NBA 13: The Show

For the past two months, the NBA Playoffs have been charging along. At times it's been entertaining, at others not so much, but tomorrow we will begin the final round.

For about a month, I have been a proud owner of a PlayStation 3 as well as three video games for the system. One of those games is MLB 13: The Show, the baseball game so great that it was actually the catalyst for me becoming a PS3 owner.

At some point in the recesses of my mind, these two concepts intertwined into one cooky idea.

What if I ran an NBA Playoff simulation, but replaced the NBA teams with their baseball counterparts?

It was weird, sure, but I kind of wanted to see where it lead, and I had the technology to find out. So I looked at the playoff bracket, switched out with whatever MLB or MiLB team is in that city and simulated using MLB 13: The Show.

Here are the teams I used for this experiment. I explain some of my executive decisions in parentheses:

EAST

1. Miami Heat = Miami Marlins

8. Milwaukee Bucks = Milwaukee Brewers

4. Brooklyn Nets = New York Mets (since both teams reside on Long Island)

5. Chicago Bulls = Chicago White Sox (both are owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and I'm a Sox fan, so....)

3. Indiana Pacers = Indianapolis Indians (AAA)

6. Atlanta Hawks = Atlanta Braves

2. New York Knicks = New York Yankees (The more popular teams in NYC in their respective sports)

7. Boston Celtics = Boston Red Sox

WEST

1. Oklahoma City Thunder = Oklahoma City RedHawks (AAA)

8. Houston Rockets = Houston Astros

4. Los Angeles Clippers = Los Angeles Angels (the two less popular teams in LA in their respective sports; Clippers also played select home games in Anaheim in the mid to late 90's)

5. Memphis Grizzlies = Memphis Redbirds (AAA)

3. Denver Nuggets = Colorado Rockies

6. Golden State Warriors = Oakland Athletics (since both teams are neighbors in Oakland. Some years down the road I'll have to use the Giants, though)

2. San Antonio Spurs = San Antonio Missions (AA)

7. Los Angeles Lakers = Los Angeles Dodgers (The more popular teams in LA in their respective sports; Laker legend Magic Johnson has stake in the Dodgers)

With the teams set, I dove into my simulation. I left The Show's default rosters alone in this simulation. To keep from getting the same results, I cycled through the first four pitchers of each teams starting rotation and alternated home teams in a 2-2-1-1-1 format. All I had to do was sit back, watch, and write down the final scores.

Results coming up in the next Gamer's Journal post...