Stats

When I started my Strat-O-Matic mini-league, I intentionally chose not to record much in the way of data. More tracking -- every at-bat, every defensive play -- equals more time spent. Instead, I opted for fast and fun games that I can get through in a half-hour or less. I'm recording only the data that takes absolutely no effort to record, so that amounts of things like home runs (relatively rare for players of this era) and a few junk stats (errors, wins, saves, etc.).

With two seasons now in the books, I can take a look at the career leaders in these meager categories.  (For context, Season 1 was 16 games per team, and Season 2 was 20 games per team.) Below, I've listed all-time (again, it's only two seasons so far!) records for a few stats...

Home Runs

1. King Kelly - 5
2. Jesse Burkett, George Davis, Ed Delahanty, Hugh Duffy, Honus Wagner - 3
3. (Many tied) - 2

Wins

1. John Clarkson, Cy Young - 8
2. Tim Keefe - 7
3. Pud Galvin - 5

Saves

1. Amos Rusie - 5
2. Joe McGinnity, Vic Willis - 4
3. Rube Waddell - 2

The numbers above reflect only regular-season totals, as we don't really have enough playoff data yet to share anything meaningful. I could also list the career leaders for fielding errors, losses, etc., but we'll stick with the positive stuff!

Haymakers Win It All

The second season of my nineteenth-century Strat-O-Matic baseball league came to a thrilling end last night with the championship game between the Canaries and the Haymakers. Pud Galvin and Cy Young started for their respective teams. The host Haymakers wasted little time in getting on the board when Jesse Burkett hit a two-run shot off of Galvin in the bottom of the first. Galvin surrendered another run in the third on a sacrifice fly. All throughout, the Canaries managed to get men on base, but Young induced enough weak contact to keep the ball in the infield. In the fourth, with two on and two out, Wee Willie Keeler smacked a two-run single to extend the Haymakers' lead to 5-0. Al Spalding took over for the Canaries in the fifth, and he ended up pitching four innings of scoreless relief. Young, meanwhile, was cruising until the seventh, when Monte Ward -- the light-hitting middle infielder and Canaries' captain -- crushed a two-run homer to cut into the Haymakers' lead. The score remained 5-2 into the top of the ninth, when Rube Waddell relieved Young. The hard-throwing lefty tossed a scoreless inning to seal the deal, giving the Haymakers their first championship! The Playoff MVP award went to Jesse Burkett, who went 2-4 with the big first-inning homer; the iron-gloved corner outfielder also made a spectacular catch in the ninth to help preserve the win.

Canaries Take Flight

After the Haymakers earned home field advantage in the championship game, the Canaries and Blue Legs squared off for the right to face them. In a battle of aces, Tim Keefe of the Canaries and the Blue Legs' John Clarkson --this year's pitching MVP -- were evenly matched through six innings, having surrendered two runs apiece. When Clarkson's spot came up with two on and two out in the top of the seventh, I elected to pinch hit, but the Legs failed to score. Now the ball passed to Kid Nichols, who promptly gave up a run in the bottom of the frame. Nichols surrendered three more in the eighth, and the Legs headed into the top of the ninth trailing 6-2. On the other side, Keefe had pitched eight strong innings before giving way to Canary closer Vic Willis. Willis worked in and out of trouble in the ninth and gave up a run before it was all over, but the Birds held on for a 6-3 triumph and a date with the Haymakers for the league championship!

Playoffs Set

We've reached the end of the regular season for my baseball old-timers. The Haymakers locked up first place with a 12-8 record and +4 run differential. The Blue Legs and Canaries tied at 9-11. Since the second-place team hosts the play-in game to determine who faces the first-place team for the championship, we needed a tiebreaker game. When the Blue Legs and Canaries faced off for one final regular-season game, the Canaries came out on top 3-1 behind a complete-game effort from Pud Galvin. As such, the Canaries locked up second place with a 10-11 record, but a lousy -3 run differential. The Blue Legs had a better differential at -1, but finished 9-12 and in last place. Next up, the Canaries will host the Blue Legs in the play-in game, while the Haymakers await the winner!

As far as individual awards go, this season we didn't have a clear-cut MVP among the position players. Numerous players distinguished themselves, but I ended up giving the nod to Honus Wagner of the Canaries; he played great defense at short and provided tremendous offense all season in the middle of the order. For the pitchers, John Clarkson of the Blue Legs was the obvious choice, as he went 6-2 and led a Legs staff that allowed the fewest runs in the league. The final award, for playoff MVP, will be determined after the championship game. I can't wait to see how it all turns out!

