|
ATAS Braves Franchise
Now that I am finished with my Master's Degree, I've started looking into and playing some of my old games. I've played FPS Football, Decathlon, SOM, and SI Baseball (ATAS Baseball). It's been nice to waste time and play games again. I thought about doing another Decathlon because it wouldn’t take to long, and I even considered starting up one of my old dynasties (Dynasty League Baseball), but because the interest is lukewarm - not surprising after 4 years or so... (Travis and Deacon I still appreciate you chiming in and I might get to this at some point in the future to satisfy my own curiosity about the strength of our team), I think I’m going to write about the ATAS league I began playing.
Not sure how many of you are familiar with ATAS baseball…but it is basically the same game as Avalon Hill's SI Superstars Baseball (which many of you are also probably not familiar with). This game is sort of like Strat-o-Matic, but not as complex. Players are broken down statistically and cards are created for each player. Unlike Strat, where 1 roll either ends up on a pitcher’s or hitter’s card, SIBB allows the pitcher to roll to see if they get the batter out or walk him before the batter gets to see the outcome of their AB from their own card. I won’t bore you with any more details (I will answer questions if you are interested), but I thought having a basic understanding of the game mechanics might be helpful. Anyway, the ATAS stands for All-Time All-Stars…and the game contains an All-Franchise team for each of the franchises. I have been playing around with this and I decided to play a full season as the manager of the Braves franchise. The league that I am playing in doesn’t have a team for every franchise, just the older ones. There are 4 extra teams, two consisting of players that were /are great that aren’t currently on one of those existing franchises, and two Negro League teams (I did a bunch of research on Negro Leaguers years ago and created these teams to augment players for an SIBB league that I was a part of, and I wanted to use them again). I will let you know which teams the league has and what the rosters look like.... |
I have played games using ATAS players several times, and I have played as the manager of the Braves quite a few times. I figured being the Braves manager was good for a couple of reasons…
1. The Braves, while they have some good players aren’t nearly as deep or talented as some of the better franchises. The newer ATAS Braves are better than the original configuration with the additions of Maddux, Smoltz, Glavine, McGriff, Justice, and Lopez, but the team is still hard pressed to be much over .500 in the short seasons that I let the computer manager play out. Thus, it should provide a bit of a challenge. 2. I live in Atlanta, so I like the Braves, and my dad grew up in Bradenton, FL, back when the Braves’ spring training was in that town, and therefore he was a fan back when they resided in Milwaukee, and that was inherited too. So might as well play as the manger of my favorite team. |
Game Setup
Ok, I’m doing this from memory and I’ve only just started the season so I may have to correct some of this information in the future… NATIONAL LEAGUE Braves Giants Dodgers Reds Cardinals Pirates Phillies Cubs Homestead Grays Houston Colt 45’s – This is the team of mixed players AMERICAN LEAGUE Yankees Red Sox White Sox Orioles Tigers Twins Indians A’s KC Monarchs Washington Senators – This is the mixed team in this league |
I’m going to start the team introductions by doing mine, this way I can explain a few changes I made prior to the beginning of the season.
Also…again this is from memory, so I state a player that isn’t really on the roster or I may forget someone that is, plus the defensive ratings are really a swag at this point… BRAVES (original roster) Players Hank Aaron – OF+7, CF+6, IB Felipe Alou – OF+1, CF +3 Wally Berger – 1B, CF +10, LF +2 Rico Carty – LF -2 Del Crandall – C +10 (I)* Chipper Jones – 3B +2, LF +4, SS +1 Herman Long – SS+7, 2B Javy Lopez - C+7 Eddie Mathews – 3b +4 Dale Murphy – CF +7. OF +5 Felix Millian – 2b+9 Rabbit Maranville – SS+14, 2B+9 Hugh Duffy – OF+6, CF+7 Fred McGriff – 1B David Justice – OF+4 Pitchers Greg Maddux Tom Glavine Phil Niekro Warren Spahn Kid Nichols Lou Burdette Ed Brandt John Smoltz Gene Garber Ron Reed Adjustments I made a few adjustments to my team for serveral reasons...the adjustments are: 1. Created a relief card for John Smoltz - the game only had him as a starter so I created a relief card consistent with other top relievers of the same period 2. I added the following players from other ATAS Braves rosters: - Otis Nixon - Joe Torre - Joe Adcock - Don McMahon - Steve Bedrosian 3. I took the following players off of other rosters and added them to the Braves - Billy Hamilton - CF+1, OF+1 - John Clarkson - P both of these players played as long for the Braves as they did for their other teams, so I claimed them. I filled their spots on their respective teams with other ATAS player from those franchises. I realize that these players may not have played for the Braves in their prime or they produced better for the other franchise, but it isn't like I claimed Ruth because he finished his career with the Braves, and these 2 will help me be a bit more competitive. |
Looking at the roster it is pretty sad when you consider how long the Braves have been playing and know that the franchise can't really offer up better players at some of the positions...like 2b and SS. In fact, despite the fact that he is a liability defensively, Chipper will probabaly be my starting SS. I'll replace him when I have a lead, but the game is a little light in my opinion on taking defense into account and so I'll take advantage of that in this case...
|
Hey Rabbit's in the HOF, don't hate on the glove :)
|
true...he was also a world class clown...some very funny stories about him rolling around out there...
|
After looking at the game last night I decided I needed to do this posting a bit differently. When I looked at all the players on all the teams, I figured that trying to list the rosters like I did for the Braves wasn't going to be practical. I wasn't really interested in typing for an hour or more just to get that information out. So I exported some reports on player stats which will give you the rosters and where things currently stand...
