MLB '10: The Show Official Team Ratings and Explanation

[Russell_SCEA]

These are some of my favorite threads every year because we all get to debate on why so and so is rated this and that. It's all arbitrary and opinions when you think about it though (which is why I enjoy these threads so much), but for the sake of understanding I'm game lets dig a little deeper.

The Cardinals batting being ranked 20th in the game, but before I talk about their rating let me shed some light on how the game determines this.

1. It's an avg. of your starters and your bench and that's for your starting pitching and lineup. Kolbe gave me a number around 60% to 40% with your starters making up 60% of that rating.

2. Player ratings are not done by human hands its all done by a program that looks at the players past three years with the most recent year weighing in the highest.

Now that we have that out the way back to the Cardinals and this 20th batting ranking which made me scratch my head a little when I first saw it. As most of you and I'm guilty of this myself I think Pujols and Holliday that has to at least make them better than 20th. Not so fast

The Mets are ranked 15th a good 5 spots ahead of them I've uploaded some pics to help make this easier.







If you notice the Cardinals bench is relatively weak compared to the Mets. This is a very important factor in the Cardinals current 20th batting rating. For the sake of science I swaped F.Tatis for S.Robinson on these two teams and their ratings changed. That one player swap propelled the Cardinals to 13th overall in batting and dropped the Mets to 21st in batting. What you have to remember is your starting lineup is only half of the story (about 60% give or take) you have to take into consideration your bench and your bullpen for pitching. Hope this helps

Discuss

[EnigmaNemesis]

Quote: Originally Posted by Russell_SCEA

What you have to remember is your starting lineup is only have of the story (about 60% give or take) you have to take into consideration your bench and your bullpen for pitching. Hope this helps Discuss

It helps immensely and I think is what we were trying to convey to some.

Ugh... my Cubbies suck at defense. Ratings are right on, lol.

[DTX3]

Quote: Originally Posted by Hitman3315

As much as I love my Dodgers... 4th is pretty generous considering their quiet offseason. 2nd in pitching? The bullpen is good, and some of the young arms have potential, but they definitely do not have one of the elite starting rotations in baseball (let alone a bona fide ace). Defense I agree with... batting sounds about right. Whatever though. Bring on the NL West in Franchise!

Yeah, that's definitely something I'm trying to figure out myself. I guess Clayton Koufax is just that awesome.

[rbaker1979]

I didn't know the bench played such a large role in the ratings, so I can understand the surprisingly low rating now. The Cardinals do have a pretty weak bench.

Thanks for the explanation

[Zorb]

Quote: Originally Posted by Russell_SCEA

If you notice the Cardinals bench is relatively weak compared to the Mets. This is a very important factor in the Cardinals current 20th batting rating. For the sake of science I swaped F.Tatis for S.Robinson on these two teams and their ratings changed. That one player swap propelled the Cardinals to 13th overall in batting and dropped the Mets to 21st in batting. What you have to remember is your starting lineup is only half of the story (about 60% give or take) you have to take into consideration your bench and your bullpen for pitching. Hope this helps Discuss

Makes sense to me! and thanks for the reply!

and the cubs are still overrated!

[EnigmaNemesis]

Quote: Originally Posted by rbaker1979

I didn't know the bench played such a large role in the ratings, so I can understand the surprisingly low rating now. The Cardinals do have a pretty weak bench. Thanks for the explanation

I think that is what most are forgetting, and that their team does have a bench. And they do count, just as in real life.

[Jeffery 09]

lol the voice of reason! Makes perfect sense