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The 2008 Prophecy League was my attempt to see how
close these teams come to the regular
season statistics of MLB games which which
completed October 29th with the Philadelphia Phillies
winning it all! This started while the real players
stretched their ligaments in the Grapefruit and Cactus
 Leagues.
These cyber-players simulated seasons on rosters
from opening day 2008. Unfortunately, there were many
roster movements and changes that had an impact on the
intent. However, I have included some interesting
insight as to why some of the division outcomes seemed
correct while other division simulations were anomalies.
Season statistics are noted below as after cranking
EIGHT simulations:
-
In the
AL East,
New York has been fairly consistent winners
averaging nearly 100 wins which I believe is
attributed to their dynamic offense plain and simple.
As it turned out in reality, their pitching was
their Achilles Heal.
The Red Sox seemed to have been more vulnerable than I
expected but persevered because of bench depth and
leadership. Toronto, which was buzzing around each
simulation, did make a short run at the end for a
wild card birth during the actual 2008 season.
Unfortunately, these simulations have had no respect
for the Tampa bay Rays who on July
6th, 2008 were in first and eventually had the 2nd best record in baseball!
This simulation missed the mark because it failed to
churn out an improved Tampa Bay team. It was correct
in identifying the Red Sox as Wild Card winners but
over-rated the Yankees who were a disappointing 3rd
and did not make the playoffs in their last year at
The Stadium.
|
TEAM |
DIVISIONS |
WILDCARDS |
|
New York |
8 |
1 |
|
Boston |
0 |
5 |
|
Toronto |
1 |
2 |
-
The re-vamped paper Tigers won 6 divisions and a WC
during the simulation process. As revealed in the
actual 2008 campaign, the Tigers were one of the
most disappointing teams in baseball finishing dead
last in the division! Key acquisitions failed to
live up to expectations including Dontrelle Willis
who spent most of the season in the minor leagues. The Tribe
(with Sabathia and Byrd) and the Twins each claimed the
other crown in the
AL Central...interestingly,
in one season, the Twins won 97 games with Liriano
being un-hittable. During 2008, it was the Twins and
the ChiSox who fought a heated battle to the last
weekend of the season. Chicago prevailed but
lost to the eventual AL Champions Rays 3 games to 1.
|
TEAM |
DIVISIONS |
WILDCARDS |
|
DETROIT |
6 |
1 |
|
MINNESOTA |
1 |
1 |
|
CLEVELAND |
2 |
0 |
-
The surprising A's won the
AL West
(with pitching)
over the Angels and Mariners after the first 2
simulations with identical 86-76 records. The
Rangers won a crown and the Angels won 5 in the next
6 seasons. Los Angeles which had been struggling offensively
along with the Mariners eventually "righted the
ship" in simulation and in real season play winning
the Division crown.
|
TEAM |
DIVISIONS |
WILDCARDS |
|
Oakland |
2 |
0 |
|
Texas |
2 |
0 |
|
Los Angeles |
5 |
0 |
-
 The
Mets won the
NL East
in decisive fashion during the first 2 simulations averaging nearly 100 wins. The Phillies
have claimed 3 WC births and in
simulations 3 and 4, division crowns. Atlanta
(1crown) has
been hanging around in several of the tries and hopes
to remain competitive with an experienced staff in
2008.
|
TEAM |
DIVISIONS |
WILDCARDS |
|
Philadelphia |
3 |
3 |
|
New York |
4 |
0 |
|
Atlanta |
2 |
0 |
-
True to life, the
NL Central
will be wide open and the simulations also reflected
this trend.
Milwaukee took the Central 3 times winning 94 games
in one simulation. The surprising Reds claimed a
crown as well as St. Louis. The Cubs have lost an average
of 88 games which I do not believe will be true to
life....if there is a negative indicator, it would
be their pitching after Zambrano...and I can't
disagree with that. Finally in the 5th spin, the
Cubbies won a crown with 91 victories. Houston has
also won 1 crown....
|
TEAM |
DIVISIONS |
WILDCARDS |
|
Milwaukee |
4 |
0 |
|
Cincinnati |
1 |
0 |
|
Chicago |
1 |
0 |
|
Houston |
1 |
0 |
|
St. Louis |
2 |
0 |
-
The
NL West
has been a 2 team affair with no disrespect to the
Diamondbacks and the Rockies. The Fathers have won 3
divisions and a WC while the Dodgers have won 2
division crowns and a WC! Arizona did tie for
a WC in simulation 2 and tied for a division crown
in the 6th run! Each simulation does not bode
well for the Rockies as they have averaged 94
losses and another beating in spin 5 (good for 104
losses) which was worse than San Francisco. The glaring
weakness is pitching but like the Cubs, I believe
this is erroneous. Only time will tell. The
Giants won the division in a tight race in
simulation 6.
|
TEAM |
DIVISIONS |
WILDCARDS |
|
San Diego |
5 |
1 |
|
Los Angeles |
3 |
3 |
|
San Francisco |
1 |
0 |
|
Arizona |
0 |
1 |
|
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