rotate our righty and lefty starters, which would help us so we didn't get caught by one of our opponents who was stronger (due to their home parks) verse one type of starter over another. So our second starter was Dutch Leonard (LHP), then we went with Pete Alexander as the third starter and J. Santana as our last starter in our rotation. I had some concerns with Santana, as he had some ball park homers on his card, but then he also had an ace starter's card with few hits and walks. Although we were required to have a fifth starting pitcher on our team (M. McCormick) he was never used in that capacity. We just allowed this four man rotation to pitch the entire season so Maddux and Leonard had 41 starters for our club and Alexander and Santana had 40, all of our starters pitching over 300 innings each.

Our team did have 89 complete games for the season, which in the modern age of baseball is unheard of of course but there were three other teams in our league who had more than this (up to 130). We did lead the league in pitching with shutouts (17), team whip 1.17 and the least hits given 1186 (out of 1,455 innings). So the key performance of our team was directly think to how well our four key starters did.

Another component of our strategy was to use platooning. Now when Bruce explained this to me, I understood we would be platooning at six postions C / 1B / 3B / CF / RF and DH - although Delahanty we alternated his position depending on whether we were facing a LH or RH pitcher.  The three key players who we used (unless injured) for as many games as possible were LaJoie at 2B; Wallace at SS and Delahanty at 3B/LF.  It was interesting during the season as LaJoie didn't get injured till the very last few games of the season. Phillips who was our backup everywhere player, was terrible defensively, and basically was only suppose to be used verse LH pitching at 3B or in LF.  Before I started this season I was a bit concerned as well as we had several players who had low Plate Appearances on their cards which means if injured, they could be out for many games. However, Bruce recommended taking these players because they had very good platooned cards against one type of pitcher and not so expensive.  42 Million of the 100 million we had was used to get our four ace pitchers.  Then our best three hitters (LaJoie / Delahanty / Torriente (Negro league)) cost another 27 Million so we only had 31 Million left for 17 more players thus we had to selected specialized hitters or players all used in platooned situations.

I took care of my lineups however I saw fit and for the reverse LH pitchers I faced I used Combs in CF and Torriente in RF, and for the reverse RH pitchers we saw I used Hershberger at C and Haprer in LF - but due to all the switch hitters we had including our squad including Ashby, Parker and Phillips, I would say our lineup was a bit weaker vs. reverse righties. However, since we had relatively good defense with superior starting pitching, this showed up in the results of our games as in 63 games we played during our season, we held our opponents to 2 runs or less. Again, in an all star league with such amazing and incredible hitters, to do this for 40% of our games is quite remarkable.

The other strategy Bruce told me to use was quite surprisingly, and that was to only steal with A stealers or higher and never to do any bunting or hit and run.  Apparently with such a high level of on-base on our players cards, the percentage to get on base was higher then bunting to play for one run or to give up an out to advance a runner.  So we shut down these strategies completely for the entire season.  Also, you are able to rate your pitchers with a value for when they are to be removed from the game as they become tired or weakened, as is done in the computer game. However, all of our starting pitchers were rated to become tired in the 8th or 9th inning, thus used the rating of "8"  which means in general that all of our starters would not be removed until the 8th inning or later and that we would not be using our relievers very much.

Now one of the things you must be prepared for when competing in this type of league play is the streaks, and our team was not impervious to such.   There was one point near the earlier part of the season where there was nothing I could do to break us out of the funk and getting us back on a winning track even sending emails to Bruce to determine if I was doing something wrong?? Bruce told me never-the-less, to hang on and trust, that he had seen such things before to him as well.  Anyway let's now review the stats of the Skokie Wolfmen and see how we did during league play and if we were able to make the playoffs.
 

Summary of the Wolfmen League Play:


We played one series each night of 3 games each.  For the entire season you play the teams in your division 24 times and the teams in the other divisions mostly 12 games (but one team in each division you played 9 games against).  So for the first 7 days or 21 games of the season we were pitted against the teams in our own division and went 14-7 and actually had the best record in the league at this stage.  But the Marchin' Nomads were a power team in our division and one to watch out for and we vied with them all year long.

