TORONTO NEARING THE END OF NIGHTMARE 30-YEAR POSTSEASON DROUGHT
With A 10-Game Lead & 19 Games To Play, Rush Look To End Infamous Playoff Drought & Make The Postseason For The First Time Since The 2007 SIMBL Season
To add to the joy of Toronto GM Eric Savard's Rush's ascension to the SIMBL's top record this season after an 82-80 record last season and only two winning seasons in the past 18 years, the Rush hold the SIMBL's current #1-rated prospect in starting pitcher Luis Romero (above). The 23 year-old southpaw is one of most highly-touted flamethrowers in recent SIMBL memory with once-in-a-generation 10/8/8 potential ratings. The #6 overall pick of the 2036 SIMBL Draft is already SIMBL-ready with 9/7/5 development and a fully grown four-pitch arsenal. With current #1 and former 2025 #2 overall draft pick Pierce Ryan out for the season with a torn rotator cuff, Romero may be called up by Savard to bolster the Rush during their first playoff trip in 30 years.
Toronto features not only solid pitching but a young offense that includes several young phenoms and former high first round picks from the last decade in their lineup to join their oldest player, 38 year-old future SIMBL Hall Of Famer Michael Lonewolf (above right) who despite his age and 446 career home runs and 1571 career RBI, still holds solid 8/6/8/6/5 ratings. The 8-time All-Star has had career lows in batting average, home runs and RBI while plateauing at DH for the current top-seeded Rush.
With current ace Pierce Ryan down for the season and on the disabled list with a torn rotator cuff, Toronto's Kelly 'Kidney' Martin (above) has held down the fort as the new #1 in the Rush starting rotation. Like Ryan, a former #2 overall SIMBL draft pick, Martin has gone 13-9 with a 3.74 ERA in his 30 starts and joins Rodrigo Navarro (17-7 3.78 ERA) on top of Toronto's starting rotation while Ryan is out and Romero grooms. When together, Ryan and Martin are one of the top starting pitching duos in the SIMBL.
TORONTO'S LINEUP BUILT THROUGH THE DRAFT TO THE CURRENT BEST RECORD IN THE SIMBL:
C Aaron Ullhom 31 #5 overall 2027 SIMBL Draft
1B Angel Roman 25 #8 overall 2034 SIMBL Draft
2B Turhan Clause 25 #3 overall 2033 SIMBL Draft
SS Francisco Santos 36 #6 overall 2022 SIMBL Draft by Chicago
3B Kenko Yamada 24 #12 overall 2032 SIMBL Draft
LF Floyd Garraway Jr. 28 #7 overall 2037 SIMBL Draft
CF Kiki Jefferson 25 #4 overall 2029 SIMBL Draft
CF Katshuhiko Kato 28 #27 overall supplemental round 2027 SIMBL Draft
RF Richard Jackson 29 #8 selection 3rd round 2026 SIMBL Draf
DH Michael Lonewolf 38 #28 overall 2019 SIMBL New File Inaugural Draft
The 2037 SIMBL season has been a wild and wacky one in real-life and in the simulation world and with that looks to break one of the longest steaks in SIMBL history.
With 3 SIMs and 19 games to play in the 2037 SIMBL regular season, the Toronto Rush of GM Eric Savard have an 87-56 record and hold a ten-game lead in the UL Central Division and appear to be making only the second postseason appearance in franchise history and ending a 30-SEASON, YES 30 YEAR, playoff drought
After decades of bad luck, some major injuries and poor decisions and bad luck in development as well in drafting and 33 seasons battling in one of most historically competitive divisions in the SIMBL, GM Eric Savard's Toronto Rush appear to have finally put it together and their whole team is surrounded and made up of Top Ten draft picks and after years of questionable drafting and development, Eric has put it all together with a formidable team of young former high draft picks who have arrived and look ready to dominate for several seasons to come and with a near-ready ace-in-waiting who is currently the SIMBL's top-rated prospect. After decades of being a SIMBL afterthought the Toronto Rush are here to play and here to stay and armed with some of the best young offensive and pitching talent in the SIMBL. The long-suffering franchise is poised for a long run of several seasons of contention that has turned the UL Central and the UL in its entirety upside down.
