I decided to write this up *before* reading all the previous posts. I must preface this by saying that I really wasn't into the WIS Championship this year. I hastily built some of my round 1 teams and it showed in the results. There was a time where I thought I wasn't even going to advance to round 2, and I wasn't even upset about it. I waited until the last minute to start building my round 2 teams. Thankfully, I really only had to build 3 rosters since we had 2 drafts and my 120M roster was already built (from round 1). I didn't tinker with two of those three rosters and went with my first build. I'll be lucky to have even two playoff teams. I am expecting to finish in the 20th-to-24th place range, which is fine given my poor round 1 performance.
Also, I didn't write down my thoughts as I built my teams, so all of this is from memory.
$80M
Mr. Stieb, Mr. Consistency (Astrodome)
I probably spent the most time on this theme, not because of tinkering, but because I couldn't get a roster that would fit under the cap and still fulfill all the rules. I wanted to build a switch-hitting team using pre-1900 batters (with modern pitchers) to force my opponent into making more errors, while my deadball fielding would be helped by my pitchers. I tried using guys like Roger Connor, Tom Daly, George Davis, Tom McCreery, Claude Ritchey but couldn't get anything that worked. I ended up keeping Roger Connor (1891, 1893) playing one of his seasons in the OF. Keeping with the switch hitting theme, I added Roy Cullenbine (1943, 1944), another favorite of mine. He's starting in the other two OF spots. I also added his 1938 season as a pinch hitter (.284 avg, .392 obp). My 2B/3B/SS is manned by Rogers Hornsby (1926, 1916, 1918). Hornsby was the key player to make this roster work because I also am using three of his cheap seasons, two of which can pinch hit (.325/.423 and .321/.397). I find it's always helpful to have multiple good pinch hitters in these low cap leagues. Since two of Hornsby's starting seasons have only about 585 PAs, these cheap Hornsby seasons will also have to start a few games.
Before adding my catcher, I decided to figure out my pitching. I really don't like using modern RPs with IP/G around 1.0, and there aren't a bunch of short-inning SPs with multiple usable seasons at this cap, so I went with a tandem approach. I've had some luck using Dave Stieb and he's got multiple similar seasons that are cost-effective at this cap. I really wanted his 1983-84-85 seasons but couldn't afford all three unless I downgraded somewhere else, so I went with 1983, 1984, 1990. I wanted a LHP to go with Stieb and Tommy John happens to have three similar seasons (1967, 1968, 1974) that fit well with Stieb in terms of innings. I can't go with just six pitchers, so I added two short inning guys with good IP/G that can pitch the 9th, when necessary. Andy Rincon (1980, 1981) is another favorite of mine in low cap leagues. These 8 pitchers give me 1352 innings with 1.11 whip, .222 oav and 0.53 hr/9. I added a cheap (339K) Tommy John season (1982) and two 200K seasons Chien-Ming Wang for mop-up duty.
As for catcher, I settled on Alan Ashby (1981, 1985). I could've afforded 1985 Stieb if I was willing to take an Ashby season with a crappy throwing arm, but I wanted the A+ in case there were speed teams in the league. So, my starting lineup includes 5 switch hitters and 3 righties.
Excluding scrubs, here are the team stats.
Hitting: 5548 PA, .295, .384, .422 ($40.2 million)
Pitching: 1352 IP, .222 OAV, 1.11 WHP, 0.53 HR/9 ($38.8 million)
$90M
1901 Bats 1975 SPs 2006 RPs 1997 Scrubs (Astrodome)
One of the advantages of spending zero prep on the draft is that I won't be disappointed when my turn comes up because I can't be sniped. I will simply look at the available seasons at that time and figure out what I need.
