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Originally Posted by Mackrel829 |
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It’s the bottom of the ninth, my Reds are down 4-2 to the Giants, and the bottom of the order is up to bat. It’s not looking good. Thanks to a walk and a couple of base hits, however, the bases are suddenly loaded with no outs. Freddie Galvis pops up a fly ball, Nick Castellanos makes it home, and now we’re one run down with one out and runners on second and third. Except we’re not. The game is over and the Giants have won 4-2. While I thought I had timed it perfectly, I pressed L1 to tag up too early, and the CPU took a triple play to end the game. Worst feeling ever.
Despite the ending, the game was incredibly fun and realistic. I feel like I’ve got my settings and sliders right where I want them, and I’m getting some great gameplay along with realistic stats. What I’m not getting a great deal of at the moment is runs, but that’s down to me rather than the game. Being relatively new to baseball, I still find myself walking away from bases loaded situations empty handed, and failing to convert hits into runs.
Besides making sure that I wait to tag up (will never make this mistake again) are there any specific things that I should be doing to ensure that I make it home more often?
Is there a knack to stealing bases, for example? I’m pretty bad at that right now.
Or is there a specific type of pitch or hit that I should be looking for when the bases are loaded to make sure that I can get runners home?
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Stealing is as much about the right situation as it is the player has the ability to steal with solid speed/steal attributes.
You never want to steal in a situation where the other pitcher can pitch out. Meaning, stealing on 0-0 is in general a bad idea. Stealing on 0-2 is also a bad idea. Most of my success comes from stealing on counts like 2-0 and 2-1. Counts where the pitcher doesn't want to fall to 3 ball counts so they put the ball in the zone.
Pitchers who pitch out on 0-0 will then tend to sidestep on 1-0. Side step pitches are less accurate and lead to 2-0 counts fairly often. Which as I said above is a perfect time to steal.
I also tend not to steal when my big bats are at the plate unless I can for sure get away with it. I don't want to take the bat out of my big boys and lose the chance to have them drive in more runs or worse end an inning.
Minimize stealing third unless it is a for sure. Never steal third with 2 outs. If it's a player you feel comfortable stealing with they are likely to score from second on a single to the outfield anyway. Especially if they have a good jump on contact.
Rule of thumb is you never want the third out to be at third.
Like so much in baseball, it is situational and experience will give you better ideas of when to steal.
And others will have different opinions on when to steal and that is the beauty of baseball.