TLDR: I took this way too seriously. Be prepared to be shocked and heartbroken.
There's not enough players from just your team in 07 and 08 to cover the spots, so i'll include rival team players as well.
Roster C Patrick (2007) He's the best catcher between the two games, hands down.
1B Terry (2008) He's not a good fielder at all, but he's great at hitting though, so no complaints.
2B Peter (2007) The only 2B? Ideally, I would take the guy G. White from the Galaxy Sharks instead, but I'm only using key players. I believe the Champions Rings had a good generic 2B as well.
3B Rex (2007) One of my most difficult decisions to be honest. He's in the starting lineup because of his fielding skills. My infield is looking pretty weak so far to say the least.
SS Joey (2008) It's crazy but, no other key players play SS for some reason. I just wish he wasn't error prone, as he’s actually pretty decent otherwise.
LF Creak (2007) I need him in the starting lineup for offense, no question about it. Surprisingly, he’s capable of hitting homeruns. This gives me two power hitters in my starting lineup.
CF Marvin (2008) He is way better in the 2008 than the 2007 version. He gets a ton of flak because of how truly awful he is in 2007, but he becomes one of the most dependable success mode players by the end of 2008.
RF Milton (2007) Even though his natural position is LF, there are no key RF players so rather than move my best CF away from his position, I made the call to move Milton.
BENCH
BN Frank LF (2008) Most likely he would be used to used for defensive purposes in tight games. He is a better outfielder than Creak without a doubt. But his hitting, well...
BN Percy CF (2007) Probably would use him as a pinch runner.
BN Brad 3B (2007) He has a C for arm strength, making him a decent defensive replacement. Also, he is a better hitter than Rex, though he isn't starting because he is more error prone. I would probably start him in games against fast running teams however.
BN Mars 3B (2007) He could be good off the bench as a pinch hitter, and he's probably good enough to play SS if needed. His stats are better than Joey by far, but you never know how players will respond to playing out of position. This gives me no choice but to have him come off he bench, as his arm strength is lacking a bit.
BN Mark C (2007) We need a backup catcher, and he has also been known to play 1B if the Success Mode character is the starting Catcher. Since he is a good fielder, that opens up the option of having Terry come off the bench for a pinch hit situation. Again, like the situation at 3B, I would need to put him in the starting lineup out of necessity against small-ball running teams.
PITCHING
SP Willy Legend (2007) The team's ace without question. Nobody has nastier breaking pitches than him, and he has both the best control and the best stamina of all.
SP Siitch [Galaxy Sharks version] (2008) If not for Willy, he would be the ace. Not much else to say.
SP Zero (2007) I know what you’re thinking. “But his stamina is only C” Yes, that's true but his breaking ball pitches compliment each other excellently. Not all my starters need to pitch a complete game, they just need to keep runs off the board for the majority of the game, and Zero can certainly do that very well.
SP Bell (2008) No, you aren’t reading that wrong. I chose the guy from the AAA GuavaStrawberries to be a starter. He’s actually really REALLY good, to the point that I’m surprised Goldman never tried recruiting him for the Galaxy Sharks.
RP [Long Reliever] Jonathan (2008) This was a tough choice. On the one hand, he’s pretty bad against runners, but on the other hand, I see him as someone who could compliment Zero if he faces batters that foul off a lot of pitches early, causing him to tire early. When Jonathan in in good or great condition, his slider becomes a lot better. And to be fair, he’s got a good fastball, which is something a lot of success mode pitchers seem to lack. He’s an amazing hitter and fielder who’s almost on par with Siitch and Willy. Speaking of which, someone should tell him to give up on pitching and only play Shortstop from now on, there’s a ton of teams in the MLB that would love to sign him.
RP [Middle Reliever] Wall (2008) His control is slightly better than Siitch by a mere 1 point (assuming the wiki is error free), making him the second best control pitcher on the success mode roster. He can only throw a fastball and cutter, but his cutter moves just enough to throw off batters without giving away that it is a breaking ball too early. I wonder if him being stuck in AA has to do with his teammates more than his own individual play though.
RP [Middle Reliver/Set-Up Man] Scott (2008) The AAA MonMonMonkeys pitcher isn’t anything special, but he’s a well-rounded pitcher. Traditional 4-seam FB, Curveball, Changeup, Slider repertoire. If it works, it works right? He’s almost on par with Bell, making him a lock for my team.
CL [Closer] Alvin (2007) Was there really any doubt who would be the closer? He may not have insane movement on his pitches, or even much of a fastball, but he can throw off a batter’s timing with the best of them. With the Mirage Knuckler (or Star Shaker) he is able to throw a variation of the knuckleball that nobody else can. His slurveball and cutter when pitched effectively, can induce rally-stopping double plays. At first look, he’s nothing special, until you step up to the plate. Oh and by the way, gotta give it up for that rockin’ hairstyle.
