Labor Day 2012 Power Rankings

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Astros
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Name: Ty Bradley

Labor Day 2012 Power Rankings

Post by Astros »

Courtesty of myself and Pat G.

1. Pirates---Paperboy

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Once again JP appears to be the team to beat come October. Last year he stranded the tying run on 3rd in Game 7 of the World Series in yet another agonizing playoff defeat. This year, he has changed gears and gone heavy offense while still having good pitching, and it will only get better next year once guys like Craig get the bumps due to them in their projections. He's due to deliver at some point on his threats to win it all. Speaking of which, delivery is the whole point of Paperboy, which came out in 1984! Every day you deliver the paper to your subscribers, vandalize the house of your non-subscribers, which seems like a terrible way to gain business, and try to not get knocked off your bike by tornadoes, the Grim Reaper or a lady in a nightgown. I'd venture to say we've all played Paperboy at one point or another, and it remains fun to this day. Things won't remain fun if JP falls short again, because he's on the edge of turning into a super villain to achieve his goal

2. Yankees- Tecmo Super Bowl

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Back to back champions. Best record in the American League. Voodoo dolls. Unstoppable? JB thinks so, and well, it is hard to argue there is a better team out there. The only silver lining is that a lot of the team is old, and maybe injuries could knock him out at some point. Then he'll trade 3 magic beans for Kershaw, Mike Trout and Kimbrel and it won't matter. Tecmo Super Bowl is perhaps the greatest sports video game of all time. Bo Jackson is by far the most dominant video game athlete of all time. Despite being over 20 years old, this game still has a massive following and influenced every football game that came after it. It is hard to top the best, and that is what JB still is, just like Tecmo Super Bowl

3. DBacks---Mike Tyson's Punch Out!

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While Jagger is no underdog like Little Mac, getting an IBC World Series ring is a bit like this beloved Nintendo game. Sure, he’s faced the Glass Joes and Von Kaisers of the league (Bren and Aaron), but as the season goes on, Jagger’s going to have to ramp it up to figure out tougher opponents like Mr. Sandman and Super Macho Man. Like Punch Out, Jagger’s team has quite the punch to get it done. It will depend on the mercy of the sim as to whether he can go all the way.

4. Rangers---The Legend of Zelda

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The Legend of Zelda is definitely in the conversation of best NES games and Brett’s Rangers certainly have a chance to be in the same conversation in the IBC. He’s got power in Fielder, Cabrera, Ramirez and pitching in Beckett, Shields, Ogando and others. The question in Zelda is, Can you find your way through the woods? In Zelda, it takes up, left, down, left to get out of the Lost Woods. Can Brett get through JB for a chance at his second IBC World Series? He’s got the goods, but he needs some rupees and hearts to grind it out.

5. Red Sox---Dr. Mario

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Dr. Mario is very similar to Tetris and the Red Sox and Blue Jays are very similar in record. They are neck-and-neck in the AL East and most certainly will be facing off in a one-game wild card game in about a month if neither catches JB for the division title. Dr. Mario and Tetris both are about figuring out the puzzle, which Patrick has been able to do with the Red Sox. He’s got a solid offense, with Zimmerman, Bruce, Belt, Victorino, Werth and Uggla. Despite injuries to his pitching staff, led by Price, he’s been able to put together a solid season and has his sights on disrupting the others in the American League to make his way to the IBC World Series.

6. Blue Jays---Tetris

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Tetris is probably the best puzzle game you can play. It starts off easy, but by Level 8, the pieces are coming fast and furious and your eyes are bleeding. Trying to figure out how Pat’s Blue Jays keep winnings makes one’s eyes bleed. No matter how many times you look at the roster, you still can’t figure out how a team with one significant hitter and five lefty starters is winning as much as he is. I mean, who gets Dan Johnson to put together respectable numbers as a 3b through August and have Paul Maholm, Mike Minor and Jeff Francis with sub-4 ERAs in the AL East? You just have to chalk it up to the damn Russians and call it a day.

