Need Help With Teams!

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!

I did that once to not the most satifsying results. I put all Rightys on my team. Worked great until someone started a 9R on my butt and tossed a no-hitter. Then they went and posted on the board, look at the team this idiot created. - Works great until it doesn't.

MM

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!

Thank you! Much appreciated!

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.

Thank youi!

Some baseball basics also apply, as in:

Defense up the middle: stick with range factor 1 or 2 at 2B, SS and CF. Catcher Arm rating is more important than their range (also their “T” and Pb rating). Doesn’t hurt if they’re a 1 or 2, but those other factors tend to play a larger role in Strat.

Range and Arms in the OF: OFs with poor range give up extra base hits, so try to avoid having more than 1 “4” in the OF (under no circumstances place a “4” regularly in CF). Your 4s should have good bats to justify their use. Doesn’t necessarily mean power. Gary Matthews ‘84 is a terrible LFer but can be a nice, cheap option at leadoff because he walks a lot and has a little pop. Negative arm ratings (minus numbers) reduce baserunner ratings. Your CF will handle more throws than the corners, so having a great arm there can save runs. + arms are weak, but you can tolerate them in, say, LF, even CF if the guys bat is good. Don’t be afraid to defensive sub bad arms/range.

Speed kills: fast runners will advance more on the bases. Really good base stealers can accumulate loads of extra bases. Be wary of your settings though. SB % is important. Check the actual numbers on the card. A player can be rated, say “AA” as a base stealer due to bulk SB attempts. But he could get caught a lot, so his actual rating could be 15-12 for 2B/3B, respectively. If they’re gong to run a lot, you want more like 19 or 20 in the first rating, since steals of second are more frequent.

STRAT specific stuff has already been mentioned, namely build for your park. Additionally, consider a reverse SP or two, to combat platooning. A backwards pitcher will also flip switch hitters to their other side, which may play better in the park you select.

Finally, be prepared to see the same players a lot. I’m really sick of Atley Donald, Andy Sonnanstine, Mario Duncan, Jordy Mercer, but they’re cheap bargains, so there they are.

Good luck.

P.S. Don’t expect a true baseball simulation.

Some baseball basics also apply, as in:

Defense up the middle: stick with range factor 1 or 2 at 2B, SS and CF. Catcher Arm rating is more important than their range (also their “T” and Pb rating). Doesn’t hurt if they’re a 1 or 2, but those other factors tend to play a larger role in Strat.

Range and Arms in the OF: OFs with poor range give up extra base hits, so try to avoid having more than 1 “4” in the OF (under no circumstances place a “4” regularly in CF). Your 4s should have good bats to justify their use. Doesn’t necessarily mean power. Gary Matthews ‘84 is a terrible LFer but can be a nice, cheap option at leadoff because he walks a lot and has a little pop. Negative arm ratings (minus numbers) reduce baserunner ratings. Your CF will handle more throws than the corners, so having a great arm there can save runs. + arms are weak, but you can tolerate them in, say, LF, even CF if the guys bat is good. Don’t be afraid to defensive sub bad arms/range.

Speed kills: fast runners will advance more on the bases. Really good base stealers can accumulate loads of extra bases. Be wary of your settings though. SB % is important. Check the actual numbers on the card. A player can be rated, say “AA” as a base stealer due to bulk SB attempts. But he could get caught a lot, so his actual rating could be 15-12 for 2B/3B, respectively. If they’re gong to run a lot, you want more like 19 or 20 in the first rating, since steals of second are more frequent.

STRAT specific stuff has already been mentioned, namely build for your park. Additionally, consider a reverse SP or two, to combat platooning. A backwards pitcher will also flip switch hitters to their other side, which may play better in the park you select.

Finally, be prepared to see the same players a lot. I’m really sick of Atley Donald, Andy Sonnanstine, Mario Duncan, Jordy Mercer, but they’re cheap bargains, so there they are.

Good luck.

P.S. Don’t expect a true baseball simulation.

Thank you! What is a reverse or backwards pitcher?

A backwards pitcher is a someone like Vean Gregg - a lefty who is better against righties.

A backwards pitcher is a someone like Vean Gregg - a lefty who is better against righties.

Thanks!