The 2019 Historical Phillies Madness Tournament: Round 1

If a baseball simulator lets you pit every Phils Opening Day roster from 1955 through 2018 against one another, in a tournament composed of best-of-seven series at each stage, where Ryan Howard could face off against Steve Carlton and Mike Schmidt could take hacks against Roy Halladay...

...why wouldn’t you do just that?

With countless thanks and blessings for our friends at Out of the Park Developments, we’ve been given a chance to use the latest version of their world-class sim, OOTP 20, and we’ll be abusing that power in the most logical way possible: By using its tournament builder to create the exact scenario outlined above.

Hey, it’s Bracket Season®, and if we’re not going to be indulgent now, when would we?

The Opening Day rosters of the last 64 seasons of Phillies baseball have been randomly seeded and placed into a tourney bracket, where they will (tirelessly and without chance of injury) play best-of-seven series against one another in each round. The image below shows the matchups via BracketMaker, with a simpler UI that was easier to use for displaying which years were pitted against which.

BracketMaker.com

Each team has a reserve roster in case of in-tournament suspensions, although injuries and fatigue have been disabled. There will be no intervention or alteration of pitcher use or lineups from me. You’ll see some platooning that wasn’t necessarily done in real life, along with matchups informed by the hindsight of that season’s actual performance from the player. The lineups are also subject to change at the sim’s whim. The first team listed in each matchup has home field advantage, and the series scores are written tennis-style.

Let’s dive right in!

Round 1: Opening Day

Left Half

1956 (71-83) vs. 2012 (81-81)

2012 wins, 4 to 2 (7-2, 3-7, 9-1, 2-4, 5-2, 8-0)
Series MVP: Jimmy Rollins, 2012 (.333/.385/.810, 3 HR, 7 RBI)

1984 (81-81) vs. 2003 (86-76)

2003 wins, 4 to 1 (2-3, 8-1, 3-2, 3-0, 2-1)
Series MVP: Bobby Abreu, 2003 (.389/.500/.778, 2 HR, 3 RBI)

1989 (67-95) vs. 1965 (85-76)

1989 wins, 4 to 3 (4-6, 10-8, 2-3, 0-4, 17-11, 8-2, 2-0)
Series MVP: Steve Jeltz, 1989 (.357/.367/.643, 2 HR, 15 RBI)

1961 (47-107) vs. 1990 (77-85)

1990 wins, 4 to 0 (2-1, 4-1, 8-2, 4-3)
Series MVP: Von Hayes, 1990 (.467/.529/.600, 4 RBI)

1987 (80-82) vs. 2013 (73-89)

2013 wins, 4 to 1 (8-2, 7-6, 9-6, 6-8, 7-2)
Series MVP: Freddy Galvis, 2013 (.471/.524/.882, 1 HR, 6 RBI)

1955 (77-77) vs. 1986 (86-75)

1955 wins, 4 to 3 (2-5, 0-3, 8-2, 3-2, 4-0, 0-8, 3-2)
Series MVP: Mike Schmidt, 1986 (.400/.483/.760, 3 HR, 9 RBI)

1988 (65-96) vs. 1983 (90-72)

1983 wins, 4 to 2 (4-5, 4-3, 5-4, 1-2, 9-0, 3-0)
Series MVP: Mike Schmidt, 1983 (.348/.423/.739, 2 HR, 4 RBI)

1981 (59-48) vs. 1962 (81-80)

1981 wins, 4 to 2 (2-1, 9-7, 12-0, 2-6, 1-2, 5-4)
Series MVP: Gary Matthews Sr., 1981 (.391/.440/.696, 2 HR, 6 RBI)

1995 (69-75) vs. 2014 (73-89)

2014 wins, 4 to 1 (6-3, 5-0, 6-2, 2-3, 5-3)
Series MVP: Carlos Ruiz, 2014 (.263/.286/.737, 3 HR, 10 RBI)

1966 (87-75) vs. 2002 (80-81)

1966 wins, 4 to 2 (3-2, 7-9, 7-14, 9-1, 5-3, 8-1)
Series MVP: Johnny Callison, 1966 (.520/.586/.840, 1 HR, 7 RBI)

2010 (97-65) vs. 2000 (65-97)

2010 wins, 4 to 1 (3-2, 4-2, 9-1, 7-8, 5-0)
Series MVP: Placido Polanco, 2010 (.400/.526/.733, 1 HR, 2 RBI)

2016 (71-91) vs. 1976 (101-61)

1976 wins, 4 to 1 (5-1, 1-2, 5-4, 9-3, 5-1)
Series MVP: Garry Maddox, 1976 (.417/.423/.583, 1 HR, 4 RBI)

1964 (92-70) vs. 1971 (67-95)

1964 wins, 4 to 3 (6-0, 4-2, 0-1, 1-4, 3-0, 3-7, 3-2)
Series MVP: Dick Allen, 1964 (.400/.464/.800, 3 HR, 6 RBI)

1994 (54-61) vs. 2004 (86-76)

2004 wins, 4 to 2 (3-8, 6-5, 7-5, 7-4, 1-5, 12-4)
Series MVP: Jason Michaels, 2004 (.500/.542/.864, 2 HR, 6 RBI)

1968 (67-95) vs. 1969 (63-99)

1969 wins, 4 to 1 (3-2, 3-6, 11-0, 14-5, 7-3)
Series MVP: Dick Allen, 1969 (.556/.636/1.167, 3 HR, 7 RBI)