The next 42 games or 14 days we faced the teams in the other two divisions.  While winning the first 3 games vs. the Schooners and going to 17-7, the next day we were swept by the Ewes at their home park with two of these games losing by more than 5 runs and only scoring a total of 5 runs our self in the 3 games in a hitter's park. This took us to 17-10 and was a big shock.  By the end of this next group of games which we finished vs. the Rippers on March 22nd, we were 31-32 meaning we had gone 17-25 (during the worst part of this stretch we were 1-9 being swept by the Ewes and the Wrong Stuff in their home parks).  As we were preparing to play the teams in our division (for which we were no longer in first) I wasn't sure if we would be able to do well at all.  As I mentioned, Bruce told me to stay the course.

Our hearts were uplifted as we swept the Lads to go to 34-32, we then took two out of three from the Normans, the Daisies and the Ewes in the Skokie Park and were back at 40-35.  Then we went 7-2 in our next 9 games at home with other divisional rivals to go to 47-37 which brought us back into 1st in our division at this time.  Then we swept the Stuff in their park (50-37) the Wolfpack took 2 out of 3 from us but we swept the Sophisticates to put us at a respectable 54-39.  So this second time going into division play we can out with a 16-5 record.  However, reality then set in when we went back to our own division as the Daises, one of the weakest teams in our league but with a slightly better pitching staff then ourselves swept us in their home park and we lost the first two of three to the Nomads in their park
(a 5 game losing streak) before beating the Nomads in the final game of this series taking us to 55-44.  We beat the Lads next 2 out of 3 in their park and came out of divisional play at 57-45 with a 3 game lead over the Nomads who wouldn't die.  BTW, the Norman's team had a ton of right handed hitting power hitters (H. Wilson 68 HRs, K. Mitchell 59 HRs, W. Mays 53 HRs, E. Banks 49 HRs - 324 HRs as a team with T. Keefe, ace starter 26-11 2.99 ERA).

For the next 24 games out of the next 27, we were back to our final play outside of our division (with 3 games vs. the Lads mixed in) and in the next six games we went 2-4 (a 4 game losing streaking) putting us at 59-49 with the Nomads only 2 games behind. Then we lost in Skokie's park, 2 out of 3 to the Ewes putting us at 60-51, with the Nomads only one game behind us. We were starting to get a bit worried.  However a sweep of the Rippers in the next evening of games put us back at 63-51. However, as continued this outer divisional play (plus the Lads swept us in their park on April 11th), we came out this period of play at 70-59, tied with the Nomads and our final 33 games of the season just verse the three teams in our division.  It would now go down completely to this divisional play to see who would win the division and if any of  the other teams in our division would make it to the playoffs as well.

This last part of our season went quite well as we swept the Lads at home and took two out of three from the Daisies to put us at 75-60.  The Nomads kept pace with us and were only one game behind however. Then we had a key series in the Nomads home and won game 1 convincingly 11-4 behind Santana but the Nomads came back to win the next two games and tied us again for the division lead at 76-62.  We lost the first two games to the Daisies in their home park and won the final game there to go to 77-64 but the Lads did the same with the Nomads so we were still tied.  Then we had a great miracle take place as we swept the Nomads and Daisies and won the 1st game of our series vs. the Lads for an 8 game winning streak which we thought would take us home to the division championship the rest of the way putting us at 84-64, the first time we reached 20 games over .500.  We split with the Lads in the first two games to go 85-65 and were 5 games ahead of the Nomads with 12 games to go.

Then, we visited the Nomads park, where they needed a sweep and they did exactly this to go to 2 games behind us. So with 9 games to go, at 85-68, we had just this 2 game lead. If we could have won just one of the games at the Nomads park in the previous series, we could have coasted in, but this isn't what was meant to be.  Meanwhile the Nomads were on an 8 game winning streak themselves and at the end of game 157 they were at 87-70 and Skokie was at 87-70 having just lost to the Nomads 8-0 in their home park in the 1st game of 3 games. But Skokie was determined to win this division and to ensure that we would get into the playoffs which we did by winning the next two games against the Nomads and sweepping the Daisies in their home park, to finish at 92-70 and 3 games ahead of the Nomads, who did qualify for the wild card team to go into the playoffs and face the 95 win Eves in round 1.

