Cincinnati Reds 6, Pittsburgh Pirates 1 in Strat-O-Matic 2020 season simulation game 61

06/02/2020

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

Trevor Bauer established himself as one of the stalwart starting pitchers in the Strat-O-Matic 2020 MLB season simulation by recording his eighth win in leading the Cincinnati Reds (31-30) to a 6-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates (25-35) at PNC 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!

Bauer scattered seven hits and two walks over his six innings of work, while striking out nine Pirates batters. The only damage against Bauer and the entire sim Reds staff was a third-inning solo homer by Josh Bell. Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers leads the sim league in wins with nine, but Bauer is right on his heels with eight, along with Gerrit Cole of the Yankees and Yonny Chirinos of the Tampa Bay Rays.

Other Bauer stats: He is second in sacrifice bunts (six); has allowed the third-most stolen bases while on the mound (11); and is tied for fourth with Max Scherzer in fewest home runs allowed per nine innings (0.51).

Mike Moustakas showed signs of perhaps starting to deliver offensively the way Reds fans hope he will when and if real-life play begins. He hit a home run (his 10th) and a triple and drove in three runs today after a home run and three RBI in Monday’s loss at Chicago. Eugenio Suarez continued his consistent offensive play with three hits and an RBI, and Derek Dietrich smacked his first two hits of the sim season while starting at first base in place of the injured Joey Votto.

Pirates starter and loser Joe Musgrove could have filed a grievance for non-support. His teammates kicked the ball around the ballyard, and all of the three runs scored against him were unearned.

As the sim Reds and staff filed into the visitors’ locker room at PNC Park following the victory, Dietrich began to chant, “Don! Don! Don!” in reference to Redleg Nation commenter/manager Don, who earned his first victory in the role. The other sim Reds joined in the chant and gave him high-fives and pats on the back — no doubt hoping to ingratiate themselves due to the fact that Don will have control over Wednesday’s sim Reds lineup because his team was victorious today.

More good news for the sim Reds is that perhaps their most consistent offensive player, Shogo Akiyama, returns from the injured list for Wednesday’s game at Pittsburgh.

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

B-Pinch Hit For Reed In 8th Inning

A-Pinch Hit For Musgrove In 6th Inning
C-Pinch Hit For Feliz In 9th Inning

Standings following the June 2 games:

Division-leading St. Louis remained red-hot, defeating Toronto for the second straight day. They opened a three-game lead on the Cubs, who fell to the Baltimore Orioles. The Brewers lost to the Washington Nationals, and as a result, fell into a tie with the Reds for third place at 31-30.

NL Central	WON	LOST	PCT	GB
Cardinals	36	26	.581	0.0
Cubs	33	29	.541	3.0
Brewers	31	30	.508	4.5
Reds	31	30	.508	4.5
Pirates	25	35	.424	10.0

The 2020 schedule as currently constituted has the Reds and Pirates finishing the brief two-game series at PNC Park Wednesday. Anthony DeSclafani will pitch for the sim Reds, while right-hander Mitch Keller pitches for the Bucs.

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.

A conversations: Retired African American MLB players on race, baseball, America

Former Major Leaguers Doug Glanville, Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard, Dontrelle Willis, Torii Hunter, and LaTroy Hawkins sat down, with limited interaction from Ken Rosenthal for about 90 minutes of conversation via zoom, that has been mostly transcribed. It’s free to read.

Here’s the description, from Rosenthal, about what transpired.

The Zoom call took place Sunday night. I gave Doug (Glanville, who was asked to serve as moderator) a list of topics I thought we might cover, most of which were rather obvious. He had areas he wanted to address as well. The conversation lasted 90 minutes. It was raw, honest, intense. And from my perspective, heartbreaking. I know these guys; I’ve talked to them all over the years. And listening to them speak about their own experiences, I heard pain that I had rarely, if ever, heard from them before.

This is the only news and notes piece I (Doug Gray) am adding today. Nothing else. Click the link. Read it. Send it to every single person you know.

How are the simReds performing?

The Hitters

The Pitchers

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
Gonzo Reds	3	3	.500
Redsfan4life	3	3	.500
Doug Gray	1	1	.500
RedsEuphoria	1	1	.500
Tomn	1	1	.500
Don	1	3	.250
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

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.