2006 MLB As Played Replay Wrap Up

 March 20, 2022

  My 2006 replay is over. The Minnesota Twins (94-68) were crowned MLB Champions after defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers (97-65) in the World Series. Even though both teams had good regular season records, they were both the Wild Card winners in their respective leagues. So, the end result was a little surprising. Minnesota finished 2nd to my Detroit Tigers (96-66) by 2 games in the AL Central Division. The LA Dodgers finished 2nd to San Diego (103-59) in the NL West Division, 6 games behind.  

  While the replay was fun and enjoyable, I was disappointed with the ending to the season for my Detroit Tigers. My goal was to manage the Tigers to a World Series Championship. In real life, Detroit finished 2nd to Minnesota, but got to the World Series as the AL Wild Card winner before losing to the St. Louis Cardinals. In my replay, the Tigers won the AL Central title but lost to the Los Angeles Angels in the Divisional Playoffs. St. Louis didn't even make the playoffs.

 My Tigers battled Minnesota and the Chicago White Sox all season long in the AL Central but didn't clinch 1st place until the last day of the season. This made my replay very tense at times. As late as Sept. 20th, the Tigers weren't even a playoff eligible team. Minnesota and Chicago were ahead of them. Detroit was 8-2 the rest of the way while both Minnesota and Chicago went 5-5. That battle made the regular season very exciting right up to the end. 

  The New York Yankees (107-55) were far and away the best team in the AL. It was surprising when Minnesota eliminated them in the ALDS. In real life, the Yankees have had the Twins number. The San Diego Padres (103-59) and the New York Mets (99-63) were the top teams in the NL. Like the Yankees, it was surprising to see the Mets lose to the LA Dodgers in the NLDS. Both New York teams were defeated by Wild Card teams. But then, both those WC teams ended up in the World Series.

  In the AL there were 4 20 game winners. J. Santana (24-7), R. Halladay (22-8), K. Rogers (20-6), and R. Johnson (20-6). 2 players: D. Ortiz (55) and J. Thome (53) hit 50+ Homeruns. The NL saw 1 20 game winner: C. Carpenter (22-4). 4 players hit 50+ Homeruns: R. Howard (68), C. Beltran (57), A. Dunn (54), and A. Pujols (50). It should be noted that Howard also had 175 RBI, an incredible number. Final regular season league leaders can be seen here: 2006 SOM AsPlayed Replay: 2006 AL League Leaders  and here: 2006 SOM AsPlayed Replay: 2006 NL League Leaders 

  My Detroit Tigers were a lot of fun to manage in the replay. Many of the players overperformed their real life #'s. The AL Central was also the most competitive Division during the replay which helped make the whole 2006 replay interesting all the way through. My only disappointment was the fact that the Tigers didn't advance further than the ALDS.