| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Pirates | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 13 | 0 |
| Reds | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 0 |
A five-run sixth inning against starting and losing pitcher Anthony DeSclafani lifted the Pittsburgh Pirates (37-58) to a 10-5 victory over the Cincinnati Reds (48-47) 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!
With the game tied 1-1 after four innings, Pittsburgh’s Jacob Stallings walked to lead off the top of the fifth, and the next two batters walked to load the bases. Winning pitcher Joe Musgrove then singled to knock in two, and the floodgates were opened.
The sim Reds closed to within 6-5 with two in the sixth on a Curt Casali double and two in the seventh on run-scoring hits by Joey Votto and Mike Moustakas. But Reds relievers Joel Kuhnel and Michael Lorenzen allowed two runs each in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, to remove any sense of suspense in the outcome.
Moustakas, Jesse Winker and Freddy Galvis had two hits apiece for the sim Reds.
Shogo Akiyama’s batting average has been in a gradual decline for a couple of weeks, but despite an 0-for-4 day today, he still leads the sim league in batting average at .346, one point better than Colorado’s Charlie Blackmon.
Here is the sim Reds box score, as provided by Strat-O-Matic:
B-Subbed Defensively (RF) For Musgrove In 6th Inning
E-Subbed Defensively (LF) For Brault In 7th Inning
F-Pinch Hit For Rodriguez In 9th Inning
A-Pinch Hit For Reed In 5th Inning
C-Pinch Hit For Bowman In 7th Inning
D-Pinch Hit For Winker In 7th Inning
Standings following the July 11 games:
| NL Central | WON | LOST | PCT | GB |
| Brewers | 51 | 43 | .543 | 0.0 |
| Cardinals | 52 | 44 | .542 | 0.0 |
| Reds | 48 | 47 | .505 | 3.5 |
| Cubs | 48 | 47 | .505 | 3.5 |
| Pirates | 37 | 58 | .389 | 14.5 |
Milwaukee and St. Louis remained in a virtual tie for first place in the NL Central by both winning. Cincinnati and Chicago both fell a game further off the pace due to losses.
The 2020 schedule has the Reds playing the rubber game of the three-game series Sunday against the Pirates at Great American Ball Park. Wade Miley and Sonny Gray are both eligible to pitch for the sim Reds. Righthander Mitch Keller will start for Pittsburgh.
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.
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 |
| Peter Onte | 2 | 1 | .667 |
| Jon Davis | 9 | 5 | .643 |
| BK | 9 | 6 | .600 |
| James Owens | 4 | 3 | .571 |
| Gonzo Reds | 6 | 5 | .545 |
| Melvin | 6 | 5 | .545 |
| Redsfan4life | 5 | 5 | .500 |
| RedsEuphoria | 1 | 1 | .500 |
| Tomn | 1 | 1 | .500 |
| Doug Gray | 1 | 1 | .500 |
| Don | 2 | 5 | .286 |
| AirborneJayJay | 0 | 1 | .000 |
| Jeff | 0 | 1 | .000 |
| VaRedsFan | 0 | 1 | .000 |
| Mark Moore | 0 | 2 | .000 |
| Tom Mitsoff | 0 | 2 | .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.
Akiyama CF
Votto 1B
Suarez 3B
Moose 2B
Winker LF
Castellanos RF
Galvis SS
Casali C
Miley P
Tough loss, Disco has a poor game, Kuhnel gave up a run for the 1st time, Lorenzen flatered again pitcher a after playing in the field. Lorenzen seems to pitch better when not playing the field.
Looking to tommorrow for the series win and finish the first 1/2, 2 games over 500.
Sim Reds have faced Keller 3 times
April 5 – 5.2in, 5H,3R,4B
May 28 – 4.2in, 7H,6R,2BB
June 3 – 5in,8H,2R,0BB
Overall Sim Season vs Keller for Active players on Roster.
Akiyama 3-3
Votto 1-5
Suarez 2-9
Moose 5-6,HR
Winker 0-8,BB
Senzel 1-2
Galvis 1-6,2BB
Casali 1-2
Payton 2-6
Ervin 1-2
Castallanos 1-2
Keller has 2019 splits which says to start lefties (LHB = .388 AVG & RHB .322) but RHB hit him well also.
Winker is 0-8 so going with Payton in center in front of the pitchers spot.