A couple of notes... When I set up the league, I didn't study all of the Franchise rosters so when I added the mixed teams in, it is possible I duplicated some people...(I may clean that up, but I'll have to see what I can do now that the season has started). Also I've been playing for several days, so the season is basically at the end of April already...so thats will explain how we got so deep into the season right up front... Finally, it has been so long since I've done this, I forget how to format these things for a table...which I might need to make the player stats readable...I'll post what I have and we'll see how it goes. If it doesn't work out, a little tutoring would be appreciated... |
Standings
Code:
American League Won Lost Pct GB RF RA |
Commentary on the standings...
When you look at the standings and you see the Braves with a record of 16 - 3 I'm sure you're thinking..."Here is another example of human managers beating an AI", and while I'd love to take credit for this, I can honestly state that most of my management decisions so far have revolved around when to put in defensive replacements. Most of this good record can be directly attributed to fortunate dice rolls, especially for my pitchers who have recorded a disproportionate number of automatic outs (in game mechanics this is getting the batter out before they have a chance to swing). This will be obvious when I post the team stats later... The other really surprising thing is the poor play of the Yankees and A's. These two strong franchises have been terrible thus far. In fact, the Yankees are on a 4 game win streak right now...so they were 2 - 11 at one point. |
Oakland Athletics
Code:
Batters G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS RC SB CSCode:
Pitchers W L Pct ERA WHIP G GS CG SV SHO IP H BB SO R ER HR HBP BF AO Chief Bender 1 2 .333 2.87 1.47 10 0 0 0 0 15.2 16 7 11 6 5 1 0 68 11 |
Sorry, I know the sideways scroll is annoying...not sure how else to do it and keep it readable...
|
Cleveland Indians
Code:
Batters G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS RC SB CS |
Baltimore Orioles
Code:
Batters G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS RC SB CSRoberto Alomar 15 58 6 19 5 1 0 3 3 9 .328 .361 .448 .809 9.4 7 0 |
Boston Red Sox
Code:
Batters G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS RC SB CS |
Detroit Tigers
Code:
Batters G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS RC SB CS |
Minnesota Twins
Code:
|
Chicago White Sox
Code:
Batters G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS RC SB CSLuke Appling 15 43 1 9 4 1 0 2 3 7 .209 .277 .349 .625 4.1 3 1 |
New York Yankees
Code:
|
Washington Senators
Code:
Batters G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS RC SB CS |
Kanas City Monarchs
Code:
Batters G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS RC SB CS |
That's it for the American League...
Now you have a look at the rosters and how the season has started for the teams...I'll start the National League shortly... |
St. Louis Cardinals
Code:
|
Chicago Cubs
Code:
|
Los Angeles Dodgers
Code:
|
San Fransisco Giants
Code:
|
Philadelphia Phillies
Code:
|
Cincinnati Reds
Code:
|
Homestead Grays
Code:
|
Pittsburgh Pirates
Code:
|
Houston Colt 45s
Code:
|
Atlanta Braves
Code:
|
That is every team...so you have an idea of rosters and current production...
I had a decent night last night playing. I went 3 and 2...almost went 4 and 1. Had a lead in the 9th, but Smoltz gave up a HR with 2 outs which tied the game, then I lost in the 12th... The other loss was due to giving up too many walks. In one of my wins, Maddux got a complete game, and I believe a shutout (can't remember). Nichols also pitched extremely well in another win. The 3rd win I had was uneventful and my team scored 10 runs, so it was never really close... |
Several series with the Pirates and the Grays have prooved difficult. I have lost several games against those teams and my lead in the division has been cut by 2...
It would have been more the Pitt and Homestead seemed to split games in their own matchups... |
Lost the lead in the NL to the Pirates by a game...lost both ends of a double header to the Grays.
Chipper has been on a tear, average is up in the .330s... |
Scraping around playing .500 lately. Did play well enough shortly to regain first from the Pirates, but have since lost the lead to the Grays. I'm currently a game back, with the Pirates a game behind me. The Cards are now only 4 back. It was the Cardinals that beat the Pirates which caused them to fall behind.
|
I'll post updates on the standings and stats at the end of May on the schedule...
|
Just a quick update...
Cleveland leads in the American League... |
Lost two games in a row last night when Don McMahon gave up runs in the 8th inning. It was very frustrating, and put me 3 and 7 in my last 10 games. I did rebound to win 3 in a row and am now virtually tied with Homestead. Pirates and Cardinals are only 2 back. The Cards are 8 and 2 in their last 10, and Pitt is 6 and 4...
|
Standings
Code:
American League Won Lost Pct GB RF RA Home Div Streak Last10 |
The season is a few days into June by the way...
|
Oakland Athletics Code:
Batters G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS RC SB CS HBP SH SF GIDP |
Cleveland Indians
Code:
Batters G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS RC SB CS HBP SH SF GIDP |
Baltimore Orioles
Code:
|
Boston Red Sox
Code:
|
Detroit Tigers
Code:
|
Minnesota Twins
Code:
|
Chicago White Sox
Code:
|
New York Yankees
Code:
|
Kansas City Monarchs
Code:
|
| All times are GMT -5. The time now is 11:53 PM. |
Powered by vBulletin Version 3.6.0
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.