Gud Twins Tourney, Season (first half): The glory of my story

You never expect much when simming the first half of a season in Out of the Park.

Generally, a season begins with a fair split of wins and losses, though the occasional streak pops in. I have had a Marlins team pop off a 15-game winning streak in April, but that streak was surrounded by an appropriate win-loss split.

You never expect an opening month like this.

The Wonder Years decided to start off my simulation by winning their first 22 games, only losing Game 23 on a two-out come-from-behind walk-off two-run homer. After a month, they dominated the offensive categories, with three players batting over .390:

After simming another month, the Years continued their dominance, remaining in the single digits in losses. I wondered why.

Then I remembered the bench-depleted Bristol Barstools were in their division.

With exactly nine position players and nine men in the lineup, the Barstools’ non-pitchers are all completely exhausted. Were I permitting myself to interfere, I’d have put pitchers in the field for a game or two just to give them rest, but instead, the Barstools went 0 for May.

And fittingly, most of the Barstools’ suffering has come at the Years’ expense.

In the above game, Joe Mays struck out 17 batters. It must really suck to live in Bristol.

Having now simmed to the All-Star break, one observation did come true: the Wonder Years’ three-batters-over-.390 pace could not be sustained.

For the most part.

If you are not Rich Reese.

Reese is dominating the league right now, on pace to finish with record-breaking hit and RBI totals, and with a chance to break the MLB marks for runs scored and batting average as well.

On the pitching side of statistics, another record is absolutely going to fall:

Walter Johnson is on pace to wallop the MLB strikeouts record, and two of his Special Ks teammates are on a similarly torrid path.

Meanwhile, the entire Years’ starting rotation might win 30 games apiece.

Obviously the Wonder Years are the story right now, but let’s check the standings at the break:

...those 70-20 Inside Baseballers look awfully impressive as well.

Led by .381-hitting Kent Hrbek and 30 homers from Jimmie Hall, the Baseballers have put a nice lead up in the Benjamin Division. Additionally, Baseballer Tony Oliva led the Benjamin squad to a 7-2 All-Star Game win over the TJ squad, belting a three-run home run. As a team, they are first or second in their division in every team stat:

Through half a season, the favorites to compete for the Gud Twins Trophy are the Years and the Baseballers, but remember: the season is solely for bracket seeding (within divisions).

Once the bracket starts, anything can happen.

And if there’s anything I’ve learned from past OOTP tournaments, anything will.

Introduction | Season (first half) | Season (second half)