Each and every November, our friends over at Royals Review host what has become one of my favorite nerd-out events of the year. They put on an MLB off-season simulation, where reps for each of baseball’s 30 teams spend a handful of days emailing, Slack chatting, and trying to work deals with one another in an attempt to mimic what the real, actual baseball offseason will look like.
It’s ridiculous, really, despite its best-kept intentions. Since none of the moves will ever actually play out, it’s impossible to see how things truly would’ve turned out. In reality, it’s also just a one-year simulation, since this time next November we won’t pick up where we left off in this simulation; rather, we’ll pick up where the real Reds roster stands in November 2019, meaning the moves we make this year don’t hurt us in future simulations.