Statis-Pro Chart of % Relievers Control the Action from best (NYM, MKE, SD) to worst (AZ,ChC)

As we set up the next Statis-Pro Series, Padres vs. Diamondbacks, one thing that jumped out to us in looking at the cards is that Arizona has one of the worst two bullpens of our 10 NL teams, while San Diego has one of the Elite 3 bullpens.

The single items Statis-Pro fans like about the game over other great Board games is that the action starts on the pitcher card, with a die roll of 2-12 or a Fast Action Card number in that range. The rolls are the proportion of the various combinations of dice, so the "2" only comes up one of 36 times (both die being a "1," up to the most common result of "7" which can come on 6 of 36 combinations.

Therefore the best PB on a pitchers card of PB: 2-9 controls the action (meaning no worse than a single allowed) 83% of the time, down to the average PB: 4-7 cards that control 50% of the time, and if you really run out of pitchers, a PB: 2-4 is the lowest, only closing 17% of the time.

When you do the match of the regularly used relievers, the Mets, Brewers and Padres stand apart controlling the action 60% plus throughout the whole game, and then 76% to 79% of the time during the 7th to 9th inning in games in which they start with a fresh bullpen. Here are the counts and how we rank our bullpens in the game:

 

Rnk	Elite Bull Pens	Relief	7th-9th
1	New York Mets - extra HR	66%	79%
2	Milwaukee	60%	76%
3	San Diego - xtra HR	61%	76%
Rnk	Very Good	Relief	7th-9th
4	Atlanta	58%	67%
5	Philadelphia	57%	66%
Rnk	Mediocre	Relief	7th-9th
6	St. Louis - xtra HR	54%	71%
7	Los Angeles - xtra HR	55%	67%
8	Cincinnati - 2 fewer HR	40%	45%
9	Arizona	46%	55%
10	Chicago Cubs	45%	55%

Note one other factor we weighted for is that while the Reds pitchers leave it on opponents' cards the most, their cards are hurt by playing in an exceptional hitters park, so they do also take the top two Home Runs off opposing batters' cards and turn them to outs in our game, which propels them past Arizona and the Cubs in our rankings even though there percentage is a little lower.

Meanwhile four of the teams in our game benefit from a pitchers' park, so the Dodgers, Cardinals, Padres and Mets all have the lowest Out on an opposing batter's card turn to a home run. The same is true of hitters for these teams.

To make the game easier to play this year, we inserted a line on the suggested role of each pitcher. Normally the "ace" should pitch the 9th inning if ahead in a close game, and the "set-up" pitch the 8th. Then the No. 3 best pitchers should pitch the 7th inning, the No. 4 pitcher the 6th inning etc. Obviously you hope not to need a reliever in the 1st inning, but we list out and keep in mind in the second game of our 2-game series anyone who pitched the first game is out, so worse pitchers need to move up a spot.

Normally we recommend each reliever just go one inning, assuming they have the typical "Max 2 IP" on their card, as that number is always 1 inning higher than the pitcher would normally pitch.

The following lists the PB of each pitcher for each team using that order. However, the places where you see "Max 3" means that the teams pitcher who pitched the previous inning on the chart has a Max 3 and thus would normally pitch 2 innings.

 

Reliever inning	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
Suggest on card	No.9	No.8	No.7	No.6	No.5	No.4	No.3	Set-up	Ace
San Diego - xtra HR	4-7	4-7	4-7	2-7	2-7	2-7	2-8	2-8	2-9
Arizona	2-5	2-6	2-6	max3	2-6	4-7	4-7	2-7	2-7
Los Angeles - xtra HR	2-5	2-6	4-7	4-7	2-7	2-7	2-7	2-8	2-8
Cincinnati - 2 fewer HR	2-4	2-6	2-6	2-6	2-6	2-6	2-6	2-6	4-7
St. Louis - xtra HR	2-6	max3	2-6	4-7	4-7	4-7	2-7	2-8	2-9
New York Mets - extra HR	4-7	2-7	2-7	2-7	2-7	2-8	max3	2-9	2-9
Atlanta	2-6	4-7	4-7	2-7	2-7	2-7	2-7	2-8	2-8
Philadelphia	2-6	4-7	4-7	2-7	2-7	2-7	2-7	2-7	2-9
Chicago Cubs	2-5	max3	2-6	2-6	2-6	4-7	4-7	2-7	2-7
Milwaukee	2-6	4-7	4-7	4-7	4-7	2-8	max3	2-8	2-9