So, I started work on these sets. My first idea was to create several different sets of 16 teams each. But I soon got stuck deciding which teams to include. Do I include the 1963 Dodgers or the 1965 Dodgers? Is it worth including the 1939 Yankees if I already have the 1936 Yankees? And so on... Then I realized that, at least for the PDF versions of these sets, I don't have to decide. Because it doesn't cost me anything to include extra teams, I can include every league champion from every year. When I eventually create printed sets of all-time teams, I will need to prune the list to keep costs down. But for PDF collections, I've decided to create sets for each decade that include all the World Series teams from that decade (plus a few extras — like the 2001 Mariners -- as needed). I've only created one set so far: the 1980s. (Twenty teams for just $9.00!)
If you buy this set, please let me know if you find any problems. I'd like to get any bugs worked out before I create the sets for the other decades. Thank you!
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Q: Why do batters in Season Ticket Baseball hit so many fly outs to the opposite field? Shouldn't they be pulling the ball? A: We know that most home runs are pulled by the batter. Right-handed hitters hit most of their homers to left field and lefties hit most of their homers to right. This table of home runs in the 2023 season shows hitters pulling more than 70% of their home runs: Based on this fact, you would think that most fly outs are also pulled. Home runs are just a subset of fly balls. So, we would expect that batters that pull their home runs would tend to pull all their fly balls. This is what I always assumed before I started looking at the data. Here's a breakdown of fly outs and popouts in 1986 (not including bunts): This surprised me when I first discovered it, but it makes sense when you think about it. If you have a baseball and bat, put the ball on a chair or table and slowly swing the bat at the ball as if you were going to hit it squarely back at the pitcher.
Swing again, but this time move the bat down an inch. You can see that hitting under the ball will hit it into the air. You will also see that the bat head is below your hands, causing the ball to fly away from you (to the opposite field) as it comes off the bat. You can also do the same thing for ground balls. Position your bat to hit the top of the ball and it will be driven down into the ground AND pulled. There are exceptions to these examples, like a pitch above the waist. But most fly balls are hit on strikes and that means they go to the opposite field more often than they are pulled. A great example of this is the fact that left-handed hitter Joey Votto went the first 6,828 plate appearances of his career without ever popping up to first base. When he gets under a pitch, he tends to pop up to the opposite field (i.e. third base or shortstop). It's very unlikely for him to pop up to first base.
One point of Stuff also equates (roughly) to one level of Fatigue. For example, the Pedro Martinez card above shows a Stuff of 8 versus lefties. With 3 levels of Fatigue, he is roughly as effective as a pitcher with a Stuff of 5.
Calculation Stuff estimates a pitcher's overall effectiveness (versus lefties and righties, respectively) by calculating the number of runs allowed or prevented on their Pitching Table, compared to the league average, using the following linear weights:
I now have the following printed seasons available for purchase at the following prices: (These prices include a 10% discount for using the coupon code FACEBOOK) I wish these prices were lower. For comparison, you can buy the 1971 cards from Strat-O-Matic for $63. That's 23% cheaper than buying the 1971 set for Season Ticket Baseball. I happen to believe Season Ticket cards are a better value for a number of reasons:
After shipping, I'm paying 7.6 cents per card (and this is the best price I found after getting bids from six different companies). This brings the cost for the 1971 season set to about $51.
I'm still getting bids from other printers, and working to reduce costs by increasing the size of each orders. But I just wanted you to know that I'm not price gouging. These are the costs, and there would be very little profit margin if I had to compete with Strat-O-Matic on price.
For 1923, when the stolen base success rate was only 55%, about half the players have a Steal rating of 3 or more. But teams have become much more selective about stealing in the 21st century, meaning that a player's Speed rating is often enough to generate all of their steal attempts. This is especially true in 2023, when the MLB rule changes have further increased the average success rate.
