Major League Baseball Replay
November 26, 2021: Completed 1911-1915.
For 1911-1915, only the 1912 Red Sox won the replay and actual World Series. Ty Cobb and Shoeless Joe Jackson dominate the hitting. In 1915, Pete Alexander completed the pitcher's triple-crown. Also in 1915, Gavvy Cravath sets the Modern Era single-season HR record with 29. The Federal League winners were Indianapolis Hoosiers (1914) and Pittsburgh Rebels (1915).
Encyclopedia now has post-season stats.
Year-By-Year Replay Results (click on links for additional info)
Year-By-Year Replay Results 1871-1899 (click on links for additional info)
Previous Entries:
November 2, 2021: Completed 1910.
Hard to believe it's been a year since my last update. Then again, it was a lost year for a lot of people. But back at it with 1910, then the rest of the decade.
In the 1910 World Series, the Athletics swept the Giants to become the first World Series winner to sweep a series. Ty Cobb (Detroit Tigers) extended his streak of consecutive batting titles to four.
September 26, 2020: Completed years 1903 thru 1909.
Did a 1904 World Series even though it wasn't played in real-life. Two surprising 1904 league winners, Chicago (NL) and Cleveland (AL) played a 7-game series with Cleveland coming up on top. Cleveland also won in 1906. New York Giants only won one pennant, and lost the 1908 World Series to the surprising St. Louis Browns. Ty Cobb (Detroit Tigers) has a current streak of three consecutive batting tiles. He also won the batting triple crown in 1907. In 1908, Ed Walsh (Chicago White Sox) is the first, in the Modern Era, to win the pitcher's triple crown.
Up next 1910-1919.
August 4, 2020: Completed years 1890 thru 1903, including the first "World Series", where the Boston Americans defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 5 games to 2.
Only 12 of 20 replay pennant winners matched real-life. The Pittsburgh Pirates and Baltimore Orioles were the dominating teams. The Cleveland Spiders (potentially the new nickname for Cleveland?), led by Cy Young, won the NL title in 1892. Nap Lajoie (Philadelphia Athletics) is the first hitter, in replay, to hit for the Triple Crown. He also hit .457, the highest so far in the replay. There were quite a few .400 hitters from 1890 to 1903. See the Hightlights/Notes page for details.
Encyclopedia stats can now distinguish between all years and The Modern Era (1900-present). The Reports page has more player comparisons (replay vs real-life stats) for players with at least 5000 AB and 2000 IP. Batting averages and on base were pretty close to real-life, although stolen bases are up in the replay. Replay IBB, CS, SF, SH, GDP, and BF are skewed because actual data is not accurate (actuals take from Lahman database). The page also shows additional dice roll info. The 1-3 rolls seem to be leveling off with the 4-6 rolls, even with Max Rule "Allow extra pre-1920 errors" still turned on.
Up next is the 1904 season, where in real-life there was no World Series (but I will do one), and probably into the 1910's. Maybe not in this next round of years, but looking forward to Ruth's early years and playing 1919 World Series (hoping it's a real-life replay of Sox vs Reds). There are no franchise changes (except nicknames) for 50 straight years (1903-1952). Hard to imagine that considering all the changes since 1952.
May 28, 2020: Completed years 1885 thru 1889, including five more "Championship Series" between the winners of the NL and AA. Playing these games you learn to just put the ball in play. Anything can happen, and will. The team with less errors won 32 of 42 Series games. The NL and AA have each won three series. In real-life, AA won four of six.
Eight of ten replay pennant winners matched real-life. In the replay, St. Louis Browns (AA) won four in a row. There were three additional .400 hitters (Tommy Tucker, Tip O'Neill, and King Kelly) and some crazy records set, including Dave Orr's 43 triples in 1886. See the Hightlights page for details.
Up next are the remaining 1890's. After that things settle down with very little league and franchise changes. Yea! So many pre-1900 changes have made this project a bit cumbersome, but still fun.
FYI. Fixed issues with double-header games not displaying the correct box score. Along with that fix, Encyclopedia game records now displays Game 1 or Game 2. Also added notation for Hall of Fame players in the Encyclopedia. Based on stats, interesting to see who's in, and who's not.
May 11, 2020: Completed years 1883 and 1884, including the first MLB post season series, the 1884 "Championship Series" between the winners of the NL and AA. Louisville Eclipse, the surprise winners of the AA, defeated the NL Boston Beaneaters (another surprise winner) three games to none. Like in real-life, the series was best of three but a third game was played for the 'gate'. Guy Hecker, of Louisville, was dominating throughout the regular and post season. In real-life, the NL Providence Grays defeated the AA New York Metropolitans three games to none.
1884 was the first time there were three major leagues playing in same year. This was the only year for the Union Association, as the league struggled to stay afloat - many teams either moved or disbanded during the season. St. Louis Maroons dominated and moved to the NL in 1885.
Up next are the remaining 1880's with only two leagues, the NL and AA. Following that is 1890, and another year of three leagues with the addition of the Player's League. Looking forward to playing a few more Championship Series.
April 19, 2020: Completed years 1871 thru 1883. Not a lot of surprises as 12 of 13 actual champions won their league. Been following Cap Anson. Got off to a slow start in the NA but has done much better in the NL. Up next are the rebellious years as the players challenged the "reserve clause", which resulted in the addition of the American Association, Union Association, and Players' League. Three leagues playing simultaneously in 1884 and 1890. 1884 was also the first World Championship Series (AA vs NL). Will manually play that one, as I plan to manually play all post-season games.
A bit away but looking forward to see how Hugh Duffy hits in 1894 (in real life he hit .440, the best all-time single season). He's going to have a tough time beating out Ross Barnes who hit .455 in 1876 replay.