If you wish to view how each of our individual games played out not only for the score but the play-by-play and boxscores, go to the page shown below and click on the spying glass icon to do so - this is a nice feature the on-line game provides for us to relive all the games played during the current night and review at any time during the season:

http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/schedule/1395025

Ok then .... Lets see the stats from this season now .................

      

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LEAGUE: Great Salt Lake

 

Player Set: ATG 8 Skill Level: Advanced Draft type: Auto List Draft Salary Cap: $100,000,000 Managers may own multiple teams: no

DH Rule: yes   Waivers: yes FA Drop Penalty: 20% Postseason Format: 2 rounds: Best-of-7, Best-of-7 Opening Day: Monday, Mar. 2, 2015

East	Owner	W	L	PCT	GB	L10	Strk	HM	RD	vs.L	vs.R	RS	RA	Diff
Lambing Ewes *	Hola	95	67	.586	-	4-6	L2	55-26	40-41	25-27	70-40	1140	804	+336
The Ranch Sunset Ridin'	Frank Bailey	89	73	.549	6	6-4	W1	51-30	38-43	32-21	57-52	883	935	-52
Alaskan Wolfpack	Mjwhite	77	85	.475	18	5-5	L1	51-30	26-55	28-22	49-63	922	1038	-116
Eagle Mt. 2 Pomeranians	Lindonman	76	86	.469	19	5-5	W2	45-36	31-50	29-24	47-62	732	793	-61
Central	Owner	W	L	PCT	GB	L10	Strk	HM	RD	vs.L	vs.R	RS	RA	Diff
The Wrong Stuff *	The Last Druid	91	71	.562	-	4-6	L4	52-29	39-42	25-27	66-44	871	737	+134
Rockdale Rippers16	rkdrip	82	80	.506	9	6-4	W3	48-33	34-47	19-29	63-51	910	834	+76
Hicksville Sophisticates	ploughboy1526	77	85	.475	14	6-4	W1	38-43	39-42	29-29	48-56	745	762	-17
Plymouth Schooners XV	tweber01	64	98	.395	27	4-6	L1	36-45	28-53	23-40	41-58	823	1023	-200
West	Owner	W	L	PCT	GB	L10	Strk	HM	RD	vs.L	vs.R	RS	RA	Diff
Skokie Wolfmen *	rjoshua	92	70	.568	-	7-3	W5	50-31	42-39	36-22	56-48	673	617	+56
Marchin' Nomads *	nomadbrad	89	73	.549	3	7-3	L1	56-25	33-48	34-26	55-47	926	725	+201
Hillsdale Daisies	domer13	73	89	.451	19	2-8	L4	43-38	30-51	26-24	47-65	682	874	-192
Lemont Lads	MICHAELSKLOM	67	95	.414	25	4-6	W1	44-37	23-58	25-34	42-61	429	594	-165

SKOKIE: HEAD TO HEAD PLAY

	Overall							Home							Road
East	W	L	Pct.	RS	/g	RA	/g	W	L	Pct.	RS	/g	RA	/g	W	L	Pct.	RS	/g	RA	/g
The Ranch Sunset Ridin' (89-73)	7	5	.583	73	6.1	33	2.8	4	2	.667	37	6.2	11	1.8	3	3	.500	36	6.0	22	3.7
Lambing Ewes (95-67)	3	9	.250	36	3.0	74	6.2	3	3	.500	26	4.3	34	5.7	0	6	.000	10	1.7	40	6.7
Eagle Mt. 2 Pomeranians (76-86)	4	5	.444	26	2.9	36	4.0	3	3	.500	15	2.5	23	3.8	1	2	.333	11	3.7	13	4.3
Alaskan Wolfpack (77-85)	5	7	.417	62	5.2	60	5.0	3	3	.500	17	2.8	27	4.5	2	4	.333	45	7.5	33	5.5
Central	W	L	Pct.	RS	/g	RA	/g	W	L	Pct.	RS	/g	RA	/g	W	L	Pct.	RS	/g	RA	/g
Rockdale Rippers16 (82-80)	7	5	.583	58	4.8	47	3.9	2	4	.333	18	3.0	18	3.0	5	1	.833	40	6.7	29	4.8
The Wrong Stuff (91-71)	7	5	.583	39	3.3	40	3.3	4	2	.667	16	2.7	14	2.3	3	3	.500	23	3.8	26	4.3
Plymouth Schooners XV (64-98)	8	1	.889	60	6.7	37	4.1	3	0	1.000	17	5.7	10	3.3	5	1	.833	43	7.2	27	4.5
Hicksville Sophisticates (77-85)	7	5	.583	44	3.7	45	3.8	2	4	.333	15	2.5	27	4.5	5	1	.833	29	4.8	18	3.0
West	W	L	Pct.	RS	/g	RA	/g	W	L	Pct.	RS	/g	RA	/g	W	L	Pct.	RS	/g	RA	/g
Lemont Lads (67-95)	16	8	.667	70	2.9	45	1.9	9	3	.750	33	2.8	24	2.0	7	5	.583	37	3.1	21	1.8
Marchin' Nomads (89-73)	13	11	.542	101	4.2	113	4.7	9	3	.750	46	3.8	51	4.3	4	8	.333	55	4.6	62	5.2
Hillsdale Daisies (73-89)	15	9	.625	104	4.3	87	3.6	8	4	.667	44	3.7	34	2.8	7	5	.583	60	5.0	53	4.4

