Matrix Games Forums

I wanna thank Wrathchild for stirring up interest in this topic. We need more discussion of strategy & tactics, as this wargamer loves that sort of thing. There are thousands of pages dealing with baseball on the web, so links to some strategy articles would be cool.

I pretty much treat baseball as I treat a wargame. You've got your overall strategy before the game starts but then you have to make many tactical decisions as the engagement progresses.

From a roster perspective I try to have very few position players over the age of 30. Not that I don't have them but only if they have produced big numbers. I have Reggie Jackson on my team at 37 but he still cranks out 30+, 100+ each season. Also, I usually try to have 3 power hitters surrounded by hit-for-avg guys, usually a couple with speed (Molitor, Ricky Henderson).  I just traded Jim Rice for Leon Durham this season (1983) because Durham is a freak! Hits with power and is second in SBs.
 
For pitchers I just try to get the best arms I can regardless of age. I try to keep them young but found that the largest category of good pitchers fall in the 28-33 yr old range.
 
After that I look at playoff performance. Jim Rice was always one of the "Most Feared Hitters" but has a playoff BA of .240, so i traded for Bull Durham who has slightly less regular season numbers than Rice but hits over .300 in his two playoff appearances. This seems to be a big factor if you want to make it to the series. I have had Terry Forster, Donnie Smith, Shane Rawley in the Bullpen but they didn't do squat in the playoffs. So off they went to other teams. The bullpen has a revolving door sometimes.