Bobhead's Sliders

[Bobhead]

After getting a terrible April (10-18). The Tampa Bay Rays cruised through most of May, with 2 consecutive 5 game win streaks, winning 14 of 17. Everything changed when interleague play came around though. The Rays were quickly swept out of Miami, scoring only 2 runs in 3 games, and getting shut out twice.

The Rays rebounded by sweeping Detroit with great pitching, but are still struggling offensively. It has been 9 games since the Rays scored more than 4 runs in a game, and in the same time period, the Rays have scored 2 runs or less 6 times.

Last 12 games:
TB: 5 -- NYY: 3
TB: 6 -- NYY: 7

TB: 7 -- TOR: 3
TB: 4 -- TOR: 3

TB: 0 -- FLA: 1
TB: 0 -- FLA: 3
TB: 2 -- FLA: 3

TB: 3 -- DET: 0
TB: 4 -- DET: 3
TB: 2 -- DET: 1

TB: 2 -- CLE: 5
TB: 1 -- CLE: 0

---
Pitching Stats:
Innings Pitched: 481 -- 53 Games
Batters Faced: 1958
ERA: 2.83 (up from 2.72)
Walks: 107 -- 2.01 per game (down from 2.125)
Strikeouts: 270 -- 5.09 per game (down from 6.25)
Batting Average: .241
Hits: 473 -- 8.92 per game (up from 8.625)
Runs: 169 -- 3.19 per game
Home Runs: 55 -- 1.03 per game (up from 0.625)

Batting Stats:
At-Bats: 1813
Batting Average: .252 (down from .267)
Hits: 456 -- 8.6 per game (down from 9.5)
* Extra-Base Hits: 109 -- 2.06 per game (down from 2.25)
Home Runs: 50 -- 0.94 per game (down from 1.25)
Walks: 152 -- 2.86 per game (up from 1.875)
Strikeouts: 446 -- 8.42 per game (up from 7.5 per game)
Batting Average w/ RiSP: .261 (down from .315)
Runs scored: 222 -- 4.19 per game

*Excluding Home Runs

More or less what I've expected. The offensive drop I expected because I started the season with an 11-0 win, and the first stats post was only after 8 games. Walks can be attributed to the drop in Pitch Speed as well as that I'm feeling better at the plate than I was, that's one thing I will keep an eye on, though.

24% (23.9) of my hits are doubles or triples, which sounds spot on. At the 8-game update a while back, I had 18 XBH's out of 76 Hits, which is still 24% (23.6), so everything has more or less stayed consistent, relative to my batting average.

My ERA stands out, but don't be fooled. the Tampa Bay pitching staff is pretty well-rated in the game - overrated, in my opinion - and I think this is a big factor. In real life, the Phillies lead the majors with a 2.98, so my ERA is pretty close to "potential reality." Most importantly however, it is important to note that The Show has problems scoring errors and earned runs correctly. If you look up real-life run averages (as opposed to earned run averages),you will see that the Phillies match my number almost exactly, with an average of 3.2 runs per game.

I'm currently at 53 games. I will probably post another update at roughly 75 in.

[Dogbarian]

Just to give you more feedback, I've been using your sliders in RTTS, batting on Veteran, and while I'm still not seeing enough walks, or balls for that matter, I am able to draw one on occasion now.

I ran into a problem with my catcher RTTS, with the pitcher being so poor, so I bumped up the CPU pitcher control & consistency while I was receiving and lowered it again for batting. But all of the fielding, and my hitting all seem to be appropriate.

I think what I need to do is move up to all-star hitting, to get more balls, and I'll have to monitor that for a bit to make sure I don't need to move the batting sliders up a bit. And I think now that I have a fairly good grip on things in general, it's time to start a franchise.

[Qb]

Bobhead, have you posted the all HOF sliders to the vault? As I said before, when I manually input them, I'm always tempted to make changes...

Quote: Originally Posted by Dogbarian

I think what I need to do is move up to all-star hitting, to get more balls, and I'll have to monitor that for a bit to make sure I don't need to move the batting sliders up a bit.

From my experience, you are correct. User hitting difficulty does affect the CPU pitchers' approach. On rookie & veteran, they tend to throw a lot of strikes, even if they shouldn't. They pitch more intelligently on all-star, but for me, the greatest difference is seen when moving to hall of fame. A lot more nibbling, albeit intelligently, which means the user needs to be on their A-game at the plate. But it also means the potential for more walks and great at-bats with the right approach.

[itbeme23]

Bob,

This has been on my mind since your latest stat post, but I haven't had the chance to respond until now.

With the increase in CPU contact from 3 to 4, are you still seeing a decent amount of strikeouts per game? With contact at 3, it seemed like I was getting a good result of 5-8 strikeouts per game, with the occasional 9-10 K performance by front-line starters (Kershaw and Billingsley). I noticed in your stats that you've seen a decrease in your average strikeouts per game since increasing CPU contact to 4, and I was wondering if you ever consider dropping it back down to 3? 5 Ks per game seems a little on the low end, especially over a period of the whole season don't you think???

I really enjoy your new pitching sliders, so I'm going to give your CPU hitting sliders a shot once I'm back in town tomorrow. I will admit that I was reluctant to give the CPU that much of a shot in the arm (no pun intended) offensively, but I know that a whole lot of testing goes into your slider settings, so I am willing to give them a try. I just hope that my pitchers don't get shelled every game. When I had your previous settings (CPU contact 3, Power 4, Timing 8, Solid Hits 3), I was getting good results, and the scores were varied (which is a big thing for me). I hope I get that same variability when I make the switch to your new sliders tomorrow morning.

Cheers....

[Bobhead]

Quote: Originally Posted by Qb

Bobhead, have you posted the all HOF sliders to the vault? As I said before, when I manually input them, I'm always tempted to make changes...

