Saturday, April 30, 2022

Using Statis-Pro Cards to Pick MLB Line-ups and Rotations.

This blog gives an easy step-by-step to look at a new team for the first time and pick the starting rotation, bullpen order and batting order. 

All 2022 Projected Batters (49 pages, 9 cards to a page) and All 2022 Projected Pitchers (62 pages, 9 cards to a page) is the only other thing needed to play the game, though more detailed instructions appear in this Statis-Pro baseball Game Rules.

Because we were not that familiar with the personnel for the young Seattle Mariners, we use them as an example below, and once showing you how we picked our line-ups and rotation, culminate by showing you the very exciting game they played at Tampa to wrap up our 2nd round of AL play. Through those games, teams are average 4.4 runs per game, and yet the finale included both teams getting 4 runs on one play with Grand Slam homers.

Step 1 - Choosing the Starter at all 8 positions and DH

Once we print and cut out the team's Statis-Pro player cards we take the batters and lay them out by position to first pick who will start at each position. We mainly use the OPS near the bottom of the card to choose the better player, but then do look at speed, defense and the rest of the card when players at the same position are close.

In this case, we had no DH or 1st baseman, but we had three 3rd basemen who all had OPS high enough to start (so we wrote in "DH" and "1B" on one of their cards to note that is where we were playing). There was only one shortstop, so that was easy, two 2nd baseman but one was clearly the better hitter against lefties and one against righties so we chose them as a platoon noting Moore would not play against righties with a " /X" and Frazier would not hit against lefties with a "X/ "

We had a clear centerfielder in Rodriguez (who also had the highest defensive rating at E1, CD5, T5) but the other centerfielder seemed to be the best DH option against righties and 3rd baseman Suarez against lefties. the two right fielders Winkler and Haniger both hit will enough to start so we moved Haniger to left field. The best catcher was also obvious, so at this point we knew the 9 batters we wanted in the line-up.


Step 2 - Moving the 9 into a line-up

Next we organize them in levels with the best OPS in a top row, then the worst in the bottom row. Seattle had four starters with fairly comparable OPS higher than .800, so we put them in the top row, and then seeing that Rodriguez also had great speed (A/B) put him in the lead off post and ordered the next 3 behind him.

The middle OPS players were both very good against either left-handed pitchers or right-handed pitchers based on the Bats:  / numbers, so the the team actually ends up with a pretty strong top 6 hitters with Suarez and Moore against lefties and Kelevic and Frazier against righties.

The bottom 3 hitters are weaker and we flip them a bit based on if the opposing pitcher is lefty or righty.



Step 3 - Pitchers

We then turn to the pitchers. If their (Max IP) is 5 or higher they are a potential starter and we put them on the top row, and if not we put them on the bottom row. We then go left to right in order of their PB ratings, with any PB2-9 and then PB2-8 to the far left (Seattle has none of these truly elite pitchers), then 2-7, 4-7, 2-6, 2-5 and finally weaker 2-4. We only use the top 4 starting pitchers as starter and write on their card a, b, c and d, meaning in this case we dropped two Seattle starters down a little to reliever. Then we number the relievers from best down starting with 1 for the closer we choose.




At this point, we line-up both next to their opponent and write in both teams. We also add the HR Range on deep drives for the ballpark, in this case the ball only goes out of the park on 11-17 on a deep drive, while 18-88 is caught for a SacFly. This actually cost Tampa 4 homers in the two games.


And finally we play the two games. The first game took 34 minutes in a 3-0 Seattle win in a pitchers duel, while the second one took a little longer with the team's trading grand slams and going 11 innings before the Rays much deeper bull pen finally won out 6-5.


And finally, here are the results and standing after two rounds. All 10 teams are between 8-4 and 4-8, and these results are updated on this google sheet.



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Friday, April 29, 2022

Ave. 4.5 Runs Per Game Matches 2021 After Anderson's 2nd Homer rallies White Sox to Split

As our game tracker shows below, in our Statis-Pro game this season teams are averaging 4.5 runs per game, which happens to be the exact average last season (22,010 run divided by 4858 games = 4.5). So while the game matches reality almost exactly, this season teams are averaging a half run less (2307 runs divided by 544 games = 4.0). We will see if warmer temperatures get the balls to fly out of the parks again or if offense will stay down.

All 2022 Projected Batters (49 pages, 9 cards to a page) and All 2022 Projected Pitchers (62 pages, 9 cards to a page) is the only other thing needed to play the game, though more detailed instructions appear in this Statis-Pro baseball Game Rules.

 Tim Anderson hit his second 3-run homer in as many games, and this time it was enough to give the White Sox a 5-2 win to split their series with the Indians.

We tried printing an extra set of fast action cards and shuffling them (see stacks I'm photo) to make sure we had plenty for an entire game. This game took 31 minutes to play after the wilder first game won by the Cleveland Guardians 7-6 took 38 minutes.





Thursday, April 28, 2022

1st Gm with New FAC Cards 39 minutes despite Wild ChiSox Great Hitting No Defense Game

 It appears the third time was the charm on our simple Fast Action Cards (FAC). The first run led to a long game looking up the out chart, and the second run the cards were too small.

However, yesterday's posting and run worked perfectly in our first game. Despite the White Sox incredible hitting and terrible pitching leading to a wild 7-6 loss to the Indians in a game in which 11 pitchers took the mound. The one thing we may do is print the set of cards twice so that you can get through the game with one deck without reshuffling.

 fact that such a wild game took only 39 minutes to play makes us feel good about recommending Statis-Pro players use these new cards instead of dice.

As for the White Sox they are in last place if our 10 teams, 4 1-2 games back.





Quick Start Statis-Pro Using Cards

The old instructions are below, but first the new suggested playing instructions:

All 2022 Projected Batters (2 pages per team, 60 total pages) and All 2022 Projected Pitchers (either 2 or 3 pages per team, 81 total pages) are needed to play the Statis-Pro baseball Game. For both pitchers and batters there are 9 cards per page. The first card on the first team page has the full name of the team, and some blank cards may appear the end in case you need to create a card for a new player.

For batters you can check to see if they were calculated on this chart of inactive players or just look up their projected OPS and pick the closest one to make a simple card based on this chart.

For pitchers you can check to see if they were calculated on this chart of inactive players or just look up their projected ERA or FIPs and pick the closest one to make a simple card based on this chart.




 The flow of the game with new simple Fast Action Cards on this pdf:

1. Read top line of first card for 2-12 number to see if action is on the pitcher or batter card.

2. On the 2nd card, read the second number (Random Number 11-88) to see what happens on that card. (If noone is one base, change any BK, WP or CD on line 2 to an OUT).

3. If the result is an OUT, check the third number on the next card to see where the ball is hit.

4. The Error Reading on the 4th card is only used if; there is a hit on the BATTER card on line 2 OR, there is a possible error (e?) on line 3 with an out. If the fielder's E number is in the range on this 4th line then everyone is safe in an out or gets an extra base on a hit. Flip for another 11-88 and if the number is 61-88 give batter and runners one additional base for a throwing error.

BD or CD exception instead of 2-12 on top line. Ignore these if noone on base. If at least one runner is on base, BD means to use the clutch batting at the bottom of the batter card  use tto determine if it is a base clearing double (BD-2B), home run, or just a foul ball. If you get a CD with a position, then look up the fielders CD (clutch defense) 1-5 and use the chart at the bottom of this blog for result.




Old instructions

Our second most read blogs are the quick rules on how to play Statis-Pro baseball, along with free player cards. This week I watched a 9 year old pick up our 30 sets of cards and figure out the game and play a bunch of games.

To do the same, all you need is two 6-sided dice, two 8-sided dice of different colors, and then to print out Statis-pro cards for the teams you want from the following links.

Click on the pitcher cards on this google drive, and printing the pages with the teams you want to play, then clicking on these batters cards and printing the batters on the same teams. Then you can cut the player cards from each page. I had actually printed the player cards for all 30 teams in and the 9 year old started picking teams and playing using the following process:

1. Take a stack of a team's cards and pick the pitcher you want to use. A PB 2-9 is the best, a PB 2-4 is the worst, and you need to start with a pitcher with a number other than "0" after the letters S/R and before the dash (so 13/4 can start with a 13, but 0/4 can only come in the game in relief).