Season Summary:  As you can observe above, the Wolfmen won the Western Division by 3 games and also had the second best record in the league which gave us the home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs vs. the Wrong Stuff who we were 4-2 at home and 3-3 on the road against.  The Lambing Ewes had the best record of our league at 95-67 for which they led in team victories for most of the season as they averaged between 6-7 runs per game with an unbelievable 374 homeruns and 1140 runs scored during the year.  Also we were only 3-9 vs. the Ewes, and couldn't beat them in their home park. We had trouble with the teams in the East for some reason as only the Ridin' did we beat more than they beat us.  We knew that the road to winning this league would have to be through Lambing. If you are curious to view the rosters or stats of any of the teams in our league, the link to their league page is given as a text link with the team names.
 

 SKOKIE WOLFMAN: SEASON TEAM STATS

Owner: rjoshua Manager: Wolfman Shapiro Record: 92-70 Home ballpark: Petco Park '05

Initial Salary Cap: $100,000,000 Total current value: $100,000,000 Roster value: $99,820,000 Cash available: $180,000

 

Pitchers (9)     min. 9, max. 12   (total min. 24, max. 28)
Name	T	End.	W	L	S	BS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	Hold	BkR	WpR	Bat	ERA	WHIP	BAL	Salary
Maddux, Greg (1995)	R	S8*	15	21	0	0	319.0	277	154	135	87	252	51	+1	0	0	2WR	3.81	1.14	1L	11.30M
Alexander, Pete (1915)	R	S8*	25	11	0	0	339.2	280	115	102	86	262	32	+1	0	1	2NR	2.70	1.08	E	10.99M
Leonard, Dutch B. (1914)	L	S8*	19	19	0	0	347.2	258	146	138	146	292	43	-2	0	2	2WL	3.57	1.16	E	10.81M
Santana, Johan (2004)	L	S7*	21	13	0	0	308.1	239	130	121	105	335	48	-4	0	7	3WL	3.53	1.12	1R	9.14M
McCormick, Mike (1962)	L	S5/R3	4	3	1	0	27.1	32	17	17	16	2	6	-2	0	10	6NL	5.60	1.76	E	.50M
Linzy, Frank (1972)	R	R3	1	2	4	0	25.1	24	15	15	8	9	6	0	0	2	1WR	5.34	1.27	9R	.99M
Clear, Mark (1979)	R	R3	1	0	8	3	26.1	19	9	9	21	24	4	+9	3	18	1WR	3.08	1.52	7R	.98M
Klink, Joe (1990)	L	R1	5	1	5	3	45.1	36	19	16	35	7	5	-1	9	17	1WL	3.18	1.57	5R	.98M
Shirley, Bob (1986)	L	R4	1	0	3	0	16.1	21	12	12	13	15	3	-6	0	2	1WR	6.62	2.08	8L	.85M
TOTALS			92	70	21	6	1,455.1	1186	617	565	517	1198	198					3.49	1.17

 

