90's Youth Life Podcast Special: The 1994 MLB Playoffs Simulation

I was a radio guy in college. So it's kind of a surprise that, other than a random podcast with a Nintendo forum something like ten years ago that who knows if it even still exists anywhere or not, I am a novice at the podcast game. Fortunately, I know people.

I've talked up the immortal Geoffrey Clark on here before. He's a classmate and friend from my North Central days, a blogger for Chicago Bulls Confidential, and he is also the host of the 90s Youth Life podcast. He's talked up a number of topics from when we grew up, including topics like the McDonald's Beanie Baby craze and the career of Ken Griffey, Jr. with another WONC alum we overlapped with.

So a couple weeks ago, I got a text from Geoff regarding my favorite tool on this blog, WhatIfSports. He'd been introduced to the tool through Confessions of a Sportscaster and was talking about how addicting it was. It was through that discussion that he brought up the lost postseason of 1994 due to the strike. One thing led to another and, well... I was a guest on a podcast.

In it we run through how the 1994 Major League Baseball postseason could have played out had the playoffs been the leaders in the standings when play stopped. After the jump I will post links to the box scores of the games, but if you want to keep the element of surprise... take a listen.

2018 NFL Tournament of Champions: Group Play Week 13

And so, it all comes down to this.

We are in the final week of Group Play in the 2018 NFL Tournament of Champions, and a lot is still up in the air. 16 of the 24 postseason berths have been locked up, with the entire Group D representation determined. Two group winners are locked in: the 1999 St. Louis Rams and 1996 Green Bay Packers. Three other first round byes, assuming the bracketing gets done the way I assume it will, have been locked in.

That leaves a lot of seeding still up for grabs. I figured we'd have some meaningless games in terms of playoff position, but there are fewer than I expected: just three games are between eliminated teams, meaning 21 games have significance for the August postseason.

Throughout the process I've kind of evolved the game time and thus weather determination process of going through these games. I started at the top of Group A and worked my way down for a few weeks early on before deciding that that took more time than it needed to, so I started sorting by cities hosting multiple games and getting through those first. Then I started trying to schedule "primetime" games in those multi-game cities with the better matchups. This week I really needed to get everything squared away early. In theory with a setup like this, you want to make sure that every team is giving their all, so I went through the games. We have 16 different cities hosting, with far fewer multi-site cities than has been the norm in this tournament. That made the scheduling easier except with San Francisco, which hosted four games this weekend. I worked through it all though so there's no overlap with games in the same city, and that all relevant games in a group are played at the same time for the sake of gamesmanship.

As has been the case for the entirety of group play to date, weather conditions from the cities where these games are being played at the times they're being played will be taken into account. Scores, schedules, and standings can be found here. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's set up a playoff field.

2018 NFL Tournament of Champions: Group Play Week 12

And now... I'm finally getting caught up on the NFL Tournament of Champions.

I fell behind due to a combination of travel, family emergencies, and workload, but with these games having been played this past weekend, we should be up to date once these games are in the books.

With every group having one bye each week, that means four teams have Week 13 byes and thus their schedules conclude this week. For a handful of these teams who have a bye coming up either this week or next, their place in the single elimination tournament coming in a couple weeks is cemented. In total, seven spots have been claimed to date, leaving 17 up for grabs and a bunch of games with playoff implications on the docket.

So as has been the case, weather conditions from the host cities will be taken into account. Schedules, scores, and standings can be found here. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's play.

2018 NFL Tournament of Champions: Group Play Week 11

I'm still playing catchup after another weekend away, but the NFL Tournament of Champions has continued to roll on!

Every team in the tournament has at least one loss after the '96 Packers got beat last week to reinforce my eternal hatred of the New York Football Giants. But the Packers are still the top team in the tournament to this point as the only one-loss team left. Tournament spots have yet to be claimed at this point, though six teams have been eliminated from contention with three weeks to go.

So as has been the case the first ten weeks, weather conditions from the July 14th-15th weekend will be taken into account. You can view schedules, scores, and standings here. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's get to it!

2018 NFL Tournament of Champions: Group Play Week 10

It's time to play some catchup with the NFL Tournament of Champions.

Week 10 of group play was scheduled for the weekend of July 7th and 8th. I was out of town at the time and was unable to run my simulations, figuring I might have time late last week to get those in. But a death in the family meant a flight to North Dakota last week, me not getting home until Thursday night, and having a chaotic day at work on Friday. As such, today is my first chance at working on this.

We entered the tenth week of play with no playoff spots clinched yet, but a few teams are close. Every team has won at least once, with the '96 Green Bay Packers standing as the lone remaining undefeated team. Personally, I hope that number stands.

So as with the first nine weeks, weather from the weekend of July 7th and 8th will be taken into account. Tournament information, including the schedule, scores, and standings can be found here. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's get caught up.

2018 NFL Tournament of Champions: Group Play Week 9

We're into the month of July and are nearing the end of group play in the NFL Tournament of Champions!

If you had asked me three or four months ago whether a project like this was going to be feasible this year, I would have told you no. But by some miracle, my simulator that I have poured a ton of manhours into came through in at least one sport: the NFL. Since I had an even number of teams I was able to birth a second NFL Tournament of Champions, and here we are with eight weeks in the books.

As we enter our ninth week of games, we have just one undefeated team remaining in the 1996 Green Bay Packers. And yet no one has clinched one of the 24 berths in the elimination round, not even these unbeaten Packers. They are close, needing just a win and one other game this week to go their way to lock up their bid. The only other team as far as I can tell that can clinch in this week's slate are the '95 Cowboys, who need a win and two other teams to lose to punch their ticket. More clinching scenarios will approach in the coming weeks.

I'd also like to note that I will be on vacation after the 4th of July holiday, so the Week 10 post will be delayed. With an anticipated heavy workload when I return, I'm not sure at what point I will get the post for those games up, but I hope to have it up before the weekend of the 14th and 15th.

As for this week's slate, weather conditions from the host cities will be taken into account. I haven't yet had to crank the temperature on my simulator up to its highest setting, but this week I might have to given how scorching hot it was. You can take a look at scores, standings, and the schedule here. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's get to it!