I drew pick #13. Not surprisingly, a bunch of deadball-pitching seasons went early. To counter deadball pitching, I want deadball hitters, knowing that I plan on taking modern pitchers to help out the fielding. Due to D fielding, there are some nice bargain hitters in the early 1900's. I really like 1901 (I used the 1901 Pirates in the 120M theme). Although I had penciled in 1901 Cy Young, I didn't end up using him. There were 7-8 players I felt comfortable using from this season, but some played the same position. I rostered *SIX* starting batters from this season including 1B Buck Freeman (.339, ., .520, D/A), 2B Tom Daly (.315, .371, .444, C-/C), 3B George Davis (.301, .356, .426, C+/B), OF Mike Donlin (.340, .409, .475, D/A+), Ginger Beaumont (.332, .382, .418, C-/A-) and Sam Crawford (.330, .378, .524, D/C-). All six players cost between $5.1M and $5.9M. And that's four lefty bats and two switch-hitters. I feel pretty good with this start.
When my next turn came, I decided on going with a 3-man starting rotation, trying to get three guys with 300+ innings. 1975 was the perfect season to use here. I get two of the best pitchers from this season and they are cost effective due to their HRs frequency, which I'm not worried about since I plan on playing in the Astrodome. Catfish Hunter (333 ip, 2.19 erc#), Jim Palmer (330 ip, 2.21 erc#) and Andy Messersmith (322 ip, 2.40 erc#) gives me nearly 1000 innings and completes my starting rotation. But it gets even better. One of my favorite catchers, Ted Simmons (.332, .396, .491) joins the roster. I added Ken Sanders (43 ip, 1.87 erc#) as my first bullpen piece. As I was completing the roster, I had enough salary for a pinch hitter, Tony Muser (.317, .374).
I now have 7 of 8 starting lineup positions filled plus the entire starting rotation. So now I am looking at the available seasons for a SS and some bullpen pieces. I knew I would end up using a more modern season for the bullpen. So which season also has a SS that I like? Of course, I choose the same season I lost 90+ games in the 70M theme from round 1, 2006. Why? I love me some Carlos Guillen (.320, .400, .519) at SS. If you are keeping score at home, that's four lefties and four switch-hitters in the starting lineup... all high-average guys. Perfect for the Astrodome. For the bullpen, it's simply picking the best cost-effective guys that I can fit. This includes Greg Maddux (74 ip, 2.41 erc#), Chris Sampson (34, 1.69), Brandon League (43, 2.08), Wes Littleton (37, 1.90) and the key long-reliever and spot-starter, Roger Clemens (114, 2.15). Note that most of these guys have IP/G well over 1.0.
I wasn't even paying attention what seasons have been taken. I am just waiting my turn and will figure out what I need when it gets to me. I have 1330 good innings so far, so I need at least one more usable RP, plus some scrub guys. My offense is set but I could use one more pinch hitter. I chose 1997 for my final season. The decent RP that I added was Mike Grace (39, 2.53). I found two scrub pitchers that cost under 201,000, giving me a total of 1426 innings (1369 good innings). The pinch hitter I added was $856K Aaron Ledesma (.352, .437, .500). The other two hitters were scrubs (<300K). My 25th player is a sub-300K scrub hitter from 1901.
Overall, I feel pretty good about this team. I'm a little light in PA and IP from 90M, but playing in the Astrodome should help keep run scoring down.
Hitting Stats: 5473 PA, .327, .388, .475 ($45.4 million)
Pitching Stats: 1369 IP, .214 OAV, 1.03 WHIP, 0.62 HR/9 ($43.4 million)
$100M
Steve Busby for President (Municipal Stadium)
As I mentioned above, I spent as little time as possible building these rosters. I knew this would be the most time-consuming so of course, I saved this one for last. I wasn't a big fan of this theme, but we needed a research-oriented theme and redcped spent a lot of time tweaking the rules on this one. I don't like themes that aren't easy to validate rosters via Excel formulas. This is the only theme I didn't do a secondary roster check.
That being said, I was going to spend as little time as possible building this roster, so I went with the three easiest categories... Franchise, Season, State. So where do I start? Well, since the captain determines the ballpark, I decided I want to play home games at Municipal Stadium. A quick search on players who played there, I came up with a favorite of mine, 1972 Steve Busby. He was born in California so there are lots of players to choose from. The Royals have some decent options at this cap level. And 1972 has some decent pitching options.
