‘65 Twins 3, ‘65 Dodgers 1: A simulated championship! (and an in-game gaffe)

FOREWORD:

I made a mistake when playing this game in OOTP 21 that directly impacted the final score. When I get to it, I’ll explain.

THE MAIN STORY:

At long last, the Minnesota Twins have another World Series trophy. Although this one only exists inside an Out of the Park simulation, it’s still great to see.

After a chaotic (cough) eighth inning, the Twins pulled out a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the pseudo-1965 World Series in five games, finishing off L.A. in front of the Metropolitan Stadium crowd.

While both teams mixed up their lineups today, the Dodgers made an adjustment to their starting rotation, sending Game 2 starter Sandy Koufax back to the mound. The plan, in case of a Dodgers win, was to start Don Drysdale in Game 6 and have Koufax available out of the bullpen if it came to Game 7, a la Madison Bumgarner in 2014.) Minnesota countered with their opening game victor Jim Kaat, and inserted right-handed hitters Rich Rollins and Joe Nossek into the starting lineup for struggling lefties Don Mincher and Jimmie Hall.

The first seven innings consisted mostly of dominant pitching. Kaat allowed just three hits over six innings, but Koufax one-upped him, striking out 10 over seven innings while allowing just two hits. Dick Stigman, who entered for Kaat in the top of the seventh, struck out the side before the singing of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”

In the top of the eighth, Los Angeles finally broke the string of zeroes. Dick Tracewski came up to bat for Koufax and walked, Maury Wills bunted him to second, and Jim Gilliam rapped a grounder to short that Zoilo Versalles threw away, sending Tracewski home. Stigman retired the next two batters to keep the Dodgers from extending their lead.

But the visitors’ lead would not last.

Mike Kekich, entering from the bullpen in a double switch, started the inning by walking Jerry Kindall and Nossek. Stigman bunted them over before Tony Oliva was intentionally walked to load the bases. With the runners moving on contact, Zoilo Versalles struck a hard grounder to first baseman Wes Parker, who stepped on first before throwing to second too late to retire Oliva. Now with a tie score, the Dodgers elected to pitch to Harmon Killebrew, who lined a hard single to left, bringing home the go-ahead runs.

At least, that’s what my scorebook says.

Here’s what actually happened:

Remember that double switch I mentioned? In trying to bring in Kekich, the game alerted me he would automatically be inserted ninth in the order, but I wanted to leave Tracewski at shortstop and substitute out Wills. So in order to make it work, I switched Wills’ position to pitcher.

But that automatically inserted Wills onto the mound, and since (for some reason) the game was using 2020 rules, he could not be removed until facing three batters.

I tried restarting the game, but it saved my progress, and I could not restart it.

So with Wills pitching, I intentionally walked Kindall, pitched around Nossek (who walked), and had Stigman bunt them over before Kekich took the mound.

But since Kekich pitched poorly anyway and was intended to enter right away, the start of the inning goes on his pitching line in my scorebook.

Anyhow,

Back to the game.

Johnny Klippstein entered for the Twins to close out the game. After two quick outs, Ron Fairly doubled and pinch-hitter Roseboro singled, putting runners on the corners and the go-ahead run at the plate. But Tracewski sent a grounder back at Klippstein, who fired to Killebrew at first to finish the game and the Series!

No, the Dodgers don’t get to protest to the commissioner. I’m the commissioner.

STUDS:

• Jim Kaat/Dick Stigman/Johnny Klippstein: combined 9 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K
• Harmon Killebrew: 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI, GW hit
• Rich Rollins: 1-3 (the only other Twins hit of the game)

DUDS:

• OOTP double switches

In lieu of a Series recap:

SERIES STUDS:

• Tony Oliva (Series MVP): 8-20, 2 HR, 2 RBI, .400/.455/.750 slash
• Zoilo Versalles: 6-20, HR, 4 RBI, .300/.333/.700 slash
• Harmon Killebrew: 5-18, 2 HR, 7 RBI, .278/.381/.667 slash
• Jim Kaat: 1-0, 14 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K
• Dick Stigman: 1-0, 4 IP, 0 H, 0 ER (1 R), 2 BB, 7 K
• Jerry Zimmerman: 1-5, one completely unexpected three-run HR

Thank you for reading!

Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3 / Game 4