GRAND OPEN UPDATE
Round 2 of GOT XVI is underway, with the field narrowed down from 156 to 108 teams.
Just two teams reached the century mark in wins in Round 1: David (Brett390) Moore’s Open Sesame and Tyler (TylerEnsor) Ensor’s Ohio Squirrels.
Chris (baudib) Baud has highlighted the rosters of some of the leading owners.
Eddie Collins was hands down the most sought-after player in the nine Round 2 drafts, selected in the first round in all but one and first overall in five. Other popular first round picks included Nap Lajoie (6), Buck Leonard (5), Joe DiMaggio (5) and Oscar Charleston (5).
BE A BETA TESTER FOR THE DIAMOND MIND HEAD-TO-HEAD MOBILE APP!
Since beta testing began on our head-to-head play mobile app in March, we’ve made a lot of progress:
- The App is now available for play on Android as well as Apple devices
- You can now play head-to-head against another registered tester as well as against the computer manager
We’d like your feedback! If you’d like to give the App a test run, write to us at support@imaginesports.com and we’ll get you set up. Make sure to tell us whether you will be trying the App out on an Apple or Android device.
COMING SOON: STATCAST ERA OF PLAY
Diamond Mind Online offers historic Eras of Play ranging from the Dead Ball Era (1903-1919) to the Moneyball Era (2005-2012), plus the most recently completed AL and NL seasons (currently 2021).
Nearly a decade has passed since we introduced the Moneyball Era, and the interval between the end of that era and today has witnessed an explosion in data collection and analysis, which has produced a seismic shift in player evaluation, strategy and tactics, and statistical performance.
In recognition of this change, we will soon be introducing the Statcast Era of Play, which will be based on the NL seasons 2013-2021.
CUSTOM LEAGUES KINGS
If you want to play in a tried-and-true format and create your team right now, standard leagues (Classic and SSG) are open to the public 24/7. But if you want to try something different, Custom Leagues – created by customers – are there in abundance.
There are franchise leagues, progression leagues, captains leagues, high and low salary cap leagues, “rags to riches” leagues, alphabet leagues, place of birth leagues … the possibilities are limited only by your imagination.
Diamond Mind Online would not be the same if the Community did not include some of the most clever and prolific creators of Custom Leagues. We’ll be featuring one of these in this space each month.
This month we’re visiting with (username) newforks, whose stage name (as a stand-up comedian) is Sadness and Despair. At any given time you’re likely to find on the Custom Leagues message board one of his many SSG random leagues played at turbo pace. As he would say, if you find this interview a bunch of random crap, well, it will be over in a jiffy:
Q: Sadness and Despair … there must be a story there!
A: As a teenager I visited my friend who was attending DePaul in Chicago. As a country rube I was enamored in the big city. I got super drunk at a house party. I got hungry and went out for a burrito. I found a burrito place but of course couldn’t find my way back to the party. I vaguely remember walking through a shooting of a Dillinger documentary and some angry people yelling at me doing so. I couldn’t find the party and passed out behind an Amoco station on Crane Ave. I had to call my mom to pick me up the next day. She was afraid to drive to Chicago by herself so she stopped by my friend Sumpter’s house. Sumpter had finally scored with a stripper he had been trying for the longest time. My mom interrupted the copulation. Sumpter doesn’t forgive me to this day. They picked me up. So I was christened by the rest of my bandmates the stage name of Crane Gutter due to my adventure.
Later, when I moved to WI and became a stand-up comedian, I changed my stage name to Krains Butter. Krains to celebrate the heavy German influence in the area and Gutter to Butter to celebrate the dairy state. The thing is … later in life I discovered there is no Crane Ave in Chicago, so my whole life was a lie. So then I changed my name to Sadness and Despair.
Q: Tell us something about yourself: age, occupation, marital status, where you live, and interests (apart from DMO, of course).
A: Married with dog. Like to travel to cheap Europe. TJ Miller once told me he liked my jokes, but that dude was wasted when he said that.
Q: When did you start playing DMO and how did it first come to your attention?
A: I used to play the ESPN version. It was like 50 bucks a team. Then the saviour Dayne included me in a group email to try out his new version … and gave me beta teams! It was only 20 smacks a team thereafter! Been playing ever since.
Q: Tell us how you came up with the idea for your random leagues and what’s involved in creating them?
A: Not sure how Random leagues were started … it could have been fueled by adult beverage consumption. There used to be Monkeychick 500 leagues where you’d only get to draft from 500 players; I loved the idea but only got into one and then they stopped. I attempted to recreate, however, no one ever joined. I like limited options for player choices. Random leagues provide that limitation.
