The Line-up Game
Posted: Sat May 16, 2009 1:47 am
My friends and I invented a game a few years back based around how many baseball games we saw in person. The purpose of this game is to create the best team that you can build by using players that you have seen play in person, ie: being at the stadium and watching them. Once you pick the players, you then have to put them in a batting order that you think would allow them to play to the best of their abilities and to have the team win. Here are a few rules: the players have to be in positions that they normally play, as in you can't have a first basemen be playing right field just because you like the way he hits. You can, however, use a player that played in a position for the better part of a season or more, such as Chipper Jones in the outfield a few years ago. Secondly, you can't have a player in the lineup more than once; again, using Chipper as an example, you can't have him playing both third and left field, you can only chose one. Finally, all players are either in their primes or when they were playing best, so don't feel constrained by age.
Since I am from Jersey and my favorite team is the Mariners, I predominately used Yankees, Mets, or Mariners, though its a coincidence that they are actually great choices. When I first constructed my team a year ago, I originally had Cal Ripken at third and Arod at short, but I switched things around when Arod admitted to steroids (though none of you have to keep your lineup without known or suspected users, I just did it because that's how I felt).
Line Up (positions by number, ie: 1 being pitcher, 2 catcher, etc.)
1-Greg Maddox
2-Dan Wilson
3-Tino Martinez
4-Roberto Alomar
5-Chipper Jones
6-Cal Ripken
7-Rickey Henderson
8-Ken Griffey Junior
9-Paul O’Neill
DH- Edgar Martinez
Reliever- Arthur Rhodes
Closer- Mariano Rivera
As a coach, I don't really like bad fielding: I would rather have a great fielder that doesn't make many errors instead of a homerun hitter who can't field for his life. As such, I tried to build a team that was a good fielding team, but didn't have to necessarily rely on small ball to win games. Hence I could have someone like Dan Wilson playing catcher instead of Mike Piazza because the other players around him are good enough that I don't need a hitter everywhere. As for the starting pitcher, I chose Greg Maddux because I love the way he pitched, so savvy, plus he himself can field, so it works. For the closer I went with Mo, though I could have easily gone with Hoffman, but I think Mo is a bit better. I could have also used Ichiro in right and moved everyone up a spot and had him batting eighth, but I went with power.
Batting Order
1-Rickey Henderson
2-Roberto Alomar
3-Ken Griffey Junior
4-Edgar Martinez
5-Paul O’Neill
6-Chipper Jones
7-Tino Martinez
8-Cal Ripken Junior
9-Dan Wilson
This was tough. I noticed that their wasn't much speed at the tail end, but I couldn't think of anything to rectify it. Overall, I think Cal being in the 8th spot gives them a good hitter that can sort of propel Dan Wilson to being a better hitter. I debated about having either Paul or Chipper in the fifth spot, but I went with Paul just because I like Chipper being behind him.
You can talk about each other's lineups and what you think of them or debate about why they chose someone, or you can just post your own, but please, when you do post, give a reason for why you chose someone that seems out of the blue.
Since I am from Jersey and my favorite team is the Mariners, I predominately used Yankees, Mets, or Mariners, though its a coincidence that they are actually great choices. When I first constructed my team a year ago, I originally had Cal Ripken at third and Arod at short, but I switched things around when Arod admitted to steroids (though none of you have to keep your lineup without known or suspected users, I just did it because that's how I felt).
Line Up (positions by number, ie: 1 being pitcher, 2 catcher, etc.)
1-Greg Maddox
2-Dan Wilson
3-Tino Martinez
4-Roberto Alomar
5-Chipper Jones
6-Cal Ripken
7-Rickey Henderson
8-Ken Griffey Junior
9-Paul O’Neill
DH- Edgar Martinez
Reliever- Arthur Rhodes
Closer- Mariano Rivera
As a coach, I don't really like bad fielding: I would rather have a great fielder that doesn't make many errors instead of a homerun hitter who can't field for his life. As such, I tried to build a team that was a good fielding team, but didn't have to necessarily rely on small ball to win games. Hence I could have someone like Dan Wilson playing catcher instead of Mike Piazza because the other players around him are good enough that I don't need a hitter everywhere. As for the starting pitcher, I chose Greg Maddux because I love the way he pitched, so savvy, plus he himself can field, so it works. For the closer I went with Mo, though I could have easily gone with Hoffman, but I think Mo is a bit better. I could have also used Ichiro in right and moved everyone up a spot and had him batting eighth, but I went with power.
Batting Order
1-Rickey Henderson
2-Roberto Alomar
3-Ken Griffey Junior
4-Edgar Martinez
5-Paul O’Neill
6-Chipper Jones
7-Tino Martinez
8-Cal Ripken Junior
9-Dan Wilson
This was tough. I noticed that their wasn't much speed at the tail end, but I couldn't think of anything to rectify it. Overall, I think Cal being in the 8th spot gives them a good hitter that can sort of propel Dan Wilson to being a better hitter. I debated about having either Paul or Chipper in the fifth spot, but I went with Paul just because I like Chipper being behind him.
You can talk about each other's lineups and what you think of them or debate about why they chose someone, or you can just post your own, but please, when you do post, give a reason for why you chose someone that seems out of the blue.