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The Strat-O-Matic 50th anniversary replay league boasts a mixture of all-time great teams such as the 1927 Yankees and 1970 Orioles, and very good teams, two of which, the 2001 Diamondbacks and 2005 Astros, will be managed by former major league players who actually played for those teams, Curt Schilling and Morgan Ensberg. And to represent the full spectrum of Strat-O-Matic's offerings, Scott Simkus, whose research was instrumental in creating Strat's Negro League card set, will be running an all-white 1934 Brooklyn Dodgers team with Negro League stars and Hall of Famers Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige added to the roster.
Other participants include: Bob Costas, Roy Firestone, Keith Olbermann (MSNBC), Eric Karabell (ESPN), Paul White (USA TODAY), best-selling author Peter Golenbock, Jim Callis (Baseball America), Tim Cowlishaw (Dallas Morning News and ESPN), Joe Sheehan (Sports Illustrated), Jonathan Mayo (MLB.com), John Hart (MLB Network), Kevin Wheeler (KMOX Radio), noted authors and historians Peter Morris and Craig Wright, Chad Finn (Boston Globe), Jerry Crasnick (ESPN), former major league pitcher Dick Drago, current pitcher and author Dirk Hayhurst, Derrick Goold (St. Louis Post-Dispatch), Baseball Prospectus co-founder Rany Jazayerli, fantasy baseball expert Lawr Michaels, Larry Granillo of Wezen-Ball.com, Joe Magennis and Cameron Watson of Baseballisms.com, and hardcore Strat fans Brian Thompson, John Bonno, Jeff Polman, Matt Beagle of BaseballHQ.com, Ken Wenger, and Charles Tripp.Seamheads.com is also partnering up with the Strat-O-Matic Game Company to serve as Strat's official podcast.
"Tumbling Dice: The Seamheads.com Strat-O-Matic Show" was launched on Wednesday, September 29 at 9:00 PM Eastern on BlogTalkRadio.com and has already been endorsed by legendary sports broadcaster Bob Costas, who generously donated a sound bite that will serve as the show's intro and a fantastic story about his childhood experience with Strat-O-Matic. The show will regularly feature discussions about our 50th anniversary replay league.
League Basics
I've been playing Strat since the late 70s and I'm honored to be a part of this. I have a lot of experience in Strat-O-Matic's computer autoplay which is how these games will be conducted. As a result there are a few things I would like to cover about our upcoming league.Rosters Each team will have 25 active players until the September call-up. I have set the initial 25 for each team based on players with more plate appearances and innings pitched.Primary Lineups
I have chosen a solid lineup designed to face lefties or righties, respectively. These will be the primary lineup the computer manger “Hal” will use. Understand the computer will make lineup substitutions as needed if a player is injured or is being over-used. I have prioritized the substitutes in order to reflect player usage.Player Usage
I have set the computer to “fully control overusage.” Hal will try and limit players to their respective plate appearances or innings pitched. It’s not perfect. I intend to manually look at this and make sure things are not getting out of whack. Some situations need intervention. I would love to say that a player will not be used more than x percentage, but that’s not possible without serious massaging.All players have been adjusted to their actual number of plate appearance or innings pitched with the team you have chosen. In addition all players have been pro-rated to a 162 game season. Even though the player’s stats with your team are different than that overall season, the Strat-O-Matic game card was not modified. An example is the 1977 Bake McBride. He has 280 Abs in our league. I also added every player who actually played for that team at some point in the year but was traded away. An example is the 1934 Hack Wilson. He has 181 Abs in our league.
Teams using a DH that did not really employ one like the 1927 Yankees have all had primary DHs identified. To make up for the additional plate appearances they will get I added significant plate appearances to those players.
The same rules apply to pitchers.
Starting Rotation
This will not be important until the post season. Each pitcher will make his real number of starts pro-rated to 162 games. I set these in advance. It’s something I’m asking you to accept because it will make things much easier to run this league. I’ve tried it the other way before by not setting them and things turned messy.Bullpens
Bullpens are some of the trickiest pieces to let the computer handle. A human manager always does a better job. I have set this up to be close but will require some intervention. Closers are set where appropriate.Manager Settings
I have gone though and set all the managers up with the common settings. I’ve also gone into individual players and set up certain parameters. The player settings are driven by usage. If you would like the manager settings changed, that can be accomplished rather easily and at any point in the season.| The Participants |
1970 Baltimore Orioles - Roy Firestone
1978 Boston Red Sox - Chad Finn
1927 New York Yankees - Craig Wright
2008 Tampa Bay Rays - Brian Thompson
1992 Toronto Blue Jays - Dirk Hayhurst/Keith Olbermann
A.L. Central
1994 Chicago White Sox - John Bonno
1995 Cleveland Indians - John Hart
1961 Detroit Tigers - Dick Drago
1977 Kansas City Royals - Rany Jazayerli
1991 Minnesota Twins - Jonathan Mayo
A.L. West
1982 California Angels - Matt Beagle
1931 Philadelphia Athletics - Jeff Polman
1995 Seattle Mariners - Paul White
2009 Texas Rangers - Tim Cowlishaw
| American League |
1995 Atlanta Braves - Joe Magennis/Cameron Watson
1934 Brooklyn Dodgers - Scott Simkus
1994 Montreal Expos - Jim Callis
1986 New York Mets - Peter Golenbock
1977 Philadelphia Phillies - Eric Karabell
N.L. Central
1929 Chicago Cubs - Ken Wenger
1990 Cincinnati Reds - Jerry Crasnick
2005 Houston Astros - Morgan Ensberg
2008 Milwaukee Brewers - Larry Granillo
1902 Pittsburgh Pirates - Peter Morris
2004 St. Louis Cardinals - Bob Costas/Kevin Wheeler
N.L. West
2001 Arizona Diamondbacks - Curt Schilling
1953 Brooklyn Dodgers - Charles Tripp
2007 Colorado Rockies - Derrick Goold
1996 San Diego Padres - Joe Sheehan
1962 San Francisco Giants - Lawr Michaels
| National League |
