5 Pieces of Not-Quite-Advice for Newbies Topic

Phenomenal thread thank you so much!

Where can I find the SLB performance of players ie where you got Bumgarners stats?
5/25/2020 8:27 PM
Great info contrairian 23. I’ve been playing WIS for 18 years snd still learn from reading your posts....... take notes newbies....
5/25/2020 8:33 PM
This is a thread of excellent advice... Thank you Contrarian!
5/25/2020 8:35 PM
Posted by bucrogers315 on 5/25/2020 8:27:00 PM (view original):
Phenomenal thread thank you so much!

Where can I find the SLB performance of players ie where you got Bumgarners stats?
When you click on a players name (in the draft center, in a league, when inspecting someone's team, etc) it'll bring up a window where one of the options is [Performance History]. PH is from only Open League and Champs League use, so only from the public leagues. It's a decent gauge of what to expect, but as with everything, there's nuance to it. Pay attention to the details, average stats, worst stats, the stadiums, how many IP/PA, etc... It'll tell you not only how they performed, but how the owner who had them used them in that performance and then you can adjust your expectations based on how you plan to use the player.
5/25/2020 8:38 PM
Thanx for this and acknowledging the wave of newcomers; I don't feel as bad or lonely now for my huh moments. I know I've asked my share of questions and hope it hasn't been a bother the free advice I've received from pay the knowledge forward experts. I just want to ramp up sooner than later and am willing to trade knowing I will suck early and not be discouraged but take the time and deep dive effort to work it out.

Yes, upon arrival I was for 2 seconds not enthralled with this game's lack of realism compared to MLB and another old-timer SIM elsewhere I mastered long ago and got bored of a closet full of hardware. But in taking a half step back view and explained to an acquaintance who joined me in our newness here from elsewhere, if someone had said hey I've got a game for you all about numbers but just put blinders on that it's not real baseball, I'd have said kool.

And, it is just enough about baseball plus the freshness of a new challenge and players and ballparks and eras to tweak and discover the nuances, that that's what the focus will be. I'm all in, and looking forward to the adventure, knowing I'm already 1-week in on a 100-loss season. I hope I haven't been too much a bother thus far, I just want to 'get it', get it ?!
5/25/2020 8:48 PM
New players aren't a bother when they, like you, are asking good questions and trying to understand how things work and how to get better. When they are actually trying to enjoy the game for what it is. Contrarian's first point is the most important thing to grasp right away. This is NOT real baseball. It's a statistical simulation with baseball as the context.

The bothersome players are those who cry that the SIM sucks because "Scott Rolen was my favorite player and he's only hitting .200 after 3 games...NOT REALISTIC!?!?" and they make zero effort to understand any of the points contrarian makes above, even when knowledgeable owners like him try very patiently to explain it. Pedro versus Ruth is NOT real and never will be, and that's the point. This game simulates results in an attempt to answer the unanswerable question of "What if...?" using the only data that loosely equates all the eras of baseball; the stats. Yet some people seem to think that there is an actual answer to the what if question and if the site doesn't perfectly replicate what they think it should be then they complain about realism.

This is a game that's difficult to just drop in without understanding and have immediate success. That type of endeavor will never appeal to certain personality types, and that's fine. They'll move on and find something else that does. We always hope the loud and obnoxious ones don't poison anybody else's opinion on their way out, but sometimes that happens too.
5/25/2020 9:14 PM
Excellent posts from knowledgeable players that should be read by all new to the site. I've been here for 15 years with over 1600 teams, but learned something valuable from skunk. "ERC# means nothing. Throw it out and ignore it." Been using it for years as one of my search parameters, although it did not carry much weight. I really need to take some time and pick at skunk's brain a little. I've had decent success but he beats me much more than vice versa. (I belong to a rather large club in that matter.)

Welcome to all new players and I hope you enjoy it here!
5/26/2020 5:14 AM (edited)
ERC# would be useful in a search as a way to quickly sort/rank the likeliest "best" pitchers available given your other search criteria and ranges. ERC has no impact in any game calculations though, so I wouldn't give it any weight in making pitcher selections. WHIP means nothing in the SIM either yet I always use it first to sort my search as it will lead to the best combos of OAV and BB/9 since those two stats inherently make up WHIP. ERC weighs hits and BB heavily as well, so it accomplishes much the same thing as a sorting tool. Once sorted though, I manually/mentally start identifying the guys I think are the best choices based on their OAV, BB/9, HR/9, and how their season will impact the normalization of those stats for the PA outcome calculations.
5/26/2020 12:26 AM
I have learned a lot in a short time, thanks to all those that have quickly answered my questions.. I did play something similar, about 25 years ago before I got into roto , even before "Stats". We got additional payroll money weekly to help buy free agents, I liked that.. I am guessing the surge of newbies has to do with having no real baseball for us roto junkies to enjoy..The forum of this old site with full of poison, I appreciate the decor here. Will I stay? Not sure . Thanks again.. Gordy
5/26/2020 12:40 PM
Another brand nubian here. Found the site trying to fill the roto void that exists in my life right now. Having just finished a mediocre first season (80-82) and hoping for a much improved second season (currently 14-4), the best piece of advice I've received was to study the other teams in your league. I studied the heck out of each team, focusing on the very good and very bad teams, and trying to understand what made them what they were. That has tremendously helped my (still infantile) ability to build a competitive squad.
5/27/2020 12:08 AM
DCNats4000, a first team going 80-82 is a real accomplishment !

Maybe we should all be studying your teams. Most of us ending up envying the 1962 Mets when we posted and played our first few teams. I still don't have a .500 record here.
5/27/2020 11:56 AM
My 1st 3 teams were 200 in the hole. I am still behind the curve. Not my fault, I was dropped.
5/27/2020 2:41 PM
Also, this tool might be useful for helping understand normalization. It hasn't been updated to reflect the last several seasons, but is still useful for the majority of sim seasons:

https://www.whatifsports.com/mlb-l/league_averages.asp
5/30/2020 11:42 AM
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Posted by gworear on 7/13/2020 12:26:00 PM (view original):
How's this for frustrating:
After a terrible start as well in my recently finished first season, I got lucky on the waiver wire (hello Chick Hafey, George Brett, Roy Halladay, Orel Hershisher, Mariano Rivera), signing guys who better fit the park (Dodger Stadium). Through some efficient managing, if I do say so myself, I finished the season with a remarkable 97-65 record ... the sixth most wins in both leagues.
Unfortunately for me though ... I was in the same division as the team with the best record overall, and lost the wild card by 5 games to a team that played in a division with a team featuring a 20-142 record.
If that's not bad enough ... I had more wins than two division winners (one in each league) and the other league's wild card.

Oh well ... one lesson I learned ... sim league baseball, like poker tournaments .... is filled with woe-begotten tales of bad beats.
I just bumped the Tough Divisions thread
7/13/2020 12:31 PM
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