The Greatest MLB Tournament Ever Created (NL, Round One, Group 1)

The methodology and AL Bracket 1, Round 1 is here.

National League

Round One  Group One

1. 1906 Chicago Cubs (Lost WS)
v.
128.  1888 New York Giants (World Champions)

Tinker (25) /Evers (24)/Chance (29) and Three Finger Brown (29) against Buck Ewing (28)/Roger Connor (30) Tim Keefe (31)/Mickey Welch (28); I made a decision to dump the 19th century teams at the bottom of the bracket (pythag heavily skews toward earlier teams given the smaller set of good competition, I don't want to ignore them but also not have the entire tournament be a battle of 19th century guys) let's see how that turns out.  

C Giants - Ewing
1B Giants - Connor
2B Cubs-Evers
SS Cubs-Tinker
3B Cubs-Steinfeldt
LF Cubs-Sheckard
CF Cubs-Slagle
RF Giants-Tiernan
SP1 Giants-Keefe
SP2 Giants-Welch
SP3 Cubs-Reulbach
Cl Push
Double: Bat WAR Cubs
Double: Pit WAR Cubs

Cubs 10 Giants 5 - This Cubs team is gonna be a tough out; they just rolled up the Giants on the offensive side and moved onto the next round.  

64. 1994 Montreal Expos (1st in AL East)

v.

65. 1939 Cincinnati Reds (Lost WS)

-The Expos season got short because of the labor action (which will continue to impact them here) they're paced by an all 27 year old OF - Walker/Grissom/Alou.  They take on the National League Champion Reds, with 30 year old Bucky Walters and a balanced offense with two 28 year olds on the right side of the infield, Frank McCormick and Lonnie Frey.

C Reds-Lombardi
1B Reds-McCormick
2B Reds-Frey
SS Reds-Myers
3B Reds-Werber
LF Expos-Alou
CF Expos-Grissom
RF Expos-Walker
SP1 Reds-Walters
SP2 Reds-Derringer
SP3 Expos-Fassero
Cl Reds-Thompson
Double: Bat WAR Reds
Double: Pit WAR Expos

Cincinnati 10 Montreal 6 - Cincinnati swept the infield and won the top line pitching matchups to knock out the Expos, that's the only Montreal team in the field, so the Expos are no more.  

32. 1986 New York Mets (Won WS)

v.

97. 1953 Milwaukee Braves (2nd in NL)

It's the swaggering '86 Mets; Dwight Gooden is 21, Darryl Strawberry 24, Lenny Dykstra 23 and Keith Hernandez 32.  They meet the Braves (in their first year in Milwaukee)- 32 year old Warren Spahn, 21 year old Eddie Mathews. 

C Mets-Carter
1B Mets-Hernandez
2B Mets-Backman
SS Braves-Logan
3B Braves-Mathews
LF Braves-Gordon
CF Mets-Dykstra
RF Mets-Strawberry
SP1 Braves-Spahn
SP2 Mets-Darling
SP3 Mets-Ojeda
Cl  Mets-McDowell
Double: Bat WAR Mets
Double: Pit WAR Push

Mets 10  Braves  4 - The bats got it done for the Mets; overcoming the performance of the future Braves Hall of Famers.  

33. 1976 Cincinnati Reds (WS Champions)

v.

96. 1920 New York Giants (2nd in NL)

-The second half of the back to back Champion Reds; Joe Morgan's 32, Johnny Bench is 28, Pete Rose is 35 and George Foster's 27.  It is an all time great offensive attack.  The Giants counter with offense of their own; 22 year old Frankie Frisch and 29 year old Dave Bancroft.  

C Reds-Bench
1B Reds-Perez
2B Reds-Morgan
SS Giants-Bancroft
3B Reds-Rose
LF Reds-Foster
CF Reds-Geronimo
RF Giants-Youngs
SP1 Push
SP2 Reds-Zachry
SP3 Giants-Toney
Cl Reds-Eastwick
Double: Bat WAR Reds
Double: Pit WAR Push

Cincinnati 10  NYG 3 - well, this was pretty overwhelming; the Giants were an offense first team with passable pitching and the Reds were an all time offense first team with passable pitching.  This sets up the scenario in the next round where 1976 George Foster will face 1986 George Foster.

