Photo: Doug Gray

Milwaukee Brewers 10, Cincinnati Reds 9 in Strat-O-Matic 2020 season simulation game 44

05/14/2020

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Brewers	0	3	0	4	0	0	0	3	0	10	14	1
Reds	4	3	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	9	14	1

Pedro Strop surrendered two home runs by Milwaukee Brewers (24-21) batters in the top of the eighth inning, allowing the visiting team to score a 10-9 come-from-behind victory over the Cincinnati Reds (20-24) 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!

Strop came on in the top of the eighth with the sim Reds holding a 9-7 lead. With one out, Luis Urias singled, and Christian Yelich then homered to tie the game at 9-9. With two out, Avisail Garcia hit a pinch-hit homer to give the Brewers what turned out to be the final margin of victory — their seventh straight win.

Cincinnati unloaded early and often against Milwaukee starter Eric Lauer, knocking him out of the game in the third inning after scoring eight times over the first three frames. Tucker Barnhart continued his hot hitting by knocking in three of the eight early runs with a two-run double and an RBI single.

Unfortunately, Luis Castillo could not stand prosperity. He surrendered seven runs over five innings, and three runs were unearned thanks to a critical error he committed. In the fourth inning, Milwaukee scored four, but three of those would not have scored if Castillo had cleanly fielded and recorded an out on a grounder hit back to him by Ryan Braun. Instead, Braun reached on the error, and after what should have been the third out, Keston Hiura stepped up and homered off of Castillo.

While Castillo’s defensive gaffe let his team down, Yelich prevented what could have been a bigger Reds rally in the third inning. Freddy Galvis led off with a single, one of his three hits, and one out later Phillip Ervin doubled. With runners on second and third and one out, Nick Castellanos launched one to deep left field. Yelich made a stellar catch, robbing what could have been an extra-base hit. Instead of two Reds runs in and a runner on second with only one out, Yelich’s grab became a sacrifice fly that scored only Galvis. Ervin was left at second when Eugenio Suarez then lined out against reliever Josh Lindblom.

The NL Central-leading St. Louis Cardinals were off today. Milwaukee’s win over Cincinnati and a Chicago defeat at San Diego left the Brewers and Cubs tied for second, a game and a half behind. The Reds fell to five games off the pace.

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

A-Subbed Defensively (LF) For Lauer In 3rd Inning
D-Subbed Defensively (1B) For Claudio In 6th Inning
E-Pinch Hit For Black In 8th Inning

B-Pinch Hit For Castillo In 5th Inning
C-Pinch Hit For Lorenzen In 6th Inning
F-Pinch Hit For Strop In 8th Inning

Standings following the May 14 games:

NL Central	WON	LOST	PCT	GB
Cardinals	25	19	.568	0.0
Cubs	24	21	.533	1.5
Brewers	24	21	.533	1.5
Reds	20	24	.455	5.0
Pirates	18	24	.429	6.0

The 2020 schedule as currently constituted has the Reds hosting the Milwaukee Brewers at Great American Ball Park Friday for the second game of the four-game series. Sonny Gray will pitch for the sim Reds, while righthander Adrian Houser pitches for Milwaukee.

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
Peter Onte	2	1	.667
BK	7	4	.636
Gonzo Reds	2	2	.500
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.

More details on MLB’s Safety Plan

Earlier today we discussed some of the news learned about Wednesday’s meeting between MLB and the MLBPA and some of the safety plans put in place to try and make bringing baseball back as safe as possible. But since that piece was published we’ve had more information come out from that meeting.

Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated reported earlier this afternoon about the testing of players and staff, which was missing a lot of information from the previous reports. MLB is partnering with The Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory to provide the tests that would be used for players and staff required to play a game (including ballpark workers).

Keefe Cato’s 1.33 ERA in 1979 for the Billings Mustangs

In his ongoing series that looks back at the best season of the decade among position players, starting pitchers, and relievers – it’s the 1970’s for starting pitchers that Doug Gray took a look at this morning, and he concluded that Keefe Cato’s 1.33 ERA for the Billings Mustangs that came with a 12-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio was worthy of the best season on the farm among the 1970’s starting pitchers.

Reds Farm System Season of the Decade: Keefe Cato’s 1979

1975 and 1990 Reds represent Cincinnati in MLB’s Dream Bracket

MLB.com and Out of the Park Baseball are teaming up for another Dream Bracket. This time they are using a team, or multiple teams from a franchise in a 64-team tournament. The Cincinnati Reds will be represented by the 1975 and 1990 versions in this one. In the first round the 1975 Reds are matched up with the 2007 Colorado Rockies. The 1990 Reds get a tough match up as they take on the 1994 Montreal Expos.