A four-run rally in the top of the fifth inning against Sonny Gray was the deciding factor for the Washington Nationals (50-32) in their 7-5 victory over the Cincinnati Reds (40-42) in the first game of a three-game series 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!

The sim Reds had tied the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning on Gray’s RBI double off Nationals starter and winner Joe Ross. But the visitors responded immediately against Gray, with Starlin Castro’s two-run single being the big hit in the rally.

Relievers Michael Lorenzen and Cody Reed allowed the Nationals to tack on single runs in both of their last two at-bats, and those runs proved important when Cincinnati rallied for three runs in the bottom of the ninth. The big hit was a two-out single by Eugenio Suarez which scored Freddy Galvis, and Shogo Akiyama scored on the same play when Castro committed an error. But the game ended when Nationals closer Sean Doolittle induced Mike Moustakas, representing the tying run, to hit a popup to Castro.

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

B-Pinch Hit For Guerra In 7th Inning
D-Pinch Hit For Elias In 9th Inning

A-Pinch Hit For Sims In 6th Inning
C-Pinch Hit For Winker In 8th Inning
E-Pinch Hit For Reed In 9th Inning

Standings following the June 26 games: 

The 2020 schedule has the Reds hosting the Washington Nationals in the second of a three-game set Saturday. Wade Miley will start for the sim Reds, and left-hander Patrick Corbin will pitch for the Nationals.

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.

The Cincinnati Reds have signed 1st round pick Austin Hendrick

Austin Hendrick has signed with the Cincinnati Reds, inking a deal under slot value. The 1st round draft pick is the second player from the Reds draft class to sign, joining 4th round selection Mac Wainwright.

Cincinnati Reds sign 1st round pick Austin Hendrick for $4M

Jeff Passan on playing through a pandemic and where it could go wrong

Over at ESPN today, Jeff Passan looks at the 2020 season and where things could potentially go wrong.

It’s important to understand that baseball does not exist in a vacuum. The sport’s reopening will add tens of thousands of interactions, each carrying a level of hazard, every day. The risk for individual players, because of their age and general health, is minimal but still very real. The risk for older employees — managers, coaches, training staff — is far more palpable. The risk for the sport is, quite literally, immeasurable.

There’s a whole lot of stuff from Passan in the article – he addresses 20 different questions/points. It’s a long read, but there’s plenty of information in there that could be worth your time if you’re interested.

The Cincinnati Red-dundancies

Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic decided that each team’s Taxi Squad needed their own name. He had some of his own, and he took some suggestions, too. For the Cincinnati Reds he came up with The Red-dundancies. Some of the other ones are a lot better, but you can only work with so much with each name. Do you have any good ones for the Reds?

Well, it's time to turn off the Twitter machine for the day, barring baseball news. The following document is unlocked, free and available to all. Thanks for helping me crowdsource it.(Credit given where applicable.) pic.twitter.com/CCKorwuACI

— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) June 26, 2020

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.