"Gorilla ball" vs. "Small Ball"

[Larryrickenbacker]

Howdy,

So many good posts! Adam Katz, your observation never crossed my mind. Previously I'd only been critical of HAL's handling of my bullpen.
You've got a point about the simpler in-game decisions required from HAL if you have a "Gorilla Ball" team.

Larry

[durantjerry]

[quote:c9365ebfc1]All good points. But I think the pitching issue for small ball is more difficult since you don't know how many BPHRs are on your pitching card going in. In ATG and 2009, you have the actual cards you are using which can help calculate whether your pitching staff benefits from your home park.[/quote:c9365ebfc1]
I agree with your point that the pitching issue is more difficult in the mystery card games in small ball, as you don't know what you have and can't set your staff up. One thing I have tried is to use a couple of guys early who have a good card or two but give up the #HR and have a couple of neutral #HR guys that can pitch on the road. Say for example you play your first nine at home, take a shot with someone like Steve Stone to pitch the opener. By game nine you should know if you have his good card, which I have found to be pretty dominant. If you don't get his good card, his other cards are good enough that he can still win in the Astrodome. I think you have to really take advantage of the schedule to try out new, cheap pitching that has a high upside, as this is a luxury they don't get in the bomber parks. Frank LaCorte is another example of someone you can get as your fifth stater who can be very good and most of his bad cards are still OK in a non-#HR park environment. That being said, it is still tough to ignore the big name, lights out starters when putting a team together. My last "trick" is to mix in one or two top starters with the rest of the staff being cheap, where you can shuffle the starting assignments with the top echelon starters carrying the workload on the road whenever possible.

[The Senators]

I actually have a tougher time "reading" pitchers years when I use a homer park because it seems as though they all stink. I have had Don Sutton's best year when I played at Wrigley and he finished the season with a great record but an ERA over 5. All season long I contemplated getting rid of him because of this, which would have been a foolish move but the longer I play this game the more foolish I feel.

[The Senators]

Just a question...Is it better to have the lone small ball team in a predominantly hitters league and vice versa, or is it better to match similar wits and go head to head against similarly constructed teams?

[durantjerry]

I would rather be all alone. You get the advantage of less competition for "small ball" players, while the rest are fighting over the same guys. You just need to crank up the offense.

[JONCHUCKERY]

[quote:9fe52c8fbc="The Senators"]Just a question...Is it better to have the lone small ball team in a predominantly hitters league and vice versa, or is it better to match similar wits and go head to head against similarly constructed teams?[/quote:9fe52c8fbc]

I would rather be alone as well to max my home advantage...when I play small ball I will still go for a slugger or two so I still gain some advantage when going into the bomber parks

[PracticalDoc]

Growing up in the 70's I've always favored "small ball." However, indeed in Strat it is super hard to win like this. It does seem that hitters are favored for all the reasons noted. I too have tried the "gorilla" parks and have noted the pitchers stink there, of course, even with their best years. I don't find big ball very challenging. It is much more stimulating for me to strategize with a small ball team than to just sit back and watch the homers fly out of the park. I agree though that the AI on stealing, bunting and hit and run, leaves much to be desired. Notably, my 70's record sucks but is not nearly as bad as my 80's record which is worse than chance. The 80's is definitely a hitters' decade.