One Sheep's Rampage Through the Record Book
Apr 22, 2022 23:37:00 GMT -5
Rich - Former GM, Tim_GiantsGM, and 4 more like this
Post by Ryan_NatsGM on Apr 22, 2022 23:37:00 GMT -5
I could do a full team season preview, but I'm not sure there's much point. Washington could sneak into the wild card with 85 wins or run away from everyone with 111. It doesn't matter, we're still losing in the NLDS. So to cover something with a little more suspense, let's focus on Raymond "Sheep" Page and his quest for 4,000 hits and other assorted milestones.
4,000 hits has never been achieved in PBL history. Roberto Vasti was probably the best hitter the PBL has ever seen. Other than Page he also has the most games played, at bats, and plate appearances. He still finished two hits shy at 3,998. To get to 4,000 you have to be really good for a really long time.
Well, Page was (and is) really good. 2 MVPs, 10 All-Star games, and a career WAR of about 109 are evidence of that. And he's been good for a really long time. He's played in 3,772 games in his career spanning four decades. If you played 24 seasons (like Page has so far) and averaged 157 games a year, you'd have only played 3,768. He made his first appearance on the injury report in 2041 with back spasms and was day-to-day for two days. He decided he didn't like that, and has never been injured since. Over the last seven seasons (aged 39-45) he's only missed nine games, all due to suspension. And he hasn't just been padding his counting stats this whole time. Dude put up 5.8 WAR in 2060 at age 43.
Page is 46 now, and while age is finally catching up with him he's still a viable PBL hitter. He's 118 hits away from 4,000, which is very doable if given another full season to work with. Whether or not I should give him a full season in the lineup with my roster is debatable, but since we're destined for an NLDS loss anyway I might as well let him go for it. He's also just nine BBs away from Vasti's walk record (with Carl Holmes lurking nine back of Page), and he has an outside shot of getting six triples to tie the PBL record for those too. 2,500 runs and RBIs are also in sight. I'll try to update this thread (or more likely Slack) with Page's achievements, but between these and Duane Hansen's pursuit of 1,000 HRs, it's going to be a big year for PBL historians.