Why am I paying money Bernie?

[palacekillers]

I've just about had it with my team. I had been swept once all season, won 9 out of my last twelve, and then unexplicably lost 12 of my next 15, including 3 sweeps in 5 series'? This is crap. I realize this is simulation and won't exactly come out to real life stats, but can't I still expect Vlad Guerrero, Lance Berkman, and Carlos Beltran to out hit Mike Lamb? Aren't the salaries made in such a way as to pay more for guys who produce more?

This is crap man. There is no good reason to pay $25 for this kind of garbage. At least in my fantasy leagues if I don't do well it is because my players aren't performing in real life. There is no reason for it here. I'm following all the advice the "experts" give me and it is getting worse, not better.

[palacekillers]

Here you go - my team is 3-14 in 1 run games. The next closest team percentage-wise is 11-20. That's realistic.

[teepack]

You have to give it time, palace. Lamb is hitting .471 for me, and Alphonso Soriano is hitting .183. I suspect that will change around. And remember, my season is only 18 games old. How many games are you into your season?

[FRANKMANSUETO]

Palacekillers, just a few points for starters. Fantasy Baseball is based on the season being played right now. SOM is based on stats from the 2006 season. SOM is based on probability and you can have good and bad with that. Plus you are in a 12 team league not 30 so the teams are going to be more competive thereby producing different results then what they actually did for the season past. Other factors like thye park you play in, plus the parks in your division and league will dictate outcome. If you have the wrong players for your park that will give you different results. These are just some of the nuances that come with learning how to play the game online. Everyone of us that haved played for a # of years have experienced the ups and downs. Post a link to your team so we can check it out.

[LMBombers]

Palacekillers you can take your early dissapointment in different ways. You can be angry because you are not doing well with what you thought was a Championship team. :evil: You can blame the community who is trying give you what they feel is their best opinions. :evil: You can blame Bernie and TSN for charging $25 for a game that you can't find success at right out of the gate. :evil:

You can also take your early struggles as a personal challenge and try to learn the nuances of the game more. Learn what types of players are better at different parks. Learn how to take advantage of your division opponents better. Look at how to put together successful lineups so that you are not taken advantage of by your opponents. The best way to do all of that is by experience and studying successful teams.

Remember that in every league there will be 8 teams (75% of the league) that will not make the playoffs. If you make the playoffs in more than 25% of your teams you are beating the odds.

If you care to take the time and try to become better at TSN/SOM baseball I'm sure you will be successful. It is like most anything you try to do. The first few trys at it won't usually be as successful as later, after you have more experience. If you are not willing to try to learn the game then you might as well quit now.

[SGTD]

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/atg2/team/team_other.html?user_id=47298

This Team had Ted Williams and I had to drop him to find a Pitcher to get someone out and it was very annoying :evil:

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2002/team/team_other.html?user_id=9430

This Team crushed Teams and lost in the First Round (Best Team won 102 Games), this team was a Blast :D

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2002/team/team_other.html?user_id=759

This team won my only Title and it should not have, the best Team won 102 games, but who am I to complain :D .

Keep trying and have fun, my first Team I had lost over 100 Games and I thought this game sucked. I had a bunch of 1's on Defense with great Pitching (R. Johnson, Schilling, Colon, Moyer and C.C...It was the 2001 Game) and Dodger Stadium thinking I could win with Defense and Pitching (Boy was I wrong). I have meet some pretty cool players here and have more fun with the Live Drafts and banter than anything else with the prayer that I can win another Title some day. SGT D

[the bigmje]

Just relax and have a good time.
It is only a "game".

[durantjerry]

I think you posted this team a while ago and myself and others pointed out some poor decisions in the way you put your team together. Not a criticism of you, as we all(at least me) did the same when we first started. Your poor record, while very bad, is somewhat to be expected with the bad team construction and in-season drops you've made. Also, most of the real experts don't really participate on the boards. They used to a lot, but have been playing a long time and must just mostly pay attention to their teams. Not everyone who answers the call for an 'expert" is neccessarily an "expert" Finally, if I recall correctly, which I usually do, you did not post your team until the season started. At that point, it's really too late, but I know I warned you concernig Beltran & Berkman in Fenway in the first post after your team was posted. So, stop complaining, suck it up, have fun, learn from your mistakes and try again.