7. Nationals---Blades of Steel

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Easily the best part of Blades of Steel, and any hockey game or hockey in general is fighting. You purposely jab at a guy so you can trounce him in the corner of the rink. Z has been jabbing and clawing his way all season and now is atop the NL East. As the valedictorian of the JB School of Having Old Guys Lead Your IBC Team, Zalaski is using talented, injury prone veterans plus a handful of guys who were born when these games were popular. So far, he’s had success, but injuries to Beltran, Youkilis, Howard and Dickey could send him to the ice.

8. Marlins---Super Mario Brothers

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As with this classic NES offering, Dan’s Marlins have essentially been led by two guys: Verlander and Kinsler. Tulowitzki has been out for most of the year, same with Crawford and a few others he has relied on haven’t been as good as advertised. Lucky for Dan, he’s been able to lead the N.L. East for most of the season on the backs of these two guys. But now Z has crept into the picture and the two will battle it out for the division and the newly dreaded wild card spot. Dan’s going to need some help out of core players to overcome the injuries that have caused him to stumble.

9. Tigers---Battletoads

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We like to toot our own horn a bit here in the IBC, about how difficult the league is, the quality of GMs and how when we bring someone in, they need to be patient because it takes a while to win. Then Pat comes in with his olive oil voice and his guinea charm, participates in a crappy minidraft and is winning the AL Central in September after being gone for six years. Thank goodness he did, if he's this good, imagine what roster cohesiveness would've done. Battletoads is considered, perhaps the single hardest video game of all time. That being said, it is still a blast, even if it is quite a challenge. We thought the IBC would be more of a challenge to Pat, but rest assured, the difficultly goes up in October.

10. White Sox---Contra

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Just like when you’re Bill "Mad Dog" Rizer and Lance "Scorpion" Bean trying to take down the evil Red Falcon Organization in Contra, Jim has been in a battle all year. Major injuries to Dan Hudson, Jeff Niemann, Drew Storen and Carlos Quentin put him in a hole early on, but he has battled on, remaining in the hunt in the tight AL Central. Without many major upgrades, like the spray gun or barrier, Jim may end up making a surprise run to take the AL Central title from the division leader Tigers. Anything can happen in sim baseball.

11. Dodgers----WWF Wrestlemania

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Shawn is currently sitting in one of the NL Wildcard spots. His team was viewed as a dark horse this year and he has lived up to expectations so far. Now Bautista is out for the rest of the year and the question is where will the offense come from? Shawn better start Hulking Up if he wants to be a threat in October. No amount of Hulking Up could make WWF Wrestlemania a good game though. You could be one of six wrestlers. Six! Hogan, Macho Man, Andre the Giant, Honky Tonk Man, Ted DiBiase and Bam Bam Bigelow (who was out of the WWF a few months after the game was released and only every pushed at the initial Survivor Series). Needless to say this game had no depth and wasn't very fun. Shawn's depth is being tested now, and if he wants to have fun he better say his prayers and take his vitamins.

12. A's---Megaman
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Tip your hat to Jake, he hung around in contention longer than he had any right to, and it looked for a while like he might steal the AL West. The A's are a solid, but not spectacular team, that has a pretty good farm system. Whether they'll ever be able to take out the Rangers remains to be see, but sooner or later Toronto has to fall off and one of the Wild Cards will be available. Jake can always find his sim wizards to get him in the playoffs otherwise, since his evil genius turns Mark DiFilece into a Cy Young winner. Megaman is also about an evil genius that turns robots made for good into evil to try and take over the world. Only Megaman, the only robot that wasn't turned evil, can stop him. Megaman is considered one of the greatest NES games of all time, is very difficult, and spawned countless sequels. The A's sim fluke sequels seem to have run out of steam, so I guess he'll have to go legit now to make the playoffs.

