What am I doing wrong????

Here is one of the resources Rant was referring to for new players:

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=631692

Thanks I was being lazy

Just to double down on the need for players who hit RHP. At catcher, Redmond is a 6L and a 3 INJ. His stats show he's facing 3 times more RHP, and (without crunching any numbers), his statline is probably accurate given the chances on his card, and he should go out to injury for a fairly significant amount of time leaving you just with .50 replacement. Unless you're crunched for cash, he really is a platoon player against LHP.

I can't remember how to sneak a look at the free agent pool, but I'd consider making some moves to find some platoon players versus RHP. I think you could risk dropping Corsi to find more cash. Ride Shaw (setup and closer) and Rocker (middle man +) hard, use the others in leveraged situations, and find someone for mopup. 2b is also an issue. Even with a 1 at SS and 2 in CF that 3 with a relatively high error rating and 4 backup are going to cost you some runs.

i do okay and have a good ratio of getting in the playoffs. here are some good guidelines for most of my teams.

1. The most important rule for my teams is to have great hitting vs Righty pitching. so always have 5 to 7 lefties that hit righties well. And you can get some of these players on the cheap.
2. the above corresponds to the need for platoons. a good platoon can often outperform superstars and also be cheaper.
3. The best relievers need to pitch more. i often see great closers pitching only 40-50 innings. take closer off of maximize. change fatigue rating to f7 or less. and get them in to more games, especially the pre2020 sets. they can get 150 innings.
4. defence. ss 2b cf. get a better 2b. get a catcher with -2 or better arm so the dps are still available. i will sacrifice offence for great defence in these spots
5. have some OF arms stop the first to third and second to home chances
6. speed does not slump
7. U dont need 11 pitchers in most sets. only have the minimum pitchers.
8. i often use my best relievers early in game and have a hard righty (dipoto in 98) or a hard lefty (rincon 98) as closers vs righties and closer vs lefties. i use a guy like shaw as an r2 to gobble the innings 5-8.
9 pre 2020- always use 4 sp*

There's a lot of really good advice here.

It's all about getting the most value for your money. And then using your players correctly.

And no Tom Glavine is not going to dominate like he did in real life in 1998 because he's facing much tougher lineups than he did in real life.

The preseason is the most important part ( unless you are in a Mystery League or a Daily League)

In season roster moves and not using all of your 80 million are for rookies and losers.

So is having an expensive reliever who has pitched less than anyone else in your bullpen...

It took me at least ten tries before I had a playoff team. Since then, I rarely miss the playoffs.

Each new team is a puzzle that must be put together correctly for your strategy, your stadium, your division, and your league.


Don't get too caught up in really specific strategies like having great outfielder arms ( which are extremely overrated)... Instead look for players that provide value...

Lastly, there is some luck involved but as others have mentioned the luck will usually even out eventually over 162 games.


Best of luck if you decide to stick with it. I hope to see you in a playoff series soon.

Welcome Aaron!

I think you are putting way too much emphasis on "real life" stats. Glavine may have been an excellent pitcher in 1998, but Fordyce doesn't look like a bad hitter against lefties. The reason his 1998 season stats are so poor is that he had nearly 60% of his real life at bats against righties, and against whom he was atrocious. If you look at his 1998 splits from baseball reference, he hit .302/.371/.492 against lefties, with 2 homeruns in 70 at bats. Thats not a bad hitter. So, yes, when that bad luck of getting a hitters roll for a good hitter against lefties comes up, every lefthanded pitcher is going to look bad against him. But that is all part of learning how to read the cards and recognizing how you can get value from your players by finding hidden gems whose cards are better than you would expect based on their salary and real life stats.

That comment from chris is key. It is a card game first and foremost.

Understand the cards.
https://365.strat-o-matic.com/help/rules/baseball#understandcard

Understand the rules as adapted for 365/online play, which is different from the board or CD ROM games.
https://stratomatic365.fandom.com/wiki/Strat-O-Matic_365

Understand how to assess value of a card in your lineup, park, division, and league.

For example, for hitters...Lineup value: where will he hit? Lots of OBA? Hits? Lots of double plays and fielder's choices? Effect of your park, where he will play 50% of the time. Effect in opponents' parks. Positive or negative clutch? (comes up rarely as a direct issue, but comes up often for HAL determining whether to intentionally walk the guy ahead of him) etc.
Understand your schedule, intra division, and the rest.
For a 12 team league, 72 games (12 H/12 A against each) will be in your division.

So, when you begin to look at your roster after the draft, you can figure out whether that Glavine card would be seeing a L/R split similar to his card or not. The pricing is where this game is the difference between positive and negative outcomes over the long run.

For instance, on your team: Jeter is your highest priced player. He is a huge investment at a key defensive position. But he is not a good value in your situation. Why?

Most of your hitters are shaded to hit LHP better. But you are only seeing about 25% LHPs (which is close to typical).
So your highest price guy squeezes out about 35 hits (5 XBHs) against righties, which is OK if he cost 6M but not at 9M+.
Look at the other hitters in his vicinity at 9M. He is atrocious (for the price). Now if you had 3 Shawn Greens in the lineup, maybe Jeter makes sense...

