An Experiment of 3 Teams

[chazzycat]

For the second straight year, back-to-back sweeps to reach the WS:

[Goliathus]

Originally Posted by chazzycat

@Cheesehead - the park factors for small ball are the maximum for AVG and GAP (1.1 and 1.5 respectively), and the minimum for HR (.9).

What's your opinion on a lower than 1.5 for Double but everything else stays the same? My thinking is that the .9 HR might turn some of the would-be HRs into Double so Double is more of a shared advantage. So, lowering that and banking the performance more on AVG and Triple.

[chazzycat]

I wouldn't want to do that on my team at this point, because they have kind of transitioned more into a gap-hitting team than an actual small-ball team. And my premium outfield defense is also helping me out a lot there too...my outfield was +40 in ZR this past season. I gotta think they are saving a lot of balls from reaching the gaps, whereas my hitters are getting more of theirs past the defense.

But yeah I could definitely see how a true small-ball team with more singles hitters and stolen bases would benefit from turning down the doubles modifer.

[Cheesehead1964]

Originally Posted by chazzycat

@Cheesehead - the park factors for small ball are the maximum for AVG and GAP (1.1 and 1.5 respectively), and the minimum for HR (.9).

I'm going to try this on my Bees next season. They did decent scoring runs and AVG.



I shored up the lineup with more players with high contact, gap, and Avoid K - already had several in place. I'm going to lose some HR power getting rid of diamond Reggie Jackson and a few other home run hitters (did decent there this year). Used a few of your player suggestions.


Wondering if I should go for Balanced or Moderate Small Ball for strategy?

[chazzycat]

Originally Posted by Cheesehead1964

Wondering if I should go for Balanced or Moderate Small Ball for strategy?

I wouldn't really recommend any of the pre-set strategy options. They can be a good starting point, but none of them are really going to be perfect. Like the smallball one has a lot of sacrifice bunts which are really stupid. In the end, you'll probably want customized strategies for each player, so you're overriding the strategy anyway and so it doesn't really matter.

[chazzycat]

Well, it was not to be. Sadly there was no repeat for the Balancers this week, going down in just five games. My opponent was interesting though. It's one of those tricksy, well-constructed teams like my others, but with an even more extreme park - only lefties hitting for average get an advantage while all other factors are min. And of course their team's lineup was all lefties with good contact skills. I had a good amount of lefties myself (about half) but it wasn't enough. So maybe being Perfectly Balanced doesn't always help in the playoffs.

Here are some end of season updates:

Small-Ballers
Record: 102-60 (1st)
Run Differential: +198 (2nd)
Runs Scored: 782 (7th)
Runs Allowed: 584 (2nd)
MVPs: Gary Maddox (5.7 WAR), Justin Verlander (5.2 WAR)
Notable Ranks: 1st in AVG, doubles, 2nd in OBP, 2nd in ZR (+72), 1st in bullpen ERA, last in HR

SaberCats
Record: 78-84 (4th)
Run Differential: +7
Runs Scored: 650 (26th)
Runs Allowed: 643 (4th)
MVPs: Eddie Matthews (5.5 WAR), Rick Reuschel (3.8 WAR)
Notable Ranks: 1st in HR, 3rd in Defensive Efficiency

Balancers
Record: 86-76 (2nd)
Run Differential: +11
Runs Scored: 739 (16th)
Runs Allowed: 728 (17th)
MVPs: Francisco Lindor (4.9 WAR), Whitey Ford (4.0 WAR)
Notable Ranks: average in almost everything except pitching strikeouts - 27th. 17th in HR

[chazzycat]

Originally Posted by chazzycat

...an average-ish amount of homers seems like a reasonable expectation.

ended up ranked 17th, so pretty close.

[Sipimi]

Originally Posted by chazzycat

Well, it was not to be. Sadly there was no repeat for the Balancers this week, going down in just five games. My opponent was interesting though. It's one of those tricksy, well-constructed teams like my others, but with an even more extreme park - only lefties hitting for average get an advantage while all other factors are min. And of course their team's lineup was all lefties with good contact skills. I had a good amount of lefties myself (about half) but it wasn't enough. So maybe being Perfectly Balanced doesn't always help in the playoffs.

