This is a Replay baseball league I began in January 2001, using the 1998 season. Each NL team is included except Florida and Montreal. There are two 7-team divisions. It is called National League Select because each NL team selects/drafts players from the unused teams (all AL teams plus Florida and Montreal). I presently intend to allow each NL team to drop one AL player and draft one new one each year. I may change this to allow all 3 AL players per team to be re-drafted. If a former AL player moves to a NL team in real life MLB, his previous NLS team loses him. Thus, the starting point for new seasons is the actual roster from that season, plus any prior season AL players that are still in the AL.
Each team plays in-division opponents three times and six teams from the other division two times, for a 30-game schedule. World Series between division winners (no wild card). Five-man rotations.
The hardest part in setting up this league was choosing the teams and divisional alignment. I wanted to include as many NL teams as possible, yet have as long a schedule as possible, yet not have too many games that I become overwhelmed. Three five-team divisions was a possibility, but I wanted the Braves in the same division as the Cubs and Cards. Three five-team divisions would have looked almost like the current MLB setup, which was not appealing to me. Then, the Milwaukee dilemma. Milwaukee is a natural rival with Chicago and St. Louis (based on geography, not history), but one more eastern team was needed to get to 7 teams in the west. The Cardinals are the westernmost team, but I could not break up the Cubs-Cards rivalry, so Milwaukee went. Ahh, the dilemmas of sports simulations!
History: Began with 14-teams in 2001 (based on '98 season), with each NL team drafting 3 AL players in reverse order of the '98 standings.
Divisions:
East West
Atlanta Braves Arizona Diamondbacks
Chicago Cubs Colorado Rockies
Cincinnati Reds Houston Astros
New York Mets Los Angeles Dodgers
Philadelphia Phillies Milwaukee Brewers
Pittsburgh Pirates San Diego Padres
St. Louis Cardinals San Francisco Giants
The draft was extremely fun. Having the worst record in '98, the Diamondback had the first pick, and selected . . . Alex Rodriguez. The Pirates went next and took Garciaparra. Milwaukee then took Pedro Martinez, and Philly drafted Derek Jeter. Here's the draft results:
Round 1 Round 2 Round 3
1. Arizona Alex Rodriguez Juan Gonzalez Bartolo Colon
2. Pittsburgh Nomar Garciaparra Shawn Green Ugueth Urbina
3. Milwaukee Pedro Martinez Mo Vaughn Darin Erstad
4. Philadelphia Derek Jeter Jose Offerman Matt Stairs
5. Cincinnati Albert Belle Orlando Hernandez Rafael Palmeiro
6. Colorado Ivan Rodriguez Dustin Hermanson Brad Radke
7. St. Louis Mike Mussina David Wells Jorge Posada
8. Los Angeles Manny Ramirez Mariano Rivera Andy Pettitte
9. New York Bernie Williams Omar Vizquel Damian Easley
10. San Francisco Ken Griffey, Jr. Dean Palmer Randy Johnson
11. Chicago Roger Clemens Mike Bordick Kenny Lofton
12. San Diego Carlos Delgado Chuck Finley Eric Davis
13. Houston Travis Fryman Kenny Rogers Miguel Tejada
14. Atlanta Vladimir Guerrero Ray Durham Tim Salmon
Some of the picks may look a little strange because teams were drafting with a little foreknowledge (e.g., Griffey will only be with the chosen NL team 2 years before he is traded to the Reds), so players like Griffey and Clemens (who was great in '98, but so-so in '99 and 2000) slipped more than they would have if teams were drafting for one season only. On the other hand, the Cubs saw an excellent opportunity to win it all with a few key players, so they took a chance on Clemens, even though his future years will not be as good.
Week 1 is in the books. I'll post standings and results here later.
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