Please click here to see the standings and statistics from the Ultimate Season replay
'01 MARINERS FINALLY WIN IT ALL IN STRAT-O-MATIC 40th ANNIVERSARY ULTIMATE SEASON
Each Franchise's Best Year of Last 40 Competes In Full 162-Game Schedule As Part of Strat-O-Matic 40th Anniversary Celebration
Glen Head, NY, APR. 10, 2002 - When baseball's best baseball teams of the past 40 years took the field in the Strat-O-Matic 40th Anniversary Ultimate Season, fantasy nearly imitated reality. The winningest team of all-time, the 2001 Seattle Mariners, won the most regular season games. Without the Yankees in their way, they then defeated the 1969 Baltimore Orioles in the ALCS and the 1995 Atlanta Braves in a thrilling seven game World Series to claim the title -- Strat-O-Matic 40th Anniversary Ultimate Season Champion.
As part of the celebration of the classic board game's 40th anniversary, each team's best year of the last 40 was represented in a full season, played through four divisions, and finalized by LCS and World Series action. Full stats were recorded, as the computer played out the nearly 2600 games. In the end, the glory belonged to the Mariners.
"If you played this out a dozen times the results and statistics will vary a bit, but you can be sure that the best teams would finish atop their divisions, the top pitchers would dominate and the big sluggers would hit," admits Hal Richman, who invented Strat-O-Matic when he was 11, and founded the company in 1962. "This type of fantasy replay is what Strat-O-Matic is all about and what millions of people have enjoyed for the past four decades."
Richman's words rang true as two of the four teams with the most "real" wins -- Seattle and the '75 Cincinatti Reds -- won their divisions, while the other two -- the '86 Mets and '98 Yankees -- finished just two and three game behind the '95 Braves and '69 Orioles respectively. It would come as no surprise to anyone that '86 Wade Boggs competed for the A.L. batting title, '69 Mike Cuellar and '95 Greg Maddux were the top pitchers and '01 Luis Gonzalez and '69 Boog Powell lead their leagues in homers.
"Baseball fans will forever wonder how Ichiro might have done against Jim Palmer and Willie Mays may have faired against Greg Maddux. With Strat-O-Matic, you get to find out," explains Richman.
REGULAR SEASON RECAP
The Braves/Mets rivalry transcended eras, as the '95 Braves and '86 Mets went down to the final weekend of the season with the Mets trailing the Braves by one game and a three-game series in Atlanta to decide the division. After the Mets won the opener to tie the division, the Braves clinched a tie for the division behind a complete game from Maddux. Then on the final day of the season, the Braves blasted the Mets' Doc Gooden en route to a 15-1 win and the NL East title.
In the NL West, the '75 Reds edged out both the '98 Astros and '01 Diamondbacks by two games. The five other teams in the division all finished below .500. Despite five players with over 30 homers, the '97 Rockies posted the league's worst record at 64-98 thanks to a team ERA of 5.29.
In the A.L., the regular season played out as predicted, with the three teams which posted the most wins in actuality also posting the most wins in the replay. But because there are no wild-cards in the Strat-O-Matic Ultimate Season, the second-place '98 Yankees were left out of the post-season as the '69 Orioles and '01 Mariners played for the pennant. The '84 Tigers and '88 A's were perhaps the biggest disappointments. Both won 104 games in reality but just 82 and 79 in Strat-O-Matic to finish fifth in their divisions.
NLCS - '95 Braves VS '75 Reds
The NLCS featured a match-up of the bats of the Big Red Machine versus the big four arms of the '95 Braves . Game #7 was a classic. With the Braves holding a 2-1 lead in the 8th the Reds scored three times off Tom Glavine and Steve Bedrosian to take a 4-2 lead. The Braves came right back in the bottom 8th to score three times off of Pedro Borbon and Will McEnaney highlighted by a Dave Justice 2-run triple and Javy Lopez run scoring single. The erratic but reliable Mark Wohlers walked two batters in the 9th but got Johnny Bench to ground out to end the series. Chipper Jones (.393, 2hr-6 rbis) and Fred McGriff (.310, 2 hr, 6 rbis) led a balanced Braves attack that hit 13 HR's and scored 43 runs in the 7 games. The Big Red Machine, which only hit 6 HR's and scored 36 runs was lead by Tony Perez (.333, 2hr, 7rbis). One unique oddity, Pedro Borbon pitched for the Reds, while his son, Pedro Borbon Jr. pitched for the Braves.
ALCS - '01 Mariners VS '69 Orioles
After splitting the first two games in Baltimore, the Mariners returned home and won three straight to advance to the Strat-O-Matic 40th Anniversary Ultimate World Series. The Mariners offense, which hit just two HR's and scored only 16 runs in the five games, were lead by Ichiro (.450) and Edgar Martinez (.500). The Orioles hit just .179 as a team, scored only 10 runs and were held to two homers from Boog Powell. Frank Robinson hit .294 but scored just one run.