16. 1912 New York Giants (Lost WS)

v.

113. 1911 Chicago Cubs (2nd in NL)

-An organizational rematch from earlier in the bracket; 31 year old Christy Mathewson leads the Giants against Tinker (30) Evers (29) Chance (34) and Three Finger Brown (34). It's 5 years later, can this Cubs team also advance?

 C Giants-Meyers

1B Giants-Merkle
2B Giants-Doyle
SS Cubs-Tinker
3B Cubs-Doyle
LF Cubs-Sheckard
CF Giants-Becker
RF Cubs-Schulte
SP1 Giants-Mathewson
SP2 Giants-Marquard
SP3 Giants-Tesreau
Cl Giants-Crandall
Double: Bat WAR Giants
Double: Pit WAR Giants

Giants 12 Cubs 4 - the first two Giants teams in the bracket fell, but this one rode a helluva pitching advantage to victory.  

49. 1988 New York Mets (Lost NLCS)

v.

80. 1915 Phillies (Lost WS)

-two years after the '86 World Championship team that already advanced in the bracket comes the '88 Mets.  Strawberry's 26, Hernandez and Gary Carter are now 34, Gooden is only 23. They take on 28 year old Grover Cleveland Alexander, a pre-Giant 24 year old Dave Bancroft and the Phillies.

C Push
1B Phillies-Luderus
2B Mets-Backman
SS Phillies-Bancroft
3B Mets-Johnson
LF Mets-McReynolds
CF Mets-Dykstra
RF Phillies-Cravath
SP1 Phillies-Alexander
SP2 Phillies-Mayer
SP3 Mets-Cone
Cl Mets-Myers
Double: Bat WAR Mets
Double: Pit WAR Mets

NYM 10 Phillies 5 -superior depth allows the Mets to bust open a tight series; they double up advancement through the bracket

17.  1943 St Louis Cardinals (Lost WS)

v.

112. 1879 Boston Red Caps (Braves) (2nd in NL)

-22 year old Stan Musial leads the Cardinals against the future Braves, with 23 year old Tommy Bond who pitched 555 innings and started 64 games.  

C Cards-Cooper
1B Cards-Sanders
2B Cards-Klein
SS Cards-Marion
3B Cards-Kurowski
LF Braves-Jones
CF Braves-O'Rourke
RF Cards-Musial
SP1 Braves-Bond
SP2 Cards-Lanier
SP3 Cards-Pollet
Cl Cards-Krist
Double: Bat WAR Cards
Double: Pit WAR Cards

STL 13 Boston 3 - the '79 game is just too primitive for the Red Caps to compete; shorter season, smaller rosters, they've got top end talent but that's really it and the Cards wipe them out.  

48. 1906 Pirates (3rd in NL)

v. 

81. 1904 Reds (3rd in NL)

-32 year old Honus Wagner leads the Bucs; 25 year old Noodles Hahn paces the Reds - the first NL bracket wraps up Round 1.

C Reds-Schlei
1B Pirates-Nealon
2B Push
SS Pirates-Wagner
3B Pirates-Sheehan
LF Pirates-Clarke
CF Reds-Seymour
RF Reds-Dolan
SP1 Pirates-Willis
SP2 Reds-Harper
SP3 Pirates-Leifield
Cl Push
Double: Bat WAR Pirates
Double: Pit WAR Reds

Pirates 8 Reds 6 - Close on every turn, but it's Wagner/Clarke and the Pirate bats that carry the day.

That's the bracket.  Here's who we'll see in this bracket in the Round of 64.

1. 1906 Cubs

v.

65. 1939 Reds

32. 1986 Mets

v.

33. 1976 Reds

16. 1912 Giants

v.

49. 1988 Mets

17. 1943 Cardinals

v.

