My Third Annual DC Baseball Tournament - Bigger, But Is It Better?

It's nice to get back to writing in this blog again after an I-don't-know-how-long hiatus (the days all run together now)...

For the past two years, I've done a baseball tournament featuring teams that played baseball in Washington D.C. either for the Major Leagues or the Negro Leagues. I use Strat-o-Matic's super advanced computer version to play the games,

My first tournament was a College World Series-type tourney featuring the 1924 Senators, 1941 Senators, 1960 Senators, 1969 Senators, 2012 Nationals, 2014 Nationals, 2016 Nationals and 2017 Nationals. I added Josh Gibson and Ray Brown to the 1941 Nats to help them be a little more competitive. 

It was a great experience, with lots of close games and 9th inning comebacks. The '24 Senators were especially dramatic, winning two games by walk-off and two others throwing out the tying run at the plate. Ultimately, the '24 Nats met the 1969 Senators, who had won the Loser's Bracket, in a best 2-of-3 final. The first game was a nail-biter, with the '24 Nats pulling it out with an 8th inning rally. They swept the series the next day with a blowout win. 

Last season, I got more ambitious. I created 4 divisions of 6 teams and played a round-robin, "6 Nations" (Rugby) format to determine two playoff teams from each division. I added Negro League teams - the 1931 Homestead Grays, the 1937 Homestead Grays, the 1937 Washington Elite Giants (they normally played in Baltimore, but played in DC that season) and the 1945 Homestead Grays. These were not actual teams, but "super teams" created by Strat-O-Matic using career stats.

For the most part, these teams dominated the tourney, but there were some Cinderella teams who made the playoffs (1941 Nats, 1960 Nats) or who almost made it (a team of alumni Senators I created from the 1972 season who nearly knocked the 2016 Nats out on the last day with a walk-off grand slam, but the split number came up "fly out" to end it).

The 1931 Grays and 1945 Grays met in a best-of-5 final, with the 31 Grays winning it all in 4 thrilling games. It was fun to "see" these old-time hall of famers perform.

This season, I've gotten even more ambitious. I have 24 teams, split into 2 divisions - the Harris Division to honor Bucky Harris, the manager of the World Champion 1924 Nationals and the Martinez Division to honor Dave Martinez, manager, 2019 World Champions, the Washington Nationals. 

Harris Division:

1912 Nationals

1924 Nationals

1953 Senators

1960 Senators

1962 Senators

1971 Senators

1972 Alumni Senators

2005 Nationals

2007 Nationals

2012 Nationals

2016 Nationals

2018 Nationals

Martinez Division:

1927 Nationals

1933 Nationals

1941 Nationals

1956 Senators

1967 Senators

1969 Senators

2008 Nationals

2010 Nationals

2011 Nationals

2014 Nationals

2017 Nationals

2019 Nationals

I'll cover what I'm doing and where the tournament stands in one of my next posts. Stay tuned.

And don't forget, you can read all about the 1969 Senators season in my book "A Whole New Ballgame, The 1969 Senators, 50th Anniversary Version, available on amazon or at pocolpress.com.

Thanks for reading.