Photo: Erik Drost/Flickr. Licensing for the photo can be found here.

Chicago Cubs 4, Cincinnati Reds 3 in Strat-O-Matic 2020 season simulation game 57

05/29/2020

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Reds	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	11	0
Cubs	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	4	11	0

Daniel Descalso’s leadoff home run in the bottom of the ninth inning off Michael Lorenzen broke a 3-3 tie and gave the Chicago Cubs (31-27) a 4-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds (29-28) at Wrigley 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!

The sim Reds led 3-1 after three innings on a two-run homer by Mark Payton and a solo shot by red-hot Eugenio Suarez, his 18th, but failed to score thereafter. Starter Anthony DeSclafani was excellent again, striking out nine and walking none over five innings of work. (Along with lowering his ERA to 3.36, DeSclafani went 2-for-2 at the plate to raise his batting average to .313.) For the game, Reds pitchers struck out 14 Cubs batters and walked only one. But the Cubs tied the game in the bottom of the seventh off Robert Stephenson before Descalso’s ninth-inning heroics.

Cincinnati had an opportunity to take the lead in the top of the ninth off Cubs reliever Brad Wieck. Mike Moustakas led off with a single, and one out later Nick Senzel’s pinch-hit single put two on with one out. But Payton struck out and Jesse Winker grounded out to end the inning.

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

B-Pinch Hit For Reed In 7th Inning
D-Pinch Hit For Bowman In 9th Inning

A-Pinch Hit For Hendricks In 5th Inning
C-Pinch Hit For Mills In 7th Inning

Standings following the May 29 games:

Division-leading St. Louis continued its hot streak with a win against Pittsburgh, and the Cubs kept pace. Milwaukee was off, so they lost a half-game to both teams in the standings. Cincinnati fell to three and a half games off the pace.

NL Central	WON	LOST	PCT	GB
Cardinals	33	25	.569	0.0
Cubs	31	27	.534	2.0
Brewers	30	27	.526	2.5
Reds	29	28	.509	3.5
Pirates	24	33	.429	8.5

The 2020 schedule as currently constituted has the Reds back in Chicago Saturday for the second game of the four-game series against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Wade Miley will pitch for the sim Reds, while lefthander Jose Quintana pitches for the Cubs.

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.

Nick Senzel is looking for ways to help out minor leaguers

Outfielder Nick Senzel reached out on instagram to his fellow big leaguers to try and get something figured out to help the minor leaguers who are being released en masse right now around baseball. Several players have chipped in to help out there organizations, with David Price being the most recent one – reportedly paying each Dodgers minor leaguer $1,000 for the month of June in order to help them. At the end of March Adam Wainwright and his wife donated $250,000 to help out St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers.

Reds outfielder Nick Senzel is looking to help minor leaguers

MLB Draft to be shown on both MLB Network and ESPN

The Major League Baseball draft is going to be a lot different this year than those in the past. Instead of 40 rounds, there are only going to be five. In a normal draft year, MLB Network has hosted the 1st and 2nd rounds of the draft on day 1, but rounds 3-10, and 11-40 that took place the following two days were only available online at MLB.com.

With a shortened draft, and nothing else to put on television, ESPN and MLB Network will both broadcast the draft over two days. The first round will take place on June 10th. On June 11th they will both also broadcast rounds 2-5 beginning at 5pm. The two broadcasts will be produced by their own networks, providing different coverage at each.

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
Jon Davis	6	1	.857
Peter Onte	2	1	.667
BK	7	4	.636
James Owens	3	2	.600
Redsfan4life	3	3	.500
Gonzo Reds	2	2	.500
Doug Gray	1	1	.500
RedsEuphoria	1	1	.500
Tomn	1	1	.500
Melvin	1	3	.250
AirborneJayJay	0	1	.000
Jeff	0	1	.000
Mark Moore	0	1	.000
Tom Mitsoff	0	1	.000
VaRedsFan	0	1	.000
Don	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.