Crazy Bad Performances

[HRBaker]

I have this nagging feeling that the huge increase in ratings this year on all the cards have uncovered some issue where it gets to the point where only the absolute top cards can perform correctly or some combination of variables messes up the algorithms used in the game. It just doesn't make sense that you can add a "102" player with all purple ratings and watch him perform worse that the Diamond you replaced him with.

That said, it's become obvious if your not in the top 1% there isn't much reason trying to do better once June/July hit.

[LeeD]

Yes, it's felt like something is amiss for a while now. There was always too much variation in PT from season to season (considering that we're dealing with elite players in league, many of whom never had a truly bad season until age caught up with them), but this year's version has taken things to a whole new level. When I look around and see that nearly everyone is playing Variant Honus and then see that some of them are hitting .300 and some are at the Mendoza line, it's clear that the variations are way too extreme. The spread is too wide and needs to be constrained.

[HRBaker]

Originally Posted by LeeD

Yes, it's felt like something is amiss for a while now. There was always too much variation in PT from season to season (considering that we're dealing with elite players in league, many of whom never had a truly bad season until age caught up with them), but this year's version has taken things to a whole new level. When I look around and see that nearly everyone is playing Variant Honus and then see that some of them are hitting .300 and some are at the Mendoza line, it's clear that the variations are way too extreme. The spread is too wide and needs to be constrained.

I started complaining in V25 that the accelerated release of the 100-102+ cards so early in the season/year, along with the supermen variant cards was changing the battlefield - and making it impossible for anyone other than those with lots of money (or those with the ability to spend 24/7 on their computers) to succeed past June.

On one hand I understand the need to make enough money to pay salaries, but it seems to me better for everyone if you have 50,000 customers of which ~12,000 can be successful rather than 11,000 customers of which only ~2500 can be highly successful.

For the rest of us I see a game that captures my attention between March and mid summer - then I switch to the classic game until the new version comes out... and if PT doesn't look much different than v26, I could just stay with v26 and return full time to the classic game.

[Hawkwing7423]

I just got 102 Billy Wagner

8.74 ERA in 9 games so far.

He's worse in relief than 3 99's I'm using right now - Sam McDowell, Todd Van Poppel, and Bobby Jenks. Robb Nen at 98 is better in some seasons.

I just don't get it. It's 50/50 when you get a new card if they're going to be trash like Satchel Paige or decent like Dazzy Vance. This one seems to be in the trash category. Stats look fine, but he just doesn't perform.

He's pretty low priced in the card shop - L10 83k for a 102...so I guess it's known that he's bad. What I don't understand is why?

[bailey]

ERA for relief pitchers can be damaged by one bad outing. What's the game log like?

[Hawkwing7423]

Originally Posted by bailey

ERA for relief pitchers can be damaged by one bad outing. What's the game log like?

He had 4 bad outings out of the last 5.

I'll give him a shot next season.

Ok, new season, relieved 6 games, ERA is 6. For a 102, this seems like trash. Back in you go, 99 Mike Scott!

[usa_hank]

I've got Sutcliffe, Sheets, and Fernandez, arguably the three best RHPs in PT right now, and all 3 of them are pitching over 6.00 ERAs so far this season. And in HG too, since I got the relegation for the ultimate slump my team suffered 2nd half of last season. Sure, 5-6 games each, but it's still a remarkable disaster for all three to be this bad this early. Each has only served up one start with under 4 ERs.

One of the best pitchers in my league right now (not my player) is a LIVE Garret Crotchet, pitching a 2.5 ERA in 5 starts. Talk about another miracle for some lucky team...imagine the series of dice rolls this card has to have gotten? The guy has a PBABIP of 66! This team has Vance, Chandler, Sale, Stieb, and Crochet, and that team has the #1 ERA and #5 pWAR in my league, and he's rolling with Dickey and Piazza as catchers. I mean, I hope this guy bought a lottery ticket tonight...

And my Sutcliffe, Sheets, or Fernandez can barely squeak out one game with 3 runs or less...I can't even anymore.

At this point, can we all just agree we're actually playing Yahtzee rather than OOTP with this year's PT, and the names are just scribbles on a screen?

[dishnet34]

Originally Posted by usa_hank

I've got Sutcliffe, Sheets, and Fernandez, arguably the three best RHPs in PT right now, and all 3 of them are pitching over 6.00 ERAs so far this season. And in HG too, since I got the relegation for the ultimate slump my team suffered 2nd half of last season. Sure, 5-6 games each, but it's still a remarkable disaster for all three to be this bad this early. Each has only served up one start with under 4 ERs.