13. Astros---Baseball Stars
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Despite taking over a roster worse than anything Dave Taylor could've left behind, Nate is somehow within striking distance of winning one of the Wild Cards. Nate realizes this is most likely a fluke, and while he's tried to win this year, he's also made some moves for the future. The future is where Nate needs to look, as the AL West has upward mobility once the Astros move next year. Once upon a time Nate was a powerhouse, now he has avoided the outhouse, and with a little luck could see October. Baseball Stars is considered by some to be the greatest baseball video game of all time, it had memory and could save stats, wins, losses, way ahead of its time. I still play it on the NES I keep at my grandparents house and it is as fun today as any baseball game available. The American Dreams are without a doubt the greatest team in baseball history. Nate's Reds resembled the American Dreams. His current squad is more like the Ghastly Monsters, but as well all know, October is a time for spooks (that's not me being racist).

14. Indians---RC: Pro-Am
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RC Pro Am probably gave birth to the modern-day racing games for Playstation and Xbox. It was the first game where you could race and earn tune-ups for your car. You had to finish in the top 3 to move on to the next race and you could tune-up your race car to get ready for the better competition. Kelly, at the beginning of the season, was like one of those crappy, banged up derby cars. It was rough-looking, but his farm system was stout. Impatient, Kelly dumped all those prospects into his banged-up car. He got better tires here, better exhaust there and then a new paint job. With the monster deal with Nils, he got a brand new (well, actually, kinda old) engine. He’s been racing toward the AL Central title since and sits on the cusp with a month to go.

15. Braves---Double Dragon
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Double Dragon is a very popular game, as it was originally released in 1987 and had many sequels and spinoffs. Like Brandon’s Braves, he has many popular star players, such as Pedroia, Garza, Jesus Montero, Markakis, Kubel, Morrison and Chris Sale. But, like the stars of Double Dragon, two brothers who are fighting to save the same woman, it didn’t really work out well. Brandon had key injuries to his starters and didn’t have the depth to make it through. He kinda got his ass kicked. He’s now stocked up on some draft picks and has a solid 1-3 in the rotation with Sale, Garza and Richard plus his returning hitters to maybe start over fresh next year. He will now try to karate kick his way back into contention in 2013.

16. Mets---American Gladiators
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Was there a better time spent on a Saturday afternoon in the 1980s and 1990s than watching scrawny people get crushed by steroid-fueled behemoths? We could be talking about baseball or American Gladiators. Let’s imagine we’re talking about American Gladiators. But the NES form wasn’t very good. You have to give the developers back in the NES days credit. They tried very hard to pump out games. And there were a ton. Some were good, many fell short. This is a great example of one falling short. John’s Mets fell short, as well. He pulled off the Josh Johnson blockbuster deal to start the season and Johnson came through. He has stayed healthy all year and gave him a great sim season and respectable MLB season. But, much of the rest of his roster fell short. As with American Gladiators for NES, it didn’t come through. Adding to John’s frustration is it’s not like the real-life Mets accomplished anything, either. There’s always the Jets. Oh, wait.

17. Reds---Spy Hunter
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Ken has had an up-and-down season. He started off dealing away many of his main players to get younger. Then he dealt for some guys to help him this year. In the end, he was on the brink of being in contention for a wild card in the weeks leading up to the trade deadline and ended up refocusing on next season and beyond. Now, Ken has the opportunity to be like the player in this obscure 1993 NES game. As Spy Hunter, it’s your job to destroy as many cars or force them off the road as possible. Ken can now try to disrupt the division and wild card races at the end of the season by taking out as many teams as possible.

18. Twins---Iron Sword II: Wizards and Warriors
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These days are hard times in the Twin Cities, as Andrew currently is fighting for last place in the Central. The halcyon days of division titles are long gone. The rebuilding has been hurt by injuries or regression from top prospects like Teheran and Montgomery. You wonder why guys like Michael Young are still on the roster and weren't flipped at the deadline for picks or prospects. It will take an epic journey for Andrew to get back to the top. In Iron Sword: Wizards and Warriors II, you travel the land of Sindarin looking for an evil wizard. I'll be 100% honest, I gave Andrew this one because this is the game that has Fabio on the cover with a giant sword.

19. Cubs---Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
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This was a solid cartoon series that followed four ninja-turtles and their rat leader Splinter through the sewers of New York, fighting off the evil Shredder and his henchmen. The NES game proved to be pretty solid, too, as the turtles had to either save their reporter friend April O’Neil, a kidnaped Splinter or to save the city. Gabe’s season has kind of been like the turtles: a little goofy, sometimes unfocused, but all in all an OK offering. Gabe won’t be making the playoffs, but he has a few pieces to get him ready for next year. He’s got two top-tier starters and he stocked up on some other arms. He’s got Cespedes and Andrus, but has some work to do to get a better offense for 2013.

20. Giants---Jackal
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It only took a decade, but it appears a new power has emerged in the NL West. Nils will finish with a losing record and in 3rd place in the NL West this year. Do not weep for Nils though, since he has 3 first rounders, some top prospects and a decent squad already in place. Nils rarely loses trades, or rarely loses for that matter. This year is probably an anomaly and it'll be a matter of time before he returns to contention. In Jackal, you're a jeep that goes around liberating POWs and blowing up enemy tanks and other weapons. Jackal came out in 1988 and is a rather famous game, though under appreciated by some. Nils was never under appreciated, but can all breathe a sigh of relief as he feels the misfortune all of us except JB and Pat Bishop have felt at some point.

21. Royals---Bible Adventures
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This is Jason's 5th year in the IBC, and in two of those years he has just missed the playoffs by a couple of games. The other years he has been bad. With an older roster, he decided to go the rebuilding route and dealt away many of his veterans. Now in the cellar after being in Wild Card contention earlier in the year, it won't take the patience of Job to rebuild in a weak AL Central. For those of you that don't know, Jason is a preacher, which is why we've given him Bible Adventures, a game in which you gather animals for Noah's Ark, do something with Baby Moses (I assume dodge stuff while you float down the Nile?) and play David against Goliath. I only ever played the Noah's Ark stage, the game itself wasn't very fun. It won't be fun rebuilding, but maybe a miracle of the highest order will restore Jason to the top next year, after all he'll be due for a good year.

22. Angels---Rygar
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Rygar is an NES game based on a dead warrior who comes back to life to stop an evil guy from doing something bad to the world. It has a catchy tune as your dead warrior leaps over monsters and things that come out of the ground and kills them with his weapon. The Angels are like this because they sit out there in the AL West kind of in obscurity. Not many people have probably heard of Rygar, but it’s still a good game. The Angels aren’t making much noise now, but with Bundy, Cole, Tallion, Aaron Sanchez, Cowart and others coming up, they are going to start making noise in a few years. Like if you saw a dead warrior coming back to life killing things that were coming out of the ground. You’d notice.

23. Brewers--Black Bass
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The Brewers have regressed this year. The makings of a strong rotation, with Strasburg and Cueto at the top, are in place. Problem is Matt Carpenter and Martin Prado are the best offensive players. Ben has 4 picks in the first 2 rounds, so hopefully he can draft well. The continual rebuild continues. Black Bass is a fishing game, and you try to catch as many fish as you can between sunrise and sunset on a lake by moving your lure around. That's really all there is to the game. I wouldn't call it a keeper, and neither are the Brewers, so throw them back if you catch them

24. Rays---Jordan vs Bird
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Jordan vs. Bird was one of those games that was frustrating because there’s no way in hell Larry Bird could compete with Jordan in the slam dunk contest, but you still had to try. And even with Jordan, it was friggin impossible to get anything above 7 from the judges. Martin’s team has been equally frustrating. He had a team that looked primed to compete this year, but injuries killed him. He dealt for Madson a few days before he went down for the year. Ellsbury, Santos and Votto were major blows. And now he’s had some down years from Romero, the aforementioned injured players and Sterioded Melky Cabrera to deal with going into next year.