48. 1906 Pirates

Next time - it's back to the AL where we'll meet the second overall AL seed - the 1927 New York Yankees.

The Greatest MLB Tournament Ever Created (AL, Round One, Group 1)

I've taken the top 128 teams by Pythagorean Record in the history of both leagues (not really, I'm only using current organizations; so if you're defunct, I didn't look at you; and I'm using the league you're currently in - so an Astros team from the 80s is still in AL team, as the Astros are in the AL now.  Also - I pared the list of 19th century teams a bit. No one below a .600 Pythag is in the field.)

I'm using all 3 WAR systems (B-Ref, Davenport, Fangraphs) going position by position, then considering overall WAR for both batting and pitching - then, if needed, total WAR as a tiebreaker.

It's just more fun to do it position by position.  Most innings at that position - you're the guy in the race. When I was a kid I'd do this with baseball cards, lay out all 18 guys, battle position by position, I'm trading the methodological flaw (yes, I understand) for the fun.  Fun!  (seriously, I have two jobs, all I do is work, 7 days a week, it never stops, just let me have this one)

American League  

Round One  Group One

1. 1939 NY Yankees (WS Winners)
v.
128.  1918 Boston Red Sox (WS Winners)

24 year old Joe DiMaggio leads the Yanks against 23 year old Babe Ruth and the Red Sox

C NYY - Dickey (that means Dickey has more WAR that season than the Red Sox catcher)
1B Bos - McInnis
2B NYY-Gordon
SS NYY-Crosetti
3B NYY-Rolfe
LF NYY-Selkirk
CF NYY-DiMaggio
RF Bos-Hooper
SP1 Bos-Mays (top 3 pitchers in IP for both teams chosen in order)
SP2 Bos-Bush
SP3 Bos-Ruth
Cl Push
Double: Bat WAR NYY  (total offensive WAR, counts double)
Double: Pit WAR NYY (total pitching WAR, counts double)

NYY 10 Bos 5 - Winner 1939 Yankees; even with Boston's starting pitching advantage, NYY was still stronger on both sides of the field.

64. 1932 Philadelphia A's (2nd place in AL)
v.
65. 1915 Detroit Tigers (2nd place in AL)

24 year old Jimmie Foxx, 20 year old Mickey Cochrane, 32 year old Lefty Grove lead the A's against 28 year old Ty Cobb and the Tigers

C A's - Cochrane
1B A's - Foxx
2B A's-Bishop
SS Det - Bush
3B Det-Vitt
LF Det-Veach
CF Det-Cobb
RF Det-Crawford
SP1 A's-Grove
SP2 Tigers-Dauss
SP3 Tigers-Dubuc
Cl Push
Double: Bat WAR A's
Double: Pit WAR Tigers

Detroit 9 Philadelphia 6 - Winner 1915 Tigers-they swept the OF and had better arms.

32. 1906 Cleveland Indians (Naps) (finished third in AL)
v.
97. 1969 Minnesota Twins (lost ALCS)

31 year old Nap Lajoie, 25 year old Terry Turner lead the future Indians, 33 year old Harmon Killebrew and 23 year old Rod Carew pace the Twins.

C Cleve-Bemis
1B Min-Killebrew
2B Cleve-Lajoie
SS Cle-Turner
3B Min-Killebrew
LF Push
CF Cle-Flick
RF Min-Oliva
SP1 Min-Perry
SP2 Min-Boswell
SP3 Cle-Joss
Cl Min-Perranoski
Double: Bat WAR Indians
Double: Pit WAR Twins

Minnesota 8 Cleveland 7 - Winner 1969 Twins - an upset for the modern team by the slimmest of margins; superior Twins pitching moves them forward.

33. 2001 Oakland A's  (lost ALDS)
v.
96. 1977 New York Yankees (Won WS)

Moneyball vs. Billy Ball; 30 year old Jason Giambi and the Hudson/Mulder/Zito pitching staff leads the A's against the Bronx Zoo - 31 year old Reggie Jackson, 30 year old Thurman Munson, 26 year old Ron Guidry.

