Archive of SportingNews.com's old SOM Baseball forum

Spinning off from something Valen said in the small ball theory thread...

The line in which building your team to match up verse your division and/or your league, it becomes real advantageous or too risky at which point? Also at what point does being the extreme minority ballpark (relative to division/league) become an advantage or disadvantage?

I apologize if I'm being unclear in what I'm asking above.

But for EG: 12 team league

You're the only extreme park in your division (say extreme LH power), two small balls and one middle of the road hitter park. Is that better for you or worse?

League wide, you're 1 of of 3 extreme power parks but the only LH power park. The other nine parks are 5 small ball and 4 middle of the road hitter parks.

Also regarding LH/RH bats league wide, at what % do you consider high enough to warrant building your staff's focus on RHB? Is 60% RH bats enough to focus your attention toward pitchers strongly balanced to face RHB?

I tried thinking about this from an opponent point of view. In a league where there is only 1 extreme lefty park I am less likely to carry an extra extreme lefty to counter. Doesn't make sense to go out of my way for just one team. But if there are multiple lefty parks I probably carry that extra matchup starter and maybe even 2 if both can relieve as well. And I may look around for possible lefty bat off the bench.

Ditto in reverse for Right side.

I would also assume if I am the only one targeting a LH or RH strategy then there should be less competition for the best cards for that strategy.

My conclusion is it is good to be the only one using any given extreme strategy. My experience is from one league to the next very difficult to predict when such a situation will exist, especially since there are so many who like to go extreme because it is easier to win with that strategy, especially for vets who really know how to take advantage and/or select the right players to fit an extreme strategy.

Very similar to my line of reasoning.

One of my thoughts was with few opponents going to the lengths to focus on matching up with me I could possibly put up a large number of wins at home, requiring a less than stellar record on the road.