simulate multiple seasons using “Original” and “Actual” team rosters that I’ve created using the Methodology outlined below
compile and review those results, then seed the top teams in a playoff structure
live-stream the playoff games and upload the resulting videos to YouTube
have fun!
Methodology
The “Original” rosters are based on my research for “Hardball Retrospective“, where I assigned every Major League ballplayer to the first team that signed them to a professional MLB contract. Each player remains on their assigned “Original” team for the duration of their careers.
To determine the rosters for my “Original” half-decade leagues, I utilized the following criteria:
Half-decades were designated as 1900-1904, 1905-1909, 1910-1914, 1915-1919, etc. up to 2015-2019.
minimum 40-man rosters for each “Original” half-decade team
I take the top 40 players for each roster based on Win Shares using each player’s best season in the five-year period. For example, Mike Trout registered 42, 36, 30, 38 and 34 Win Shares from 2015 to 2019. On the Angels 2015-2019 “Originals” roster, Mike Trout’s 2015 season will be represented.
Opening Day rosters consist of 25 players – either 14 batters / 11 pitchers or 15 batters / 10 pitchers.
All players on Opening Day rosters for the “Originals” must have at least 5 Win Shares. Any roster / slot that fails to meet this requirement will be filled by a player who fell below the cut line for their team’s 40-man roster. “Fill-in” players are denoted in the game with a plus(+) sign at the end of their last name.
Generally, each team will use a 5-man rotation and have 5 or 6 relief pitchers. Spot starter and bullpen roles are designated for most pitchers.
I assign lineups versus right-hand and left-hand pitchers for each team.
To introduce some randomness into the simulation, players can be optioned to the minors or recalled to the majors, but this is done at the lowest setting. There are no trades and players cannot be signed or released.
Digital Diamond Baseball is my simulation of choice for this exercise. Before each simulated season, I set the schedule year to a number corresponding to the first year of the half-decade that I’m simulating plus the iteration number of the replay. For example, “8001” would be the first sim-season for the 1980-1984 replay, followed by “8002”, “8003”, etc. This allows me to utilize the Encyclopedia function to compile statistics over multiple seasons. When viewing the reports, the “year” can be referenced to see which teams finished first in the standings in “8001” or who won the MVP and Cy Young in a particular league during the “8009” season.
I run the simulation for at least 10 seasons in each half-decade. The team with the highest victory total during a given season receives one point. If two or more teams tie for the lead, each receives 0.5 points. The team with the most points after 10 seasons declared the winner. However, if no team led or tied for lead in at least 4 out of 10 seasons, the simulation continues until one team reaches that criteria.
Encyclopedia reports – for career leaders, I require a minimum of 3000 plate appearances or 1000 innings pitched. When exporting the career batting and pitching statistics for individual players, I reduce the minimums to 1500 plate appearances and 500 innings pitched.
Playoff structure will reflect the MLB playoff and World Series during those timeframes with a few minor exceptions.
The rosters for my “Actual” half-decade leagues follow the majority of the rules outlined above. Here are the differences:
The minimum 5 Win Shares requirement is dropped for the “Actuals” rosters. There are no fill-ins from other teams, so if the backup catcher on a team only tallied 1 or 2 Win Shares, it’s likely that the other catcher was so dominant that they will not require too many days off.
Each team has a 40-man roster. Several teams carry 41 (when the backup catcher scenario arises, as I require every team to carry at least 2 active catchers).
The 1985-1989 Original Red Sox claimed the title with 6.5 points. The Mets finished second with 3 points and the Athletics notched a half-point to secure third place in the overall standings. As mentioned in the Methodology section, the team with the highest victory total during a given season receives one point. If two or more teams tie for the lead, each receives 0.5 points.
1985-1989 “Originals” – Playoff Videos
Playoff Recap and World Series Game 1 (Royals @ Mets) –
World Series Game 2 (Royals @ Mets) –
World Series Game 3 (Mets @ Royals) –
World Series Game 4 (Mets @ Royals) –
World Series Game 5 (Mets @ Royals) –
Note: This article was originally posted on hardballretro.com, February 5, 2024.
A lifelong resident of central New Jersey, I enjoy spending quality time with my wife and three children. In my professional life I’ve worked for three local healthcare systems as a server and network administrator over the last 30 years. My hobbies include baseball, statistics, computers and video games along with freshwater fishing. I have authored five books and contributed articles to Seamheads, Fangraphs and my site, Baseball Analytics. Follow my HardballRetro channels on Twitch for live-streaming of classic and current baseball video games and view the resulting playthrough videos on YouTube!
A lifelong resident of central New Jersey, I enjoy spending quality time with my wife and three children. In my professional life I’ve worked for three local healthcare systems as a server and network administrator over the last 30 years. My hobbies include baseball, statistics, computers and video games along with freshwater fishing. I have authored five books and contributed articles to Seamheads, Fangraphs and my site, Baseball Analytics. Follow my HardballRetro channels on Twitch for live-streaming of classic and current baseball video games and view the resulting playthrough videos on YouTube!
