2019 MLB Tournament of Champions: Group Play Round 14

I'm working on playing catch up as we continue the 2019 MLB Tournament of Champions!

The games that will be simulated below took place between May 17th and 19th. I spent the 18th at Nationals Park in DC, went to Philadelphia for a game on the 19th, the followed that up with a trip to Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Monday the 20th. That was part of the reason why I'm working from behind here.

My hope is to get caught back up as soon as possible, especially with some travel plans in the works for this summer. But in the interim, we're nearing the halfway point, and we're really starting to see some separation. The 1966 Baltimore Orioles have taken over the overall lead with a 29-10 mark so far. At this stage, 20 wins seems to be a common cutoff point for the postseason, though there are some teams with more wins in a tougher group that would miss the cut, while other groups have teams with losing records that would advance. Obviously, with 51 games still on the docket, that can change.

All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's get to it!

2019 MLB Tournament of Champions: Group Play Round 13

I'm working hard to get us back on track as we begin Round 13 of the MLB Tournament of Champions!

Between a crazy week at work after Mother's Day, followed by a trip out east to hit three Major League ballparks I hadn't been to yet, followed up by yet another crazy couple days at work, I fell basically two full weeks behind. Tempting as it is to call it quits or just skip ahead to the elimination stage, I want to try and see this through.

It was also a crazy week in the tournament as teams are finishing up nine straight days of games in this round before a much-needed day off. This is especially true for the 1965 Dodgers and 2014 Giants who played a 21 inning marathon on Sunday. This was one where I did look at the box score, but I'm really not keeping track of things too much because it would be too much chaos, but I'm pretty sure Don Drysdale threw well over 100 pitches in relief and will now only get a day to recover for his next start. Fun times in what may be the craziest game in this tournament: not only was it the longest, but each team put up a 7 spot in the 18th inning. Baseball is weird.

You can view the full standings of every group, as well as the schedule, here. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's get to it!

2019 MLB Tournament of Champions: Group Play Round 12

Hope you all had a nice Mother's Day weekend! While celebrating with my family, the MLB Tournament of Champions rolled on through its 12th round! It's been a chaotic week at work, hence the major delay in getting this post up.

With the conclusion of this weekend's games, which you'll see below, we're now 40 percent of the way through the group stage. It's been a bit of a tough slog through this, but it's been worthwhile to get a good picture of the best of the best.

The 1927 Yankees continue to be the team I've got a close eye on with their 25-8 record up to this point, but they're now joined by the 1966 Baltimore Orioles, who sit at an identical record in a different group. We'll see if both can keep up the pace. Elsewhere, we have a group where the 20-13 1972 Oakland Athletics are in first place but have four teams, including our defending Champion of Champions in the 2016 Cubs just a game behind them. There's still a lot of baseball left to go, even after this weekend's slate.

You can view the full schedule as well as standings here. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's get to the games!

2019 MLB Tournament of Champions: Group Play Round 11

We're officially a third of the way through the group stage, and we're rolling along with the MLB Tournament of Champions!

Of the 128 teams in the field, 64 will advance beyond this 90 game slog to compete for the Championship of Champions. Already we're starting to see some separation to determine those 64. With 30 games in the books for every team, a dozen have already reached the 20 win plateau, paced by the '27 Yankees, who are 23-7 at this stage. The .500 mark is the rough cutoff for that 64 team field; as of right now, 17 wins is a lock, with one or two 16 win teams that wouldn't make it due to tiebreakers, while there are a few teams with 15 wins that would make it. You can view the full standings, as well as the schedule, here.

All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's play ball!

2019 MLB Tournament of Champions: Group Play Round 10

We're 30 percent of the way through, and chugging along with the 2019 MLB Tournament of Champions!

This series is part of my ever-ongoing quest to find the greatest teams in the history of sports. It's the second go-around for Major League Baseball, but this is my most ambitious endeavor since I started doing these tournaments. 128 teams is the craziest part of this, especially since it's baseball and thus we have sets of three game series.

So far in this tournament, it's the 1927 Yankees who seem to be the leaders in the clubhouse at this stage, but anything can happen in a couple months when we hit the elimination stage.

If you want to look at schedules and standings, you can do so here. I've been awful about adding in this part in recent posts, but all simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com, which has been instrumental in running all of these tournaments. If it weren't for the fact that it's taking so many games, I'd save every one of them so you could see all the box scores. Alas.

Let's get to it!

2019 MLB Tournament of Champions: Group Play Round 9

The calendar shifts from April to May, and the MLB Tournament of Champions is rolling on!

After this round of games, we will be 30 percent of the way through the tournament. I ended up jinxing our top overall team 21 games in, as the '27 Yankees saw their 15 game winning streak get snapped on Friday, though they followed that up with two more victories. At 19-5, Murderer's Row has the best record in the tournament, but there are 66 more regular season games still on the docket. At this stage, a winning record all but guarantees a postseason berth, as only one 13-11 team would miss the postseason based on group standings to this point. If you want to take a look at those or at the schedules, you can do so here.

So without further ado, let's play out the ninth round of this double round robin!