The hitting is a bit weak for this cap level but I have four switch hitters and very strong defense everywhere. Added two strong pinch hitters. Without going into any more details, this is who I ended up using.
Batters
C: 1972 Ted Simmons (.303, .336, .465) - Season
1B: 1906 Frank Chance (.319, .419, .430) - State
2B: 2019 Whit Merrifield (.302, .348, .463) - Franchise
3B: 1976 George Brett (..333, .377, .462) - Franchise
SS: 2008 Jimmy Rollins (..277, .349, .437) - State
OF: 1945 Augie Galan (.307, .423, .441) - State
OF: 1990 Willie McGee (.324, .373, .419) - State
OF: 1975 Roy White (.290, .372, .430) - State
1B/PH: 1986 Kevin Seitzer (.323, .440, .448) - Franchise
OF/PH: 1983 Butch Davis (.344, .359, .508) - Franchise
Scrub: 1972 Bob Boone - Season
Scrub: 1972 Syd O'Brien - Season
Pitching Staff
1964 Don Drysdale (322 ip, 2.03 erc#) - State
1972 Catfish Hunter (309 ip, 1.93 erc#) - Season
1991 Bret Saberhagen (197 ip, 2.46 erc#) - Franchise
1977 Tom Seaver (166 ip, 1.88 erc#) - State
1972 Steve Busby (43, 1.72) - CAPTAIN
1972 Lerrin Lagrow (29, 2.00) - Season
1972 Doyle Alexander (112, 2.13) - Season
1972 Ramon Hernandez (74, 2.15) - Season
1972 Grant Jackson (44, 2.23) - Season
1992 Dennis Rasmussen (43, 1.90) - Franchise
2006 Mike MacDougal (29, 1,62) - Franchise
2017 Garrett Richards (28, 1.41) - State
2008 Robinson Tejada (39, 1.95) - Franchise
Totals
Hitting: 5619 PA, .309, .375, .446 ($48.8 million)
Pitching: 1435 IP, .204 OAV, 0.98 WHIP, 0.49 HR/9 ($50.8 million)
$120M
1901 Pittsburgh Pirates (Exposition Park)
My round 1 team was sitting at 44-37 at the halfway point and then faded badly in the second half, finishing at 80-82 despite having an Exp Win% of over .550. This team's collapse is the main reason I went from being in the top 10 owners (for most of the first half) to barely advancing (tied for 18th-21st). Although I did build a 120M roster for this team way back when I built my round 1 80M roster, I mainly focused on a team that I thought would do well vs an average round 1 (modern) team - limiting HRs. My thought process was correct as 9 of the top 12 teams were deadball teams. My team should have been up there based on Exp Win%, but we just lost too many close games. That being said, I'm not sure this 120M deadball roster is suited well to go up against seemingly better deadball rosters. My hitters should be fine as I have a bunch of high-average guys with good range. The main challenge for me is how do I manage a pitching staff with six usable pitchers (five are good)? As I am looking at this roster for the first time in months, I now see that I do have a lot of waste (too many PAs and IPs - this is effectively a $115M roster.) Oh well, looks like 90 losses.
