Braves beat Much Improved Pirates Cards

Acuna launched a 2-out, 2-run homer in the 8th to make it 6-1 Braves and give the credit for a 3-game sweep even though the much improved Pirates scored in the 9th to make it 6-2.

In the second game the Pirates scored three in the 9th off Braves closer Iglesias to win 4-1.

That still left the Braves with a 4-2 series win and 20-16 overall record, while the Pirates dropped to 14-22. The scoresheet are at the bottom of the blog.

Players updates

First, the Pirates have a lot of players who have improved, and a few that have dropped off. The sert of players who have improved comes first with the projected OPS or ERA first, and then after the dash their actual figure now. In addition to 10 cards that have improved dramatically, they feature two new good cards. Jose Hernandez is a PB 2-7 pitcher, and because he had earned his 2.75 ERA in a pitchers park, he also converts the highest HR number for any Braves player in this series to a deep flyout.

Ji Hwan Bae's standard replacement batting card is not that good - just a 27 for a Home Run, but he brings the highest steal rating, a AAA to the line-up. Complete numbers on all these players can be found on this link.  Also click for the cards for all pitchers, as well as all hitters. For the new cards noted, look at the bottom of the team to pull up the standard replacement pitcher card and just use the PB noted below, then do the same for the standard replacement better card and just adjust the home run range to what is show below.

Pitt Improved vs. Atl	Pos	Change	Before/Now-OPS/ERA
David Bednar	P	Better	3.54 / 1.50
Rodolfo Castro (Bat: S)	SS	Better	0.678 / 0.804
Jason Delay	Ca	Better	0.552 / 0.840
Jose Hernandez (LHP)	P	Better, 2-7 new^top HR>Out, 2IP	/ 2.75
Colin Holderman	P	Better	4.10 / 2.45
Ji Hwan Bae (Bat: L)	CF	Better, 27-27 HR, AAA	/ 0.683
Connor Joe	RF	Better	0.741 / 0.832
Tucupita Marcano (Bat: L)	SS	Better	0.635 / 0.809
Andrew McCutchen	RF	Better	0.738 / 0.826
Dauri Moreta	P	Better	4.39 / 2.01
Jack Suwinski (Bat: L)	CF	Better	0.747 / 0.839
Vince Velasquez	P	Better	4.68 / 3.06
Pirates Down Graded Cards	Pos	Change	Before/Now
Ji Man Choi (Bat: L)	1B	Worst	0.752 / 0.469
Chase De Jong	P	Worst	4.56 / 10.61
Austin Hedges	Ca	Worst	0.560 / 0.433
Tyler Heineman (Bat: S)	Ca	Worst	0.667 / 0.311
Chris Owings	SS	Worst	0.616 / 0.333

The Braves are excellent, but about what their cards projected with seven players upgraded, and seven not as good. The one new good card is for Jesse Chavez, who based on his 2.01 ERA so far had a temporary PB 2-7 card. 

 

Atl Improved vs. Pitt	Pos	Change	Before/Now - ERA or OPS
Ronald Acuna Jr.	RF	Better	0.875 / 0.972
Orlando Arcia	SS	Better	0.690 / 0.885
Jesse Chavez	P	Better, 2-7 new, 1 IP	/ 2.01
Bryce Elder	P	Better	4.22 / 2.01
Sam Hilliard (Bat: L)	CF	Better	0.664 / 0.756
Sean Murphy	Ca	Better	0.796 / 0.935
Marcell Ozuna	LF	Better	0.763 / 0.850
			/
Braves downgraded cards	Pos	Change	Before/Now
Ehire Adrianza (Bat: S)	SS	Worst	0.655 / 0.091
Michael Harris II (Bat: L)	CF	Worst	0.790 / 0.544
Lucas Luetge (LHP)	P	Worst	4.07 / 7.71
A.J. Minter (LHP)	P	Worst	3.25 / 7.43
Chadwick Tromp	Ca	Worst	0.662 / 0.313
Eli White	CF	Worst	0.631 / 0.307
Kyle Wright	P	Worst	3.94 / 5.79

All other cards are the same. Any player who has improved on this sheet gets to adjust the PB range by one in their favor, and any who has gotten worse has it adjusted one against them.

Click for the free Statis-Pro Master Baseball Game. Click here for 60 of the all-time great MLB teams, or on teams of many of the all-time great players on teams by nation or state with one sheet for each team. Or click on the 2023 pitchers and 2023 batters in card form. You simply print two teams cards and then either print theaster link above and fast action cards in master link or buy the dice to start playing.

Greatest Statis-pro game of year kicks off Padres hosting 1st Place LA and MIL

Only those who play the free Statis-Pro Baseball will understand the thrills that went into the plays at the plate, deep drives and other plays that went into the beginning of the Padres season ending home stand against the two 1st place teams - the Dodgers and Brewers.

