2012 Season Recap

Posted by Jonathan @ RGB Cards | Posted in ,


No, that's not a misprint. Thanks to the folks at Out of the Park Baseball, I have simulated the 2012 MLB season using their just-released game, OOTP 13. Here are some highlights of the year that has yet to be. The amazing thing is, I didn't add any information. All of this came from the game, it's that detailed:

April
Joe Mauer suffered another injury, which kept him out of the Twins lineup for two weeks...Michael Young collected five hits in a game against the White Sox on April 6...Erik Bedard showed flashes of his old self, shutting out the Dodgers on three hits on April 11...Paul Konerko hit his 400th career home run against Baltimore on April 16, but the game was marred by a bench-clearing brawl sparked by the O's Luis Ayala beaning Chicago's Adam Dunn. Both players were suspended for five games...April 18 was a bad day for young pitchers, as both Kris Medlen of the Braves and Brad Ziegler of the Diamondbacks saw their seasons come to an early end with identical elbow injuries. They'll both need Tommy John surgery...The meek Dodgers bats re-surfaced on April 17; this time it was Zack Greinke who shut out Los Angeles on three hits...Carlos Marmol missed a week after getting beaned on the head by a faulty pitching machine during pitchers' batting practice, causing both a concussion and embarassment...

Award winners: Carlos Pena (.300/11 HR/24 RBI) was AL batter of the month, while Carlos Gonzalez (.366/7 HR/25 RBI) won the NL award. Francisco Liriano (5-0/2.72 ERA/38K) and Matt Cain (5-0/2.54 ERA/23 K) were pitchers of the month...

Notable transactions: Free agents Roy Oswalt (Mariners) and Vladimir Guerrero (Cubs) signed deals for the season...The Reds added veteran leadership in the infield and outfield, signing Derrek Lee and Johnny Damon...The Indians gave up on "Fausto Carmona", designating Roberto Hernandez for assignment and then waiving him...The Pirates, in need of catching help, traded for Braves back-up backstop David Ross, sending Jo-Jo Reyes back to Atlanta

May
John Lannan pitched the first only no-hitter of the season on May 11, blanking the Reds 6-0. The Nationals hurler faced only one batter over the minimum and racked up six strikeouts...Not one, but two batters rapped out five hits on May 1, with Milwaukee's Corey Hart and San Francisco's Nate Schierholtz holding the hot bats...Felix Hernandez will miss three months with rotator cuff inflammation. King Felix got off to his usual type of start, compiling a 5-3 record despite a 3.60 ERA thanks to non-support from the anemic Mariners' offense...Carl Crawford's injury continues to plague him. It's now expected that the Red Sox outfielder won't return until early June...More bad news for the Red Sox, as Crawford's replacement, Ryan Sweeney, injured himself in the weight room and will miss a few days...Ben Revere strung together a 27-game hitting streak from April 14 to May 18. Bizarrely, it wasn't enough to keep him from being sent down to Rochester on May 20...As if it couldn't get worse for the Phillies, they lost Chase Utley to a sprained ankle on May 22. He'll be out for eight weeks...

Award winners: Evan Longoria (.364/11 HR/32 RBI) was AL batter of the month, while Lance Berkman (.340/8 HR/25 RBI) won the NL award. Stephen Strasburg (5-0/1.29 ERA/40 K) and Jeff Niemann (5-1/3.30 ERA/38 K) were pitchers of the month...

Notable transactions: Brandon League signed a 3-year, $19.5 million extension with the Mariners...Shane Victorino signed a 6-year, $90 million deal with the Phillies...Jim Leyland was fired by the Tigers on May 30 after a 25-26 start saw them fall 10 games behind the AL Central leading Indians

June
Jon Lester seemed to enjoy interleague play, as the Red Sox hurler struck out 16 Washington batters on June 10...Jayson Werth wasn't amongst Lester's victims, as he was serving a 10-game suspension for a fight with the Mets' Jonathon Niese on June 7...Notable milestones reached this month were Ichiro Suzuki (2500 hits) and Placido Polanco (2000 hits)...The Roy Oswalt era in Seattle isn't going great, with Oswalt pitching to a 4-8 record with a 6.13 ERA and 44 strikeouts in 79.1 innings, then going on the DL on June 10...A bad omen for the Astros' move to the AL West, as there was a bench-clearing brawl in their June 16 interleague game against the Rangers. Derek Holland (Texas) and Jimmy Paredes (Houston) each received 10-game bans...Fredi Gonzalez's overuse of Jonny Venters has apparently caught up with him, as Venters learned on June 18 that his sore shoulder will rule him out for four months, bringing a premature end to his 2012 season...In an announcement that surprised absolutely nobody, the Twins announced Joe Mauer would miss one-to-two weeks with a shoulder strain...

Award winners: Dee Gordon (.458/13 SB/19 R) was NL batter of the month, while Jason Kipnis (.342/10 HR/27 RBI) won the AL award. CC Sabathia (5-1/1.86 ERA/39 K) and Adam Wainwright (5-0/1.76 ERA/28 K) were pitchers of the month...

Notable transactions: Cincinnati traded Drew Stubbs and minor leaguer Gabriel Rosa to Texas for David Murphy...Texas traded Mitch Moreland to Oakland for Yoenis Cespedes...Philadelphia dealt Polanco to St. Louis for minor leaguer Matt Carpenter...Pittsburgh sold high on Erik Bedard, trading him to Arizona for Chase Anderson...Zack Greinke signed a 4-year, $58 million extension with Milwaukee...Barry Larkin's stint as a Baseball Tonight analyst was short-lived, as the Hall of Famer and Michigan alumnus was tapped to succeed Jim Leyland as the Tigers' skipper...The Mariano Rivera circus will last for at least one more season, as the 42-year-old signed an $11 million deal to play in 2013

For Part Two of the Season Recap, click here

Comments (1)

    Jason Kipnis has become my new favorite player ! Every year about this time I'm saying the Tribe will win the WS.This could come to be true !