Savard has been a mainstay in the SIMBL ever since and holds the longest tenure, six months behind, outside the league's remaining charter GMs which consist of Bristol Owls GM Greg Cheocovetes, Calgary Clippers GM Christian DeMarco, Bend Bandits GM Ted Williams, Texas Roadrunners GM Pat Flanagan and San Diego Warewolves GM Paul Ware.
The Rush are looking to end a 30-season playoff drought and the longest in SIMBL history by far going back to the 2007 season which was the 3rd season of play in the SIMBL's 33-season history. Toronto (87-56) currently hold a ten-game lead over the defending SIMBL champion Texas Roadrunners of GM Pat Flanagan with 19 games and 3 SIMs to play. Toronto, one of the eight remaining charter franchises (Bristol, Calgary, Texas, Toronto, Bend, Oregon, Chicago, San Diego) from the 2005 Inaugural Season of the SIMBL, has made one playoff appearance in the SIMBL's 32 postseasons, that being in 2007 as the UL wildcard where they were eliminated in the 2007 ULDS in five games by the eventual 2007 UL champion the former Augusta Spartans (the current Tampa Bay Silverbacks). The 2007 wildcard being the only playoff appearance in franchise history, the Rush also look to win their first division title in the SIMBL charter franchise's 33-season history as the Rush also remain the only SIMBL franchise to have never won a team divisional title.
To get a feel for how long it's been that the Rush have struggled to get into the SIMBL playoffs, the last time the Rush did it was during the 2007 SIMBL season which was held in REAL-LIFE YEAR 2007, some 9 real-life years ago!
This will be the sixth winning season in franchise history for the Rush. The have won 90+ games only two previous times in 2007 (95-57) and in 2019 (91-71 yet failed to make the postseason that season). The Rush has lost 100+ games seven times and 90+ games in 16 seasons and have had winning seasons above .500 five times in the 32 seasons of SIMBL history. The Rush are in position and are three wins away from only the third 90-win season in franchise history and their first since the 2019 season 19 seasons ago.
In a division that has been won by either Calgary or Dallas since the 2019 season, it appears Toronto will join last season's UL Central champion Texas in ending the Dallas-Calgary rivalry for long-time division supremacy and previous formidable domination of the division in the past 19 seasons of the SIMBL New File Era (2019-current). As a result of the Calgary-Dallas rivalry and Texas' SIMBL ring last season and to show the division's brutal competitiveness, the UL Central has boasted three of the past five SIMBL champions: Calgary in 2032, Dallas in 2034 and Texas in 2034. Toronto is waiting for the chance to make franchise history and SIMBL history with a championship run this season in what would be a true SIMBL Cinderella story of which we haven't seen the likes of before in the league's 33-season and 9.75-real-life-year history.
Toronto looks now built to be a steady formidable force for the distant future with a young nucleus of young players heading to star status.
After only two winning seasons in the past 18 seasons of the SIMBL New File Era, the Rush had their first post-.500 season since the 2019 season with an 82-80 record last year finishing second to eventual SIMBL champion Texas in the UL Central. Toronto, with currently 87 wins, already has posted their highest win total since 2019's 91 and look to break the franchise record of 95 in that only postseason year dating back to 2007.
The Rush have put it all together as a multi-faceted team by ranking 1st in the UL in team batting average and hits. They rank 2nd in stolen bases and are a hit and run team ranking in the top five in all team offense rankings besides the long-ball (9th) and walks (9th). So, the Rush are a high contact, slap-and-steal runs in with power hitting.
The pitching is solidly ranked 3rd in the Union League with a team ERA of 3.69 with the starting rotation's 3.77 ERA ranking 4th while the bullpen's 3.44 ERA ranking 2nd in the UL. As with the hitting statistical contrast, the Rush rank first in the SIMBL while keeping the ball out of play with a .273 BABIP while startlingly being last in the UL with only 807 strikeouts showing that the Rush rely on timely spot pitching and defense. Toronto's .718 team defense efficiency is tops in the UL and the entire SIMBL. Quite simply, showing top-rated defense to go with pitching and offense both in the top five, it's possible and not out of reach that the Rush's Cinderella awakening to the top of the SIMBL this season from one game over .500 last season can very easily end in a SIMBL championshipTHIS season and none of the SIMBL statistical hogwarts would be surprised. Believe it or not, while the Rush is only now starting to get headlines from the SIMBL press as the newly realized UL Central champions, the stats and rankings all line up for a serious championship contention this season.
