Lakeview Apba Baseball League
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This was our first season on Apba GO.
The league was on and off during the 90s and early 2000s until it eventually fizzled. Around 2016, five of the original managers (Schulz trio, Shawn, and John) and one new Apba player decided to rekindle the league with a brand new cards and dice draft for the 2000 Apba Card set. Each of the six managers had one NL team and one AL team. The first season was a huge success.
Then we started the 2001 season which took forever to complete as we started to run into difficulties with parenting responsibilities, new career opportunities, etc. Getting together regularly to play face to face was once again becoming an issue. Needless to say, the league seemingly folded again.
Welcome, Apba GO! Once GO adopted the ability to create drafted teams, we had a chance to start back up again. Since we had 12 franchises already drafted from the 2001 season, we found nine new managers to draft the remaining teams (Only three managers made the switch to GO). We played an 80 game schedule with the 2002 season and we no longer separated NL players from AL players. This was before Shared Collections started, so managers did need to email downloaded stats to me to compile into one document. Plus, we had to keep track of standings. I still do this today, but that is only by preference now. GO keeps track of standings too!
Standings and Season review results are posted.
Season Review:
Wild Card (Best of 3) - Detroit over Durham 3-0
Semifinals (Best of 7) - DC over Detroit 4-0
Semifinals (Best of 7) - Omaha over Erie 4-1
World Series (Best of 7): DC over Omaha 4-2
I will post each season when I get a moment. Again, I encourage you to do the same with your league.
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Season 2 on Apba GO was with the 2003 Card Set.
As successful as our first season was, it was not flawless. We had one member have to leave a few weeks into that first season. We also lost two more managers for a variety of reasons as we prepared for the new draft. In both cases, we quickly found replacements due to relationships forged from the early leagues and pick-up games played prior to being able to make custom teams.
We also decided to have a quick expansion-type draft for these three managers because two of the three teams were not in good shape as far as roster construction. As much as I love the thrill of competition garnered from playing this fabulous game, one can only get that in a league that has a plethora of strong teams. Additionally, it is hard to ask new managers to come in and be motivated to take over teams that may take a long time to overcome a poor initial draft. Since that inaugural draft dates back to before GO was released, the remaining nine managers agreed to protect, I believe, 15 players so that the new managers [Lancaster, Scenic City, and Chesapeake Bay (briefly Port Charlotte)] could get off to a better start. Now that I can look back on this, two of these franchises have since become consistent championship contenders. The Lancaster franchise has indeed won a title recently as Oak Park, but I will detail that season at a later date.
With 12 teams, we again played an 80 game schedule with three divisions. With the link below, you will see the 2003 Final Standings along with some draft, final stats, and trade information.
World Series was a rematch with Omaha taking it this time!
Playoffs:
Wild Card (Best of 3) - Lancaster over Erie 3-0
Semifinals (Best of 7) - Omaha over Lancaster 4-2
Semifinals (Best of 7) - DC over Detroit 4-3
World Series (Best of 7) - Omaha over DC 4-1
2004 is next - Big Expansion Season!
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Season 3 on Apba GO with the 2004 Card Set saw huge changes.
I give a lot of credit to my brother, Kenny, for thinking we were ready to expand with four more teams (Canton, Cincinnati, Rio Grande Valley, and Cortland)! Our first two seasons were fantastic, and with 16 teams, it was time to strike when so many managers were having fun, not just in this league but others has well. We did lose one really good manager that season with Lancaster relocating to Oak Park. However, as I hinted with an earlier post, the new manager has quickly built a powerhouse in the new location.
One thing I failed to mention is how easy it is for us to communicate with each other. With 16 managers, that could have been an issue. Not with this crew though! Of course, we have texting, but we also use What’s app and a message board called Groupsio when information concerning trades, drafts, waivers, and more needs to go out to the entire league.
