My 128-team APBA GO double-knockout
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We are now down to the Final Four of what has been a great GO tournament…
Game #249 (Loser is eliminated)
(#89) 1915 Phillies elim (#87) 1948 Braves 4-0
Alexander tosses amazing CG 2-hit shutout, striking out 8 and walking only one, to end gritty Braves’ 8-game win streak; Luderus belts 2-run HR; Bancroft, Paskert & Whitted each go 2-4Game #250 (Loser is eliminated)
(#2) 1927 Yankees elim (#128) 1914 Hoosiers 7-0
Cinderella tourney finally ends for Federal League-champion Hoosiers; Ruth homers twice and drives in 4; Meusel & Combs 3 hits each; Hoyt CG 4-hit shutout w/ 2 K’s and goes 2-4 at the plateGame #251 (Winner advances to championship)
(#68) 1929 Cubs defeat (#19) 1920 Indians 3-1
Cubs played without injured 1B Grimm; Root escapes first-inning, bases loaded jam with nobody out; Root finishes with CG 6-hitter w/ 3 K’s and adds key RBI triple in Bot 4th; McMillan & Taylor each go 2-3; Unbeaten Cubs will get Grimm back for first title game, but have also lost Stephenson for one contestGame #252 (Loser is eliminated)
(#89) 1915 Phillies (Mayer (2-0), 1.50) vs (#2) 1927 Yankees (Moore (2-0), 1.42)Game #253 (Loser is eliminated)
Winner GM #252 vs (#19) 1920 Indians (Coveleski (2-0), 2.50)Game #254 (Championship final)
(#68) 1929 Cubs (Bush (2-0), 1.00) vs Winner GM #253
(Winner of GM #253 must beat 1929 Cubs twice) -
@ncord Their pitching has carried them. In seven games (all wins), their team ERA is 1.34. That’s the best in the tournament, just ahead of the 1927 Yankees (at 1.36). What’s remarkable about the Cubs though, is that they don’t have an A-ranked pitcher on the team. The three top starters (Root, Bush, Malone) are all B’s. And every other pitcher on their roster is either a C or D… and only 2 of their 12 pitchers have a Z. Given all that, the Cubs’ pitching has really over-achieved in this tournament.
Their offense has been led by Hack Wilson (.444, 2 HR, 7 RBI) and Kiki Cuyler (.393, 1 HR, 6 RBI). But other than that, only one regular (Zack Taylor, .318) is batting above .240. Charlie Grimm leads the team in HR (3) and RBI (8), but is hitting only .182. Hartnett is one of six Catchers on the roster, and has only one appearance in seven games. (He had just 29 real-life PA’s in 1929.)
As a team, the Cubs are batting only .237 with a SLG of .422. Both those numbers are fairly average for teams who won at least two games in the tournament.
The fact that they are undefeated at 7-and-oh is really a testament to their pitching. -
1927 Yankees win Game #252, eliminating the 1915 Phillies.
Wilcy Moore tosses a CG 4-hit shutout, striking out seven and walking only one.
Phils dodge a bullet in the top of the third, as Yanks load the bases with nobody out. But Gehrig lines to shortstop Bancroft, who tags the runner on second, then throws to third to complete a triple play.
New York takes the lead in the fourth inning, on Collins two-out, two-run HR. Yanks then add single runs in the 7th and 9th innings, en route to a 4-0 victory.
Philadelphia entered the game with a tournament-best .318 team batting average. But the Phillies were held to four harmless singles by Moore, who improved his record to 3-0 and lowered his ERA to 0.96.
Yanks now face the 1920 Indians, with the winner earning the right to meet the 1929 Cubs for the tournament championship…
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And then there were two.
The 1920 Indians used two big innings to crush the ‘27 Yankees 10-2, eliminating 2nd-seeded New York from the tournament. It was the Yankees’ second loss to the Tribe in four days.
New York starter Urban Shocker retired the first nine Indians and held a 1-0 lead after three innings. But things unraveled quickly for him in the top of the fourth, when the Indians took advantage of three extra-base hits to push five runs across.
From there, Cleveland pitcher Stan Coveleski held the Yankees to only one more run the rest of the way. And the Tribe put things out of reach with a four-run rally in the top of the ninth.
Elmer Smith paced the Indians with three hits, a walk and 2 RBI. Bill Wambsganss drove in three runs, while Charlie Jamieson and Larry Gardner chipped in with two hits apiece.
Coveleski (3-0, 2.33) went the distance, allowing eight hits and one walk, while striking out two.
Shocker didn’t escape the fourth inning and suffered the loss in his first decision of the tournament. New York’s Babe Ruth finished with 5 HR’s, a batting average of .379 and a slugging percentage of .931.
