How is the new season going?

[el_gringo]

☉.☉

Nicely done, should be a fun day at the AH/pack opening factory!!

Originally Posted by Westheim

Ka-ching!

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Maddox

Damn man, that one game total is probably my PP tally for the first two seasons combined.

It comes and it goes. Two or three games earlier the exact same lineup managed three hits against another scrap metal pitcher. Yesterday I had a game where my Carlos Carrasco (93) was mauled for seven runs and a 50-something threw a shutout against my team.

If it helps you hurt less, I immediately bought three packs, but got nothing much in terms of value except two silver relievers (Andrew Chafin, Oliver Drake). I also unpacked a Luis Aparicio, who I heard people rave about, but his ratings don't excite me. Sticking to Carlos Correa.

The Aparicio thing is weird, because in my dynasty I usually strive for defense and often have a suffering offense for it. But in this game, defense does not give you a whole lot. Offense makes PP, lots of them.

Edit: ...and Correa just won Player of the Week for another 100 PP.

[One Post Wonder]

Originally Posted by Maddox

Damn man, that one game total is probably my PP tally for the first two seasons combined.

I'm one of the top teams at the highest current league level and that one game total is more than I've earned all year. Are achievements just a crapshoot or what?

Though TBF I've earned more from one trade than I've earned in achievements this year, too.

If I'm not promoted this year, next year I swear I'm getting relegated so I can harvest that sweet, sweet pp from you Rookie Leaguers. You're looking like a field of ripe, delicious watermelons.

* Edit: I was kidding when I first wrote the last statement. But you know what? This is the beta and if it looks like I'm not going to be among the very top teams, I'll either prove or disprove my tinfoil hat theory that sandbagging will be a disgustingly OP tactic in the full release.

If I don't move up this year, I'll tank next year, win 140 games in rookie the following year, and document the journey and the earnings for review.

[Maddox]

I am not sure sandbagging would be overly effective. You would be giving up potential PP this season to try and earn more next season but who is to say that you it wouldn't earn as much on average if you just played out each season?

[el_gringo]

Originally Posted by Westheim

I also unpacked a Luis Aparicio, who I heard people rave about, but his ratings don't excite me. Sticking to Carlos Correa.

The Aparicio thing is weird, because in my dynasty I usually strive for defense and often have a suffering offense for it. But in this game, defense does not give you a whole lot. Offense makes PP, lots of them.

Edit: ...and Correa just won Player of the Week for another 100 PP.

Hard to argue for replacing Correa with Aparicio unless you've got plenty of other offense, but perhaps he would be a defensive upgrade (once he played enough games) with less of an offensive loss if moved to another IF spot? I had pretty decent success with him at 3B in an earlier league. He also makes a pretty solid pinch runner/IF defensive backup, if you've got a roster spot available for that.

I agree that defense doesn't earn you much PP, and I wish there were more defensively-focused achievements, but I think those are trickier to implement than offensive/pitching achievements...

[stl jason]

Originally Posted by el_gringo

Hard to argue for replacing Correa with Aparicio unless you've got plenty of other offense, but perhaps he would be a defensive upgrade (once he played enough games) with less of an offensive loss if moved to another IF spot? I had pretty decent success with him at 3B in an earlier league. He also makes a pretty solid pinch runner/IF defensive backup, if you've got a roster spot available for that.

I agree that defense doesn't earn you much PP, and I wish there were more defensively-focused achievements, but I think those are trickier to implement than offensive/pitching achievements...

perhaps PP for turning a certain number of double-plays.... or throwing out a certain number of runners trying to steal.... or pickoffs... etc.

(assuming those aren't already in the mix for earning points)

[Westheim]

And I got an Alfonso Soriano-sponsored Grand Salami for 500 PP. Sorry guys? If it makes you feel better, I will have it all wiped pretty soon.

[thakfu]

11 game perfect streak for a 60 overall pitcher? I'll take it!

[One Post Wonder]

Originally Posted by Maddox

I am not sure sandbagging would be overly effective. You would be giving up potential PP this season to try and earn more next season but who is to say that you it wouldn't earn as much on average if you just played out each season?

Well, if I decide to go that route then that's what we're going to find out.

1. If I sandbagged, I'd arrange my roster in such a way that would maximize my pp output while losing. There's no direct tie between winning and pp; you can lose a game 16-2 and still earn more pp than your opponent.

I don't think I'd earn as much, but I'd be playing specifically to earn pp instead of to win. So who knows if that would even be true? If I did earn less, I don't think it would be as huge of a drop as you think.

2. On the way back up, I'd have a fair chance of winning pp nearly every game. Even getting more than 1 achievement in a game. And some of those achievements with an exceptional effort are huge. If I get one of those 3000 pp achievements, which is perfectly likely with a powerful team playing a default team 80 times a year, that would virtually make the experiment pay off by itself. And what if I do that 2 times, or 3?

And then I'd earn pp for making the playoffs, and being promoted. And after that I'd be in the same league I'm in now, with a bunch more pp than I have now, and I'll likely dominate that competition, too.

