If you're ever looking for a GTOP Tournament idea..
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Here’s a solitaire GO tournament I began rolling in late March. Ended today (Sept 23rd). I called it the 'APBA Family’ Tournament. 12 great teams from the birth-years of my four grandparents, my parents, my wife and 13yo son, my three siblings… and me.
Teams played Division home-and-home’s, and one game against each non-Division opponent. No DH’s. Four-man pitching rotations. Injuries carry over a max of 2 games. Top three teams in each division made the playoffs.
Fun little 115-game project. It even included a Christy Mathewson no-hitter (against the '71 Pirates).Final Standings:
Grandparents Division (W-L)
1906 Cubs 12-4
1903 Red Sox 10-6
1901 White Sox 9-7
1937 Yankees 8-8
1904 Giants 7-9
1935 Cubs 6-10Kids Division (W-L)
1968 Tigers 11-5
*1971 Pirates 9-7
1959 White Sox 9-7
2008 Phillies 6-10
1962 Dodgers 5-11
1969 Mets 4-12
*Awarded 2nd place on tie-breaker
Best-of-three Quarter-finals: ('06 Cubs & '68 Tigers earned byes)
1901 White Sox 2 @ 1903 Red Sox 3
1903 Red Sox 1 @ 1901 White Sox 4
1901 White Sox 4 @ 1903 Red Sox 2
(1901 White Sox win series 2-1 and face 1968 Tigers in best-of-five semi-final.)1959 White Sox 2 @ 1971 Pirates 3 (13 innings)
1971 Pirates 0 @ 1959 White Sox 1
1959 White Sox 4 @ 1971 Pirates 3
(1959 White Sox win series 2-1 and face 1906 Cubs in best-of-five semi-final.)
Best-of-five Semi-finals:
1901 White Sox 1 @ 1968 Tigers 2
1901 White Sox 2 @ 1968 Tigers 4 (11 innings)
1968 Tigers 2 @ 1901 White Sox 0
(1968 Tigers win series 3-0)1959 White Sox 1 @ 1906 Cubs 4
1959 White Sox 1 @ 1906 Cubs 2
1906 Cubs 0 @ 1959 White Sox 1
1906 Cubs 4 @ 1959 White Sox 1
(1906 Cubs win series 3-1)
Best-of-seven Championship:
1968 Tigers 3 @ 1906 Cubs 0
1968 Tigers 4 @ 1906 Cubs 14
1906 Cubs 4 @ 1968 Tigers 8
1906 Cubs 2 @ 1968 Tigers 3 (10 innings)
1968 Tigers 3 @ 1906 Cubs 6
1906 Cubs 4 @ 1968 Tigers 5
(1968 Tigers win championship series 4-2)TIGERS WIN!! TIGERS WIN!!
What fun this was. Took me almost six months. The playoff match-ups were all exciting. Had they been real games, they would have been thrilling to watch. The last FOUR games of that Tigers-Cubs’ Championship Series all saw the home team post come-from-behind wins in the seventh inning or later. Wow!
** Tournament Batting MVP - Bill Freehan, 1968 Tigers **
Tournament Batting Leaders:
AVG (min 60 PA’s): Agee (1969 Mets) .377; Clemente (1971 Pirates) .375.
HR’s: Freehan (1968 Tigers) 12; Howard (2008 Phillies) 10.
RBI’s: Freehan (1968 Tigers) 27; Robertson (1971 Pirates) & Howard (2008 Phillies) 18 each.
SB’s: Aparico (1959 White Sox) 15; Wills (1962 Dodgers) & Chance (1906 Cubs) 12 each.
SLG (min 60 PA’s): Howard (2008 Phillies) .833; Freehan (1968 Tigers) .800.** Tournament Pitching MVP - Denny McLain, 1968 Tigers **
Tournament Pitching Leaders:
Wins: McLain (1968 Tigers) 7; Three pitchers tied with 5 each.
ERA (min 40 IP): McLain (1968 Tigers) 0.84; Callahan (1901 White Sox) 1.33; Taylor (1906 Cubs) 1.38.
WHIP (min 40 IP): McLain (1968 Tigers) 0.56; Callahan (1901 White Sox) 0.76; Brown (1906 Cubs) 0.80.
K’s: Pfiester (1906 Cubs) 57; Wynn (1959 White Sox) 53.
Saves: Perranoski (1962 Dodgers) 3; Three pitchers tied with 2 each.Tournament Gold Glove Winner:
Earl Torgeson (1959 White Sox) handled 172 Total Chances without making an error at 1B.
Some personal Collections notes… the statistical glitches on GO are becoming fewer and fewer. In the 115 games in this tournament, ALL the Saves were tabulated correctly. Awesome. There are still a few issues with Earned Runs being off by a bit from time to time (once every dozen games or so). And on extremely rare occasions, a Pinch-Hitter gets credited as being the Winning Pitcher. But, for the most part, GO has come a long way in the past four years.
Congrats to Jeremy and the crew for constantly improving the game.