November 3, 2024

 UPDATE - TOP 8 1990

New York M    37 28 .569  -
Cincinnati    36 29 .554  1
Oakland       36 29 .554  1
Boston        34 31 .523  3
Pittsburgh*   33 32 .508  4
Toronto       32 33 .492  5
Los Angeles D 27 38 .415 10
Chicago W     25 40 .385 12

*- denotes first half champion.

Twelve games left per team in the second half of this season, and three teams have a good shot at the second
half crown, while three more have an outside chance, including the first half champion Pittsburgh Pirates. The
Reds just finished getting swept in their four game series against the A's, and if the Pirates would have beat the
Mets in their series finale, we would have a three way tie for first. But the Mets trounced the Bucs 12-1, and are
in sole possesion of first, and all their remaining games will be at Shea. Home runs have been making the news
lately, and here's a small example of recent long ball activity beginning with Pirate backup third baseman Jeff
King. Early in the season, Mr. King distinguished himself by belting two home runs in a game. This came in one
of his earlier turns as the starting third sacker during game 52 of the first half when he came in for an injured Wally
Backman. King clubbed his first home run of the year in his first at-bat in the fourth, then smacked his second in
the sixth, both off Chicago White Sox starter Jack McDowell. Coincidentally in game 52 of the second half, King
outdid not only himself but everyone else in the league by parking three in the cheap seats against the Dodgers to
give him 8 jacks on the year. In the same game, teammate Barry Bonds hit his 27th and 28th, while Andy Van Slyke
settled for his tenth. Six homers in all in a 12-4 rout of the Bums. Keeping on the theme of the circuit shot, we move
along to what has been described as an unusual outburst in the number of grand slams reported in the papers. In the
second half, from games 58 through 63, a span of six days in the league, we had six grand slams recorded, and they
deserve mention:

Game D58 Fred McGriff, Tor. 8th inning off LAD starter Mike Hartley. Home run number 27.
Game B60 Dwight Evans, Bos. 4th inning off NYM reliever Jeff Musselman. Home run number 7.
Game B61 Tim Teufel, NYM. 4th inning off Bos starter Wes Gardner. Home run number 4.
Game B62 Stan Javier, LAD. 3rd inning off Bos starter Eric Hetzel. Home run number 4.
Game D62 Bobby Bonilla, Pit. 9th inning off NYM reliever Jeff Musselman. Home run number 27.
Game C63 Bob Welch, Oak. 2nd inning off Cin starter Tom Browning. Second pitcher to hit a grand slam this year
(Stottlemyer, Tor. First half game C55).

In each instance, these bombs were the first slams for the players listed above. Mark McGwire and Kelly Gruber each
have three. Let's get back to the pennant race...

All teams have three 4 game series left to play. Looking at the top three clubs in the standings, Oakland is at home against
Boston, then wraps up the season on the road against Pittsburgh and New York. As mentioned, the Mets are at home for
their dirty dozen, beginning with the struggling Dodgers, followed by Toronto and Oakland. The Reds start off on the road
against the White Sox, come home to face the Dodgers, then hit the road again to finish the regular season against Toronto.
Lots to report as we wrap this bad boy up!

October 3, 2024

The Variety you get From EI

As it says at the top of this thing, I've been playing EI since 1978. The game is fun to play. Sure, there is math involved,
and yep- it takes two rolls of the dice to get results. But with the formula given to rate any team you want, this game is
a bargain. There is something to be said for this. Look around at the prices for card sets for the other major game
companies. No doubt, those game engines are fun to play, and the cards are beautiful. I will not sit here and tell anyone
how to spend their money; I would buy another Strat set because of how much fun that game is to play, but I can still
use the '51 set I bought for my Retro 5Y League project and save some dinero for other stuff.

I was reading some of my old newsletters the other day, and one of them had results from an EI league I was in that
had two triple A teams, two Negro League teams, two Japan League teams, and two Mexican League teams.  Whoa!
A while back, perhaps on one of the Delphi Forums, someone rated the 2007 Japan League (or Nippon Professional
League) for EI. In some of my earlier rantings I've mentioned the twenty team Negro League ratings used in a King of
the Hill project a few years ago. The list goes on...Sitting on this hard drive is the complete EI ratings of all teams in the
three major leagues in existence in 1914 and 1915. I'm still undecided on whether I'll do something like a KOH tourney
involving all 24 teams in either year, but it's there for the playing and my cost is printer paper and ink and time. Oh yeah,
all the players are rated. I'm telling you, it's a beautiful thing. At the bottom of this page is a spreadsheet I came up with
that will rate hundreds of players at the press of a button. Look at the possibilities!!

I'm not an authority on the complete offerings of Strat, APBA or any other game out there, but if I were to take a guess,
none of them offer the variety of teams/leagues mentioned above. No company is going to offer this type of range of
leagues or seasons. Not everyone is interested. This is why EI is so appealing to me. My imagination dictates which teams
or leagues I will use. I could dig up stats from the Korean league and rate the teams. Given the stats, I can rate the 1940
South Atlantic League. I can create fictional teams, put my high school stats in the spreadsheet (.239, 1 HR). Have
stats? Then EI will take you to any ball field you want.

I guess I could go on and on, and I usually do, but what a value you get with EI. I don't want to get schmaltzy here. Not
my intent. I'm just sitting here, looking at the projects I've played with the wide variety of teams and players, and looking
ahead to future projects and thinking, "Man! That was a good call back in '78!"