The 2112 WBA Cup

[Huckleberry]

April 7, 2111

Preparations got underway today for the 2112 WBA Cup. Due to their victory in the inaugural 2108 WBA Cup, The United States will once again host the tournament next year. Nations were assigned to various pots based on previous performance and current professional players. Group winners were placed in Pot 1, group runners-up were placed in Pot 2. Only group winners and runners-up had their places guaranteed for the 2112 edition, other spots were based on how many active professional players each nation had as of today.

Pot 1 - 2108 WBA Cup Group Winners

Brazil
China
Mexico
The United States

Pot 2 - 2108 WBA Cup Group Runners-Up

Canada
Colombia
Dominican Republic
India

Pot 3 - Remaining nations with the highest number of active players

Japan
Argentina
France
Pakistan

Pot 4 - Remaining nations with the highest number of active players with changes made as necessary to ensure 8 ABL region teams and 8 IBL region teams

England
Germany
South Korea
Venezuela

[Huckleberry]

April 7, 2111

The draw for the 2112 WBA Cup was completed today in Santo Domingo. Early feedback from analysts indicates that China drew by far the easiest group out of the Pot 1 teams while Brazil appears to have been given the group of death. The groups are listed below in order of pot assignment.

Group A

China
Canada
France
Venezuela

Group B

The United States
Colombia
Pakistan
England

Group C

Mexico
Dominican Republic
Argentina
South Korea

Group D

Brazil
India
Japan
Germany

As was the case in 2108, the winners of Groups A and B will meet in one best-of-three semifinal series while the winners of Groups C and D meet in the other.

[claphamsa]

Alez les Blues!

[APMP]

National team roster speculation starting to really pick up as the WBA season reaches a close...several upcoming free agents are hoping to parlay a strong WBA showing into a rich deal.

[Huckleberry]

The only thing we can all agree on is that we hope France loses.

[claphamsa]

The only thing we can all agree on is that we hope France loses.

BOO

[Bob_Meteors]

I want Australia to have a team.

[Huckleberry]

I modify the draft pool based on how many seasons a country has had a team in the WBA. It looks at the last 8 years, so Australia will be maxed out starting with the 2113 draft. Australia doesn't have many active pros right now, just bad luck with player generation.

[Huckleberry]

Team pictures (alphabetical order):

[Huckleberry]

Also, looks like when I pushed the AI Finalize Rosters button there were some changes. Pottle is on the Canada team now, for example.

[Echo127]

Sounds like someone's been meddling.

[Huckleberry]

I wish. If so there would be a lot more dudes in my organization getting playing experience. I think I have 5 players from my organization in the tournament (out of 400).

[Huckleberry]

Gonna have to amend that now that I've looked at it. Missed a bunch of my scrubs on teams, but I'm still tied for last. Players per organization in the WBA Cup (as of right now, obviously a lot of FA will be signed):

Free Agent - 90
Black Forest Foxes - 22
Karachi Falcons - 22
Rio de Janeiro Jaguars - 22
Rome Generals - 18
Sao Paulo Toucans - 17
Barcelona Bulls - 16
Ottawa Whiskey Jacks - 16
Paris Fleur-de-Lis - 16
Buenos Aires Dolphins - 15
Manila Folders - 15
London Monarchs - 14
Los Angeles Stars - 14
Mumbai Cobras - 14
Northwest Emeralds - 14
Puerto Rico Coqui - 14
Shanghai Sharks - 13
Carolina Flight - 12
Melbourne Meteors - 12
Mexico City Aztecs - 12
Santo Domingo Palmchats - 12

[Huckleberry]

Also, I think I figured out what happened with the rosters. The stats settings were originally set for a 5-man rotation, I changed that to a 4-man and lots of the teams swapped out a pitcher or two for a position player.

[Huckleberry]

Well, using my prediction tools the news isn't good. In fact it's so not good that I'm going to consider changing the draft pool distribution moving forward. Obviously my tool might not be exact but this is still more than a little concerning.

WBA Cup Championship Odds

The United States: 11-to-28
China: 10-to-1
Mexico: 11-to-1
Brazil: 19-to-1
India: 22-to-1
Pakistan: 60-to-1
Colombia: 450-to-1
Venezuela: 500-to-1
Dominican Republic: 700-to-1
Argentina: 900-to-1
Japan: 1700-to-1
France: 2500-to-1
England: 4500-to-1
South Korea: 5000-to-1
Germany: 6000-to-1
Canada: 40000-to-1

[Coop]

Confirms what I said yesterday ... there just aren't many good German players in this league, for some reason.

[Huckleberry]

I'm going to increase the weight of having WBA teams in the draft pool distribution calcs moving forward. Also going to lower the preexisting USA factor but that one is tough. The USA obviously has a large population and the North American division is only realistically three countries.

I have been trying to have a nearly 50/50 split between divisions in the draft pool but may have to revisit that.

[Huckleberry]

Biggest story from the first sim of the WBA Cup was that the United States was eliminated after a terrible showing where they went 1-3 against England and Pakistan. Colombia actually advanced out of the group despite getting swept by the USA because they went 4-0 against the English and Pakistanis.

Standings with one day of round robin games to go:

[Huckleberry]

Mexico wins the 2112 WBA Cup.

[Huckleberry]

2116 WBA Cup Qualifiers: (group winners go to Pot 1 and runners-up to Pot 2)

Brazil (Pot 2)
China (Pot 2)
Colombia (Pot 1)
Dominican Republic (Pot 2)
England* (Pot 2)
France (Pot 1)
India (Pot 1)
Mexico (Pot 1)

* - Head-to-head tiebreaker over the United States