They Cracked the Code

well, after a few seasons I finally have been shown the road map to dominance. I've seen behind the curtain, and, as with the wizard of oz, it is not a pretty sight.
I'm in a league nearing the halfway point and a team is on pace for 116 wins. their strategy makes a joke out of calling this a simulation. they bought up the 5 most elite starters they could. they spent the bare minimum on relief. having the starters throw about 160 pitches per game. they've used an average of 2 outs per game from rp's.
where they've really excelled is on offense. using a homer friendly park they have found seemingly every broken card in the deck. the top 6 hitters average 4.0 mi. they are on pace for an average of 56 homers and 105 runs and rbi's each. the belle of the ball is a catcher who had 3 real home runs last year. he costs 2.73 mil and is on pace for 74 homers, 119 runs, and 136 rbi's.
if it sounds like I'm whining I am a little. not at the team owner, but instead at strat for leaving so many exploitable holes in the system. going forward I will not compose a team in this cheap fashion, but I can't play future seasons knowing that this could happen again. ironically I am 6-0 against this team, and hope I get a chance to face him in the finals.

post a link to the team? This is something I've always wanted to try, but I just can't seem to bring myself to having a 50 cent bullpen

well, after a few seasons I finally have been shown the road map to dominance. I've seen behind the curtain, and, as with the wizard of oz, it is not a pretty sight.
I'm in a league nearing the halfway point and a team is on pace for 116 wins. their strategy makes a joke out of calling this a simulation. they bought up the 5 most elite starters they could. they spent the bare minimum on relief. having the starters throw about 160 pitches per game. they've used an average of 2 outs per game from rp's.
where they've really excelled is on offense. using a homer friendly park they have found seemingly every broken card in the deck. the top 6 hitters average 4.0 mi. they are on pace for an average of 56 homers and 105 runs and rbi's each. the belle of the ball is a catcher who had 3 real home runs last year. he costs 2.73 mil and is on pace for 74 homers, 119 runs, and 136 rbi's.
if it sounds like I'm whining I am a little. not at the team owner, but instead at strat for leaving so many exploitable holes in the system. going forward I will not compose a team in this cheap fashion, but I can't play future seasons knowing that this could happen again. ironically I am 6-0 against this team, and hope I get a chance to face him in the finals.

I would like to see this team. Are they actually using Ramon Hernandez at C?

I don't think anyone "cracked the code". There are many ways to build a team. The stud SP thing has been done many times, still cant believe someone would use Hernandez as their starting catcher though

The manager didn't "crack the code," and it's unfair to say he is winning in a "cheap fashion." He clearly took a daring, all-in approach that isn't used often, and it is paying off well for him. Whether or not this actually is the surefire mode for success on the 20xx depends on many such teams, not just this one, succeeding in such fashion.

There have been trends for success in the past, though. In 2003, with the '02 set, I noticed some teams had been optimizing numerous super relievers, while minimizing usage of effective cheap starters, to great effect. I decided to try the strategy myself with substantial success, and (as did many teams) used it very often the rest of the year. Here is that first team:

http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/549627

well, after a few seasons I finally have been shown the road map to dominance. I've seen behind the curtain, and, as with the wizard of oz, it is not a pretty sight.
I'm in a league nearing the halfway point and a team is on pace for 116 wins. their strategy makes a joke out of calling this a simulation. they bought up the 5 most elite starters they could. they spent the bare minimum on relief. having the starters throw about 160 pitches per game. they've used an average of 2 outs per game from rp's.
where they've really excelled is on offense. using a homer friendly park they have found seemingly every broken card in the deck. the top 6 hitters average 4.0 mi. they are on pace for an average of 56 homers and 105 runs and rbi's each. the belle of the ball is a catcher who had 3 real home runs last year. he costs 2.73 mil and is on pace for 74 homers, 119 runs, and 136 rbi's.
if it sounds like I'm whining I am a little. not at the team owner, but instead at strat for leaving so many exploitable holes in the system. going forward I will not compose a team in this cheap fashion, but I can't play future seasons knowing that this could happen again. ironically I am 6-0 against this team, and hope I get a chance to face him in the finals.

I found that "road map to dominance" a few times. Only to find out the next time I tried that dominant model that it does not always work the same way every time. Unexpectedly great seasons from a couple guys, league makeup, etc make a "pat" team impossible. I had a streak of like 11/13 teams making the playoffs and I thought I was the master model maker. That streak was followed by 8 straight "thanks for playing" seasons and the master was the learner again.

Baseball! Ya have to love it.

well, after a few seasons I finally have been shown the road map to dominance. I've seen behind the curtain, and, as with the wizard of oz, it is not a pretty sight.
I'm in a league nearing the halfway point and a team is on pace for 116 wins. their strategy makes a joke out of calling this a simulation. they bought up the 5 most elite starters they could. they spent the bare minimum on relief. having the starters throw about 160 pitches per game. they've used an average of 2 outs per game from rp's.
where they've really excelled is on offense. using a homer friendly park they have found seemingly every broken card in the deck. the top 6 hitters average 4.0 mi. they are on pace for an average of 56 homers and 105 runs and rbi's each. the belle of the ball is a catcher who had 3 real home runs last year. he costs 2.73 mil and is on pace for 74 homers, 119 runs, and 136 rbi's.
if it sounds like I'm whining I am a little. not at the team owner, but instead at strat for leaving so many exploitable holes in the system. going forward I will not compose a team in this cheap fashion, but I can't play future seasons knowing that this could happen again. ironically I am 6-0 against this team, and hope I get a chance to face him in the finals.

How is that team on pace for 116 wins above doing now? I was in a league where the top dog was on pace after 60+ games to win 128 games. The team finished with 91 wins and had to hold on to win the division.

he did slow down in pace, but won the championship last night. his top 8 sluggers averaged 44 homers a piece, at a bargain rate of under 4 mil. per player. I have a hard time knocking him for knowing how to build a winner, but I do knock strat for allowing an out of work catcher with 3 homers last year to hit 54 in their game. their cards also allowed a 90 yr old player averaging 19 per yr in his last 5 full seasons to hit 49. another journeyman infielder who never topped 11 in his 10 seasons hit 55. clearly the fault here lies with the card builders. the champ just was better than us at finding the cracks in their code. even though I loved checking my scores every morning I want a baseball sim, not an exercise in exploitation.

http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/1384047

I started wondering if this could work. I was afraid to try it in a hitters park though, but 4 stud starters can do well in a pitcher's park

nice. your relievers have recorded a whopping 1 out to this point. lol. awesome job, but dumb by strat to allow starters to throw that many innings on 3 days rest without consequences. the dodgers followed that strat thru the entire decade of the 60's. pitch lights out in a pitchers park and eek out a couple runs to win.