How to fix the mystery games

[coyote303]

[quote:604b5b732e="sidfernandez"]I'm kind of incredulous.

Are you saying that at the beginning of the season if you let HAL put together your lineup that he'll select the good cards out of your "deck"? thus providing a valuable resource to separate the chaff from the wheat?

I don't know whether be pleased to know this now or cry because it's taken me until now to find this out?

This is my favorite card format, but it is also the one with my worst overall record. I'm playing my 9th team to the tune of an overall winning percentage of 0.469, 1 playoff appearance.

Let me know if what I said was incorrect. Thanks[/quote:604b5b732e]

Sid, that is exactly how I felt. Several months ago, when someone cut Frank Howard after the first series with zero at bats, the light bulb went off for me. There was a time my winning percentage in the 70s game was over .550. Then, suddenly I couldn't win anymore and my winning percentage slowly dropped down to .500.

I haven't decided yet if I will simply stick to single-season teams (like I've been doing lately), or adapt by adopting the technique myself. But even if I do the latter, the charm of the mystery game will be gone.

[durantjerry]

[quote:f853c4729e]Just remember though, for each person who swears by HAL lineups, there is someone who thinks it's a bad idea. [/quote:f853c4729e]
Agreed. I may have been in the league with Voovits. In fact, he may have beat me in the finals. I could care less if someone uses HAL to determine good years. Personally, I think it's misguided. You can't even depend on HAL to use a closer in obvious closer situations so how can you be sure he's going to use the best card when a line up spot is open?

[voovits]

Here's perfect proof why the system does not need to be changed.
In one of my leagues I was certain I did not have Rod Carews best card, so I released him to free up some cap room. This was even though he was hitting .579 through 19 ABs (5 games).
Well, he was quickly acquired by someone else and is currently hitting .426 through 122ABs with 7 triples to the tune of a 1.165OPS.

So the system is certainly imperfect.