Garcia's Blog 6/25/15- Importance of 'Reading' a Card
Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2015 4:17 pmHey guys,
The past two weeks we've had a decent amount of questions from new gamers asking why their players aren't performing as they did in real life and how come their stats are so different than on the cards?
As gamers will quickly realize, the cards are created to play in a replay of that season. Even in a single-season game such as 2014, once you go to all-star leagues the players will be facing different pitchers, in different ballparks, and with different teammates. Once anything changes the results will likely change. Even though your team may all be all-stars, remember that everyone else's will be too! Everybody is likely facing more difficult opponents than who they faced in real life. Of course, even playing with the exact same opponents you expect some variation or there would be no point in playing the game in the first place!
Because of all of this, the true value of a player is not necessarily his real-life batting average, home runs, or ERA. It's the card numbers.
Before you can calculate card numbers, first you must know how to read a card. We can use Yastrzemski and Drysdale as the examples. For each at-bat the Baseball Online game engine simulates a dice roll. The first "roll" determines whether the result will be found on the batters card or the pitchers card while the second "roll" of two dice determines the result.
Using the cards above, if the first roll was a 1 and the second roll a 4, the 1 corresponds to the "1" column on Yaz's card and then the 4 is the result. Looking at 1-4, Yaz homers! While first rolls of 1, 2, and 3 are always on the batters cards, rolls of 4, 5, or 6 correspond to columns on a pitchers card. Now with that basic rule down, while viewing some cards you can approximately tell the value of a card just by looking at it. Lots of BOLD results on a batters card is obviously good while the same on a pitchers card is trouble. However not every result has the same chance of happening. Remember two dice are "rolled" to determine the actual result. A home run on a 7 result is much more probably than a home run on a 2 result.
ROLL CHANCES
2 1
3 2
4 3
5 4
6 5
7 6
8 5
9 4
10 3
11 2
12 1
Each column actually has 36 (not 11) chances so each card has 108 chances on it. Looking at Yaz's card and by using the chart above we can quickly tell that he as 13 BB chances vs a LHP and 18 BB chances vs a RHP. These numbers come out to 12% vs LHP (13/108) and 17% vs RHP. Facing Drysdale, a RHP who only has 5 BB chances vs a LHB, the total chance of Yaz talking a walk comes to 11%.
Now calculating every players card in a set is a daunting task but knowing the value of a players card is a tremendous asset while playing. Ratings guides are available for some of the recent seasons that already have the chances counted for you. Veteran managers can win season after season using this data, adjusting the players based on their ballpark and others in the league, and of course using defense and balancing the salary cap. For new users, these numbers should be the first thing you look at to try and calculate a player's value.
My favorite way to evaluate cards after knowing the chances is by using Dean Carrano's Offense vs Defense chart.
An excellent tool for ATG users is http://www.diamonddope.com. This gives you the breakdowns for every player in ATG 8! You can also use this website as a lineup evaluator as well.
That's all I have for this week, if you have any questions as always please e-mail us at onlinegamesupport@strat-o-matic.com.
-John
The past two weeks we've had a decent amount of questions from new gamers asking why their players aren't performing as they did in real life and how come their stats are so different than on the cards?
As gamers will quickly realize, the cards are created to play in a replay of that season. Even in a single-season game such as 2014, once you go to all-star leagues the players will be facing different pitchers, in different ballparks, and with different teammates. Once anything changes the results will likely change. Even though your team may all be all-stars, remember that everyone else's will be too! Everybody is likely facing more difficult opponents than who they faced in real life. Of course, even playing with the exact same opponents you expect some variation or there would be no point in playing the game in the first place!
Because of all of this, the true value of a player is not necessarily his real-life batting average, home runs, or ERA. It's the card numbers.
Before you can calculate card numbers, first you must know how to read a card. We can use Yastrzemski and Drysdale as the examples. For each at-bat the Baseball Online game engine simulates a dice roll. The first "roll" determines whether the result will be found on the batters card or the pitchers card while the second "roll" of two dice determines the result.
Using the cards above, if the first roll was a 1 and the second roll a 4, the 1 corresponds to the "1" column on Yaz's card and then the 4 is the result. Looking at 1-4, Yaz homers! While first rolls of 1, 2, and 3 are always on the batters cards, rolls of 4, 5, or 6 correspond to columns on a pitchers card. Now with that basic rule down, while viewing some cards you can approximately tell the value of a card just by looking at it. Lots of BOLD results on a batters card is obviously good while the same on a pitchers card is trouble. However not every result has the same chance of happening. Remember two dice are "rolled" to determine the actual result. A home run on a 7 result is much more probably than a home run on a 2 result.
ROLL CHANCES
2 1
3 2
4 3
5 4
6 5
7 6
8 5
9 4
10 3
11 2
12 1
Each column actually has 36 (not 11) chances so each card has 108 chances on it. Looking at Yaz's card and by using the chart above we can quickly tell that he as 13 BB chances vs a LHP and 18 BB chances vs a RHP. These numbers come out to 12% vs LHP (13/108) and 17% vs RHP. Facing Drysdale, a RHP who only has 5 BB chances vs a LHB, the total chance of Yaz talking a walk comes to 11%.
Now calculating every players card in a set is a daunting task but knowing the value of a players card is a tremendous asset while playing. Ratings guides are available for some of the recent seasons that already have the chances counted for you. Veteran managers can win season after season using this data, adjusting the players based on their ballpark and others in the league, and of course using defense and balancing the salary cap. For new users, these numbers should be the first thing you look at to try and calculate a player's value.
My favorite way to evaluate cards after knowing the chances is by using Dean Carrano's Offense vs Defense chart.
An excellent tool for ATG users is http://www.diamonddope.com. This gives you the breakdowns for every player in ATG 8! You can also use this website as a lineup evaluator as well.
That's all I have for this week, if you have any questions as always please e-mail us at onlinegamesupport@strat-o-matic.com.
-John