Alternate Names/Accounts

I enjoy this game and love to play the game and learn. While what I am about to say may offend you (austinmdavidson) if have have to do things that way to win I don't want to do it. To me it takes most of the fun out of the game and the learning process. I play this game to have fun and enjoy some banter and camaraderie with other baseball fans. If winning becomes more important to me than the actual enjoyment of the game, I guess I would stop playing. I started out with somewhere around a .450 winning percentage, tried to compete against the big dogs like Last Druid, NomadBrad and many others. In the beginning I mostly got skull drug. I asked questions and sought those guys advice. They have always been gracious and patient in answering my questions. I have the utmost respect for them. Through trial and error (my own) and their advice I have quickly gotten to the point where I can stand toe to toe with most of them, I was competing at least compete and even win sometimes. Not too long ago I was competing in the finals against one of the Legends. It came down to game 7...I lost, but before game 7 he gave me perhaps the best compliment I could hope to obtain. He said "either way game 7 goes you have become a formidable opponent in Strat". That made my day. At the moment I have built myself up to a .504 winning percentage, which I am proud of, probably play over 50% of my teams on credits I have won/earned.

I suppose I could have had greater success sooner had I used your methods. I have the intellgemce and technical skill to do so. But honestly, the feeling of accomplishment I get from experiencing failure and success, learning the game and experimenting with the cards, would be completely different and much more hollow had I done it. I would SO MUCH rahter succeeding by experience than by artifical means (obviously not illegal, but a shortcut no doubt). I am not MAD at you nor do I harbor animosity toward your success. I just could never conceive of that rationale for success.

My guess is you are probably younger than me, probably weren't an athlete. Athletes have a drive to compete and succeed in ways that only come from personal hard work. The stat geeks in charge of major league baseball these days have ruined the game and destroyed the beauty of it. Kinda like you're doing. More power to you, if that's what you need to succeed.

One last note, don't break your arm patting yourself on the back for your success, and don't let your jaw get sore bragging about it.

Just one man's opinion

Good luck Austin, may you have continued success.

Coach

That's all well and good coach, you do you and I'll do me. For me I like to know The Answer. We all learn through trial and error, I'm just trying to minimize the "error" part. I'm a poor motherfucker, and this game isn't particularly cheap. I figured, there must be some players who are good enough they basically play for free. I made it my goal to be one of those players right off the bat. Not really sure why your approach counts as "hard work" but not mine though. I put a lot of work into my spreadsheet, learning new skills, making improvements, assessing why some teams work better than others. It's really not all that different from anyone else, just use more technology than most I guess. Don't really see how I'm "ruining" the game, I'm having loads of fun and learning a lot.

Sorry you're not able to enjoy the modern game, it's as beautiful as it ever was if you can get past your own resentments and prejudices. Can't imagine life without it tbh. Six days till Opening Day...

Hey everyone knows the Answer to the Ultimate question is 42.
Squeak squeak.

Salt, you hit the nail on the head

Im the Salthammer?

Sure why not?

And me, I just melt snowflakes.

Sure why not?

And me, I just melt snowflakes.

Sorry you're not able to enjoy the modern game, it's as beautiful as it ever was if you can get past your own resentments and prejudices. Can't imagine life without it tbh. Six days till Opening Day...

I have no prejudices and resentments.

I do love baseball and information is a great thing. But right now there are a bunch of guys who never played anything but computer games amking decisions about baseball...they know nothing but statistics and make their decisions based solely on them. I don't need statistics to tell Mike Trout is a stud. Baseball is played by humans, and it has been played well and poorly for years. The Dodgers lost a World Series a few years ago becase their studs sat on the bench becuase of statistics.

Three true outcomes is boring to watch, home runs are fun, walks and strikeouts are boring.

As for being poor, I am a high school teacher, ain't got much money either.

Yes, Salty is Brad and Brad is Salty. If you did KNOW the community, you would laugh yourself.

I'm Batman

Hey everyone knows the Answer to the Ultimate question is 42.
Squeak squeak.

...and thanks for all the fish!

I have no prejudices and resentments.

Must be nice. If I thought baseball was being destroyed by a bunch of egghead nerds I'd sure as hell resent them for it.

Regarding coachprbbs dislike about baseball becoming three true outcomes, I get it. Need more action or more of a running game, etc. But there is a lot to like about the game today. Because of analytics teams cannot put bad defensive players in a game. Baseball is an example of competition at its ultimate bringing out the best in people. Any flaw is ruthlessly exploited. If youre a hitter and you raced through the minors but youre set-up is too slow you cant make it in the pros.

I remember a few years ago there was a guy in my fantasy league who had Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. and he posted video of Vlad, Jr and his father and I commented how simple and direct his dad's set-up was and I thought jr had more working parts. and I wondered how he would do against the high fastball. Not that I know anything but sure enough Vlad, Jr. has become slow to become a star because he cant get to the high fastball. (Im pretty sure he will make adjustments and will be a star.) Even Mike Trout has had trouble with the high fastball. I remember watching this fascinating game a few years back. It was a close game and the Angels had a couple of guys on. Fletcher, a singles hitters was hitting and Mike Minor was pitching. And he pitched around Fletcher to get to Trout! Why? Because Minor could throw high fastballs to get Trout out. And he did. And Trout flinched when the ump called a high strike because that gave the advantage to the pitcher.

So why is it that Trout is still the best player with that weakness? Maybe he fixed it and he can to get to that pitch now. But he also will not swing at the high pitch unless it is a strike. That ump was giving a generous high strike. So if youre a pitcher who throws at least 95 with a high spin rate and you can hit that very small area where Trout has a weakness you can get him out. Even better if you got an ump who calls that high strike. But not many can do it. If you miss low you might be giving up a homerun and if you miss high Trout aint swinging at it.

If youre a starting pitcher you cannot survive with high velo and some decent breaking stuff. Dustin May throws a sinker that moves a ton at up to 100 mph and was in the 7th percentile on swing and miss percentage last year. 7th percentile. He doesnt throw that high fastball with high spin rate that even major leaguers have trouble with and he doesnt have a wipe-out breaking ball or breaking ball that drops into the zone late to get guys off that sinker. So they make contact. You look at guys like Snell and Strasberg and they throw their pitches with the same arm angle, same arm speed, even close to same height. You cant let the hitter know what pitch is coming because theyre just too good. You got to throw pitches that start out of the strike zone and come in late, pitches that start in the strike zone and break out late, and throw different pitches that look the same initially to the hitter. And hitters have to be able to deal with trying to hit 100 mph while also guarding against breaking stuff. If you have to commit too early to hit the fastball, you aint going to make it because youll flail at breaking stuff. And you have to be able to lay off stuff out of the zone or you wont make it. And you have to be able to deliver quality at-bats. You got to be able to foul off sometimes 100 mph fastballs and lay off tough breaking balls until you get the pitch you can handle.

The athletic talent necessary to survive in the major leagues is amazing right now. There is a lot to appreciate in the game right now if you look for it And hopefully they can tweak things a bit to get more balls in play and more stealing, etc. But it's still a great game. But it's not as attractive to the casual fan I think.