C NYY-Munson
1B Oak-Giambi
2B NYY-Randolph
SS Oak-Tejada
3B Oak-Chavez
LF NYY-White
CF NYY-Rivers
RF NYY-Jackson
SP1 Oak-Hudson
SP2 Oak-Mulder
SP3 NYY-Guidry
Cl NYY-Lyle
DH Oak-Saenz
Double: Bat WAR NYY
Double: Pit WAR Oak

NYY 9  Oak 8 - Winner 1977 Yankees - super competitive, but this Oakland team gets their heartbroken again by the Yankees, the A's can't quite overcome the offensive edge from the Bombers.  

16. 1936 New York Yankees (Won WS)
v.
113. 1977 Kansas City Royals (Lost ALCS)

33 year old Lou Gehrig, 29 year old Bill Dickey - a 21 year old Joe DiMaggio lead the World Champion Yankees; they take on a 24 year old George Brett and the Kansas City Royals

C NYY-Dickey
1B NYY-Gehrig
2B NYY-Lazzeri
SS NYY-Crosetti
3B KC-Brett
LF KC-Paquette
CF NYY-DiMaggio
RF KC-Cowens
SP1 KC-Leonard
SP2 NYY-Pearson
SP3 NYY-Splittorff
Cl NYY-Malone
DH KC-McRae (top hitting Yankee who didn't start acts as their DH)
Double: Bat WAR NYY
Double: Pit WAR KC

NYY 10 KCR 7 - a pitching advantage by the Royals made this one closer than you'd expect, but the Yankees prevailed.  

49. 1949 Boston Red Sox (2nd in AL)
v.
80. 2011 New York Yankees (Lost ALDS)

30 year old Ted Williams against 28 year old Robinson Cano/35 year old Alex Rodriguez/41 year old Mariano Rivera.  What's an all time tournament bracket without Yankees vs. Red Sox?

C NYY-Martin
1B NYY-Teixeira
2B NYY-Cano
SS Bos-Stephens
3B NYY-Rodriguez
LF Bos-Williams
CF NYY-Granderson
RF NYY-Swisher
SP1 Bos-Parnell
SP2 Bos-Kinder
SP3 NYY-Nova
Cl NYY-Rivera
DH Bos-Batts
Double: Bat WAR Bos
Double: Pit WAR NYY

NYY 10 Bos 7 - Ted Williams postseason struggles continue; the number of good Yankee position players+pitching depth carries the day.

17. 2017 Indians (lost in ALDS)
v.
112. 1978 Yankees (WS Winners)

It's 23 year old Francisco Lindor - 24 year old Jose Ramirez and 31 year old Corey Kluber trying to avenge their ALDS loss to the Yankees by taking out the World Champs from four decades prior - Reggie's 32, Willie Randolph is 24 - Ron Guidry is 27 years old.  The '77 team already advanced in the bracket, can the back-to-back World Champions complete the sweep?

C NYY-Munson
1B Cle-Santana
2B NYY-Randolph
SS Cle-Lindor
3B Cle-Ramirez
LF NYY-Piniella
CF NYY-Rivers
RF NYY-Jackson
SP1 NYY-Guidry
SP2 Cle-Carrasco
SP3 Cle-Bauer
Cl NYY-Gossage
DH Cle-Encarnacion
Double: Bat WAR NYY
Double: Pit WAR Cle

NYY 9 Cle 8 - The Yankees swept the OF and had a slight batting advantage that allowed them to narrowly overcome the significant pitching gap.  The Yankee organization continues to steamroll the bracket.  

48. 1973 Baltimore Orioles (lost ALCS)
v.
81. 1930 Washington Senators (finished 2nd in AL)

Massively underappreciated 24 year old Bobby Grich and 27 year old Jim Palmer lead Earl Weaver's Orioles against 23 year old Joe Cronin and the Senators.  The first round of bracket 1 comes to a close with this battle of local rivals.

