Texas Rangers: MLB The Show Predicts 2015

Our pals over at GameSided used the amazing MLB The Show video game to create a simulation for the 2015 Major League Baseball season.

As an avid baseball fan and The Show gamer –just like the author of this post– this idea is intriguing, entertaining and a whole lot of fun. It’s also…a video game. Stay tuned for reminders of that in the form of a Clayton Kershaw trade.

The “sim season” option has also befuddled me. I suppose it’s perhaps for those who want only to go quickly through the years and see how a roster would turn out, putting the “buy game to play game” days in the rear view mirror.

I mean, we all sim some games here or there, you’ll never finish in a timely manner with 162 games not counting the playoffs, Spring Training and all of the detailed roster management and player management that goes on in The Show’s Franchise mode (A brand new new year-to-year save feature helps this aspect immensely however).

So how did our Texas Rangers fare in this cyber season? For the complete simulation from GameSided, click here.

The Yu Darvish picture is already a bad start as the simulator used updated rosters, so the Rangers ace would be painfully absent in this go around. Directly from the article, here are the 2015 A.L. West sim standings.

A.L. West

2015 MLB Standings

Athletics 88-74
Astros 85-77
Mariners 81-81
Angels 75-87
Rangers 72-90

72 wins to 90 losses, ouch. I suppose it’s a possibility, but that’s steep. Granted without Darvish the Rangers aren’t a very well built video game team with a powerless shortstop, inconsistent outfield, no catcher and a bad pitching rotation as well as a fragile bullpen. But 72 losses, ouch again.

The big surprise, without driving too far off course, is the 3-4 spot. Most expect the Seattle Mariners to not only win the West but perhaps the pennant, with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim not far behind.

Instead, Oakland’s new look and the Astros continued rebuild take the top two spots as the only teams finishing above .500.

The starting pitching staff compiled a 3.90 ERA and Neftali Feliz blew eight saves, Shawn Tolleson five. Yovani Gallardo and Derek Holland couldn’t anchor the rotation, so if Juan Gonzalez and Rafael Palmeiro aren’t walking through that door then perhaps 72-90 starts making a bit more sense.

Before being dealt from Toronto to Cincinnati, Jose Bautista ended up a Ranger (as he did in my MLB 14 The Show World Series Rangers team!) and so did Wilson Ramos via Washington.

Joey Bats had 42 home runs and 124 RBI on an astounding 180 hits.

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Prince Fielder had that realistically sought after bounce back season. He, Adrian Beltre, Shin-Soo Choo, Ramos and Bautista all ended up with 20 home runs or more.

Unfortunately, even with Elvis Andrus and Leonys Martin supposedly spearheading the lineup (specifics were not provided, perhaps Elvis or Leonys or both was sent away in a deal) Texas stole a putrid 34 bases.

That’s bad. 203 home runs is good. Man this all sounds familiar.

I suppose Gonzo and Rafy could have been walking through that door. In 1999, Palmeiro had 47 home runs, Juan Gone had 39, Pudge Rodriguez had 35, Lee Stevens, Todd Zeile and Rusty Greer also eclipsed the 20 mark as the team pounded a ridiculous 230 home runs.

Still, in this simulation, power itself could not do much for Texas and a below average whole product, most crucially the pitching, planted the Rangers in last place at 72-90.

Only the San Francisco Giants (65-97), Minnesota Twins (68-94), Cincy Reds (68-94) and Pittsburgh Pirates (69-93) finished worst. The only record in there I could even see remotely being real-life accurate is the Twins. The others are simply perposterous, but hey, that’s why we love and hate video games all in the same sentence.

Then again, take this all with a very light, almost non existent grain of salt, because simulation Dodgers traded simulation Clayton Kershaw to the simulation Colorado Rockies.

Next: Why Fielder Needed the Win

A.L. West

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