Rain delays, Rainouts??

[Deetrain]

A mystery to me that no baseball sim uses this real life occurrence in their games. Any word if this will be included in OOTP 10?

[fhomess]

I always have two thoughts in mind on this:
1. It's not really a whole lot of fun to have a game rained out.
2. It's a nightmare to schedule. As someone who's done some programming, I'd absolutely hate trying to program the rescheduling code, and I'd be convinced that no matter how well it was done, people would complain about some aspect of it. Heck, people always complain about how rainouts are rescheduled in real life.

[Deetrain]

Originally Posted by fhomess

I always have two thoughts in mind on this:
1. It's not really a whole lot of fun to have a game rained out.
2. It's a nightmare to schedule. As someone who's done some programming, I'd absolutely hate trying to program the rescheduling code, and I'd be convinced that no matter how well it was done, people would complain about some aspect of it. Heck, people always complain about how rainouts are rescheduled in real life.

I figured programming would be an issue. Back in the 80's there was a baseball game for PC titled simply "Computer Baseball" It had rain delays and rainouts. Pitchers would lose stamina after a lengthy delay. But of course there was no season mode so the game didn't have to be re-scheduled. Thanks for the reply, just wishful thinking.

[KennyV17]

I have to agree. Our league use to use the BBW software for years which had rainouts in them. When the game was official, it was sort of cute. But if the game had to be rescheduled, it became more work than fun. I mean, wouldn't real baseball be better if every stadium had a retractable dome and we never would have to worry about rainouts or snow days?

Kenny V

[Bluenoser]

Well, I don't think I'd want to see this in the game, or if it was make it optional.

I agree, it adds a sense of realism, but when I'm sitting in front of my computer simming or playing out games all by myself, it really would be more a hinderance than a good feature. I just want to play my games out and deal with the line-ups, moves, pitching changes, etc. That gives me plenty of realism.

[Curtis]

Deetrain, you do know that rain delays can happen within a game in OotPB9, right? No pre-game delays, though. I wouldn't think that would be too difficult to incorporate.

[battists]

Generally, it's just too much work for too little effect.

Would it be more realistic? Certainly. But, the scheduling component alone is exceedingly complicated, and it really doesn't add a whole lot to the enjoyment of the game.

If it were "zero cost," I'm sure it would be in there already.

[Cryomaniac]

The problem with rain delays in the game at the moment (besides the bug that they aren't always obvious when playing out a game) is that you can have a 70 minute rain delay in the 9th. Would calling games that have long rain delays after the 5th be easier than adding re-scheduled games?

[SirBrown]

I can absolutely live without rain delays/reshedules, but it would be a nice touch if it could be done correctly.

[Scott Vibert]

Rain Delays are in the game and have been for approximately 5 versions of the game.

Rain Outs have always been dismissed, due to the effort needed to set up the game to realistically and automatically reschedule the game.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by battists

Generally, it's just too much work for too little effect.

Would it be more realistic? Certainly. But, the scheduling component alone is exceedingly complicated, and it really doesn't add a whole lot to the enjoyment of the game.

Well, I suppose if I sat down and really thought about it I could probably put together a set of rules which OOTP could follow to reschedule postponed games. It could get a little complicated but it's probably manageable.

The issue I see first and foremost is the accuracy side (as befits by perfectionist nature).

First, the rules regarding rescheduling have changed over MLB's history (mostly in regards to games having a bearing on the pennant race). Second, postponement rates have varied over MLB's history. Currently, the postponement rate is roughly 2% (that is, 2% of scheduled games, or about 50 games, end up being postponed during the season); in the 1960s and 1970s it was double that at about 4%; in the 1930s it averaged over 11%. (The highest rate I have found so far is the 1919 season, with 14.6% of scheduled games being postponed. That's 163 games out of 1120 scheduled being postponed. The next highest year was 1935 with 14.4%. Note that these rates do not include cases of rescheduled games being subsequently postponed.)

I still have many more seasons to process before I have full historical data.


Anyway, while postponements and rescheduling would be a nice feature to have, I can think of a number of other areas I'd rather see addressed first...

[Afino]

I could live with current in-game rain delays being coded correctly.


i.e. I'D LIKE TO KNOW WHEN THEY HAPPEN, BECAUSE THE PBP DOESN'T SHOW IT 90% OF THE TIME. And then I wonder why my pitcher is exhausted in the 3rd inning. Oh wait, 67 minute rain delay I found out by going to the box score.

[Malleus Dei]

Originally Posted by SirBrown

I can absolutely live without rain delays/reshedules, but it would be a nice touch if it could be done correctly.

I fully agree with the n00b here.

[Cryomaniac]

As a compromise to re-scheduled games, why not have a game that is delayed more than a certain amount after the 5th inning be a called game? Would that be easier to code?

[LeiterFanatic]

If I remember correctly, the old APBA-based Baseball for Windows with the Ernie Harwell speech engine, had rainouts that were rescheduled as double headers. It was fun to see if you could nurse a lead into the bottom of the 5th then pray for harder rain.

P

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by Cryomaniac

As a compromise to re-scheduled games, why not have a game that is delayed more than a certain amount after the 5th inning be a called game? Would that be easier to code?

I wouldn't mind seeing rain-shortened games in addtion to games completely postponed. There are quite a few of the former in earlier major league years. Weather also caused a few tie games as well.