Out of the Park Baseball 10 News Post

Speed Kills? Can OOTP X Provide the Answer?

12:28 PM - August 26, 2009 by RaychelSnr

I have been thinking a great deal about speed in sports as of late, and no I am not trying to start a new drugs in sports controversy. The fact of the matter is that I have always been fascinated by the impact of team and individual speed in sports. Urban Meyer has developed the Florida Gators to be the fastest team in the nation, and by doing so he has made the Gators the best and most intimidating team to match up against. Often times it is more daunting to face a team full of jackrabbits than it is to face a team full of grizzly bears. Speed can embarrass people like few other attributes can.

A couple recent events have also renewed my interest in this topic -- the major event being Rickey Henderson�s induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. For those of us who witnessed Rickey in his prime, we can speak first hand about the impact he had on every game he was a part of. He was a disruption like no other. Not only did he steal as many as 130 bases a season, but he messed with every pitcher�s head who was unfortunate enough to be matched up against him. Honestly, how could a pitcher possibly concentrate on the hitter in the batter�s box with Rickey on base?

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Member Comments

# 1 teampunjabi @ 08/26/09 01:29 PM

This makes me want to get back into OOTP again. Love this game. Great article.

# 2 Craigsca @ 08/26/09 01:31 PM

But is it real? Who knows what real-world inter-dependencies and correlations are programmed into OOTP and which are not. For instance, while it makes sense that a speedy team has increased range have there been any studies done that show a correlation between speed and a decrease in errors?

# 3 Craigsca @ 08/26/09 01:34 PM

# 4 texasgmr @ 08/26/09 02:00 PM

Great article. I am with teampunjabi, I want to get back into the OOTP leagues.

# 5 NoDakHusker @ 08/26/09 02:15 PM

wow this is a very interesting study. Excellent article. Like texasgmr and teampunjabi, i think i'll get back into OOTP again =D

# 6 CMH @ 08/26/09 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craigsca


	But is it real? Who knows what real-world inter-dependencies and correlations are programmed into OOTP and which are not. For instance, while it makes sense that a speedy team has increased range have there been any studies done that show a correlation between speed and a decrease in errors?

I would argue that more speed could equal more range. More plays to cover increases the likelihood of creating an error. Therefore, more speed could result in more errors.

However, with more speed/range, there's a chance this team is decreasing extra base hits and getting to a few of those bloopers, which might help with preventing runs (thus lowering ERA).

# 7 Craigsca @ 08/26/09 03:55 PM

Absolutely. But I'm still wary of using OOTP as the engine for any study of real baseball. You still get some things in the engine that make no sense - so using this as a study of "real life" is kind of a stretch.

# 8 HechticSooner @ 08/26/09 06:06 PM

While I would agree that the defense in OOTP still has some modelling issue, minor one but they are there, the offense and pitching aspects are pretty darned spot on. To say that it doesn't provide a study of "real baseball" is just plain wrong.

While it might not run historical leagues perfectly it does model baseball very well.

# 9 HechticSooner @ 08/26/09 06:07 PM

BTW GREAT ARTICLE!

# 10 lgkeeper @ 08/27/09 01:16 PM

Great piece - nice work!

# 11 dave731 @ 08/27/09 08:15 PM

Stain, it does sound like a great idea for a dynasty journal...

# 12 philliesfan980 @ 08/30/09 02:23 PM

OOTP is great for dynasty type leagues, but for a single season project, you're probably better off using Strat-o-matic, DMB, or ActionPC

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Speed Kills? Can OOTP X Provide the Answer?