Just uploaded them. Enjoy

Quote: Originally Posted by itbeme23

Bob, This has been on my mind since your latest stat post, but I haven't had the chance to respond until now. With the increase in CPU contact from 3 to 4, are you still seeing a decent amount of strikeouts per game? With contact at 3, it seemed like I was getting a good result of 5-8 strikeouts per game, with the occasional 9-10 K performance by front-line starters (Kershaw and Billingsley). I noticed in your stats that you've seen a decrease in your average strikeouts per game since increasing CPU contact to 4, and I was wondering if you ever consider dropping it back down to 3? 5 Ks per game seems a little on the low end, especially over a period of the whole season don't you think??? I really enjoy your new pitching sliders, so I'm going to give your CPU hitting sliders a shot once I'm back in town tomorrow. I will admit that I was reluctant to give the CPU that much of a shot in the arm (no pun intended) offensively, but I know that a whole lot of testing goes into your slider settings, so I am willing to give them a try. I just hope that my pitchers don't get shelled every game. When I had your previous settings (CPU contact 3, Power 4, Timing 8, Solid Hits 3), I was getting good results, and the scores were varied (which is a big thing for me). I hope I get that same variability when I make the switch to your new sliders tomorrow morning. Cheers....

I haven't really seen that big of a change. I know my strikeouts are way down statistically speaking, but I've only had the contact increase for about a month or so (last 30-35 games) of in-season time, so there's still another 15 or so games to account for, because the first set of stats was after 8 games. I know looking back at my schedule, I lost a lot of games that first month, so I think the strikeout rate decrease is just a result of how I've been playing, and I'm pretty confident that if I played 5-10 games then checked my stats again, they'd be slightly higher.

Also, I'm not really much of a strikeout guy myself. I'd be willing to bet money that anyone who uses my sliders will always be ahead of me in strikeouts, because more frequently I find myself pitching to contact, or to induce a double play, and it's only in the ridiculous jams that I'm really pitching with a strikeout in mind.

You shouldn't see any changes in hit variance at all. The 1 point cut in Timing was just because it was a little too easy to foul off pitches you completely misread. Lowering Foul Frequency alone would have fixed the problem, but then the timing window would be expanded, because fewer pitches would land outside the foul lines. I only lowered Timing to keep things the same.

[itbeme23]

Bob,

I've played a total of five games with your new CPU hitting sliders, and I've been getting hit HARD, which was my main concern. I understand that five games is not the greatest sample size, but I played with your previous hitting sliders for well over 30 games, and I was getting great results (variety) with CPU Contact at 3, while also seeing a realistic amount of strikeouts. I say realistic because the averages were pretty much spot on. With Kershaw, I was able to K at least 6 a game, with the high being 10, and with lower-level starters, I would have to really work to get 5 or 6 strikeouts. I've been getting shelled by the CPU with the current settings, and I'm leaning towards moving contact back down to 3 to see how that works. I figured with the increase in foul frequency, dropping contact won't have that big of an effect other than increasing strikeouts (I hope). I've also been seeing a substantial increase in doubles by the CPU, so I want to keep an eye on that as well. I'm actually thinking of back through my first 20 games of my franchise to see what the average number of doubles has been. All I know is, over the last few games, half of the CPU hits have been for extra bases (2B, HR). I'm not sure what the exact statistic should be, but I don't think it should be that high.

Thoughts???

[rondoman]

How is base stealing? Seems to be too easy with frequency at 10.

[Bobhead]

Quote: Originally Posted by itbeme23

Bob, I've played a total of five games with your new CPU hitting sliders, and I've been getting hit HARD, which was my main concern. I understand that five games is not the greatest sample size, but I played with your previous hitting sliders for well over 30 games, and I was getting great results (variety) with CPU Contact at 3, while also seeing a realistic amount of strikeouts. I say realistic because the averages were pretty much spot on. With Kershaw, I was able to K at least 6 a game, with the high being 10, and with lower-level starters, I would have to really work to get 5 or 6 strikeouts. I've been getting shelled by the CPU with the current settings, and I'm leaning towards moving contact back down to 3 to see how that works. I figured with the increase in foul frequency, dropping contact won't have that big of an effect other than increasing strikeouts (I hope). I've also been seeing a substantial increase in doubles by the CPU, so I want to keep an eye on that as well. I'm actually thinking of back through my first 20 games of my franchise to see what the average number of doubles has been. All I know is, over the last few games, half of the CPU hits have been for extra bases (2B, HR). I'm not sure what the exact statistic should be, but I don't think it should be that high. Thoughts???

Hate to be cliche, but keep in mind you are playing on Hall of Fame difficulty, so just because you are struggling, doesn't mean the sliders are the issue. You might need to turn it back down to All Star if your struggles continue. I've been playing with these sliders for a while and I haven't seen any excessive offense from the CPU, in fact my pitchers are finally off their hot streaks (I gave up more than 5 runs for the first time in several weeks), and still I'm only giving up the usual number of hits: 7-10 per game.

Also feel free to just go back to the "old" HoF pitching spread: 4 contact, 3 solid hits, and 3/3 consistency/control... I had raised them to address issues - too few walks by my pitchers, and too few hits/runs by the CPU hitters - If you didn't have those issues, just remember that you are on the same pitching difficulty you were on before, so if the old sliders worked before, there is no reason to think switching back to them won't be successful.

Quote: Originally Posted by rondoman

How is base stealing? Seems to be too easy with frequency at 10.

It probably is. Honestly the pickoff system is so off-base that a "realistic" baserunning slider is not even ideal. The way I have it, you will probably be more successful than usual stealing bases, but the excessive pickoffs will surely counteract that.