Free trial League my observations

Okay these are observations based on my free trial.

I understand that there is lots of interest in this product but waiting three days after getting one excited is a bit of a let down.
Sales strategy would be to strike while the customer is hot for the product.

After my first series I was a bit disappointed but after looking at the game play call and stats they seem okay for a first series.

Only unrealistic things I saw was a very unlikely passed ball and a highly unlikely error.
I also came across the catcher issue I saw earlier on another thread. HAL pinch hits for my catcher with the back up catcher then tries a double switch making a position player my catcher. Good thing it was the bottom of the ninth and had no real effect on the game.

Looking forward to seeing how the rest of this plays out.

Only unrealistic things I saw was a very unlikely passed ball and a highly unlikely error.

Why would a passed ball or an error be unlikely? Please explain.

However, you discovered early the catcher glitch in the computer AI's logic. There's a whole thread on that very issue.

The passed ball was against Steve Yeagar, a very dependable although light hitting catcher. Did he have passed balls during his career, yes but extremely rare. The error was on Dusty Baker again a very good outfielder but not often. Of course this was only the first series. It could be that the game just happened to hit these and may not hit them again.

Second series complete. So far so good. The only thing I find unrealistic is that they seem to knocking Nolan Ryan around! Yes he gave up hits but not at this rate. Very realistic though is my second baseman Daley Lopes did commit his fair share of errors and they are indeed starting to pile up.

Liking this game more.

The passed ball was against Steve Yeagar, a very dependable although light hitting catcher. Did he have passed balls during his career, yes but extremely rare. The error was on Dusty Baker again a very good outfielder but not often. Of course this was only the first series. It could be that the game just happened to hit these and may not hit them again.

Yeagar may be an excellent fielding catcher, but he did have a handful of passed balls during the season. If he didn't his passed ball rating would be 0 instead of 2 or 4 (depending which season you have him).

Dusty Baker is rated e3, which means (on average) you can expect him to make 3 errors in a season if he plays every inning of every game. So, yes, it's rare he makes errors, but it's hardly unrealistic that he made one.

Second series complete. So far so good. The only thing I find unrealistic is that they seem to knocking Nolan Ryan around! Yes he gave up hits but not at this rate.

Get used to it. Assuming you're playing in an $80 million salary cap league (or higher), you cannot expect Ryan to pitch as well as he did in real life. He will get knocked around more often than the stats on his card might suggest because the quality of hitters is higher than he faced in real life. (By the same token, on average, your hitters will underperform because the quality of pitchers faced will be better than they faced in real life.)

I think it's great you're enjoying the game. There is a lot to like. Just be aware in any given game, good pitchers can stink, great hitters can go hitless, and slick fielding players will make errors.

By the way, one thing the game simulates well is slumps. A player may have a great card, but over a stretch of games he just isn't getting the dice rolls. If you get nothing else from my post, here is something you can take to the bank: NEVER drop a player just because he is in such a slump. His card is just as good as the day you drafted it.

Don't get hung up on "Actual" results. The SOM online game is skewed by Ball Park HR and SI chances.

Thanx for the advice. I see what you mean about hitters under performing. Garvey a really good hitter can’t hit his weight! Surprised my team is above 500 as I went strong in pitching. As some other numbers start to come round out, results are more realistic. Game is okay. Enjoying it more. I created a football team too but went with the auto draft. Boy, does my team suck!!
Game overall gets thumbs up, so far.

I started on-line before the trial league--(so I never played one) but I'll bet, with short seasons, the numbers will skew quite a bit.

I played Strat quite a bit back in dice and card days--(60's 70's)--Four of us drafted teams from the whole set. One thing I found is the league averages tended to hold--if the league hit .250 and league ERA was 3.5--it stayed close to the same as the great hitters were facing the great pitchers and it averaged out--with the exception that more HR were hit because of the Aarons, Mays, Killebrews etc were loaded onto the 4 teams. (but they all hit less than they usually did)

In online--with the pricing factor, park ratings--and because people tend to go with power parks more often (there were no park ratings in 60s nor pricing of players) it favors the hitter slightly more--but still you can use league averages as a rough guide.

OPS for hitters tend to be .080 to .100 less--Pitchers ERA a run or more higher.

Compare your team to others on the team stat page to see how you are really faring and pay attention to run differential too.

Thanx for the advice and I see what you guys mean. I've been looking at my own team and not the league in general. Phil Rizzuto hitting 200?! lol okay i get it. Enjoying the game so far.