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Washington Nationals: Introducing the Ultimate Nationals Simulation

By Ross Shinberg

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 07: Bryce Harper #34, Ryan Zimmerman #11, and Jayson Werth #28 of the Washington Nationals stand during the national anthem before the start of the Nationals home opener against the Miami Marlins at Nationals Park on April 7, 2016 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 07: Bryce Harper #34, Ryan Zimmerman #11, and Jayson Werth #28 of the Washington Nationals stand during the national anthem before the start of the Nationals home opener against the Miami Marlins at Nationals Park on April 7, 2016 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /
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In this week-long series, Washington Nationals teams throughout the years are put to the test in a battle for D.C. supremacy. Here’s how our simulation will work.

Have you ever thought to yourself “I wonder if the 2016 Washington Nationals could beat the 2012 Nationals?” What about “How would 2015 Bryce Harper fare against 2016 Max Scherzer?”

Well, whether you have or you haven’t, fear no more. District on Deck has you covered in our first ever Nationals simulation. Through the wonders of Out Of The Park Baseball 19, we can perform a simulation that will pit Nats teams of years past against each other.

But then we wondered, why should we stop at two teams? Therefore, a tournament concept was born. So here’s a brief introduction to the rules and regulations of the whole simulation.

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Over this week, we will be releasing one article per day detailing the ins and outs of our tournament. Such pieces will involve breaking down the teams, reporting on the results of each round of the tournament, and reflecting on the competition as well as handing out awards.

This tournament is single elimination with teams organized by seeds. The seeding order was determined by the number of wins in each teams’ respective real-life season.

To ensure we capture all of Nationals history, we selected four “Old School” teams from 2005-2011 and four “New School” teams from 2012-2018. The seeding goes as follows:

  1. 2012 Nationals, 98 wins
  2. 2017 Nationals, 97 wins
  3. 2014 Nationals, 96 wins
  4. 2016 Nationals, 95 wins
  5. 2005 Nationals, 82 wins
  6. 2011 Nationals, 80 wins
  7. 2007 Nationals, 73 wins
  8. 2006 Nationals, 71 wins

The tournament itself works just like it does in the NBA: Seeds one, eight, four, and five are in the top half of the bracket while seeds two, seven, three, and six are in the bottom half. All series are a best of seven and home-field advantage will rotate as it does in the MLB (2/3/2).

Additionally, because it’s a computer simulation, we can mess around with different settings. Here are some notable ones that affect the teams and the gameplay.

Rosters are set at the end of season rosters. For example, the 2017 Nats acquired Sean Doolittle, Ryan Madson, and Brandon Kintzler at the trade deadline. This allows them to play for the 2017 team.

The “Game Era” is set for the 2012 season. This setting affects things like home run rate and strikeout rate. 2012 is a happy medium so that the teams at the extreme ends of our time range (2005 and 2017) aren’t penalized/benefited too significantly for the era they played in.

Other miscellaneous settings include no designated hitter, a team’s active roster is 25, and injuries are turned off.

There will be one story per day on the tournament for the next six days. Before we get into the games, we need to introduce the teams. Over the next two days, you will find our posts breaking down the “Old School” and “New School” squads.

Next. Ultimate Simulation: Meeting the Old School Nationals. dark

Be sure to come back each day and discover which Nationals team reigns supreme!

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