Hitters (15)     min. 13, max. 17   (total min. 24, max. 28)
Name	B	P	Def.	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	E	Stl	Run	BA	OBP	SLG	Inj	BAL	Salary
Ashby, Alan (1987)	S	C	3(+1)e1	386	37	84	11	4	12	47	37	79	0	0	4	E	1-9	.218	.282	.360	2	5R	3.41M
Hershberger, Willard (1940)	R	C	3 (-1)e8	269	17	70	4	5	0	22	14	35	0	0	6	E	1-9	.260	.301	.312	6	1L	1.22M
Parker, Wes (1965)	S	1B	1e5	424	51	92	19	7	4	37	47	80	0	0	4	B	1-17	.217	.295	.323	1	2R	1.86M
Phillips, Tony (1988)	S	1B	4e26	261	32	43	6	5	1	28	53	74	0	0	9	E	1-16	.165	.306	.238	1	7L	.94M
Burns, George H. (1929)	R	1B	4e9	178	11	33	12	0	5	20	8	43	0	0	4	D	1-11	.185	.225	.337	3	3L	.50M
Lajoie, Nap (1901)  I	R	2B	1e17	691	99	240	54	18	8	73	34	113	16	14	15	A	1-17	.347	.379	.512	1	1L	10.64M
Wallace, Bobby (1902)	R	SS	1e21	519	47	97	20	7	1	44	43	79	10	3	19	A	1-14	.187	.254	.258	1	1L	2.95M
Delahanty, Ed (1894)	R	LF	2 (-2)e11	571	63	183	28	24	0	92	70	86	6	6	19	B	1-14	.321	.397	.454	1	2L	8.31M
Brown, Gates (1968)	L	LF	4(+4)e4	338	48	107	19	7	17	77	28	38	0	0	1	E	1-14	.317	.362	.565	1	9R	5.07M
Harper, Terry (1982)	R	LF	2(0)e5	345	38	89	12	0	4	35	32	78	0	0	0	B	1-15	.258	.318	.328	1	7L	2.06M
Gainey, Ty (1986)	L	LF	2(+2)e16	252	30	64	9	5	4	26	29	89	0	0	6	C	1-15	.254	.326	.377	1	5R	1.97M
Cardenal, Jose (1980)	R	LF	4(+2)e10	206	20	62	6	0	0	26	24	37	0	0	0	E	1-12	.301	.363	.330	2	9L	.58M
Torriente, Cristobal (NeL)	L	CF	1 (-4)e7	469	73	123	26	6	5	53	63	82	11	5	5	A	1-15	.262	.354	.375	1	5R	7.98M
Combs, Earle (1927)	L	CF	1(+3)e10	507	80	141	17	16	6	52	37	60	0	0	11	B	1-16	.278	.329	.410	1	3R	4.70M
Kreevich, Mike (1941)	R	CF	2(0)e3	187	27	52	14	2	0	8	16	25	4	1	1	A	1-16	.278	.333	.374	1	6L	1.09M
TOTALS				5603	673	1480	257	106	67	640	535	998	47	29	113			.264	.329	.384

Comments about the Wolfmen's Season:

As one surveys the final results of the 2015 Wolfmen, you see our hitters were not stellar - as their stats would be comparable to perhaps a small ball team of the modern era although we did have 106 triples. Our ability to score runs was a combination of getting men on base by any means and have one or more of our hitters drive in a few runs for the game and allow great starting pitching and defense to preserve the win. 

Our best average hitter was Nap LaJoie who was never injured until the very end of the season hitting .347 (2nd in the league in hitting to Ruth of the Ewes at .372) with 54 doubles (tied for the league lead) and 18 triples and a .379 OB.  Delahanty was our next consistant hitter with 92 RBIs 24 Triples (3rd in the league), and 70 walks at a .321 average but hurt our team a bit with being injured several times.  Brown and Cardenal served as our DH vs Righty and Lefty and combined for over a .300 avg with 17 HRs and 103 RBIs  - Brown was a clutch hitter who won many games for us late in the games.  Torriente had trouble with his average early but came back at the end for us. Wallace was stellar at shortstop but also had several times he was injured. Combs and Kreevich manned CF for us quite well scoring combined 107 runs with 18 triples.  Our team only average 4.12 runs per game but we only allowed 3. 83 per game. So many games we played were decided by one or two runs for victory (14-16 in one run games and 17-13 in 2 run games or 60 of our games decided by two runs of less).  With our team, it could be a different positional player who was the hero of each game beyond the quality of the start done by our top starters.

