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Building the Best Lineup
Will Kolodzie
Building optimal lineup orders is a popular exercise, and subject to
much
scrutiny and conversation. From lengthy autoplay sessions to
statistical
values and reports, a few wins separate the best and worst lineups.
Still,
a few wins are a few wins, and sometimes that is the difference
between
making the playoffs and going home just holding your cards in your
hand.
There are several things you should take into account when making
your
lineup. The stats you should consider for Strat-O-Matic are
the on-base and
total base chances. These are the authoritative numbers, more
important
that supplemental ratings such as stealing, speed, and bunting/hit
and run.
Without a doubt, speed is an important component of the lineup, but
without
good on-base numbers, it doesn't do much for you in and of itself.
Strat-O-Matic managers don't necessarily have to follow the
strategies of
their real-life counterparts. One, this is an essentially
solitary pursuit.
We don't have to answer to any fans, sportswriters, or pesky owners.
Two,
while putting Tony Womack at the top of the order might seem like a
good
move in Arizona. The stolen base is overvalued in
Strat-O-Matic. You can
win without it. Another example is the K chance.
Real-life managers are
hesitant to put whiffers at the top of the order because they have a
more
difficult time moving baserunners. In Strat-O-Matic, a
strikeout on the
card is certainly better than the dreaded gb A.
Let's break down the Strat cards into four categories.
1. High On-Base Chances, Low Total Base Chances. Players
with these cards
are perfect for the leadoff spot. You'll lose a lot of
run-scoring chances
if you have these players in the bottom half of the lineup.
Remember the
first and most important rule of playing baseball is scoring runs.
You can'
t win if you don't score runs. Any other theory or suggestions
is far below
this one in terms of importance.
2. High On-Base, High Total Base Chances. These cards
fit anywhere in your
lineup. Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, and Alex Rodriguez are just
some of the
cards that fit into this category. Ideally suited for the 3rd
or 4th spots,
these cards will be successful regardless of where they are used.
You want
to put these cards as high as you can because you want to achieve
maximum
usage with them. These cards give you not only home runs, but
also plenty
of doubles and sometimes triples. Need to clear the basepaths?
These are
the cards for you.
3. Low On-Base, High Total Base Chances. These cards are
ideal for the 6th
or 7th lineup spots. Don't put two of these players together.
That's a
good way to kill your rally. Given the current climate in
baseball, these
types of cards are very seductive. Hey, who doesn't want a 30
home run guy
in the lineup? The problem is that the low on-base chances
will come back
to haunt you. Be careful that you don't get too many of these
cards on your
team, and don't use these cards until you've exhausted all of the
cards in
categories 1 and 2.
4. Low On-Base, Low Total Base Chances. The Rey Ordonez
cards of the world
fit at the bottom of the order. The best move is to not even
use these
cards. Of course, life isn't perfect and sometimes you have to
play a card
that you'd otherwise want to throw away. These cards are the
last resort.
Use only after you have exhausted all other possibilities. One
thing to
consider is using these cards in the 8th spot if you are playing in
a league
that uses the designated hitter. Try putting a card with a
higher level of
on-base chances in the 9th spot. This way there are more
run-scoring
opportunities that can be converted by the top of the lineup.
Larger draft leagues should have a healthy mixture of all 4
categories on
each team. The smaller leagues probably have a majority of
category 1 and 2
players in the lineup. From my experience, the margin of error
is greater
in the smaller leagues because the overall player pool is higher in
quality,
except if using an AL or NL league only. What this means is
that more
emphasis should be given to building a lineup in the smaller leagues
- as a
card in the wrong spot could lead to disastrous consequences.
Here are some additional considerations when making out a lineup.
1. Get as many at-bats as possible for the best cards.
From what I've
read, the top spot in the lineup gets around 150 more times than the
last
spot. This means that the better cards need to bat as high as
possible.
Sticking a card with low on-base chances in the 1st or 2nd spots
creates few
run-producing opportunities for the better cards. Put the poor
cards as far
down as possible, even if they bat in the top spots in real-life.
2. Actual playing time does matter in Strat-O-Matic. In
many respects,
your chances at creating an optimal lineup are hindered by a
player's number
of at-bats. There are some players that can't hit at the top
of order
because they'll run out of at-bats before the season ends. In
this case,
put cards with limited number of at-bats in the higher order spots
when they
have the opportunity of achieving the most success, whether against
a
specific pitcher or against a particular team. Of course, a
good backup or
replacement player negates this problem. This will happen in
the smaller
draft leagues where cards, even those in category 2 are more easily
replaceable. As we are playing in draft leagues that are
smaller than the
actual major leagues, another good rule of thumb is to never bat a
player
lower in the order than in real-life.
3. Use platooning to emphasize the strengths in your batting
order. This
is rather obvious, but not all players need to be moved up or down
in the
lineup. Don't commit to platooning to such an extent that your
team is hurt
when a relief pitcher enters the game. I've seen this a lot in
my Strat
draft league play. Someone will create so many platoons that
you can easily
take advantage of his lineup by switching players late in the game.
Keep in
mind that Strat draft league play doesn't always let you completely
micromanage a game when using the computer manager. You can
just as easily
lose an advantage by platooning too much.
4. Pay close attention to lineup balance. Look at the
Team - Display
Reports - Draft Report spreadsheet in the computer baseball game.
Here you
will see the balance rating for the lineup. Most managers wish
to achieve
as close of a balance between left and right-handed hitters as
possible.
Too lopsided a lineup and it will come back to haunt you.
Maybe not during
the regular season, but if your lineup is too loaded with R rated
hitters.
A team with a couple of lefty pitchers could put you out of the
commission
in the playoffs.
Overall, setting your lineup to achieve optimal performance is an
important
component of achieving success in draft league play. Put the
best cards at
the top of the lineup. The rest will take care of itself.
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