Cincinnati Reds 5, Chicago Cubs 4 in Strat-O-Matic 2020 season simulation game 66

Eugenio Suarez’s three-run home run in the seventh inning off Jeremy Jeffress was the key moment in the Cincinnati Reds (32-34) scoring a 5-4 victory over the division rival Chicago Cubs (36-31) 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!

Along with Suarez’s bat, you can credit Raisel Iglesias with an amazing effort in the top of the ninth to preserve the sim Reds’ lead and the win. With the Reds up 5-3, Jason Heyward led off with a single, then Kris Bryant doubled to put runners on second and third with nobody out. Iglesias bounced a wild pitch past catcher Curt Casali to score Heyward and move the tying run, Bryant, to third, with nobody out. But Iglesias had perhaps his most amazing effort of the season in striking out Javier Baez and Willson Contreras, the heart of the Chicago batting order, then inducing Jason Kipnis to fly out to end the game and leave Bryant on third.

With the score tied at 1-1 headed to the bottom of the seventh, Shogo Akiyama and Phillip Ervin led off with back-to-back singles against Jeffress. Michael Lorenzen then sacrifice bunted them to second and third, and Suarez followed with his 19th bomb of the year.

What turned out to be a crucial insurance run was added when steady Freddy Galvis led off the bottom of the eighth with a homer against reliever Rowan Wick.

Akiyama continues to be, in a word, superhuman. His three hits boosted his batting average to .384, and his hitting streak to 15 consecutive games. Jesse Winker also rapped three hits in a winning effort.

It wasn’t all good news for the sim Reds, however. Starting pitcher Trevor Bauer was injured as he delivered a pitch to Contreras in the top of the fourth inning. Bauer will miss 10 games, but according to the Strat-O-Matic rules, pitchers who are disabled must go on a minimum of the 15-day injured list. Redleg Nation commenters will be asked to vote on which pitcher to recall from the minors to replace Bauer for at least two and possibly three starts.

The win snapped the sim Reds’ four-game losing streak, and moved them within six games of division-leading St. Louis, who lost to Pittsburgh.

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

B-Pinch Hit For Lester In 7th Inning
D-Pinch Hit For Ryan In 8th Inning

A-Pinch Hit For Stephenson In 6th Inning
C-Pinch Hit For Strop In 7th Inning
E-Subbed Defensively (1B) For Reed In 9th Inning

Standings following the June 7 games:

The 2020 schedule as currently constituted has the Reds off Monday, and resuming play on Tuesday at Great American Ball Park against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Anthony DeSclafani will pitch the first of the three-game series for the Reds, and righthander Walker Buehler will pitch for Los Angeles.

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

BK has priority for Tuesday’s lineup vs. the Dodgers since he was a winner 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:

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.