The Big Post for 2016

I could only win in two parks all year--Citizens and O Co--both Rh parks---all my other teams were disasters--I did have one Citizens team the was not that great, but it was a theme league of only one player from any one team--and I missed a few in the draft.

Even on my successful teams I could not get the * SP I drafted all year---I missed Arietta and Sale every time I drafted them--got Grienke a couple of times but not the guys to go with him.

Missing the pitchers I wanted put me behind the 8 ball before waivers on most teams--other seasons I didn't care if I missed draft picks--at 80M I could almost always recover from a bad draft. This season was much more difficult to get players that fit what I wanted to do when I missed at 80M and impossible at 100M---also value hitters I liked were hard to get.

This was my only ring this season, though I thought other teams I had were better--just couldn't get it done in the playoffs---I renamed it Disasterous Results from my draft--though It was mostly from missing the Value guys I wanted and a couple of pitchers--Suarez was the most unwanted guy, all the 2 SS at lower price were taken.

http://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1427930

Here is a winning Petco team. I only got 1 of my starting pitchers on my card (liriano) and I missed out on hitters at 1, 3, 5, and 9, so this team was built through the replacement draft picks I got, a couple of trades and a whole lot of free agency. So really there was no strategy except find something to save myself and then figure out who to pitch based on matchups. I was not the best team in the league, but managed to win the last 4 of the season which is all that matters I guess.

http://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1432781

Here is an 80m auto league Petco team that won it all for me. I like to use all LH starters so that I can go cheap on the bullpen with RH relievers who specialize in getting out RH hitters as most teams don't field more than three LH hitters against LH pitching and HAL doesn't pinch hit that much.

I won with pitching but scored just enough with a lineup full of lh hitters and switchhitters. I found Brett Wallace to be a good value in the set and Dee Gordon to pretty much give you back what you paid with his avg, sb and defense.

http://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1437455

Here is an interesting Autoleague $80M. I had 4 Starters pitch 1,359 of the 1,474 innings for the entire season. 6 pitchers nearly pitched every inning during the season. It's so realistic!!

*On side note, I can't believe I was able to get Kershaw, Arrieta, Keuchel, and Gray all in the autodraft.


http://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1428503

Seems the best performing player for me this season was Votto--he always seemed to do well--at 10M he should, but I had a number of disappointing seasons from other premium priced guys--especially Trout and McCutchen.

Grichuk seemed to always have a nice year for me also.

My favorite under 2M player was Christian Colon.

I don't remember a single pitcher that really stood out for me--except in a bad way---Grienke lost 8 in a row to open one season for me--If I had to pick a best pitcher for the money it probably would be Ross--but I played a lot of RH parks.

Other than the stud pitching strategy, of which there are more than a few examples now, what else worked in 2015?

I had six teams worth talking about this year, three Champs and three 100 win teams, none of which were the same.

My three championship teams were in Miller, Target, and AT&T. The first two had five man rotations with Warren the top gun. The Target team tied for most runs scored, led by Pollock and Fielder (.905 OPS). The Miller team had Blazek and Greg Holland (40 saves). While led by Shaw, J.D., Bradley, and Posey, the big difference were the cheap parts: Stephen Drew hit 29 HRs, Gallo 27, Alvarez 24. The AT&T team, the one with 4 SP*, dominated in piching (Shields won 20) with a Verrett/Jepsen bullpen. Goldschmidt and Carlos Gonzalez were the big guns for the offense (middle of the pack).

http://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1425880
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1427390
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1437178

My three 100 win teams were in Rogers, AT&T, and Rogers again. The Rogers teams had 5 man SP, again with Warren the big gun. Jose Alvarez and Ken Giles were the BP, we hit 305 HRS with the first team, led by Sano, J.D., Correa, and Carpenter with Joc Pederson adding 27 HRs. We hit 310 HRs with the next Rogers team, led by Shaw, Sano, Correa, Den Dekker, and Pederson. The AT&T team won 105 games and was my best team, especially because it was in a GBBR league, where everyone's good. Used 4 SP*, starting with Arrieta, but ending with Shields, so not exactly the stud pitching strategy. Verrett and Ken Giles were the BP, with a host of L/Rs around them. Goldschmidt had a .978 OPS with 40 HRs and Carlos Gonzalez hit 31, playing only against rights.

http://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1437574
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1438707
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1439320

I'm not sure you'd call any of this a strategy. I do try to keep 1s up the middle in P parks when I can, and little to no BP HRs on the 5 man starting staffs in H parks, but that's basic. But it does seem like any of these 'strategies' are other ways to win, even if I mostly stumbled onto them.

