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Mar 6, 2015 10:10
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We can't allow the Ol' English Eye to beat our Cees!
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Mar 6, 2015 11:14
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Keep Tor on a short leash. We've got a great bullpen and have hardly used it, so we can afford to go hard after this game. As for hitting, start going for more hit and runs and aggressive baserunning, we need to scratch across runs since we really don't have that much by way of power on the team. I might also move Tresher into the cleanup spot so that our biggest power bats are back to back (and it's not like we don't already have three lefties lined up in a row).
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Mar 7, 2015 14:57
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i didnt have many switch hitters when i played this game last, but how does the game handle the pull/neutral thing when you got a switch hitter? can someone pull when righty then be neutral when lefty or what? also my norwegian league team is playing a hilarious brand of baseball where they have more base steals than all the other 11 teams combined . 5 of the top 10 basestealers in the league are on my team including the top 4. Lost the best starter for a year in spring training on a team that had a really lovely rotation in the first place so im in second to last with 30 games left My 3b had the highest average in the league at one point while also leading in bases stolen. I think i successfully executed 3 double steals in one inning once like the baserunning my team is capable of is completely insane. also one of my starters went 3 for 3, stole a base and pitched a complete shutout in the same game once
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Mar 7, 2015 15:45
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Base stealing in OOTP has always been a little wonky. Either everyone steals bases or nobody takes bases, like the runner/pitcher/catcher don't even matter. Also the AI is incredibly reticent to steal so if you're actually playing the games it's almost impossible not to lead the league in steals.
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Mar 7, 2015 23:16
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habeasdorkus posted:Keep Tor on a short leash. We've got a great bullpen and have hardly used it, so we can afford to go hard after this game. This is good advice, and I will definitely go to the bullpen now as we move to our slightly less skilled starters. Price and Shadowing have just been too good so far! oldskool posted:Base stealing in OOTP has always been a little wonky. Either everyone steals bases or nobody takes bases, like the runner/pitcher/catcher don't even matter. Also the AI is incredibly reticent to steal so if you're actually playing the games it's almost impossible not to lead the league in steals. Slaapaav posted:i didnt have many switch hitters when i played this game last, but how does the game handle the pull/neutral thing when you got a switch hitter? can someone pull when righty then be neutral when lefty or what? also my norwegian league team is playing a hilarious brand of baseball where they have more base steals than all the other 11 teams combined . 5 of the top 10 basestealers in the league are on my team including the top 4. Lost the best starter for a year in spring training on a team that had a really lovely rotation in the first place so im in second to last with 30 games left These posts are 100% correct. I've simmed two leagues on my own - in one, I could steal bases completely unimpeded and had like 300 stolen bases more than any other team. In the other, my 100 speed guys are caught stealing 2/3 of the time by 20 skill catchers. Base running is super bizarre in OOTP when you're actively controlling it in play by play mode. When you sim the games entirely it seems to work alright, but I generally avoid baserunning when I'm managing for fear that I'll get caught stealing 90% of the time. I can try some hit and runs because those tend to be a bit more successful, but straight up stealing is best avoided unless they have a particularly poor catcher.
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Mar 8, 2015 04:15
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the game is pretty good in some ways, its easier to steal second when you have a lefty batting because it seems like the catcher has a harder time throwing to first on pitch outs. same with stealing third against LHP. the ai will sometimes pitch out like 3 times when the 1# basestealer is on first but if someone terrible at running is on then you can sometimes force them to steal without the ai trying to throw them out.
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Mar 8, 2015 14:42
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  : After a frustrating game 2, we now fly to Islamabad for Game 3. We can still maintain the advantage with a win here without blowing our third series in a row. : Beef Ballpark is pretty neutral as far as ballparks go. Extra base hits are a bit harder to come by and it's slightly easier for left handed batters, but with the majority of hitters being right handed, I'd say it works out about even. The left field wall is very high relative to the right side, so look for more home runs hit by our left handed hitters rather than righties (good for Black, Reeve, and Cash money!).The park does have amazing hot dogs and meat in general though, so I have to say I'm a fan. These samosas are to die for!  : Pitching against us today is Irfan Malik, a pretty drat good third starter even if he's not as elite as the first two we had to face. Here's his stats on the year: : Impressive! Less impressive is his 4.68 ERA against us all season - let's hope we can leverage this into a nice easy high scoring game in our favor!Tor, by contrast, actually performed better against Islamabad on the year than his average, if only by .04 points. I'll take it, and if Tor can get through the first three guys in their lineup we should be in good shape.  : The wind is blowing in from left at 11mph today, on a pretty cold evening at 48 degrees. I'd blame that for the low attendance, but apparently the park only holds 29,400 people at max. The wind will make home runs to left field all but impossible, so, sorry right handers. : Their defense remains unchanged, but since we are no longer at home, we are up to bat first at the top of the first! The only notable change is that Robin Williams now has the correct portrait - why, I'm not really sure, because I didn't actually change anything! : Enough chatter, you've seen it all before. Play ball! : Nice! Since Cam was not hurt, a hit by pitch is a fantastic way to start. Our best baserunner is on with our best hitters behind him. I won't steal yet as we have no outs, but may make an attempt if the situation calls for it later.  : Here we go! Prince Kelly finally wakes up and hits a double, moving Cam to third base. Check out that pitch sequence - the guy on the mound is not throwing well, and Prince took the first pitch that was good to hit (right down the middle) and rolled with it.We now have runners on second and third with no outs. I have faith that Clink or Black can find a way to capitalize on this... Well, Clink flies out, but then..   : A lead! And to reinforce my theory, the first pitch goes right down the middle for Black to belt for a single. A younger Black might have carried that out of the park, but the old Black still knows a meaty pitch when he sees one.Still men on the corners with one out. Can we try to get one more in, Cash Money?   : That works. Cash Money has no choice but to take a walk, as Irfan is looking incredibly wild out there, and the bases are now loaded. Unless he rallies soon, he may not be in for much longer the way he's throwing. That was also his 21st pitch of the game, and only one out recorded. : Reeve swings at a really terrible pitch (far down and outside) but manages to connect for a long fly ball. Almost a home run, honestly, but it does the job and brings another runner home. Men on first and second, two outs. Up comes good ol' Rex, who grounds out, but at least we forced the pitcher to give up two runs on 23 pitches, and it's only the first!Out comes Tor, who retires the first batter uneventfully...  : But then gives up a double and a single, making it a 2 - 1 game. Oh well, at least he has a bit of a lead still.  : And he knows how to throw strikes, too! He strikes out the last batter of the inning, and we go into the second up 2 - 1. Let's see if we can drive out Irfan this inning, or watch his pitches to see if he figured out how to pitch. : Up first is KKKLIP ART, who grounds out, but Irfan remains wild. With Tor up, I'm having him take all the way. :  he never even swung. That second pitch was good, but I feel like it was by accident. Tor takes his free base, and up comes Cam.  : Cam gets hit by ANOTHER pitch, and takes his base. I'm starting to worry for the health of my batters, but this Irfan guy appears to be completely gassed. My boys are taking all the way now, at least until a few strikes come their way. : Welp, Prince Kelly finally gets some strikes and at least moves Tor over to third with a ground ball. Up is Clink, who may be forced to swing again as well.  :  After taking two strikes, Clink takes the first ball he receives and hits in Tor! The inning rolls on, and the pitcher is still in, but has already thrown 43 pitches in the game. Fortunately for him, Black would fly out on a bad pitch, but not until ensuring that their pitcher has now thrown 47 pitches through two innings. We're now up 3 - 1. : Tor begins his inning by struggling a bit himself, getting an out but then giving up a single to Robin Williams and hitting the next batter on a full count. Fortunately for him, he's bailed out by a bad 2 strike bunt by their pitcher   : Gah! A little blooper manages to fall behind the shortstop, but then Cash Money's throw from shallow left isn't in time to third, and Robin Williams comes in to score. Curse you Robin Williams!  Tor at least gets the next batter out, so we finish the second still up 3 - 2.  : The top of the third is uneventful, as Malik appears to have relearned how to throw strikes. Our boys fly out and ground out in order, so in comes Tor again. Hopefully he figured out his problems too. : Quite so! Tor buys himself some time with some good pitching, but he is on a very short leash now. I may pull him early if the situation calls for it.  : Unfortunately for us, Malik finally settles in, and remembers how to throw strikes. I'll go back to letting the hitters decide for now, as only KKKLIP ART manages a single that inning. Good to see some life out of him, though.   : :arghh: Robin Williams, you traitorous piece of poo poo! Well, despite another double, that's all the damage done that inning. But it's enough, tying the game at 3. : Our own half of the fifth sees our boys go down in order yet again. Did we miss our chance to get to Malik earlier in the game? : Oh God it's all falling apart! Tor gives up another run in the fifth after a walk and a groundball (and strikeout), bringing me to pull him in favor of Xerxes Ironfist, who has done well against lefties all year. He does it again with a strikeout, but we are now down 4 - 3 going into the sixth   : Again our boys come and go, the ninth in a row. Malik where did this skill come from??I elect to leave Xerxes in for now, but will bring him out at any sign of trouble.  : But he does perfectly. I can already hear Mo from Ronkonkoma's armchair quarterbacking now  : As you can see by the late screenshot, again we are brought down in order! For the fourth inning in a row we can't manage a single baserunner against Malik, even with Mo Jihad coming in to pinch hit.Oh well, in comes Franq-in Friq. Can you keep us in the game?  : He can indeed! Even though a runner gets to second, Friq mows them down, and we enter the eighth down by one.  : Out goes Malik finally, as his early play had driven up his pitch count to 116 pitches. This is good, as it lets us face Takahashi, who we beat up last time we faced him (I think?). : While Takahashi brings down Clink and Black, Cash Money drives a ball deep into the right field corner for a triple on the first pitch! We have a man on third now, but with two outs. Can Reeve bring him home? : No. No he cannot.I bring in MacGregor, as this must remain close if we expect to win. He proceeds to walk the first two batters, bringing up Robin Williams with two men on . He threw pretty much just balls, not his usual stuff, so I bring in Jafar instead before MacGregor blows the game entirely.  : The Williams threat is neutralized, but Jafar does give up a single to bring the game to 5 - 3, then gets out of the jam. Not insurmountable, but not ideal. : In the ninth, we have Rex, ART, and the pitcher spot up to bat. This is not ideal, as it is our weakest hitters. I sub in Garrett for Rex to try and get a bit of an offensive edge, but ART will be forced to stay in. : Eric Garret flies out, bringing us down to two outs. Come on ART, surprise us, don't make us miss Uemura... : Welp, all up to you Ghassan.   : Welp, that's the game!   : Well then, what went wrong here? The first criticism you'll probably make is that I left in Tor for too long - I'll grant you that, but not by a whole lot. He did not have a horrible game, and we can't always assume our relievers will do much better. Ultimately Malik just bested us - after his horrible first three innings, he got his poo poo together, and only gave up 2 walks (plus 2 HBP) after barely being able to throw strikes to start it out. I don't know if our boys just didn't capitalize or what the deal was, but we will now go into game 4 at a disadvantage, and fighting for our season.   : At least the Meat stay alive over in the Shiite League, where they are fighting to avoid going home. They win convincingly, breaking a 5 - 5 tie in the eighth with a 5 run rally. Noori Abdul-Bari, their slugging first basemen, hits two home runs and records 5 RBI's. Yikes, if we survive to the championship round, we may not throw him much to hit...Goons! Well, I blew it again! Or more specifically, our players did. We go down 2 - 1 in the series, so game four matters big time. If we lose, we again choke a series 3 - 1 for the third year in a row. At least it will be to someone different!  We have Jack Price slated to pitch, as per your orders. He's currently at 82% rested - enough to start, but probably not enough to finish the game. That's fine, but I just wanted everyone to be aware. If game 5 happens, shadowing should be fully rested as there is a day of travel between games four and five. Bin Firas, their ace, is similarly rested. This is a must win game, so look over the lineups and let me know if you want to switch anyone out, like Mo Jihad for Black or Garrett for Rex. We are still going according to the original plan, but feel free to offer any more advice.
