most overrated team

[fknmclane]

With the discussion on the AL All-Stars, I got to thinking.  Is there a more overrated team than these guys?

Think about it.  They've only got three players that can go deep at any time, McGwire, Bell and Canseco.  Donnie Baseball could arguably be part of that group but he's more of a gap hitter.

Besides those three guys, everyone else is a pretty easy out.  Molitor (I used to bat him leadoff) is a bitch, all he has going for him is above average speed.

Ripken is probably my least favorite player in the game.  His stats are mediocre at best for an All-Star, let alone the guy in the 5 hole.  He's the king of the soft liner and lazy fly ball.  I hate this fucker.

Baines (sorry Baines!) does nothing for me.  He has no opposite field power and only occassionally hits one out.

Brett, as we all know, should be a leftie.  The fact that the programmers fucked this up hurts this team a bunch.  But even if he did bat from the right side of the plate, I wouldn't be doing backflips over this guy.

Now the 8 hole.  Pick your poison with this group.  You got Schroeder (who the fuck IS this guy?) or Franco or Seitzer.  Not much to be happy about here.  I usually gotta go with Franco since he's still playing and he has decent speed in the game.

As for the pitching, it's solid, but again, not All-Star quality in my eyes.  Jimmy Key throws puss.  Chubbs and I routinely kill each other if the other guy is using Key.

Saberhagen is a favorite of many on this board if I'm not mistaken and I guess I won't argue too much.  Yeah, he's sidearm which is kinda nice.  But he doesn't throw hard enough and his sinker ball is awful.

The one guy I do like on the AL is Rags Righetti.  A leftie that throws hard with decent movement.  The perfect complement to the puss that comes from Key or Sabes.

Henke throws hard and is only effective when following up the previously mentioned puss throwers.

Shit, this is quite a long write-up, when my only point is that the AL All-Stars are the most overrated team in RBI Baseball.

What do you guys think?

[Mike D.]

I have always hated the AL All-Star team.  They are a bunch of crapsacks.

[Gantry]

I think that's a great analysis - the AL All-Stars aren't as good a straight pitch team as Detroit.  That's for sure...

The problem is that their bench outside of McGwire is absolutely horrible.  And their iffy guys like Baines and Brett are pretty much Evans and Gedman.  I agree, the AL team is overrated...

[ultimate7]

For curve, I think I'd have to go with Detroit, I don't think they did very well in the last COTUT.  Must be their pitching.

[fightonusc]

Detroit is a very hit or miss team playing curve -  you wind up with a lot of fly outs with them.

A lot of people seem to like playing with NY, and I don't get that at all. They're kind of a Minnesota, middle echelon team that you CAN win with, but you have to work at it. Yet, I know people who reach for the M-E-T-S Mets Mets Mets first.

[ultimate7]

They're kind of a Minnesota, middle echelon team that you CAN win with, but you have to work at it.

I really like Minn in curve, mostly because of Blyleven

[SmokedUBad13]

I, too, compare Minnesota to Detroit alot.  I agree with the hit or miss label that these two teams receive.  I've had days where I have crushed opponents with them and others when I couldn't buy a hit.

As for the COTUT, Detroit faired poorly.  Still not sure what exactly it was... guess I should review over the stats some more.

Beales

[fightonusc]

I would suspect that this has something to do with the contact ratings of each team - that is, teams that have better contact numbers are going to be more consistant, while teams with worse contact numbers but more power are going to be "hit or miss". I'd have to look at the team ratings to confirm this, though.

[JoeDirt]

I disagree with some of your review on the AL...this is probably only because I play curve and you play slurve, though.

For those interested in a curve opinion, here are the differences (compared to McLane's good review):

* Mattingly is a power threat, albeit slightly less than McGwire, Bell, and Canseco

* Key is DEFINITLY a better pitcher than Sabs.  Sabs sucks (lefty pitchers are generally valued higher than righties in curve--in my circle, anyway)

* Henke is a good RP, but Rags is very inconsistent (ironic, given the above statement)

Also, I'm guessing no matter how you play, McGwire has to be the lead off hitter.  You gotta bring it strong with McG, Mattingly, Bell, Canseco in a row...otherwise, it's easier to pitch around the line up.

  Just for you, GinaDavis

[fknmclane]

* Key is DEFINITLY a better pitcher than Sabs.  Sabs sucks (lefty pitchers are generally valued higher than righties in curve--in my circle, anyway)

We value lefties much more in slurve as well (not sure why, must just be a preference issue) but Key has always consistently killed me.  Not enough bite on that fastball I guess.

Thanks for the thumbs up review, guys.

[Gantry]

I would suspect that this has something to do with the contact ratings of each team - that is, teams that have better contact numbers are going to be more consistant, while teams with worse contact numbers but more power are going to be "hit or miss". I'd have to look at the team ratings to confirm this, though.

I have to disagree with this...  Now that we know what the contact ratings do, their impact is still small at best.  The power numbers and their disparity is much more important than the contact ratings.   Most of the low contact guys have low power numbers to begin with, which hurts them way more than their contact ratings helping them.  That reminds me - gotta put the contact explanation on the FAQ...

Edit - finally! http://dee-nee.com/rbi/faq.shtml#CONTACT