Photo: Doug Gray

Cincinnati Reds 12, Chicago Cubs 2 in Strat-O-Matic 2020 season simulation game 59

05/31/2020

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

A nine-run seventh inning broke open a close game and sent the Cincinnati Reds (30-29) to a convincing 12-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs (32-28) 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 held a 3-2 lead going into the top of the seventh inning, and then unloaded on three Cubs relievers for nine runs on six hits and four walks. Jesse Winker had a big inning, leading off with a single and then capping the scoring with a two-run home run. Other big hits in the inning came off the bats of Freddy Galvis, a bases-clearing double just before Winker’s home run, and a two-run pinch-hit single by Phillip Ervin. In Saturday’s Redleg Nation discussion looking ahead to today’s game, winning commenter/manager Gonzo Reds was only slightly off when he said, “Ervin will come up in a key spot and hit a pH HR anyway.” It was a key spot and Ervin knocked in two runs with a pinch-hit.

Leadoff hitter Winker (three hits) and Mark Payton (two hits) were sim Reds batters with multiple-hit games. The Reds benefitted from 11 walks issued by Chicago pitchers.

The victory was a nice bounce-back from back-to-back walk-off losses in an important early-season series against a fellow NL Central Division contender.

Luis Castillo pitched one of his better games of the sim season, going five innings and allowing the only two Cubs runs.

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

A-Pinch Hit For Castillo In 6th Inning
D-Pinch Hit For Dietrich In 7th Inning
E-Pinch Hit For Garrett In 7th Inning
F-Pinch Hit For Sims In 9th Inning

B-Pinch Hit For Descalso In 6th Inning
C-Pinch Hit For Sadler In 6th Inning
G-Pinch Hit For Mills In 9th Inning

Standings following the May 31 games:

Division-leading St. Louis defeated Pittsburgh, so the Reds remain three and a half games off the first-place pace.

NL Central	WON	LOST	PCT	GB
Cardinals	34	26	.567	0.0
Cubs	32	28	.533	2.0
Brewers	31	28	.525	2.5
Reds	30	29	.508	3.5
Pirates	25	34	.424	8.5

The 2020 schedule as currently constituted has the Reds back in Chicago Monday for the final game of the four-game series against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Sonny Gray will pitch for the sim Reds, while right-hander Yu Darvish 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.

Hunter Greene working with Trevor Bauer

Reds top prospect Hunter Greene is back in Arizona and he’s working with Trevor Bauer. Greene, who is nearly 14 months out from having Tommy John surgery, is spending time with Bauer to try and improve his secondary offerings.

Reds prospect Hunter Greene is working with Trevor Bauer

Some owners willing to shut down the season

Buster Olney of ESPN is reporting that he’s hearing from sources that some owners are willing to shut down the season because it will allow them to save more money.

Sources say there is a group of owners perfectly willing to shut down the season, to slash payroll costs and reduce losses, and the disparate views among the 30 teams have been reflected in the decisions to fire and furlough. The Pirates’ Bob Nutting used the shutdown as an avenue to suspend team contributions to employee 401K plans — savings best measured monthly in the tens of thousands of dollars rather than the millions that would actually be difference-making for a franchise probably worth at least $1 billion. The Oakland Athletics’ John Fisher decided to eliminate the $400 weekly salaries of minor leaguers, which might save the franchise about the amount of the team’s unpaid stadium rental bill.

MLB versus the other leagues…..

For the love of god, stop comparing MLB’s public fight to the NHL and NBA. NBA owners aren’t demanding $800 million in ransom from NBA players to open the doors.

— Joe Sheehan (@joe_sheehan) May 31, 2020

How are the simReds performing?

Every day we link over to Strat-O-Matic’s simulated stats, but there’s a lot of information in these posts and you probably gloss over the links and don’t click them. Well, today we’re just going to share the stats here for how everyone is performing so you don’t need to click the link and it’ll be a bit harder to gloss over, too.

The Hitters

The Pitchers

Corrected Tyler Mahle’s ERA, which was incorrect in the original posting.

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

Gonzo Reds has the priority for lineup selection for Monday because he was the winning commenter/manager today. 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
Gonzo Reds	3	2	.600
James Owens	3	2	.600
Redsfan4life	3	3	.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	3	.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.