2019 Tour news - Playing the Semi's and prep for the Finals

Event #2 is finished loading. 163 players loaded a team. 2 no shows, one of those out of the country and missed unintentionally.

Speaking of Event 3, this will be 100 Mil, DH. This will have a start date of June 24 and a secondary start date of July 1. This means that leagues will get CREATED and the Event announced on Friday evening June 14 or Saturday June 15. The league password will be sent out at that time.

The Ballpark groupings USED TO DATE thread has been updated and your Event #1-2 choices are listed.- The Main Standings Page is working and tracking leagues and players.

2019 Main Standings Page - https://365.strat-o-matic.com/tournament/34

Groupings used to date - http://forum.365.strat-o-matic.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=645852&sid=45a89a61eda9df426f2d1818ef35aeda

Barnstormers 2019 - 165 players started (164 still active)
Barnstormers 2018 - 158 players
Barnstormers 2017 - 168 players
Barnstormers 2016 - 140 players
Barnstormers 2015 - 148 players
Barnstormers 2014 - 157 players

Event #3 is finished loading. 163 players AGAIN loaded a team. 1 drop (no e-mail address)

Looking to Event 4, this will be 60 Mil, NO DH. This will have a start date of July 22 and a secondary start date of July 29. This means that leagues will get CREATED and the Event announced on Friday evening July 12 or Saturday July 13. The league password will be sent out at that time.

The Ballpark groupings USED TO DATE thread is now updated. - The Main Standings Page is working and tracking leagues and players.

2019 Main Standings Page - https://365.strat-o-matic.com/tournament/34

Groupings used to date - http://forum.365.strat-o-matic.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=645852&sid=c630d093eb564d7edc1fb9b460cea40e

Barnstormers 2019 - 165 players started (163 still active)
Barnstormers 2018 - 158 players
Barnstormers 2017 - 168 players
Barnstormers 2016 - 140 players
Barnstormers 2015 - 148 players
Barnstormers 2014 - 157 players

Upcoming Event #6 our last regular event in the set before the Semi-Finals. If you're close to reaching the top 57, this could be a critical event for you.

In Event #5, we were able to squeeze enough Live Draft participants to get one league filled, although more came forward later, it was not enough to get a second league going.

For the 200 Mil Event (Event #6) we do expect a few more that are interested in Live Draft. I would expect 2, maybe 3 leagues.

Our Event #5 live draft was setup with 1 hour picks and the clock off nights. This gives greater flexibility that we don't have to all be online at the same time. The proxy system that SOM has setup (calling them queues) is excellent at allowing the players to queue up the players they want and not have to babysit the draft with quite so much regularity. All Barnstormers Live Drafts will use the 1 hour clock from now on unless some unforeseen difficulties turn up. Expect that this will take about 2 days for a 1 hour live draft. Depends on if all players use the queues and the "away" buttons. You can expect that not all will.

By the time the Finals rolls around early in 2020, SOM is expected to have the ability to live draft STADIUMS during any round. The Finals will be setup with 3 hour picks, clock off nights and weekends and the ability to draft a stadium. This is what we have been asking for to replace Diamond Dope and I am overjoyed to see that they (SOM) have put in the effort to make their live draft a first class tool to bring the experience we want and are used to from D Dope.

But as in Event #5, once the event is announced and leagues are created, the earlier you commit to Live Draft, the greater are your chances of actually getting into a league that will fill. If you are late to the party and the league doesn't fill, you will have to jump back to the autodraft leagues. So, look for the league loading announcements which is expected to be Sept 6 or Sept 7. (After we get Labor Day out of the way)

I will come out with another thread on what the changes to the live draft app mean and how you can best use the app to make sure your draft goes smoothly. SOM has written good instructions, but I think it needs a little more in depth explaining on how all the check boxes work.

