| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Phillies | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 7 | 0 |
| Reds | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 0 |
Jay Bruce came up big against his former team Saturday.
The Beaumont Bomber hit a two-run homer to cap a four-run sixth inning and lead his current Philadelphia Phillies team (6-9) to a 6-5 win over the Cincinnati Reds (6-8) in the third game of a four-game series at Great American Ball Park.
That was the result today as Strat-O-Matic games of Glen Head, N.Y., continued its announced plan to simulate the entire 2020 Major League Baseball season on a day-by-day basis for as long as actual game play is on hold.
Help set the lineup, batting order for the simulated Reds:
Have you ever dreamed of your opportunity to “manage” the Reds? Now is your chance. Learn more below!
Cincinnati entered the sixth inning with a 4-1 lead, but the Phillies then went to work on two of the home team’s most reliable pitchers. Bryce Harper’s single off Luis Castillo brought the Phillies within 4-3. Then, lefthander Amir Garrett was brought on to face the lefthanded batting Bruce, but the move backfired as Bruce took Garrett deep for a two-run shot that turned out to be a lead the Phils would not relinquish.
Harper then hit a solo shot off Lucas Sims in the top of the eighth. That turned out to be an important insurance run, as the Reds rallied in the bottom of the eighth on a pinch-hit double by Kyle Farmer to pull within one run at 6-5. However, with runners on second and third and two out, Shogo Akiyama grounded out to end the threat.
The Reds went quietly in the bottom of the ninth, as Phils closer Hector Neris struck out the side around a two-out walk to Eugenio Suarez.
Nick Castellanos and Suarez homered for the Reds early in the game against Zach Wheeler.
The Reds stand three and a half games behind the first-place Cubs in the NL Central division basement.
Here is the box score, as provided by Strat-O-Matic:
A-Pinch Hit For Wheeler In 6th Inning
B-Pinch Hit For Alvarez In 7th Inning
D-Subbed Defensively (LF) For Bruce In 8th Inning
F-Pinch Hit For Morgan In 9th Inning
C-Pinch Hit For Stephenson In 7th Inning
E-Pinch Hit For Sims In 8th Inning
Standings following the April 11 games:
| NL Central | WON | LOST | PCT | GB |
| Cubs | 10 | 5 | .667 | 0 |
| Cardinals | 9 | 6 | .600 | 1 |
| Pirates | 8 | 7 | .533 | 2 |
| Brewers | 7 | 7 | .500 | 2.5 |
| Reds | 6 | 8 | .429 | 3.5 |
The 2020 schedule as currently constituted has the Reds and Phillies wrapping up the four-game series Sunday. Sonny Gray goes for the Reds, and righthander Jake Arrieta goes for Philadelphia.
Help set the lineup, batting order for the simulated Reds:
Have you ever dreamed of your opportunity to “manage” the Reds? Now is your chance.
Strat-O-Matic has agreed to allow Redleg Nation to submit the Cincinnati Reds’ lineups for each day’s simulated game. We want all of our readers who want to participate to get involved.
Here is how it will work:
- In each wrap up of that day’s simulated game, Redleg Nation will post the opposing starting pitcher for the next game. You will know who the pitcher is and whether he is left-handed or right-handed, and you can use that information in creating a lineup for the next game, and submitting it in the comments below. “Splits” such as performance vs. left-handers or right-handers are replicated in the Strat-O-Matic game algorithm, and therefore should be considered.
- We will accept lineups from every reader who wants to submit one. The lineup that will be submitted to Strat-O-Matic each day will be the one that receives the most positive replies (in effect, “yes” votes) from readers other than the submitter. In case of ties:
- First tiebreaker: Lineup submitted by the reader who has had the fewest number of opportunities as a “manager.”
- Second tiebreaker: Lineup submitted earliest in the comment thread. (So get your lineup in “early” each day.)
- What is “early?” Redleg Nation posts these articles daily between 5 and 6 p.m. Eastern time. Strat-O-Matic’s deadline for us to submit a lineup for the next day’s game is midnight. On most days, we’ll do this before “bedtime,” which is typically between 10:30 and 11 Eastern time.
Have fun with this! If you have any questions, please post them in the comment string below. Here are the “managerial records” of our Redleg Nation participants to date:
| Commenter/ “Manager” |
WON | LOST | PCT |
| Peter Onte | 2 | 1 | .667 |
| Doug Gray | 1 | 1 | .500 |
| Tomn | 1 | 1 | .500 |
| Mark Moore | 0 | 1 | .000 |
| VaRedsFan | 0 | 1 | .000 |
| Tom Mitsoff | 0 | 1 | .000 |
About Strat-O-Matic
Strat-O-Matic has been in the sports simulation business since the 1960s. A USA Today article contained this explanation:
Strat-O-Matic and other baseball simulations use statistics from the previous season to create “cards” for each player on a roster. The team managers select the batting order and the starting pitcher. From there, a series of dice rolls and calculations determines the outcome of each at-bat.
Strat-O, as it’s known to longtime players, first gained its immense popularity as a board game. The company has since expanded to a downloadable Windows version and one that’s played online. A few years ago, it introduced Baseball Daily – a new iteration that combined the player cards from the previous season with statistics from the real season being played at the same time.
Unlike many video games, the Strat-O-Matic results are based on algorithms that account for players’ actual past performance. It’s not a game played with a joystick that relies more on the skill of the person with the video game controller in his or her hand.
