Highlights From Diamond Mind April 2021

Going Head-to-Head

Larry Macdonald organized the SSGPO (SSG Playoff) tournament, which crowned David Hochstein, current Overall MaxScore leader, as champion. Here is Larry’s summary:

We started with 64 owners, paired them head-to-head for a best of 163, winners advancing to the next round.

Each round was played in a different era of play. Each league was played with a different salary cap and weekly income. Each league was played with a different pool of players, made up of a decade of players from the SSG catalogue.

In the first round, David was matched up against Dennis Manning. Using players from the 1970s playing in the Turf Time era, a $155M cap and $3M weekly income, David prevailed 94-68.

In the second round, David played Tom Simpson. They were using the Home Run Derby era and they had the 1960s players. Pitchers were required to hit. They had a $84M salary cap and $3M weekly income. David went 103-59 and advanced to the third round.

In the third round, David played me, Larry Macdonald. We were using the Golden Age era and players from the 2010 decade, a $127M cap with $10M weekly. It was tight through two thirds of the season (I led 55-53) and then David went on a streak better than the 1951 Giants, taking the season 98-64.

That pitted him against Bob Jecmen. Now in the Pitcher Era, they had the 1990s players. With a $110M cap and $9M weekly, they battled away until David emerged with an 86-76 victory.

In the Final Four, David met TJ Smith. They were in the Moneyball Era, 1980s players, $179M cap with $8M weekly. He cruised to a 101-61 record.

Matched up against Bryan Walters in the Finals, they were in the Baby Boomers era. Assigned the 1950s players, they had a $103M cap and $6M weekly to play with. David won the championship 94-68.

David prevailed through different conditions against strong competition and won fairly convincingly. A worthy champion.

Larry clearly enjoys the head-to-head competition that the 2-team league set up allows. He and Jim Rosenbeck have been playing head-to-head leagues against each other, which Larry described on the message board:

As many of you know, Jim Rosenbeck and I are friends and a while back I asked him if he’d like to play the 1927 Yankees against my 1939 Yankees for 162 games head-to-head. He said sure, and wanted to play it out over nine weeks. We did, with the 1939 team winning 83-79.

It was fun so we decided to do it again. Jim is a huge Red Sox fan and wanted to use the 2004 team that broke the curse. I wanted to find a team that felt iconic and would be a suitable match in terms of quality, and I needed a DH team because we wanted to use SSG playing time limits. Being from Toronto, I ended up choosing the 1993 Blue Jays.

The Red Sox won 98 games, the Blue Jays 95. The Red Sox had a Pythagorean 96 wins the Blue Jays 91. The Red Sox have a salary here of $129M, the Blue Jays $123M.

The Red Sox started hot, built a 9-game lead (25-16), but then the Jays cut it down to a game with a hot streak (27-26). It’s back up to 32-28 now, and the Red Sox have a 42-run edge in scoring.

[As this newsletter was being written, Larry’s Jays were on a 5-game winning streak to close the gap to the Red Sox to just 2 games].

We’re talking about doing the 1949 Red Sox and Yankees next round, the teams from David Halberstams’s great book.

Larry and Jim aren’t united just by their love of baseball. It was nearly 15 years ago that Larry donated one of his kidneys to Jim for a transplant.

Grand Open News

Bob Jecmen has finally captured the one major title to have eluded him.

The Grand Open Tournament XIV (GOT) is in the record books and Bob, in his seventh Final 12 appearance and second consecutive World Series, took out the title in convincing fashion.

Tournament director Ron (8GoBucs21) Carr described the Finals thusly:

His first GOT championship. Bob dispatched newcomer Jim Wilson in four games. Jecmen was led by the playoff pitching of Pedro Martinez, who went 6-0 in his 7 starts with a 1.03 era.

Bob has come close a few times but until now, the GOT championship has eluded him. That streak is now officially over as Bob has this title to go along with his numerous Masters championships.

Great job Bob and congrats to Jim Wilson as well. A newbie to our community, only here since 2017, Jim rolled through the competition in his first ever GOT final round appearance. It was smooth sailing until he ran into the Jecmen juggernaut. Still, a tournament performance to be proud of!

Registration is now underway for GOT XV. Go here to register!

A Soup Sweep

We couldn’t let a newsletter pass without reporting on an unprecedented pitching feat.

Pitching for Andrew (ascub89) Clark’s Rubber Armed Revolution, “Soup-er” reliever Bill Campbell was the winning pitcher in four straight games, as the Revolution captured the Not Pedro or Maddux league World Series.

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.

Recently we invited Diamond Mind team owners to send us their best tips. Last month’s tips came from Jay Knight (TheSwami), Grand Open Tournament XIII champion.  This month’s come from Julian (julclash) Sheppard, by way of Tony (VanNuysRobins) Serri:

The Secret to Beginner’s Luck

I’ve been a member of IS since 2010 but I can’t play as often as I’d like, and when I do, I recognize that I sow what I reap.  I win just enough for it to be enjoyable and to want to play again and again. 

But when I started, in each league, I was an absolute lock to finish last in standings and first in complaints.  Complaints such as: “How could Santo make 3 errors in one game for me?” and “Why does Sosa hit 45 home runs for everyone but me?”  

I asked one of the better players on here and he gave me a list of simple guidelines to push that would ensure I was getting the best out of my team or drafting the best possible player consistently. It doesn’t turn you into a world beater, but it does give you a bit of an edge. 

So for the newer player here’s my list of beginner’s luck tips, generously provided to me by julclash.

1. When evaluating players, all things being equal, draft the player with the edge in speed (Run rating of Vg/Ex) and defense. 
2. Use Player Instructions to your advantage.  For a player with Vg or Ex running, set their base running to 2 or even 1.  This will make them a little more aggressive on the base paths, but hey, they are built for that. 
3. When evaluating pitchers who are nearly equal in all pitching stats, choose the better fielder.  It might provide an edge in one or two games.
4.  Injury status – Injury ratings are priced into a player.  So while Ron Santo and Scott Rolen are very similar in production, Rolen, who is rated as Injury = Fragile is much cheaper. In a league with Injuries = OFF, Rolen would be a great value. 
5. Defensive replacements.  You want Joe Torre because of his bat but worry about his defense.  Draft a cheap catcher with FLD C of Vg/Ex and use him as late inning defensive replacement. 
6. Platoon – certain players just don’t handle LH/RH pitching equally well. That’s a fact. Platoon them to get more consistent production from the position. 
7. RC600 in certain parks. The fewer AB a player has in park, the less reliable this stat is. Sometimes sort your potential free agents by number of AB they have in a certain park. Certain managers will play a certain player in a park. They have vetted them and found them to be solid producers.  Use that hard-won knowledge.  

Maybe the best tip is to ask questions. Ask follow-ups when you don’t understand the answer and be sure to appreciate the players who take the time to explain things to you.

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