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Sounds good, doesn't it? Well, it happened. The Phillies are the 2010 World Champs. I recently purchased a copy of Out of the Park Baseball (OOTP), a baseball simulation program. OOTP is a pretty cool program that simulates the entire major league baseball season from start to finish.
I thought it would be a neat thing to use the simulation and see how the Fightins did. I promised myself that I would report on the first simulation no matter how it turned out. Fortunately, it turned out pretty darn well.
In fact, this was the best season in Philadelphia Phillies history.
It was an awesome year from start to end. I sat and watched the simulation and it was pretty cool seeing how the whole thing played out.
It was a battle between the Phils and the Atlanta Braves in the NL East. The Phils had a decent start and battled for the top spot in April, finishing with a 13-9 record. Then they took off in May and had a big lead of 6 games in the NL East and the best record in baseball of 33-18 and .647 winning percentage.
By the middle of June they were 43-21 with a .672 winning percentage before hitting the skids and dropping 9 of their next 14 games. Meanwhile, the Braves were on fire and took over the lead in the East by a 1/2 game. The Phillies played slightly above .500 with a 31-24 record in June and July, allowing the Braves to take a 2 game lead over the Phils.
However, as is the case with most Charlie Manuel teams, the Phils finished strong. The Phillies would take over thanks to a torrid August in which they went 23-5 and pushed the Atlanta Braves deeper down in the standings. Increasing their lead to 4 games in September, the Phillies would hold on with a 13-12 September to take home another NL East crown, edging the Braves by 2 games.
The Phillies finished with 101 wins, which was the second best record behind the Yankees. Here were the final NL East standings and playoff teams:
Team | Record | Games Behind
Philadelphia Phillies | 101-61 | -
Atlanta Braves | 99-63
| 2
Florida Marlins | 77-85 | 24
New York Mets | 77-85 | 24
Washington Nationals | 72-90 | 29
NL Division Leaders:
St. Louis Cardinals | 92-70
Colorado Rockies | 89-73
AL Division Leaders:
New York Yankees | 103-59
Minnesota Twins | 86-76
Oakland Athletics | 92-70
Wild Card Teams:
Atlanta Braves | 99-63
Tampa Bay Rays |
99-63
The Phillies had another terrific post-season which was eerily similar to the last two years. They once again beat the Colorado Rockies in the first round and rolled over the Cardinals in the NLCS, then met the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series once again. This time needed seven games to take home the World Championship.
In the World Series, they took the first two games at home before losing the next two in St. Petersburg. They split games 5 and 6, then Joe Blanton got the win in game 7 and Ryan Madson saved it for the Phils.
National League Division Series
Defeated Colorado Rockies 3 - 1
National League Championship Series
Defeated St. Louis Cardinals 4 - 1
World Series
Defeated Tampa Bay Rays 4 - 3
It was a ridiculous year offensively. The Phillies finished 1st in every major offensive category in the National League:
1st in runs 861
1st in homers 209
1st in avg 275
1st in steals 160
The pitching wasn't too shabby, either. The combined staff ERA was 5th best at 3.96, starters ranked 3rd, and the bullpen ranked 8th.
Here are the individual offensive highlights:
Chase Utley
1st in runs - 117
2nd in OBS - .429
4th in hits - 179
5th in OPS - .960
5th in total bases - 311
Ryan Howard
2nd in HR - 41
2nd in RBI - 123
1st in total bases - 333
Jimmy Rollins:
2nd in hits - 195
2nd in stolen bases - 52
4th in total bases - 317
Shane Victorino: 3rd in stolen bases - 41
Placido Polanco: 5th in average - .310
And they had some notable pitching figures:
Cole Hamels:
3rd in innings - 225.1
3rd in strikeouts - 201
Roy Halladay:
4th in ERA - 2.91
4th in WHIP - 1.17
Joe Blanton: 2nd in wins - 17
Ryan Madson: 1st in saves - 45
Other notable awards:
Charlie Manuel wins Manager of the Year
Chase Utley awarded the Gold Glove
Major MLB awards:
Manager of the Year: Charlie Manuel (NL) and Joe Maddon (AL)
Rookie of the Year: Jason Heyward (NL) and Scott Sizemore (AL)
Cy Young: Francisco Cordero (NL) and Brett Anderson (AL)
Most Valuable Player: Albert Pujols (NL) and Kendry Morales (AL)
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