With the MLB regular season well underway and MLB 2K10’s Living Roster feature finally including all of this year's top rookies, we here at Operation Sports decided to run our annual season sim using 2K’s hard-ball sim.

So where did your favorite team finish, and how did your favorite player do in 2010 according to 2K? Read on to find out.

AL East

The Red Sox and Rays completely dominated the AL East, which obviously left Yankee fans disappointed and out of the playoff race. The AL East also included some of the most high-profile injuries in the simulation -- C.C. Sabathia broke his elbow two starts into the season and Kevin Youkilis tore his rotator cuff in game number 20. By season's end, both the Rays and Sox had identical records (90-72), leading to a playoff game to determine the AL East champion and wild-card winner.

Rays: 90-72
Red Sox: 90-72
Yankees: 86-76
Blue Jays: 81-81
Orioles: 75-87

AL Central

In the AL Central, the Twins built up a 12-game lead over their divisional opponents before faltering down the stretch, only managing to win the division by four games. The Royals also went on a tear at one point and could be considered one of the biggest surprises during the season. My hometown Tigers received no love from 2K and found themselves mustering a 75-87 record. In addition to the poor the record, my Tigers were also dead last in just about every offensive category you can imagine.

Twins : 86-76
White Sox: 82-80
Royals: 82-80
Indians: 78-84
Tigers: 75-87

AL West

In the AL West, the Rangers, Angels and Mariners all battled hard for the divisional crown. In the end, the Rangers managed to win the division by two games. Vlad Guerrero and Josh Hamilton led a potent offensive attack that propelled the Rangers to the playoffs. Eric Chavez had a nice bounce-back season for the lowly Athletics and was able to win the AL Comeback Player of the Year.

Rangers: 82 -80
Angels: 80-82
Mariners: 78-84
Athletics: 70-92

AL Batting Leaders

Ichiro: .331 Batting Average
Kendry Morales: 41 Home Runs
Billy Butler: 125 RBI
Carl Crawford: 59 Stolen Bases

AL Pitching Leaders

Erik Bedard: 17 Wins
Justin Duchscherer: 17 Losses
Zack Greinke: 3.35 ERA
Javier Vasquez: 207 Strikeouts
Kerry Wood: 40 Saves

The Cardinals were one of two dominant teams in the NL regular season in our sim.

 

NL East

The most competitive and pathetic division in the season sim was the NL East. With a losing record of 77-85, the Atlanta Braves held off the 76-86 Florida Marlins to take the division on the last day of the season.The Phillies and Mets finished the year three games back, and neither team could beat the Braves head to head.

Braves: 77-85
Marlins: 76-86
Phillies: 74-88
Mets: 74-88
Nationals: 69-93

NL Central

The Cardinals ran away with the NL Central, and Albert Pujols had an MVP year. Nevertheless, the Reds young pitching staff kept them close to the divisional crown, which ended up leading to 91 wins and an NL wild-card birth. Unfortunately for Cubs fans, the team finished in dead last, 25 games behind the Cardinals.

Cardinals: 98-64
Reds: 91-71
Astros: 83-79
Pirates: 80-82
Brewers: 80-82
Cubs: 73-89

NL West

In what has typically been one of the weakest divisions in baseball, the San Francisco Giants managed to win 101 games. Of course, their impressive record was mostly tied to the pitching arms of Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Barry Zito. The Giants finished with the best record in baseball, and the second-place Dodgers were 13 games behind the Giants.

Giants: 101-61
Dodgers: 88-74
Padres: 83-79
Rockies: 76-86
Diamondbacks: 72-90

NL Batting Leaders

Ronnie Belliard: .328 Batting Average
Adrian Gonzalez: 39 Home Runs
Pablo Sandoval: 117 RBI
Michael Bourn: 61 Stolen Bases

NL Pitching Leaders

Matt Cain & Tim Lincecum: 18 Wins
Brandon Webb: 19 Losses
Johan Santana: 2.56 ERA
Tim Lincecum: 228 Strikeouts
Brian Wilson: 46 Saves

Player Movement

The 2010 regular season offered little in the way of surprising trades and transactions. Outside of a head-scratching mid-season trade where the Tigers sent rookie phenom Austin Jackson and third baseman Brandon Inge to Colorado for Dexter Fowler and Rafael Betancourt, 2K’s virtual general managers seemed to shy away from making any major trades. That being said, there was one blockbuster move made early in the season: The Cubs sent Ted Lilly and Derrek Lee to the Braves for Yunel Escobar and Tim Hudson.

All-Star Game

The AL won the All-Star game 7-5. The bats of Evan Longoria and Joe Mauer -- in what could only be seen as an act of solidarity between the MLB cover athletes -- paved the way for the AL's victory and home-field advantage in the World Series by each notching 2 RBI.

American League

In the ALDS, Tampa Bay met Texas and Minnesota played the Red Sox (Tampa Bay won the one-game playoff at the end of the regular season). Both AL East teams played well in their first-round matchups. The Rays ended up sweeping the Rangers, and the Red Sox needed all five games to take care of the Twins.

In the ALCS, the Rays continued their regular season mastery of the Red Sox by beating them in six games, and thereby advanced to their second World Series in three years. Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria were the heroes of the series -- each batted above .300 and had five and seven RBI respectively.

National League

The NLDS paired up the Giants and Reds, and Cardinals and Braves. Unfortunately for the Giants, the trio of Lincecum, Cain and Zito used up all their dominant pitching during the regular season and could not seem to quite get on track against a young Cincinnati squad. The Reds took the series in five games. The Cardinals, on the other hand, continued their dominance into the postseason and swept the Braves.

The NLCS between the Reds and Cardinals was not even close. The Cardinals won the series in five games, outscoring the Reds 35-3. Albert Pujols hit five home runs in the series and batted a cool .400.

In what looked to be a dead-even Fall Classic, the Tampa Bay Rays matched up against the St. Louis Cardinals to see who would be crowned World Series Champions. Unfortunately, just like many other past dream matchups, the actual series was a bit underwhelming. The Cards put away the Rays in five games and won their first World Series since 2006. Tampa Bay could not find its offense during the series. The team scored only nine runs, four of which came in the bottom of the seventh inning of Game 5. Out of nowhere, Ryan Ludwick won the MVP award by batting .294 with 4 home runs and 9 RBI.

AL MVP - Dustin Pedroia: .313 BA, 34 HR, 114 RBI, 26SB
AL Cy Young - Javier Vasquez: 16-11, 3.73 ERA, 207 K’s
AL RoY - Scott Sizemore: .314 BA, 18 HR, 81 RBI

NL MVP - Albert Pujols: .320 BA, 36 HR, 115 RBI
NL Cy Young - Johan Santana: 18-6, 2.56 ERA, 174 K’s
NL RoY - Jason Heyward: .254 BA, 38 HR, 90 RBI

Overall, MLB 2K10 does an admirable job of capturing realistic statistics and season results. While I highly doubt the Tigers will finish in the AL Central cellar and Javier Vasquez will win the AL Cy Young, the division winners and World Series results could come to fruition. If I had to give a completely arbitrary grade to 2K10’s season sim (which I will), I would have to give it an A-minus. Only time will tell how accurate this season sim turns out to be, but I am sure there are a lot of people in St. Louis hoping that this simulation comes true.


So what do you think of MLB 2K10’s season sim? Where do you think your team will finish. As always, sound off below or via Twitter @ Bumble14_OS.