bdj610's 1988 End of Year All-Star Teams Simulated Games Results

I have finally finished simulating the All-Star Games using my 1988 End of Year All-Star Teams. Now that I have enough practice with it, using the SBS has been so much fun. And I didn't even get that "Error: Box Score 70" that plagued me the last time.

Just like the last round using the '87 teams, 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, Orel Hershiser vs. Frank Viola. The AL wins 5,707 games out of 10,000 simulations (using a DH).
• Game 2: NL vs. AL, Dwight Gooden vs. Mark Gubicza. The AL wins 5,948 games (using a DH).
• Game 3: AL vs. NL, Roger Clemens vs. David Cone. The NL wins 5,031 games.
• Game 4: AL vs, NL, Dave Stewart vs. Danny Jackson. The NL wins 5,253 games.
• Game 5: AL vs. NL, Bruce Hurst vs. Tom Browning. The AL wins 5,221 games.
• Game 6: NL vs. AL, Bob Knepper vs. Teddy Higuera. The AL wins 7,238 games (using a DH).
• Game 7: NL vs. AL, anything goes. The AL wins 6,001 games.

So the AL beats (in dominating fashion in some cases) the NL 5 to 2 in the regular series. For the official All-Star Game, I decided to just simulate one game and one game only. The starting pitchers were Hershiser and Viola and I let them pitch two innings. 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...I couldn't figure out how to double switch here). The DH's (Dale Murphy of the NL and Harold Baines of the AL) were never replaced.

The starting lineups, first for the National League (I'm using 1989 Topps cards because these are the cards I used to imagine my All-Star teams when not using the Topps sticker backs):


Now the American League starting lineup:


Here is the result:


The 1988 AL All-Stars beat the 1988 NL All-Stars by a final score of 12-4.

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


The scoring plays were like this:

Top 2: Frank Viola pitching. Andre Dawson singles. Gary Carter singles. Runners advance on a Mike Greenwell error. Bobby Bonilla grounds out to Viola (1-3). Ozzie Smith walks. Andy VanSlyke reaches on a fielders choice, Smith out at second (5-4), Dawson scoring.

Top 4: Bruce Hurst pitching. Gary Carter doubles. Bobby Bonilla flies to Rickey Henderson (7). Ozzie Smith lines out to Tony Fernandez (6). Andy VanSlyke hits a home run, Carter scoring.

Bottom 4: David Cone pitching. Harold Reynolds reaches on an error by Rafael Palmeiro (E7). George Brett grounds out to Barry Larkin (6-3). Harold Baines walks. Dave Winfield strikes out. Robin Yount walks, loading the bases. Paul Molitor singles, Reynolds scoring, Baines scoring, Yount out at third (8-3).

Bottom 5: Tom Browning pitching. Carlton Fisk walks. Tony Fernandez doubles, Fisk to third. Rickey Henderson singles, Fisk scoring, Fernandez scoring. Reynolds flies out to Tony Gwynn (8). George Brett doubles, R. Henderson scoring. Harold Baines flies out to Kirk Gibson (9), Brett moving to third. Dave Winfield singles, Brett scoring.

Bottom 6: Danny Jackson pitching. Paul Molitor grounds out to Barry Larkin (6-3). Carlton Fisk grounds out to Vance Law (5-3). Tony Fernandez singles to right, reaches second on an error by Kirk Gibson. Rickey Henderson singles, Fernandez scoring. Harold Reynolds doubles, R. Henderson scoring.

Top 8: Doug Jones pitching. Benito Santiago singles to center, reaches second on an error by Joe Carter. Howard Johnson fouls out to Geno Petralli (2F). Shawon Dunston singles, Santiago scoring.

Bottom 8: Bob Knepper pitching. Cal Ripken walks. Dwight Evans triples, Ripken scoring. Lou Whitaker walks. Mark McGwire walks, Whitaker to second, loading the bases. Harold Baines singles to left, reaches second on an error by Barry Bonds, Evans scoring, Whitaker scoring.


Your starters, Orel Hershiser and Frank Viola. Rickey Henderson is the MVP.
Compared to the 1987 simulation, this was a blowout of epic proportions, not helped by Bob Knepper's collapse in the 8th (which may somewhat coincide with the 7,238 wins the AL got when he started 10,000 games). If this game actually existed, the MVP would have definitely been Rickey Henderson (2-2, 3 rbi's). Dave Stewart earns the win, Tom Browning suffers the loss, and the only players who didn't get in the game were relievers John Franco from the NL and Jeff Reardon 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 1988 All-Star Games are officially over, on Friday, I will introduce the 1989 End of Year All-Star teams. Simulations to come hopefully by Sunday night.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama