Need Help With Teams!

I don't know if anyone mentioned this, but it's very important to match your hitters to your ballpark. You chose an extremely crooked ballpark-- great for LH homers, bad for everything else-- so ideally, you need an entire lineup of LH power hitters. That gives you a nice home field advantage.

Thank you!

Gents, I've been playing since pre-covid and for the most part I don't win much (except by luck). I don't really know how to read the cards say for what a normal person would see looking at them. I've played in some other leagues but any help on how to build a team and how to read stats better would definitely be appreciated.

Here's a current team and don't mind any criticism or advice for sure

https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1683767

Thanks,

Scott

It's all the little things and they all add up. You need to match your players to your park as well as to compete in your division based on what you 3 division mate's teams look like.

But at first glance in your park, the following pitchers are totally out of place: Sutton, Burris, Wells, Martinez. Your park favors lefty power hitters and those pitchers are WORSE against lefty hitters. Sutton and Wells give up a ton of Ballpark HR's to lefty hitters in particular.

Too much spent on relievers IMHO.

Same problem with hitters, the following hitters don't belong on Shea: Gardner & Fernandez (no power in a lefty power hitter's park).

And who is Lowenstein platooning with? Larkin? Bad choice, you need a lefty killer and that is not Larkin.

And is Cecil Travis platooning at 2nd??? Never in a million years should you put a 4e25 at 2nd Base.

And while Cardenas is fine as a DH or PH, he shouldn't probably be an every day platoon starter at 3rd Base either.

4's in the outfield can really kill pitchers, they don't get to any balls creating a lot of extra hits.

And the obvious too many adds and drops which killed your team value.

Thank you for the help! What do you suggest is a good even ballpark to get my bearing? Do you value defense over hitting ro should I be looking for someone who can provide both?

I don't know if anyone mentioned this, but it's very important to match your hitters to your ballpark. You chose an extremely crooked ballpark-- great for LH homers, bad for everything else-- so ideally, you need an entire lineup of LH power hitters. That gives you a nice home field advantage.

Thanks, what would be a solid ballpark to put together a decent team around?

Gents, I've been playing since pre-covid and for the most part I don't win much (except by luck). I don't really know how to read the cards say for what a normal person would see looking at them. I've played in some other leagues but any help on how to build a team and how to read stats better would definitely be appreciated.

Here's a current team and don't mind any criticism or advice for sure

https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1683767

Thanks,

Scott

It's all the little things and they all add up. You need to match your players to your park as well as to compete in your division based on what you 3 division mate's teams look like.

But at first glance in your park, the following pitchers are totally out of place: Sutton, Burris, Wells, Martinez. Your park favors lefty power hitters and those pitchers are WORSE against lefty hitters. Sutton and Wells give up a ton of Ballpark HR's to lefty hitters in particular.

Too much spent on relievers IMHO.

Same problem with hitters, the following hitters don't belong on Shea: Gardner & Fernandez (no power in a lefty power hitter's park).

And who is Lowenstein platooning with? Larkin? Bad choice, you need a lefty killer and that is not Larkin.

And is Cecil Travis platooning at 2nd??? Never in a million years should you put a 4e25 at 2nd Base.

And while Cardenas is fine as a DH or PH, he shouldn't probably be an every day platoon starter at 3rd Base either.

4's in the outfield can really kill pitchers, they don't get to any balls creating a lot of extra hits.

And the obvious too many adds and drops which killed your team value.

Thanks, what would be a solid ballpark to put together a decent team around?

Pitcher's parks are always a good place to start learning if you ask me: Braves 38, Petco, Forbes 09, Griffith 41 are my faves.

I like speed & defense teams in a pitcher's park.

Thanks gents, what ballpark is a good one to just start from scratch?

Also, do you guys value defense over hitting on a player or is it better to find one who does both well for the price?

Thanks!

Pitcher's parks are always a good place to start learning if you ask me: Braves 38, Petco, Forbes 09, Griffith 41 are my faves.

I like speed & defense teams in a pitcher's park.

Thank you!

A few things that will help you …… google how to read strat o matic cards. The results will go over everything from defense to park factors and everything in between. And every piece matters to how the card is priced and how the game is played . Another thing I’d say to do is to go into the info/ help tab and play around in the player set for a half hour to an hour. Go to different players and see how each park effects each player. The final thing I’d say is to look at the teams in your leagues that are doing good. From that you can get an idea of the players with good values and stuff like that.

I don't know if anyone mentioned this, but it's very important to match your hitters to your ballpark. You chose an extremely crooked ballpark-- great for LH homers, bad for everything else-- so ideally, you need an entire lineup of LH power hitters. That gives you a nice home field advantage.

Thanks, what would be a solid ballpark to put together a decent team around?

Chicks dig the long ball, or so I'm told. I like to put my team in a right-handed homerun park (Wrigley '59, Minute Maid 2005, or Navin 1924) and then stack my lineup with RH power. Perhaps not very realistic (sometimes every player on my roster is right-handed) but it sure is fun!

There are a lot of good ideas above. Here is what kind of works for me. Some of these may be a repeat, but I think they are worth the additional mention.

diamonddope.com - it is your friend. Model your team both before and after the draft in your early use of it. Once you start understanding the players you don't need it as much.

Hitting wins. (Pitching Version). For an $80M team, spend less on pitching. Consider a group of lower $ starters (say $3-$4M), or only go with one higher priced SP. Stick to a 4-man rotation in lower $ leagues. Your #5 should be a $0.5M pitcher. I like 5 man rotations. There is much value in the right non-* pitchers, but the strategy works best in higher $ leagues.

Hitting wins. (Hitting Version). Make your hitters count. In real life Griffey is great, in Strat there are better options (e.g., McCovey, Chipper, Ott come to mind for Shea). Consider drafting a couple of studs, or at least more hitters in the $5-8M range. Really think about the hitter match to your ballpark. For example, Beltre is a poor match for your ballpark.

Be patient. Way, way too many dropped players. Herr - Remy is a nice platoon at 2B. Good D, some hitting and speed. But you need to let them play. Less $ at 2b means more somewhere else. Use it wisely. Kingman...he plays in Strat just like real life (low average, no D, power but too many solo HRs). If you go with someone like Kingman, know what you got and just let him play.

Manage the small things. Lowenstein, Cardanas and Pelmerro are 6 steals, 7 thrown outs. 7 potential runs will not turn the season around, but they should be 0 for 0. Use the "Hitter Prefs" and turn stealing off for them.

Go cheaper on your highly biased RPs (unless you are in a high $ league). Hassler, Sambito, Linzy, Tekulve, DiPino and others offer good value.

Study teams. The easiest is to study the best teams in your league. Or as suggested, study the best of the best...Barnstorm Tournament winners.

Dave Laroche...the pride of my high school. Nice to see him in the show!

Good luck!