THE TALK SHOW
Host: Glenn Guzzo
You can submit your question or insight on any
Strat-O-Matic game to SOMTalkShow@aol.com.
When you do, kindly include your name and town. Other gamers like to see that.
And the display format below works better that way.
Reminder: Send us your “Great Moments in Strat”
– your playing experiences that you just have
to share.
IMPATIENT FOR THE PATS
The
time it takes Strat-O-Matic to produce a new season varies with the
sport. Football takes quite a bit more time than the other sports. The
NHL regular season ended early April. Their cards and computer stuff is
ready about three months later. Baseball season ends in early
October. A little more than three months later is Start's
baseball opening day. Basketball regular season ends late in April.
About five months later the new season is ready. Football regular season
ends late in December and the new season is ready close to eight months later
in late August. A late June release would still be six months after
the NFL regular season and when NFL training camps open. Why does it
take so much longer to produce a football season? Less
staff? Less statistics? I
doubt it is less interest. Just wondering and eager to match
2007
Bob Riggs,
A lot of us are eager for this set. The timing involves a combination of factors, mostly involving work flow. Some of the data
Strat-O-Matic uses for football is not ready promptly at the close of the regular
season. Even if it was, the January-February period collides with peak
production/shipping times for Strat-O-Matic baseball. Given the enormity of the
company’s baseball business and the size of its small staff, every hand is
needed for baseball those months. Although everyone at SOM works on baseball –
that helps shorten production for baseball – in spring the football work has
competition from work on hockey and basketball, so some SOM staff is diverted
there. Considering that the serious work on football doesn’t get rolling until
about April 1, the product four months later is in line with the other games.
Hockey, with the fewest statistics, can be produced a bit quicker. Baseball
gets the entire staff’s attention. Football’s turnaround by late July/early
August actually is a bit swifter than basketball.
What to Do When Playoffs Bring Out Their Best
Has Strat ever considered factoring playoff stats into the cards, for Football or any of their other games? As a Raider fan from way back, I'm excited about the 1983 Super Bowl winner getting a Strat-O-Matic remake. And certainly, 1976 and 1980 are on the way eventually. But why quibble about these things ... our title run that year featured an explosive playoff performance from Marcus Allen. However, his 1983 regular season was mediocre (for him) - less than 4.0 yards per carry, with a longest rush of 19 yards, making it difficult to reproduce his playoff stats with his regular season card. He had four long runs that I recall in the three playoff games we were in, and averaged 4.5 yards per rush including playoffs, which is more indicative of his mid-80s levels.
The 2006 Colts had a dreadful run defense that got hot at the right time, and the 2007 Giants enjoyed Eli Manning turning into his older brother after the regular season ended. Since Strat bases the cards on regular season stats only, fans looking to simulate the playoffs might miss out on these events except by blind luck. There are many other examples, I’m sure. I bet Hockey would have a whole bunch.
Maybe I'm being a little fussy about Marcus Allen having no Long Gains and a 19-yd longest rush (instead of a 74*), and I’ll buy the set no matter what, but I’d sure like to see it on there, or be able to tweak the computer game myself to put it there. I just want to picture him in my mind’s eye cutting back against the Skins like he did that year.
Mark Finzel,
The short answer: Playoff stats don’t count.
Yes, this occasionally can mean something that happened in the post-season is
impossible in the re-creation of the regular season. Scott Podsednik
and Ozzie Smith have hit post-season homers in years where they hit none in the
regular season.
If SOM gives Allen a 74-yarder and
keeps him a 3.8-average runner, those 74 on one carry will knock him down to a
3.5-average runner on all other carries. If this also drops Allen below the
league average, then his card will be even worse than 3.5. Then, he will be an
all-or-nothing back (with a lot of nothings) instead of the steady runner that
helped the Raiders get into the playoffs in the first place.
Board-gamers have some options. In
Basic SOM, Podsednik and Smith could hit a homer off
a pitcher’s card. For Allen, you could abandon the optional rule that a runner
not be allowed to exceed his longest gain if it was not a touchdown. This
option also is the computer game. So Allen could get his long gain(s) off the
defensive cards.
Football’s short schedule is a
minefield for game reproduction. One game can distort a player or team’s
averages significantly. When you consider that a sudden turnover TD can change
a team’s strategy and cause an avalanche, this is a huge threat. That 21-13
game suddenly becomes 28-13, the trailing team gets desperate and it’s 42-13 a
quarter later.