Here are some end of season updates:

Small-Ballers
Record: 102-60 (1st)
Run Differential: +198 (2nd)
Runs Scored: 782 (7th)
Runs Allowed: 584 (2nd)
MVPs: Gary Maddox (5.7 WAR), Justin Verlander (5.2 WAR)
Notable Ranks: 1st in AVG, doubles, 2nd in OBP, 2nd in ZR (+72), 1st in bullpen ERA, last in HR

SaberCats
Record: 78-84 (4th)
Run Differential: +7
Runs Scored: 650 (26th)
Runs Allowed: 643 (4th)
MVPs: Eddie Matthews (5.5 WAR), Rick Reuschel (3.8 WAR)
Notable Ranks: 1st in HR, 3rd in Defensive Efficiency

Balancers
Record: 86-76 (2nd)
Run Differential: +11
Runs Scored: 739 (16th)
Runs Allowed: 728 (17th)
MVPs: Francisco Lindor (4.9 WAR), Whitey Ford (4.0 WAR)
Notable Ranks: average in almost everything except pitching strikeouts - 27th. 17th in HR

Great job with the Balancers, my team was the one stopping you from a championship. I hope I see you in Diamond next season!

[chazzycat]

oh, nice! Great team construction, I might have to try one of those extreme lefty/righty things one of these days...

But honestly I fear for the Balancers life in diamond. I wouldn't be surprised if they get roughed up pretty badly or even relegated, since they were barely average at gold level.

[chazzycat]

I FINALLY got Mike Trout for the SaberCats. Man...that was tough waiting so long. I have been pleasantly surprised that they have managed to hang around in diamond without any upgrades for such a long time. Hopefully he injects some much needed offense...if 100 EYE and 100 POWER doesn't help, I'm all out of ideas.

[Sipimi]

Originally Posted by chazzycat

oh, nice! Great team construction, I might have to try one of those extreme lefty/righty things one of these days...

But honestly I fear for the Balancers life in diamond. I wouldn't be surprised if they get roughed up pretty badly or even relegated, since they were barely average at gold level.

My intuition is that the biggest "jump" is from Diamond to Perfect (it was for me in 19), so I'll keep an eye on your Balancers to test my hypothesis but if it's right, then they should be staying in Diamond (and maybe performing well).

FYI I'm in the same league as you this week, but this time it's with the SmallBallers with my defensive-focused team (Quebec Carnavals).

[pappyzan]

Get these SmallBallers up to perfect where they belong already! C'mon let's go!

[chazzycat]

Originally Posted by Sipimi

FYI I'm in the same league as you this week, but this time it's with the SmallBallers with my defensive-focused team (Quebec Carnavals).

Ha! I was just looking at that team, after I noticed my SmallBallers were only ranked 2nd in batting average. It's a really nice team, well constructed. I might even have to steal a player or two...I hadn't seen that Jim Piersall card for instance, I think that might be an upgrade for my 4th outfielder situation.

[Sipimi]

Originally Posted by chazzycat

Ha! I was just looking at that team, after I noticed my SmallBallers were only ranked 2nd in batting average. It's a really nice team, well constructed. I might even have to steal a player or two...I hadn't seen that Jim Piersall card for instance, I think that might be an upgrade for my 4th outfielder situation.

He's been pretty good so far, only downside is that his price is quite high, especially for a 4th outfielder (over 3,000 PP).

[Charlatan]

Originally Posted by chazzycat

@Cheesehead - the park factors for small ball are the maximum for AVG and GAP (1.1 and 1.5 respectively), and the minimum for HR (.9).

Wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute ---- are you telling me that the park factors for Doubles & Triples can be GREATER than 1.1? That it can be 1.5? I always interpreted the warning you see:

"AVG & HR facdtors must be <1.1 and > 0.9"

to mean all six of the values in the list (AVG LHB, AVG RHB, Doubles, Triples, Home Runs LHB, Home Runs RHB) had to be between 0.9 and 1.1... are you saying Doubles and Triples can be 1.5?

My universe is exploding!

