Second Chance League Game One
So I decided I was gonna restart my season in Out of the Park Baseball 21 (OOTP21). The First Timer League gets placed on the shelf in case I want to go back at some time, and instead, I’ve started up the Second Chance League.
Game Settings
I went into the game settings this time around to get a better feel for things and decided I would update a couple of things that I learned about as I was scouring the interweb for information about injuries in this game. The first and foremost modification I made was to change the Injury Rate setting to Low.
I could have gone further to change my injury possibilities (Very Low or Extremely Low) but I figured one step down from where things were at should be good enough to try. I certainly hope so, considering I had 2 starting pitcher injuries in four games and no one can say they were caused by too much work since they were the first four games of the season.
Anyway, I set the Injury Frequency to Low and we’ll see how things go.
Legendary Trainer
I also went out and found a different trainer. This actually impacted my budget because the trainer I had was signed for 3 years but I wanted someone who was the best I could get. From what I’ve read, people aren’t too sure how much this influences the RNG of injuries in the game but I figured it can’t hurt. So I’m happy to welcome Rick Jameyson to the team. I’m hoping that his LEGENDARY rating in preventing arm injuries will help keep my pitching staff on my team. I also think this Outstanding level of fatigue recovery should come in handy to prevent even more injuries. I figure it’s the least I can do to keep the players I have working at their best.
With that game change and the trainer swap, I feel better going in to the season and am pretty confident I won’t be putting this league on the shelf after the first four games. We’ll see.
Game One Lineup
The first game is once again at Minute Maid Park in Houston and the Angels are facing the cheating Astros. In the last simulation we won this first game and the second so it’ll be interesting to see how things go this time around.
I’ve got a slightly different lineup in this game than the last season I started since I thought it might be good to apply a bit of sabermetrics to my simulation. I decided to go with the following lineup to see how things would play out.
Houston went with the same lineup as last time which is always a powerhouse.
Oh, and BTW, this time around, the roof was closed as it was raining outside.
Game One Begins
This time around Houston didn’t even wait an inning to get on the board as Jose Altuve bunted for a hit, advanced to third on a single by Michael Brantley, and then scored on a sacrafice fly by Alex Bregman. Shohei Ohtani was not at his best starting off the game but I was hopeful he would settle down after giving up a run on 2 hits and a walk in the first. On a positive note, he did strike out George Springer so that was good.
And the good news continued as the Angels came to the plate in the second. Mike Trout smacked a line drive to left for single followed by a single for Justin Upton. Then with a 2–2 count, Jason Castro smacked a 3-run home run over the left-center fence to give the Angels the lead. Brian Goodwin and Albert Pujols both hit for singles in the inning which gave Anthony Rendon the chance to knock in Goodwin for the 4th run of the inning. Ohtani gave up a single to Kyle Tucker for Houston but at the end of two it was Angels 4, Houston 1.
Yuli Gurriel lead off the bottom of the 4th with a home run but other than that, Ohtani was on a roll.
Things Get Interesting
The seventh saw the Angels offense ramp up the pressure again as Lance McCullers started to tire. After a lead off single to Rendon and a couple of strike outs, McCullers gave way for Joe Biagini but that prooved a mistake. Upton smacked a line drive over Altuve’s head to put runners on first and second but then the wheels came off for Biagini. He walked Castro to load the bases, walked Brian Goodwin on 4 pitches to score Rendon, and threw a wild pitch that allowed Upton to score. 6–2 Angels heading into the bottom of the seventh.
Cam Bedrosian got through the 7th unscathed and the Angels came roaring back in the 8th as Devid Fletcher hit his first triple of the season. I’m not sure why Houston left Biagini in but he proceeded to give up an RBI single to Rendon, another single to Tommy La Stella, and Trout got in on the action with an RBI single as well.
Now it was 8–2 Angels and things were looking good. But of course this is the Astros. With a double from Gurriel and a single by Tucker, they got on the board again to make it 8–3 but Ty Buttrey was able to stop the bleeding. That is, until the 9th.
The Angels picked up a 9th run on Goodwin’s first homer of the year but then I’m not sure why I left Buttrey in for the 9th. He gave up a single to Martin Maldonado and then a 4 pitch walk to Altuve. Not good so I brought in Noe Ramirez to try to finish things off. I had thought about bringing in the Angel’s closer but with a 9–3 lead I thought things would never get close.
Things got Closer
Well, 5 pitches later Michael Brantley smashed a 2 ball, 2 strike pitch over the wall in right field to make the game 9–6 and I started getting nervous. With no outs Houston could easily get back into the game. I started warming up the closer.
Luckily, Ramirez settled down and realized this was no longer Spring Training. He finished things up 1–2–3 and calmed my nerves. He didn’t earn the save but he certainly saved the game in my view.
It’s a Wrap
So, the first game in the Second Chance League season is in the books. Interestingly enough, game 1 of the First Timer League ended with the Angels winning 9–7 so things were pretty similar.
I had a great time simulating the game and it really makes me feel like baseball is back so I’m gonna try to keep up with this new league. I suppose that is, until I get multiple injuries in a couple of games. In any case, here’s the box score for today and while I’m gonna take a day off to play the Civilzation VI Succession game tomorrow, I’ll be back to play game 2 against Houston soon.
Ramble 2020.02.29 | Second Chance League Game One