Don’t start me on hockey. Well, too
late. The NHL has long allowed teams to trade very late in the season, so that
some playoff teams are strikingly different than they were in the regular
season. A new superstar changes all the line combinations and the power-play
units. Then consider that in a 16-team post-season, the finalists typically
play 20-25 games – it’s almost a second season. NHL history is full of examples
of players who seldom played in the regular season,
then caught fire in the playoffs. In 1979-80,
Scoreboard Watching in Strat-O-Matic
When you
are keeping an eye on a West Coast night game (
In each TEAM UPDATE screen, you could allow for each time to have a one-digit number for game times – both day and night:
East Coast day = 1 / night = 6
Central = 2 / night = 7
Mountain = 3 / night = 8
West Coast = 4 / night = 9
With these numbers attached to each team – you could then stagger the results (delay the higher numbers) when they are shown on the out of town scoreboard – and include the inning they are in next to each score (just like in ballparks). Since it takes roughly 3 hours to play a game – each of the numbers above relate to a 3 inning difference:
n When the Indians / Yankees are playing……
n When they start their 4th inning – the White Sox (at home) would be in their 1st inning.
n
Indians / Yankees in 7th inning – the White Sox
would be in the 4th and the
n
When the Indians / Yankees are in the 9th or
extra innings, the White Sox would be in the 7th –
n Playing the only day game in the league would result in an out of town scoreboard with no scores – since everyone else would be playing that night.
You could also add a few more entries on the TEAM UPDATE pages – to reflect actual starting times for both day and night games (1:05 / 7:05) and these numbers could then be used on the newspaper style recap page regarding today’s games and probable starters.
Great game – I almost feel guilty trying make any suggestions for the game – it really is nearly perfect!
Steve Shoffner,
This would add interest to the Out of Town
Scoreboard. I’m sure it’s something Strat-O-Matic will include on its user Wish
List. As always, it comes down to priorities – how much programming required
and what other features deserve most of the available time. But if it can be
done without too much computer code disruption, I’d love to see it.
Triple Threat
I don’t
understand why high triples chances are placed on the pitchers cards. I enjoy playing the game using the dice rolls
as they are (without changes made from the game engine to ensure statistical
accuracy). Having these high triples
chances on the pitchers cards makes things happen such as Frank Howard of the ‘71
Senators hitting two triples in the first week of the season when he hit two
for the whole season in real life. I
could live with pitchers giving up more or less triples than they did in
real-life. I’d rather see the accuracy
in the numbers on the hitters’ cards.
Wasn’t “Dick” Allen of the ‘71 Dodgers Richie Allen? It's a
long time ago but if my memory serves me correctly he went by the name Richie until he went to the White Sox in about 1973. I’d also like to nominate Enzo
Hernandez and Don Mason, the primary second baseman and shortstop for the ‘71
Padres, as the worst double play combination in history.
By the way thanks for the best game
and most fun to play on the market.
Mark Turski,
Your point of view on triples is consistent
with the way Strat-O-Matic handles batters hit by pitches. The HBP doesn’t show
up on pitcher cards. But some gamers, noting that certain pitchers consistently
hit more batters than other pitchers, would like to change that. Strat-O-Matic
was the first game to calculate doubles and triples given up by individual
pitchers. I think that’s preferable to Basic cards, where if a pitcher doesn’t
give up a home run chance, he doesn’t give up doubles or triples, either. I’ve
had your Frank-Howard experience, but only on extremely rare occasions. I can
live with extremely rare.
It sounds as if you are unwilling to
innovate to achieve the statistical results you want. There are manual options
to do that. For players with very low triple counts, but who also have a triple
chance on their own cards, you can limit triples to ones they achieve there.
Make the triples on the pitcher cards singles or doubles. That’s equivalent to
the “w” home-run power for batters. A variation that you might like better than
I do: Once a player with 1-2 triples has reached his season total, turn all
other triple results into singles or doubles. I don’t like setting a ceiling on
any player stats other than usage, because experiencing the over-performers and
under-performers accounts for much of the drama in a replay.
Yes, Dick Allen first was Richie Allen when he broke in as a third baseman for the Phillies in 1964 and for a few more years. As a young
player, his combination of power, speed and all-around hitting ability was
something to behold. Only his defensive shortcomings kept him from superstar
status. He still has his supporters as a worthy Hall of Fame candidate.
Hernandez-Mason?
Now there’s a challenge. Maybe other Talk Show readers will want to jump in on
that one. Remember the criterion: The 2B and SS who are the primary middle
infielders for their team. Hernandez-Mason will rival the worst offensively,
but not defensively. This pair combined for 893 AB and an are-you-kidding 23
RBIs. Hernandez had a .545 OPS (.222 BA, 0 HR), but is an A stealer, A bunter
and 1-16 runner. He’s a SS-3e38. Mason had a .540 OPS
(.212 BA, 2 HR) and is a 2B-2e30 defensively.
Hockey Line Settings
In the SOM
Computer Hockey game, I notice that the Computer Managers have pre-set formations
for each individual line. For example,
Scott Dicken,
Since the board-game defaults are Offense-2,
Defense-2, you can’t go wrong statistically by playing it this way. And that
may be the most neutral strategy for solo play – adjusting, of course, for
third-period desperation by the trailing team and protective defense by the
leading team. However, any Strat-O-Matic competitor will emulate real coaches
by using better players to full advantage and limiting the risk of weaker
players. Therefore, top lines will press their advantage with Offense-3,
Defense-3. Keep in mind that top lines often face the opponents’ best
defenders, so that ought to keep the stats in check, so to speak.
The Giants of
For all you
SOM Baseball fanatics like me who have the old-timers, there is a little
correction to make to the 1905 New York Giants. They appear as