Players that didn’t make the roster:
Tom (2008) (catcher) : Tom is so bad, I almost can’t put it into words. Sure, he’s willing to play 1B just like Mark, but he’s worse than Mark in almost every way.
Gregory (2007) (catcher) : I take that back, this guy is actually the worst success mode player. No contact, power, or fielding skills to speak of. Too bad we don’t get to control our player on the bases in Success mode all the time. It would be so much fun stealing 2nd AND 3rd base on this guy.
Hank (2007) (1B) : He can make contact with the ball, but he can’t send it very far because of his F power. That 4 trajectory of his is great for infield fly balls.
Oscar (2007) (Pitcher) : He’s just simply not good enough to make an impact on most teams. He may have a good enough fastball to make his Circle-ChangeUp and Slow Curveball work, but when compared to the other available pitchers, he’s lacking in all areas.
Morgan (2008) (Pitcher) : His weakness becomes a strength when he pitches. He can pitch only fastballs, which sounds horrible, until you realize you have no idea where the ball will end up in the strike zone due to his horrible control. However, his poor control also means he is prone to throwing mistake pitches. I considered making him the long reliever instead of Jonathan. Ultimately, I chose not to because he has no pitcher blue abilities, which I figured outweighed Jonathan’s negatives.
Walter (2008) (Pitcher) : With a decent curveball, but nothing else to compliment it (his changeup is basically nonexistent, and his fastball is only 85 mph) , you gotta wonder if he only plays pitcher because he happens to be the best at it on his team. To be fair, he’s a dangerous contact hitter, which leads me to believe that. Interestingly, he has good stamina. But when you consider his team plays such good defense behind him, you have to admit he’s not as good as his numbers say.
Slow (2008) (Pitcher) : Another example of a guy who is better at hitting than pitching. Unlike Walter, he becomes more dangerous once he gets on base, with the fastest running speed of all. Notice how I’m not talking about his pitching? I’ll make it simple. Use Jonathan as your pitcher template. First, make him right-handed instead of left. Then, take most of his control and stamina away, decrease his fastball by 4 mph, and take away all blue and red pitching abilities, and you have Slow. His B stamina attribute allows the opposing team to beat up on him for a longer time period than other success mode pitchers. His slider can move a little more than Jonathan’s, but it doesn’t matter due to his control issues.
Robert (2007) (Pitcher) : His pitching repertoire looks decent enough. A Palmball, SlowCurve, and Hard Slider sounds like a good combination of breaking balls. Then you take a look at his stats…oh boy. 86 mph fastball, E control, and D stamina. And this guy is the ace of the team when you first arrive at Powerful University? I look at his stats and can’t help but think he could have turned out to be a great pitcher if he had the right coaching….but that’s going way too deep into the lore.
Toby (2007) (Pitcher) : Are you looking to tank for the first overall pick in the draft? This is who you need on your team. With a blistering 80 mph fastball, and a changeup and slider that both basically stand still, this guy is guaranteed to give up many homeruns, each inning.
Robin (2007) (Pitcher) : This one actually may come as a surprise to some, since he is actually a decent pitcher. While his slurveball can be used in a similar fashion to the way Alvin’s does, he doesn’t have enough control to pinpoint his pitches when need be. It’s a shame we don’t get to see how he develops, but from what we know, his over-reliance on fastballs often comes back to haunt him once he begins to show signs of fatigue.
Gil (2008) (Pitcher) : The biggest surprise of all, Gil doesn’t make the team. I almost want to say he’s similar to Walter with a good team behind him. Actually, Walter’s curveball has more break than anything Gil pitches. Think about that for a second. Yeah, it sounds pretty bad.
The only reason Gil’s pitching seems effective at first sight is because he’s the only one (other than Zero and Siitch) who actually uses a 2-Seam FB. This throws off most batters who would never otherwise be facing it. In addition, his changeup and palmball are not impressive enough to trouble the best batters, and I swear he must be trying to be a carbon copy of Alvin or something, except he’s worse in nearly every way. If it were not for Gil’s blue pitcher abilities (and above average hitting and fielding skills) he would also be considered a worse version of Robin.
When I do a deep-dive into Gil’s skillset and compare him to other pitchers, it makes me question why he was put on a pedestal. Was his injury so significant that he was pitching at less than a quarter of his real abilities, but nobody noticed because of said amazing defense behind him? There I go with the lore again...whoops.
In any case, I think I’ve built the best possible team when taking into consideration the team’s strengths and weaknesses. The final verdict says, our offense in the sense of both contact and power is lacking, our team as a whole is about average running speed, and our infield could use a lot of work. Our outfield is pretty decent on both offense and defense, but it could be better. Our pitching is either amazing or slightly above average. Pretty disappointing all in all.
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