2. Then pick 9 batters for the team, but look at the positions they can play under their name, and pick one of each of the following: C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF, CF, RF and one extra player from any position to be the Designated Hitter (DH), then put them in order and write their names in that order to keep score. (if the player prefers to let pitcher's hit, my cards have the pitcher hitting at the bottom of their cards, or you can use the average hitters card, 1Bf = 11, 1B7 = 12, 1B8 = 13, 1B9 = 14, K = 15-48, W = 51, HPB = 52, Out = 53-88.)

3. Starting with the first batter on the visiting team, roll the two six-sided dice to get a total from 2 to 12. We will use the Nationals Max Scherzer against Mookie Betts, with the Red Sox at the time. Look at the pitcher's number by his PB, a 2-8 for Scherzer, and if the roll is between those numbers (2-8) then we will use Scherzer's card for this at bat, but if the roll is higher than that (9-12) we will use Betts card.

4. Next take two 8-sided dice and pick which one will be the 10s (10, 20, 30 all the way to 80) and which will be the ones to get a total from 11-88 and then look at the card being used. For example, if the roll was 36 and you were using Scherzer's card based on the PB then that would be a strikeout in his 22-52 range, but if you were using Betts card then that would be a home run in his 35-43 range.


If any of the following things happen the pitcher gets a little more tired, so we start with his SR (or with for a reliever his RR) of 13 for Scherzer, and any time one of the following things happen his SR goes down by 1 until he goes all the way down from 13 to 0 and has to come out of the game.

1B - is a single and the batter goes to 1st base, and any other runners move up a base, but if their are two outs then any other runners move up two bases. (reduce pitcher SR or RR by 1, and by an extra 1 for each runner that scores).

2B - is a double and the batter goes to 2nd base, and any runners move up two bases, but if their are 2 outs then any runner on base scores. (reduce pitcher SR or RR by 1, and by an extra 1 for each runner that scores).

3B - is a triple, and any runners score. (reduce pitcher SR or RR by 1, and by an extra 1 for each runner that scores).

HR - is a home run and the batter and any runners score. (reduce pitcher SR or RR by 1, and by an extra 1 for each runner that scores, so on a home run the SR or RR is reduced by at least 2 because the runner gets on base AND he scores, but if any other runners score subtract an extra one).

W - walk, the batter gets 4 balls to walk and goes to first base (reduce pitcher SR or RR by 1, and by an extra 1 if a run scores because the bases are loaded).

HPB - the batter is Hit By a Pitched Ball and goes to first base (reduce pitcher SR or RR by 1, and by an extra 1 if a run scores because the bases are loaded).

These plays do NOT reduce the pitcher's SR or RR unless a runner is on third base, in which case the run scores and the pitcher's SR or RR is reduced by one.

BK - Balk, any runners on base move up a base and the batter is still at bat.

WP - Wild Pitch, any runners on base move up a base and the batter is still at bat.

CD-C or on other cards another "PB" - Passed Ball, any runners on base move up a base and the batter is still at bat. (the 9 year old actually did start to use the clutch defense chart for the catcher when the CD-C on my cards came up, but to keep it simply you can just score these all as passed balls, which is what still appears in this spot on all cards except the ones I make).

These plays do NOT reduce the pitcher's SR or RR, unless they are the third out of the inning. If they are the third out of the inning the pitcher's SR or RR is reduced by one for the end of the inning.

K - Strikeout.

Out - Out. When playing this basic game, just treat runners as though all outs are infield fliers - the same runners stay on the base they are on, and the batter is out. (for a more advanced game you use a 20-sided die on these charts to determine what kind of out, from a double play, to runners advancing while the batter is out, etc., but to just get a youngster playing they seemed comfortable just recording an "O" for out and moving to the next batter).

When the pitcher's SR or RR reaches 0, pick a new pitcher to take his place and use the RR, which is reduced the same way until he is also out of the game.

Here is how the 9 year old wrote out his line-ups and recorded the result for each batter with an "O" for out, "K" for stikeout, or a 1, 2, 3 or HR for single, double, triple or homer, or W for walk and then tracing a diamond to track that player around the bases. The small "O" by Tatis after his walk in the 7th wqs his note that Tatis was out trying to steal second.






We found the youngsters also wanted to see who can steal bases. When someone gets on base you can choose to try to steal either 2nd base or 3rd base by rolling one 6-sided die instead of both dice.

