One day I was reading the source page of the Front Office page for my Stratomatic Online League. I don’t remember why I was viewing the HTML source in the first place but I discovered a URL link that was commented. I haven’t checked to see if this link is still viewable but it was only visible after waivers and disappeared when the league started. This URL is http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/stratomatic/draft/draft_results.html. This page shows a list of all players that were requested by multiple teams. The results also show which team landed the player and substitutes that were given to the other teams that requested the same player.
Here are the draft results from my current league. Six teams, including my team (Timlins), went after Brian Shouse. Edinson Volquez was another popular choice with four requests. Surprisingly, only two managers, including myself, tried to land Manny Ramirez!
Results from one of my Back to the 80’s league:
Chris Bando – 5 requests
Tim Burke – 6 requests
Robin Yount – 5 requests
I suppose one of the reasons why SportingNews decided to leave this page out was to prevent managers from learning the draft patterns used by the system. The draft order is random so I don’t think anyone would gain much of an advantage with this information. Nevertheless, it’s interesting to analyze.
My CD-Rom (v14) game arrived. Stratomatic already has a patch out for it. Last night, I was trying to find a way to automatically transfer my SportingNews Online team to the CD-Rom game. I don’t see a way to do this, even with the new interface used by the CD-Rom game. The new interface really behaves like the old interface. The only difference is the look and feel.
I was looking for a way to copy data from the roster chart with a Greasemonky script and then copy the data to the clipboard. This aspect is doable. There are programs out there that can automate mouse clicks and keyboard entries but I haven’t found a program that will work well with the CD-Rom game. I was thinking about a way to automatically search for a player’s name with the CD-Rom player search. Unfortunately, it’s not a very user friendly player search. It will tell you where the player is but won’t take you to him!
So, you need to take note of the search results and then find the three letter abbreviation (above, it’s TIM) of the team that player plays for.
The CD-Rom game has a feature that allows you to see a player’s web page. I was thinking maybe there could be a way to use this to link the player to Stratomatic Online. Unfortunately, this isn’t working. I get “Unable to start web browser:
I have the CD-Rom game installed on my flash drive. Maybe this is why it’s not working. I’m not sure what’s the problem.
Hopefully one of these days Stratomatic will allow users to import leagues and rosters from Stratomatic Online into the CD-Rom game with ease. Until then, we have to do it the old fashioned way – which is quite tedious. In the meantime, this is how I setup leagues in the CD-Rom game so I can test strategy for upcoming Stratomatic Online games:
1. Duplicate the ‘2008 Major Leagues’ league.
2. In the duplicated league, cut/paste all players into Free Agents folder.
3. Create a new league(your SOM Online team). Just fill in League Year, 2 Character Abbreviation, and name of league.
4. Create your team. Just fill out Year, City, Nickname, and abbreviation and then click Ok.
5. Now, drag your players into your team one by one.
7. To make sure you haven’t made a mistake go to Team>PromoteDemote Minor leaguers and compare the number of eligible batters and pitchers to your team.
8. Next, go to Team>Generate Computer Manager to setup default starting rotation and lineups to help you get started.
9. Repeat steps 4-8 for the other teams in the league. I usually do this as a face each new team. Setting up divisions isn’t really necessary unless you want to do this.
I would like to help you experience a way to ‘watch’ Stratomatic Online games unfold in a “GameChannel” type baseball simulation. Now you can sit on the edge of your seat to see what happens to your pitcher with the bases are loaded and two outs. Now you can watch games that feel a little more like Stratomatic face-to-face games.
Before
After
Download:
http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/37182
Sporting News officially announced the launching of 2008 Stratomatic season set! Here’s a list of 10 clutch hitters that I would consider drafting. I based my picks on my preference of contact hitters with low walks and strikeouts who are less prone to injury.
1. David DeJesus 5.75M 12 clutch - Perhaps the one of the best clutch ratings in the set. Has a good OBP vs right handed pitchers and will hit a lot of triples.
2. Bengie Molina 4.57M 8 clutch – Had a solid defensive card c-2(-1)e1, T-5(pb-0) this year. He’ll put the ball in play, zero walks and zero strikeouts, but will also ground into double plays (27 DP chances).
3. Ian Kinsler 5.75M 7 clutch – If drafted, he’ll most likely need to become the DH because of his defense at second base 3e24. He has a solid OBP against right handed pitchers and will hit a lot of doubles. Kinsler also has a lot of speed (1-17) and can steal bases (A steal rating).
4. Pablo Sandoval 4.91M 6 clutch – Another Giants catcher. He can also play 3B and 1B. Has 29 single chances against right handed pitchers! Zero walks and very low strikeouts. Will have a lot of double opportunities. He is a high risk for hitting into the double play (30 DP chances), however.
5. Justin Morneau 7.04M 4 clutch – Morneau always seems to have solid years. This year, he’s an ‘Iron Man’ – zero injury chances. He had 47 doubles during the regular season – 8 2B chances on each side.
6. Denard Span 5.68M 3 clutch - I never heard of this guy until now. Maybe I’ll add him to my Yahoo Fantasy Sports team. This is another Minnesota Twin who will play well defensively 2(0)e7 in RF or CF. Has a very good OBP against both sides and will produce a lot of triples. He will walk quite a bit against left handers but he’s a good base stealer.
7. Derek Jeter 5.77M 3 clutch – Jeter will get on base and hit a lot of singles. He does have a low OPS (.771) but good defense at shortstop seems to be a little thin this year. Jeter has a 1-16 rating on the base paths.
8. Andre Ethier 6.22M 2 clutch – I always prefer outfielders with good arms. Either has a -2 arm and can play either LF or RF. Another hitter with high double chances against right handers.
Who is using the Stratomatic Baseball CD-ROM game to test your strategy for upcoming Stratomatic Online games? I do this whenever I have the chance. It can be quite tedious to setup, though. What I usually do is add all 12 teams in the league but I don’t even bother placing them in each of the 3 divisions. Before the season starts, I’ll setup my team and then setup one of the teams in my division and start simulating. I usually setup all of the teams in my division before the season starts and then I add rosters for other teams (from other divisions) as I face them.
It is a bit of a drag to keep up with all of the daily transactions being done in Stratomatic Online during the season. What I do is only update the roster of my upcoming opponent for that day. Of course, you will encounter some managers who go wild with adds and drops. In these cases, I either just wipeout their team and start over or not even bother simming that opponent.
After the first couple series of the season (6 games) I’m usually able to predict how each manager sets up their rotation. I also look back at previous games to view my opponents batting lineup patterns. Predicting lineups can be a drag when there are injuries involved but with a little work you should be able to determine what type of lineup you’ll be facing.
I usually play all 3 upcoming games in Spectator mode on the Stratomatic CD-ROM game. Yes, I sit there and watch how the game plays out. I may go through the series once or twice.
Below is a list of options from the CD-ROM game that are used for Stratomatic Baseball Online.
Main Rules
Maximum Level - Uses Maximum rules (see below).
Bunt for base hit
Improve out distribution
Improve baserunning realism
Home field advantage
More baserunning decisions
Realistic throwing errors
Allow extra pre-1920 errors
Pitch-Around option
Correct Board Game Excesses
Stealing
Super Advance Steal system
Miscellaneous
Use Miscellaneous Rules
Injures
Use injuries
Groundball A
Allow GBA on Pitcher Cards
BP/Weather/Clutch
Ballpark Effects
Clutch Hitting
Strategy
Super Advanced Strategy Charts
Closer
Use Closer Rules
Pitcher Fatigue
Use SADV Fatigue & Pitch Count
