Cincinnati Reds 7, Philadelphia Phillies 3 in Strat-O-Matic season simulation game 15

Today’s Redleg Nation Sim Reds manager “BK” declared Saturday when posting his proposed lineup: “I’m going to offer an OBP heavy top of the lineup for tomorrow.”

The strategy worked out brilliantly, as the top of the Cincinnati Reds (7-8) batting order did most of the damage in a 7-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies (6-10) in the final 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!

The Simcinnati Reds won their first series of the young season, taking three of the four games against Philadelphia. Through six games of the current nine-game homestand, the Reds are 4-2.

Shogo Akiyama and Joey Votto, the first and second batters in BK’s lineup, both recorded three hits (including a home run) and two runs batted in. The relentless Reds scored in each of the first four innings off Phillies starter Jake Arrieta on their way to a 7-0 lead which they did not relinquish.

Sonny Gray was his usual brilliant self on the mound, allowing only two hits and three walks in six scoreless innings. The only blight on the bullpen was the second consecutive subpar outing by Tyler Mahle in relief.

Tucker Barnhart and Freddy Galvis added two hits apiece, and Galvis had a two-run home run, his second of the season.

The Reds stand tied in the NL Central division basement with the Brewers, three and a half games behind the first-place Cubs. The Cubs also won today, their second straight over the Cardinals.

Here is the box score, as provided by Strat-O-Matic:

A-Pinch Hit For Arrieta In 5th Inning
C-Pinch Hit For Liriano In 7th Inning
E-Pinch Hit For Arano In 9th Inning

B-Pinch Hit For Gray In 6th Inning
D-Pinch Hit For Strop In 8th Inning

Standings following the April 12 games:

The 2020 schedule as currently constituted has the Reds off Monday, and then wrapping up the homestand with a three-game series against the San Francisco Giants starting Tuesday. Tentative starters for that game are Trevor Bauer for the sim Reds and righthander Jeff Samardjia for the G-men.

Redleg Nation commenter “BK” has first priority on submitting the lineup for Tuesday since he was a winning “manager” today.

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:

Weekly statistical roundup

Here are the season-to-date hitting and pitching statistics for the sim Reds, through games of Saturday:

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.

Playing the season in Japan?

We’ve seen some different proposals floated out there as Major League Baseball tries to navigate various “what if” scenarios for how they could play baseball this season. All of them have included playing at spring training sites. But Tim Kurkjian has a very different, very wild option that was reportedly told to him that would see the season take place in Japan.

Tim Kurkjian said that a source told him two weeks ago that MLB could play this season in Japan. Japanese teams would play at night, Major League teams would play in the day. (ESPN) pic.twitter.com/PHTKzXsgC7

— ? (@NYYDJ2) April 11, 2020

Jose Canseco wishes almost everyone a Happy Easter

Just going to share the tweet.

Happy Easter to everyone except Alex Rodriguez

— Jose Canseco (@JoseCanseco) April 12, 2020

Former Red Jim Bolger passes away

Cincinnati native Jim Bolger passed away earlier this week. He was born in Cincinnati, graduated from Purcell Marian High School, and then went to Xavier University before signing with the Reds. His time with Cincinnati wasn’t much – he got a grand total of nine plate appearances between 1950 and 1954 before moving on to join the Cubs where he spent the bulk of his Major League Baseball career.