Simulating the 2020 season with.... RBI Baseball 20?!

Ok, ok, ok. Of all the baseball simulators out there, RBI Baseball 20 is likely at the bottom of the totem pole, if it registers on the totem pole at all.

However, MLB: The Show still annoyingly won’t come to Xbox, and Out of the Park Baseball 21 doesn’t release for another few days, and desperate times call for desperate measures with this severe lack of baseball ongoing for the foreseeable future.

So, with that in mind, let’s fire up the Xbox, download RBI Baseball 20 (which just released today), and simulate a 2020 season and see what happens.

League Wide View

Apparently the makers of RBI Baseball 20 don’t believe that the trash cans matter, as the Astros put up an impressive 105 wins, for the highest total in baseball. The Yankees aren’t far behind, with 103 wins of their own, while the Twins win 95 to repeat all three division winners from 2019 in the AL.

In the NL, there are plenty of familiar names as well, with the Dodgers (94 wins), Nationals (91), and Cubs (91) winning their respective divisions, while the Mets (88) and Rockies (86 wins and the first real surprise) take the Wild Card spots.

The good news — and arguably the only news you care about — is that the Rays do indeed get to the postseason, thanks to 90 wins. They will be hosting the White Sox (!) in the Wild Card Game to come.

BUT HERE’S THE BEST THING:

Christian Yelich: 61 homers!

Mike Trout: 64 homers!!!!!!

EUGENIO SUAREZ: 67 HOMERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hide ya kids!

On the pitching side of things, Nick Pivetta led all of baseball with a 2.35 ERA in 226.0 innings.... all out of the bullpen.... Among the other notable performances:

Zack Greinke: 19-3 with a 2.82 ERA

Max Fried: 15-7 with a 2.82 ERA

Adam Wainwright: 14-7 with a 2.49 ERA!!!

This shit is wild, folks.

Rays Centric (Regular Season)

How the Players Did

The Good

Austin Meadows: 159 G, 117 R, 194 H, 36 HR, 93 XBH, 97 RBI, 8 SB, .299/.328/.564

Great season from Meadows, as he stays healthy and produces versus all comers, with an impressive 93 extra-base hits that would blow the previous Rays record (Aubrey Huff with 84 in 2003) out of the water.

Nick Anderson: 44 G, 3-0, 40 SV, 47.2 IP, 45:11 SO:BB, 1.51 ERA, 0.76 WHIP

I’m not sure the Rays will be as consistent with who closes out games in the real world, but if anyone is capable of locking down 40 games with a sub-2.00 ERA and 0.76 WHIP for the Rays in 2020, it’s this guy.

Tyler Glasnow: 32 GS, 17-6, 218.0 IP, 210:41 SO:BB, 3.47 ERA, 0.90 WHIP

Thirty-two starts!

Peter Fairbanks: 36 G, 6-2, 8 SV, 78.2 IP, 66:20 SO:BB, 2.86 ERA, 0.78 WHIP

I would signup for this season so fast I’d sprain every ligament in my body.

Yonny Chirinos: 32 GS, 13-7, 199.2 IP, 162:37 SO:BB, 3.74 ERA, 1.01 WHIP

Mostly this is about getting 200 innings from the guy who comes into the season as the Rays No. 4/5 starter. You’ll take that every day, and twice on Tuesday for an ERA of 3.74.

The Middle

Willy Adames: 159 G, 91 R, 142 H, 21 HR, 63 XBH, 73 RBI, 1 SB, .245/.280/.440

The OBP is a little low; the SLG is a little high (aka the RBI Baseball 20 motto), but it’s not hard to imagine that being exactly how Walkoff Willy’s 2020 campaign plays out.

Brandon Lowe: 116 G, 59 R, 114 H, 21 HR, 60 XBH, 68 RBI, 1 SB, .261/.292/.505

A few games missed; some legitimate power; a .500+ SLG — seems quite possible.

Hunter Renfroe: 162 G, 84 R, 133 H, 30 HR, 58 XBH, 85 RBI, .210/.240/.404

Thirty homers, yay! Two-forty OBP, not yay! I can foresee these exact reactions to Renfroe’s actual 2020 season incoming.

Mike Zunino: 162 G, 71 R, 118 H, 21 HR, 45 XBH, 73 RBI, .219/.262/.386

For some reason, RBI Baseball 20 doesn’t believe in using depth when simulating seasons, hence 162 games played for Zunino; poor guy. Twenty-one homers would be a nice improvement; .648 OPS would be not surprising at all, sadly.

Colin Poche: 64 G, 10-11, 11 SV, 135.1 IP, 112:29 SO:BB, 4.26 ERA, 1.00 WHIP

Are YOU ready for 135.1 innings of Colin Poche in 2020? I know I’m not, and you’re talking to a founding member of the Poche Posse.