My Tour semi team is one of the worst teams I've had because I made two huge mistakes to begin the season. First I had my choice to draft Kauffman or Rogers. Everyone in my division had a hitters park, and I finally decided to zig where they zagged. It was a mistake and I'm getting killed in their parks. And I was trying the strategy that had worked well for me in P's parks, one Ace and three serviceable, but I didn't get the ace, and dropped all the way to Scherzer, no aces left. So I wouldn't pay too much attention to my 'strategies'.

As usual, if the links don't work, somebody remind me how to post them. Thanks.

*************

Just won championship #4, this with an 89 win wild card team in AT&T. Like my 105 win team, it was based on Arrieta/Goldschmidt, with Carlos Gonzalez for power. The staff was Arrieta, Richards, Buehrle, and Shields, with Verrett/Jepsen in the bullpen with a lot of L/Rs.

http://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1440002

Since first joining Strat365 in March, I have experimented with several strategies. Each strategy had varying degrees of success. Some simply failed because I was unable to acquire players that fit. Other than stud pitching, elite power is a strategy works consistently for me this year. I am still searching for a championship producing strategy. Despite a .550 regular season winning % my teams have found very little post season success. Two teams fell just short by losing game 7 of the finals.

My most successful team used the LH SP* and LHP power approach in Camden Yards. Although my roster ended up looking much different than my predraft team, this strategy produced 98 regular season wins and a 187 run differential. Ended up losing in game 7 of the finals to another team using the same strategy.
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1436048

Had another team with a +187 run diff but they were much less successful. This team was expected to win 101 games based on run diff yet only managed 94 wins and was eliminated in the 7th game of the semi-finals. I used a relatively neutral park and built the roster around 4 mid-level SP* and power bats.
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/view/1439455

And finally- the team I enjoyed most was based around power bats in Miller Park. Ended up scoring 832 runs with a league best +131 run diff. Lost in game 7 of the finals...
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1433959

I had a pretty good run mid year with Citizen's and Miller teams making the postseason 5 times in a row. Franklin Gutierrez was the centerpiece offensively on all of them. 3 teams made the Finals and 1 Citizen's team won it all.

http://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1423190
.
I won with hitting, 5-6 man rotations with 2 starter/Relievers who were heavily balanced vs each side.

I got more value out of Gutierrez than most did with Harper, Trout, McCutcheon for 2-3M more. I found that Cruz performed well also for 200K less. I liked middle If's of either Correa or Iglesias - backed by Reyes, who was a steal at .56M and Schoop at 2B backed by Drew for only 1.01M. Correa and Schoop would give you 30+ HRs in Citizen or Miller and Drew would add about 15 more when Schoop was injured without sacrificing any defense.

My catchers were always Ianetta vs the leftside and either Brian McCann or Sal Perez vs the rightside depending on whether I faced a LH reverse pitcher, where I'd use McCann at C and Ianetta as a DH.

Another cheap combination I liked was CF/DH Adam Eaton and Angel Pagan in CF. For less than 4M you could have a CF/DH leadoff platoon and spend money elsewhere.

Sano, who covers 1B/3B as a backup was the monster DH in the set, but I'd have to take him too high to get him.

I also liked Rosario as a 3 position OF who hits the leftside very well. His OB and avg weren't great, but his slg was incredible vs both sides.

Initially, I used Ziegler as my closer, but over time found out I could get almost as much production from Osuna for almost 1M less.

My other mainstay in any Park was Wallace at 1B. He performed almost as well as 1B 2-3M more in price.

After mid year, teams were going with higher priced pitching and my teams didn't fare as well. That's my 2 cents.

"...Each strategy had varying degrees of success. Some simply failed because I was unable to acquire players that fit."

No offense, but isn't that when you have to go with a different strategy.