Good job,
Koya
Okay ... so now, after the season's been played, is there anything about your team that you think specifically put you over the top? I'm eying up all the low-AB bench guys you took with freakish batting stats.
In this sim, with so much talent spread around. I'd have bet good money that the best team would've settled around 95 wins. Seemed to be on that track for the first third of the season, too. I just wonder if the fact that one team became such a huge outlier was a fluke, or if there was some specific identifiable factor that kept your team at such a high level.
Its hard to pinpoint one or two factors - Having two 400 inning, top flight starters in the first two rounds really helped - that gave me two "free" bench slots. This let me take more low inning pitchers as well as the freak low AB guys.That said, I BARELY used Spencer and Gates Brown during the season. Fortunately, I had enough of a lead to save them for the playoffs, and they were unbelievable during that run. I tried this to a degree in the last SIM, but since I cut my ABs and IPs too tight, I didnt even make the playoffs.
The regular season success was more a product of what I look for in offensive players - and with the huge pool of offensive talent, I was able to get that. When I picked Al Simmons for example, I thought he would do very well - he did GREAT. Was top 5 MVP most of the second half. Many chided the pick, but he was very much my type of player and did a fantastic job.
All in all, it is tough to pinpoint one thing. I doubt Ill have another season like this - everything clicked. One of the top offenses and one of the top pitching staffs... but having those low AB guys saved for the playoffs might have put me over the top as Eephus and I were neck and neck in that series (in fact, I think I only outscored him by one run over the course of the 7 games).
The key to my season really taking off, however, was Willie Mays. Billy Hamilton was a huge early season disappointment. Once I put in Willie Mays (who hit about .300 with a .530 or so SLG with great defense in a big park and a lot of XBH) the lineup came together and really became a consistent force.
So, not sure if that helps. Just happened to have some good picks, and some good luck. As far as the postseason, it is a crapshoot to some degree. I had three elimination games including two in the first round and game 7 of the world series. I easily could have lost any of those... the regular season is what Im most proud of because things just clicked and never really let off. Luckily I had enough in the tank and enough good breaks to get the series.