Lineup
Akiyama – LF
Votto – 1B
Suarez – 3B
Moose – 2B
Castellanos – RF
Galvis – SS
Casali – C
Payton – CF
Miley – P
I like this lineup, but I would switch Payton and Galvis in the order. I vote for this one either way.
I like your lineup. I’m just more of a “what’s a player done lately” guy than what he’s done in the past (Winker with two hits today). As BK would say Casali having a better OBP in front of the pitcher might be better since he isn’t nearly as slow as Barnhart. I think it was you who pointed out in the past, if I’m not mistaken, that Galvis usually does better in the bottom three of the order so #7 might be better for him. I know there are some who would like to see Lorenzen get another start and his two way status. So would I. The problem with that is I don’t believe he is part of the ” best eight” that we can put out there to win with tomorrow. Even the smallest difference matters at this point. We cannot look past one game and sacrifice anything.
James and Melvin,
Taking your input and swapping Payton and Galvis.
I thought of putting Casali in 8th but I like the left/right alternating batters as O think it makes it harder on the relief pitchers in the 6th/7th innings
Akiyama – LF
Votto – 1B
Suarez – 3B
Moose – 2B
Castellanos – RF
Payton – CF
Casali – C
Galvis – SS
Miley – P
Got my vote…as long as you promise to win the rest. 🙂 haha
Our pitching let us down today but we still can’t give up. If we sweep the last six, which we certainly can do, we’re still close enough that anything can happen. We have to keep fighting hard. Every little thing matters. We can still pull this off. If we do, it will be really fun. 🙂
Current Roster
(* = player has NO options)
(+ = LHP or LHB)
(^ = Switch Hitter)
Our current 26 man roster is:
C – Stephenson, *Casali
IF – *+Votto, *+Moustakas, *Suarez, *^Galvis, Rodriguez
OF – +Akiyama, Lorenzen(19), *Ervin, *Castellanos, +Payton, +Winker, Senzel
SP – *Bauer, *Desclafani, *Gray, *+Miley, Castillo
RP – *+Reed, Iglesias, *+Garrett, *Sims, *Stephenson, Lorenzen, Kuhnel, Bowman
DL – *+Barnhart(Can Return 7/25), *Strop(Can Return 7/27)
Guys on the 40 man roster not on active roster
C – Farmer
IF – Garcia, +Vanmeter, Blandino
OF – Aquino, +Jankowski, *+Schebler
SP – Mahle, Santillan, DeLeon, Antone
RP – Hendrix, Shafer, +Smith
Finally here is a list of relevant non 40 man players
C – Chris Okey
IF – India, Davidson, Colon
OF – +Friedl, +Powell, Barnes, Fairchild, +Hannah, +Siani
SP – +Lodolo, Greene, Gutierrez, +Naughton, +Raley, Solomon, Lillie, +Sanmartin
RP – Thornburg, +Biddle, Romano, +Finnegan, Carpenter, Alaniz, Powers
Akiyama LF
Votto 1b
Suarez 3b
Moustakis 2b
Castellanos rf
Galvis ss
Casali c
Miley p
Lorenzen cf gets him 2 player status
Was about to put in a lineup but why bother this is almost exactly what I was going to put in so I’ll just go ahead and vote for you. 🙂
Moose at 4 spot with his track record, check. No Winker, check. Miley over Gray, check. Speed at the 9 hole, check. The only difference I had was I was thinking about giving Stephenson a start as we do need to get him a couple while Barnhart is out. You might think about that as well.
Gonzo I almost put Stephenson in. So yes if I get picked Stephenson in for Casali is good with me
Dang…this one also looks good.
When Lorenzen gets 2-way status what is the next roster move? Alf-Rod down for Lodolo in a RP role?
Or Antone
Whew long day just getting home. Boo to the Sim Reds losing but Yay to the Real Reds especially Antone with an excellent day. It might be late but here is my lineup. I kind of mixed and matched what I liked from other lineups and I feel like we were doing better with Galvis at 9 so went back to that.
1. Akiyama – RF
2. Votto – 1B
3. Suarez – 3B
4. Moustakas – 2B
5. Winker – LF
6. Casali – C
7. Payton – CF
8. Miley – P
9. Galvis – SS
At 10:40 p.m. Eastern time, I have Don with three endorsements and Redsfan4life with one endorsement. I am sending Don’s revised lineup to Strat-O-Matic. The Reds have had their way with Keller, if memory serves, so let’s hope that continues!