Man, I've been telling this factoid for years ...

Oh and for the record, my one win? My offense went nuts. They *are* capable of it. Six run 5th inning, another CG for my starter.

How many small pokes in the arm would YOU take before you complain about small pokes in the arm?

It's a small sample size, it's a concentration, a cacophony of comedic coincidences. It's RNG. And I wanna win, but I mostly just want to "try my best", and if i'm not the one with the broken rolls, so be it. But try to imagine feeling like you see this everywhere. All the time.

These are all games against very good teams, all won more than me this season. I went toe to toe in every game, my pitching held them all down. This 1B was Recomposed at the middle of the season. Her equip is 34 Contact, 35 Intim, 19 Muscle, 16 Speed. She hit ... .190, OPS+ of 69.

Bumbli went 73-47. 2-1 loss again, this time I'm the one w/ a solo HR. But I did have 1st & 3rd w/ 1 out in the 5th. So I can't lose the lead runner stealing 3rd, right? Nah, this time they're caught STEALING HOME during a strikeout. BTW, I had 2 strike em out, throw em out double plays in game 1.

My closer should be in there in the 10th, my SP1 is clearly exhausted. Only allowed one double, but that's enough when now down 1 in the 10th, with 1 out ... my ghost runner/tie score is CAUGHT STEALING 3rd at the start of a walk. Next batter strikes out, and it's a 2-1 loss.

Blo went 77-42, won Deep League. The line for my SP1: 10 IP, 4H, 1ER ... and allows the ghost runner to score. One of my many complaints about MMOLB's engine is that you will NEVER HAVE A CHANCE to close a game in extra innings as the HOME TEAM. You don't pitch if you take the lead, you walk it off.

Portland went 67-53. This is the most normal loss. Only 3 hits for me again, but i lead 2-1 in the 9th. Again, they just have a solo HR. My closer was 26 of 30 in s5, gets the 1st two outs and then blows the save and the game: BB, 2B, 2 RBI single. That's two down.

Carnegie went 73-47. Both pitchers throw 3H CGs, my guy Ks 16 but a solo HR. I have ... 3 RCS. In the 9th, after 1 out, I get a walk. Runner steals 2nd during the K for 2nd out. With my cleanup and best hitter up, on the first pitch ... the runner is caught stealing 3rd. 1-0, that's one down.

But something in me just needs to PROVE to people that what happens "to me" is NOT NORMAL. It's hardly important in a greater schema of the world, but, well ... I've played 5 Exhibition games so far this season. I've lost 4 of them. All 4 are by one run: 1-0, 3-2, 2-1, 2-1. Let's look at them.

I very loudly & very publicly speak about my difficult relationship with "luck". I'm a statistical black hole, shit happens around me that just is ridiculous. And b/c that's the kind of thing I observe as a person, it's highlighted. And I have to point it out. People get tired of it, i understand.

For context, my team was 65-55 in s5. We were also 65-55 in s4. My pitching is above average, across the board (ERA- of 91 for the team, ranging between 82 & 99), but my batting, like many players, plummeted: OPS+ of 97, we batted .228 (league average). But if you don't know me, know this ...

I apologize in advance, but this is going to turn into a whining account for a hot minute. If it helps, it is absolutely still the kind of story with mathematical unlikeliness and statistical interest that I like to highlight. But let's take a look at my s5 Exhibitions so far, shall we?

1/x

mmolb.com/watch/68aead...

And the season 5 Chorby Short Award for longest PA goes to ... Hye-Jin Roche, with 16 pitches (11 foul balls)

Day 46, where her closer blows the 2-1 lead, and then the loss in the 10th because the ghost runner STOLE HOME.

mmolb.com/watch/68a637...

Day 6, she pitches into the 10th, ghost runner steals 3rd and then scores on a ground out:
mmolb.com/watch/68a405...

Day 36, a 1-0 loss where the 2nd pitch was a solo HR: mmolb.com/watch/68a5aa...

And then her one no decision? ...

I keep collecting insane pitchers. Meet Kathleen Baez, NAKED PITCHING ACE.

mmolb.com/player/689bc...

No equip whatsoever, but 46IP, 0.587 ERA, 3 ER ... and somehow she's **2-2**?! Check out these last two games ...

With Lulu called up to the Greater Leagues, a new protagonist pitcher was needed. And lo, the Mulch Machine said "let there be ridiculousness" so in S4, Cal Jansson was born. What has Cal done so far in S5? Oh, just 4 starts, 4 CGSHO, 46K, 10BB, 9HA.

mmolb.com/player/68417...

(For those of unaware of the history: bsky.app/profile/ifhb...)

AMAZING THROW SPOTTED! MY LEGACY IS SECURE!

mmolb.com/watch/68a491...

mmolb.com/team/6884edf...

Thanks for the heads up! The only pitching staff to NOT have a HBP so far? The Alert Emergency Broadcast System!

mmolb.com/team/6864c62...
Compare that to the Fargo Faithful Freaks, whose entire pitching staff is wanted for aggravated assault: 21 HBP in 327 PAs.

mmolb.com/team/6808553...
Somehow, through 8 games, ONE team has managed to avoid being plunked: the Woodridge Koi Koi. They are not being reciprocal in the peace, though .. their pitchers have hit 8 batters.

mmolb.com/player/68424...
Sergei Gyorko of the Manhattan Projects started the season w/ a plunk bonanza: 6 IP, 6 ER, 6 HBP. They were ejected in the 3rd inning of their next game, probably as a precaution. :P

Danny has said this is the season where Cunning's effectiveness should be more noticeable & early days it's starting to show.
For the 1st 7 games of s4: out of 382,019 PAs, 7,317 end in HBP (1 in every 52.10)
1st 7 games of s5: 356,666 PAs, 9,369 HBP (1 in every 38.07)

Keep your eyes open!

Queried to find players who were switch hitters and switch pitchers. Good news: found 5. Bad news? One was released, 3 are bench players. The one true active Double Switcher? Melvin Miller, 3B for Indianola Horses Win Fights

mmolb.com/player/68814...

The human body is limited to 33 1/3 parties, max.

- Format updating, particularly on Attribute page, for cleaner coloring/scales
- Updated Boon calculations to include all new team based
- Team Augments page lists all Augments, and sorts/filters attribute results!
- New INDIVIDUAL player tabs, combining attr, equip & seasonal stats!

v1.6.1 of my Team & Season Tracker Google sheet is AVAILABLE, w/ lots of awesome new goodies:

docs.google.com/spreadsheets...