MVP Baseball 2005 Leaders
Did you ever pop in a video game and just know that you would be returning to it year after year, regardless of the advancements of the gaming industry? Sometimes it’s obvious – titles like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Batman: Arkham Asylum still hold up to this day – but other times, you can’t predict that type of special, lasting relationship. For example, I thought that MVP Baseball 2005 was going to be one in a long line of yearly installments. I thought that EA Sports would maintain their license from MLB, and we’d continue to enjoy this franchise for the foreseeable future. But oh, how wrong I was.
MVP ’05 was the last time EA Sports published a game with the likenesses of Major League Baseball players, switching to the NCAA for the following two years, and then discontinuing the series. I tried the other competing franchises for a while, but I found that they just didn’t measure up. So rather than compromise for the sake of up-to-date rosters, statistics, and gameplay, I found myself returning to MVP ’05 for many years since it had become obsolete.
In fact, my first foray into Astrology Baseball was devised as a roster construction project for this game, to keep from getting too bored with the default rosters (up to date as of 01/12/2005, as the loading screen tells us). What follows is a breakdown of the lineup and rotation of the top two teams in the 2004 Fantasy Astrology Baseball League, as seen through the lens of MVP Baseball 2005.
I’m starting with the number two overall team, the Leo Lions (33,832 total points), since their roster has a couple of quirks worth mentioning right off the bat. People familiar with MVP ’05 might be confused to see the name B. Bonds sitting in the lineup’s three spot, since it’s well documented that Barry Bonds refused to sign the MLB Players Association’s licensing agreement. This resulted in Bonds being replaced with a generic player bearing most of his attributes, but with his name, skin color, and handedness changed to avoid legal disputes. However, the game’s player editor feature makes it easy to create a more true-to-life representation of the slugger.
You might also notice that Nomar Garciaparra’s name is haphazardly pasted into the starting lineup. That’s because I first created these rosters before my in-depth look at cusps, and thus I had Mike Sweeney incorrectly identified as a Leo – research shows that he actually barely qualifies as a Cancer. (You can read all about my methodology on my Old Blog.) In the interest of filling out the entire lineup, Shea Hillenbrand would come up from the minors to take Sweeney’s spot.
In addition to Bonds and Alex Rodriguez, Leo’s 2004 ace pitcher also got in trouble for performance-enhancing drugs, as Roger Clemens would have his name attached to a famous report a couple years later. Since this screenshot doesn’t include the entire pitching staff, it’s worth mentioning that Troy Percival would function as the sign’s designated closer. It’s also fascinating that Oliver Perez, the #3 starter, is still active in the Majors, as a lefty specialist for Cleveland.
Scorpio had the most fantasy points in 2004 (with 34,636), which is actually the second-highest point total of any sign we’ve seen so far - only Libra in 2011 had more, with 34,748. The ’04 Scorpions sported three players who eclipsed 2,500 points: David Ortiz (who actually qualified at first base this year), Gary Sheffield, and J.D. Drew, plus two more with 2,400 (Johnny Damon and Adam Dunn). None of these players approach the heights of Bonds’s 3,137, but Leo’s lineup is a lot more top-heavy, with Bonds, Todd Helton, and A-Rod threatening to topple over.
Going by the numbers, the Scorpions’ ace pitcher is Curt Schilling, who also broke the 2,500 point barrier in 2004. But for pure star power and reputation (not to mention MVP ‘05’s rating system) Pedro Martinez is the leader of the pitching staff. But despite this honorary title, Pedro finished behind not only Schilling but also closer Armando Benitez in fantasy points. In order to see Benitez’s line, though, I had to scroll down past the first long reliever, lefty pickoff artist Kenny Rogers.
Next week – after returning to the 2021 season on Tuesday and going back to the previous season in FABL history – I’ll touch on the teams that I’ve chosen to represent the signs in a video game simulation. Spoiler Alert: It involves the essences of the signs: Cardinal, Fixed, and Mutable.