Base Stealing

[SCOTTZIMMERMAN]

I strongly disagree with setting your stealing to conservative or extra conservative. I think you need to look at your opponents catching arms and if they are a 0 or higer then you should be on aggressive. A stolen base is big in this game and if you have a 65% chance or better of advancing a base you should do so. That is a better chance than waiting to for a hit to advance a runner and also a better chance that hitting that runner into a doubleplay while he is at first.

[hechojazz]

Don't you also want to review the hold ratings on the pitchers you'll be facing? The "green light" that 0 or +1 catcher's arm could suggest may be tempered by effective hold ratings...and if you are in a hitters park I think the steal is a riskier proposition.

[SCOTTZIMMERMAN]

Yes the hold rating is something to put into consideration when going with an aggresive setting however a conservative setting in my opinion is hurting your team and creating less scoring chances. I never put my team below normal on the setting.

[Mean Dean]

What you're saying would only make sense if the stealing setting changed the percentage of the time that, given a decent success rate, you'd attempt to go for the steal. I don't think that's how it works, though. I think it decreases the actual success rate at which you're willing to steal. If that's the case, then it doesn't matter who the battery is, you still want to go at the same success rate. You'll just reach that success rate more often against a bad SB-defense battery; that part takes care of itself.

Usually I go to the PC game help file to figure these sort of questions out, but it's no help at all on this issue. My experience indicates to me that what I'm saying is how it works, but that of course is just my experience and interpretation.

[SCOTTZIMMERMAN]

I cant find the answer on my PC game version either. However, from experience I have never ever put my team below normal on stealing and my teams have always had a very good stolen base percentage. I usually play about 1/3 of my games on aggressive depending on the battery I will be facing as well.