Anyway, after the 1999 blowout by the National League, the 2000 American League All-Star Team pulls through with another 4-3 series win over their 2000 NL rivals. Does this mean they'll break through and win the ASG? Stay tuned.
As previously stated, 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, Tom Glavine vs. Roger Clemens. The NL wins 5,063 games out of 10,000 simulations (using a DH). Lots of hitting highlights, and by the time all 10,000 games were played, the average runs on both sides were 10.4...per team!!!
- Game 2: NL vs. AL, Darryl Kile vs. Tim Hudson. The AL wins 5,451 games (using a DH).
- Game 3: AL vs. NL, David Wells vs. Randy Johnson. The NL wins 6,350 games.
- Game 4: AL vs, NL, Pedro Martinez vs. Greg Maddux. The AL wins 6,455 games. Again, Pedro was dominant. Twenty no hitters and 13 games where he struck out 20 or more (21 three times).
- Game 5: AL vs. NL, Bartolo Colon vs. Al Leiter. The NL wins 5,306 games.
- Game 6: NL vs. AL, Mike Hampton vs. Mike Mussina. The AL wins 5,559 games (using a DH, which is why even though Mussina had a losing record, he made the team anyway).
- Game 7: AL vs. NL, anything goes. The AL wins 5,355 games (using a DH).
For the official All-Star Game, I decided to just simulate one game and one game only. The starting pitchers were Glavine and Clemens 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 (Mark McGwire of the NL and Frank Thomas of the AL) were never replaced.
The starting lineups, first for the National League (I'm using 2001 Topps cards because these are the cards I used to represent the players on my All-Star teams):
Now the American League starting lineup:
Here is the result:
The 2000 AL All-Stars beat the 2000 NL All-Stars by a final score of 14-6 in a romp.
The box score is below (Just click on the picture to take a closer look.
The scoring plays were as follows:
Bottom 1: Glavine pitching. Roberto Alomar walks. Ivan Rodriguez reaches first on an error by Barry Larkin (E6), Alomar advances to third. Alex Rodriguez strikes out. Frank Thomas doubles, Alomar scoring, I. Rodriguez advances to third. Bernie Williams reaches on an error by Ken Griffey, I. Rodriguez scoring, Thomas scoring, Williams advances to second.
Top 2: Clemens pitching. Mark McGwire walks. Ken Griffey singles, McGwire advances to second. Mike Piazza walks, McGwire advances to third, Griffey advances to second. Barry Bonds walks, McGwire scoring, Griffey advances to third, Piazza advances to second. Todd Helton hits a sacrifice fly to Bernie Williams (SAC 8), Griffey scoring.
Bottom 4: Darryl Kile pitching. Greg Vaughn walks. Magglio Ordoñez doubles, Vaughn scoring. Dean Palmer doubles, Ordoñez scoring. Ray Durham strikes out. Jorge Posada singles, Palmer scoring.
Top 5: David Wells pitching. Jeff Bagwell singles. Eric Young flies out to Greg Vaughn (7). Edgar Renteria doubles, Bagwell scoring.
Bottom 5: Al Leiter pitching. Carl Everett reaches second on an error by Andruw Jones (E8). Carlos Delgado strikes out. Greg Vaughn reaches on an error by Jeff Bagwell (E3), Everett scoring. Magglio Ordoñez walks, Vaughn advances to second. Dean Palmer hits a home run, Ordoñez scoring, Vaughn scoring.
Top 6: Wells pitching. Mark McGwire grounds out to Derek Jeter (6-3). Andruw Jones doubles. Javy Lopez doubles, A. Jones scoring. Gary Sheffield singles, Lopez scoring.
Bottom 6: Armando Benitez pitching. Frank Thomas reaches on an error by Scott Rolen (E5). Carl Everett hits a home run, Thomas scoring.
Bottom 7: Antonio Alfonseca pitching. Darrin Fletcher singles. Randy Velarde singles, Fletcher advances to second. Nomar Garciaparra flies out to Geoff Jenkins (7). Frank Thomas singles, Fletcher advances to third, Velarde advances to second. Garret Anderson singles, Fletcher scoring, Velarde scoring.
Top 8: Mariano Rivera pitching. Mark McGwire hits a home run.
So the AL finally beats up on their NL rivals, not only using the home run to their advantage, but thanks to poor defense by usually surehanded fielders. If this game actually existed, the MVP award would have gone to Dean Palmer (2-3, 1 hr, 4 rbi). Tim Hudson takes the win (although it should have gone to Clemens), Tom Glavine gets the loss, and the only players who didn't get in the game were pitchers Mike Hampton & Trevor Hoffman from the NL and Bartolo Colon, Derek Lowe, & Mike Mussina from the AL.
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 2000 All-Star Games are officially over, at 9:00 AM CST on Wednesday, I will introduce the 2001 End of Year All-Star teams. Simulations for games with those rosters to come hopefully by Sunday night.
Sincerely,
JayBee Anama