One of the best pitchers in my league right now (not my player) is a LIVE Garret Crotchet, pitching a 2.5 ERA in 5 starts. Talk about another miracle for some lucky team...imagine the series of dice rolls this card has to have gotten? The guy has a PBABIP of 66! This team has Vance, Chandler, Sale, Stieb, and Crochet, and that team has the #1 ERA and #5 pWAR in my league, and he's rolling with Dickey and Piazza as catchers. I mean, I hope this guy bought a lottery ticket tonight...

And my Sutcliffe, Sheets, or Fernandez can barely squeak out one game with 3 runs or less...I can't even anymore.

At this point, can we all just agree we're actually playing Yahtzee rather than OOTP with this year's PT, and the names are just scribbles on a screen?

It's Monday. Slow your roll, bud.


Also, what strategies/sliders do you have on your pitchers? What's your defense looking like? Are they getting BABIP'd to death?

[usa_hank]

Originally Posted by dishnet34

It's Monday. Slow your roll, bud.


Also, what strategies/sliders do you have on your pitchers? What's your defense looking like? Are they getting BABIP'd to death?

Would love to hear a little "Sorry dude, that sucks, some bad juju there for sure" from you for a change instead of this "slow your roll" and "OOTP is godly, you are a mere mortal that doesn't understand" feeling form your posts

Defense is above average, 6th in errors, Eff = 6th, ZR = 4th. FIP on the above three is ever so slightly better than their ERA so I know defense has played a role, but not quite as badly as I'd expect with these performances.

Sliders are set to hook my starters slightly to the "Quick" side. Honestly, I barely see a difference when I've tweaked this setting more one way or the other, but I like to think it actually does something.

What strategy settings would you reco? Help a brother out.

[Hoover36]

Originally Posted by usa_hank

At this point, can we all just agree we're actually playing Yahtzee rather than OOTP with this year's PT, and the names are just scribbles on a screen?

The fake ratings and systematic escalation didn't make that obvious from the get go?!?!?

I love this game, I have probably spent over a 100K hours of real time dedicated to playing it....but 6.5 was the best version of this game, hands down.

I treat the current version of the game like collecting cards and let the fake results be what they will be.

[dishnet34]

Originally Posted by usa_hank

Would love to hear a little "Sorry dude, that sucks, some bad juju there for sure" from you for a change instead of this "slow your roll" and "OOTP is godly, you are a mere mortal that doesn't understand" feeling form your posts

Defense is above average, 6th in errors, Eff = 6th, ZR = 4th. FIP on the above three is ever so slightly better than their ERA so I know defense has played a role, but not quite as badly as I'd expect with these performances.

Sliders are set to hook my starters slightly to the "Quick" side. Honestly, I barely see a difference when I've tweaked this setting more one way or the other, but I like to think it actually does something.

What strategy settings would you reco? Help a brother out.

First of all, you're right; I should've been a little more empathetic. That's my fault, and I was only really reacting to the tone of the post you made and calling the game "Yahtzee" when it really isn't. There's just a lot of people on these forums that just go "This game/mode sucks!!" all the time, and I am just not a fan of that stuff, and I sometimes do over-react to that. With that said, I do genuinely feel your frustration, and I've had my fair share of bad rolls too this year and in the past (I have a history with Tom Hall and Satchel Paige). Bad rolls suck, no doubt, and I'm with ya on that one.

As far as defense goes, yeah, the defense might be a bit of an issue; not sure if you're playing infield shifts frequently or not, but I have that set all the way in my strategy settings, and while I'm not sure if it makes a difference or not, my defensive stats are kinda in the middle of the pack in High Diamond this week with Collins/Lajoie-Lindor/Morgan-Lajoie/Wagner around the horn on the IF and Aaron/Charleston/Parker in the OF.

Maybe infield shifts may be worth a shot to try to help the defense a bit potentially? I'll admit I'm not the most strategy-brained person out there, but that could help a bit. I also have Guard Lines about 3/4 of the way up, OF shifts a bit above the middle and Shift OF Depth around that same area too.

As far as pitching strats, I've relatively kept things in the middle and haven't really touched much, but maybe playing the matchups a bit more could help? I'm not sure.

Again, it's probably just some bad luck or something this year, and I know it sucks to say that, but that just might be the case for you. Hopefully some regression to the mean happens for ya and you can turn your season around.