The fight against frozen beef!

Okaaaaaay...

A New Chapter

The boys are at a crossroads with both of their Shattered Realm campaigns. Last spring, in the main storyline, they wrapped up the Emerald Tablet saga. Just this past weekend, in the futuristic version (where they're playing descendants of their original characters), they reached the end of a major chapter.

Next up, we'll return to their original characters. I've been trying to scope out a story arc that will be even more epic than the Emerald Tablet, but aside from some cool character development ideas for their heroes, I hadn't really made much progress. Inspiration struck when I returned to a work of literature that has always spurred my imagination: John Milton's Paradise Lost. The new foe who will drive the plot in the next Shattered Realm phase is based heavily on Milton's most dynamic and charismatic character, Satan.

I'm also hoping to use this storyline as a way to ease Matthew and Nathaniel into the vast Druid Cycle campaign world, with its hundreds of NPCs and over a quarter-century of past adventures. As such, I've selected a powerful but minor Druid Cycle character -- an angel -- who will rebel against his god and therefore be exiled across the multiverse to the Shattered Realm, where he'll cause all sorts of mayhem. No doubt I'll find a spot to work in one of Satan's most famous lines from Paradise Lost: "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven."

Logjam

In the latest news from my nineteenth-century baseball league, each team has completed 18 games -- leaving only two more apiece until the playoffs. The Haymakers have spent much of the season in first place, and currently sit at 10-8. The Canaries are in second at 9-9, and the Blue Legs bring up the rear at 8-10 (despite being the only team with a positive run differential, though it's only +1). A three-way tie for first place is technically possible...

Team Tom

Still waiting for the Strat-O-Matic hockey rulebook to arrive, but I've been busy ranking the players based on my current understanding of the game stats. I hadn't been paying too much attention to the players' names up to this point, as the effort has been to achieve some sort of skill parity among the teams.  Now that I have a first cut of the rosters, however, I'm curious to see how the teams are taking shape and developing a bit of personality. I thought it was a little amusing when two players named Billy ended up on the same team -- both as forwards on the same line, in fact -- but then I have to admit that I cringed upon realizing that all three players named Thomas -- Tommy Dunderdale, Tommy Phillips, and Tom Hooper -- are all one team. That's 30% of the roster with the same name! 

Team Names

Strat-O-Matic is sending me the rulebook that was missing from my hockey game, so I should be able to get started with the planning for my first historical season. As I did with my nineteenth-century baseball league, I'll use the names of actual pre-modern teams. Here are the options on the table: Victorias, Shamrocks, Wanderers, Thistles, Bulldogs, Blueshirts, Millionnaires, Metropolitans, Cougars, Silver Kings, and Comets. (There was also a team called the Creamery Kings, but, well, that one just doesn't sound quite right.) I'll choose four from this list -- at the moment, I'm leaning toward Victorias, Wanderers, Thistles, and Bulldogs -- and then divvy up all the pre-NHL Hall of Famers among these four teams.

Strat Falls Flat

I was excited to receive my Strat-O-Matic hockey game, but disappointed to discover that it was...well...incomplete. Inside the box in which it was shipped, the game box itself was unsealed. Various components were stuffed inside, but without a parts list -- and, crucially, without any sort of instructions booklet -- I'm left wondering how much of the game I actually received.

However, I did get the player cards and confirmed that all my pre-NHL Hall of Famers were included, so I was able to get started with prep for my historical hockey league. Without the game rules, I don't really know how to interpret the stats on each card, but some of the more obvious bits are helping me understand who's better than whom. The four pre-NHL goalies, at least, were mercifully easy to rank from best to worst. That's the one position I absolutely need to get right, because the goaltender has such a huge impact on his team's success. Next up, I need to take the remaining players and split them up into defined positions (players tended to play a lot of different positions in those days) and then rank the players at each position so that I can draft four roughly equal teams.

Of course, ultimately I'll need the instructions too...

Aeronautica Models

I've finished building the models in the starter set for Aeronautica Imperialis, the new 40k game that simulates aerial dogfight combat. The set includes two Thunderbolt fighters and two Marauders bombers for the Imperial Navy, along with three Dakkajets and two Fighta Bommerz for the Orks. Tomorrow I'll prime them, and then chip away at the basecoating throughout the week. I picked up some great new paints at the GW store this afternoon, so I think these little guys should come out looking pretty spiffy.