The Bad

Yandy Diaz: 162 G, 80 R, 131 H, 19 HR, 62 XBH, 59 RBI, .219/.252/.400

At least he stays healthy?

Kevin Kiermaier: 115 G, 47 R, 79 H, 9 HR, 43 XBH, 56 RBI, 4 SB, .199/.237/.343

This is the toughest pill to swallow: injuries once again; bat disappears even more than normal; speed not even anywhere to be found. Who’s the new face of the franchise now, RBI Baseball 20?

Ryan Yarbrough: 27 GS, 4-13, 157.2 IP, 143:33 SO:BB, 5.42 ERA, 1.14 WHIP

The creators of RBI Baseball 20 apparently don’t believe in average exit velocity allowed being sticky year-to-year(-to-year).

Randy Arozarena: 47 G, 17 R, 29 H, 3 HR, 12 XBH, 17 RBI, .168/.230/.283

Postseason

For the Wild Card Game, the Rays turn to Glasnow, while the White Sox counter with Reynaldo Lopez... and some how the White Sox prevail... I’m going to be honest, that result alone makes me doubt this game even more than Eugenio Suarez hitting 67 homers in 2020!

Alas, the playoffs must go on.

The White Sox are instantly dispatched by the Astros, but on the other side of the bracket, the Twins finally defeat their Yankee nemeses, and, having broken down that barrier, march all the way to their first title since 1991. They defeat the Chicago Cubs in five games, in a fun, all-Midwest, Rob Manfred nightmare World Series.

The Future

RBI Baseball 20 lets you simulate 10 years down the road, so with the fact that you clicked this article for 2020 simulation first and foremost, let’s do a hyper speed recap of the 2020s in Rays land.

2021: Sadly 85 wins is not enough to make the playoffs, in fact, it’s fourth in the AL East. The future of this division is terrifying, guys. Four Rays with 30 homers though: Renfroe (37), BLowe (32), JMart (31), Adames (31). Austin Meadows missed the season. Anderson and Glasnow top-notch again. Cubs over Red Sox in the World Series.

2022: Ninety-one wins. No playoffs.

- ____ -

Definitely sick of this division already. A’s (96 wins) and Red Sox (94) take the Wild Cards; Yanks win yet another division (99). Manuel Margot breakout season 27 HR/13 SB; 95 more extra-base hits for Meadows; Yandy 144 games at .464 OPS... plz send halp.

Blake Snell Cy-esque 19-3 with 2.63 ERA and 0.77 WHIP; Brendan McKay All-Star type season; Nick Anderson proves human (6.93 ERA). Red Sox over Dodgers in World Series that prompts seppuku.

2023: Back in the playoffs! And only 87 wins needed to do it! Yanks roll to another division title with 105 wins, but it’s Rays-Sox in the Wild Card Game. (Also, the Marlins winning the NL East with 94 wins is the beauty of long-term simulations.)

Rays topple the Sox in the Wild Card Game thanks to a gem from Glasnow and a BLowe bomb. On to tackle the Yanks... who sweep the Rays. At least the Dodgers beat the Shankees in the World Series!

2024: The AL is truly becoming a league of have’s and have-not’s. However, 93 wins is indeed enough for the Rays to take another Wild Card spot (seriously, will the Yankees ever not win the division), where they take down the A’s, setting up an ALDS matchup with Houston. (2019 Deja Vu.)

And this time it plays out the way it would have without all the cheating! Rays sweep and it’s on to face Cleveland in the first ALCS for the Rays since 2008!

Another sweep! The starting rotation has turned in to an official buzzsaw, with a combined 60 innings and just four earned runs allowed! Add BLowe (five dingers; .516 BA) and D-Rob (three dingers; .400 BA), and you’ve got a recipe for a pennant!

The Rockies take the first two, at the Trop, and it proves to be too big a hole to climb out of, as Colorado prevails in six. Not a bad season, though!

2025: Hoo boy, what a season. BLowe and Meds become the Bash Brothers 2.0, with Lowe leaving the yard 40 times (100 extra-base hits!), while Meadows hits 46 bombs of his own. Snell and Glasnow are the certified aces we imagined them to be, both posting sub-3.00 ERAs in over 200.0 innings. (Diego Castillo also tosses 150+ innings out of the pen, somehow).

The Orioles win the division (Rutschman?!), but the Rays nab yet another Wild Card, thanks to 94 wins. They dispatch the A’s yet again in the WC Game (are we the Yankees to Oakland’s Minnesota?!) and march on through the AL to another pennant, dispatching Houston and then the South Siders in six.

It’s the Citrus Bowl we’ve all always wanted in the World Series, and Florida will be painted Navy Blue, as the Rays sweep the Marlins to be named 2025 World Series Champions! Willy Adames is the breakout star of the postseason (1.232 OPS), and the world can now end in peace.

Stay safe out there, folks. And just remember we have a 2025 title to look forward to.