Another day in San Diego and another blown game by the Cincinnati Reds bullpen – though today’s bullpen implosion was helped out by poor defense as a walk-off home run by Jurickson Profar doomed the Reds (35-39) on Wednesday against the Padres (42-33)

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 Reds got things going early on, loading the bases with a single and back-to-back walks to begin the game. An Eugenio Suarez sac fly made it 1-0 and Mark Payton came through with an RBI single to make it 2-0. The next inning saw Cincinnati pad their lead with another run, making it 3-0.

In the 3rd inning, the Padres got their lone run against Sonny Gray on an Eric Hosmer single. Gray would strike out eight batters in 6.0 innings before turning the game over to the bullpen. Amir Garrett and Pedro Strop kept San Diego off the board for the 7th and 8th innings.

Then the 9th inning happened. Again. Raisel Iglesias came out to start the inning an quickly got Wil Myers to ground out. But then Eugenio Suarez made an error and Iglesias walked Josh Naylor to put two runners on. Austin Hedges lined out before San Diego sent pinch hitter Jurickson Profar to the plate. He came up clutch and crushed a walk-off homer much to the disdain of all the simReds fans watching.

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

Standings following the June 17 games:

The 2020 schedule has the Reds taking on the San Diego Padres for Thursday. The Padres will send right-handed pitcher Michel Baez to the mound. Cincinnati will counter with Wade Miley.

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 look back to the 1940 World Series

**Top Request** 1940 WS-pre-game and action-featuring beautiful Crosley Field-From the Flagstaff Films Baseball home movie archive pic.twitter.com/vNRTM24FcM

— Flagstaff Films (@flagstafffilms) June 17, 2020

This clip isn’t even a minute long, but there’s a lot going on. 10 seconds into the clip they cut to a pre-game view of the field. The grounds crew is working on getting everything ready to go. The starting pitcher is warming up in foul territory, and behind him is a miniature boxing ring for some pre-game entertainment? The pitcher warming up is tossing from flat ground – anyone know when the “bullpen” areas actually started having actual mounds? Around the 30 second mark we get into some actual game footage. Nothing too exciting from that, but it was an interesting look.

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:

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.