Former first round draft picks OF Floyd Garraway Jr. (.282 AVG 27 HR 92 RBI) and SP Pierce Ryan (14-8 2.65 ERA) and former second-rounder Rodrigo Navarro (17-7 3.78 ERA) are currently ranked in the SIMBL's Top 20 players while Garraway Jr., Ryan and OF/1B Richard Jackson (.329 AVG 17 HR 92 RBI) were named to this season's Union League All-Star team.
The Rush's current success and climb to the current #1 SIMBL and UL's #1 postseason seed hasn't been overnight and includes a decade-plus of mostly Top Ten draft picks, development and waiting.
Joining the first-place productivity are former 2033 #3 overall pick SS Turhan Clause (.317 11 HR 56 RBI 27 SB), 25 year-old former 2029 #4 overall pick OF Kiki Jefferson (.244 AVG 13 HR 61 RBI 33 SB) and 29 year-old All-Star OF Richard Jackson (.324 AVG 17 HR 89 RBI).
The Rush's starting lineup includes eight former first round picks, seven of the nine were top ten picks (in chronological order): future SIMBL Hall Of Famer DH 38 year-old Michael Lonewolf (the 28th overall pick of the 2019 SIMBL New File Inaugural Draft who is an 8-time All-Star and one of only 12 players in SIMBL history with 400+ career home runs and one of six players with 1500+ career RBI), 2B Gary Harlan (2021 #4 overall), SS Francisco Santos (2022 #6 overall by Chicago), C Aaron Ullhom (2027 #5 overall), OF Kiki Jefferson (2029 #4 overall), OF Kiki Jefferson (2030 #7 overall), 3B Kenko Yamada (2032 #12), SS Turhan Clause (2033 #3) and LF Angel Roman (2034 #8 overall).
The Rush hold an 87-56 record without two of their main contributors this season.
30 year-old Pierce Ryan, the #2 overall pick in the 2025 SIMBL Draft, has finally emerged as the ace of the staff going 14-8 with a 2.65 ERA and 1.08 WHIP though is out for the year with a torn rotator cuff suffered on August 13, 2037. 24 year-old starting 3B Kenko Yamada, who finished 2nd in the 2035 UL Rookie Of The Year balloting when he hit .312 with 6 HR and 52 HR in his first 116 games and 430 at bats in the SIMBL, is also out for three more weeks of a three-month ruptured medial collateral ligament injury but will back for the Rush's likely first postseason berth in 30 years.
The pitching rotation features 2025 #2 overall pick Pierce Ryan, who now at age 30, appears to be living up to his elite 8/8/8 ratings enjoying the first All-Star selection of his career before going on the DL with a torn rotator cuff a month ago and is lost for this postseason. 28 year-old Kelly Martin, the #2 overall pick of the 2028 SIMBL Draft, has taken over as the Rush's #1 with Ryan out, but while Ryan is healthy the two are among the top duos in the SIMBL based on pure talent. 2030 second round pick Rodrigo Navarro, one of the few current SIMBL starting pitchers with a solid '10'-rated movement, is 25 years-old and now coming into his own with a current 17-7 season and is as solid a #3 staff starter in the SIMBL. 34 year-old veteran Daniel Young, once the Rush's long-time ace, is a three-time All-Star and was an All-Star last season and has posted double-digit wins with a 3.72 ERA in every season of his 9-year SIMBL career and currently is the Rush's #4 starter.
The Rush bullpen is a bend-but-don't-break unit consisting of several of solid but below-the-radar veterans besides Jim Bentley who has been one of the top five closers in the SIMBL the past decade. The 33 year-old Bentley is a three-time All-Star who joined the SIMBL 300 Career Save Club this season and has saved 30+ games the past seven seasons and is four saves away from making it eight straight seasons.
The future is looking dominating for Toronto after so many seasons of being the doormat of not only the UL Central but most seasons of the SIMBL.