[Coffeeholic]

Palacekillers, a large part of being successful in this game is to choose the right players for your team that will do 2 things: 1) Take the biggest advantage of the ball parks you will be playing in (esp. your own); 2) Take the biggest advantage of any match-up opportunities afforded by your opponents.

If Durantjerry (Fatty) warned you about Beltran and Berkman in Fenway, it was with good reason. They each have 8 BP HR's on their cards vs RHP (meaning they will be batting left-handed), yet Fenway only gives BP HR's on a roll of 1-3 for left-handed batters... hence these will turn into outs 85% of the time. You''ll play half your games in Fenway, and half the time you will be rolling on the hitters card. This means that 1/4 of their AB's will be off their cards @ Fenway - or - let's say 159 PA's for easy math (636 Pa's for the season divided by 4 = 159, which is the same as taking 106 x 1.5, 106 being the total # of chances per card).

In 159 rolls on a card that has 8 BP HR's on it, this equals 12 HR opportunities per season. If at Fenway, the BP HR is only 15% successful, this equates to 1.8 HR's per season. On the other hand, if you were playing in US Cell (BP HR on 1-19), these same 12 BP HR opportunities would equate to 11.4 HR's. To compound your woes, what if a wily manager recognized your weakness vs LHP, and sent Left-handed pitching against you on a consistent basis?

Another ggod example of player's under or over-performing can be found by comparing hiiting in Coors vs hitting in RFK. Almost every hitter and pitcher has 5 BP single chances on their cards. In Coors (1-19 BP Singles), this equates to a hit 95% of the time, in RFK (1 BP Singles) only a hit 5% of the time. Using that same 636PA's per season this equates to 14.25 hits in Coors as opposed to .75 hits in RFK (636/2 = 318, 318/106 = 3, 3 x (5x.95) = 14.25 or 3 x (5x.05) = .75). Thus you can see the big discrepenciy in Batting averages that this would produce for the same player.

And neither one of these examples factors in the pitching cards or opponents parks your batters will be facing and playing in.

If you compound these type of explanations with the fact that the calibre of pitching your batters face in our 12 team leagues will be consistently better than the pitching faced during the actual season (and vice-versa for pitchers facing better hitting), perhaps you can see why some of your players are under-performing so badly.

A very helpful (although simplistic) rule of thumb for managers new to Strat is: A hitter who played in a hitter's park in reality, will likely underperform in our simulated seasons (and vice-versa for a hitter who played in a pitcher's park); A pitcher who pitched in a pitcher's park in reality, will also likely underperform his actual statistics (again vice-versa for a pitcher who pitched in a hitters park).

A second rule of thumb (useful to us all) is to remember that during the course of a 162 game schedule, the sample size for player performances enlarges, thus tending to even things out. So often times, the best advice is just to be patient.

There's a great thread in the Strategy Forum entitled "Newbie Advice Thread" which is full of some great insights which are useful to anyone new to Strat. You might want to give that a good read through and then think about how you might want to approach your second team. My 1st team went 62-100, but I learned a bit from that woeful season (and each succeeding season) and ended up liking the game so much that I've since played over 200 more (which is a small number compared to some of the vets you'll encounter around here).

[buster j ratt]

I started in ATG II Knew nothing Lost 109 then 103 and won ring with 3rd team on dumb luck Made playoffs with 4th team THen 24 straight losing seasons before paying attention to forums Still lose more than I win but play a lot of ATG III themes with some of the best in this game Have 6 rings 1 2006 2 ATG II and 3 ATG III but have had to manage my butt off to win them Have had same P win 27 and then lose 21 in a different ballpark Berkman ( I am Astros fan) is not good for me in many parks Minute Maid (his home park) He has not been worth the money but had Monster year in 2006 Cellular for me plus if Lamb is platooning against only RH he will have above avg #'s almost anywhere :P