what's wrong with my team?

My ATG $80 mil team is +59 in run differential but 2 games under .500. Is it bad luck, a flaw in the construction of my team, or am I managing it incorrectly. My team is Daniels Elys. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Here is a link to the league

http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/le ... ded/423756

I can't give advice since I am in this league, but you are 7-2 against me!

I'm no ATG expert but here goes...

Dodger '64 is a pitching park. Your INF defense isn't the greatest. (Suttles is a 4, Carew is a 3, Dahlen has a high E rating as does Matthews)

Your OF E ratings are really high as well as a few guys have + arms.

Your highest priced RP has less innings than 2 cheaper RP's.

Those are a few things I see upon first glance...

visick

you lead the league in errors and i'll bet if you go thru a few game logs, alot of your gbX and fbX are hits so they don't show up as errors which can be very misleading. i had the 57 williams a 4 in LF win a gold glove because he only made 2 errors. the joke is how many LF(x) were just plain hits.

While I agree with some of the commentary about defense above, THIS IS NOT A BAD TEAM.

Despite the losing record, your division set up makes you the favorite to be the division winner in my opinion, and even now you are tied for the league. Your team has the best divisional record in your division and that +59 run differential is not entirely a fluke. Your team has been the victim of the worst split of 1 run games in the league (10-20), and I think it would be a mistake to make any rash drops with the salary hit that entails.

That said, in the playoffs you will need to be creative with regard to your HAL appeasement ceremony. You will be facing a tough opponent should you make the semis, and the luck of the rolls will need to be on your side to get the championship.

http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/1130558

+80
81-81, 17 games behind first, last place

I was just about to start a run dif post because wow, for some reason my last 5 or 6 teams in any set have results like this

Run dif is an indicator, it is not law.

All of my .500 teams have been Plus runs in differential, it doesn't matter- they weren't that good.

Conversely, I have a team that, in the early going, had a run diff that was about even. That team is much better than was shown by run diff.

I don't really like this team; it's slow, the bullpen is awful and the starting pitching is letting you down big time. Gainey/Collins are under performing, so is Dahlen. But what seems to be hurting you most is lack of xtra base hits.

If you aren't doing this already, to maximize your runs, I would do this;
Dimaggio is wasted at the end of your lineup, because he won't knock enough guys in.
I'd bat him lead-off, followed by Carew, Dahlen, Matthews , Suttles, Parnell, Gainey, Munson.
This will get the speed up front and the lard asses in the back.

Thanks for the feedback. I agree, my defense is less than stout, but it compares favorably with the other teams in my division. I have 98 errors compared to 92-97, and my team actually has fewer hits due to X factors than the other teams in my division. While my errors are on the high end (about 10 more than the average) my x factor hits are comparable to most other teams in the league (maybe a dozen more hits as compared to the average). I'm not sure the defense can explain my poor performance relative to my positive run differential. I was thinking that perhaps I am managing my lineup or bullpen incorrectly and losing close games because of that, but I'm just not sure.

CT,

I don't understand your criticism. I lead the league in triples, I'm second in doubles, and in the middle of the pack in HR. The team is ranked two in slugging but only four in runs scored so while you are off base about team slugging perhaps you are on to something about the lack of team speed.

MY thoughts - your pitching is pretty good (low ERA) and you've got goo hitters but nearly 80 percent of your AB are against RH pitchers. Look at Carew and Mathhews - kicking butt. I'd advise get more LH'ed. Good luck.

Mark