For the runner you want to steal, look at the letter by the SP (or if the card reads OBR/SP then look at the second letter, so Betts is an "A" but a card with an OBR/SP: A/B is a "B" because we use the second number.

Usually you only steal with an "A", but sometimes with a "B." When you roll the one dice:

1 = SP: AA, A, B or C steals the next base (2nd or 3rd), but D or E stays on the base.
2 = SP: AA, A or B steals the next base (2nd or 3rd), but C, D or E stays on the base.
3 = SP: AA or A steals the next base, but all others stay on the base.
4 = SP: AA steals the base, but all others stay on the base.
5 = The runner stays on the base and cannot steal.
6 = The runner is out trying to steal the next base.

Everything above lets you play any match-up you want.

You can add other things from the main game as you go, including adding a 20-sided die to determine what kind of out on these charts, but these simple steps allow you to play off entire Statis-Pro games or season. The nine year old and his brother actually played almost a dozen games in a couple of days.

Once the basic game is down if you want to play the more advanced game, I encourage you to find the Statis Pro Baseball Advanced Facebook page, where you can order charts, Fast Action Cards to replace the dice, and neat player cards as pictured. I do not have anything to do with the Advanced page, I just highly recommend it.


All 2022 Projected Batters (49 pages, 9 cards to a page) and All 2022 Projected Pitchers (62 pages, 9 cards to a page) is the only other thing needed to play the game, though more detailed instructions appear in this Statis-Pro baseball Game Rules.





Yanks salvage split to move back ahead of Jays

 Vlad Guerrero Jr. Just missed a 3-run Homer in the top of the third (deep drive of 36, Yankee Stadium is an 11-34 home run park), and the Josh Donaldson hit a 2-run Homer in the bottom of the third and the Yankees beat the Blue Jays with a 5-1 win.

It was the first game using the new simple fast action cards from the previous blog.





Wednesday, April 27, 2022

Fast Action Cards for Statis-Pro - 3rd time the charm

Third time is the charm - you should be able to simply click on this pdf now and print out the 20 pages of simple Statis-Pro Fast Action Cards without any extra steps. There are now enough cards to finish a complete game without reshuffling, and we added where the ball is hit (3rd line of each card) and then if there is a possible error from that reading, the E1-10 range that is an error for the fielder.

All 2022 Projected Batters (49 pages, 9 cards to a page) and All 2022 Projected Pitchers (62 pages, 9 cards to a page) are needed to play the Statis-Pro baseball Game, but we did catch one adjustment to the PB rating of pitchers based on the team on which they played. You can either use this link which has the correct numbers for all the pitcher cards or print out the cards from the link above and then adjust all the pitchers on certain teams by referencing this blog.




1st Game With New Fast Action Cards

 In our first game using the simple fast action cards you can print and cut here, Toronto bear the Yankees 3-1.

A few notes, since a lot of people were printing these new cards today is an alternative to dice. 

1. The nice Statis-Pro fast action cards you can still purchase tell you where outs are hit and if errors might occur. However with dice or these simple cards you need to reference the 1-20 number on the advanced game charts.as shown in this set up.



2. When you cut out the cards don't worry if the cut is off on some cards. Once you are playing the game if you flip a card and the next number you need is cut off, then just skip the card and go to the next card for the result.



The Blue Jays and Yankees are both 1.5 games behind the first place Red Sox.





Tuesday, April 26, 2022

1st game with actual cards - twins\bosox split pitcher duels

We played out first game with the actual 2022 projected Statis-Pro cards!

 were a little concerned after our first three games when teams were averaging 7.0 runs per game, but after the Red Sox split two pitchers duels in Minnesota the average is down to 4.7.

The average would be even lower if not for the thrilling Twins walk off homer. An error on shortstop Bogaert kept the inning alive then Arraez hit a DEEP drive that in Minnesota would be a game winning homer on a 11-31 or a harmless deep fly on a 32-88 to send the game to extra innings. The drive scraped out on a 31 for a 3-run walk off and the 4-1 win.

The Twins almost rallied again in game two from a 2-1 deficit, leaving 4 runners in scoring position the last three innings and having another thrown out at home as the Red Sox hung on to preserve the split.

The first photo is of Carlos Correa's first home at bat as a Twin.