The Indians will now face the unbeaten 1929 Cubs for the championship. Cleveland, which must win twice, will send Ray Caldwell (2-0, 2.50) to the mound in the first game.
Chicago will counter with Guy Bush (2-0, 1.00) in front of what is expected to be a packed house at Wrigley Field.
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@RandySteinman Ah, yes. I forgot about Hack WIlson. That team was the year before he rolled off 191 RBI.
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CUBS WIN!!
CUBS WIN!!The 1929 Chicago Cubs have capped an improbable unbeaten ride to capture my GTOP-128 Tournament. A come-from-behind 4-3 victory over the 1920 Cleveland Indians gave the Cubs the title in the double-knockout event. Chicago capped the tournament with a perfect 8-0 record.
The final saw the Cubs, for the first time, trailing after seven innings. But they rallied in the bottom of the eighth. Gabby Hartnett, pinch-hitting for starting pitcher Guy Bush (3-0, 1.73), led off the inning with a triple. Pinch-runner Danny Taylor was immediately singled home by Norm McMillan to tie the game, and McMillan later scored the winning run on a two-out single by Kiki Cuyler.
Hal Carlson then pitched the top of the ninth for his first save. Carlson was the Cubs’ star out of the bullpen by also posting two wins in the tournament, allowing only one hit and no runs over his 5.2 innings of relief.
In fact, the entire Chicago staff was the hero of this six-month event. The Cubs finished with a tournament-best 1.54 ERA, despite not having an A-ranked pitcher on the roster. While their three starters (Bush, Charlie Root and Pat Malone) were all B’s, the nine other pitchers were all C’s and D’s… and only two of those twelve hurlers were blessed with a Z. Over their 76 total innings pitched, the unblemished Cubs had a WHIP of 1.14 and an OBA of .203.
Offensively, Chicago relied on two outfielders to do most of the heavy lifting. Hack Wilson (.448, 2 HR, 7 RBI) and Kiki Cuyler (.406, 1 HR, 8 RBI) were a constant threat as the team’s four-five hitters in the lineup. Zack Taylor (.280) and McMillan (.273) were the only two other regulars to finish with a batting average higher than .190. Charlie Grimm hit three homers and drove in eight, but batted only .160. Rogers Hornsby batted .185 with no HR’s and three RBI.
As a team, Chicago batted only .238. That ranked 30th of the 64 teams in the tournament that played four games or more. Their SLG % of .421 ranked 17th of those 64. In other words, nothing special. The struggles of many of the Cubs’ hitters only validated the value of the team’s entire pitching staff. As a World Series runner-up, 1929 Chicago began the tournament seeded 68th in the 128-team field.Tournament Batting Leaders:
HR’s - Sanders (2001 AZ) 8; Three players tied with 5
RBI’s - Sanders (2001 AZ) 17; Heath (1948 BOSN) 15
SB’s - Lofton (1995 CLV) 8; Law (1983 CHIA) & Cuyler (1929 CHIN) 5 each
AVG (min 30 PA) - Lofton (1995 CLV) .548; Sanders (2001 AZ) .452
SLG (min 30 PA) - Sanders (2001 AZ) 1.290; Ruth (1921 NYY) 1.045Tournament Pitching Leaders:
Wins - Eight pitchers tied with 3
ERA (min 25 IP) - Hoyt (1927 NYY) 0.35; Falkenberg (1914 IND) 0.67
K’s - Alexander (1915 PHIN) 24; Johnson (2001 AZ) 23
WHIP (min 25 IP) - Moore (1927 NYY) 0.57; Hoyt (1927 NYY) 0.65
Saves - Eight pitchers tied with 2Thanks for your patience as I reported on my tournament. Am taking a bit of a break now.
Roll on!Randy Steinman
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@RandySteinman Looks like a great tournament and a lot of fun. I am in the middle of a couple double elimination and one triple elimination tournament. The double are all Yankee teams back to 1947 and all Pirate teams back to 59, moving along into the 3rd and 4th rounds. The Triple is playoff wild card and teams that would have been wild card going back to 1953. Not sure if I will finish this one, a lot of games. I just play the top seed against the bottom seed and so on in each round with winners bracket getting a bunch of byes and even the 1 loss bracket a couple byes. I will post some updates soon. It is a lot of fun and a chance to play games with most of the great players and teams from the past.
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Thanks, @RonNichols. I am now onto my next project. 128 GTOP teams, broken down into eight 16-team brackets (ie. Cobb Division 1901-1917, Ruth Division 1918-1935, etc, right up to Pujols 2008-2019).
Each bracket is a triple-knockout. The eight eventual winners will then square off in a final triple-knockout division to determine the champion.
All on APBA GO. I try to play a game or two a day, as my schedule allows. Great fun.