On the pitching side, this can be the only explanation why the Wolfmen won their division with 4 very powerful ace starting pitchers. While we were expecting Maddux to do better than he did as he struggled to win 15 games; although he did pitch better at the end of the season. He gave up a tremendous amount of home runs (for a player who doesn't have any on his card) and probably due to the fact he always faced the ace starters from all the other teams in our league is probably why he didn't do as well as expected.  All of our starters, for an All-Star league filled with the greatest hitters of all time, had ERAs under 4.0 with Alexander at 2.70 (best ERA for a starter in the league) and 25 wins (3rd in the league). Santana surprised us with 21 wins coming on strong at the end of the year, no doubt facing very few super starters in the 4th starting position of the other team's rotation.  We did get some help from our relievers who went 12-6 with 21 saves collectively and at times those saves were miracles but for the most part we succeeded on the strength of our starters and how deep into the game they went.  We ended up with a fine 3.49 ERA with a 1.17 WHIP for the season. There was one team in our division, the Daisies who had a slightly lower ERA than us and gave up a few less runs but they didn't have much hitting so they never seriously contended.  Finally here are the combined team stats to see where Skokie fell in compared to the other league teams.

Great Salt Lake League -- Team Hitting

Team	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
TOTALS	67273	9736	17709	2873	878	2310	9301	7104	12761	932	432	.263	.336	.435	.771
Lambing Ewes	5722	1140	1588	263	59	374	1104	699	1172	61	29	.278	.359	.540	.899
Marchin' Nomads	5574	926	1450	205	58	328	909	698	1064	15	7	.260	.344	.494	.839
Alaskan Wolfpack	5706	922	1560	255	68	304	883	588	1172	58	21	.273	.343	.502	.844
Rockdale Rippers16	5707	910	1623	266	85	204	868	571	1023	26	15	.284	.350	.468	.818
The Ranch Sunset Ridin'	5738	883	1678	311	135	43	821	617	928	151	56	.292	.362	.416	.778
The Wrong Stuff	5707	871	1571	220	54	265	845	562	972	59	23	.275	.343	.472	.815
Plymouth Schooners XV	5801	823	1722	293	76	155	788	509	953	69	43	.297	.355	.454	.809
Hicksville Sophisticates	5620	745	1532	301	103	69	699	486	1015	106	64	.273	.340	.400	.740
Eagle Mt. 2 Pomeranians	5302	732	1166	132	35	196	691	930	1283	47	29	.220	.338	.369	.707
Hillsdale Daisies	5430	682	1187	193	58	242	659	529	1094	45	23	.219	.290	.409	.699
Skokie Wolfmen	5603	673	1480	257	106	67	640	535	998	47	29	.264	.329	.384	.712
Lemont Lads	5363	429	1152	177	41	63	394	380	1087	248	93	.215	.269	.298	.567

 Great Salt Lake League -- Team Pitching

Team	W	L	S	BS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	CG	SHO	ERA	WHIP
TOTALS	972	972	322	132	17,391.0	17709	9736	8910	7104	12761	766	87	4.61	1.43
Lemont Lads	67	95	23	3	1,461.1	1230	594	557	487	938	103	11	3.43	1.18
Skokie Wolfmen	92	70	21	6	1,455.1	1186	617	565	517	1198	89	17	3.49	1.17
Marchin' Nomads	89	73	14	13	1,458.1	1564	725	663	536	1060	77	11	4.09	1.44
The Wrong Stuff	91	71	38	17	1,446.2	1408	737	672	638	1198	41	6	4.18	1.41
Hicksville Sophisticates	77	85	5	4	1,448.0	1425	762	698	514	928	130	12	4.34	1.34
Lambing Ewes	95	67	14	5	1,457.0	1350	804	725	738	1478	99	6	4.48	1.43
Eagle Mt. 2 Pomeranians	76	86	2	0	1,441.2	1373	793	724	461	1019	116	10	4.52	1.27
Rockdale Rippers16	82	80	50	17	1,445.2	1601	834	750	631	698	16	1	4.67	1.54
Hillsdale Daisies	73	89	41	14	1,452.1	1575	874	808	599	866	30	7	5.01	1.50
The Ranch Sunset Ridin'	89	73	49	19	1,451.0	1561	935	833	674	1215	32	3	5.17	1.54
Plymouth Schooners XV	64	98	35	18	1,435.2	1761	1023	956	611	1070	4	0	5.99	1.65
Alaskan Wolfpack	77	85	30	16	1,438.1	1675	1038	959	698	1093	29	3	6.00	1.65

