Game of the Week: October 1: SEA @ OAK

[Commissioner Erick]

Oakland Athletics (91-65) @ Seattle Mariners (86-70)


OAK: Doug Heppenstall (12-6, 2.99)
SEA: Chris Ford (8-8, 3.46)


Athletics 3 Key Stats

4.3: WAR for Milt Pool. Oakland’s had a lot of surprise contributors, but Pool is a player they needed to produce dependably. A former Top 10 prospect, Pool looked okay for a few cups of coffee in 2026 and 2027, but struggled as a 26-year-old rookie in 2028. While he cracked 22 doubles in 471 plate appearances, he only homered six times and hit .246. It appeared Oakland would be lacking a solid Third Baseman and an extra middle-order bat. Thankfully for Oakland, Pool has broken out as a 27-year old. He has 23 homers, 35 doubles, and is batting a strong .281. He’s tied for second in homers and RBIs for a Third Baseman, a wonderful feat for an Oakland team that’s now third in the league in runs.

2.99: Doug Heppenstall’s ERA: A Rookie-of-the-Year candidate, Heppenstall’s final week could go a long way to securing the award. Taken in the Rule V draft from Milwaukee, he’s been Oakland’s ace. He’s whiffed 199 hitters in 171.2 innings, allowing just 17 homers in the process. Left-handers are hitting just .193 off the lefty, which makes sense as Heppenstall throws in the triple-digits with a devastating curveball and changeup. If Oakland hangs on to win the AL West, a Rule-V rookie will be a significant reason why.

2: Starts in September for Darrick Hall: The former immense slugger Hall has become a pinch hitter. Hall had a decent first year in Oakland with 36 homers last year, but he’s been brutal this year. He’s been solid off the bench in September, but is still hitting only .156 with 95 strikeouts in 315 Plate Appearances. He does have 15 homers, but he also has -1.0 WAR. He’s still incredibly dangerous as a missed location could be turned back 475 feet, but good pitchers have toyed with Hall in 2029.


Mariners 3 Key Stats:

1: Mariners regular in their lineup with double digit home runs: Manny Machado has had a strong season with 26 long balls, but he’s the only Mariner with consistent power. With a .301 average and 96 RBIs, he’s been a stalwart, and he’s needed to be. Bobby O’Cain is no longer an everyday player, though he has hit well and has 21 homers in 342 at bats. Jimmy Herron has 11 long balls, but a negative WAR. That’s it. That’s the entire Mariners contingent of double-digit home run hitters. Andres Reyna is fourth on the club with eight homers, but he’s on the IL. Of players, almost certainly assured to play today, Wander Samuel Franco is second in homers—with seven.

19.9: Mike Trout’s walk rate: Mike Trout is a three-true-outcomes PBA icon. He’s second all-time in walks, fourth in strikeouts, and fifth in home runs. Amazingly he’s setting career bests and worsts in all the true outcomes. His 19.9 walk rate is, remarkably, the best of his storied career. Somehow he’s led the league in walks six times, and this season is the largest ratio of walks he’s ever drawn. He’s balancing that with a career low strikeout rate of 20.5 percent. Of course his home run power has evaporated. He has just six home runs this year in half a season, after 13 in a full season last year. The result is a bizarre triple slash of .314/.452/.451. Trout was rough his last two seasons, but it’s been a joy to see his late career revival back in the AL West.

20.1: Wander Samuel Franco’s zone rating: Franco has had another superb season at Shortstop. His zone rating trails only Luis Retana among AL Shortstops, and would be his highest since 2026. Franco got hurt in 2027 and it carried over into a dreadful 2028 where he had a 65 OPS+. The Reds traded him to the Royals, who immediately shipped him to the Mariners. Seattle is third in zone rating and Franco’s defense is a huge reason why.


Questions for the GMs:

For Garrett White, Tristan Casas has had some good seasons with his bat in the past. How come you’ve used him almost exclusively as a pitcher?

Seattle has few home run hitters. How much pressure does that put on your defense to ensure runs don’t cross the plate?

You’ve had to play with 27 players to ensure you don’t exceed the $5 million overbudget rule. How has that hamstrung your roster as you’re playing a man short today?

For Jay Bigs, Andres Reyna is due off the IL. Will he play in today’s game?

Geoff Luke has a tired arm. Will he start in Center field for you?

Jason Bordonga pitches for you and hits as well, though his bat is merely replacement level. Would he be better served if he was able to fully concentrate on hitting?


TRIVIA: Mike Trout is second all time in walks. Who is first?

[Jay Bigs]

Jan 16, 2023 10:43:39 GMT -5 Commissioner Erick said:

For Jay Bigs, Andres Reyna is due off the IL. Will he play in today’s game?

Geoff Luke has a tired arm. Will he start in Center field for you?

Jason Bordonga pitches for you and hits as well, though his bat is merely replacement level. Would he be better served if he was able to fully concentrate on hitting?

1. Andres Reyna is due off the IL. Will he play in today’s game? Well unfortunately in the past month we lost out starting CF, our backup, and his backup, so yes Reyna will be back in CF as hes our next best man to start there. Hes been out for a while but we hope he can make a positive return.