We had a real expansion draft this season. All teams had to expose 15 players, but the core teams could lose no more than seven of those players. As you will see below, one of those new franchises, Canton, went all the way to the semifinals. This was great for the league and supports the willingness of all managers to give up some great players to make the competition stronger.
For the actual draft, we switched over to a new draft website - LABL Draft Website. While we are still learning all of its functions, it has made drafting so much easier with all of the results and rosters archived for the league. No more Google Sheets are needed! Additionally, it saves a lot of time when specific players are not getting drafted more than once. Once the player is drafted, that player is removed from the draft list instantly. We used to just use the phone app mentioned above, but messages get lost in the chat rooms. If you have drafted that way before, you know what I am talking about.
With 16 teams, we reduced the league to two divisions with no interleague play. Personally, I miss the days in the MLB when the World Series found two teams squaring off for the first time all season. Furthermore, for the first time in the history of this league, some teams would not be utilizing a DH. The Herson Division incorporated the DH while the Seitz Division members valued more decision making with double switches, more pinch hitters, etc.
Another major change we added this season was a waiver process. Basically, each manager could make five waiver transactions throughout the regular season. Using the message board, managers would post the released player along with the name of a free agent. If no one with a higher waiver claim (based on current standings) claimed the selected player within four hours, the commissioner would process the claim and update the roster on the draft site. This helped a lot with potential usage issues to avoid draft penalties.
Our regular season moved to 84 games. Here is the review link along with the play-off results.
Seitz WC (Best of 5) - San Francisco over Oak Park 3-1
Herson WC (Best of 5) - Canton over Omaha 3-2
Seitz Semifinals (Best of 7) - Ypsilanti over San Francisco 4-1
Herson Semifinals (Best of 7) - Erie over Canton 4-0
World Series (Best of 7) - Ypsilanti over Erie 4-1.
It should be noted that Ypsilanti was a last place team in 2003 at 22-58. This is how strong this league truly is!
I know I have not mentioned our actual rules yet, but I figured I would save those after getting this post to our current season.
2005 LABL Season is on deck!
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Season 4 - 2005 - Sometimes having no changes can be a good thing.
2005 was actually quiet in terms of any significant changes. As one of the league officers, that can be a refreshing sign that managers are happy. As one of three league officers, we are always open to new ideas. While there were a few mentioned, informal discussions did not seem to warrant holding a formal, league-wide vote. We did lose one member as the Chicago franchise relocated under new management to Owls Head.
Playoff Results:
Seitz WC (Best of 5) - Ypsilanti over Rio Grande Valley 3-2
Herson WC (Best of 5) - DC over Chesapeake Bay 3-0
Seitz Semifinals (Best of 7) - Ypsilanti over San Francisco 4-0
Herson Semifinals (Best of 7) - Omaha over DC 4-0
Champions of the past two seasons faced each other with…
World Series (Best of 7) - Omaha over Ypsilanti 4-2.
Again, if you happen to read these and are part of an Apba GO league, I would like to hear about it in your own posts. I believe we can learn from each others’ successes and challenges.
2006 LABL is up next!
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Season 5 - No Changes - Special Ending - 2006
Although the rumblings of managers wanting to face other managers (aka interleague play) was starting to heat up, we still moved forward with the 2006 season with little change. The only major change was finding the Canton and Owls Head managers swapping divisions with those leading the teams in Scenic City and Washington.
On a somber note, one of the original cards and dice league members lost his wife unexpectedly less than four months from the start of this season. While I am happy to report that my childhood friend is in a good place today, there understandably was a period when he needed a time out from his normal routine in life. As for the league, I have to mention that his Apba brothers stepped up with plenty of love, patience and support during the time between the conclusion of the 2005 season and the start of this one. While everyone understood if he needed to drop out altogether, we gave him all the time he needed, and honestly, I think playing the game helped him during the transition. That is what Apba does. It brings people together in a time of need. I am sure many of you reading this could share similar stories.
Playoff Results:
Herson WC (Best of 5) - Washington over Chesapeake Bay 3-1
Seitz WC (Best of 5) - Oak Park over Rio Grande Valley 3-1
Herson Semifinals (Best of 7) - DC over Washington 4-0
Seitz Semifinals (Best of 7) - San Francisco over Oak Park 4-3
World Series (Best of 7) - San Francisco over DC 4-3.
The best part of this championship - The manager of San Francisco is the friend detailed above. Life’s little blessings on full display!
Only two more to post before we start another season! 2007 is next!
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Hi, Andy! We miss you as well. As one of the great ones, your impact is still being felt as your team just won another title! Joe did a great job taking over your powerhouse.
Hope you and your new adventures are going well for the family!
Thanks for responding.
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Season 6 - 2007 - League undergoes some major revision.
While the league was doing very well, there was enough interest to finally try interleague play. I admit I was not one of those who voted yes for it, but if the majority have interest in it, let’s give it a shot! I wasn’t necessarily against it, so I am thrilled that most proved to enjoy it. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have always been fascinated having two teams battle for the title without having ever played each other. When my Erie squad lost the title in the 2004 season to Ypsilanti, it was great matching up against a team of players I had not seen all season. Nevertheless, it is difficult to have 15 other managers in the league and only get to face seven of them. Now that we have had this in place for a couple of seasons, I do enjoy getting to chat and compete with those in the non-DH divisions. Building stronger relationships through playing the game we all enjoy is part of what makes Apba special. This change facilitates that aspect of the game.
So our leagues still remain the Herson (DH) and Seitz (non-DH) to honor the names of the founding owner and current owner of the company. However, each league now has two divisions of four teams. All four (Jack Cress, Dick Schulz, Larry Silvis, Mark Burke) of these divisional names have a special place in the history of this league dating back to my childhood. Cress, Schulz, and Silvis are the fathers of five of the original members of the league. Meanwhile, Mark Burke is my dearest friend who played in the LABL years ago but now lives in GA. Well, he is not just my friend, he is a friend to anyone who gets the chance to meet him. I was so thrilled for my brother and I to get to introduce Mark to so many at this year’s convention at Alpharetta. And just like when we were kids, he was outstanding in going 6-4 at the Saturday tourney! As Hall of Famer, John Cochrane, told Mark and so many others, “Once you come to visit, you are family for life at these conventions!” I may not have his exact words, but Mr. Cochrane and so many others do truly make this annual event a family reunion.
The good news is that this new realignment still allowed us to keep our regular season at 84 games. All series remain a three game set. Most of the games (36) are scheduled versus your three divisional opponents. Then each manager faces the four other league opponents for 24 games. Finally, interleague allows one to face each of the eight non-league teams once (24 games). For interleague play, if the manager is the home team in 2007, then the schedule will flip in 2008 for home field advantage. Home teams determine whether the DH is used or not. Easy schedule to map out and follow! The only downside is that I did not have time to prepare a new detailed standings sheet, so I reverted to an older basic version for this season.
Our commissioner also wanted to open up more play-off spots to see more meaningful games down the stretch. The league voted it nearly unanimously, so instead of just six teams having a shot at the title, we expanded to 10 teams. Each of the four divisional winners would advance along with three wild card teams from each league (10 teams!). This was a huge revision to the league’s constitution.
Playoff Results:
Seitz Play-In Series (Best of 3) - Rio Grande over San Francisco 2-0
Herson Play-In Series (Best of 3) - DC over Washington 2-1
Seitz Semi1 Series ( Best of 7) - Cortland over Burlington 4-3
Seitz Semi2 Series (Best of 7) - Oak Park over Rio Grande Valley (4-2)
Herson Semi1 Series (Best of 7) - Chesapeake Bay over Westfield 4-1
Herson Semi2 Series (Best of 7) - Omaha over DC 4-3
Seitz LCS (Best of 7) - Oak Park over Cortland 4-2
Herson LCS (Best of 7) - Chesapeake Bay over Omaha 4-0
World Series (Best of 7) - Oak Park over Chesapeake Bay 4-2
Long postseason ended with thrilling first title for Oak Park!
2008 will be posted next! Then it is draft time!
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Season 7 - 2008 Season
While the league did not implement any major changes in the rules, we did have to overcome the loss of three very good managers. Not only were these managers annual contenders (two as actual champions), but we could always count on these three for feedback on how to improve the league, for consistent play, and, most importantly, for friendship. However, due to those Apba connections made, we quickly filled the positions with three new members who are quickly making their own impact. Finally, the powerhouse franchise from Omaha left the Herson Division to take its shot in the Seitz division with no DH.
Playoff Results:
Seitz Play-In Series (Best of 3) - Cortland over Detroit 2-1
Herson Play-In Series (Best of 3) - Erie over Westfield 2-1
Seitz Semi1 Series ( Best of 7) - Oak Park over Detroit 4-0
Seitz Semi2 Series (Best of 7) - Omaha over Canton (4-0)
Herson Semi1 Series (Best of 7) - Homestead over Cincinnati 4-2
Herson Semi2 Series (Best of 7) - Chesapeake Bay over Erie 4-3
Seitz LCS (Best of 7) - Omaha over Oak Park 4-3
Herson LCS (Best of 7) - Homestead over Chesapeake Bay 4-3
World Series (Best of 7) - Homestead over Omaha 4-1
Click below for the season review with a new standings format!
Most impressively, Homestead’s manager (who took over the previous DC franchise) wins his first LABL title in his first season while overcoming having to use a Grade D starting pitcher in all three of his playoff matchups!
That’s it! I have now shared all of the completed Apba GO seasons for the LABL. One thing we have learned from these past two seasons - having five playoff teams from each league may be a bit too much. Changes are coming for the 2009 season! Stay tuned!
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2009 - LABL DRAFT
How do you prepare for the draft? I want to know your process of preparation.
Do you wing it? Do you take the old school approach of using paper/pencil by making lists? Do you use Google Sheets or Excel? Does your league use a website (see my season 3 post above) like many do in this league.
Do you draft to win the title every season? Are you more methodical about building for a particular season or two? Do you prefer to simply be competitive each season in hopes that one of those seasons will result in a World Series shot?
Do you always go for players you like or simply just go for the best available? Do you pay attention to the rosters of your opponents?
For me, it is simple. I attempt to win each season with the most competitive team I can put on the tabletop (or screen in this case). I feel I owe it to my league mates to win every game in respect to their efforts to do the same. I usually pick a season or two to focus on during draft time in which I build for those seasons. In other words, since the 2004 season when I lost the championship series in five games, I started building for the 2008 season. I was very competitive with records hovering slightly above and below .500 for 2005-2007. While I did not make the playoffs those seasons, I did reach the Herson semifinals in 2008 and lost four games to three to the top seeded team. I was pretty pleased with that despite blowing a three games to zero lead…ugh!
For 2009, I don’t expect to be a playoff contender based on the talented rosters I see on my divisional foes, but in Apba (just like reality), the dice will tell the real story. Thus, my plan for this draft was to look for talent for the 2012 season with a focus on bolstering my starting pitching.
As a Pirates fan, this was the rookie season for Andrew McCutchen. While I definitely could use an outfielder for the next several seasons, my guess was that this former MLB MVP would not be available at pick 1-11. As it turned out, I never had a shot!
As for my preparation, I use Google Sheets to create a draft sheet. As players comes off the board, I simply delete the row. Below I have posted my most recent sheet that has five tabs (batters, starting pitchers, relief pitchers, and my rosters). It helps me keep organized to know what I have and what I need to stay competitive. I do my homework as I look at the cards up to and including 2021 if the player is still currently playing in the league. While that can certainly be time consuming, looking at cards has been a thrill for me since childhood.
Keep in mind that the players left on the first three tabs were not drafted, so I will keep them on the board for the 2010 draft. This saves me time during the next offseason.
