Speed Kills? Can OOTP X Provide the Answer?

[RaychelSnr]

I have been thinking a great deal about speed in sports as of late, and no I am not trying to start a new drugs in sports controversy. The fact of the matter is that I have always been fascinated by the impact of team and individual speed in sports. Urban Meyer has developed the Florida Gators to be the fastest team in the nation, and by doing so he has made the Gators the best and most intimidating team to match up against. Often times it is more daunting to face a team full of jackrabbits than it is to face a team full of grizzly bears. Speed can embarrass people like few other attributes can.

A couple recent events have also renewed my interest in this topic -- the major event being Rickey Henderson’s induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. For those of us who witnessed Rickey in his prime, we can speak first hand about the impact he had on every game he was a part of. He was a disruption like no other. Not only did he steal as many as 130 bases a season, but he messed with every pitcher’s head who was unfortunate enough to be matched up against him. Honestly, how could a pitcher possibly concentrate on the hitter in the batter’s box with Rickey on base?

Read More - Speed Kills? Can OOTP X Provide the Answer?

[teampunjabi]

This makes me want to get back into OOTP again. Love this game. Great article.

[Craigsca]

But is it real? Who knows what real-world inter-dependencies and correlations are programmed into OOTP and which are not. For instance, while it makes sense that a speedy team has increased range have there been any studies done that show a correlation between speed and a decrease in errors?

[Craigsca]

But is it real? Who knows what real-world inter-dependencies and correlations are programmed into OOTP and which are not. For instance, while it makes sense that a speedy team has increased range have there been any studies done that show a correlation between speed and a decrease in errors?

[texasgmr]

Great article. I am with teampunjabi, I want to get back into the OOTP leagues.

[NoDakHusker]

wow this is a very interesting study. Excellent article. Like texasgmr and teampunjabi, i think i'll get back into OOTP again =D

[CMH]

Re: Speed Kills? Can OOTP X Provide the Answer?

But is it real? Who knows what real-world inter-dependencies and correlations are programmed into OOTP and which are not. For instance, while it makes sense that a speedy team has increased range have there been any studies done that show a correlation between speed and a decrease in errors?

I would argue that more speed could equal more range. More plays to cover increases the likelihood of creating an error. Therefore, more speed could result in more errors.

However, with more speed/range, there's a chance this team is decreasing extra base hits and getting to a few of those bloopers, which might help with preventing runs (thus lowering ERA).

[Craigsca]

Absolutely. But I'm still wary of using OOTP as the engine for any study of real baseball. You still get some things in the engine that make no sense - so using this as a study of "real life" is kind of a stretch.

[HechticSooner]

While I would agree that the defense in OOTP still has some modelling issue, minor one but they are there, the offense and pitching aspects are pretty darned spot on. To say that it doesn't provide a study of "real baseball" is just plain wrong.

While it might not run historical leagues perfectly it does model baseball very well.

[HechticSooner]

BTW GREAT ARTICLE!

[Stain]

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To be a complete article, and to sustain a further understanding of the experiment, I'd like to hear about the secondary attiributes and where they ranked. Cartainly, speed was the "A" factor but in the first three rounds, espcially, players that had stunning speed had to have a couple other attributes of signficance that would make a great deal of difference. i.e. in Round 13, if you had two RF with a 17 speed, what was the tie-breaker .. if given all things equal to your philosophy?

A secondary philosophy would do well to finish out the article and help us understand the players a bit more. In the content, I found your descriptions flimsy of the personalities. "They were fast and they could field. They put the ball in play and they ran the bases well." Well, certainly speed would fold in to these concepts like a hand in glove. What was the secondary attribute that you chose to stick to? Power? Left handers? Superior defense?

A "roundup up of Olympic Sprinters" leaves me with carboard cutouts of the chracters involved in the story and therefore, leaves me with a "fad" of an article than a "trend" or "philosophy" article.

Kudos for the attempt. Expand the characters to help us identify with the types of players in MLB they might actually be close to. If N/A, then fill in the backstory to make the characters on Team Speed more realistic and three dimensional and your readers will find the story more compelling.

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[lgkeeper]

Great piece - nice work!

[dave731]

Stain, it does sound like a great idea for a dynasty journal...

[philliesfan980]

OOTP is great for dynasty type leagues, but for a single season project, you're probably better off using Strat-o-matic, DMB, or ActionPC