The Red Sox stay in first place, but if the Yankees won't he series against Toronto they would at least catch them if not move ahead. Here is the grid of games and the home run range at the top showing Minnesota's joke run range up to 31.

Monday, April 25, 2022

Links to All Statis-Pro 2022 Batter Cards (49 pages) and Pitcher Cards (62 pages)

To play Statis-Pro baseball between current Major League Baseball teams, you need only to click on the following:

All 2022 Projected Batters (49 pages, 9 cards to a page)

All 2022 Projected Pitchers (62 pages, 9 cards to a page)

The free Statis-Pro baseball Game Rules (learn to play in 5 minutes)

The Fast Action Cards to Create Random Numbers (or you can use dice - 20-sided, two 6-sided and two 8-sided of different colors for 11 to 88 results.

Two Optional Links - you can also print the advanced rules and if you ever want to create other cards from scratch the player's stats into this blog, and write them in on the blank cards at the bottom, or you can just pick the closest OPS from the extra cards below that say ".775 OPS," ".675 OPS) etc.

Since the New York Mets have the best record in the early season, and the New York Yankees are the most hated and loved team in sports, we will make them to two sample teams with their pages below (includes a few Minnesota Twins at the top of the pitcher and batter pages).











Sunday, April 24, 2022

Trout & Angels Blast Astros Below .500 in Battle of Platoons

It's been five days since we played a Statis-Pro game, but when we did today it was all about Mike Trout and the Angels blasting the Astros below .500 - which they are in actual MLB play so far.

Left-handed pitchers led the Astros and Angels to dramatically changed line-ups for both team due to the adjustment in the bottom right corner of each batter's card. The Angels blasted the Astros 11-4 in the second game (which counts as a three games to none sweep) after Mike Trout hammered the Astros for a near come-from-behind win in the first game, falling 3-5 but claiming the series four games to two.

Focusing on the bottom of Trout's card, the.999 OPS is one of the top few in the game. However, if you look across from it at the Bats: RP (right power) the next two numbers indicate he actually kills right-handed pitching more than left (/88 means he turns out to singles on an 88 if facing a righty) then he does lefties (13/ indicates he strikeouts on on 11-13 against lefties instead of the normal singles you see in this columns - and those adjustments change results on the pitcher's card as well).

He of course does not need to be platooned because he is still so good, and in the bottom of the 7th with the Astros leading 5-1 and needing only one run in the top of the 8th to claim a sweep, Trout knocked Astros lefty Valdez out of the game with a 2-run homer. Valdez is the Astros only lefty, and in the 9th with their All-Star closer Pressley in the game for the save, Trout lined a single to right to put the winning run at the plate. Ohtani then hit a shot down the left field line that would have tied the game, but Bregman made a clutch defensive play to glove it and step on the third base bag to let the Astros escape with a 5-3 win.

Trout then led off the 2nd game with a homer to set the tone for an Angels 11-4 sweep.

The right vs. left adjustment does lead to some platooning. For example the card by Trout, Andrew Valazquez, hits the same against right or left and he is very fun to have in the game because he is one of the only AA base stealers, and in fact he stole the only base of the series. He plays against right-handed pitchers, however if you scroll down to David Fletcher, the other option at short stop, you will see he gets singles off lefties on 85-88, so he played the first game against Valdez and went three for four including one single on an 86 that would be an out for almost any other player.


Here is the scoresheet and the updated standings with the Astros dropping below .500.




Actual 2022 Statis-Pro Cards Are Here!!!! Washington Nats and New Players Below

We have developed the new 2022 baseball cards to play the free Statis-Pro baseball game, and this year fit them into vertical layouts after we had to use a horizontal layout last year that was more clumsy. Unless you already have Statis-Pro Fast Action Cards, you can pick up dice or click here for random cards to replace the dice, cross referencing the chart on the advanced rules charts.

You can also calculate your own cards using this blog, and write them in on the blank cards at the bottom, or you can just pick the closest OPS from the extra cards below that say ".775 OPS," ".675 OPS) etc.

We will print one blog with the cards for each of the 30 teams so you just need to print cards for teams as you need them.

Below are the Washington Nationals batters. We included all players who; 1) were on the opening day team roster, 2) are on the team's DL (disabled list) or, 3) had at least a few at bats or innings pitched during the first couple of weeks of the season.

