USA TODAY International Edition
Nationals start World Series defense on opening day*
Baseball simulation game Strat- O- Matic is playing out MLB games till real ones start.
MLB’s opening day is traditionally a time of optimism and excitement for baseball fans everywhere. Every team starts with a 0- 0 record and – at least theoretically – has an equal opportunity to win the World Series.
But due to the coronavirus outbreak that halted most sports since March 12, there was no opening day Thursday in the major leagues. Each team will keep its 0- 0 record for the foreseeable future.
In an alternate universe, the games would have gone on as scheduled. Max Scherzer would be on the mound for the defending champion Nationals and Gerrit Cole would be making his first start as a member of the Yankees.
Fortunately, there was a way to see what was happening in that alternate universe ... thanks to the incredible realism of baseball simulation games.
The oldest and most popular of these is Strat- O- Matic, which was first produced in 1961 – before two- thirds of the current MLB managers were born.
To help fill the void with no live baseball being played, Strat- O- Matic is offering a simulated version of the MLB schedule, at least until the real thing is back.
“We’re able to provide baseball in the background,” Strat- O- Matic research director John Garcia tells USA TODAY Sports. “We’re still able to bring baseball to people’s homes and people are able to enjoy the game that way.”
The results of each day’s games – complete with box scores and standings – will be revealed at 2 p. m. ET on StratO- Matic’s website ( strat- o- matic. com) and various social media platforms.
So that Scherzer versus Jacob deGrom pitching matchup we didn’t get to see in real life will come to life in a box score. Sort of like the days when people turned to ( gasp!) newspapers to find out how their favorite teams did.
How does it work?
Strat- O- Matic and other baseball simulations use statistics from the previous season to create “cards” for each player on a roster. The team managers select the batting order and the starting pitcher. From there, a series of dice rolls and calculations determines the outcome of each at- bat.
Strat- O, as it’s known to longtime players, first gained its immense popularity as a board game. The company has since expanded to a downloadable Windows version and one that’s played online. A few years ago, it introduced Baseball Daily – an iteration that combined the player cards from the previous season with statistics from the real season being played at the same time.
“What we decided when we created Baseball Daily was let’s have the opportunity to be current in any season and have the ability for our consumers to be able to download a current data feed every day during the baseball season,” says Adam Richman, son of founder Hal Richman and a second- generation owner of the company.
A typical game between two opponents can take an hour to play, less depending on experience. Online, the time can be cut to about 30 minutes. A computer simulation takes only seconds.
That’s the version that will spit out the results of every simulated game on the MLB schedule as fans and media members provide input into the lineups and pitching rotations for each team.
“We’re taking injuries into account too,” Garcia says. That means no Chris Sale for the Red Sox. And Giancarlo Stanton of the Yankees is likely to begin the regular season on the injured list. “We just have to use the latest reports that we have at the time. We’ll use the latest news reports and best judgments on projected return dates. We can’t be exact but we’ll try.”
Playing at home
Sports simulations have proved to be a popular way for fans to fill the absence of live sporting events.
“People want their sports fix,” Richman says. “Not only baseball, but there’s no basketball, there’s no hockey.” Strat- O- Matic also has games for those sports, as well as football, but baseball has always made up the majority of its sales.
“Last year was our biggest year ever and this year will be much much bigger,” he says. “It’s an exciting time for us. We just are sorry that it’s happening in the midst of all this chaos.”
Another player in the sports sim world is Dynasty League Baseball. Like Strat- O- Matic, it began as a board game ( originally called Pursue the Pennant) and has evolved into a more sophisticated version that’s played with either cards and dice or via an online engine.
Since the sports world shut down two weeks ago, traffic at the Dynasty League Baseball site ( DynastyLeagueBaseball.com) has tripled, owner and founder Mike Cieslinski tells USA TODAY Sports.
Part of that stems from a technical upgrade that has enabled game play on all Windows and Mac browsers. But the largest percentage comes from people just wanting to play the game.
Dynasty League Baseball has just announced a new option that allows its users to play an entire 2020 season with their favorite team while the computer simulates all other games simultaneously.
One major upgrade from other sim games is that offseason transactions have already been processed, so Mookie Betts is now on the Dodgers’ roster and Anthony Rendon is on the Angels’.
“The new solitaire season league mode will be great for those missing opening day,” Cieslinski says. “They can have their own opening day right from home managing their favorite team in the 2020 opener.”