Monday, November 18, 2024

S61 On The Books!

Jessica Fletcher - contributing reporter

Let's take a look at future money that is already tied up. Who has the most and least amount to spend next season. If time allows, we'll take a look at upcoming Free Agents as well. Here is who has the most committed in future seasons. List in order of most future money committed. In the 'Future salary is future owner problems' are Helena Hot Dogs at nearly $240M. Close behind is Houston with nearly $210M. Followed by Chicago and Huntington right around $185M. This season it appears to be more teams in the $80-130M committed range than any of the years prior. I wonder if that's because of the MWR or just how things are shaking out these seasons. Mexico City is the only team who has commitment issues, guaranteeing not a single dime beyond this season. Fargo, New York, and Buffalo combined have less money committed than #5 lowest - Colorado Springs; whose salary we feel are on the rise - it's about to be Loin season again. 

The average commitment in the league is $46M next year, down to $28, then $13, then $6M by S65. Most of those rose from previous years, it's gotta be the MWR. Obviously we do this article a little early, so I expect a bit of change as extensions are signed after the regular season. 




Friday, November 15, 2024

Best Recent Hitter - Alex Tarraga vs Omar Gonzales

 Jack Torrance - contributing reporter


Everybody knows the name Alex Tarraga in Cobbfather lore, but as we approach the retirement of Omar Gonzales who was truly the better player? Let's do a quick comparison. But remember, OG is still playing so we'll see how much he has left in the tank. By awards, AT has it in the bag, but if you look at the other stats; it's much closer or even favors OG. By the time Omar retires, we think the top layer will still be considered Alex Tarraga. I'm sure at some point we'll be comparing the two with Kyle Crain, WYW, Weiss, or Dario Lester; but we'll see if they can keep up numbers or not. 

  • ML seasons
    • AT - S38 to S58 - 20
    • OG - S44 to current (61) - 17
  • World Series Rings
    • 2 (AT) vs 0 (OG)
      • Helena hopes this changes this year and Omar wins his first title. 
  • MVPs
    • 9 (AT) vs 5 (OG)
      • AT won 6 in 7 seasons from S41-47, OG won 3 of 4 from S48-51.
  • All Star Appearances
    • 13 (AT) vs 7 (OG)
  • Silver Slugger
    • 8 (AT) vs 9 (OG)
  • Other Awards
    • AT - 1x Home Run Derby Champ
  • Salary (including bonuses)
    • AT - $212.13M vs OG - $227.23M
  • Hitting
    • ABs - 10,793 (AT) vs 10,263 (OG)
    • AVG - .305 (AT) vs .304 (OG)
    • HR - 882 (AT) vs 854 (OG)
    • Runs - 1,977 (AT) vs 2,052 (OG)
    • RBI - 2,209 (AT) vs 2,143 (OG)
    • SB - 74 (AT) vs 200 (OG)
  • Fielding
    • This is probably the biggest difference between the two, AT held is own at 1B and even had 200+ plus plays where OG didn't log a single plus play with nearly 100 negative plays. 
    • AT
      • 1B: 20,969 innings, 232 plus, 13 minus, 52 errors
      • RF: 1,752 innings, 0 plus, 12 minus, 9 errors
      • LF: 1,822 innings, 3 plus, 5 minus, 9 errors
      • DH: 120 innings
    • OG
      • 1B: 20,615 innings, 0 plus, 84 minus, 46 errors
      • DH: 2,252 innings
      • RF: 792 innings, 0 plus, 14 minus, 4 errors




Thursday, November 14, 2024

WIS - Under New Ownership

 Minihouston, editor-in-chief

Alright Cobbfather fans, there's a new sheriff in town and in charge of WhatIfSports. I have been lucky enough to have enjoyed some back and forth with the new owner, and I'm excited for this change. Now I know what you're thinking, "yeah, now they can fix all my wish list items in an update that I want due out next month" - let's relax a little. There is still tech transitions and business related items that need to occur first. But what I can share is, he's a big fan of HBD and has been playing it for MANY years. It's great to see someone with some passion behind it and not just the ho-hum attitude the previous owner has had since before I joined back in S44 of Cobbfather history. He made me promise not to make any promises as he knows how many broken promises have been made over the years and its a bit of a sensitive subject; and I agree. But what I can tell you is, he's been working with the old dev team on the transition and will have additional team members as he looks to get WIS more than just a skeleton maintenance crew that keeps the site online (sometimes) as the previous owner had. I'm thrilled to see what they can do with a larger team. And please realize, WIS is so much more than just HBD - all the players who are focused on other games will have a similar wish list of game changes they'd like to see to their game. Not to mention certain players who will not be named, have hair brained ideas about possible tweaks besides just those general updates such as DH to the NL, rotations changes, ST and Regular Season Lineups, Health adjustments, etc. (not promising any of those - just naming a few that I often hear requested by users).

