Craziest Padres Win after Ejections and Injuries; Left-Right Adjustment Explained

 A contender for craziest Statis-pro game, there Z-plays in the first two innings resulted in 3 ejections and 2 injuries - and still the Padres rallied against the Reds terrible bullpen for an 11-9 win in 10 innings.  That win meant the Padres would be one of 4 NL West teams to advance to play each of the top four teams in the NL East as long as they didn't lose the second game by 5 runs - and they accomplished that with JP Sears matching the Reds Zack Littell with six scoreless innings. 

You can play your own games and print out all the current greatest players or greatest teams of all time by clicking here.

The Reds eventually won 2-1, which means they advance unless the lose both of their final 2 games against the 0-8 Diamondbacks. If the Reds were to lose their final 2 against Arizona then the Giants would grab the last spot. The first tie-breaker is head-to-head, and the next tie-breaker is actual record (each game counting as 1 game rather than as three games) and even if one of the games was decided by 5+ runs the math advances the Reds if they go 1-1 or 2-0, while the Giants only keep playing in our league if Arizona beats the Reds in both games. Even though the teams have clinched they are still fighting to make the playoffs, as you can see from the standings at the bottom. So while the Reds only need to win one game to advance and play one more - if they could sweep lowly Arizona and win one of the games by at least five runs, that would count as a 5-1 record to let them advance to interdivisional play in 2nd place due to the head-to-head tiebreaker against the one surprise team - the Braves - and in good spot for a Wildcard run being ahead of the Cubs in the East and Padres as well (two of the teams who advanced as one of the eight teams to interdivision games will not make the playoffs).

The other interesting part of this game was that San Diego is our only team that platoons three different players. This is a good excuse to explain the Platoon numbers. If you look at the Padres Platoon numbers to the right when they play against righthanded pitchers, you will see eight of their nine players do not hit as well against lefties. Tatis' 13/NA means against a leftie (remember to the left of the dash) instead of a hit he strikes out on 11, 12, or 13. Merrill does the same but to the right of the dash he has an 88, meaning against righties he turns an 88 from an out to a single with runners advancing two bases. As you can see to the left, this means we need to make a lot of changes, such as taking Laureano off the bench to hit second against lefties because against them he turns an 87 or 88 into a single/advance 2, while against a right he strikes out on an 11. 

The line-up in Game 1 is a little confusing because the Padres has one player injured and three others ejected on the old Statis-Pro Z play 14 where the pitcher, catcher and 1st baseman are outraged by the batter being called safe on a roller down the line. We were tempted to leave the players in the game assuming modern replay would have not required the argument, but decided to stick with the sheet and the Padres won anyway.

Pos	SD vs LHP	HR	OPS	Plat		Pos	SD vs RHP	HR	OPS	Plat
CF	Fernando Tatis Jr.	27-33	0.826	13/NA		CF	Fernando Tatis Jr.	27-33	0.826	13/NA
RF	Ramón Laureano	25-27	0.722	87/11		SS	Jackson Merrill	32-35	0.788	13/88
3b	Manny Machado	32-35	0.825	NA/NA		3b	Manny Machado	32-35	0.825	NA/NA
LF	Ryan O'Hearn	31-34	0.826	12'/NA		LF	Ryan O'Hearn	31-34	0.826	12'/NA
DH	Luis Arraez	37 (3b)	0.736	11/NA		DH	Luis Arraez	37-3b	0.736	11/NA
ss	Jose Iglesias	33	0.669	86/11		1b	Jake Cronenworth	26-27	0.728	13/88
SS	Jackson Merrill	32-25	0.788	13/88		2b	Xander Bogaerts	31-32	0.724	11/NA
1b	Jake Cronenworth	26-27	0.728	13/88		RF	Gavin Sheets	25-27	0.704	11/NA
1b	Gavin Sheets	25-27	0.704	11/NA		C	Elias Díaz	25-26	0.615	11/NA
2b	Xander Bogaerts	31-32	0.724	11/NA
C	Freddy Fermin	28	0.675	88/NA
C	Elias Díaz	25-26	0.615	11/NA
Pos	Cin Line-up	HR	OPS	Plat
ss	Elly De La Cruz	31-34	0.844	13/88
1b	Christian Encarnacion-Strand	27-32	0.791	NA/11
of	Will Benson	27-31	0.73
3B	Noelvi Marte	27-31	0.676	-/-
lf	Austin Hays	27-32	0.754	-/-
3b	Ke'Bryan Hayes	28	0.663	85/11
CF	TJ Friedl	26	0.717	NA/NA
C	Jose Trevino	27	0.644	NA/11
DH	Spencer Steer	25-26	0.759	NA/NA
RF	Jake Fraley	27	0.702	12'/NA
2b	Matt McLain	25-27	0.799	NA/11

The one surprise team in the final 8 will be the Braves, who won two close games vs the Giants to likely eliminate the Giants. Results to follow below the photos.

Here are the standings after the first game, when things were still in doubt, and then below that after the nightcap when the Reds earned the split.