Ratings book and Download???

I still haven't heard from any of you that play the board game and what you think of it, compared to the online game. I played the board game a lot back in grade school/highschool and college, then didn't play for about 15 yrs. I have now been playing online baseball for about 7 yrs and have really enjoyed it. I would like to hear from some of you that are playing the board game and your thoughts on the board game. I recently just pre-ordered for the 2012 season. Below is what I mentioned with my previous post regarding recieving a free credit of the online baseball game when I purchased the board game, look what JohnG just put out:

JohnG

Posts: 43
Joined: Wed Aug 22, 2012 12:35 pm
Strat-O-Matic Baseball Pre-Order Free Credit SpecialReport this postReply with quoteTue Jan 22, 2013 11:41 am

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Brent,

Haven't played the board games since about 97 or 98 maybe. I was in an 8 team league where we drafted players every year from a limited player pool of 20 MLB teams. It worked very similar to the online keeprs I play in now, prospect drafts, 40 man rosters etc. Probelm was scheduling the games, we tried to play a 108 game season face to face and it just becasme to difficult for scheduling. So the league fell apart. I have since moves 3 times and had children so I do not have the time to devote to league play in a face to face format much as I'd like to.
That said, to me, even with all the strategy involved, the Baseball Board game version of Strat still seemed to come down to dice rolls, which always bothered me. At least with the online game the dice rolls are a bit mre invisibale and I don't feel like it's completely a game of luck , which is the feeling i got from the board game.
Now the Strat Footbal board game totally different story IMHO. LOVE the head to head stratigizing involved, feels more like chess, in that you have to counter and anticipate what your ooponet is going to do befreo every roll of the dice. Much more tense and more fun IMHO.

I still love the cards and the board game!

I grew up playing them. I still love tearing out the cards and looking at them to see what each card "looks like". I am a mathematical person by nature, and I now have a run production formula that I am comfortable with. However, I still feel like there are nuances to the game that I am still learning (after all these years) that go beyond the run production formulas. I "feel" like I can get insights into the players' cards effectiveness by reviewing them visually.

Of course, I can mathematically dismiss these vague arguments. But consider this - the best chess players don't just calculate move combinations. They make informed judgements on the quality of a position in a chess game, and on the best strategies to pursue. These judgements are only loosely defined, and cannot be expressed as a precise mathematical formula. I think the same thing is true in terms of baseball strategies, and, by extension, evaluation of player cards and their potential within the context of a team.

I also find that it usually helps to "play test" a team that I've created or planned. Playing the game manually with dice slows it down to a point where I notice things that I might have missed otherwise. Eg a few years ago when Lincecum's card was a killer, I discovered belatedly that he was poor at holding runners . Sure, I should have noticed that anyway if I had studied the lineups and cards more carefully, but it was playing the game that actually made me notice it!

And, in the end, I just love playing the game with dice - after more than 40 years of it!!

Geoff

Thanks for the feedback, that is what I was interested in. I probally won't have much time to get in any leagues with face to face games with the board game. I don't even know any friends or anybody where I live that plays the board game these days. However, like Geoff mentioned, I think it would be cool to re-live tearing out the cards and looking at them to see what each card "looks like" and to get insights into the players' cards effectiveness by reviewing them visually. I'm also looking forward to "testing" a team that I've created. I agree, playing the game manually with dice should slow it down to a point where I notice things that I might have missed otherwise. Looking forward to playing the game with dice, like I did more than 25 years ago!! Does any know how long it takes to recieve the Ratings Book, once you order it?

Brent

I ordered the book online late (night) on the 15th and recieved it in the mail on the 19th.

Thanks for the feedback, that is what I was interested in. I probally won't have much time to get in any leagues with face to face games with the board game. I don't even know any friends or anybody where I live that plays the board game these days. However, like Geoff mentioned, I think it would be cool to re-live tearing out the cards and looking at them to see what each card "looks like" and to get insights into the players' cards effectiveness by reviewing them visually. I'm also looking forward to "testing" a team that I've created. I agree, playing the game manually with dice should slow it down to a point where I notice things that I might have missed otherwise. Looking forward to playing the game with dice, like I did more than 25 years ago!! Does any know how long it takes to recieve the Ratings Book, once you order it?