To add to the pleasure add in all that young talent and the Rush currently have the SIMBL's top-rated prospect in flame-throwing 23-year-old phenom 2035 #6 overall pick Luis Romero, who is 9/7/5 developed on his elite 10/8/8-rated potential and appears to be headed as one of the SIMBL's highest-touted hopeful aces in several years.
The Rush hold a ten-game lead over Texas in the UL Central with 19 games to play and hold the SIMBL's and UL's best record and current #1 seed for the 2037 postseason.
In the UL East, Whitby GM John Callahan's Battalion (85-58) hold a seven-game lead over GM Greg Checovetes' Bristol Owls with 19 games to play and are looking for the third consecutive divisional crown.
In the UL West, GM Dean Hightower's Cleveland Brownies (79-64) hold an eleven-game lead over GM Walt Arnold's Oregon Pioneers.
In the SL East, GM Tony Christman's Rochester Roosters (78-65) hold a five-game lead over the three-time defending SL champion Chicago Hitmen of GM John Bowden.
The Knoxville Lumberkings (85-58) of GM Andy Hutchinson hold an eleven-game lead over GM Pete McGowan's Asheville Smokies and a twelve-game lead over Las Vegas GM Carl Hannah's Hustlers and look to wrap up their fifth straight divisional title.
In the SL West, the San Diego Warewolves of GM Paul Ware (82-61) hold a five-game lead over the surging Sacramento Giants of GM Jason Gregory as the 'Wolves look to win their seventh consecutive divisional crown.
With 19 games left to play in the regular season, GM Greg Checovetes' Bristol Owls (78-65) hold a slim one-game lead over the defending SIMBL champion Texas Roadrunners of Pat Flanagan and a three-game lead over the New York Enforcers of GM Chris Gattuso.
In the SL wildcard race, the Sacramento Giants (77-66) of GM Jason Gregory hold a three-game lead over both the Asheville Smokies of GM Pete McGowan and GM Joshua Callahan's Hollywood Stars and a four-game lead over the Chicago Hitmen of GM John Bowden, the Hawaii Pineapples of GM Troy Vogel and the Las Vegas Hustlers of GM Carl Hannah.
We are down to the last 3 SIMs and 19 games of the 2037 SIMBL season. 2037 SIM 24 will be held on Wednesday night, July 13, 2016.
While the Toronto Rush are making history and appear to be turning a new leaf, here are the number of postseason appearances each current SIMBL franchise has made going into the 2037 postseason:
ALL-TIME SIMBL POSTSEASON APPEARANCES:
26 SAN DIEGO
25 CALGARY
16 CHICAGO
15 CLEVELAND
14 DALLAS
13 BRISTOL
13 ROCHESTER
13 LAS VEGAS
12 WHITBY
11 HOLLYWOOD
10 OREGON
10 TAMPA BAY
10 KNOXVILLE
9 NEW YORK
9 SACRAMENTO
8 WESTBURY
8 HAWAII
7 BEND
7 SEATTLE
7 TEXAS
7 ASHEVILLE
4 BOSTON
2 BELLINGHAM
1 TORONTO
3/4 of the SIMBL's franchises, either as the current team and GM or as the formerly-named team of a previous GM as the same franchise's history, have won a SIMBL championship now in the league's 33rd season and soon-to-be 10th real-life year on September 2, 2016. Eight teams, or 1/3 of the SIMBL's 24 long-time franchises, have yet to win a SIMBL title. Here's the all-time SIMBL championships in franchise's history entering the SIMBL's 2037 and 33rd postseason:
ALL-TIME SIMBL FRANCHISE CHAMPIONSHIPS:
11 SAN DIEGO
4 CALGARY
3 LAS VEGAS
2 HOLLYWOOD
1 WESTBURY
1 BRISTOL
1 WHITBY
1 DALLAS
1 NEW YORK
1 HAWAII
1 SACRAMENTO
1 TEXAS
1 ASHEVILLE
1 OREGON
1 BELLINGHAM
1 CLEVELAND
0 BOSTON
0 KNOXVILLE
0 CHICAGO
0 SEATTLE
0 ROCHESTER
0 TAMPA BAY
0 TORONTO
0 BEND
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