One of these days I need to get started with Season 4 of my nineteenth-century baseball league. Season 3 featured the Haymakers winning a record 13 games (in a 20-game season) with a +18 run differential on their way to a second consecutive championship. Basically, they dominated. On the flip side, the Blue Legs had an 8-12 record but with a -24 differential that indicated they were even worse than that .400 win percentage. Their 77 runs scored was the fewest ever for a 20-game season, and 23% of those runs came during a single 18-run garbage win. With only three teams in this league and a fixed number of players, how could I improve the woeful Blue Legs in a way that didn't feel like I was cheating the Haymakers or Canaries?
A couple of trades came to mind. The first was an exchange of talented but underperforming hurlers, with Kid Nichols going to the Canaries in exchange for Al Spalding. The Legs lost some games in the late innings last year, and Spalding will certainly help with their relief efforts. Nichols, meanwhile, gives the Canaries a valuable innings-eater and spot starter behind Tim Keefe and Pud Galvin. Next, the Legs and the Haymakers pulled off a shortstop swap that (in terms of cold, hard game stats) clearly favors the Blue Legs but (at least narratively) also makes sense for the Haymakers. The trade sent Hughie Jennings to the Legs in return for Bobby Wallace. Jennings is by far the better hitter and, in game terms, is defensively the equal of Wallace. Last season, however, Jennings got tagged for quite a few errors (entirely the result of bad luck), so the Haymakers have essentially run him out of town in favor of Wallace.
Yes, I've deliberately nerfed the Haymakers, but I can't have a 42-run difference between the top team and the bottom team in a league that has only three teams. Even with some positive regression to the mean, the Legs were looking at another tough season. The Canaries, meanwhile, don't really need any further tweaking, so I think I've got three relatively balanced teams ready to roll for Season 4!
A couple of trades came to mind. The first was an exchange of talented but underperforming hurlers, with Kid Nichols going to the Canaries in exchange for Al Spalding. The Legs lost some games in the late innings last year, and Spalding will certainly help with their relief efforts. Nichols, meanwhile, gives the Canaries a valuable innings-eater and spot starter behind Tim Keefe and Pud Galvin. Next, the Legs and the Haymakers pulled off a shortstop swap that (in terms of cold, hard game stats) clearly favors the Blue Legs but (at least narratively) also makes sense for the Haymakers. The trade sent Hughie Jennings to the Legs in return for Bobby Wallace. Jennings is by far the better hitter and, in game terms, is defensively the equal of Wallace. Last season, however, Jennings got tagged for quite a few errors (entirely the result of bad luck), so the Haymakers have essentially run him out of town in favor of Wallace.
Yes, I've deliberately nerfed the Haymakers, but I can't have a 42-run difference between the top team and the bottom team in a league that has only three teams. Even with some positive regression to the mean, the Legs were looking at another tough season. The Canaries, meanwhile, don't really need any further tweaking, so I think I've got three relatively balanced teams ready to roll for Season 4!
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