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Mar 9, 2015 08:55
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What a bunch of bums. It's like every year they try to find new and exciting ways to let the fans down.
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Mar 9, 2015 10:03
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Small sample size and everything, but why is our offense dominating in the regular season yet so poo poo in the playoffs - three years in a row now? Do our batters just feast on poor pitching and then come unstuck against better quality opponents in the post season? Is our division particularly bad for pitching outside of ourselves and skew the stats?
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Mar 9, 2015 14:40
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At least Robin Williams is doing well.
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Mar 9, 2015 15:35
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Neopie posted:At least Robin Williams is doing well. I was pleasantly surprised to return to the thread to discover this. What's up with new players at the moment? If I start following the thread again, can I get somebody into the draft pool?
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Mar 9, 2015 15:41
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tanglewood1420 posted:Small sample size and everything, but why is our offense dominating in the regular season yet so poo poo in the playoffs - three years in a row now? Do our batters just feast on poor pitching and then come unstuck against better quality opponents in the post season? Is our division particularly bad for pitching outside of ourselves and skew the stats? Stalinator takes more direct control of the team during each playoff game. It's clear that this is the main difference.  I say let's go with Garrett in the next game. Run prevention hasn't been the problem, we need more offense (and he's still above average on defense!) Also Reeve doesn't have a single hit yet! I'm booing him and calling into my local sports talk station right now Also also, I've been meaning to ask, is the rating scale 20-80, or 0-100? Ice To Meet You fucked around with this message at 19:00 on Mar 9, 2015 |
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Mar 9, 2015 15:48
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Ice To Meet You posted:Stalinator takes more direct control of the team during each playoff game. It's clear that this is the main difference. 
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Mar 9, 2015 15:52
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I agree with starting Garrett over Rex, who is such a good boy, yes he is! Embarrassing as it is, maybe let the computer do most of it for this game, like it does in the regular season? It can't hurt us any worse. 
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Mar 9, 2015 18:36
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frankenfreak posted:See game 2. Ice To Meet You posted:Stalinator takes more direct control of the team during each playoff game. It's clear that this is the main difference. Aesclepia posted:Embarrassing as it is, maybe let the computer do most of it for this game, like it does in the regular season? It can't hurt us any worse.  Ice To Meet You posted:Also also, I've been meaning to ask, is the rating scale 20-80, or 0-100? It's on a 1-100 scale for the particular ability ratings (like contact, power) , but 20-80 for the overall/potential ratings. tadashi posted:I was pleasantly surprised to return to the thread to discover this. What's up with new players at the moment? If I start following the thread again, can I get somebody into the draft pool? We just let a few new guys on about a week or so ago, but it's about to be the offseason, so if we pick up any free agents or call anyone from the minors, it might be a good time to grab someone! Given that the Constantinoples always have a fat budget, bringing on at least one good free agent is very, very likely. Since you've been waiting patiently since the start, I have no problem giving you a heads up beforehand to give you a chance to nab them. Right now Jafar is still available, but he's about the only one among the regulars that is worth taking. There's a lot of minor league talent but it's liable to be traded away or not develop into anything worth promoting (RIP Burt Roberts).
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Mar 9, 2015 21:29
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Sai Tor just Jake Peavy'd us. Also, Mo from Ronkonkoma is apoplectic.
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Mar 10, 2015 15:48
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I don't know what that means but playoffs are a lot of pressure ok?
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Mar 11, 2015 19:05
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habeasdorkus posted:Sai Tor just Jake Peavy'd us. I really wanna get on IRC and have a chat with Mo or that radio show. Or I did, before I started to single handedly throw the third playoff series in a row. Saitorr posted:I don't know what that means but playoffs are a lot of pressure ok? Don't stress - a one game sample is not enough to judge your dude (just look at Clayton Kershaw or "big game" James this last year). It was probably just bad luck or mismanagement on my part. I'm at the point where I'm actually nervous that people will stop wanting to follow the LP if I keep ruining our chances of playoff victory, but also don't want to game it so that we win unjustly. Maybe I will start simming them if I keep throwing like this
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Mar 12, 2015 08:38
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I wouldn't worry about it. If anything, we've been too successful from the start and I've been glad that we've fallen short in the playoffs so that we still have something worth winning.