So who did I end up with in the 2009 draft at 1-11? Jordan Zimmerman - I was very happy to add a starting pitcher who will provide many LABL starts from 2011-2016, mostly as a B with a Z control rating. I thought he was definitely deserving of a first round selection. Here is how the first round went down. What do you think?
LAT Buster Posey C
SCS Madison Bumgarner P
VOL Brett Anderson P
OMA Andrew McCutchen OF
BUR Tommy Hanson P
WAS Michael Brantley OF
WFB Mat Latos P
HOM Doug Fister P
DET Neftali Feliz P
CAN Trevor Cahill P
ERI Jordan Zimmermann P
CIN Carlos Carrasco P
VOL Andrew Bailey P
CBR Matt Wieters C
CAN Matt Guerrier P
HOM Rick Porcello PBuster Posey was an easy top pick. There was an LABL record 12 pitchers taken in round 1.
Now, I want to know how you prepare for your draft leagues. I am always looking for hints and strategies.
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Good morning!
Today is a quick post to simply ask the question, “How do you keep standings in your Apba GO league?”
Do you simply use the standings provided in the Shared Collections?
Or do you use another format?
Collections is fabulous for a small league or a league that does not have divisions. I hope that some day Apba GO will include the option in Shared Collections to set up separate divisions and/or leagues. Since we have four divisions of four teams (Two divisions per league), this is the Google Sheet that we use for standings. We post a link to our league message board for managers to access 24/7.
Here are the current LABL standings! You can check in here from time to time for updates.
How does your Apba GO league keep track of standings?
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My league is DABB (Drugs are Bad for Baseball) which is just finishing it’s 2nd year. In the collections section of APBAGO the stats can be exported, which I download. Once downloaded I drop each file into a separate spreadsheet page. Other spreadsheet pages glean the information regarding the batting, pitching and team stats and transfer the input to their respective pages. There exists one page for every team which tracks batting, fielding and pitching, a page for all batting, fielding and pitching by team. I also include a page for team vs team won and loss.
It would be nice if the box score was available to other league players. When I delivered newspapers in the 1960’s, all the box scores could be viewed. I learned alot from studying them.
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@striker2550 - I look forward to that as well!
Thanks for responding!
What is your league like? Name? Number of teams? Retro or Modern?
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@Bruce66 - Hi, Bruce! DABB is run by our good friend, Dev! He is in this league as well as a Zoom league with cards and dice that is a lot of fun. I enjoy my games and friendship with him. His team in this 2009 season is off to a great start as he has done a great job building it the past few seasons.
I am very curious about this spreadsheet page that you use. Am I able to have a copy for review? If not, I understand, but I have always been fascinated with stats spreadsheets to see if I can make improvements.
Thanks for responding!
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@DSchulz , I post a couple of games from each “Round” on the Facebook APBA page. 30 teams, all managed by me. :) Here is my simplest explanation of my weird league.
My creation…a league with 30 teams picked at random. Each round will be played in “steps”. 15 steps w/2 teams per step. Winners move up a step. Losers move down a step. Each round the loser of step 15 will be booted out of the league, dragged through the streets and publicly humiliated. Then a new randomly picked team will take it’s place.
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@DSchulz , yes. Each Round a new team is randomly picked to replace the team that dropped out. I chose randomly from the pool of ALL the teams in APBAGO. Every year, every team. Sometimes its a great team, sometimes a real stinker. “It’s like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” :)
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That is such an unique and incredible idea for solo play! Thanks for sharing this idea! @striker2550
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Wow! I am having a hard time finding time to come back to this thread.
How is everyone’s leagues going?
If you check the standings link previously posted, we are approaching the 60 game mark for each team. I am currently 36-24 with 24 games to go against teams that are over or near .500. My division continues to be one of the strongest even though we have failed to bring home a championship.
We will have someone leaving soon, so if you are interested, let me know!
