bdj610's 2002 End of Year All-Star Teams Simulated Games Results

I have finally finished simulating the All-Star Games using my 2002 End of Year All-Star Teams. For those wondering why it's taken so long to get this post up...let's just say that's it's been a very busy couple of weeks here and I haven't had much of an opportunity to run the simulations until this past weekend. But enough of that.

Anyway, after being shut out by the 2001 National League All-Star team (the second time in three years that the NL team blanked the AL), will the 2002 American League team recover and put the junior circuit back on the winning track? We'll see.

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, Randy Johnson vs. Pedro Martinez. The AL wins 5,889 games out of 10,000 simulations (using a DH).
• Game 2: NL vs. AL, Curt Schilling vs. Barry Zito. The NL wins 5,005 games (using a DH). Closest series EVER!!!
• Game 3: AL vs. NL, Derek Lowe vs. Roy Oswalt. The AL wins 5,386 games. Lowe pitched 13 no hitters in this series.
• Game 4: AL vs, NL, Roy Halladay vs. Tom Glavine. The AL wins 5,693 games.
• Game 5: AL vs. NL, Jarrod Washburn vs. Kevin Millwood. The NL wins 5,552 games.
• Game 6: NL vs. AL, Hideo Nomo vs. Mark Mulder. The AL wins 5,341 games (using a DH).
• Game 7: AL vs. NL, anything goes. The AL wins 5,476 games (using a DH).

The American League wins the series 5-2, and the ever important "anything goes" series. And the AL is now 9-7 in the seven game series. But the NL presently have a 9-6 lead in the one-game ASG. This seventh series seems to be a good indicator as to who wins the big one. Does this mean good luck for the junior circuit?

For the official All-Star Game, I decided to just simulate one game and one game only. The starting pitchers were Johnson and Martinez 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 (Ryan Klesko of the NL and Jason Giambi of the AL) were never replaced.

The starting lineups, first for the National League (I'm using 2003 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 2002 AL All-Stars beat the 2002 NL All-Stars by a final score of 6-5 in a 10 inning game (what was it about 2002 and extra inning All-Star Games??? Were both leagues evenly matched???).

The box score is below (Just click on the picture to take a closer look.


The scoring plays were as follows:

Bottom 2: Johnson pitching. Troy Glaus singles. Manny Ramirez strikes out. Jason Giambi draws a walk, Glaus advances to second. Jim Thome flies to Barry Bonds (7). Jorge Posada hits a home run, Glaus scoring, Giambi scoring.

Bottom 3: Curt Schilling pitching. Alfonso Soriano hits a double. Torii Hunter grounds out to Jeff Kent (4-3), Soriano advances to third. Alex Rodriguez grounds out to Jimmy Rollins (6-3), Soriano scoring.

Top 5: Derek Lowe pitching. Lance Berkman strikes out. Ryan Klesko hits a home run.

Top 6: Jarrod Washburn pitching. Edgar Renteria singles. Luis Castillo singles, Renteria advances to second. Larry Walker draws a walk, Renteria advances to third, Castillo advances to second. Albert Pujols singles Renteria scoring, Castillo scoring. Billy Koch pitching. Lance Berkman grounds into a double play (GDP 6-4-3), Pujols out by force (6-4), Walker advances to third. Ryan Klesko draws a walk. Paul LoDuca singles, Walker scoring.

Top 9: Eddie Guardado pitching. Aaron Boone hits a home run.

Bottom 9: Eric Gagne pitching. Jason Giambi strikes out. Mike Sweeney flies out to Chipper Jones (7). A. J. Pierzynski hits a double. Magglio Ordoñez hits a single, Pierzynski advances to third. John Smoltz pitching. Adam Kennedy singles, Pierzynski scoring.

Bottom 10: John Smoltz pitching. Miguel Tejada singles. Eric Hinske strikes out. Carlos Beltran grounds out to Aaron Boone (5-3), Tejada advances to second. Jason Giambi reaches second on an error by Brian Giles (E8), Tejada scores.

Your starters, Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez. Troy Percival is the MVP.
In the first ever extra-inning All-Star Game simulation, the American League squeak by the National League in 10 innings. If this game actually existed, the MVP award would have gone to Troy Percival (W, 1.1 innings, three strikeouts). Percival takes the win , John Smoltz gets the loss, and the only players who didn't get in the game were pitchers Jose Mesa & Hideo Nomo from the NL and Mark Mulder 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 2002 All-Star Games are officially over, at 9:00 AM CST on Tuesday, I will introduce the 2003 End of Year All-Star teams. Simulations for games with those rosters to come hopefully by Sunday night.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama