I have finally finished simulating the All-Star Games using my 1990 End of Year All-Star Teams. And the results are pretty surprising.
Just like the first three times, I simulated seven games (six series between starters, and one series where the lineups, starting rotations changed on a daily basis), by playing each one 10,000 times.
The first six games I simulated used each starting pitcher on both sides at least once, and all position players started a minimum of two games each. Here are the results:
- Game 1: NL vs. AL, Jack Armstrong vs. Bob Welch. The NL wins 5,138 games out of 10,000 simulations (using a DH).
- Game 2: NL vs. AL, Neal Heaton vs. Dave Steib. The AL wins 5,806 games (using a DH). Big highlight was a game where Rob Dibble struck out 21 batters pitching 12 innings of relief (only in a simulation can this happen...I don't understand why...)
- Game 3: AL vs. NL, Bret Saberhagen vs. Ramon Martinez. The NL wins 5,216 games. Martinez pitched 14 no-hitters.
- Game 4: AL vs, NL, Roger Clemens vs. Dennis Martinez. The AL wins 5,375 games.
- Game 5: AL vs. NL, Chuck Finley vs. Frank Viola. The NL wins 5,029 games in a very close series.
- Game 6: NL vs. AL, Jack Armstrong vs. Randy Johnson. The NL wins 5,450 games (using a DH). The reason why Armstrong started this series was that I only had five starters in the NL rotation while the AL had six.
- Game 7: NL vs. AL, anything goes. The AL wins 5,207 games (using a DH).
So the NL wins the regular series 4 games to 3. For the official All-Star Game, I decided to just simulate one game and one game only. The starting pitchers were Armstrong and Welch and I let them pitch two innings (unless they struggled badly). The rest of the pitchers would get one inning each (unless they struggled badly). The position players were replaced every three innings. No pinch hitters here, (as in previous tries, the pinch hitter is taken out of the game). The DH's (Ron Gant of the NL and Dave Parker of the AL) were never replaced.
The starting lineups, first for the National League (I'm using 1991 Topps cards because these are the cards I used to imagine my All-Star teams):
Now the American League starting lineup:
Here is the result:
The 1990 NL All-Stars beat the 1990 AL All-Stars by a final score of 9-5.
The box score is below (Just click on the picture to take a closer look.
The scoring plays were like this:
Bottom 3: Ramon Martinez pitching. Ken Griffey, Jr. grounds out to Chris Sabo (5-3). Rickey Henderson singles. Steve Sax strikes out. Mark McGwire walks, Henderson advances to second. Dave Parker hits a home run, Henderson scoring, McGwire scoring.
Top 4: Dave Steib pitching. Ryne Sandberg walks. Will Clark doubles, Sandberg advances to third. Andre Dawson singles, Sandberg scoring, Clark advances to third.
Top 6: Chuck Finley pitching. Tony Gwynn reaches first on an error by Brook Jacoby (E5). Ron Gant doubles, Gwynn advances to third. Bobby Bonilla doubles, Gwynn scoring, Gant scoring. Tim Wallach grounds out to Julio Franco (4-3), Bonilla advances to third. Barry Larkin singles, Bonilla scoring. Gregg Olson pitching. Benito Santiago reaches first on an error by Gregg Olson (E1), Larkin advances to second. Lonnie Smith hits a home run, Larkin scoring, Santiago scoring. Doug Jones pitching. Roberto Alomar grounds out to Alan Trammell (6-3). Eddie Muray hits a home run.
Bottom 6: Jeff Brantley pitching. Ivan Calderon walks. Alan Trammell singles, Calderon advances to second. Brook Jacoby walks, loading the bases. Carlton Fisk hits into a double play (5-4-3), Calderon scoring, Trammell advances to third, Jacoby out at second on the force out. Ellis Burks singles, Trammell scoring.
Top 7: Dennis Eckersley pitching. Tim Wallach hits a home run.
Your starters, Jack Armstrong and Bob Welch. Lonnie Smith is the MVP.In the actual All-Star game using many of the players who participated in this simulation, the scoring was held to a minimum (helped by the rain). This was not the case in the simulation. If this game actually existed, the MVP would have definitely been Lonnie Smith (1-3, 1 hr, 3 rbi's to put the game away for good). Dennis Martinez earns the win, Chuck Finley suffers the loss, and this is the first simulation that I was able to get all 68 players in the game.
If you want to see the .DAT files that I used (I still don't know how to download these onto the blog , so please just take a look at the screen caps below). If anyone can e-mail me instructions, please do so at
bdj610@hotmail.com. Below is the NL .DAT file, then the AL .DAT file:
Now that the 1990 All-Star Games are officially over, at noon today, I will introduce the 1991 End of Year All-Star teams. Simulations for games with those rosters to come hopefully by Sunday night.
Sincerely,
JayBee Anama
