Season 11 Awards

We have our champions, the Canaries, so now let's see who won the individual awards for Season 11... 

Position Player MVP: Sam Thompson, Haymakers

This was no easy call. Resolutes right fielder Elmer Flick had a remarkable year, providing top-notch defense, speed, and a potent middle-of-the-order bat. The Canaries' Hugh Duffy was even better at the plate and rated as the league's top defensive center fielder. The winner, however, was Sam Thompson, who was not quite as solid defensively in right field as Flick, but he led the league in home runs with five (tying the single-season record) and total bases. In a season in which his superstar teammate Cap Anson was plagued by nagging injuries, Thompson almost single-handedly kept the Haymakers in playoff contention.

Pitcher MVP: Old Hoss Radbourn, Blue Legs

Needless to say, in a year when offense dominated, the pitchers really struggled. Only two were consistently excellent all season; John Clarkson of the Resolutes put up the second-best ERA among starters (3.18) and contributed more to his team's offense than perhaps all other pitchers combined, but the top hurler this campaign was Old Hoss Radbourn, who had a 6-1 record in 9 starts, led the league in ERA (3.08), and pitched his Blue Legs team into the championship series.

Playoff MVP: Ed Delahanty, Canaries

Jimmy Collins and Dan Brouthers were offensive juggernauts for the Blue Legs, and Canaries pitcher Mickey Welch posted a sparkling 1.59 ERA across his two starts in the series, but there's just no way this award could have gone to anyone but Ed Delahanty, who hit .437 in the four-game set, including three triples(!) and the series-winning home run in the tenth inning of Game 4.

Season 11 Championship Series

In Game 1, the Canaries hosted the Blue Legs. Old Hoss Radbourn, the likely Pitcher MVP, was the obvious starter for the Legs, while the Canaries opted for Mickey Welch. The game was scoreless until the fourth, when Billy Hamilton's RBI groundout gave the Birds a 1-0 lead. They would quickly surrender that edge after Nap Lajoie's sacrifice fly in the fifth. Jimmy Collins gave the Legs their first lead with a solo home run in the eighth. The Canaries managed to put pressure on closer Vic Willis in the bottom of ninth, but Willis somehow managed to wriggle out of a bases-loaded, no-outs jam. As such, Game 1 was a 2-1 victory for the visitors.

Pud Galvin started for the Birds and Tim Keefe for the Blue Legs in Game 2. The Canaries were feeling the pressure to get a split before going on the road, so they came out swinging in the first inning. One batter after Ed Delahanty tripled, Honus Wagner hit a sharp grounder to third baseman Collins, who bobbled the ball, allowing Wagner to reach first safely and Delahanty to score. George Davis followed up with a base knock to plate Wagner, so it was quickly 2-0 for the Birds. The score remained unchanged until the sixth, when King Kelly doubled and Collins hit his second home run of the series to tie the game at two. In the ninth, with Al Spalding pitching in relief of Keefe, Wagner roped a one-out double. After Davis popped out, Hugh Duffy lashed a single that scored Wagner and gave the Canaries a walk-off 3-2 win.

The scene shifted to the Blue Legs' park for Game 3, with the same starters as the first game. In the opening frame, Wagner's double scored Roger Connor to give the Canaries an early lead. They added to that lead in the third when Delahanty tripled and scored on Connor's double. The Birds added another run on George Wright's sacrifice fly in the fourth, and still another on Delahanty's run-scoring single in the fifth. In the sixth, Lajoie tripled and scored on Kelly's sacrifice fly to give the Legs their first run of the game. Wright delivered his second sacrifice fly in the eighth to give the Canaries a 5-1 lead. In the bottom of that inning, with Rube Foster now pitching for the Birds, Lajoie drew a walk and scored on a triple by Dan Brouthers. Willis came on in the ninth and sent the Canaries down in order. The score was 5-2 in the bottom of the ninth. With runners on the corners and one out, Monte Ward hit into a game-ending double play. The Canaries now had a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series.