The simulation software will keep comprehensive statistics for all teams for the season, so we’ll be able to track year-to-date leaders in many statistical categories. Our current plan is to provide statistical leader summaries here at Redleg Nation each Sunday. You can follow the season at Strat-O-Matic.com, where they plan to post the results from each day’s schedule at 2 p.m. Eastern time.
News/Notes from around baseball
One of the things we would have during the season in the game threads was a section comprised of news and notes for the day. While there’s a lot less going on these days in the baseball world than usual for this time of year, there still are some things that are worth highlighting. When there are, we’ll be adding them to these daily simulation threads.
Nick Senzel has been proving the doubters wrong his entire baseball career
Chad Dotson, everyone’s favorite Redleg Nation Radio host, wrote about Nick Senzel for Cincinnati Magazine this week. The piece is more than worth reading, so go check it out. But here’s a fun quote from Senzel:
Much of what he learned came from Reds legend Joey Votto. “Ever since I got drafted,” Senzel says, “he was kind of a mainstay when it came to someone I could talk to and communicate with. Always positive. Even when I was rehabbing the injuries in Arizona, he always reached out.”
Senzel and Votto bonded over one shared trait: Both want to be the hardest working player in the room. “[Votto is] a Hall of Famer in my book. He’s the epitome of never seeing a guy work as hard as he works. The things that he’s accomplished, I want to accomplish or be better than him at. That’s out of pure respect.”
Seriously. Go read it.
The Reds value rose again in 2019 according to Forbes
Forbes released their valuations for Major League Baseball teams this week and calculates the Cincinnati Reds as being worth $1.075B. That is up 2% from their value at this point last season. Only the Marlins and the Pirates saw their valuations drop. For the 9th time in 10 years the team made a profit (2014 was the only year in which the didn’t – losing $11.6M that year). Only the Marlins lost money in 2019.
Going with this lineup:
1. Akiyama, CF
2. Votto, 1B
3. Suarez, 3B
4. Castellanos, RF
5. Moustakis, 2B
6. Senzel, SS
7. Ervin, LF
8. Barnhardt, C
The manager did a great job and came very close to winning three in a row. Here’s my lineup should you decide to accept it. I’m going to give Galvis a break in order to get Winkers bat in there although our overall defense might take a hit with Winker and Castellanos in the outfield together with Senzel at short. We need more runs consistently. This lineup features our two best OBP hitters batting left then goes righty lefty after that.
Akiyama CF
Votto 1B
Suarez 3B
Moustakas 2B
Castellanos RF
Winker LF
Senzel SS
Barnhart C
Gray P
Akiyama 3
Senzel 2
Castellanos 4
Suarez 8
Moustakas 7
Votto 6
Barnhart 5
Galvis 9
Pitcher
We came up a run short, boys, but let’s get ’em tomorrow!
(In my defense, I would not have put Sims in at that point in the game or in that situation..)
I vote for Amarillo’s lineup
Yup, I think this is the optimal lineup. With slightly different defensive alignment though.
however, I don’t quite understand the numerals next to your batter names…maybe I’m way behind the times, but “1” used to indicate pitcher, “2” catcher, “3” 1B, “4” 2B and so on…..
Of course they changed up chess movement indications on me, too, so there’s that…. 🙂
I need to ask for clarification. The numbers after the player’s name … what do they mean? If that means the position in the field they would start playing, none of them are at positions they play regularly or even ever. There is no point in doing that, because when you put a player at a position he doesn’t play or has never played, Strat-O-Matic defaults to the worst possible defensive rating for that player at that position. Doing this would be putting the sim Reds in the worst possible chance of winning, and that’s not what this is all about.
Tom, if Amarillo does not respond in time, I would switch my vote to Chet if that’s allowed…
I was curious what the Sim would do if you put the players at their worst defensive positions.
Peter you had the numbers right, that was on purpose. It was mostly just for fun.
Why so many 1 run games, Strat-o-Matic gods?
At the time this comment was written, we had four lineups submitted for Sunday. One of them had the players in all the wrong positions, and that is being rejected. Two others had endorsements, and of those two, neither “manager” has had the opportunity yet, so the tie remains. The final tiebreaker is that BK submitted his lineup first in the comment thread, so that is the one being submitted for Sunday.
Go BK!
Winkers got getting a lot of playing time in the fake season.
Akiyama having a better sim season so far, but Winker right behind…
S.Akiyama .317 , 5 runs, 13 hits, 3 doubles, 1hr, 7 rbi, 3bb
J.Winker .286 , 4 runs, 10 hits, 2 doubles, 1 hr, 4 rbi, 1 bb
May BK manage 20 wins in a row and take us to first place. : )
Can Lucas Sims be called down? Not sure with all the options we have if he should be on the big league roster. Too inconsistent.
To elaborate further, why not have Nate Jones take Lucas Sims spot? Only two seasons in 8 years above a 4 era, one of which he pitched only one game in. And three seasons below 3 ERA.
Whereas with Sims, he consistently is above 4/5.
Why not give Jones a shot over Sims?
Strat-O-Matic does not typically produce player “cards” for individuals who appear in only a handful of games in a given year, because of small sample size, I presume. Jones appeared in only 13 games last year, so he is likely not available for the 2019 season version of the game which we are currently playing.
For clarity, the season being simulated is based on 2019 statistics, not overall career statistics for the players involved.
Last post for now, but did my research and did indeed figure out that Lucas Sims has had a direct role in 2 of our losses. This last game, and one of the 4-3 games against the Cardinals. I think we’ll keep losing tight games like that as long as he remains in our bullpen. He gives up runs all too often.