Here's one of the Thunderbolts, built as a "Fury" variant with some heavier guns up front.

And now here's the same model alongside a Stormhawk Interceptor, which is at the standard 40k vehicle scale. These Aeronautica models are tiny indeed!

Hockey Hypocrisy

So, after railing against the Strat-O-Matic Hockey game a few months ago, I decided to order the game after all. The lure of creating a historical (pre-NHL) league -- akin to my nineteenth-century baseball league -- was just too strong. I don't even have the game in hand, and I've already set up a spreadsheet for tracking individual and league stats...

Halfway Point

We've hit the halfway point of my second season of nineteenth-century Strat-O-Matic baseball action. The Haymakers are way out in front with a record of 7-3 and a +8 run differential. The Blue Legs and Canaries are tied at 4-6, but while the Birds have a solid +3 differential, the Legs are sporting a woeful -11. The MVP race, meanwhile, is wide open. Last year, King Kelly dominated the league from start to finish, but this time around there are several in the running -- Dan Brouthers and Sam Crawford of the Blue Legs, Hugh Duffy and Ed Delahanty of the Canaries, and Jesse Burkett of the Haymakers. There's still a lot of baseball to played, however, so we'll see what happens in the second half!

Rube vs. Rube

It happened! In the latter stages of a wild, sloppy, 10-inning game, Rube Foster and Rube Waddell found themselves as opposing pitchers. Each faced the other once as a hitter, as well, and in both cases Rube grounded out weakly against Rube. In the end, Waddell's Haymakers hung on for the win to remain in first place as we near the halway point of the regular season.

Santorini

Nathaniel and I were killing time before Matthew's swim meet and found Santorini on sale at Walmart for only 17 bucks. We opened it up after the meet and played through the basic version of the game (without the Greek gods who have powers that impact workers' movement or building). Here's a snapshot of the city we ended up with...

Nathaniel was the winner of our first game, as should be clear from this photo.

The coolest moment was when Nathaniel trapped one of Matthew's workers in the corner and effectively removed that worker from the game!

Is This League Big Enough for Two Rubes?

Rube Waddell, meet Rube Foster.

With only 14 nineteenth-century pitchers in my (well, technically, Nathaniel's) Strat-O-Matic Hall of Fame set, one of the three teams in my old-timey league (the Haymakers) has had no choice but to get by with only four pitchers. Yesterday I was scouring some Negro Leagues data to see if any of those pitchers might have been active during the timeframe that I use as my eligibility requirement. After doing a bit of digging into who played in what league and when, I feel confident that Rube Foster fits the bill. Now this league has two players -- both pitchers, no less -- nicknamed "Rube".

The last-place Canaries got the first opportunity to sign this new player, but to do so they had to release a pitcher to get back down to five. Struggling starter Mickey Welch drew the short straw. Welch promptly re-signed with his old team, the Haymakers, who then traded spare starter Old Hoss Radbourn to the Blue Legs for hard-throwing but erratic reliever Amos Rusie. Now all three teams have five pitchers apiece, and I look forward to first time the two Rubes face each other!

Haymakers Making Hay

After a crushing loss in their first game of the season, the Haymakers have won three in a row and sit atop the standings of my little three-team league. The defending champion Blue Legs are treading water at 2-2, having scored the most runs in the league but having allowed the most as well. The Canaries are 1-3, with good pitching and mediocre hitting -- the same story as last season.

Play Ball!

Yesterday I started the second season of my nineteenth-century Strat-O-Matic baseball league. Opening Day featured a rematch of last season's finals, with the champion Blue Legs hosting the Haymakers. The Haymakers put men on base throughout the game, but Legs starter John Clarkson wriggled out of every jam, giving up a single unearned run in a complete-game effort. The Legs roughed up Haymaker hurlers Cy Young and Old Hoss Radbourn, with Sam Crawford's three-run homer the decisive blow in a 6-1 victory. Next up, the Blue Legs face Honus Wagner and the Canaries tonight!

Watch the Skies!

There's a new website for Aeronautica Imperialis. Between this game and the upcoming release of the Adepta Sororitas army, it seems that Games Workshop is going to be getting a lot of my money this fall!

More News on Aeronautica Imperialis

Click here for the latest details on Aeronautica Imperialis, the upcoming aerial combat miniatures game set in the Warhammer 40k universe.