Now, you may correctly say that defense up the middle--particularly range, is important. And looking at your fielding stats you are right. Recall that every pitcher card has about a 28% chance of rolling a fielding chance (30 "X" chances" on each L/R side) and it is always the same ratio by position for each card (SS gets 7 chances, 2B gets 6, etc).
So, the pitching card is actually only about 70% of the pitcher--30% fielders. Yet you have paid almost 44% of your total salary on pitchers.

While not always incorrect, in your case it is not a good fit. As a rule of thumb, if you take that 70% and multiply it by the 50% expected rate of pitcher card chances (vs hitter card, assuming an even split, which is nominal), you would arrive at about a 35% weight for pitcher card outcomes attributable to the pitcher (instead of the fielders)--which would be a starting point for your salary investment (ie, 80M cap x 35% is approx 28M on pitching). But again--will depend on the league and your fielding investment.

Back to Jeter--if his major value is that 1e10 since he is a SS--another way to view this is invest in the defense at SS, but then pay for the hitting somewhere else. Against righties, your best hitter is probably Shawn Green in most parks...with 75% of your opponent's pithcers being righties, you should have more shawn greens and less derek jeters, in a nutshell.
FWIW--I'm not a fan of this 1998 Jeter card batting second. If you analyze the card, you could see why. It isn't the absolute worst, and it hides his poor clutch, but this highlights the conundrum of Jeter's high price tag--he is not a force in the lineup. As others said--his 1998 card in a 1998 league is likely a bit overpriced in most situations.

But the game has an endless amount of strategic methods that can be employed to win--there is not one formula. That link from Palmtana is a huge start though toward a guideline. We used to have a newbie guide many years ago on the old boards, but the link he gave is much more current.

Stick with it--a nearly .500 record on your first go--that is pretty impressive. Seriously. Good thing is--if you want to learn the game inside the game--there is plenty to learn and try. I think the fun part is that there is no secret formula. Everything has context.

Good luck. And welcome.

Took me about 10 teams to figure out how complicated it is to win in 365...if you approach playing this based on real life teams you will not do well at this...look at the teams who finish well in your leagues there are many different stratogies that work...but knowing what the numbers and symbols mean is a must...I was very frustrated and came close to giving this up until I found a successful stratogy that works for me

Can you share an approach or two that you have used Steven?

Chris,

What you say makes sense. To a degree. But here I am nearly halfway through a season, and Glavine's ERA is hovering around 5.00, more than twice the real-life number. I'm sorry, but even when ballparks and righty-lefty balances are taken into account, that just ain't right.

So I'm sticking with yep, it's BS, mostly luck. And counting on things to truly even out over the course of a season. If they do not, then I will know the product is lousy.

Aaron,

Sorry to hear that you're assuming it is BS, but I could understand based on your background with the game, real on-field baseball knowledge excluded. No matter how many teams one has played, the game can be frustrating at times.

Just being bluntly honest but not disrespectful, if you look at the game mechanics, the cards, and your league, then your team's performance is not outside expectation. You did ask what you were doing wrong, and I think some things were identified for your consideration. Though it is still impressive for a first time out.

You could either take a fresh look based on folks who have played for a while or not. After all, it is your dollar to spend.
Hopefully, though, you will continue with it because it can be fun, even if inexplicably frustrating just as often, no matter how many teams one has played.

I agree- its luck. I have tried every strategy. I consistently lose. This is as opposed to real life, where I played 11 years in a 28 man league, and averaged 97 wins. I have played Star tournaments, too - they are luck, also. Its whoever is hot with the die.

In this game, its all about the rolls on the hitters cards. Since the game is set to average results (I think within 20% of the season results) over the course of a whole year, then a single game can get out of whack. For example, I am in last place- but I have had a ten homer game, 5 players had 3 homer games, and I lead the league in homers.

But the starting pitching is a total crap shoot. Walter Johnson has the second most expensive card, and gets bombed. Just look at the league stats. League ERA of over 6 for Hall of Famers.

There is no discernible common strategy to win. That's what it all comes down to. If we played the games, it would be more skill. But with no commonality on the hundreds of games played for a winning strategy, you have to come to the conclusion its luck.

The beauty of the game is the salary cap. The salary cap levels the playing field. If all MLB teams had the same salary you would see a different game. I have only played 2020a and 2019 card sets. When playing against 11 other approximately equal players it is tough to predict who will win. It is hard to tell the difference between skill and luck. Usually, only 2-3 players have NOT set up a competitive team, like using a hitters park, but not having hitters with BPHRs on their cards. The rest are all pretty tough. Skill can only tilt the odds somewhat in your favor in this format.

I think there is confusion about what game is being played. This is not a baseball game. It is a strategy game based on baseball. In that regard, it is more like chess than baseball. Except, you are playing 11 other players, which makes it way more complex.

ERA is a flawed statistic. Basing player decisions/analysis on ERA is never a good idea. There is a lot of noise in ERA. In Strat you are better able to see some of that. You know when a defender did not make the play due to his range, this does not count as an error, but has the same effect. They show up as hits in the box score. They are not the pitchers fault, but he is charged with the runs under ERA. I wouldn't pay much attention to ERA. I find that a lot of big innings against a pitcher, which cause greater fatigue and ERA, involve a defender not making a play.