Random leagues are something like opening a pack of baseball cards. You’ll never know what you get. It involves resource managing due to player limitation of ABs and player choices. It gives you the opportunity to use obscure players. And if you get random crap, it’s over in a jiffy!
Typical set up includes 2 random teams per player and then 2-7 other random players. It varies from league to league, but that is the basic jist.
Creation involves theme and then LOTS of clicking on Baseball Reference. I start a spreadsheet and start clicking for random teams and players. It takes a fair bit of time to get the players. Once teams and players are in the spreadsheet I send a copy to Charles, then establish league on Custom board where players pick numbers to get their random players and teams. I will sometimes take the last package available, but most likely will ask others in the league to pick my numbers.
Q: What do you like about the turbo league format?
A: I am spoiled. When I used to eat mushrooms I ate all the mushrooms. When I eat KitKats, I eat all the KitKats. When I play Historical Fantasy Baseball, I play all the Historical Fantasy Baseball.
Q: Is there any advice you would give to people who haven’t created a Custom League before, but would like to give it a try?
A: Go for it … think of an idea and roll with it … get creative … why not … you are basically anonymous on the board so leave your comfort zone and create something beautiful.
A CASE OF LARSEN-Y
Speaking of Sadness and Despair and his Random leagues …
Don Larsen is justifiably famous for his perfect game against the Dodgers in the 1954 World Series.
But, in the Random Captain and Crap League, for Eddie’s Sixities Soxstro, Larsen posted a season so unusual as to be nearly as remarkable.
Over 80 appearances, Larsen registered a win (12), loss (17), save (33) or hold (9), in all but nine!
THE TIPPING POINT
Each month we’ll offer a few tips in this space that may come in handy for the beginner as well as the experienced team owner.
Lacking any great (or lesser) insights to share this month, I thought I would share some questions and answers about “clutch” and “jam” from the Advice message board:
elysianfields: When I was listening to today’s game, the announcer said Eddie Collins came up with a clutch hit. He did, a single to win the game in the bottom of the 9th.
So I looked at the “clutch” setting in the database, and literally every player is rated normal. What is the point of the “clutch” ranking if everyone is normal? Under the tab it has two options, “normal” and “clutch”, but not one player is listed as clutch.
TylerEnsor: Clutch is turned off in the Classic game. I’m not sure why it’s even an option to search. Jam for pitchers is turned on, so that’s worth considering.
In SSG, clutch is turned on. So, some hitters are better in clutch situations and worse in non-clutch situations.
I know that, over a large enough samples of games, almost no one has ever been shown to be statistically better in the clutch than not in the clutch. In SSG, we’re looking at just one season of a player’s career. If that player was better in clutch situations for that year, they get the clutch rating. It’s inconsistent, though. For example, Vernon Wells has the clutch rating in 2003 and 2006, but not in any other year. It’s likely he was just luckier in 2003 and 2006 in clutch situations, not that he had an ability to come through in the clutch those years.
RollieTrollie: How important is it?
dvdavins: I’m just guessing, but I figure it’s equivalent to 0.10 better in projected ERA, if you use batter outcome stats or ERC rather than ERA.
Whatever difference there is, some or all of it may also apply to better at winning than ERA would suggest.
chesswiz: I don’t know why it would have that much of an effect. The improvement in high-leverage situations is presumably cancelled out by the disadvantage in others, and the adjustment is small anyway.
TylerEnsor: I don’t know how much it’s worth, but it can’t be cancelled out in low-leverage situations. It means that a higher proportion of the pitcher’s extra-base hits and home runs are surrendered with the bases empty or with a lopsided score. That’s valuable.
And here’s what I had to say about these settings in the Introduction to the Single-Season Game:
Q.What are Clutch and Jam and how do they work?
A. Many if not most people believe that some players have an innate ability to hit or pitch better in pressure situations. This ability has never been proven to exist or, put another way, no one has ever figured out how to prove it exists. Nevertheless, in any given season, that certain players performed particularly well “in the clutch” is a statistical fact.
In the Single-Season version of the game, such players have been given Clutch or Jam ratings. For such players, their odds of success improve in pivotal situations (the late innings of close games), but they are slightly lower at other times to offset their enhanced “clutch” performance.
And here’s an additional tidbit of information about the “jam” setting, as applied to some pitchers in the Classic player pool: we identified a number of pitchers who, over their career, posted an ERA materially better than their ERC. We took this as an indication that they, indeed, would “bear down” with positive effect in important situations (which is different than a batter having an innate ability to hit better in the clutch).
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