"Gorilla ball" vs. "Small Ball"

[Larryrickenbacker]

Howdy,

Current orthodoxy (Sabremetrics) leans toward "Gorilla Ball" as the best way to score runs [i:603157668f]in general[/i:603157668f]. I grew up attending Astros games in the 70s, where HRs were a virtual luxery; "Small Ball" was thier best chance, Wynn and Cedeno aside.
So, what offensive philosophy produces the most championships for SOM in the 70s? I'm a devoted "small baller" and have just one ring to show in two years, and that was with a 'Dome team that won a mere 83 games in the regular season!

Larry

PS: I'm beginning to think that it's alot simpler to just choose a "bomber" park and go for BP HRs offensively.

[The Senators]

I have one "hitter's park" championship but quite a few first round defeats with teams that won in the 90 and over range...I get killed. The rest of my champs were in pitcher's parks. Maybe just coincidence. My worst loss was a team that won 110 games and got swept in the first round to an 83 win team. That was a Fulton team.

[voovits]

There is one simple explanation as to why bomber teams are generally more effective offensively.
It only takes 1 hit to score a run (or more) with a homerun.
It would take 2, or possibly more hits to score 1 run using singles.

Of course what ever applies to your offense, the same applies to your pitching. That is why no particular strategy (in my opinion) is better than the other.

[YountFan]

in the 70's i tend to to better in the astrodome, in the 80's riverfront. they are different games

[JONCHUCKERY]

I've won rings in Ful Co and Tiger Std, but purposely set out to win a ring in a small ball std and I did with a team in Royals Std...

My philosphy is build a team to your strengths...forget the other stds because you play 81 games in your park so max out your players' abilities at home. I think its just the fact that more people prob play in bomber parks because they like seeing inflated stats that leads to more titles

I'm currently playing in only Yankee Std (outside of theme leagues) to see if I can win a ring there...if/when I do I'm going to go for a ring in Memorial Std which no one seems to ever use...it takes some experimenting as to who does well but build around your park and you should always do fine

[FAaron]

I think with mystery card games, it is easier to go with bombers. While speed and defense are constants (which would seem to favor small ball teams), there are plenty of power hitters available while few consistent OBP/speed/defense guys (Carew comes to mind, but his defense stinks). In addition, pitching is very inconsistent (I've seen Seaver be a beast or quite beatable, for example), and with small ball clubs, pitching can make all the difference.

[JONCHUCKERY]

[quote:a37bbb5ddd="FAaron"]I think with mystery card games, it is easier to go with bombers. While speed and defense are constants (which would seem to favor small ball teams), there are plenty of power hitters available while few consistent OBP/speed/defense guys (Carew comes to mind, but his defense stinks). In addition, pitching is very inconsistent (I've seen Seaver be a beast or quite beatable, for example), and with small ball clubs, pitching can make all the difference.[/quote:a37bbb5ddd]

Building off your point...I think the one thing to remember in building small ball is that you don't neglect your offense and don't think your going to win 2-1 because you have Seaver, Palmer, and Carlton. On my team that won a ring in Royals I still had Rice, Carew, and Rose drive in over 100 runs each to go along with 80 RBI and 129 RS from Morgan...while for pitching my 2 best were Gura at 17-7 with a 4.01ERA and Christensen at 18-4 with a 3.70ERA

[durantjerry]

I have played many, many small ball teams in many different games and I tend to agree it is more difficult to win. I think this is an offensive based game, and most small ball teams lean towards pitching and defense. That being said, just because you play small ball does not mean you can't have an offensive team. Nowadays, as mentioned earlier, most of my small ball teams are built around offense, but with a definite small-ball edge and cheap pitching that benefits from the park dimensions. I just won a 2009 championship in Kaufman(#HR1-3) against a traditional small ball team in Petco(#HR 1-1) where I spent only $22 on pitching(8th) and he spent $35(1st), but I was second in offense. I think having a offensive-type small ball team helps you in the playoffs vs slugging teams. You usually will have one or two guys who can keep it in the park to pitch on the road where you can slug with the bombers and then you go home where you still should have a good offense, but the slugging offense will be at least slightly bogged down in the big park.

[FAaron]

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. This is not the case with mystery cards, unless you get lucky and get the rare pitching injury reveals very early in the season.

[AdamKatz]

small ball requires HAL to make proper bunting and stealing decisions.