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Mar 12, 2015 15:38
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simming is so boring it robs all the potential tension from the game. reading you go through the interesting hand picked bits of play by play is very entertaining to read (but probably a lot of work for you )
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Mar 12, 2015 16:40
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You could give control to the manager so you can still follow on the PBP, I noticed myself that that seems to help my teams on my game.
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Mar 12, 2015 17:18
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It doesn't actually bother me, I am not actually emotionally invested in my electronic baseball man. For what it's worth, I have really been enjoying the LP and I am somewhat emotionally invested in our electronic baseball team. Losing the playoffs just makes it feel like I'm a fan of a real life team.
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Mar 12, 2015 18:02
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Saitorr posted:For what it's worth, I have really been enjoying the LP and I am somewhat emotionally invested in our electronic baseball team. Losing the playoffs just makes it feel like I'm a fan of a real life team. This! I've been enjoying this a lot and I thought that trying something different for this game would be interesting, but I've been loving the whole thing, so it's your show, Stalinator!
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Mar 13, 2015 02:47
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Also, if you ever DO want to go on
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Mar 13, 2015 03:04
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Aesclepia posted:This! I've been enjoying this a lot and I thought that trying something different for this game would be interesting, but I've been loving the whole thing, so it's your show, Stalinator! It would be interesting to try some different settings, especially ones I'm more acquainted with. I'm fairly knowledgable about the history of the Middle East and Islam, but it'd be more so if it was Latin America or East Asia, my areas of specialization. (or West Europe +USA I guess). We'll see how things evolve, but I at least want to see some of our players mature, develop, and decline to get a full sense of where they're going. We could always do a long sim update if we wanted to start fresh, though it'd be within the same setting. habeasdorkus posted:Also, if you ever DO want to go on I'm lurking in #GoonKrieg on IRC most of the time for Grey's great new world war one LP http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3704884. (I can't actually check that thread though, as it's the observer thread, I just grabbed the URL from the third page of the forum). I'll hang out in #Constantinoples for a bit if you want to, and anyone else is welcome to come hang out too. For those who don't know, go to the following website: http://client00.chat.mibbit.com/ Choose Synirc from the list, enter your username, and put the channel #Constantinoples to join.
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Mar 13, 2015 04:44
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 :  Does this look familiar? We're down 2 - 1 in the Abu Bakr Series. Here's what I said last year: A More Optimistic Pete posted:Baseball... baseball never changes. What would happen that day? Sai Tor would go out on the mound for us, and he would get hurt two batters in, forcing us to play Jack Price for five innings on limited rest. We lost 6 - 3. It was not a good day for the club. But today is different! Today we break the Constantinoples Curse, and we win a game 4, and we go to the Caliphate Championship Series, drat it!  : We'll make this quick, because I think you're all intimately acquainted with the Beef by now. Up against us is their ace, again, Shihab Bin Firas, while we've got Jack Price out. Price was fantastic last time but Bin Firas was great too, just not QUITE as good and betrayed by his bullpen. A repeat of game one would be fantastic, but we'll see how the starters hold up one short rest. Expect Price and Bin Firas to leave well before 100 pitches, barring some special performance.As per your suggestions, I have put Garrett in to see if we can't bolster the offense a bit. Our defense has been golden, and in fact I think we are error-less throughout the series, so let's see if Garret can bring a bit of pop to the lineup. As we are facing a right hander, John Black will be covering first for the day. One interesting thing I noticed about Bin Firas - he never gives up home runs. When I say never, I mean he has only given up 27 home runs ever in his three year career. And remember that he's pitched 200+ innings each year, so his HR/9 rate is something insane like 0.3. Good thing we don't rely on dingers  : It's a very blustery and somewhat cold day today in Islamabad, but notable is that the wind is blowing left to right at nearly 20 miles per hour. This will result in balls skewing left from their original trajectory - this could help hitters hit dingers to the left side a bit, but it's harder to predict than when the ball is just blowing out to left from center. Good thing we've got good outfielders to cover center and right! : Up first to bat is Cam Stevenson, who has done well for us this postseason, even if he's still below his regular season numbers. It'd be nice to get an early lead in this game, so we can keep the bullpen rested for the pivotal game five.Anyway, PLAY BALL!   : Cam looks to lead us off with a bloop single that falls right between Robin Williams at second and the Right Fielder Osogo, but Osogo somehow manages to get to it in time! Given that his range is abysmal, I'm wondering if they're using a shift to predict where we might hit it to. Up next is Prince Kelly, who strikes out. He's been pretty awful this whole series so far, and looking at the pitches he chooses to swing at, he seems to be in a bit of a desperate funk.  : Clink also strikes out (though moreso due to good pitching by Bin Firas), so we go down in the first in order. In comes Price! : And he gives up a single to Bin Abdel, then Bin Abdel steals second base under our nose. God drat it! The next batter walks, and they have first and second with no outs... : But Price brings down Gogo in three pitches! Gogo has been the one disappointment for the Beef so far, despite his great play all regular season. But the threat's not over, and the next batter grounds out, moving runners to 2nd and 3rd with one out... : But he gets him to chase, ending the threat with a fly ball. Phew, crisis averted.  : John Black continues to carry the team, belting a single to bring his postseason average up to .500 (4/8) with 2 walks. But we can't do anything, and Cash Money and Garrett both strike out (with Tresher grounding out). As has been our problem all series, we can't score any drat runs!  Robin Williams comes and goes uneventfully in the second, but we learn an interesting statistic. Despite perception, he bats .188 against the Constantinoples since being traded. It seems so much higher! Price rids himself of a single with a double play, and ends the inning, still zero to zero.   : Signs of life as Cam gets a two out single in the third, but up comes the struggling Prince Kelly. Can he turn it around? : He gets a fast ball down the middle, and grounds it weakly to short. So no, he cannot.Price dominates his half however, and we start to see a pitcher's duel take shape. A shame they're both on short rest!  : A leadoff hit!? Yes! Clink gets on to start the fourth, and now Black is behind him. If Black can get on, I have some faith our boys behind them can at least string together some ground or fly balls to move them around.  : Unfortunately, Black flies out. Against his better judgement he tried to hit one of the park, and while close, he just doesn't have that kind of power anymore!  : Bah! Clink is eliminated on a pick off to first! I included a gif for illustration for those who aren't aware - if a runner isn't paying attention or strays too far from first, the pitcher can throw to first to get him out. They got lucky this time!Cash Money grounds out, and we go to the bottom of the first, no better off for Clink's good work. But Price makes short work of them, allowing a single walk. Pitcher's duel maintained!   : Tresher's slump continues with a fly out, but Garrett manages to get on base! He hits a slow dribbler to second and runs it out - an impressive use of his speed! : Then against all odds, ART gets a single too! First and Second with one out, but up comes Price to bat. You've advised me against bunting, so he's hitting all the way! : And when I said hit, I meant I'd tell him to take every pitch. Manager of the year Bases loaded for Cam, one out. Come on...    : . That's not exactly what happened, but imagine the ball going to the second baseman, who then throws it to the third baseman covering second. It's likely that ART misjudged the ball and thought it was a hit, and wasn't able to get back to second after Robin Williams caught it. drat you Robin Williams!  : If it makes you feel any better, Robin Williams does himself in with a swinging strike to start the inning. Price is on fire, at least - but his pitch count will begin to be a concern. He's at 90 pitches, while Bin Firas is only at 66 somehow.  : A true miracle happens - Prince Kelly leads us off with a single! Now Clink and Black are up - can Kelly be the first head in the dreaded KKK hydra?Nope! They all go down in order, Clink, Black, and Cash Money .Price is still out there, but I will be pulling him soon. In fact, he gives up a leadoff single to bin Abdel - time to get him out of there. In comes Xerxes Ironfist, who has been very effective against left handed hitters.   : He gets a fly ball and a groundout, but Bin Abdel moves to third. Osogo is up, and he needs a hit or some defensive disaster to get Abdel home.  : Ososo almost smashes the ball out of the park into left field, but a brilliant running catch by Cash Money prevents any damage. You can see the location of the ball on top of Cash Money's name there - very close to a home run!Xerxes does his job, and finishes the inning without incident.  : Our boys drop in order, again, to start the seventh inning. Not that I'm too optimistic about Tresher or ART at this point.In comes Jafar, who, of course, gives up a single to lead us off But he gets the next two guys, including Robin Williams:    : Butt-chin does him job (screencap is from when he is pinch hitting next) : Jafar is taken out in favor of Mo Jihad. I really hope this is our inning - we have six hits so far, so we've actually done better overall! : Mo Jihad strikes out, and Cam flies out, but Kelly and Clink surprise us with two singles. Runners at first and second, John Black up. Come on... But he grounds out ineffectually to first. God drat it : I bring in MacGregor this time in the bottom of the eighth, but I will remove him at the first sign of trouble. : But while he struggled last game, this game he is his usual self. Side retired. : We go into the ninth, and remember, we are in Islamabad. This means that should they take the lead at any point after this, they will walk off and end our season.   : Cash Money strikes out, but we get a walk and a single to put men on first and second with one out. Sound familiar? And just our luck - KKKLIP ART is up. He flies out.I'm forced to pinch hit for MacGregor with Ghassan. He's not that great, but Rex and Jeff Jeffers are our other options, and they are here for defense not offense.    :  Onto the bottom of the ninth we go. I bring in Friar John, as we have no choice. With the season on the line, you don't wait for hypothetical leads. A runner scores for the Beef and we are done for good. : But Friar John cannot be tamed. Onto the tenth we go - bonus baseball!   : Cam leads us off, and he is still facing Takahashi. The Beef are conserving their bullpen, I may also leave Friar John in next inning to do the same. : A lead off walk! The best kind of walk!   : Kelly really does work - not only does he get a single, he also moves the speedy Cam over to third base. Now a fly ball gives us the lead - or even a double play grounder if it's fielded right. Black, this is your chance to leave an impression on your hometown fans, and make your fans appreciate you as more than just lesser-cam. : A run! The tie is finally broken, and Clink not only brings home Cam, but gets himself to second, and Kelly to third! We may have a chance to open this up and pad our lead! : I... what? WHAT? YOURE loving KIDDING ME! Again, I loving click the wrong button, and Prince Kelly tries to steal home  Obviously it doesn't work, but Clink does move to third if it's any consolation.If we lose this, let Mo do the hanging. He's earned it.  : Okay, okay. Black gets Clink home with a sacrifice fly, so it's at least 2 - 0 now. Two outs (thanks to me).Cash Money grounds out again, ending the inning. We are up 2 - 0, with Friar John to finish us off.    : Friar John has to face Robin Williams first, then the bottom of their order. This is to our advantage.Jeffers replaces Tresher, and Rex replaces Garrett. That's a sexy looking defense:    : Friar John is dealing, and Williams can't get good contact on anything. Two to go!  : John paints the outside for another. One out, and we win the game.  : Uh oh. Their pinch hitter draws a walk, and now we face the top of their order. This could be trouble.     : WE DID IT! WE WON A GAME FOUR, HOLY poo poo WE GET TO... go to... game five.   : We did it guys! Look at that beautiful shutout we put together - they couldn't score on us, even after Price was pulled after only five innings. Still a good show by him and the elite of our bullpen. With a day of rest between now and game five, I would expect only Friar John to be tired out (and Price of course).Our hitting still leaves something to be desired, but the top of the order is finally waking up. If they stay awake, we will easily win game five. I'm still very, very concerned that it took us ten innings to score a single run, but them's the breaks. I am going to ignore the stealing home thing. Please. For my sanity.   : The narratives! The storylines! The sheer intrigue! Over in the Ali Talib series, Damascus again fell to New Dehli, evening the series at two a piece. Four teams will play on October 13th for their season - two will be eliminated.What's interesting is that there is the potential for two very serious rivalries to face off. On the one hand, Damascus v Istanbul is very possible, which is fantastic given the centrality of the Hatay dispute to the outcome of the series. Also interesting though, is the potential for an Islamabad-New Dehli matchup. It's well known that India and Pakistan are fierce rivals, and one nice thing about that match up is that absolutely no one would doubt the ferocity of either side in their desire to win, without any regard to the Hatay dispute. This should boost the legitimacy of the match should this occur. Who knows, but we'll check in on their scores periodically in game five! For now..  Goons! Here's the current lineup:  I think Shadowing is the way to go - he's well rested, and an ace. He lost last time but went eight innings giving up one run, so that's hardly his fault. If he can repeat again for game five, we should win. Here's our postseason batting stats, and season batting stats for reference: Season Stats  Postseason Stats  Remember that the postseason is tiny sample size, but it does show who is hot right now. Some general questions: How do you feel about the current lineup order?  Do we consider: Garrett over Rex? (offense v defense) Jeffers over Tresher? (defense and Tresher has been ice cold) Black over Jihad (Jihad normally squares better against lefties, but Black's been strong so far) Any other order changes? I'm just glad we won, and FINALLY get a chance to go to the championship!
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Mar 13, 2015 08:29
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That was intense!
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Mar 13, 2015 12:45
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CPU pickoffs in OOTP are loving bullshit. Sometimes, you can even see them coming. They'll throw over like 6 times and then finally get the guy on the 7th. I've never picked a guy off in any game I've managed in OOTP. I hate stupid cheating sports games. And we know they all cheat. Just curious - Why does Tresher bat 6th when he looks like had the better season (barring sample size, OBP, huge ratings differences, etc) than Cash Considerations?
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Mar 13, 2015 14:04
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Seriously, what do you have against Prince Kelly? You've had him strike out via Bunt and try and steal home! Is it the continued pleas to start a game or something?
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Mar 13, 2015 16:19
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habeasdorkus posted:That was intense! This was probably the best game I've managed so far in this LP. It would also probably be the best game to watch in person - an intense pitcher's duel, lots of runners on base, crazy defensive plays and miscues, and of course our boys winning it in the end! TheFlyingLlama posted:Seriously, what do you have against Prince Kelly? You've had him strike out via Bunt and try and steal home! Is it the continued pleas to start a game or something? Real Answer: If the guys before him do something, I'm more likely to have tabbed out, and thus more likely to have accidentally clicked one of the commands when I tab back in. Fake Answer: Yes, Prince Kelly fundamentally does not understand his role and is a very confused man. tadashi posted:CPU pickoffs in OOTP are loving bullshit. Sometimes, you can even see them coming. They'll throw over like 6 times and then finally get the guy on the 7th. I've never picked a guy off in any game I've managed in OOTP. I hate stupid cheating sports games. And we know they all cheat.  , pick offs are dumb. Clink was NOT stealing nor did he ever have any intention to do so, just... PICKED OFF. I've actually had the same happen to me though, where I just click "pitch" and my pitcher randomly picks their guy off. It does happen, but it's extremely rare.As for Tresher, good question! Shall I move him up ahead of Cash Money?
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Mar 13, 2015 21:06
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Yes definitely switch them. Now is the time for radical change.
