Just watched Moneyball...

[ShadioRack]

So im wondering if .obp is practical for The Show. What do you guys think about .obp being the main goal for a team?

[bp4baseball]

After watching the movie I was very curious so I calculated each team's OPS/WHIP value (I called BPS) and ranked the teams. It is surprising how well of a job it does to rank the teams....I don't have the sheet up in front of me, but like 6 or 7 of the top 8 ranked teams are in the playoffs.

Bringing all this back to the show, it would be neat if you could tell your manager to choose the starting lineup/pick subs based off different stats. For example I could tell my manager to always put the player with the highest OPS in the starting lineup, or bring the pitcher with the highest WHIP out of the bullpen first. This way you could have a "revolutionary" way of managing your ballclub, like Billy Beane did. This could even stretch to how your team scouts prospects.

[nomo17k]

The issue with that approach is that I believe most managers still don't go by those stats to decide the lineup, so the resulting batting order wouldn't look like what we see in real life... I think what sabermetric studies have said is that batting *order* doesn't really have as much impact on run scoring ability of a team.. only a run or so over a very, very long stretch...

But I'd like to see AI having *different* managerial tendencies for sure... that I agree... like those old-school type (top of the lineup must have speed, the best hits third, etc.) vs. sabermetric type (OPS, etc.), etc. That would be fun addition.

[bp4baseball]

Quote: Originally Posted by nomo17k

The issue with that approach is that I believe most managers still don't go by those stats to decide the lineup, so the resulting batting order wouldn't look like what we see in real life... I think what sabermetric studies have said is that batting *order* doesn't really have as much impact on run scoring ability of a team.. only a run or so over a very, very long stretch... But I'd like to see AI having *different* managerial tendencies for sure... that I agree... like those old-school type (top of the lineup must have speed, the best hits third, etc.) vs. sabermetric type (OPS, etc.), etc. That would be fun addition.

Yes, I agree for picking the lineup order this may not work, but as far as who is starting, player A or player B, I think it could work better. Clearly there is no one way of making your team, and choosing free agents or prospects purely on numbers may not work best, but to be able to try and be given that freedom would be nice.

And yeah, managerial tendencies would be nice, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them implemented in the next couple years.

[MGM_BLUE]

Quote: Originally Posted by nomo17k

The issue with that approach is that I believe most managers still don't go by those stats to decide the lineup, so the resulting batting order wouldn't look like what we see in real life... I think what sabermetric studies have said is that batting *order* doesn't really have as much impact on run scoring ability of a team.. only a run or so over a very, very long stretch... But I'd like to see AI having *different* managerial tendencies for sure... that I agree... like those old-school type (top of the lineup must have speed, the best hits third, etc.) vs. sabermetric type (OPS, etc.), etc. That would be fun addition.

Do you know how Billy Martin used to decide the lineup for the '77 Yankees? He threw darts at the roster, 1-9!

[pootytang]

I really want to be able to find the Casey Kotchmans of the MLB. I want to be able to outsmart other GMs in the game by studying up and looking at stats to project how good a player really is, not how good a player is perceived.

[The Yurpman]

It's probably impossible to truly find players that are undervalued by other teams in video games for the simple fact that everyone has a "rating". In real life you can't look at a player and go, "Oh yeah, he's an 84 overall." (I know The Show uses bars, same idea though).

[BwanaKuu]

Quote: Originally Posted by The Yurpman

It's probably impossible to truly find players that are undervalued by other teams in video games for the simple fact that everyone has a "rating". In real life you can't look at a player and go, "Oh yeah, he's an 84 overall." (I know The Show uses bars, same idea though).

Yea just like it's hard to bring in the psychological element to the game. For example, Ryan Howard strikes out ALL the time in real life. But since I personally have good plate discipline, I can play him to be way more disciplined and as a result, he has way higher stats than he does in real life.

It's impossible to bring these factors in. I know clutch sort of does but it doesn't capture everything. I think they just rely on the player to add that psychological factor based on how he plays. For example, sometimes I just get in a hitting slump just like real players do at times in the real game.