CPU Shifting

[reyes the roof]

Does anyone know what drives when the cpu decides to shift. When my season started, Jay Bruce and Michael Conforto were both getting shifted against. Then I had a random series vs the Cardinals where they didn't shift against Conforto and the next team I faced went back to shifting and it's been that way for a few series. Now I start a series against the Phillies and it's no shift against Conforto but they're shifting against Bruce. They're both extreme pull hitters for their tendency and I looked at the spray charts and Conforto is 50/30/20 while Bruce is 47/32/21 so if you're going by the numbers they should be shifting for Conforto

[bcruise]

Re: CPU Shifting

Does anyone know what drives when the cpu decides to shift. When my season started, Jay Bruce and Michael Conforto were both getting shifted against. Then I had a random series vs the Cardinals where they didn't shift against Conforto and the next team I faced went back to shifting and it's been that way for a few series. Now I start a series against the Phillies and it's no shift against Conforto but they're shifting against Bruce. They're both extreme pull hitters for their tendency and I looked at the spray charts and Conforto is 50/30/20 while Bruce is 47/32/21 so if you're going by the numbers they should be shifting for Conforto

What I know for sure is that it varies by team/manager. Listen during the defensive intros for the commentators to talk about the manager's tendency to shift - it'll give you an idea of what to expect. Those lines aren't just for flavor.

What I don't know for sure, but have heard people - well, pretty much countryboy - say that he's had it change during the same game, after he beat a shift once in a game. That, I haven't seen personally yet.

[KBLover]

Re: CPU Shifting

Maybe Power rating vs R/L is a component?

My fictional Bo Winter is getting shifted against when he bats LH (he's a switch hitter) but not when he bats RH. What's funny is that in MLB17, Winter was NOT shifted against. So, whatever it is, it's new to MLB18.

vs RHP he's got 90 power but vs LHP, it's like 50. The CPU can do shifts against both sides of the plate this year so I'm guessing Power might be a factor.

I don't know what your Conforto's ratings are, just guessing based on what I see.

[countryboy]

Re: CPU Shifting

What I know for sure is that it varies by team/manager. Listen during the defensive intros for the commentators to talk about the manager's tendency to shift - it'll give you an idea of what to expect. Those lines aren't just for flavor.

What I don't know for sure, but have heard people - well, pretty much countryboy - say that he's had it change during the same game, after he beat a shift once in a game. That, I haven't seen personally yet.

Yes what bcruise said. It varies from team/manager to team/manager. This is a time where knowing who the manager was and giving him more attributes and strategies would be great to have as right now it seems, well random.

And yes I've had it change in game. I beat the shift with Matt Carpenter in a game and the CPU didn't shift against him the rest of the game.

[KBLover]

Re: CPU Shifting

Yes what bcruise said. It varies from team/manager to team/manager. This is a time where knowing who the manager was and giving him more attributes and strategies would be great to have as right now it seems, well random.

Yes because for fictional managers I don't seem to ever hear that blurb about the defensive tendencies like I hear for the IRL managers sometimes.

[LionsFan01]

Re: CPU Shifting

I played with Michael Conforto, Kyle Schwarber, and Gary Sanchez for multiple seasons in one of my franchises and St. Louis was the only team that ever played any of them straight up. And that was only Conforto for 1 game. I can't recall any team ever playing Schwarber or Sanchez straight up, or any team changing their defense after I beat the shift. So in my experience any hitter that is extreme either way in their tendency is going to get shifted against, and there was 1 team/manager that went against that for 1 game. As for my own defense, the commentators always point out that my team doesn't shift very often, but my defense always seems to shift for guys with extreme tendencies.

[reyes the roof]

Re: CPU Shifting

Thanks for the feedback guys. Also on the topic of shifts, is there a way to control my team's shifting? I want to never overshift without putting all the shifts on manual. I know I can just change my defense to straight up or however I want it whenever I see I'm shifting but sometimes I'm not paying attention to the graphic that shows it and I miss that I have a shift on. I just had a ball get poked down the 3rd base line for a double in the 9th inning that nearly cost me a game because I forgot to unshift my defense

[jada855]

Re: CPU Shifting

You need to go into the defensive settings menu and adjust for individual hitters.

I personally play CAP player lock so its different from full team control. Its a pretty terrible implementation that has been in the game for years and never fixed especially if you play a infield postion in my case SS its pretty bad.

[Unlucky 13]

Re: CPU Shifting

As others have said, not every team will shift. Some seemingly never do, some always do. Shifting vs right handed batters seems to be really rare.

Playing as the Cubs, Rizzo has very frequently been shifted against for years. After adding Harper, he is too. Schwarber wasn't shifted against in my 2018 season, but now usually is in 2019. And Bryant is the only RH hitter that I've ever had who sees the shift.

I currently have Javy Baez leading the majors in homers and RBI. I'll be curious to see if I can keep that up, if he'll see shifts in 2020. He's hitting about .350 vs lefties but only .220 vs righties.

[NolanRyansSnowmonkey]

Re: CPU Shifting

Thanks for the feedback guys. Also on the topic of shifts, is there a way to control my team's shifting? I want to never overshift without putting all the shifts on manual. I know I can just change my defense to straight up or however I want it whenever I see I'm shifting but sometimes I'm not paying attention to the graphic that shows it and I miss that I have a shift on. I just had a ball get poked down the 3rd base line for a double in the 9th inning that nearly cost me a game because I forgot to unshift my defense

I do what was already suggested. Before the first pitch of any game i set any and all shifts i want for the game, because i really dislike the dramatic outfield shifts that the cpu assigns. Outfield shifts are normally not too dramatic in real life because fly balls tend to be hit more to the opposite field even by pull hitters. I hate when fly balls to the opposite field turn into doubles instead of outs because of a stupid shift.

Doing this, however, requires a close eye throughout the game on where your defense is playing (only takes a quick push of the d-pad to check). You will want to manually put defense into double play depth, guard lines, etc. Dont forget to switch it back if you change an individual for an AB. Or if a switch hitter changes sides during a game.

This might seem like a lot of trouble for some people, but it becomes second nature and only takes a few seconds. Defensive strategy is an important part of baseball and it adds another level of immersion for me.