Hoping to clinch their second championship in franchise history, the Canaries knew the Blue Legs would not go down without a fight, especially on their home field. Keefe and Galvin, the Game 2 starters, got the draw for Game 4. Keefe was sharp in the early going, racking up strikeouts left and right. In the third, Delahanty tripled and later scored on a wild pitch. The next inning, Sam Crawford plated Brouthers to tie the game at one run apiece. The fifth inning saw the Birds take a two-run lead, first with Galvin's sacrifice fly and then Delahanty's run-scoring double. The Legs flipped the script in the sixth, with Collins driving in Brouthers and then Crawford driving in Collins. The score was 3-3 heading into the later innings; the pitchers were now Spalding for the Legs and Clark Griffith for the Birds. The game remained tied after nine, but Delahanty homered to lead off the tenth inning for a 4-3 Canaries edge. Griffith got two quick outs in the bottom of the tenth, but a double by Brouthers made things interesting. Kelly came to the plate with the Legs' season on the line, but he popped up to second baseman Wright to end the game and the series. 

Canaries win the title!

Season 11 Playoffs

I can't believe how quickly I played through Season 11 of my historical Strat-O-Matic baseball league. We've said farewell to the perennial contenders (the Haymakers) and last year's winners (the Resolutes), so now it's time for the championship series between the Canaries and the Blue Legs. After their scorching start, the Canaries ended up finishing 15-9 with a league-best +17 run differential and 4.88 runs scored per game. Their runs allowed of 4.17 per game, however, ranked third in the four-team league, just a hair's breadth worse than their opponents, the Blue Legs, who allowed 4.13 per game. Those similar figures resulted from wildly different approaches. The Canaries had so-so pitching and were the most successful when their starters could keep the ball on the ground and allow the team's top-ranked defense to make plays; as for the Blue Legs, they relied on strikeouts to limit contact, as their defense was tied with the Resolutes for the league's worst. Both teams hit a lot of home runs (13 for the Legs and 12 for the Birds), so it should be an entertaining series with the potential for some real fireworks!

Rounding Third

We're now at the three-quarters mark in my latest season of nineteenth-century ball. Offense is still the big theme of the season. Teams are now scoring 4.33 runs per game, down from the 4.96 at the one-quarter mark, but still well above last year's average of 3.55. The Canaries have cooled off after their hot start, but they're still leading the league with 5.00 runs per game -- unfortunately for them, they're also allowing a league-high 4.39 runs per game. The hottest team in the second half has been the Blue Legs, who now sit just a game back of the Birds. It may still be mathematically possible for the Resolutes or Haymakers to reach championship series this year, but I think it's a safe bet to say it will be Blue Legs and Canaries vying for the Season 11 title.

The Season of Juice

I don't record a lot of data for my nineteenth-century Strat-O-Matic baseball league, so the individual games go by pretty quickly -- I can roll up two or three in an hour. After just a week of "real" time, I've already played through a quarter of the Season 11 schedule! With six games for each team now in the books, I can say that the recurring theme for this season is, without a doubt, offense. 

Thus far, teams are racking up an average of 4.96 runs per game, a significant increase over last year's full-season average of 3.55. The first-place Canaries (6-1) are leading the way with a staggering 7.67 runs per game. For comparison, that's more than two full runs per game above the record (5.24), set by these same Canaries way back in Season 4, their only championship year. Part of the Canaries' success has come from the long ball, as this team has hit more home runs (8) than the other three teams combined (7). What's up with the Canaries and, indeed, with the whole league? The players aren't juicing, the ball isn't juiced, so it really comes down to luck. I expect some regression as we move through the season -- or will the Canaries' luck hold out long enough to end their title drought?

Season 11

With a lot of things up in the air in real life, I've been hesitant to dive into any big gaming-related projects. Another season of Strat-O-Matic baseball seems like a good fit, as it doesn't require a lot of time or effort. I haven't given too much thought lately to these nineteenth-century baseball stalwarts, but it will be interesting to see if the hard-luck Canaries can finally end their drought and after watching the Haymakers, Blue Legs, and Resolutes all celebrate titles since the Canaries last won it all in Season 4. 

It's Our Trophy Guy!

Here's a great article about Jim Creighton, the man for whom the championship series in my nineteenth-century Strat-O-Matic league is named.

Season 10 Awards

Another season, another set of year-end awards! Who took home the hardware? 