Brent

About a week, course I live in New York State, so YMMV

Amd I live in Palm Springs, CA. I thought the mail time was fairly quick.

Question about the TB in the ratings and the BPHR. As far as I know, BPHRs don't have to be on a specific type of result like a HR or HR/split result (can be on an out result as well I think). Is the TB shown in the ratings disk/book for the natural card ignoring ballpark HR effects? If it is, is there any way in the ratings disk to know whether a BPHR is overriding a HR or HR/split or other result? Or is there a rule of thumb that a BPHR of 8 will override X HR results (maybe 4 units of HRs)? And such on down the line for BPHR 7, 6, etc.

Question about the TB in the ratings and the BPHR. As far as I know, BPHRs don't have to be on a specific type of result like a HR or HR/split result (can be on an out result as well I think). Is the TB shown in the ratings disk/book for the natural card ignoring ballpark HR effects? If it is, is there any way in the ratings disk to know whether a BPHR is overriding a HR or HR/split or other result? Or is there a rule of thumb that a BPHR of 8 will override X HR results (maybe 4 units of HRs)? And such on down the line for BPHR 7, 6, etc.

Short answers,

yes
no
no
and no

Good questions, but there is no way to discern this information from the ratings, only by looking at the cards.
It does help me point out the scoring of split chances though and why there are decimals for the OB ratings. This is due to split ratings. Here's how it works.

A card has 108 chances as follows:

a roll of:
2=1 chance
3=2 chance
4=3 chance
5=4 chances
6=5 chances
7=6 chances
8=5
9=4
10=3
11=2
12=1

which makes 36 chances for each column times 3 columns = 108 chances.

Split numbers work like this, every spit has a certian number in 20 of chances to be a hit or and out, for sanity's sake, lets say a 1-10= a hit and 11-20= an out, if the spit number falls on the 5 roll, instead of a full 4 chances, there are now only 2 becuase the 50/50 split chance cuts our chance in half.

Don't know if this helsp with your questions, but thought others might find it useful.

Question about the TB in the ratings and the BPHR. As far as I know, BPHRs don't have to be on a specific type of result like a HR or HR/split result (can be on an out result as well I think). Is the TB shown in the ratings disk/book for the natural card ignoring ballpark HR effects? If it is, is there any way in the ratings disk to know whether a BPHR is overriding a HR or HR/split or other result? Or is there a rule of thumb that a BPHR of 8 will override X HR results (maybe 4 units of HRs)? And such on down the line for BPHR 7, 6, etc.

"Is the TB shown in the ratings disk/book for the natural card ignoring ballpark HR effects? " - Yes, the TB (Total Bases) excludes any total bases that would come from ballpark HR effects. The TB in the ratings book includes only "natural" homeruns.

The excel spreadsheet has a column which tells you how many ballpark homeruns the player has on his card, for each of vs LHP or vs RHP.

The ballpark homeruns are in addition to any "natural" homeruns. Of course, the ballpark homerun result can be either a homerun or an out, but it won't affect the total bases number, and it is not included in the total bases number.

As per the prior post (by ninersphan I think), you have to interpret the results as so many "die roll chances" on the columns on the card. To get the number in percentage terms, you have to divide by either 108 (for batter card chances) or by 216 (for compbined batter or pitcher card chances), depending on how you are looking at it.

Ninersphan, I really pegged you wrong. Way wrong. You're a very enthusiastic (and also very knowledgable) SOM player and I misinterpreted that energy in a seriously screwed up fashion during our draft. Basically I let my insecurities get the best of me in that league and as a result I chose to quit...it wasn't about you having anything in for me. You were just freakin excited!

I'm sorry.