C: 1890 Jack O'Connor (.324, .377, .411) and 1895 Chief Zimmer (.340, .417, 467)
1B: 1905 Jiggs Donahue (.287, .346, .349, B/A+)
2B: 1903 Claude Ritchey (.287, .360, .381, C+/B+)
3B: 1903 Tommy Leach (.298, .352, ..438, D/A+)
SS: 1908 Honus Wagner (.354, .415, .542, C/A)
OF: 1897 Fred Clarke (.390, .462, .533, D/A-)
OF: 1896 Elmer Smith (.362, .454, .500, C/A)
OF: 1902 Ginger Beaumont (.357, .404, .418, B/B)
DH: 1901 Lefty Davis (.313, .415, .421) and 1898 Jud Smith (.303, .378, .415)
Pitching Staff:
1904 Jack Chesbro (488 ip, 2.04 erc#)
1905 Rube Waddell (360, 2.24)
1903 Deacon Phillippe (335, 2.21)
1902 Jesse Tannehill (270, 2.30)
1901 Ed Doheny (90, 2.97)
1898 Sam Leever (37, 1.73)
Totals:
Hitting: 6592 PA, .330, .399, .445
Pitching: 1580 IP, 220 OAV, 0.99 WHIP, 0.09 HR/9
$110M
Switch Hitting & Great Range (Kaufman Stadium)
Not sure why I put the $120M writeup before the $110M writeup. Also, I just realized that my first five ballparks are all -2 or lower for HRs. I doubt anybody in round 2 is building a roster with HR hitters. I've played in at least a dozen BOX theme leagues and these rosters are easy straighforward builds. The key is finding at least one cheap player from a box, otherwise you need to find a player you want to use. Other than that, it's build the best team that can fit under the cap. My goal was that every hitter either had to be a switch hitter or have great range. Of course, a switch-hitter with great range was a lock selection for me. Since I knew I'd be playing in a negative HR park, I didn't mind drafting pitchers that allow HRs.
Without much more comment, here is the roster I selected...
C: 1975 Ted Simmons (.332, .396, .491)
1B: 1984 Eddie Murray (.306, .401, 509, B/A+)
2B: 1921 Frankie Frisch (.341, .384, .485, C/A+)
3B: 1913 Frank Baker (.337, .413, .493, D/A+)
SS: 1940 Arky Vaughn (.300, .393, .453, C/A)
OF: 1985 Tim Raines (.320, .405, .475, A/C-)
OF: 1968 Pete Rose (.335, .391, .470, A-/C+)
OF: 1910 Tris Speaker (.340, .404, .468, C-/A+)
Pitching
1989 Bret Saberhagan (263 ip, 1.90 erc#)
1967 Joe Horlen (258, 2.08)
2011 Clayton Kershaw (233, 2.04)
2018 Jacob deGrom (217, 1.68)
2005 Felix Hernandez (85, 1.97)
2023 Tarik Skubal (80, 1.69)
1965 Robin Roberts (76, 1.74)
2006 Mariano Rivera (75, 1.84)
2006 Greg Maddux (74, 2.41)
2009 Neftali Feliz (31, 1.03)
1973 Frank Tanana (27, 2.23)
I only needed four scrubs (E.Banks, P.Fielder, G.Goslin, D.Lamet). Also have two cheap pinch hitters ('20 Joe Sewell, '12 Lance Berkman)
Totals
Hitting: 5680 PA, .325, .399, .479 ($55.6 million)
Pitching: 1420 IP, .207 OAV, 0.95 WHIP, 0.47 HR/9 ($53.5 million)
$140M
STL/BAL/KC - Switch Hitter Paradise (Robison Field)
Before I even decided which expansion team to select, I knew I wanted to play in the St. Louis division. I like a bunch of Cardinals players. Some really good Orioles players to choose from as well. I considered the Angels because they had a lot of pitching depth, but their offense was just too weak. I ended up choosing KC because they had some premium players (Brett, Saberhagen, Willie Wilson, Darrell Porter).
Round 1
Picking 2nd overall, I knew I would get a stud hitter. Bob Gibson went pick #1 so I went with Rogers Hornsby, but I knew I wasn't taking his $19M season. I have always preferred his 1921 season due to the position flexibility. I initially planned on playing him at 3B. Musial, Brett, Tudor & McNally went next.
Round 2
It was tempting to take Ken Williams here but I thought he might make it back to me. I couldn't let buddhagamer take both stud SPs (Cooper & Brecheen) to go with Gibson, so I took Harry Brecheen. I was disappointed he took Ken Williams and was a little surprised he took Saberhagen. I guess I could've taken Williams and still got Brecheen or Cooper.
