Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365

Heaven knows I've had my share of bad teams and my share of bad runs just like most of us but I think I can safely say that I have never had streak of bad luck like the one I am currently experiencing. It's a 60m DH league and I started out 55-30 (.647) over the first 85 games and then I went into a 8-27 (.229) tailspin and I now stand at 63-57 (.525) and I can't understand it. I haven't changed anything (until tonight because I'm desperate), I've had almost no injuries, and most of the other teams have not made big changes. My hitting has tapered of a little but not drastically so, and my run differential has remained pretty constant at +30-35. I seem to be losing a lot of one run games recently so I guess the minor loss of hitting is bigger than it seems. I'm not complaining, everyone has to take the bad with the good, but it just goes to show that the win/loss margin is often very thin and sometimes it doesn't take much to push you over the edge one way or the other. Since misery loves company I just wonder how many have had a really horrendous run like this with what started out as a good team. Also were you able to pull out in time. I've had flameouts of course, but nothing like this. I feel like Maverick in Top Gun when he was in that flat spin and I better "punch out" pretty soon before I hit the ground. Boy I hope Goose makes it out.

Goose was a good man. We all liked him. I'm sorry.

It's a long season. I've learned that most teams go through a bad streak at one time or another. I once had a team in a 24 team $100 mil franchise league in ATG6, the Phillies, that started the season 0-2 and then reeled off 16 wins in a row. They looked like world beaters, then the injuries came and just kept coming. The team finished 82-80. During one 42 game stretch (more than a quarter of the season) it went 12-30, a dismal .286 winning percentage. At one point during the 42 game stretch it lost 9 straight series and was a less than abysmal 5-22, a .185 winning percentage. 11 of the losses were by 1 run and 3 were by two runs. The team was 0-14 in games started by the no. 3 & 4 starters, both $6 mil+ pitchers, during the 5-22 stretch. Below is a link to that team:

http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/335837

I also had another team in ATG6 in the Barnstormers Tournament start 19-5, but it finished with just 85 wins after again being beset by injuries. The link to that team is below:

http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/325441

I've seen this happen time and time again. I think there is something built into the game engine that slows down teams that get off to too fast of a start. Not only have I seen it happen to my teams, but I've seen it happen to other teams as well, dating all the way back to my first ever online league, a post WWII league in ATG4. In that league, one of jet40's teams, the Hants County Woodsmen, started a blistering 27-10, then went 19-30 over the next 49 games to fall to 46-40, but rebounded to finish with 93 wins. A link to that league is below:

http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/league/62900

I understand slumps and I understand probability, but slumps lasting 25-30% of the season where teams win less than 30% of their games after being good enough to win 70% of their games early in the season defy probability. Of course, I have no knowledge or concrete proof (other than teams going into a deep freeze after an unusually fast start) that the game is "rigged", but I've long suspected that the game engine uses a "governor" (similar to speed governors installed on vehicles to limit the high end speed) to slow down teams that get off to great starts. Has anyone else experienced this as well?

You say your run differential has remained constant between +30 and 35, I would say you were pretty fortunate to be 55-30. Generally that kind of record would have a much greater differential than that. Things have evened out a bit.

Corky wrote:

You say your run differential has remained constant between +30 and 35, I would say you were pretty fortunate to be 55-30. Generally that kind of record would have a much greater differential than that. Things have evened out a bit.

You're right Corky I was lucky. I looked back at my schedule and in my first 60 games I was actually between +30-40 run differential and then I went on a great 19-6 run and increased my run differential to a high of +73 but it quickly decreased back down to hover around +35 as my record worsened. But I think the difference is that in my first 85 games I was 19-7 in one run games and in my last 41 games I am 2-8 in one run games. So as I said, the margin of error is so thin that it doesn't take much particularly when you are operating on razor thin margins. Such are the perils of "small ball".

P. S.
Hey BDWard, it was cool to look at the old ATG IV team. It brings back memories. I also agree that there might be a "throttle back" mechanism built in. I have seen a lot of other people with monster teams that hit the skids for no apparent reason.