Ball Five Baseball 2000-2009

The 2000s: Ichiro, Moneyball and the curse is broken.

The Yankees win the 2000 Subway Series. Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling’s Diamondbacks beat them in Game 7 the next year, while the Mariners win 116 games and Barry Bonds hits 73. The Moneyball A’s win 20 straight. Ichiro collects 262 hits. In 2004 the Red Sox come back from 0-3 against the Yankees and end 86 years of heartbreak, and the White Sox end their own drought a year later. Albert Pujols becomes the most feared hitter in the game.

Now you manage them, every team and every season from 2000 to 2009, played at-bat by at-bat.

What’s in the game

• Player cards built from each player’s real season stats, with lefty/righty splits on every hitter and pitcher
• Cards that flip like the ones you got in the mail, with real stats on the back
• Fielding checks based on each fielder’s range and errors
• Pitcher warm-up tosses set his form for the day, and fatigue colors tell you when he’s tiring
• Momentum: a pitcher can get in a groove or get rattled
• Steals, pickoffs, hit-and-runs, bunts, intentional walks and pitchouts. You make the calls.
• “At the wall” plays: robbed home runs, balls off the wall, and wind-blown homers
• Real schedules, standings, season stats, box scores and play-by-play

Microsoft Excel only, not a board game. Works in Windows or Mac Excel. Download right after checkout, set up and ready to play.

Bonus: comes with the 1985–86 English First Division season of 5 Minute Soccer, free.