October Update:
1. I have finished completing all of the updates described here for all PDF seasons from 1950-2022. 2. PDF seasons before 1950 didn't require any updates. As of today (May 19, 2023), new cards have been uploaded to the server for the 1960-1969 seasons. If you buy any seasons from the 1960s today, you will receive the most current files. If you already purchased any of these seasons, you should already have a link to these files. (And if you can't find it, send me an email.)
I plan to update all seasons from 1950-2022 before I publish any seasons before 1950. I mentioned last year that I was working on the following improvements to the player cards:
In addition to the above, I'm also making the following improvements: 1. Realistic distribution of outs among fielders. The number of putouts, assists and double plays by each position now matches real-life totals much more closely. This doesn't affect "high-level" stats like Batting Average and ERA; but it will improve the accuracy of defensive stats like Fielding Percentage and Range Factor. 2. Changes to some defensive ratings (Arm, Range and Fielding). As part of the above, I tweaked some ratings to improve the statistics produced. You might notice that Arm ratings were nudged up a bit for right fielders, and reduced a similar amount for left fielders. I don't think any rating was changed by more than 1 point. 3. Tweaks to strikeout and walk rates. The current cards are producing about 5% too many strikeouts and about 5% too few walks (primarly because I miscalculated the chance of a strikeout or walk occurring when a die roll is redirected from the pitcher card to the batter cards). 4. Tweaks to pitcher Stamina ratings to create more realistic complete game totals. 5. Removed intentional walks from pitching stats before calculating card results. (I was already doing this for all batter cards). Most pitchers are affected very little by this change. But it will improve the cards for relievers that were asked to throw a large number of IBBs: I plan to update all seasons from 1950-2022 over the next few months. After that, I will begin work on seasons before 1950.
"Pre-Orders" A couple people have offered to pay now for the seasons listed above, but there are problems with taking money for a product that I won't have in stock until at least April. If you'd like, you can contribute to the "order fund" by buying the PDF version. The printed seasons include the PDF files for free. So, when you order the printed season, you can send me an email (cjd at sportsmogul dot com) to request a refund for the PDF version. Yes, I'm an Actual Human Person I feel bad launching this sale without any warning — because I'm human and I know there are people who bought things this week without this coupon. You can always use the coupon code FACEBOOK to get 10% off. But 20% is bigger than 10%. So hit me up if you'd like a retroactive discount (cjd at sportsmogul dot com).
I got an email recently asking if Season Ticket Baseball was "stable". I've made changes over the last few months, and they wanted to know if they could buy the game without worrying about the need to re-print or re-purchase everything a year from now. Here's what I said: — I think the game was "80% done" in October of 2021 and it's now "95% done". — The Player Cards haven't changed much, and won't change significantly going forward. Player Cards constitute the bulk of the investment (of time and/or money) needed to play. So I've worked hard to ensure that you don't need to re-print or buy new Player Cards. (For example, there was too much offense on the cards released in December, but this could be fixed by reprinting the Stadium Cards and continuing to use the same Player Cards.) — PDF purchases include permanent links to the most current files for every season. If you buy a season, that includes access to any fixes. To sum up, I feel the game is "stable", but there are still improvements that I plan to make. Just so you know, here's my current "to-do" list: 1. Release card sets for the 1950-1974 seasons. (Before the end of May.) 2. Make full printed seasons more affordable. I'm hoping to have an announcement on this soon. 3. Streamline and expand the Auto Manager rules. I have some ideas to simplify these rules, but it will take some time to get it right. 4. Fold the "Basic Game Rules" and "Sample of Play" into the main rulebook. I still haven't decided the best way to delineate the rules (e.g. "Basic", "Advanced", "Super Advanced"). 5. Changes to Rare Plays. I just added a few new results, and I'm seeking feedback on the "Alternate Rare Play Rules" on the Downloads Page. 6. Improve the Stadium Cards. I think the layout needs work and I still need diagrams for a lot of stadiums. And people keep asking why domed stadiums have weather tables, so I might do something to address that.
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