Position Player MVP: Dan Brouthers, Blue Legs
Although his teammate Jimmy Collins was an early favorite for this trophy, Dan Brouthers earned his first MVP award with a season of solid all-around play. Brouthers led the league in total bases, tied for second in home runs, and even bested Cap Anson as the top defensive first baseman in the league. Sam Thompson of the Haymakers and Roger Connor of the Canaries were also in consideration. 

Pitcher MVP: Cy Young, Haymakers
The Haymakers floundered this year, but you can't blame it on Young, who nearly carried this team to the playoffs all on his own. Sporting a 6-4 record on a team that went 11-13 overall, Young pitched a league-leading 86 innings with a sparkling 1.88 ERA that was not only the best among all starting pitchers, it was one of the best in league history. Young outdueled the Resolutes' Christy Mathewson (4-3, 2.57 ERA) and the Blue Legs' Old Hoss Radbourn (6-1, 2.78 ERA) to claim his record-setting third Pitcher MVP trophy. 

Playoff MVP: Elmer Flick, Resolutes
The Resolutes are not a team of superstars, at least not among the position players. They work the count, take bases-on-balls, get slap hits, steal bags, bunt each other over, and hit sac flies. No one exemplifies Resolutes baseball like right fielder Elmer Flick, who got on board more often than any of his teammates and absolutely ran amok on the base paths. Connie Mack had that huge home run in Game 4, but Flick was quietly brilliant throughout the series.

Season 10 Championship

The winner of the James Creighton trophy in Season 10 is...

The Resolutes!

Game 1 was an absolutely incredible pitchers' duel between Old Hoss Radbourn of the Blue Legs and Christy Mathewson of the Resolutes. The two aces matched zeroes inning after inning. The game was scoreless in the bottom of the eleventh -- Mathewson was still pitching for the visiting Resolutes, while Radbourn had given way to Al Spalding for the Legs -- when King Kelly doubled home Nap Lajoie to give the hosting Blue Legs a 1-0 victory and a matching series lead. Adding to the sting of the loss for the Resolutes was a serious injury to starting third baseman John McGraw. In Game 2, Jake Beckley's RBI double ended the Resolutes 24-inning scoring drought (going back to the regular season). Meanwhile, this time the injury bug bit the Legs, who lost shortstop Monte Ward and right fielder Wee Willie Keeler, the latter of whom had recently homered to tie the game at 3. The visitors pulled ahead in the eighth on second baseman Bud Fowler's run-scoring single, and the tally held up as the winner in a 4-3 contest. With the series tied at one game apiece, the action shifted to the Resolutes' home park. Mathewson took the mound again but was not as sharp, giving up three runs -- including two on a single to reserve outfielder Harry Wright -- in the second inning. He was stingy thereafter, however, and his teammates started to chip away at the lead. Right fielder Elmer Flick drove in runs with three separate hits, including a walk-off double in the bottom of the tenth inning. The Resolutes now found themselves in a position to claim the championship on their home field if they could win Game 4. John Clarkson was good for the home side, but the Legs' Tim Keefe brought his very best stuff, striking out Resolutes left and right. A solo home run from Lajoie seemed like it might be enough for the Legs to even the series, but Beckley drove home Flick in the seventh to tie the game at 1. In the eighth, light-hitting catcher Connie Mack stunned everyone in the stadium by crushing reliever Spalding's pitch for a two-run shot. With the score now 3-1, Clarkson took the mound in the ninth and sent the Legs packing with three quick outs to end the game and the series. 

Congratulations to the Resolutes on their second title in franchise history!

Season 10 Championship Preview

The Canaries won't be able to end their title drought this year, nor will the Haymakers be able to add to their overflowing trophy case. This year's championship series will feature the game's best rivalry, the Blue Legs against the Resolutes. These teams have met twice before in the finals: In Season 6, the Resolutes trailed 2-1 in the best-of-five series and then stunned the Legs with back-to-back shutout victories to steal the title, and then in Season 8, when the Blue Legs savored sweet revenge by sweeping the Resolutes in three straight. 