I'm not sure I'm going to try it yet. If this season goes well and I see a chance to become some kind of Major League champion in the beta, I'm going to take it since that likely won't happen in the real game.

But if I do try it, it will at least be an interesting study because some people will surely attempt the same thing after PT goes live.

[Maddox]

Home from work and decide that I need better starting pitching!!

EDIT: Crap!! I decided to go ahead and just use a buy now price for one of the pitchers I was looking at but decided to wait until after the sim at the top of the hour. Went back a few minutes ago and he was gone.

[SayHey1]

How is the new year going? Well, lets see.

Last year, I finished 1 game out of 1st in my division after leading the division 90% of the year. Nevertheless, I won the Wild Card game and then promptly got swept in the Divisional series.

Undaunted, I moved on from Rookie League to Single A league this year! To start my season out, I decided to open 2 packs at the first of April and what do you know....I got TWO Diamond players...a 98 Nolan Arenado and a 93 Luis Severino!

Happy Days are here again right?!?!

I promptly went on an 8 game losing streak to start the season and discovered I am in a league headed by a half dozen "whales" to compete against. Yay! Now almost halfway through the season, I find myself at 31-38 despite having the #2 starters ERA in my conference. How is that possible? Because despite having 4 gold relievers, I also have the #15 ERA among relievers in the conference. DEAD LAST. I've switched out relivers, changed roles, lowered workload, put on quick hooks, even in desperation tried using groundball only relievers...all to no avail.

Now, as we get closer to the all star break, I can see that hopes of a 2nd half turn around are dwindling away. I have had zero luck getting anything above a few silver players in my packs earned this year. (no golds, diamonds or perfects). I can see that the way the Auction market is, I have no chance of successfully bidding on Diamonds or above and because my team is mediocre to bad....not much in the way of PP coming.

Short of dropping a bunch of cash (which I've decided not to do), this season is almost over for me. The only thing left to decide is who to sell in auction in July/August when the other teams are making their big push.

Looking more and more like...welcome back to Rookie league rookie!

[drhay53]

Let's just say my season is going like this: "what are the relegation rules going to be?"

[Maddox]

Holding my own

April 9-16
May 16-13
June 14-12

So I will take two winning months after that lousy April. Especially since I am in the A level league now and still running with my single gold player out of my starter pack.

I am actively looking to improve my pitching now, especially my starters. I have a rotation of 2 silvers and 3 bronzes right now. They ain't doing so hot.

[Germaniac]

We should not overlook the fact that the players' performances (and subsequently the team's performance) depend on the level you're playing.

What works great on the rookie level may not work quite as good as you move up (and vice versa).

I. e. I have Don Drysdale, last season in 32 starts he was 3-12 with an ERA of 3.32 and a WHIP of 1.02, this season through 16 starts he's 6-8 with an ERA of 5.02 and a WHIP of 1.29.

It will/would be interesting to see how he performs in AA

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Germaniac

It will/would be interesting to see how he performs in AA

Yeah, "interesting" in a scientific sense, not from a fan's perspective of saying 'come on, boys, let's go out to the park and see Drysdale getting his intestines smeared all over the walls by the other team'.

[SayHey1]

Originally Posted by Maddox

Holding my own

April 9-16
May 16-13
June 14-12

So I will take two winning months after that lousy April. Especially since I am in the A level league now and still running with my single gold player out of my starter pack.

I am actively looking to improve my pitching now, especially my starters. I have a rotation of 2 silvers and 3 bronzes right now. They ain't doing so hot.

April 12-15 May 12-15 June 11-16. I have 2 Diamond, 10 Gold, 20+ Silver players, and my team last year won 91 games and a Wild Card game. It's almost like my players are ALL having historically bad years. I wish I could get to .500 instead of 11 games under with no hope...

[stl jason]

rookie league....

April: 16-10
May: 16-14 (enjoy that one day off boys)
June: 19-8

good for 2nd in my division (1.5 games back)... roster has 2 gold/14 silver/9 bronze players.... picked up a few player upgrades at the AH as I gain enough points, but those seem to come in waves.

[Dorfmann]

Rookie League
Beta Xi

It's going alright so far. I'm 54-24, 9 1/2 games up last time I looked. I've mostly tried to build around silver. I think I've purchased one gold on the AH and got lucky with a couple golds and one platinum from card packs.

[Whoofe]

Originally Posted by stl jason

perhaps PP for turning a certain number of double-plays.... or throwing out a certain number of runners trying to steal.... or pickoffs... etc.

(assuming those aren't already in the mix for earning points)

I mentioned this in a post last week


5 DPs in a game is a ton. teams should get PPs for that.

[sharknut]

Originally Posted by sharknut

Season 2 after promotion. Lost in league Championship last year, worst record amongst 30 teams this year.

*shrug*

Won 23 of my last 36/ Still 6 games under .500, but gone from 13 out of the wild card to 7 out.