I decided to embark on a quest to replay an entire season, managing my favorite team (the California Angels) and using the as-played lineups, rotations, schedules and transactions. Therefore, any injuries or transactions that occurred during the actual season will occur in my simulation (I’m using Digital Diamond Baseball v12.1). All teams are using the actual lineups and starting pitcher for a particular game. The computer managers and I have the flexibility to use our bench players and bullpens at our discretion, but the pitchers’ availability is limited by fatigue incurred from pitching in the days prior to the current game.
Objectives
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- simulate seasons using As-Played lineups, rotations, schedules and transactions as outlined above
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- as the manager of my team (and not the General Manager), I am not permitted to manipulate my roster (or other teams’ rosters) in any way
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- compile and review those results, post recap videos of the current standings and leaderboards at the end of each simulated month on the schedule, then seed the top teams in playoff rounds that mimics the postseason structure from the given season
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- live-stream the playoff and World Series games and upload the resulting videos to YouTube
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- try to out-manage my real-life counterpart
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- have fun!
Monthly Recaps
April 1984
May 1984
June 1984
July 1984
August 1984
September 1984
Standings
American League – Hardball Retro Replay 1984 Final Standings
National League – Hardball Retro Replay 1984 Final Standings
American League – Real-Life 1984 Final Standings
National League – Real-Life 1984 Final Standings
Leaders
American League – Hardball Retro Replay 1984 Leader Boards
National League – Hardball Retro Replay 1984 Leader Boards
American League – Real-Life 1984 Leader Boards
National League – Real-Life 1984 Leader Boards
Special Events
4+ Home Runs in a game
5+ Hits in a game
Hit for the Cycle
Inside-the-Park Home Runs
15+ Strikeouts in a game
No-Hitters
Playoffs
World Series
Please check back frequently to view the latest monthly recaps, playoffs and World Series videos!
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. Co-chair of the SABR Games and Simulations Committee (https://sabrbaseballgaming.com) since August 2022.
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!
Visit my Amazon author page to check out my books, promotional videos, and post a review if you're a Hardball Retro fan!
https://www.amazon.com/author/derekbain
My Books:
“Hardball Retro’s Compendium of Baseball Video Games and Electronic Handhelds”,published in September 2024 with co-author John Racanelli, is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com.
“Hardball Architects – Volume 1 (American League Teams)”,published in July 2020, is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com.
“Hardball Architects – Volume 2 (National League Teams)”,published in April 2022, is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com.
“Hardball Architects” examines the trades, free agent acquisitions, draft picks and other transactions for the 30 Major League Baseball franchises, divided into a 2-volume set (American League and National League). All key moves are scrutinized for every team and Sabermetric principles are applied to the roster construction throughout the lifetime of the organization to encapsulate the hits and misses by front office executives.
“Hardball Retroactive”,published in June 2018, is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com. A cross-section of essays that I penned for Seamheads.com along with my Baseball Analytics blog spanning nearly a decade touching on subjects including "Taking the Extra Base", "General Manager Scorecard", "Worst Trades", "BABIP By Location" and "Baseball Birthplaces and the Retro World Baseball Classic". Rediscover your favorite hardball arcade and simulations in "Play Retro Baseball Video Games In Your Browser" or take a deep dive into every franchise's minor league successes and failures in relation to their major league operations in "Minors vs. Majors".
“Hardball Retrospective” is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com.Supplemental Statistics, Charts and Graphs along with a discussion forum are offered at TuataraSoftware.com. In Hardball Retrospective, I placed every ballplayer in the modern era (from 1901-present) on their original teams. Using a variety of advanced statistics and methods, I generated revised standings for each season based entirely on the performance of each team’s “original” players. I discuss every team’s “original” players and seasons at length along with organizational performance with respect to the Amateur Draft (or First-Year Player Draft), amateur free agent signings and other methods of player acquisition. Season standings, WAR and Win Shares totals for the “original” teams are compared against the real-time or “actual” team results to assess each franchise’s scouting, development and general management skills.
Don Daglow (Intellivision World Series Major League Baseball, Earl Weaver Baseball, Tony LaRussa Baseball) contributed the foreword for Hardball Retrospective. The foreword and preview of my book are accessible here.
“Hardball Retrospective - Addendum 2014 to 2016”supplements my research for Hardball Retrospective, providing retroactive standings based on Wins Above Replacement (WAR) and Win Shares (WS) for each "original" team over the past three seasons (2014-2016). Team totals from 2010 - 2013 are included for reference purposes. “Addendum” is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com.
Contact me on BlueSky - @hardballretro.bsky.social