This year, the Blue Legs finished in first place with a record of 15-9, while the Resolutes came in at 13-11. Both teams had identical +10 run differentials, however, with Pythagorean records suggesting that the Legs were a little lucky and the Resolutes a bit unlucky. Despite the identical run differentials, the teams had very different approaches. The Legs led the league with 3.92 runs scored per game and, not surprisingly, had more home runs (and extra-base hits of any kind) than all other teams. They had solid pitching, but their run prevention was bolstered by a defense that was perhaps the best in league history. The Resolutes, meanwhile, posted a spectacular 3.04 runs against per game, thanks to a diverse pitching staff that limited hard contact. Offensively, they played "small ball," leveraging their plate discipline and speed to manufacture runs. It will be fascinating to see how these two very different teams fare over the five-game series!

No Running Allowed

It's hard to keep pace with all the wacky rule changes in Major League Baseball. From in-game rules to the ever-evolving (and now suddenly very controversial) playoff format, baseball feels like it's in a state of flux. (How long until it evolves into blernsball?!)  

Larger bases and limitations on pitcher disengagements led to a significant increase in stolen bases this year. It's kind of ironic, then, that in my nineteenth-century Strat-O-Matic league, stolen bases are at an all-time low because starting catchers are throwing out runners at a ridiculous rate. Roger Bresnahan of the Haymakers has gunned down nearly three-quarters of would-be thieves, with fellow first-string backstops Buck Ewing, Connie Mack, and King Kelly all above 50% as well. In contrast, big-league catchers in 2023 were at just under 20% in throwing out base stealers. 

As I hit the halfway point of Season 10 of my historical league, the drop in base-stealing success is just one of the storylines I'm tracking. The Blue Legs got off to the hottest start in history with a 5-0 record, 26 runs for, and just 8 against, but then quickly fell back to the pack. Here at the midway mark, the Legs, Haymakers, and Resolutes are all sporting identical 7-5 records, with the Canaries bringing up the rear at 3-9. No team has pulled away thus far, so I think all four have a legitimate shot at reaching the championship series. As we look ahead to the second half, however, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Resolutes claim first place, as their actual winning percentage (.583) is below their Pythagorean (expected) win percentage (.624), which is by far the best in the league.

Opening Day

With the World Series getting underway tonight, baseball is coming to an end in 2023, but in my fictional nineteenth-century universe, we're just getting started. After the Canaries' devastating championship series loss to the Haymakers last season, will we see the Birds recover and end their title drought, or perhaps will the Blue Legs or Resolutes surprise us? The tenth season of my Strat-O-Matic league begins tonight!

Perfection!

In the most recent championship series of my nineteenth-century baseball league, Haymakers starter Mickey Welch flirted with a perfect game. Welch retired the first 21 batters he faced before allowing a walk and a hit and then leaving with a series-ending injury. Yikes! Things unraveled pretty quickly. 

The perfect game is indeed a rare and special occurrence. It's true that the unassisted triple play is even rarer -- only 15 in major-league history! -- but it's more the result of being in the right place at the right time. The perfecto, on the other hand, is a grueling, full-game gauntlet where the pitcher and his fielders must be absolutely locked in and, yes, get some good luck along the way. In the long history of the major leagues (which I date back to 1871, but others prefer 1876), there had been only 23 perfect games.

Now make it 24.

Huge congrats to Domingo German of my beloved New York Yankees for twirling the fourth perfecto in team history!

Which Team Reigns Supreme?

I've been solo-playing a lot of sports games over the past couple of years, so I thought it might be interesting to take a broader look across the three leagues -- baseball, hockey, and football -- to see how all the teams have fared. Who are the lordly Yankees or Canadiens of my fantasy leagues, and who are the title-starved Mariners or Senators?

In the table below, I've listed the teams in order of championships won. Each entry also includes the sport, the number of seasons the team has existed, and the number of seasons the league has existed (the latter two numbers are different only if a given franchise is an expansion team).

 

Team	Sport	Titles	Team Seasons	League Seasons
Haymakers	Baseball	5	9	9
Victorias	Hockey	4	8	8
Reavers	Football	2	3	3
Bulldogs	Hockey	2	8	8
Blue Legs	Baseball	2	9	9
Giants	Football	1	3	3
Millionaires	Hockey	1	5	8
Resolutes	Baseball	1	5	9
Comets	Hockey	1	8	8
Canaries	Baseball	1	9	9
Champions	Football	0	1	3
Grasshuggers	Football	0	2	3
Bearcats	Hockey	0	2	8
Avengers	Football	0	3	3
Thistles	Hockey	0	8	8

Where we have ties -- for example, with all the teams that each have won a single championship -- the tiebreaker is a lower number of team seasons. A team that has achieved a certain level of success in fewer seasons is more dominant than one that had more opportunities to do so but failed. 