My thanks again go to our board member Mr Baseball World for working with SOM's representatives to get across what we wanted to make the 1-2-3 hour time limits functional. All of the check boxes, the queue's, the AWAY boxes, pick even if the clock is off, many of the options that made it into this newly released version of SOM live draft was all due to the efforts of a few people doing test live drafts. Our 140 Mil live draft went without a hitch. I think we finally have a LD app that we can appreciate. - Thanks Rick

MM

Ahoy,
Was initially turned off by the new 1-HR Live Draft that took about 23 hours to complete. Mostly hang ups during the clock off periord while teams didn't have their Away or Draft Overnight boxes checked, or during the clock on perioed when the Away box not checked. Didn't think I would go for Live Draft for Round 6 but am rethinking that becasue I love the live draft so much. Kind of see how it works now and can anticipate what will happen with a variety of team checked/non-checked boxes.

Thanks to everyone who guied this through with Strat-O. Once we all use it more the drafts should run a lot quicker.

Yettie

Thanks Moose/Board and yes, SOM

.....In Event #5, we were able to squeeze enough Live Draft participants to get one league filled, although more came forward later, it was not enough to get a second league going.

For the 200 Mil Event (Event #6) we do expect a few more that are interested in Live Draft. I would expect 2, maybe 3 leagues.

......But as in Event #5, once the event is announced and leagues are created, the earlier you commit to Live Draft, the greater are your chances of actually getting into a league that will fill. If you are late to the party and the league doesn't fill, you will have to jump back to the autodraft leagues.

I really wanted to try a live draft, but I was "late to the party" and it looks like the third live draft league won't fill, so I jumped back to what looks to be the last autodraft league without fillers.

The third live draft DID fill and it's running right now. I sent everyone an email about what steps I was going to take on filling the league including opening it up to public fillers. This is what I did and how it got filled.

You bailed too early and/or did not find my e-mail.

Event #6 has been put to bed for the 2019 tour. Next up will be the Semi-Finals.

SOM will award a free credit for everyone making the Top 57. (Finalists and Semi-Finalists)

165 players started Barnstormers in Event #1
136 players put a team in Event #6
7 players decided to withdraw for Event #6
7 other players were a no show for Event #6
The rest withdrew or were no shows from earlier events.

Obviously, all of the withdraws and no shows were from players who were not able to gain a Semi-Final spot or suffered a penalty which dropped them out of contention.

Next up, the Semi-Finals. This will be three leagues – (2) 12-team leagues and (1) 24-team league.
Final point total will determine what league you will be in. Semi-Finals will be 100 Mil DH. Autodraft.
Positions 10-15 and 28-33 will be in League #1 – Randomize Divisions – 5-10-20% drop rule.
Positions 16-27 will be in League #2 – Randomize Divisions – 5-10-20% drop rule.
Positions 34-57 will be in League #3 (24 team league) – Randomize Divisions – 5-10-20% drop rule.
World Series Winners in these three leagues will advance to the Finals.

The Finals will Live Draft on the SOM app, assuming picking a stadium in any round has been tested and is working. 3-hour picks, clock off nights and weekends. (Duplicating the Diamond Dope draft as much as possible) The SOM app automatically randomizes the Divisions BEFORE the draft - a long desired request.

Finalists in order of their point totals will vote on draft cap and dh/no dh. Also, draft order. I am assuming that I can get SOM to place players in the draft order we need.

Thanks for playing this year and for those that failed to advance, see you next year for another shot at the title!

Moose

The Semi Finals has been filled and will start their journey on Monday Dec 2. Only the lucky World Series in each of the 3 leagues will reach the coveted Barnstormers Finals. The other 9 finalists have all given their votes for a finals with a 100 or an 80 mil cap. So far 100 Mil leads 5 votes to 4.

SOM has committed to having their live draft APP modified to allow drafting of a stadium in any round in time for the finals. This will not only bring the draft into parity with Diamond Dope but will also be something that all Strat-O-Matic players in many theme leagues can incorporate into their drafts. This is an extremely useful addition to their draft app.

Meanwhile, Barnstormers 2020 is asking YOU for your suggestions on anything you think we should consider for next years tour. I will bring good suggestions to the Barnstormers Board of Directors to consider and possibly vote on. We already have some things spinning that we are considering for next year.

Thanks for playing this year. Hope to see all of you back !