World Series - '95 Braves VS '01 Mariners
In Game #1 in Seattle, Freddy Garcia and Jeff Nelson held Atlanta to two hits and the Mariners, who got just three hits, scored two runs in the 8th off of Maddux and one in the 9th off of Wohlers for the 3-2 win. The Braves tied the series with a 5-2 win behind a complete game from Tom Glavine and a pair of fourth inning 2-run HR's from Charlie O'Brien and Jeff Blauser. The Mariners came right back in Game #3 scoring three times in the 10th inning off of Steve McMichael for the 9-6 win. Atlanta tied the game at 6 with three runs off of Kaz Sasaki in the bottom of the 9th. The Braves then evened the series at two games by pounding Paul Abbott for 7 runs in an 8-7 win that was not as close as the score indicated. Edgar Martinez was injured in the game and lost for the remainder of the series. In Game #5 Maddux continued his mastery with a complete game 5-hit shutout while Chipper Jones and McGriff both hit 2-run HR's in the 4-0 win. The Mariners stayed alive at home in Game #6 behind strong pitching from Aaron Sele in a 4-1 win that forced a deciding Game #7 between John Smoltz and Jamie Moyer. The Mariners broke open a 2-1 game with five runs in the 7th off Smoltz when Chipper Jones committed two errors and John Olerud followed with a 3-run HR. Moyer who took a no-hitter into the 6th got the win.
SPECIAL REGULAR SEASON NOTES
Complete league standings and statistics for the Regular Season, Championship Series rounds and World Series can be found by clicking on the links below. Here are some final stats for some popular players.
HITTERS: ('01) Luis Gonzalez (.334, 54 hr, 124 bi); ('75) Johnny Bench (.327, 34hr, 135bi); ('64) Hank Aaron (.323, 19hr, 83 bi); ('62) Willie Mays (.272, 40hr, 121 bi); ('62) Orlando Cepeda (.312 37hr, 113 bi); ('67) Cepeda (.332, 31, 119bi); ('69) Boog Powell (.320, 54 hr, 125 bi); '69 Frank Robinson (.316, 40 hr, 110 bi), ('88) Jose Canseco (.307, 41hr, 114 bi, 30 sb); ('01) Ichiro (.315 237 h, 45 sb). PITCHERS: ('01) Randy Johnson (21-10, 2.62, 342k), ('01) Curt Schilling (23-6 2.76, 295k), ('95) Greg Maddux (20-7, 1.65), ('86) Roger Clemens (15-10, 2.83, 279k); ('65) Jim Kaat (19-9 2.99era), ('98) David Wells (20-3, 2.44), Mike Cuellar (22-7, 2.40, 213k).
MULTIPLE PLAYERS: Many players had key roles on more than one team but Don Baylor ('82 Angles & '86 Red Sox, '88 A's) was the only one to play for three teams. Here are a few of the more impactful two-timers: Randy Johnson ('98 Astros, '01 D'backs), Curt Schilling ('93 Phils, '01 D'Backs); Moises Alou ('97 Marlins, '98 Astros); Kevin Brown ('97 Marlins, '98 Padres); Bill Buckner ('74 Dodgers, '86 Red Sox); Lenny Dykstra ('86 Mets, '93 Phillies); Dave Parker ('79 Pirates, '88 A's); Cepeda ('62 Giants, '67 Cardinals); Jack Morris ('84 Tigers, '92 Blue Jays) and David Wells ('92 Blue Jays, '98 Yanks).
BACKGROUND
Each franchise was represented by its winningest team of the last 40 years, unless a different team, with fewer wins, won a pennant. The 1964 Milwaukee Braves and the 1969 Seattle Pilots were added to create a balanced schedule of 16 teams in each league with two 8-team divisions in each league. Each team played opponents in its own division 14 times, and the other division eight times. DH was used in ballparks of the pre-1973 AL teams, but was used when those teams play road games against post-'73 clubs. Teams stayed true to 4 or 5 man pitching rotations, depending on how the game was played at their time.
The season was played through to conclusion (no labor shutdowns!) with a DH used in the World Series in the AL parks (unless a pre-1973 team qualifies). The best regular season record hosted 4 of the best-of-7 series in both the LCS and the World Series (2-3-2 format). There were no wild card teams, since Strat-O-Matic games are not faced with the challenge of drawing fans after teams drop from contention.
Ultimate Season Statistical Reports:
Ultimate Season AL Standings Ultimate Season AL League Leaders Ultimate Season AL Player Statistics Ultimate Season NL Standings Ultimate Season NL League Leaders Ultimate Season NL Player Statistics Ultimate Season ALCS Results Ultimate Season ALCS Player Statistics Ultimate Season NLCS Results Ultimate Season NLCS Player Statistics Ultimate Season World Series Results Ultimate Season World Series Player Statistics