Small ball...advicce, criticism etc.

It's been a lot of years away from Strat, I feel like I'm new but especially so to 365. I am however learning all the time, from a lot of very knowledgeable people on these boards. That said, I have never really played a small ball team. I am enjoying moderate success with my other teams. Since this is my first attempt I am open to advice and criticism on the following team, https://365.strat-o-matic.com/member/sw ... am/1712468. I think I've posted this correctly. I would really like to hear the thoughts of the experts out there. Thanks in advance. BTW, the season starts tonight so there are no stats.

Bad link

Try this..https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1712468

a few observations. At 80m Cap, I think having 3 starters over 9M and one close to 9m might be overkill. I would go with two over 9 and maybe a couple at the 7-8 range, especially given your park. If your are going with 9 inning starters, you don't need to tie up that much money on your bullpen-go cheap extreme r/l/r/l and you'll be ok. That will free up some money for some more hitting. you need a strong rbi guy for the middle of your lineup. Otherwise, looks good

In isolation, it is difficult (for me at least) to provide any advice.
Go to the menu bar and click on "Your League v" and then please post a link to your league that looks like this:

https://365.strat-o-matic.com/league/xxxxxx

Hopefully this is what you're asking for..https://365.strat-o-matic.com/league/463509. Thanks

I'll offer some generalities that seem to work well for me, not specifics.

Take advantage of your strengths with a home park like Comiskey 1927.

Try to find players with good defense and above average OBP, ideally you'd want a team batting average around .300 and an OBP greater that's close to .380. Above average base running and steals ratings are a plus, but not critical.

I like the opposite in pitchers, low OBP. I'm willing to risk it with normally undesirable guys who have several BP homers on their card because it's in your favor for at least half your games playing in picher's parks.

In general, you want a small ball team that either scores a lot of runs and a pitching staff that allows an uncomfortable number of HRs, or one that emphasizes pitching and defense, doesn't score a lot of runs but excels in winning close low-scoring one-run and extra-inning games.

I like to find some big doubles guys for teams like this. If you have the baserunning speed like the team you put together, a double should clear the bases, and maybe end up with the batter at third if there is a throw home. If you aren't hitting homers, that's the next best thing.

I agree that this team is pitching heavy. I also second the idea that you want pitchers with some BP homers. I'd maybe start with a 8M starter and work down from there, maybe to 5-6M. A park like this will give a boost to your pitchers, which warrants less of an investment in them.

One specific. I really like Willie Keelers 4R card. I've had him put up great stats in a platoon, even in pitchers parks.

Step 1: Know what optimizing value to your park means. In Braves 20, it means not paying for BPHRs on hitters, but also means taking the discount of BPHRs on pitchers, and not paying for lack of BP singles on pitcher cards. Consider that 2/3 of opposing pitchers will be RHP as a starting assumption as that is how the cards are generally valued (close at least), so invest acordingly. Anyone under a 16 speed or decent base stealer better be a superstar with XBH (ie Delahanty, Shoeless Joe, Torriente, etc) or maybe a catcher. Obviously, the ideal may not be met and do the best you can. For base stealers, you could say aim for "A" but that isn't super advanced rules and is not used, so some A stealers are not ideal due to pickoff/bad lead numbers. This informs your basic initial draft strategy--BUT--don't get too hooked on everyone until step 2.

Step 2: Thanks for the league link.
That is always the second thing I do after drafting--weights of ballparks, and then weights of rosters if they stabilize in time and I have time.
So, as others have said, step 1 is the most important. Why? Because your schedule looks something like this in a 12 team league:
HOME Div games 36
AWAY Div games 36
HOME Non Div games 45
AWAY Non Div games 45

Now you could ignore the away games and with a well-optimized home strategy win 55 at home and make the playoffs. But. why not take it to the next level if you have the time and maximize your odds? The calculation is objectively knowable so to me, it is a no-brainer. That said, I don't always do it out of laziness

So, to optimize for the league, weight your team accordingly regarding the power, R-L, etc all the stuff in step one.
If you are the only small ball park in your div with two righty and 1 lefty HR park--it would be foolish to ignore that. ie you could need a RHB with some pop and maybe a subtle redux of pitchers with RH BPHRs.