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Mar 14, 2015 14:55
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 : For the first time in the three year existence of our club, we are one win away from winning a playoff series. And for the third time in the existence of our club, we are one loss away from ending our season... : As per your suggestion, Tresher swapped with Cash money, but the lineups are otherwise familiar to you. Mo Jihad is back in as we face a left hander, but I won't be hesitant to put the hotter hitting John Black in if we need offense.Shadowing and Coujoe both performed admirably last go around, with Coujoe giving up no runs over 7, and shadowing surrendering one run over 8, being saddled with the loss. Let's hope for a repeat performance out of Shadowing, but with some drat offense to back him up!  : We flew back to Istanbul for this game, where it remains a slightly chilly 57 degrees. More important is the wind - it is blowing in heavily from left field at about 11 MPH, making home runs to left field considerably more difficult. This should hurt right handed power hitters, particularly Mo Jihad. But belt the ball hard enough, and even the wind won't stop it.  : We take the field first, and so the first batter of the game is Bin-Abdul. He's been alright this series, but not as dominant as we had feared.PLAY BALL!  : Dominant all season, first in average second in runs and third in stolen bases, but not today Shadowing retires the side in order, and now our boys have their chance to make a difference early. I don't know if my heart can take another game that's scoreless through nine.  : It's going to be scoreless through 15 this time, isn't it? : Shadowing again pitches masterfully in the second inning, with a single serving as the single blemish. Another pitcher's duel brewing? Up for us are the slugging Mo Jihad, slumping Tresher, and inconsistent Cash Money. They're all capable of great things, but neither Jihad nor Tresher have a hit all series! Cash Money does have our only home run, though...   : A lead off walk! That's what I'm talking about. Now we just need Tresher and Cash Money to get Mo home... : A single  ! Goons you are geniuses, bringing in Tresher behind Mo Jihad has borne fruit, as it moves Mo over to second base.Cash Money is up, and he cares not for wind, for he is a lefty and more likely to hit a home run to right field anyway.   : No, no cash money. That is not what you are supposed to do. Now Mo Jihad is at third, but we need a hit to bring him home. Rex is up, and he's been surprisingly productive given his usual offensive troubles.  : But today Rex can't fetch a hit    : The Beef begin the third with a single, then the pitcher bunts the runner to second base. One out, man on second, and the normally imposing Bin-Abdel is up. : Aw, poo poo. Runners on the corners with one out. We really, really need a double play, as a fly ball will bring the runner home and put us behind 1 - 0. : Facing shadowing is Benarbia, who has menaced us all series.  : Shadowing gets two strikes on Benarbia, but then Bin-Abdel manages to steal second right under his nose. drat it! Now a ground ball will probably score the runner at 3rd, but it's tough to say. : drat it! I tell Shadowing to throw him nothing but junk, but somehow Benarbia connects on a ball almost in the dirt, sending it to deep enough center to score the runner at 3rd. Oh well, two outs and a man on second. Up is Gogo, normally their most menacing hitter, who has otherwise been awful this series. : Thankfully, he grounds out, and we minimize the damage at one run. We are now on the verge of elimination, so we need some run production! : No, that is not how we come back from behind!  : On the bright side, Shadowing gives up a walk but Robin Williams wastes the base runner with a weak grounder to third base. Another shot for us to come back, with the meat of our lineup batting!  : Kelly flies out, but Clink gets a one out single to get the inning going! Clink's now batting .389 in the series, and is by far our most productive player.Mo Jihad flies out, but up comes Tresher...   : ! Not only does Tresher keep the inning alive, we manages to score the speedy Clink from first base by belting a massive double down the right field line! I'm going to chalk this up to the poor defensive play by the awful right fielder Osogo. The ball wasn't that far from him, but he was just too slow to get there. Either way, great work Tresher, and the inning isn't even over! : Oh wait, yes it is Oh well, at least we tied the game at one a piece. : The fifth inning begins innocuously enough with a fly ball, but then Coujoe, the opposing pitcher comes up... : He somehow belts the first pitch for a double, right over the head of Cam Stevenson. It wasn't even a bad pitch, he just got lucky. drat it!  : Well, poo poo. Now they have runners at the corners with one out - the exact same situation as the last time they scored. We need a double play - and to keep Abdel from stealing second again!A pickoff throw to first scares Bin-Abdel back, but the real threat is the batter...  : Gah! We fall behind 2 - 1, and now there's still runners on first and second. A mound visit to Shadowing sees him insist he's fine, so I give him one more chance to finish the inning, or I'll have to put someone else in. The problem is, most of our best relievers are a bit tired after the last game... : Oh for Christ's sake! The runners move to second and third for free on a double steal. What the hell are you doing out there KKKLIP ART?  : Catching the ball, apparently! Gogo screws up big time, and hits a pop up straight up, where ART fields it cleanly. One more out and we escape with minimal damage... : Phew! We give up another run to begin losing 2 - 1, but that could have been much worse. Poor Osogo - first he fields a ball poorly, and then he strikes out. He still doesn't have a hit all series, either.The bottom of the fifth is its usual fare of incompetence, so we remain behind 2 - 1 in the sixth.  : Shadowing is now on a very short leash, and I'll pull him if he allows any base runners.And he does just that, after striking out Chipkemie, he walks Ra'id. Hit the showers shadowing, it's time to give Franq-in Friq a shot. Friq has a great ERA against righties in his career, and facing him is the right hander Robin Williams.    : Friq does his job, but Williams' groundball bounces off Tresher's poor glove, allowing the runners to reach safely. Error on the shortstop, and our first of the series .  : Friq gets another ground ball that should have ended the inning, but instead advances the runners to second and third with two outs. But up comes the pitcher spot - will they take Coujoe out, or let him hit?   : I.. I, I can't believe it. That's 3 RBI's for their pitcher in this game. A guy who has one hit ever, before the playoffs: : We are cursed. It is the only conclusion.They actually manage another single, but Albrecht Alby comes in and strikes out Benarbia to end the misery. Now we are down 3 - 1, and really need some damned offense. That Tresher error proved very, very costly. In the bottom of the sixth, Prince Kelly manages to get on base! Clink hits behind him, and can the hot Clink do something?  :  : I leave Alby in for now, and he pitches well, until... : Clink, noooo Another error!The Beef get ANOTHER baserunner after the error. To avoid more unearned runs, I bring Jafar in.    : It's all crashing down We finally get out of the inning, but the seventh inning stretch sees our deficit widen to four. To begin the seventh, I pull the hitless Mo Jihad in favor of John Black. We really need to rally sooner rather than later.   : And he doesn't disappoint, with a lead off double!Tresher moves him to third, and Cash Money moves up. Normally a fly ball for a sacrifice fly would be wonderful, but we are running out of time and down by four. But hey, even one run helps.  : But we won't even get that  : I bring in MacGregor for the eighth inning. He faces Coujoe, who normally wouldn't be a threat, but this game has been absolutely dominant on offense and defense.MacGregor gets a strikeout from Coujoe (finally), but allows Bin Abdel on base. Rectifying his previous mistakes however, ART manages to catch him stealing second Another strikeout and we get another chance to come back. Up first is KKKLIP ART, followed by the pitcher spot.  : A leadoff double! How will we waste that?Eric Garrett comes in as a pinch hitter. ART is on second, with no outs, down 5 - 1.  : Oh look, a ground ball. Can we at least get ART home, Cam Stevenson? : A run! And it didn't even cost us an out! It's 5 - 2 now, can our "better" hitters bring home another few runs to keep it close, at least? : Prince Kelly doesn't think so. Will Clink try something different? : He will indeed, belting another single to bring the quick Cam home from second base! We are now only down two runs, which also means that the three unearned runs are officially the difference between us winning and losing this game. : Here's John Black. Find some of that old power John, we could really use it right now... : Well that's interesting. A wild pitch and Clink moves to second. A base hit will probably score him now, but Black is also up 2 - 0, so he may end up walking. : But Coujoe rallies and gets Black. Oh well, we score twice, and are now only down by two runs.  : Friar John arrives, and a single is given up, but no one else can touch him.We go into the bottom of the ninth inning down two runs. If we don't at least tie the game now, our season is over.   : Up for us are Tresher, Cash Money, and Rex. Not particularly impressive, but at least Coujoe is gone now. : One down, two outs and we go home losers yet again. : Cash Money keeps us alive with a walk, but is it enough?Rex comes in, the hopes of our season on his shoulders...     : Well boys, that's it. Game over, and our season is once again cut short.   : Nothing is more distressing than losing a game 5 - 3 when you only gave up two earned runs. Without those errors, we would have won 3 - 2, and instead we are going home for another off season to lick our wounds and try again next year.I can't really fault any of our pitchers, for once again, our batters let us down. And of course, the bullshit of those three pitcher RBI's is particularly bitter for me.   : Perhaps one piece of good news - New Dehli has managed to rally back from behind, and win three games in a row to defeat Damascus! The Caliphate Championship series will now be played between New Dehli and Islamabad, and I expect this will be quite the contentious series. The usual contenders are down, and it's finally a chance for some new blood at the highest level.  : I will do a full post mortem, as well as our offseason situation, once the initial despair washes over!
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Mar 17, 2015 02:56
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It just keeps tumbling down, tumbling down, tumbling down... I half expect a clubhouse revolt by the pitchers at this point!
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Mar 17, 2015 03:06
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Well that's just loving fantastic. What higher power did we piss off and who in particular is to blame for this? EDIT: Y'know, I'm currently playing Virtue's Last Reward, and I find that it aptly mirrors what we're going through here. It's this constant flow of "well, I feel like I'm really making progress oh wait never mind here's the dead end, time to start over from a different spot" that looks just like what's happening with our team. Every time, we feel like we're better prepared, know more than we knew the last time, have the situation better scouted, and then bam, it just turns out the same way anyway, please return to spring training, do not collect 200$ and so on and so forth. The thing is that I know that with VLR, it has to pay off eventually. There's only a finite amount of paths available, and the game provides a flowchart to help you keep track of your progress. I know I'm getting it right eventually. The Constantinoples' troubles, on the other hand, could very well end up continuing indefinitely. I mean, going by mathematical probability, it has to happen to somebody, right? Hell, we could end up going backwards if things really go to poo poo. And that frightens me. TheMcD fucked around with this message at 03:18 on Mar 17, 2015 |
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Mar 17, 2015 03:09
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Friar John posted:It just keeps tumbling down, tumbling down, tumbling down... Breaking news: Reeve Tresher found dead in clubhouse, strangled by shoestrings with a glove hanging around his neck. TheMcD posted:Well that's just loving fantastic. What higher power did we piss off and who in particular is to blame for this?  But really, don't be too upset or surprised. The playoffs is a crap shoot, which combined with my awful managing, makes losing anything but unlikely. We should remain in contention a bit longer since the core of our team is young, and eventually we'll get it!
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Mar 17, 2015 03:38
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Maybe 1983 is the year Jeff Jeffers will wake up from his year-long Miracle Gro*-induced black out and remember how to play baseball. *"They sell this poo poo in stores? Why have I been paying out my rear end for steroids this whole time?!"
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Mar 17, 2015 05:42
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Aw... It does make me feel better that 1)We got to game 5! That's better than game 4! and 2)Damascus lost, too! Ha ha! Welp. I am interested to see the championship between the new people. Then we can work on rebuilding.
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Mar 17, 2015 13:41
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The gifs help to soften the blow. I hope the Beef take the playoffs, at least we have our old friend Williams to root for and the Sunni league needs a playoff victory drat it.
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Mar 17, 2015 17:23
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Well, it's gonna be all the sweeter when we finally win a series. Saitorr posted:I hope the Beef take the playoffs, at least we have our old friend Williams to root for and the Sunni league needs a playoff victory drat it.
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Mar 17, 2015 17:33
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