Quick Little 3-Month Tournament Idea For You..

[RandySteinman]

Am already more than halfway thru a triple-knockout tournament I’m playing on GO, featuring 24 teams from the 1970’s and '80s. Three-man starting rotations. No DH’s. Optional Pitching, Pitcher Fatigue and Advanced Fielding are in play.
I expect this solitaire project will be around 85 games when completed. So far, I’ve played 45 games.
To start, the tournament has been divided into three brackets:

70’s Division:
Undefeated: '71 A’s
One loss: '78 Red Sox, '79 Expos
Two losses: '75 Reds, '77 Phillies
Eliminated: '74 Dodgers, '77 Yankees, '79 Pirates

Early 80’s Division:
Undefeated: '83 White Sox
One loss: '83 Orioles, '84 Cubs
Two losses: '82 Brewers, '82 Angels
Eliminated: '80 Royals, '80 Astros, '84 Padres

Late 80’s Division:
Undefeated: '85 Blue Jays
One loss: '88 A’s, '88 Dodgers
Two losses: '85 Yankees, '86 Red Sox
Eliminated: '84 Tigers, '85 Cardinals, '86 Mets

The eventual three bracket champions will all advance to the semi-finals. The three bracket runners-up will also have a chance to be the fourth semi-finalist.
So far, every team has played at least three games. The early batting MVP (minimum 13 PA’s) has been Jose Canseco with a .583 BA, 1.583 SLG and 2.199 OPS. Canseco shares the HR lead with 3, tied with Mike Schmidt and Mike Pagliarulo. Canseco also leads the tournament with 8 RBI, while Johnny Bench has 7.
The Most Valuable Pitcher so far has been the Angels’ Ken Forsch (B-Z). In 16-1/3 innings, he’s 2-0 with a 0.55 ERA. In 16 innings, Orel Hershiser (A-X) has an ERA of 0.56 and a WHIP of 0.31. Roger Clemens (A-XYZ) has 15 K’s in 15+ innings.

Thru 45 games, the tournament Batting Average is .227, the ERA is 3.68, and the Fielding % is .982.

Since I average a game a day, the tournament should wrap up close to New Year’s Day.

[RandySteinman]

So I have now completed the three triple-elimination brackets:

1970’s Division:
Champion - '71 A’s
Runner-up - '78 Red Sox

Early 80’s Division:
Champion - '83 White Sox
Runner-up - '83 Orioles

Late 80’s Division:
Champion - '85 Blue Jays
Runner-up - '85 Yankees

Interestingly, all six teams to advance are AL teams. The eleven NL teams in the tournament have all been eliminated.

The three champs will now advance to a mini round-robin, lasting six games.
The two top teams of that will meet in a semi-final.
The third-place team will face the winner of the six-game runner-up round-robin.
(The two bottom teams in the runner-up bracket will be eliminated.)

Updating some overall tournament stats after 66 games:
The tournament BA is still .227, but the ERA is up to 3.86, while the Fielding % has climbed to .984.

[RandySteinman]

To update: We are now through the round-robin portion of the schedule. (Six of the twelve games went to extra innings!) The '78 Red Sox and '85 Yankees have been eliminated. The tournament is now down to four teams…

ROUND-ROBIN RESULTS

CHAMPIONS DIVISION:
WHITE SOX 5 @ A’s 3
BLUE JAYS 2 @ WHITE SOX 3 (13 innings)
A’s 6 @ BLUE JAYS 2
A’s 2 @ WHITE SOX 3
WHITE SOX 4 @ BLUE JAYS 5 (11 innings)
BLUE JAYS 1 @ A’s 0 (12 innings)

CHAMP STANDINGS:
WHITE SOX 3-1
BLUE JAYS 2-2
ATHLETICS 1-3

–

RUNNERS-UP DIVISION:
YANKEES 5 @ RED SOX 4 (10 innings)
ORIOLES 2 @ YANKEES 1
RED SOX 9 @ ORIOLES 2
RED SOX 8 @ YANKEES 0
YANKEES 5 @ ORIOLES 6 (12 innings)
ORIOLES 3 @ RED SOX 2 (12 innings)

RUNNERS-UP STANDINGS:
ORIOLES 3-1
RED SOX 2-2
YANKEES 1-3

–

UPCOMING GAMES:

QUARTER-FINAL
'83 ORIOLES @ '71 A’s

SEMI-FINAL #1
'85 BLUE JAYS @ '83 WHITE SOX

SEMI-FINAL #2
WINNER (Orioles/A’s) @ LOSER (Blue Jays/White Sox)

TWO SEMI-FINAL WINNERS ADVANCE TO BEST-OF-THREE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

[RandySteinman]

And that’s a wrap! The 1985 Blue Jays are my tournament champs, featuring great teams from the 1970’s and '80s!
The Jays swept the 1983 White Sox in two straight games in the best-of-three championship final.