Batters - Nats and New Players

The following are the Washington Nationals players in alphabetical order, but we also mixed in the extra filler cards for new players.

Not we had two mistakes in this first run that will be changed and this sentence will be removed once fixed. We accidentally put "2021P" instead of "2022P" for these 2022 Projected cards. We also accidentally put BD-2B: 11-18 for every card, but the actual result of a base clearing double on clutch batting goes from 11 to the number before the first BD-HR number.




Pitchers - Nats and New Players

The pitchers cards should be ready within 24 hours and will be added then.



Friday, April 22, 2022

Statis-Pro Actual Card Ranges on Sheet

We get one step closer to actual Statis-Pro player cards. Each year we first release the player rows with just the end number of the range for results like hits. We just added the second stop, which is show below - listing all the info from the Statis-Pro cards in the same order, and breaking hits into the field they go to as well as including the whole range. 

As a sample here are the Atlanta Braves. Note that we have added the players on 60-day DL but put them on the bottom of the team list and in italics, so you can decide if you want to play Mike Soroka for example, but we don't. The list stays in the order of batters in alpha, then the pitching rotation in blue, and then the relievers in red starting with the best.




Thursday, April 21, 2022

New Players Added to Statis-Pro Game for entering MLB Game or if on 60-day DL

The following are new 2022 baseball player cards added to the free Statis-Pro Baseball Game. All of the cards shown below appear when clicking here in their team of other players. First we list all new batters ordered from best OPS down, then all new pitchers, and finally all pitchers on the 60-day DL.

All New Batters

The batters in green italics are on 60-day DL so we are not using them in our games, but wanted to include your cards. By far the best OPS is Fernando Tatis (1,017) who is on the Padres 60-day DL. It is a big drop to the next best OPS, AJ Pollock, who is active and was not on the first active list we pulled. Pollock and all the other players in black type are players who had appeared in an actual MLB game since the season started and thus were added back.


New Active Pitchers

The following are pitchers we did not list when we first put the google sheet out, but were added because they have pitched in the MLB this year. Those in red are relievers, those in blue more valuable starters. We list the 40 best projected ERAs since there are so many more pitchers than batters.


Pitchers on 60-day DL

While there are only a half dozen batters on the 60-day DL, and thus they are mixed in the top list, this is the list of the top 40 projected ERA's for pitchers on the DL, who we would thus not use in the game yet but we have added them to the player sheets.

Note that while Chris Sale has the 5th best projected ERA at 3.53, he calculates as the one PB2-9 as the best pitcher on the list because he pitches half his games in such a difficult park for pitchers in Boston.




Wednesday, April 20, 2022

Red Sox in 1st at end of 1st Round of Statis-Pro games

The results are from games using the free Statis-Pro Baseball Game after clicking here to open the google sheet of all teams player cards. We play games to catch any kinks in the cards to ensure an accurate game when you play. We find it takes about 40 minutes to play a game.

The Red Sox wrapped up the first round of AL Statis-Pro games by dominating the White Sox to emerge as the only 5-1 team on our game tracker. The top number across the top is the ballpark factor, so a deep drive in Boston is a Homer in 11-65 and sac fly on 66-88.


In the game-by-game tracker we also tally the average runs scored per game, which now shows slightly above average 5.05 runs per game. Through three games teams were averaging a sky high 7 runs a game, but in the next 7 games they averaged only 4 a game.



The Red Sox very deep pen, with six pb 2-7 and two even better pb 2-8 pitchers who combined for seven scoreless innings in the 9-3 and 4-0 wins.

As great a hitter the White Sox short stop Tim Anderson is, his poor fielder rating (SS E6 CD1) was costly, making two errors including a would be double play in the 8th that allowed a follow-up grandslam. Without that error the final would have been 7-3 instead of the actual 9-3, which gave the Red Sox and extra win due to our just for fun league rule.

1. Each win counts as winning a 3-game series in the standings 2 games to 1 unless ...

2. A 3 games to 0 series is recorded if the winning team:

A. Led by at least 5 runs at the end of the 8th inning AND

B. The winning team did not use their top reliever available (not tired from the previous game) based on the best ERA until at least the 9th inning.