Some good news, at least, for the lowly Thistles: As of this writing, in Season 9 of my hockey league, they're in first place. Could this be the year they rise out of the basement?

Season 9 Awards

Another baseball season in the books! Here are the awards for our Season 9 stars...

Position Player MVP: Buck Ewing, Canaries

There was no hands-down favorite this year, as a lot of players put up fine but not necessarily great seasons. Second baseman Bid McPhee of the Haymakers had a very strong showing, but ultimately it came down to a pair of Canaries teammates: catcher Buck Ewing and first baseman Roger Connor. While Connor led the league in home runs and (surprisingly) was the best defensive first baseman, he also lost a chunk of time to injuries. Ewing, meanwhile, played in every contest, provided flawless defense at a crucial position, and tied for second in the league in home runs. 

Pitcher MVP: Pud Galvin, Canaries

Another very close call! Galvin and the Blue Legs' Al Spalding were the only serious candidates this year. Galvin edged Spalding for the league's best ERA (2.75 to 2.85), while leading the Canaries to the biggest single-season turnaround in league history. 

Playoff MVP: Cap Anson, Haymakers

There was no clear-cut winner for this award, either. Cy Young, Mickey Welch, Roger Bresnahan, Pud Galvin, and Billy Hamilton all had big moments, but power-hitting first baseman Anson was the constant who delivered consistent results over the entire series and led all players in total bases.

Season 9 Championship

With Pud Galvin starting for the Canaries and Cy Young for the visiting Haymakers, I expected Game 1 to be a pitcher's duel. It wasn't. Although Young became the first pitcher in league history to hit a playoff home run, he also gave up nine runs in a slugfest that ended 9-6 for the home team. 

Hoping to take a two-game series lead, the Canaries started Addie Joss in Game 2 for his first-ever playoff appearance. The Haymakers nickel-and-dimed him for four runs, which was more than enough for Mickey Welch. With pinpoint control of his breaking pitches, Welch induced harmless popups and soft grounders. One after another, the Canaries flailed helplessly at his diving pitches. Three, six, nine, twelve, fifteen, eighteen in a row! Welch carried a perfect game into the eighth inning. However, after retiring the first twenty-one batters, he issued a leadoff walk to Honus Wagner and, two batters later, a single to Hugh Duffy. The perfect game and no-hitter were gone, but the shutout was still intact. I sent Welch out for the ninth to finish his work, but he promptly departed the game with a season-ending injury. To go from a possible perfect game to a devastating injury in a matter of moments was a truly stunning turn of events. Amos Rusie came in throwing triple-digit heat to secure the 4-0 shutout win and even the series, but the loss of Welch was a gut-punch to the Haymakers.

Now at home for the next two games, the Haymakers handed the ball back to Young, while the Canaries countered with Galvin. Game 3 gave us the pitcher's duel we'd been waiting for. Young and Galvin traded zeroes until Sam Thompson's run-scoring single gave the Haymakers a slim 1-0 lead in the sixth. It was all Young would need. The proud old warhorse pitched a complete-game shutout after being humiliated in Game 1. After that nail-biting 1-0 victory, the Haymakers now led the best-of-five series two games to one. The Canaries, meanwhile, had been shut out in back to back games after scoring scoring nine runs in the series opener. My thoughts turned at once to the Season 6 championship series in which the Blue Legs were on the verge of a title but then were shut out in consecutive games by the Resolutes' Christy Mathewson and John Clarkson. 

