San Francisco Giants 3, Cincinnati Reds 2 in Strat-O-Matic 2020 season simulation game 18

Faced with yet another chance to reach the .500 mark, the Simcinnati Reds again failed to convert the opportunity.

The San Francisco Giants (7-12) came up with a 3-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds (8-10), as the home team lost the rubber game of a three-game series for the fourth straight time in the young season.

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 struck early against Giants lefthander Drew Smyly, with single runs in innings two and three. RBI hits by Freddy Galvis and Phillip Ervin got the job done. However, Ervin was caught attempting to steal second base after that hit, which proved costly because Kyle Farmer followed immediately with a double.

Reds starter Wade Miley held the Giants down for the first four innings, but thereafter the visitors came back and took the lead they would not relinquish. Darin Ruf struck for a solo home run in the fifth, and Hunter Pence and Donovan Solano delivered RBI hits in the sixth, knocking out Miley.

The Reds had two late chances to at least tie, but they came up short. Shogo Akiyama doubled with two out in the seventh, and advanced to third on a passed ball, but Nick Senzel struck out to end that inning. In the bottom of the ninth, Galvis reached on a two-out hit, but Giants reliever Tony Watson struck out pinch-hitter Michael Lorenzen to end it.

The loss dropped the Reds back into the NL Central cellar by themselves, 4.5 games behind the first-place Cubs. Milwaukee defeated the Phillies to climb back over the Reds into fourth place.

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

A-Pinch Hit For Smyly In 7th Inning
C-Pinch Hit For Ruf In 8th Inning
D-Subbed Defensively (LF) For Coonrod In 8th Inning
F-Subbed Defensively (2B) For Cahill In 9th Inning

B-Pinch Hit For Stephenson In 7th Inning
E-Pinch Hit For Farmer In 9th Inning
G-Pinch Hit For Sims In 9th Inning

Standings following the April 16 games:

The Reds finished the nine-game homestand with a record of 5-4. The 2020 schedule as currently constituted has the Reds moving on the road for the first game of a three-game series at Yankee Stadium on Friday. Luis Castillo will pitch for the Reds, and righthander Gerrit Cole will pitch for New York.

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.

If you are planning to submit a lineup for Friday, remember that because the game is an interleague game in an American League park, the Reds will have the DH in their lineup.

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:

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.

Updates on getting baseball in 2020

Over at The Athletic Aaron Portzline spoke with several expert in the field of infectious disease about what they would need to see before sporting events could allow spectators. It sounds like it’s going to be quite a while before we do get to that point in this whole situation. Many governors around the country are also saying the same thing – events like sports and concerts with fans in attendance are going to be among the last things that we see as we begin to walk back on some of the restrictions we’ve all be taking.

Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich of The Athletic also had a story this afternoon about Major League Baseball potentially asking players to take less pay. That would be strange given that both Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association already agreed to a pay structure a three weeks ago with regards to how the season would play out with regards to pay, service time, and benefits for 2020. Apparently there’s some debate, though, as to whether or not that agreement included what would happen if there were no fans allowed in the stands.

How the rich teams may get richer from TV money

Craig Edwards looked at the TV revenue around Major League Baseball at Fangraphs earlier today. The exact details of every team’s deal isn’t known, and in the specific case of the Cincinnati Reds very little is known. One thing he dialed in on is how teams that have ownership stakes in their regional sports networks could really come out ahead over the teams that don’t.

For argument’s sake, let’s say there’s $150 million left at the end of the year for NESN; the Red Sox get $120 million of that amount on top of their rights’ fees and they don’t have to include that amount in revenue sharing. For teams like the Red Sox, Yankees, Mets, Mariners, and Orioles, this is a potentially significant amount of money. These revenues and profits are also in line with Sinclair’s statement that they expect $40 million to $50 million from the Cubs and Marquee (an expectation that assumed carriage by Comcast, which they don’t currently have). The Dodgers have the potential to reap money from their ownership share, though carriage issues have likely prevented an extra revenue stream. Even the teams with smaller ownership stakes can still receive some rewards, with the Nationals yearly dividend in the $5 million to $10 million range.

12 teams own zero percent of their regional sports network. The Cincinnati Reds do own part of Fox Sports Ohio – but how much is unknown. It’s mentioned by Edwards that the Nationals yearly dividend is $5-10M. They own 21% of their RSN. This ownership stake many of these teams have been taking over the last decade is a way to have the team benefit from TV contracts without having to claim it’s “baseball revenue”, and thus another way they can claim they are “breaking even” or “not making as much as you think”.

Devin Mesoraco’s 2010 season gets the nod

Over at RedsMinorLeagues.com Doug Gray looked back at the Reds farm system’s offensive season of the last decade. It was Devin Mesoraco’s 2010 season that got the nod over several other big years. Mesoraco hit 26 home runs across three levels that season while playing for Lynchburg, Carolina, and Louisville.

Reds farm system season of the decade: Devin Mesoraco’s 2010