 

Final Comments from the Wolfman, on heading to the playoffs:


Well dear readers ...  we now come to the end of Part 1 of this article. When the season started and I was asked to manage a totally different team than I was use to, I wasn't sure if this plan that Bruce had was going to work out.  I mean we didn't have any power hitters and it wasn't suggested to do a lot of stealing plus we really had no "lights out" relief pitcher and closer.  So could a team with four powerful starting aces survive averaging only 4 runs a game in a league with all these incredible players. But the only way you can find out is to try it out and we did improve our record against the first team I managed in 2014 and we did make it to the playoffs.

Now as we were heading to the first round, I wondered if our strong starters would be able to come through again as the other three remaining teams in the playoffs had collectively averaged over 300 HRs in their season and averaged over 5 up to 7 runs a game.  I don't think anyone thought this team comprised of many fringe but specialized players could do it. I doubt we would be driving fear into the hearts of our opponents. But Bruce Foster had used this very system and not only won quite a few league championships but time in and again, making it into the playoffs. So it was my time to see if his strategies were still going to work.  If you continue on to Part 2 of this article, it will share our experiences during the Semi-Finals and boy was I shocked reading to read on-line (while I was in Australia) what was happening in that series ... read on ...
 

Click Here to Read Part 2 of the Bruce Foster Challenge

enjoy dear readers .....

The Skokie Wolfman 

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Contained inside this exiting issue of Ultimate Strat Baseball Newsletter:
(to view the various interviews, articles, columns and special sections click on the links {underlined}
and this will take you to the appropriate webpage)

♦  RETURN TO NEWSLETTER MAIN PAGE

♦  INTERVIEW with DICK BREMER, Play by Play announcer for the Minnesota Twins for over 30 years tells us about his interest and playing days with SOM Baseball.

♦  VIDEO INTERVIEW with HAL RICHMAN, The creator of Strat-o-matic Baseball, speaks to our "Johnny on the Spot" earlier this year during "Opening Day" as we finally we are granted permission to share this unique and special interview with our members.  This is one of several interesting videos that we have on our Youtube Channel, click on the Bright Blue Link above or the Youtube Link below to view this interview (18+ minutes):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rN06fLgM_U

♦  REPORT with TOM NAHIGIAN (1961 cards), Personal friend of the Wolfman, known in Guzzo's book as "The Collector", returns and we take a peak at some of the early strat cards printed.

♦  COLUMN: "STRAT THOUGHTS" with BRUCE BUNDY, BB as we affectionately call him returns with another special column sharing strategies to win with your draft Strat Team.

♦  REPORT: FUNNY & AMAZING STRAT/MLB STORIES (various - new column), Various friends linked with SOM Baseball sharing some of their most funny and amazing stories linked to the game or Major League Baseball, start of a new column.

♦  REPORT: GREATEST GAMES EVER PLAYED (various - new column, replays), Two members of the Strat-o-matic.net forum, share with us the greatest baseball games they have ever played during a replay season start of a new column.

♦  COLUMN: "COMMISSIONER's CORNER" with MARC WASSERMAN -- The return of the "Commish" with another insightful article for his column as he focuses upon how to build a team that will compete for your league's championship.

♦  RECOMMEND ON-LINE SOM & MLB RESOURCES -- On-line Strat-o-matic and Baseball related websites that offer amazing information, special tools and products to improve your game play that we strongly recommend. In most cases, we have had personal contact with these sources who agree with the principle to work together and help promote each other.

♦  BOOKS TO DIE FOR and Become a BASEBALL GURU -- This page is specifically about special books we are finding that either will expand your insights about the game of Baseball, help you in the creation of your current league teams or with your replays and learn more about the Strat-o-matic Baseball Game and Game Company's history.  We have a special arrangement with Acta Sports, who is a publisher of a number of great baseball books (including Bill James Handbooks) to offer for our members a 10% discount. We will continue to add more books to this page in the future as we uncover other gems our members should know about.

 

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