Colorado Rockies 12, Cincinnati Reds 6 in Strat-O-Matic 2020 season simulation game 39

05/09/2020

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Reds	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	3	0	6	11	0
Rockies	2	2	3	1	0	0	3	1	X	12	22	1

The Colorado Rockies (16-22) added insult to injury in recording a 12-6 victory over the Cincinnati Reds (17-22) at Coors Field.

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!

Colorado pounded sim Reds starter Luis Castillo for 10 hits and seven runs in only 2 1/3 innings on their way to the convincing victory. But the Reds suffered an even more difficult setback in what was their first significant injury of the sim season.

While batting in the sixth inning, Shogo Akiyama (unquestionably the best Reds player in the sim season to date) suffered an undisclosed injury while running out a ground ball, and will be sidelined for the next six games.

This poses some questions for the commenter/managers here at Redleg Nation:

Should Akiyama be put on the 10-day injured list? Yes or no?
If so, who should be called up from the minors to replace him? Remember, any player on the current Reds 40-man roster is eligible. (Strat-O-Matic recommends Aristides Aquino, but we will submit whichever name our community decides upon.)

Please respond to these questions in the comment section below. The community consensus will be sent to Strat-O-Matic this evening, along with the lineup for Sunday’s game.

In a super downer of a day for the sim Reds, one bright spot was that Nick Castellanos is beginning to show some of the hitting form Reds fans were expecting. He batted 3-for-5 in moving his batting average to .257 — a far cry from the depths at which it has been for much of the season. Jesse Winker continued his hot hitting, going 2-for-5 to raise his batting average to .310.

The Chicago Cubs lost again to the Washington Nationals today, so the Reds remain only 5.5 games behind the Cubs. But the rest of the NL Central won, so the Reds dropped into fifth place, one-half game behind the fourth-place Pirates.

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

A-Pinch Hit For Reed In 5th Inning
B-Subbed Defensively (CF) For Vanmeter In 5th Inning
C-Pinch Hit For Bowman In 7th Inning
E-Pinch Hit For Stephenson In 8th Inning

D-Pinch Hit For Bowden In 7th Inning

Standings following the May 9 games:

NL Central	WON	LOST	PCT	GB
Cubs	23	17	.575	0.0
Cardinals	22	18	.550	1.0
Brewers	19	21	.475	4.0
Pirates	17	21	.447	5.0
Reds	17	22	.436	5.5

The 2020 schedule as currently constituted has the Reds playing the final game of the four-game series at Coors Field Sunday against the Colorado Rockies. In the battle of the Grays, Sonny Gray will pitch for the sim Reds, while right-hander Jon Gray pitches for Colorado.

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.

All players’ batting stats

All players’ pitching stats

Batting and pitching player stats by team

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
Gonzo Reds	2	1	.667
Peter Onte	2	1	.667
BK	4	3	.571
James Owens	2	2	.500
Redsfan4life	2	2	.500
Doug Gray	1	1	.500
RedsEuphoria	1	1	.500
Tomn	1	1	.500
AirborneJayJay	0	1	.000
Don	0	1	.000
Jeff	0	1	.000
Mark Moore	0	1	.000
Tom Mitsoff	0	1	.000
VaRedsFan	0	1	.000
Melvin	0	2	.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’ performance based on statistics that their statistical experts project for each player in the 2020 season. 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.

MLB Draft officially limited to 5 rounds in 2020

Reports came out late on Thursday night, and were confirmed by others on Friday that the 2020 Major League Baseball Draft will only have five rounds instead of the usual 40. This isn’t groundbreaking news – we knew it was five rounds for a while, but MLB had the option to make it more if they got approval from the MLBPA – and they tried to make it 10 rounds, but with severe restrictions on rounds 6-10 (further than the already restricted rounds 1-5) as well as severe restrictions on undrafted free agent signings. The MLBPA turned down that offer and MLB has decided to just go with a five round draft on June 10th. For more details on that, and the restrictions that teams will be facing, Doug Gray has it all covered over at RedsMinorLeagues.com.

2020 MLB Draft to officially be five rounds

1790’s Baseball?! Well, sort of.

This story is nearly two weeks old at this point, published at MLB.com by Anthony Castrovince on April 30th – but it caught our attention last night and we felt it was a cool story to share. It’s written around the idea of where a dropped third strike but the runner can advance to first base comes from, but the lede is certainly buried in my opinion because it actually notes that a game that’s almost identical to what we now know as baseball existed in the 1790’s. The only real difference between that game, which was actually called base-ball, and the game we have seen evolve over the years from the mid-1800’s as baseball is that the earlier version didn’t include walks or strikeouts. It’s a fascinating story worth checking out if you are into the history of baseball.