2. Geoff Luke has a tired arm. Will he start in Center field for you? We decide to sit him for this sim. His arm is very bad and the strength of our lineup is the defense, we dont want to risk it.

3. Jason Bordonga pitches for you and hits as well, though his bat is merely replacement level. Would he be better served if he was able to fully concentrate on hitting? Hes been really good since we picked him up from the Philies. His arm has only gotten better as the season has played out. We originally had him starting most games at LF but after seeing how well he was pitching we have actually done the opposite reduce his AB's to give him a little more rest for pitching. I think that in the past couple of months has shown dividends. 

Final thought is good luck to Oakland, weve been hard chasing them down all season after a terrible April and its only fitting the final sim will decide if we can finally catch them. It would take a full sweep of Oakland and Angels but weve shown we have the potential to do just that.

[Commissioner Erick]

TRIVIA 1: Ben Vincent successfully guessed Bryce Harper

[Commissioner Erick]

Athletics 2 - Mariners 1


WP: D. Heppenstall (13-6)
LP: A. Hall (4-9)
SV: J. Klock (5)


In a low-scoring game between the Oakland Athletics and the Seattle Mariners, pitcher Doug Heppenstall was masterful on the mound. The Oakland left-hander spearheaded his team's 2-1 win. The triumph puts Oakland at 92-65 for the season.

Heppenstall earned the win, going 7.1 strong innings for Oakland. The left-hander allowed just 3 hits, while striking out 8. Seattle hitters had little success against him.

"I like the grit of this ballclub," Heppenstall said.


Questions for the GMs:


For Garrett White, when you took Heppenstall in the fifth round of the Rule V draft, I know you didn't expect him to become an elite ace. What were your expectations of him coming into the year?

Why did you give Darrick Hall the start today?

Jon Klock had his fifth save. You got him for free on a waiver claim early this year. What did you see from him that led you to claim him?

For Jay Bigs, Israel Cruz' passed ball basically lost you the game. Will you look to upgrade your backup Catcher for next year?

You built a solid defense-oriented team, but your offense really let you down today. Where will you want to upgrade heading into next year?

Mike Trout struck out three times, which really hurt you, but he's also had an excellent year. Will you try to bring him back for next year?


TRIVIA: Who is the single-season leader in PBA Home Runs?

[Commissioner Erick]

TRIVIA 2: Daniel correctly guessed Darrick Hall.

[Jay Bigs]

Jan 16, 2023 14:54:08 GMT -5 Commissioner Erick said:

For Jay Bigs, Israel Cruz' passed ball basically lost you the game. Will you look to upgrade your backup Catcher for next year?

You built a solid defense-oriented team, but your offense really let you down today. Where will you want to upgrade heading into next year?

Mike Trout struck out three times, which really hurt you, but he's also had an excellent year. Will you try to bring him back for next year?


TRIVIA: Who is the single-season leader in PBA Home Runs?

1. No I dont think well make drastic changes, hes a young guy and mistakes can happen. We hope he will learn from it and under McGuire's leadership in the offseason can take a step forward to maybe step into the starting role when McGuire decides to call it a day.
2. Its a funny thing, both times we play Oakland recently we just dont play our game. This time it was our starting SS that has been so good all year and could be in with a shout for golden glove that made the error. In terms of upgrades, we still have not decided but ultimately the big injuries towards the end of year may have loosened up our defense for Oakland to capitilise on. 
3. The magnificent Mike Trout came in as really just an option but then proved to be the allstar hes been his whole career. We might look to bring him back but with how our budget looks going into next season hes going to need to rethink his initial demands to something more realistic or we simply would not be able to afford him. Regardless of what happens we are glad we brought him in and would not of even got close to the playoffs without his bat and walking ability during this long season. He will get a great send off if it is the end.

[oaklandgm]

Jan 16, 2023 14:54:08 GMT -5 Commissioner Erick said:

For Garrett White, when you took Heppenstall in the fifth round of the Rule V draft, I know you didn't expect him to become an elite ace. What were your expectations of him coming into the year?

Why did you give Darrick Hall the start today?

Jon Klock had his fifth save. You got him for free on a waiver claim early this year. What did you see from him that led you to claim him?

Heppenstall fits that mold of hard-throwing relievers who we've had success with in Oakland in the past - what we didn't anticipate was him coming into camp and showing that he could have the kind of three pitch arsenal to win a rotation spot. From there, he just continued to grow into that role and eventually became our ace to where we could take off any kind of limitations on his workload. A lot of hard work went into that for him but I think I'd also credit T.J. [Collett] with a lot of his continued work in mentoring these young pitchers.

Darrick [Hall] continues to be one of our important guys off the bench and we want him to be sharp as we come into the postseason. I know his numbers aren't up to his standards but we've seen a lot of progress from him, especially in September.

Klock had been with a few organizations before he came to Oakland but we thought he had really been misused as a starting pitcher and swingman - once we brought him in, we let him know that we wanted him to focus on that dominating fastball and short bullpen stints and he took off. We think he can be a dynamic weapon for us for a long time.