Last night, during the Out Of The Park Baseball 21 simulation of our single-elimination Wild Card Game, the All-time Barnstormers came back from 2-0 down to eliminate the Camden Riversharks by a score of 4-2. The Barnstormers move on to play the All-time Skeeters team in a 3-game series to be simulated tonight. As we approach these best-of-3 semifinal series, let’s check out how these teams stack up and then take a look at how the eliminated teams fared individually.
Lancaster charged into the Wild Card Game winning 10 out of 12, including 8 in a row at one point. That mad-dash to make the playoffs means Lancaster has momentum, but coming off of 20 games in 20 days has their pitching staff exhausted. A day off before game 1 against Sugar Land may help some, but the Barnstormers will need to be at their best to take out the tournament’s #1 seed.
Sugar Land may only have won the Red Roses Division by a game, but they did so with the best record in the tournament (33-11). Led by quality bats throughout the lineup and a strong pitching staff headlined by Jason Lane and Felipe Paulino, the Skeeters took 5 of 6 games against Lancaster in the qualifying round.
Bridgeport and York traded shutouts in their 2 qualifying round matchups. Both teams have been able to line up their rotations for this series and an opening pairing of Corey Thurman (YORK) vs Jose Cintron (BRI) is expected. York’s Andy Marte has led the league in hitting and WAR while Bridgeport has the worst offense of any playoff team.
Team Recaps
With the playoff preview out of the way, let’s take a look at how all of our other all-time rosters fared in the Dream Bracket.
The All-time Camden Riversharks were eliminated by a Barnstormers comeback last night but still had a great run. The team finished the year a the top of the power rankings. Ben Simon was OUT OF HIS MIND throughout the tournament. In 10 starts during the simulation, Ben allowed only 3 ER in 59.1 IP. His 595 ERA+ is obscured, leading the tournament. The 2nd best ERA+ was 279, less than HALF of that 595.
The Newark Bears fell one game short of a playoff birth in our Dream Bracket. Like most teams in our bracket, the Bears were led by their pitching. However, Jose Canseco was the standout offensive star of the qualifying round, posting a 309 OPS+!
Something about the highest quality of pitcher that lingers in the ALPB vs the highest quality of hitter who does the same made our Dream Bracket very pitcher-dominated, but batters still made contact. Case in point: Ariel Garcia no-hitting the Ducks with only 1 strikeout.
The all-time rosters in our Atlantic League Dream Bracket were definitely dominated by pitching, but Daryl Thompson was on another level. In 10 starts, the Blue Crabs righty threw a perfect game, 6 shutouts, and ended the tournament with 0 ER in his last 25.2 innings!
The Ducks were seemingly always on the verge of a good run in this tournament, but couldn’t get the bats going. Several losses to teams that they should have beaten kept their record below .500 and their chances of advancing the playoff rounds slim.
Nashua was a .500 team in our Dream Bracket simulation before dropping 8 of their last 10. In the end, it was back-to-back 3-game series against the Ducks and Patriots that would put the final nails in Nashua’s coffin.
Not Dream Bracket related, but we’re currently in the early stages of a definitive history of the Aberdeen Arsenal and their Atlantic League season which was, by most accounts, a dumpster fire. Think “The Last Dance”, but way better and without all of the pesky basketball.
The Patriots all-time roster’s struggles were a big surprise, but not without bright spots. The team got valuable contributions from recent players like Craig Massey and Melvin Nieves, as well as throwback names like Victor Rodriguez and Jason Lowey.
The New Britain Bees didn’t have a great showing in our Atlantic League Dream Bracket simulation. But let’s hope that everybody had a good time!
By combining with the Black Diamonds in our Atlantic League Dream Bracket, the Road Warriors finally had a home! So, how much did it help them? They went 7-15 on the road, and 6-16 at home. Oh. Hm… Well, at least they had some (simulated) home cooking!
The Rockers finished last in the Out Of The Park Baseball power rankings in our Dream Bracket. However, taking their 2019 roster up against a bracket of all-time teams was no easy task and the team stayed in contention until their final 10 games. The Rockers offense struggled against some stacked pitching rotations, but Joe Van Meter left behind his Dream Bracket run allowing only 10 runs in 10 starts.
Indy Ball Nation 