With their season on the line, the Canaries started Joss in Game 4. The Haymakers, without Welch, were forced to start swingman Happy Jack Chesbro. On paper, it was a big mismatch in favor of the Canaries. When the dice hit the table, however, it was another story. The Haymakers came at Joss with hard contact in the early innings and led 4-0 before the Canaries finally managed to end their drought with a run in the fourth -- a span of twenty-three scoreless innings going back to Game 1. They would tack on a few more, as Chesbro was in and out of trouble all night, although he never surrendered the lead. With the Haymakers up 8-5 going into the top of the ninth, they turned to closer Amos Rusie to lock down the game and the series. Pinch hitter Charley Comiskey popped up for the first out. Speedy leadoff man Billy Hamilton, who had been running amok on the bases all series, promptly lashed a single. I agonized over whether to send him. If the next batter were to hit into a double play, the series would be over, and Hamilton is the fastest man in the league, so, yeah, I sent him. Star catcher Roger Bresnahan threw a perfect strike to second and Hamilton was out by a country mile. Two outs! Next up, Ed Delahanty singled, bringing Roger Connor -- a strong candidate for this year's Position Player MVP -- to the plate. Rusie unleashed the heater, Connor could not square up to it. A lazy pop fly to Bobby Wallace at short ended the game. 

So the Haymakers are champions for the fifth time in nine seasons. I'm actually rather disappointed. Although I typically don't root for specific teams, I had hoped that the Canaries could cash in on their turnaround season and claim the title they deserved, but alas, it was not meant to be. Maybe next year!

Birds Taking Flight

The Canaries are the feel-good story of the year in Season 9 of my historical baseball league. They've gone from worst to first with a vengeance, improving from last year's .292 winning percentage to a league-leading .625. That's a huge jump! I can't say I'm entirely surprised, however, because bad luck contributed a lot to that ugly .292 figure; their Pythagorean winning percentage was much higher, at .464. Even so, vaulting over the rest of the league to secure first place was a major feat for a team that hadn't had a winning record since claiming their only title way back in Season 4. With the league's best runs scored per game (4.46) and runs allowed per game (3.29), and a run differential that was third-highest in league history (+28), the Canaries are a clear favorite to win the championship. 

Standing in their way are the second-place Haymakers, the New York Yankees of this league, who overtook a fading Resolutes squad to reach the title series for the seventh time in nine seasons. The Haymakers' second-half surge was the product of great pitching from Cy Young and Mickey Welch, but their championship hopes took a hit when catcher Roger Bresnahan was injured in the regular-season finale. Without their star backstop for at least the first game of this best-of-five series, the Haymakers will be at a disadvantage offensively and defensively. My prediction is a Canaries triumph in four games.

Opening Day (The Real One)

Ah, there's something satisfying about watching baseball on Opening Day while also playing my Strat-O-Matic baseball league. Huzzah for the return of (real-life) baseball! 

Let's go Yankees!

Middle of the Fifth!

I've been playing through ball games fast and furious lately, and already I'm at the halfway point of Season 9. The Resolutes, Haymakers, and defending champion Blue Legs are all treading water, but the Canaries have shaken out of their years-long slumber to lead the pack at 8-4 with a solid +15 run differential. After finishing below .500 for the past four seasons, they're vying to make playoffs for first time since they won their only championship back in Season 4. One of the key contributors to their success is pitcher Pud Galvin; although he's a former Playoff MVP, he's typically been more of a #2 starter than a true ace. This year, he's sporting a 1.76 ERA and a perfect 5-0 record through five starts. He's got the inside track for Pitcher MVP, but he'll need to watch out for Blue Legs hurler Al Spalding, building on last year's career renaissance with a matching 1.76 ERA (albeit with a middling 3-3 record due to lack of run support). Both men will try to best the single-season ERA mark of 1.61, set by Mickey Welch of the Haymakers in Season 4.

Opening Day

From Blitz Bowl straight to baseball! Now I'm on to Season 9 of my nineteenth-century Strat-O-Matic baseball league. Last season, the Blue Legs ended their title drought with a dominant series win over their chief rivals, the Resolutes. Tonight, the Legs hosted the Haymakers on Opening Day, with a marquee pitching matchup featuring reigning Pitcher MVP Cy Young against Tim Keefe, who just won the Playoff MVP award for leading the Legs to victory in his first campaign with that team after many years as the Canaries' ace. Young got the better of Keefe in this contest, as the Haymakers eked out a 3-2 victory over the defending champions. Can't wait to see how this season plays out!