25. Mariners---Duck Hunt
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It was as recently as 2010 that the Mariners were in the playoffs, now they're in last place in the AL West. With two potentially Top 7 picks in this years draft, Ropers has a chance to get everything going the right way and reverse this trend. The roster is a mix of vets and younger guys, so full blown rebuilding hasn't happened yet, which may explain why the M's are a bit of a joke this season. Duck Hunt came with Super Mario Brothers. Since the orange gun came with the Nintendo, it was something to do when you got tired of Mario if you didn't get another game when you got your console. In the end, you just wanted to shoot the dog that laughed at you when you missed. Ropers may have people laughing at him now, but with a good draft this year and dealing off some of these vets for near ready prospects, he'll have the last laugh.

26. Phillies---1942
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Nick is currently in a race for the 3rd pick in this years draft, competing for the second worst record in the NL. The rebuilding project started after 2010 is going along nicely, but taking your lumps comes with the territory. The farm is pretty stacked and Nick has set himself up as a contender in the very near future, especially if he hits a home run with this draft. It may seem like 1942 when Nick won the title, but it was only 2002. 1942 is a World War II airplane shooter game where you try and reach Tokyo to destroy the Japanese air fleet. The game is super hard, and was Capcom's first breakthrough arcade hit (remember arcades? we're old). 1942 has been rereleased on a number of platforms over the years and is still entertaining to play. Nick can only hope the rebuild results in the same longevity.

27. Rockies---Track and Field
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Jake has made some bizarre trades this year and it has landed him squarely in the bottom of the league. He dealt some young guys for Nelson Cruz, dealt Trumbo and Lavarnway for Craig then flipped Craig and Greinke for Lincecum and LaHair at his peak. He later dealt Cruz and Haren to get Adrian Gonzalez and then dealt Gonzalez at the deadline to get Adam Jones and David Freese. He is left with a few good hitters, a shaky Lincecum and not much behind him and he hasn’t done much throughout the year to improve his farm system. But, he has several high draft picks and may hope to rebound through a strong draft. What does have to do with Track & Field? It was a great game with the Power Pad. Without, it sucked. Jake’s Rockies are like the Power Pad-less Track & Field.

28. Cardinals---Gun.Smoke
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Year 1 of the rebuild hasn't gone as well as hoped, as somehow the Cardinals are winning far more games than they should with a terrible roster, having a winning record against JP and now fighting for the #2 pick but currently around pick 4 or 5. The farm is stocked well, with high ceiling pitchers and hitters moving ever closer to Busch Stadium. One more bad year and the Cards should be in the mix for a Wild Card. Gun Smoke has nothing at all to do with the TV show Gunsmoke, which I just learned from the Wikipedia entry on it. The precursor to Red Dead Redemption, Gun Smoke was a scrolling shooter where you have to take out the Wingate outlaw gang and save the town of Hicksville (the creators sure used their imagination here). Gun Smoke was fun, but had limitations, like all NES games. But it was important in that it paved the way for one of the best games of the last 10 years. The Cards were one of the best teams for the first 10 years of the IBC, and hopefully will regain past glory soon

29. Orioles---Renegade
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Steve's once again at the bottom of the AL East. This year though, he can see the team above him and if a miracle happens, could finish not last! Steve has a solid foundation in place for the future, and a high draft pick again. All he needs is time to fight his way to the top, which will be difficult. Renegade is one of the more influential games of all time but is super hard to beat. You play a vigilante that is fighting street gangs to save your girlfriend. Renegade inspired Double Dragon. But fighting the same enemies constantly, when they have weapons and you don't, can get tiring and make you grab another cartridge to have an easier time of it. Steve doesn't have that option, and has a long fight with few weapons ahead of him.

30. Padres---Home Alone
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Bren is by far the worst team in the league, and his "getting bored" with the AL East has corresponded with getting his ass kicked in the NL West. What he does have is an army of prospects ready to go and should be considerably better next year. Maybe even good enough to not finish last. That's the high point though, aim for the middle Bren. Home Alone, while being a great movie, was an awful video game. You had to evade Harry and Marv for 20 minutes, hiding in closets or setting up traps. That's it. If you succeeded, congratulations, you just spent a bunch of money on a game you beat in 20 minutes. The real robbers here were not the Wet Bandits, but THQ for making such a shitty game.
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Nationals
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Name: Ian Schnaufer

Post by Nationals »

This was absolutely clutch. Well-done boys. And yes, there will be an epic journey coming in 2013.

