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For those who may be new to this game, I’ll give a detailed breakdown. So when a pitcher faces a batter, three dice are rolled. The white die determines which card will be used; 1 to 3 summons the hitter card, and 4 to 6 summons the pitcher card. The two red dice will determine the outcome of the play. In a standard game, one would switch out the hitter cards for each batter and the pitcher cards during any pitching change. However, for my setup, I will be using the Master Hitting and Master Pitching cards. This prevents the need for a card for each player, which is also great because I’m cheap and hate spending money to buy more stuff! Here’s part of my custom-made hitting card: But how random and how varied can each player be if they’re all using the same card? The answer to that would be in the player’s skill level. At the current moment, here are the skills that are recorded: Hitting 1 to 8 (higher number being the better value) Power 1 to 8 Speed E to AA Fielding 1 to 5 Drawing walks 1 to 5 Strikeout tendency 1 to 5 And for the pitchers: Preventing hits 1 to 8 Preventing HRs 1 to 5 Allowing walks 1 to 5 Getting strikeouts 1 to 5 Here is an example; the current Twins squad: This roster was created with stats from Baseball-Reference with specific cutoffs for each rank for each skill. Now here is a picture of some of the cuttoffs: It can take a little while to come up with the teams since I have to research every single player, but this process helps me becoming more informed about other teams’ players If you’re unfamiliar with Strat-O-Matic baseball, there are also a few supplemental charts. There’s the X-Chart, which either sees a groundball or flyball get hit at a certain position that will be difficult to play. Great defenders will almost always make the play, but the poorer the fielder, the higher chance of an error or a hit (lack of range, I guess). Here’s a screenshot of the X-Chart: And there’s also the Strategy Chart. This determines how groundballs and flyouts will be fielded, and allows for managers to try bunting, hit-and-run, bringing the infield in, and more. Since I’m playing alone (is that weird to you guys?), I get to decide what strategy for each team might be the best. This also applies to pitching changes and offensive substitutions. Here’s part of the chart: With all this put together, let’s test a plate appearance and see how things work: In this scenario, Jorge Polanco faces Ryan Yarbrough. He rolls a 4-5, which goes to the pitching card, with the number 5. With this roll, the batter will groundout (though all runners on base will advance); however, if the pitcher is a #4 or 5 in strikeouts, the batter will strike out. Also, if the pitcher is a #1 or #2 hitting-wise, the batter will hit a single. Since Ryan Yarbrough is a #3 strikeout-wise and #5 hitting-wise, Polanco grounds out. I hope you understand how the Strat-O-System works a little better now, and I’ll be bringing you another game this weekend. Post any questions or suggestions you may have!

The first place Twins and the first place Yankees clash in a Strat-O-Matic battle of epic proportions! Both teams carry high-powered offenses in, and the while the real life game was exciting, this one was too... for a while. Game Summary You would expect the Twins and Yankees to score a lot of runs. Well, you won't be disappointed by this result! The first inning went off with a bang, as both teams loaded the bases with no outs, and both teams came up with 3 runs out of the 1st. The Yankees got a RBI single from Gary Sanchez, an RBI walk Luke Voit, and an RBI groundout from Gleyber Torres. Meanwhile, the Twins got an RBI single from Rosario, and LF Tauchman errored another run in, and then Gonzalez hit a sac fly. -- The second inning didn't have a baserunner, oddly enough. Then the Yankees struck back in the 3rd inning - Sanchez singled, Sano errored a ball at 1st base, and Luke Voit crushed a 3 run HR to make it 6-3. But that's not all! Perez inexplicably allowed the bases to get loaded again, just for Judge to hit a 2 RBI double to make it 8-3. Ouch. And now I'll have to dive into the bullpen! -- Sano nailed a solo HR in the 3rd, inching the Twins closer at 8-4. Then the Yankees piled on 3 more runs in the top of the 4th with Tyler Duffey pitching, with a 2 run HR from Voit and a solo shot from Tauchman. The Twins scratched one more run across in the 4th with a Schoop triple and a Polanco triple... very unlikely to happen in real life, but I'll take it. -- I got Lewis Thorpe to pitch clean 5th and 6th innings, which was nice, for a change. The Twins hitters found some life in the bottom of the 6th against Luis Cessa, as Arraez led things off with single, followed by two more singles from Garver and Polanco, making it 11-6. Cruz struck out, but Rosario was able to hit a sac fly, making it 11-7. And in the 7th, Cessa returned to give up a double to Gonzalez, an RBI single to Kepler, and a double to Schoop, making it 11-8 with runners on 2nd and 3rd one out. Unfortunately, Chad Green was able to come in and save the day, getting three outs in that RISP situation. -- Cody Stashak took the 8th and 9th and did a great job in his first MLB appearance, giving up just a single hit and a walk. However, being up by just 2 runs caused the Yankees to get Ottavino and Aroldis Chapman pitching, and the Twins' batters were blown away by these two. We've lost again, dropping our Strat-O-Record to 1-4. Very disappointing, boys! -- Box Score --

6/18/19 - Red Sox at Twins - David Price vs Michael Pineda Box Score: Game Summary The Twins struck first in the second inning with Sano notching a one-out double, followed by a Jake Cave two run homer. It was a no-doubter, as I had a 6-12 roll, which meant that unless the pitcher is very good at preventing HRs, this one was gone. Price is good at preventing homers, but not great, so the Twins jumped out to a 2-0 lead. The Sox chipped away at the lead as Betts hit a RBI single in the 3rd inning, but the bats exploded in the 4th inning. What followed was an error to get Martinez on 1st, a Devers double, Chavis double, Bradley Jr. single, Betts single, and a Benintendi single. The Red Sox took a strong 5-2 lead that they later strengthened to a 6th run. The Twins fired back in the bottom of the 5th, though, as Cave lead the inning off with a triple. Schoop singled him in, followed by Garver singling him to second. We then saw Rosario hit a double and Cron hit a single to make the game 6-5 by the end of the 5th. And then in the 6th, the Twins struck again! Cave hit a double (this dude is on a tear!), followed by a Schoop single that moved him to 3rd. David Price was pulled for Mike Shawaryn, who immediately gave up a game-tying single to Polanco. Garver then hit a double that scored Schoop, which gave the Twins a 7-6 lead. But then the bullpen struck - Littell gave up a single, and I pulled him and placed Morin in with one out already recorded. Then Michael Chavis, the young Boston 1st baseman, nailed a 2 run homer to give them a 8-7 lead. This one seems like a game of tug-of-rope.Trevor May then came out to pitch the 8th and gave up 3 singles and a 2 run homer to Mookie Betts, making it 10-7. This is getting real ugly! However, in the 9th, Cruz lead off with a single and Cron walked to get the tying run up to the plate. But Gonzalez and Sano both struck out and Brasier got the save. We are now 1-2 in Strat-O-Land. Another one went down the drain today... but at least this one didn't go 17 innings. I think my record for my longest Strat-O-Matic game went 13 innings. I'd like to see if I could ever break that number. Here's hoping we can win one next time out!