Here’s the playoff recap…

QUARTER-FINAL:
'83 ORIOLES 4
'71 A’s 5
Oakland rallied with three runs in the bottom of the 8th to eliminate Baltimore. Sal Bando’s two-run HR with two out was the difference.

SEMI-FINAL #1:
'85 BLUE JAYS 6
'83 WHITE SOX 3
After Chicago had tied the game with three runs in the bottom of the eighth, Toronto responded with three runs in the top of the ninth. With two out, Tony Fernandez tripled home two runs, then scored on Lou Thornton’s RBI single.

SEMI-FINAL #2:
'71 A’s 2
'83 WHITE SOX 6
Rudy Law and Carlton Fisk each had three hits to pace Chicago. Fisk drove in five runs with a homer, double and single. Rich Dotson (A-Y) went eight strong innings to become the tournament’s only three-game winner.

CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL #1:
'83 WHITE SOX 2
'85 BLUE JAYS 4 (13 innings)
For the third time in four tournament meetings, the Sox and Jays went extra innings. This one was a classic. It featured the tournament’s only triple play, on a Willie Upshaw line drive out with runners on first and second. Up 1-0, Dave Stieb (A-Y) took a perfect game into the ninth, but it was broken up by Jerry Hairston’s pinch-hit single to lead off the top of the inning. Hairston then scored the tying run on Rudy Law’s two-out double.
The two teams then exchanged runs in the 12th inning, before Ernie Whitt smacked a two-out, two-run HR off Jerry Koosman (C-Z) in the bottom of the 13th. Both bullpens were taxed in the opening game of this best-of-three series.

CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL #2:
'85 BLUE JAYS 7
‘83 WHITE SOX 4
The Blue Jays claimed the title with a convincing win over White Sox ace LaMarr Hoyt (A-YZ). George Bell, Jesse Barfield and Rance Mulliniks all took Hoyt deep in his 6+ innings. Doyle Alexander (B-YZ) and Bill Caudill (B-Y) held the Sox to five hits, while walking none. Toronto’s win overshadowed a two-HR performance by Chicago’s Carlton Fisk.
Blue Jays’ Shortstop Tony Fernandez went 2-for-3 to claim a share of the tournament batting title, at .358. In fact, Fernandez was the only Toronto regular to finish with a tournament batting average over .250. The Jays were led by a solid pitching staff (overall ERA of 2.94) and outstanding team defense (only three errors over 14 games).

TOURNAMENT LEADERS:

HITTERS (minimum 35 PA’s where applicable):
Batting Average: Fernandez ('85 Blue Jays) & Lynn ('78 Red Sox) .358 each; Bando ('71 A’s) .348
OPS: Lowenstein ('83 Orioles) 1.126; Lynn ('78 Red Sox) 1.086; Ripken ('83 Orioles) 1.023
Home Runs: Rice ('78 Red Sox), Barfield ('85 Blue Jays), Henderson ('85 Yankees), Lynn ('78 Red Sox) tied with 5.
RBI’s: Lynn ('78 Red Sox) 16; Paciorek ('83 White Sox) 14; Ripken ('83 Orioles) 13
Stolen Bases: R. Law ('83 White Sox) 12; R. Henderson ('85 Yankees) 6

PITCHERS (minimum 25 IP’s where applicable):
ERA: Davis ('83 Orioles) 1.27; Blue ('71 A’s) 1.39; Dotson ('83 White Sox) 1.41
Wins: Dotson ('83 White Sox) 3; 19 pitchers tied with 2 each.
Saves: Seven relievers tied with 2 each.
K’s: Blue ('71 A’s) 33; Stieb ('85 Blue Jays) 28; Boddicker ('83 Orioles) 26
WHIP: Dotson ('85 White Sox) 0.69; Eckersley ('78 Red Sox) 0.73; Stieb ('85 Blue Jays) 0.74

The tournament lasted 83 games and took me just under three months. The overall Batting Average was .223. The overall ERA was 3.69. The overall Fielding Percentage was .984.