The game ended on a "37" on Fernando Tatis' card, the first in his strike-out range as a 35 or 36 would have been a DEEP drive and potential game-tying homer to force a 13th inning.

As a result the Dodgers move with a 1/2 game of the Brewers for the crucial first round bye, and the Padres move a half game behind the Reds and Cardinals for the final wild card spot, so would miss the playoffs by a half game if the season ended today (see standings below).

Scherzer pitched a dominant 7.1 innings of four hit ball and left after walking Tatis with the Dodgers leading 2-1. Darvish had fought through a lot more pressure by inducing four double play grounders in the first five innings to keep it close.

Tatis stole and scored on a Machado single, and then Grisham singled. However, the bottom of the 8th inning ended on a Clutch Defensive opportunity for Dodgers SS Seager to determine if a go-ahead single went through the infield, he knocked it down for a and got a force out, or he made a diving catch and doubled the lead runner off. As a Clutch Defense 5 (the highest, 1-5) he made the diving catch to end the inning with the score tied 2-2. This is only fair since in the top of the 8th with Seager at the plate he smashed a ball up the middle that 2nd baseman Frazier (a Clutch Defense 5 traded for from the Pirates) likewise made a diving play) to keep the Dodgers from being ahead.

With Bellinger starting the top of the 10th, Trea Turner singled him to third and then stole second. Betts then beat out a grounder to short to give the Dodgers a 3-2 lead, and then Betts stole 2nd to put 2nd and 3rd with no outs. However, Adams (PB: 2-9, the best) struck out Muncy and Smith, and then induced a pop foul by Pollock to keep it there. 

And then Mookie Betts took over in extra innings. In right field he gunned out the game-winning run at home in both the 10th and 11th inning, first nailing Marisnik trying to score from second on a single and then Machado trying to tag and score on a deep fly ball. Machado would have scored to win the game on an 11-41 (better chance than of getting a 2-out hit), and out at the plate on a 42-88, and Betts drew a 43 to barely beat him.

Bellinger hit a DEEP drive that could have won the games in extras. A deep drive leaves the Padres Stadium on a random number of 11-34, and is a deep flyout on a 35-88. Bellinger drew a 38, out of most parks.

In the 12th he singled Bellinger home, stole second, and scored himself on a Muncy single for the 5-3 win. 

Final Statis-Pro Rosters and Transactions: Braves, Mets, Cardinals, Nationals and Reds

The following are the rosters of Statis-Pro baseball cards we are using for the divisional games in our "South & East" Division. During the season we keep up with big trades, to keep the rosters pretty close, but we don't move the players cards in and out with all the changes in modern Major League Baseball.

1. If a player is on the roster and we already had a Statis-Pro card (or temporary card) in our deck for the games we'd been playing, then obviously the remain in the game and under "Last Update" it simply says "Roster."

2. If a player we had on the team was injured but is at least rehabbing (including in the minors) to prepare to play again we keep him in the game and note the last transaction update below.

3. If a player was sent to the minors or injured within the last two months then we leave them in the game.

4. We ditch a player if they were released or traded, were not on the roster and are on 60-day DL and not yet rehabbing, or if they were sent to the minors more than 2 months ago and have not returned. Most if these players we ditch, but a key player like deGrom we keep in the stack and just mark them to check the tramsactions wires regularly to see if they start pitching again.

5. "Temporary Card" indicates the player did not actually have a projected 2021 card, but due to playing a good bit we added a temporary "fringe" card for the player. Fringe cards appear after these 5 rosters - and entail using a pitcher's projected ERA or a batter's projected OPS and the corresponding card at the end of this blog.

Braves Bullpen Blows Chance at Revenge on Colorado in Pederson Debut

The Braves pen blew two chances to move into a playoff spot in their series against Colorado, where the all-star game was moved.

In their first Statis-pro series after Acuna's season ending injury (we leave players on 10-day DL in game but not if they hit 60-day DL or will miss the season), and the first game since they acquired Pederson of the Cubs.

Albies hit 2 homers and more shockingly Jackson hit 2 triples, and the Braves led 9-3 after 7 innings, needing only a scoreless inning or to hold the Rockies to 1 run, but Minter failed to wrap it up for the 5-run sweep credit, so they just received credit for a 2 games to 1 win.

The second game they wasted 7 scoreless innings from Ian Anderson in a 2-1 10 inning loss. The Rockie likely heading somewhere else in a trade in the week ahead, Trevor Story, homered int he first game ti start the rally of Minter then went 4 of 5 woth a double, and drove in the winning run in the 10th.

Marquez not only went 8 innings allowing only one run, but also doubled at the plate.

NL Northwest

Milwaukee 42-30  ---        New York  48-30  ---

Los Angeles 43-35 -2        St. Louis     39-33   -6

Chicago        43-35  -2        Cincinnati  37-35  -8

Arizona        39-39  -6        Atlanta      43-41  -8

San Diego     35-37  -8        Washington 35-37  -10

Wild card if today: StL at ChC and Cin at LAD