C Balt-Williams
1B Wash-Judge
2B Balt-Grich
SS Wash-Cronin
3B Balt-Robinson
LF Balt-Baylor
CF Balt-Blair
RF Wash-Rice
SP1 Balt-Palmer
SP2 Wash-Crowder
SP3 Balt-McNally
Cl Balt-Reynolds
DH Wash-Harris
Double: Bat WAR Balt
Double: Pit WAR Wash

Balt 10 Wash 7 - the Orioles top line pitching was able to overcome the Senators depth, add that to the strength of their bats at the O's advance.

That wraps up this first bracket.  Here's what we'll see when we return to this group in the Round of 64:

1939 Yankees
v.
1915 Tigers

1969 Tigers
v.
1977 Yankees

1936 Yankees
v. 
2011 Yankees

1978 Yankees
v. 
1973 Orioles

When I return - it will be with the first National League bracket - led by the top NL seed, the 1906 Cubs.

Okay, Here Are Some Football Picks (Nov 3-4)

College (52-34)

Ohio St -18 Neb  loss
TT +13.5 Ok St  win
Wash St -9.5 Cal loss
LSU +14.5 Alabama loss
Hawaii +19 Utah State loss
USF -6 Tulane loss
Georgia State -6 Texas State loss
Wake Forest +5.5 Syracuse loss
Illinois +9.5 Minnesota win
Baylor +7 Oklahoma State win
Oregon State +16.5 USC loss
Texas -2  WVirginia loss
SMU +14 Houston win
Wisconsin -28 Rutgers loss
Rice pick UTEP loss
Virginia Tech +2 Boston College loss
North Carolina +6.5 Georgia Tech loss
Kansas +16 Iowa State loss
Uconn +18 Tulsa loss
Penn State +12 Michigan loss
Kansas State +9.5 TCU win
Michigan State -2.5 Maryland win
Iowa +3 Purdue win
Central Michigan +13.5 Eastern Michigan win
San Jose State +14.5 Wyoming loss
Navy +13 Cincinnati loss
Louisiana +10.5 Troy win

9-18
61-52

NFL (20-24)

Pitt +3 Balt win
NE -5.5 GB win
Det +5 Minn loss
Atl +1.5 Wash win
Tenn +5.5 Dall

2018 NFL All-Pro Team, Midway

QB J.Goff LAR (MVP)
      P.Mahomes KC

RB M.Gordon  LAC
      K.Hunt KC
      S.Barkley NYG
      T.Gurley LAR

WR  D.Hopkins  Hou
        A.Thielen Min
        O.Beckham NYG
        R.Woods LAR

TE   T.Kelce KC
        G.Kittle SF

C     J.Kelce Phi
        M.Paradis Den

G    M.Yanda Balt
       R.Saffold LAR
       A.Blythe LAR
       S.Mason NE

T    A.Whitworth LAR
      D.Bakhtiari GB
      T.Armstead NO
      R.Ramczyk NO

DE  JJ Watt Hou
       C.Jordan NO
       M.Garrett Cle
       B.Graham Phi

DT  A.Donald LAR
       F.Cox Phi
       K.Clark Phi
       J.Casey Ten

OLB  D.Ford KC
          L.Alexander Buf
          K.Mack Chi
          R.Kerrigan Wash

ILB   L.Kuechly Carol
         B.Wagner Sea

CB  K.Jackson Hou
       C.Harris Den
       S.Gilmore NE
       B.Jones Dal

S    J.Bates Cin
      DJ Swearinger Wash
      HH Clinton Dix Wash
      D.James LAC
     

         

Athlete of the Month, October 2018

September was here.

Athlete of the Month for October, 2018: Steve Pearce.  Runners-up:

Tua Tagovailoa
Jackie Bradley
Cody Bellinger

10 months down.  2 left. 

     January: Nick Foles
     February: Yuzuru Hanyu
     March: Azura Stevens
     April: Arike Ogunbowale
     May: LeBron James
     June: Kevin Durant
     July: Kylian Mbappe
     August: Brooks Koepka
     September: Breanna Stewart
     October: Steve Pearce