Steady Freddy Galvis’ two-out, three-run home run in the top of the eighth inning brought the Cincinnati Reds (46-45) from behind and sparked a 4-3 victory and a three-game series sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks (43-47) at Chase Field in Phoenix.

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!

Today was the second straight day that the sim Reds had a big rally in the eighth. Trailing 3-1, Eugenio Suarez drew a leadoff walk from reliever Kevin Ginkel, and one out later Nick Castellanos walked. After Mike Moustakas lined out, Galvis launched his ninth of the year.

After that, Reds pitchers Michael Lorenzen and Raisel Iglesias put down Arizona in one-two-three fashion in both the eighth and ninth innings to seal the three-game sweep. After Iglesias struck out Starling Marte for the final out, the sim Reds streamed out of the dugout, formed a social-distancing circle around the pitching mound, and started to chant “Melvin! Melvin! Melvin!” as their victorious Redleg Nation commenter/manager dashed to the center of the circle and did a “raise-the-roof” gesture with his hands.

Lorenzen was credited with the victory thanks to his two shutout innings, after which he was moved to center for defensive purposes in the bottom of the ninth.

After starting the seven-game west coast road trip 0-3, the sim Reds turned things around dramatically by winning the final four and finishing 4-3.

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

A-Pinch Hit For Desclafani In 7th Inning
C-Pinch Hit For Ervin In 8th Inning

B-Pinch Hit For Crichton In 7th Inning
D-Subbed Defensively (C ) For Ginkel In 9th Inning

Standings following the July 5 games: 

The 2020 schedule has the Reds off Monday, and then returning to Great American Ball Park Tuesday to host the Cleveland Indians. Sonny Gray or Wade Miley will pitch for the sim Reds, while right-hander Carlos Carrasco will start for Cleveland.

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.

Some players are still questioning whether they will keep playing in 2020

While there have not been any Cincinnati Reds players opt out of the 2020 season to this point, and none of them have made statements about thinking about it moving forward, others around baseball are doing that. The biggest name so far to opt out of the 2020 season is Los Angeles Dodgres pitcher David Price, but a handful of others – including former Red Mike Leake has also opted out.

Andrew Miller, who was on the MLBPA’s executive committee during negotiations, noted earlier today that there’s still come doubt about the season as a whole.

Andrew Miller: "I think there's still some doubt that we're going to have a season now. By no means is this a slam dunk. We're trying, we're going to give it our best effort, but for me to sit here and say 100 percent would be a lie."

— Anne Rogers (@anne__rogers) July 5, 2020

Sean Doolittle, Washington Nationals reliever spoke about how he is currently feeling in camp, and how the idea of having fans in the stands as some teams are talking about at some point this season.

Here it is. The question was about some owners recently suggesting that there could be fans in parks later this season. Sean Doolittle's answer touched on a lot more: pic.twitter.com/M1eFONQpPZ

— Jesse Dougherty (@dougherty_jesse) July 5, 2020

And at least as far as we know to this point, it would seem the biggest name we have had show up as COVID-19 positive is Atlanta Braves All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman. And he’s also very symptomatic, with his wife detailing that he’s had body aches, headaches, chills, and a high fever. She also noted that they aren’t even sure how he got it given that they haven’t really gone out anywhere or seen anyone.

Watch the Reds daily practices at GABP

While we aren’t having games, teams around Major League Baseball are trying to give the fans something baseball related to enjoy during this ramp-up period before the season begins. The Reds are broadcasting their practices at Great American Ballpark every day on their social media. Hours and hours of batting practice, live batting practice, outfield drills, bullpen sessions – they’ve got multiple cameras set up. So if you are itching to watch anything and everything, or just have a few minutes to kill – this is your chance. Today we were given the treat of watching Luis Castillo and Michael Lorenzen throw live batting practice to Eugenio Suarez, Joey Votto, Phillip Ervin, and Shogo Akiyama (could have been someone else I’m forgetting at this point).

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

Since Melvin was the victorious Redleg Nation commenter/manager today, he has priority for Sunday’s lineup. 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.