Round 3
Now, I could've taken Mort Cooper here and had two of the top five SPs in this player pool, but I was planning all along to take one of my all-time favorite players in the sim, Frankie Frisch. That shocked a few of my fellow drafters and I was told that Frisch wasn't making it back to me. This would be a running theme... me taking a guy a round earlier than everybody expected, and usually to their disappointment. Cooper, Cuellar, Sisler & Medwick got taken. redcped was surprised I didn't take Sisler and run out two .400 hitters, but 1B was very deep in my opinion. So was outfield.
Round 4
Any competent drafter would jump at the chance to add Jim Palmer here, as he was the last decent SP available. But once again, I drafted a hitter 1-2 rounds earlier than anybody expected.... but I really wanted the switch-hitting catcher, Ted Simmons. My team might not be good, but at least I am getting players I like. Palmer and Schoendienst went next.
Round 5
I should have taken Willie McGee here but OF is deep and I badly wanted Ozzie Smith. Shortstop isn't a deep position and I preferred Ozzie over Ripken or Templeton. I was told that Ozzie wasn't making it back to me. The next four players taken were Manush, F.Robinson, McGee, Mize. I immediately regretted not taking McGee.
Round 6
I would have considered taking Mize if he had slid to me. I ended up taking a guy I wasn't expecting to take, but there is no way he should still be available, so I took him just on principle. Joe Torre. I can play him at DH or if he plays 3B, I can move '21 Hornsby to OF. Cal Ripken and Willie Wilson went.
Round 7
I have one SP and no RPs so far. So let's instead take a guy that I have a love/hate relationship with, Jim Hearn. In retrospect, I should have taken Howie Pollet but thought he might make it back to me. Spoiler alert... he didn't. Next four picks: Nelsonm, Pollet, Quisenberry, D.Porter.
Round 8
I love this guy and can't believe he's still available. I have great defense, but not a lot of punch on offense. Moving Torre to 3B and drafting my DH and another switch-hitter, Ripper Collins. The next two picks were Jim Bottomley and Harlond Clift.
Round 9
I need to start getting some SP. Larry Gura was the best guy available, I now have two LH SP. It was at this point that I started thinking about playing at Robison Field. Next four picks: Keith Hernandez, Al Grabowski, Willard Schmidt, Mike Boddicker.
Rounds 10-11-13-14-16-17
A bunch of RPs started going off the board. I took Stu Miller, Hoyt Wilhelm, Bob Milacki, Steve Busby, Frank Biscan, Harvey Haddix
Round 12
I mentioned that 1B is deep. I decided to take another switch hitter with A++ range, Eddie Murray. I love his 1984 season.
Round 15
I grabbed my 3rd SP, Joaquin Andujar.
Round 17
The only OF I have so far is Rogers Hornsby. I missed out on all the great fielding OFs like McGee & Wilson. But this guy has sufficient defense and is a good offensive player, Johnny Hopp.
Round 18
Since Hopp doesn't have enough PAs to play 162 games, I need a backup OF. So I took Bake McBride (299 PA, .335 avg, A+ range). I also needed some PAs for Ted Simmons, so I added Johnny Schulte (.456 obp).
Round 19
Yet another switch-hitter makes his way onto my roster... Reggie Smith is my third starting OF. And my second pick this round is a guy I totally didn't need, but I can't let somebody else take him... Here's a guy with the following triple slash: .302, .423, .646 with C/A- defense. I told you 1B was extremely deep. I took Jim Gentile. He's the perfect hitter to play vs RHP at Robison Field.
Round 20
I have only 1250 innings so I need more pitching, but I knew I'd be able to get these guys late. Joe Magrane (2.51 erc#) gives me another lefty SP that I can throw at home. And Wally Bunker was the best SP available (2.37 erc#). And finally, I need a defensive replacement for Joe Torre at 3B. And the perfect player is Terry Pendleton, another switch-hitter with a .324 avg and A+ range.
Totals:
Hitting: 7499 PA, .328, 404, .526 ($84.7 million)
Pitching: 1630 IP, .213 OAV, 1.02 WHIP, 0.43 HR/9 ($54.7 million)
10/22/2025 10:09 PM (edited)