"I'll be 100% honest, I gave Andrew this one because this is the game that has Fabio on the cover with a giant sword."
Oh and thanks. I think.
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Tigers
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Name: Ben L. Montgomery

Post by Tigers »

Great, job guys! Duck Hunt! I had that game.....

Hey, I'm in partial rebuild, but getting closer.....as an individual once said, "Don't ever go full re-tar......uhmmmmm, Rebuild"
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Athletics
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Location: San Diego, CA
Name: Stephen d'Esterhazy

Post by Athletics »

Great job, I had to look up Rygar, seems like an interesting game. But if my team is representative of a zombie warrior coming back to life to destroy all bosses standing in my way (JB, JP, Jag, and Brett), then bring it on in a couple of years.
"My shit doesn't work in the playoffs. My job is to get us to the playoffs. What happens after that is fucking luck."

LAA 11 - 15 331W - 479L
LAA 16 - 20 477W - 333L 17-20 ALW
OAK 21 - 22 214W - 110L 21-22 ALW
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Guardians
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Name: Pat Gillespie

Post by Guardians »

Angels wrote:Great job, I had to look up Rygar, seems like an interesting game. But if my team is representative of a zombie warrior coming back to life to destroy all bosses standing in my way (JB, JP, Jag, and Brett), then bring it on in a couple of years.
Um, how come "Pat G." isn't in that list of bosses? I wrote up that power ranking capsule...I can make you "A Boy and his Blob Trouble on Blobolonia" if you keep it up.
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Athletics
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Name: Stephen d'Esterhazy

Post by Athletics »

Tigers wrote:
Angels wrote:Great job, I had to look up Rygar, seems like an interesting game. But if my team is representative of a zombie warrior coming back to life to destroy all bosses standing in my way (JB, JP, Jag, Brett and the Pats), then bring it on in a couple of years.
Um, how come "Pat G." isn't in that list of bosses? I wrote up that power ranking capsule...I can make you "A Boy and his Blob Trouble on Blobolonia" if you keep it up.
Let me revise that then. It was hard to tie in the game's story line of the warrior going to meet 5 bosses to get the equipment to beat the final boss.

Ultimately I would have to go through Brett in my own Division, One of the Pats for the W/C, potentially you in the playoffs and JB for the crown of the AL, leaving either JP or Jag in the NL as the final boss.
"My shit doesn't work in the playoffs. My job is to get us to the playoffs. What happens after that is fucking luck."

LAA 11 - 15 331W - 479L
LAA 16 - 20 477W - 333L 17-20 ALW
OAK 21 - 22 214W - 110L 21-22 ALW
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Twins
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Name: Andrew Howard, Owner emeritus. Jason Gudim, GM

Post by Twins »

Great job, guys. This is probably the best power rankings since I joined the IBC.
2010 KC 83-79
2011 KC 94-68
2012 KC 83-79
2013 KC 90-72; AL Central Champs
2014 KC 84-78
2015 KC 103-59; AL Central Champs
2016 KC 97-65; Lost WC Game to BAL
2017 MIN 80-82
2018 MIN 84-78
2019 MIN 80-82

Overall IBC Record 1040-903
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Athletics
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Name: Stephen d'Esterhazy

Post by Athletics »

Royals wrote:Great job, guys. This is probably the best power rankings since I joined the IBC.
What...you don't like the hot chicks...and are those fighting words for JP?
"My shit doesn't work in the playoffs. My job is to get us to the playoffs. What happens after that is fucking luck."

LAA 11 - 15 331W - 479L
LAA 16 - 20 477W - 333L 17-20 ALW
OAK 21 - 22 214W - 110L 21-22 ALW
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