If indeed you can set Doubles and Triples to 1.5... what effect does this have? As a back of the envelope explanation, I figure setting AVG to 1.1 means pitcher performance will suffer by about 10%. And setting HR to 0.9 means the pitchers give up about 10% fewer HR, so their MOV ratings are effectively 10% better than shown. But adding to Doubles and Triples.... does this turn singles into XBH? What effect do you think this has on pitching? Do you think it's reasonable to figure the increase in XBH cancels out the decrease in HR?

[chazzycat]

Haha, yes...modifiers for doubles and triples do go up to 1.5. I think it is definitely significant.

As far as turning singles into doubles or whatnot, I honestly have no clue precisely how it works. But I figured that having strong gap power ratings, plus really good rangy outfielders, would give me the best possible advantage. And it seems to be working!

In terms of overall offense, I suspect that the 1.1 modifier for singles already cancels out the .9 modifier for HR, and more. The extra doubles and triples on top of that are just gravy. Even with my really solid defense, my SmallBaller pitchers have way higher ERAs than the SaberCats pitchers, that's for sure.

[Argonaut]

It would be interesting to see whether an actual smallball team could perform in Perfect Team. I'm thinking maybe it could be a counter to modern strategy in some respects.

With the prevalence of the shift, what if you had some batters who were lefty pull-hitters with the ability to bunt for hit? Skilled bunters could beat the shift and get on base. Would the OOTP engine "understand" that there is a hole down the third baseline? Are there any cards with lefty pull-hitting that can bunt?

The gap hitting team you've made is great though, would be a lot of fun to watch that kind of baseball rather than three outcomes.

[chazzycat]

Originally Posted by Argonaut

It would be interesting to see whether an actual smallball team could perform in Perfect Team. I'm thinking maybe it could be a counter to modern strategy in some respects.

Something for me to try next year! Yeah, it would be interesting. Now that you mention it I'm kind of mad at myself for not trying more bunt strategies...I don't really know how effective it is, but I should have at least tried, in the name of small ball.

There are definitely a decent number of cheap guys with high "bunt for hit" ratings available. But they tend to be speedy guys who are more groundball/line drive/spray hitters, I'm not seeing many who pull at all. Not that I'm sure that even matters. That would be a good one to test out in the sim module some day when I have time...

I wonder if I should rename the SmallBallers at this point to something more along the lines of gap hitters... If anyone has a clever idea for a team name let me know....coming up with creative names is really not my strong suit

[chazzycat]

Some updates:

The SmallBallers continue looking good at diamond. They are clearly one of the top few teams in their league, for the 3rd straight week, and currently sitting on the best run differential in the league. I'm just waiting on that playoff luck to see how these guys do in perfect. Otherwise there's not much to say really, the strategy just works really well at all these lower levels. My offense and defense are both fantastic, as well as the bullpen. The starting rotation has been the biggest weakness so far, but not that bad really (Santana threw a no-no!), and I've got a bit of a PP bank built up for upgrades.

The SaberCats are quite funny this week, really. Before I nabbed Trout, they had started out well, with a +20 run differential in April and looking competitive. Since I made the move, they just started playing like absolute dog ****. It's not Trout's fault really, he's put up 1 WAR in just 100 PA, which is fine. Low end for him, but fine. But man overall they have just been horrendous on offense. I mean, usually they are bad at making contact...but not "6 of 9 regulars hitting below the Mendoza line" bad. Yeesh. Despite this, their pitching and defense has kept them a couple games above .500.

The Balancers are really struggling at diamond. If the season ended today, they would be relegated. Instead of being average-to-above-average at everything, they are bad at everything. To illustrate:



Yikes.

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by chazzycat

The SaberCats are quite funny this week, really. Before I nabbed Trout, they had started out well, with a +20 run differential in April and looking competitive. Since I made the move, they just started playing like absolute dog ****. It's not Trout's fault really, he's put up 1 WAR in just 100 PA, which is fine. Low end for him, but fine. But man overall they have just been horrendous on offense. I mean, usually they are bad at making contact...but not "6 of 9 regulars hitting below the Mendoza line" bad. Yeesh. Despite this, their pitching and defense has kept them a couple games above .500.

Bad chemistry... yeah, I know they say it is not enabled.