The Swirling Winds in Strato

Out of boredom, I threw together (what should be) a team to maximize the offense’s GB/FB ratio. The point is to “hit the ball in the air” to generate SLG (and run production).

https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1529064

On the pitching side, I tried to find the lowest SLG against. Originally I was going for double plays and getting the best GB/FB ratio, because these stats are readily available in the sim misc tab. However, I realized what I’m really trying to do is maximize net SLG, not necessarily net GB/FB (a proxy for SLG). So I completely revamped my pitching, using ESPN.go for the SLG against stats.

As a side note, Hoskins is the ideal GB/FB DH (vs RHP), however, his total run production is very often substandard. O’Hearn won’t have Hoskins’ ratio, but he will likely be much more productive in the overall sense of things (and still with a favorable ratio).

The league starts tonite, and unfortunately I’m in a very strong division for an experimental team. But maybe that’s for the better, as I try to squeeze out some extra run production from the virtual winds in Strato, and to see if I can still compete.

*Apologies for the several edits as I try to make up my mind.

Other than double-plays...what's the theory here, J-Pav? How does hitting more flyballs than you give up (other than getting more double-plays) make for a better team?

There are two sides to this. The naysayers would say an out is an out is an out. There are no swirling winds in Strato. Worse yet, a pop out is as bad as a strike out so more fly balls mean squat.

I say that FB hitters (as ferreted out from the sim misc tab) are more productive than equally priced GB hitters. Strato run production to me is simply a function of SLG. The more SLG the better the production. FB hitters by definition improve SLG. When they’re not popping out, they hit for doubles, triples and homers.

You can improve SLG by drafting SLG (boring), or you can draft SLG by the GB/FB ratios you see left behind in the team Sim Misc tabs (not boring).

I didn’t do a very good job of explaining it here:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=637064

But it does seem to work (from a previous thread):

“Here's an experiment that FINALLY worked!!

Groundball/Flyball team:

http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/1413024

1906 fly balls minus 1892 grounders for the hitters (+14 net fly balls). On the pitching side, 162 double plays for, minus 104 dp's against, for a net positive +58.

As an added bonus, after all the player selections I was able to afford Trout in center, so this is the only Trout ring I've seen in any league I've participated in. I wish I could say I had set out to prove my own insights wrong ahead of time, but unfortunately it's just that this team started two and a half months ago, well before my first post here.

If it helps, our $12 mil boy carded .188/.278/.396 in the postseason. At least they were mostly fly balls!”

Look for teams that have more FB than GB. You won’t find one other than the one I’m posting.

However, if you look closely, the hitters park teams that win more often move the needle closer to a 1/1 ratio than the average team, which gravitates more toward a 1.5/1 ratio.

If it's a proxy for slugging AND you are getting more net runners by having more double plays, then it should work. I dont understand the argument the argument that an out is an out is an out. That's the whole game isnt it? Yes, you can manipulate your team to take advantage of the park. And maybe get more out of a starting pitcher by having pitch more innings or exploiting the holes in the game with the use of relief pitchers...but then it's finding the nodal points in the game where you get more out of a hit or homerun, etc. Like I know that I am not going to have a good team in Citizen if my on-base is .300 or less. I need more on-base. It's not just about getting the most home-runs in Citizen and giving the fewest--you need to find the right balance between on-base and hrs on offense and the right balance between those and how you put your pitching--if you have cheap starters that dont give up hrs but high have high WHIP...how good does the defense have to be? And you dont want too much defense because it probably saps your on-base...

An observation I’ve made over the past few seasons is that the team which scores the most runs on offense very often has league average BA, league average OBP, but wildly over performing SLG. I think that maximizing net slugging would be a very solid team building strategy.

You can do that several ways. Just drafting all the crazy SLG guys is one way, but unfortunately it’s usually hard to do that when everyone is chasing the same dozen guys. The GB/FB method is a kind of stealth SLG. Nobody cares about Hoskins, but he is far and away the top GB/FB guy. Carpenter and Pillar are other examples, too. Not a lot of singles and ground outs there. You can draft those guys anywhere on the draft list. Jose Ramirez is the best among the elite players - I had to draft him in the top spot, but even that is doable when everyone else is looking at Yelich, Muncy, Voit, Soto et al.

Of course Yelich and Muncy are both available still in this particular league, which is strange beyond words. Several times it has short-circuited my GB/FB vibe...!

The sweet spot for me in Great American and Citizen is to have huge hr numbers (300+ hrs) and getting at least close to .320 on-base. But that takes a lot of dough. So cheap on pitching, not a great defense...but not so terrible that pitching totally implodes. Cheap S4s on quick relief who dont give up a ton of hrs that only pitch 3 innings with some good R3s that soak up a ton of innings is one way. Or 2-3 million guys with low hrs/high whip on quick relief with some good Rs/R3s is another. I spend too much on pitching...and too few hrs, or too little on-base, or defense is too awful.

The, Good, The Bad and the Ugly...

https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1509468
https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1510996
https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1513312
https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1515003
https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1517918
https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1518598
https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1512936
https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1520251
https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1525312
https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1526699
https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1527336

Apropos of nothing...National has been the easiest/best park for me this year. I'm not really sure why.

I guess I'll get a birds-eye view of your theory tonight!

I find all of this really interesting! Thanks for sharing this J-Pav!

I’d like to be able to point out that my team is currently 46-23. Unfortunately, HAL tested my resolve with a 3-17 start, and threw in the current seven game losing streak I’m on for good measure. It’s a miracle that I’m above .500 facing that kind of hate.

Unlike years past when I’ve done this, I’m currently +173 in fly balls over ground balls just 96 games into the season. Usually I barely eke out a few more fly balls than grounders over the course of an entire season. So I’m doing what I set out to do. However, while my ISO is outstanding, my AVG and OBP are atrocious. If they were just ordinary, I think my offense would really be humming. It appears I’m just popping out a lot.

So, nothing to see here...