World Series of Arizona Diamondbacks: The first round beckons

With James churning out the daily simulations of the 2020 season, I figured it was probably wise to avoid doubling those up on you. So, the remainder of the tournament will unfold through the off-days on what would have been the regular schedule. With the preliminary round have been completed last week, the first of those shows up on Thursday, after the end of the simulated series against the San Francisco Giants, and will be the first game of the Sweet Sixteen. So we’ll get to see all of the top teams in action, beginning tomorrow with the #1 seeds, the 1999 Diamondbacks. They’ll be taking on the #16 seeds, the 2006 Diamondbacks.

A couple of points to note. Teams are not allowed to re-use pitchers. Even though more than five days have passed since the 2006 D-backs prevailed over the 2009 team, I’m treating this virtual tournament as if all the games in a round were being played on the same day. So, this means the 2006 team will need to go with someone other than Brandon Webb. This decision was taken, largely because I could otherwise envisage the woeful 2004 team riding Randy Johnson to overall victory, with the Big Unit going 5-0 over the course of the competition. This gives a better idea of the team’s overall starting pitching depth - or lack thereof, in the case of 2004!

We’ll see who they go with tomorrow. Line-ups and previews for the games in the first round will be coming to you courtesy of Jack, who has been selecting the starting nine for each side, based on his knowledge and the relevant stats. I’ll then be throwing those into the simulation engine, and writing up the results as I did for the preliminaries. Below, you can see the bracket so far, or for those on mobile, click here.