Okay, cats out of the bag - I'm the crazy one. Duh, right? I pitched an idea about a College and ML world that might eliminate some of the vacancies in HBD - where plenty of worlds are struggling to find new members and sit dormant for a long time until they merge with another dormant league. Like I said, it's a hairbrained idea that could reuse some of the current HBD coding; but likely isn't going any further then just my google document where I dumped my ideas. It was fun to think through and would be an amazing world to be a part of - of course I'm an Architect and not a game developer; so what do I know. :)

Side note, he's aware and enjoys our little blog, and while I asked him for dev level scouting - for research and blog writing of course - it was denied. (just kidding, I didn't ask). 

Hopefully this means good things in store for HBD and all WIS games. Stay tuned. 


S61 Power Rankings

 Richard Castle - contributing reporter


Atlanta continues to sit at the top of the pack, Cincinnati continue to prove last season isn't the direction the new ownership wants to go. Going from last to first with the change of owners. Here we are at the 3/4 mark, if your team is going to turn it on and make the playoffs, now's the time to do it. At the bottom of the article we've added a new addition, our MWR tracker. Gives you an idea on how many wins each team still needs this season and a total for the next two.  
  • 86-33
    • Atlanta (AL-E)
  • 82-37
    • Cincinnati Reds (NL-E)
  • 80-39
    • Houston (AL-S)
  • 77-42
    • Helena (AL-W)
  • 74-45
    • Tacoma (NL-N)
In the AL, Minnesota has pulled away from the pack though the whole division is under .500. Atlanta continues to run away with the East, upping their lead to 26 games. And the story seems the same in the South, Houston continues to push for the playoffs with Huntington doing what they can but still trailing by 15 now. Out West, Helena has widened their lead to double digits, leading trade happy Tucson by 11. The wildcard looking like Huntington of course, along with either Tucson or Colorado Springs. I'd consider the rest of the American league out of it. 

For the NL, Tacoma has turned on the jets to widen their division lead to double digits as well and pushing for their first 100 win season...ever! While we mentioned Buffalo has done wonders as the season progresses, they've only gained 2 games on Cincinnati since the last power rankings. Santa Fe continues to hold strong, even with Austin improving to their first winning season since S41 when they last won the division. The West  has finally settled down a bit, with OKC barely above .500 but leading the division by 8 games. Wildcard is looking like Buffalo, Montreal, Austin, or Washington DC.   


We've also listed the last two power rankings with the current so you can see how team have moved around a bit. For example, Salem has been ranked 20th all season, Minnesota 19 though they just moved up to 19. Buffalo started all the way down at 30 at the start of the season but have moved up to 16 recently. Austin as well, starting at 14 and working their way up to 6th rank. Vancouver on the other hands is backwards - go figure right? - they started at 16 moved down to 23 and now sit at 26. Chicago and Mexico City can't decide who the worse team in the league is with Philly and Fargo fighting for the 3rd and 4th worse.
  1. .664 - Atlanta Expos (AL-E Champ)
  2. .649 - Houston Space Cowboys (AL-S Champ)
  3. .649 - Cincinnati Reds (NL-E Champ)
  4. .639 - Tacoma Aroma (NL-N Champ)
  5. .601 - Helena Hot Dogs (AL-W Champ)
  6. .591 - Huntington Tropics (AL Wildcard 1)
  7. .575 - Santa Fe Surf Riders VIII (NL-S Champ)
  8. .567 - Austin Son's of Odin 
  9. .559 - Montreal Fighting Poutine Plates (NL Wildcard 2)
  10. .554 - Tucson Toros (AL Wildcard 2) 
  11. .549 - Augusta Alcoholics
  12. .527 - Washington DC Nationals
  13. .507 - Colorado Springs From My Loins 
  14. .496 - Boston Mass Hysteria
  15. .495 - Minnesota North Stars (AL-N Champ) 
  16. .488 - Oklahoma City Barons (NL-W Champ) 
  17. .472 - Buffalo Bisons (NL Wildcard 1)
  18. .469 - New York Empire
  19. .467 - Salem Bourbon Makers 
  20. .466 - Jacksonville Lizard Kings 
  21. .456 - Anaheim Diablos 
  22. .456 - Philadelphia Harpers
  23. .450 - New Orleans Hurricane Dodgers 
  24. .441 - Hartford Rising Stars 
  25. .439 - Columbus Corgis 
  26. .436 - Vancouver Canucks
  27. .434 - Charleston Offspring 
  28. .407 - Scottsdale Sazeracs 
  29. .407 - Fargo Snowmen
  30. .368 - Chicago Gunslingers 
  31. .366 - Dover Hazmats 
  32. .360 - Mexico City Staring Frogs 
Now for the updated MWR. The first W column shows how many more wins each team needs to get to this season's min of 55 wins. The second column, the requirement goes up to 115 games with a minimum of 55, and finally the third season away is 180 wins. You can see there are already a few teams that just need the minimum 55 wins the next two seasons to meet the 180 based upon how well they are playing this year. On the other hand, Mexico City needs nearly 140 wins the rest of this season and the next two combined to get to their 180. Good luck everyone!!