Wed Jul 15, 2020 10:55 am
You can count them, but there are 30 X chances on each side of each pitcher's card, which then revert to the defender's defensive rating...not exactly the hitter's card, but the point is the same (ie approx 64%/36% hitter/pitcher direct outcomes if you look at it that way)
so on each encounter, there are 216 possible outcomes based on the d6 rolls (108 hitter and 108 pitcher for lefty or righty).
Of the 108 pitcher outcomes on a RH or LH side, 30 are determined by the defense behind them.
SOM creates the cards after iterating a model that reproduces the statistics, within standard variances, if the season were replayed as closely as possible to real life. Same schedule, ballparks, playing time for each player, etc.
You noted a big one, but there are also other major issues not related to the element of a coin flip for selecting a hitter or pitcher card, in my opinion, but note that the system used does recreate the stats if used without adjustment.
But a couple other things stick out too, among many (not including online computer manager quirks and strategy limitations, enhancements for "realism", et al, just basic game engine approach):
- the use of hitter clutch--which is nothing more than a statistical fudge factor to help smooth out the outcome variances on RBIs and usually has limited effect (see your Misc stats and card lookups in PbP results). But it can have a larger effect if the team is slanted heavily one way or the other, depending on the type of team. For instance, a small ball team with lots of OBA and singles/doubles power, will have many situations of RISP with 2 outs. If everyone has high neg clutch, it will impact run production significantly more than it was designed to.
- the fact that every pitcher relies equally upon defenders regardless of the number of balls they get put in play. I'm not a big fan of Sabremetrics, but this is an oversight that seems pretty significant for crippling pitchers who keep well-batted balls minimized.
All that said, it still seems to be the best out there for a long time.