Clearly, in your case, this league is smallball friendly so you can almost throw step 2 in the wastebasket and go full-up home park consideration. There are a few righty HR parks that would shade me away from the high RHB BPHR pitchers a little, but really this is quite an ideal situation for you.

Step 3: Smallball tactics related to your team as posted (many have said this stuff already):
- That is a pitching staff for 100M not 80M. Plus, due to your park, the league parks, and your probable defense (which don't forget X chances are about 28% of pitcher cards, ie 30 of 108 right), it is out of balance.
- Another note: strikeout pitchers are valuable. More generally, pitchers with many non-productive outs on their card (ie popup, Lineout etc). That makes it harder to score. And you need hitters who are the opposite of that...

Although there are many small ballish parks in your league, the basic tenet still applies that you need more hits and OBA than your opponents to have an advantage each night, with as much natural power, extra base running, and stolen bases that you can add on.
On offense:
Likes--Keeler (but not this card--either of his other two); Judge (either card is a good value, though he is borderline for speed so there are better options).
What I think you need more of: more XBH and a a couplesolid hitters who hit well both ways, ideally a L and a R. more on that in a minute.

General lineup construction (just one way to look at it).
Think of being able to score with a hit and something other than a hit in every inning. That means lots of natural hits, walks, speed, AND productive outs. Stay away from guys with lots on lineouts, popouts etc. This is why the Judge 4.15 card is just as valuable as the seemingly better 4.54 card, as an example. Look at the number of hits and productive outs--it isn't even close (ok maybe not that extreme but I think you can see the point).

So, need very high OBA especially near the top, of course. All guys with * leads. Stay away from non-productive outs on cards, double plays are obvious but not just those, as discussed above. Don't forget about the difference between flyC vs a fly B?, etc.
If you can't peanut butter spread a lineup, meaning you have a couple lineup spots where you will be facing IBBs due to lineup sequence disparity, then look at those lineup spots and try to fill with a neutral to posi clutch guy if able. For instance, using Judge again--try not to bat a guy like that after a much better hitter because the better hitter will be getting walked. If you do put a guy in position to be IBBd a lot, at least make sure he can steal and run.

think of the lineup as an OBA factory, where you are getting on base, moving runners, and running through your lineup.
So back to the L-R thing. It is obvious that everyone is going to go pretty cheap with highly one-sided relievers.
It is a good tactic. But it can be addressed by having a lineup that is not heavily dependent on platoons and is balanced L-R all the way down from 1 to 9.

Normally, a platoon is fine and the number of times you get weak-sided is nowhere near the amount of benefit you get from the platoon value. But in small ball at low caps, it begins to get a little murky if you have opponents who are experienced small ballers. It is one thing when Yelich or even a Paul ONeill gets wrong sided in a HR park. It is another when it is a W-guy who hardly has anything on his weak side. In small ball, that lack of efficiency is hard to make up for because you just don't have the horsepower.

Realistically, the guiding principle for me (and I love small ball in every situation), is your lineup should be able to score in every inning no matter who is up. It is more difficult to do at 80M but you can get close. You simly can't have 3 lineup slots that are auto outs (esp if they have non-productive outs) IMO/experience.

Whew sorry that was as stream of consciousness or felt like it. I love small ball and am confident enough in using it against anyone (even the BS finals last year) as I have done pretty well with it.

But like scorehouse said--if you are looking for the proof in the pudding, egvrich is an avid and proven smallballer in any situation. Goreds54 and BC15NY are two others I have noted are almost always competitive with smallball teams when they do them (even though it may not be their preference like with rich). I say that with no disrepect to anyone else here at all,it is simply my ignorance. Been here a long time, but not much more than a 100 teams so just haven't seen many players repeatedly.

Have fun! Sorry for the extreme verbal diarrhea!

oh one more thing--don't cut corners on OF arms! Better have at least 2 who are going to prevent HAL from sending guys. You need to be taking advantage of that, not getting taken advantage of.