Pitching was the name of the game for the Cincinnati Reds (19-23) today, as five sim Reds hurlers held the Miami Marlins (16-27) to five hits and one unearned run in a 4-1 Reds win 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!

Miami scored in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly by third baseman Brian Anderson, set up by a fielding error by catcher Curt Casali. But the sim Reds took the lead for good in the bottom of the sixth on a two-run homer by Red-hot Phillip Ervin off Miami starter and loser Jordan Yamamoto.

In the bottom of the eighth, Cincinnati scored two runs on no hits. Miami pitchers Brad Boxberger and Brandon Kintzler combined to walk five Reds batters in the inning, with the runs scoring on bases-loaded walks to Eugenio Suarez and Nick Castellanos.

Meanwhile, the relief staff slammed the door on the Miami offense with four innings of no-hit pitching. Raisel Iglesias picked up his ninth save, and Matt Bowman — who has recorded a 1.08 ERA since his recall — was credited with the win.

And on defense, second baseman Kyle Farmer was credited with TWO web gems! In both the fourth and the eighth innings, Farmer sent Jesus Aguilar back to the dugout just shaking his head in disbelief after he struck what he believed were solid singles.

Winning commenter/manager BK now has six wins in that role, tops among Redleg Nation participants, and it was his second straight win. Because he submitted a winning lineup today, he will have priority for submitting Wednesday’s lineup.

The National League Central division continues to tighten, as the St. Louis Cardinals defeated Pittsburgh, while the Chicago Cubs lost their second straight to Milwaukee. Today’s results place Chicago and St. Louis in a tie for the NL Central lead, Milwaukee two games behind, Cincinnati four and a half games back, and Pittsburgh sliding into the cellar, but only five games behind.

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

B-Pinch Hit For Yamamoto In 7th Inning

A-Pinch Hit For Desclafani In 5th Inning
C-Pinch Hit For Strop In 8th Inning
D-Subbed Defensively (CF) For Moustakas In 9th Inning

Standings following the May 12 games:

The 2020 schedule as currently constituted has the Reds hosting the Miami Marlins for the final game in the three-game set. Wade Miley will pitch for the sim Reds, while right-hander Elieser Hernandez pitches for Miami.

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:

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 suspended the World Baseball Classic before telling other countries

Bradford William Davis of the New York Daily News is reporting that MLB announced that the World Baseball Classic was being suspended until at least 2023. But that’s not the most interesting part of the story. The more interesting part is that other countries apparently hadn’t even been told that it was happening that way and they found out via media reports.

Remembering that time that Gary Redus hit .462 in 1978

In his continuing series at RedsMinorLeagues.com Doug Gray took a look at the season of the decade for the 1970’s among position players this morning. He says it was an easy decision to go with Gary Redus and his 1978 season for the Billings Mustangs after Redus hit .462 on the year – a professional record that still stands.

Reds Farm System Season of the Decade: 1978 Gary Redus

Redus would go on to a 13-year Major League career from 1982-1994, posting a .752 career OPS with 322 stolen bases – including 48 in back-to-back years for the Reds in 1984 and 1985, and then 52 in 1987 for the White Sox.