1985 (75-87) vs. 2017 (66-96)

2017 wins, 4 to 2 (5-2, 3-6, 9-1, 7-9, 10-5, 8-1)
Series MVP: Nick Williams, 2017 (.407/.429/.704, 2 HR, 10 RBI)

Right Half

1982 (89-73) vs. 1967 (82-80)

1967 wins, 4 to 1 (6-0, 4-2, 4-3, 5-8, 4-3)
Series MVP: Dick Allen, 1967 (.529/.619/.824, 1 HR, 4 RBI)

2007 (89-73) vs. 1958 (69-85)

1958 wins, 4 to 0 (10-1, 6-3, 10-7, 8-5)
Series MVP: Wally Post, 1958 (.722/.722/1.167, 1 HR, 5 RBI)

1963 (87-75) vs. 2015 (63-99)

1963 wins, 4 to 2 (0-8, 7-1, 4-3, 5-6, 7-5, 2-1)
Series MVP: Johnny Callison, 1963 (.500/.577/.727, 1 HR, 4 RBI)

1996 (67-95) vs. 1998 (75-87)

1996 wins, 4 to 2 (3-1, 5-4, 7-0, 3-6, 2-5, 7-6)
Series MVP: Kevin Stocker, 1996 (.320/.346/.520, 1 HR, 8 RBI)

1991 (78-84) vs. 1979 (84-78)

1991 wins, 4 to 3 (1-0, 4-3, 5-6, 9-7, 0-2, 4-8, 6-2)
Series MVP: Pete Rose, 1979 (.536/.594/.607, 3 RBI)

1972 (59-97) vs. 1999 (77-85)

1999 wins, 4 to 2 (10-0, 2-7, 2-7, 6-5, 5-4, 4-3)
Series MVP: Bobby Abreu, 1999 (.450/.593/.600, 1 HR, 4 RBI)

2011 (102-60) vs. 2018 (80-82)

2011 wins, 4 to 2 (6-2, 2-5, 1-4, 4-2, 6-0, 10-5)
Series MVP: Shane Victorino, 2011 (.292/.370/.625, 2 HR, 6 RBI)

2006 (85-77) vs. 1997 (68-94)

1997 wins, 4 to 1 (6-4, 5-4, 2-6, 8-5, 7-4)
Series MVP: Scott Rolen, 1997 (.368/.455/.895, 2 HR, 5 RBI)

1975 (86-76) vs. 1977 (101-61)

1977 wins, 4 to 0 (7-6, 4-2, 11-6, 7-6)
Series MVP: Garry Maddox, 1977 (.450/.450/.850, 2 HR, 4 RBI)

2005 (88-74) vs. 1960 (59-95)

2005 wins, 4 to 0 (2-1, 8-0, 13-5, 6-3)
Series MVP: Bobby Abreu, 2005 (.467/.550/.733, 1 HR, 4 RBI)

1978 (90-72) vs. 1992 (70-92)

1978 wins, 4 to 2 (11-1, 6-5, 4-1, 9-13, 1-2, 2-1)
Series MVP: Greg Luzinski, 1978 (.391/.464/.609, 1 HR, 8 RBI)

1974 (80-82) vs. 2008 (92-70)

1974 wins, 4 to 3 (3-2, 3-6, 2-4, 6-5, 4-1, 1-6, 4-2)
Series MVP: Mike Schmidt, 1974 (.292/.414/.792, 3 HR, 5 RBI)

1959 (64-90) vs. 1993 (97-65)

1993 wins, 4 to 2 (8-3, 7-3, 2-4, 4-5, 10-7, 3-2)
Series MVP: Lenny Dykstra, 1993 (.400/.556/1.000, 4 HR, 9 RBI)

2001 (86-76) vs. 1957 (77-77)

2001 wins, 4 to 2 (4-2, 2-3, 6-4, 5-3, 0-2, 3-1)
Series MVP: Marlon Anderson, 2001 (.375/.423/.542, 1 HR, 1 RBI)

1973 (71-91) vs. 2009 (93-69)

2009 wins, 4 to 3 (4-1, 9-7, 4-8, 3-2, 4-5, 2-3, 8-5)
Series MVP: Ryan Howard, 2009 (.414/.452/.517, 0 HR, 2 RBI)

1970 (73-88) vs. 1980 (91-71)

1980 wins, 4 to 0 (7-2, 5-2, 10-1, 3-0)
Series MVP: Manny Trillo, 1980 (.529/.556/.882, 1 HR, 11 RBI)

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Some upsets, namely with 2008 champs going down and the 95-loss 1989 team getting over 1965. Bobby Abreu, Dick Allen, and Mike Schmidt did most of the cleaning up with MVP awards, including one for Schmitty in a losing effort with the 1986 team.

Some of the best pitchers in the Opening Day round included 2012 Cliff Lee (15 IP, 19 K, 2.40 ERA) and 1983’s Steve Carlton (15 IP, 23 K, 0.60 ERA).

By decade, the 1950s went 2-3, the 1960s went 5-5, the 1970s went 4-6, the 1980s also went 4-6, the 1990s went 6-4, the 2000s went 5-5, and the 2010s had the best showing at 6-3.

More to come in the next post for the 2nd round, the Midsummer Classic.

BracketMaker.com