Rays, Nationals Top Standings, April Awards Issued In Strat-O-Matic Baseball 2020 Season Simulation
Twins, Astros, Cubs, Dodgers Also Lead Divisions; NL Player of the Month Story On Pace For 72 Home Runs With 13 In First 29 Games; Soler Leads A.L. With 11; Snell, Strasburg Pitchers of the Month
GLEN HEAD, N.Y., April 30, 2020—As the calendar turns to May, the Strat-O-Matic (www.strat-o-matic.com) simulation of the 2020 baseball season continues, with the Tampa Bay Rays (21-12) and defending champion Washington Nationals (20-10) posting the top A.L and N.L. records, respectively, through the first month-plus of action.
Strat-O-Matic, which updates results and standings daily at www.strat-o-matic.com/2020-
On the pitching side, Tampa's Blake Snell, at 5-0 with a miniscule 0.59 ERA in seven starts, takes the A.L. Pitcher of the Month honors, while Stephen Strasburg of the Nats (5-0, 0.86 in six starts) picks up the N.L. award.
Other division leaders include Minnesota (19-12), Houston (19-12), Chicago Cubs (21-11) and Los Angeles Dodgers (19-11). Next best records in each league are held by the Yankees (20-12), Athletics (20-13), Padres (18-13) and Braves (18-15).
The Mariners (11-22) and Giants (11-20) have posted the worst records to date.
A few other notes of interest through the first five full weeks of the season:
· The Yankees' Brett Gardner and Rangers' Elvis Andrus, two players whose careers seemed to have stalled a couple of years ago, are tied for the best batting average at .366.
· The White Sox have shown strong pop, with Eloy Jimenez (.356, 10 HR, 27 RBI) and rookie teammates Luis Robert (.901 OPS) and Nick Madrigal (.309 avg.) leading the way.
· The Yankees' Gleyber Torres picked up where he left off last year against the Orioles, bopping three more home runs against Baltimore and putting together a season-best 20 game hitting streak as part of his 10-homer, 24-RBI campaign to date.
· Reigning HR champ Pete Alonso of the Mets started the year 0-23 but has picked it up lately, up to .203 with six home runs and 14 RBI after the rough beginning.
“The first month of the Strat-O-Matic simulation has shown some of the same kinds of early-season team and player surprises that can happen on the field,” said Hal Richman, Strat-O-Matic founder. “It will be fun to see which can keep it up and how the leaderboards and standings shake out as the year plays out.”
About Strat-O-Matic
Strat-O-Matic was invented by 11-year-old Hal Richman in his bedroom in Great Neck, N.Y. in 1948 as a result of his frustration with the statistical randomness of other baseball board games. He discovered that the statistical predictability of dice would give his game the realism he craved. Over the next decade, he perfected the game at summer camp and then as a student at Bucknell University. After producing All-Star sets in 1961 and ‘62, he parlayed a $5,000 loan from his father (and made a deal that if it didn’t work out he would work for his father’s insurance company) into the original 1962 Strat-O-Matic Baseball season game. Needless to say, Hal never had to take a job with his father.
Strat-O-Matic, based in Glen Head, NY and on the Internet at www.strat-o-matic.com, manufactures the top selling sports board games and realism/stats sports digital games. The Company publishes baseball, football, basketball and hockey games to play both on and off your computer and mobile screens. “Strat-O” games are known throughout the sports community for their statistical realism and accuracy. The Company has the world’s greatest sports game stat libraries with top-of-the-line seasons dating back to the early 1900’s. At the start of the 2016 MLB season, Strat-O-Matic introduced Baseball Daily, its first product featuring digital player cards that update every day to reflect real life current player performance as the season progresses.
The Company has a loyal celebrity following including a bevy of sports broadcasters such as Bob Costas, Jon Miller and Dan Shulman, former MLB’ers Keith Hernandez, Doug Glanville and Cal Ripken Jr., and sports super fans including Drew Carey, Ben Bernanke, Bryant Gumbel, Spike Lee and Tim Robbins. More information is available at: www.strat-o-matic.com.
Do you think some of the college summer leagues will play this year?
ReplyDeleteWhat about high school summer leagues?
What about things like high school showcases this summer?
Raw
ReplyDeleteThe Cape Cod League and Little World Series have been cancelled.
I have no info beyond that.
Raw,
ReplyDeleteThe College summer League that has a team here in Albany NY posted this on their site (granted, it was a while ago):
By: Dutchmen Front Office
March 15th, 2020
Dear Dutchmen Family,
It’s certainly been a tumultuous time lately. Hearing the NCAA’s decision to cancel spring sports was a gut punch, and we are heartbroken for our Dutchmen players, both past and present, who won’t get to hear the ping of the bat or the thwack of the ball hitting the mitt over the next couple of months. We’re extremely hopeful that we will be able to provide that outlet for our current Dutchmen this summer, so we are continuing to prepare for the 2020 season while we monitor the situation and keep in contact with the PGCBL office. We hope that everyone stays safe and uses best practices to ensure the health of both themselves and others. Rest assured that the entire Dutchmen organization, while being sensitive to the situation around us, is working tirelessly to ready ourselves to welcome our players for a productive and enjoyable summer of baseball in the Capital District.
Raw another team in that same league, The Amsterdam Mohawks, posted this:
ReplyDeleteFrom Mohawks President & GM Brian Spagnola
UPDATE ON MOHAWKS 2020 SEASON: While the health and safety of the world is everyone's greatest concern right now, we wanted to update you on our plans for Amsterdam Mohawks baseball this summer.
Our opening night is scheduled for May 29th and since none of us knows what the world will look like at that time, we are continuing preparation for our season to start that night and for the world to hopefully be back to normal. If by recommendations of the CDC and government, we are unable to start on May 29th, we will stay 'on hold' until they tell us that things are safe enough to start our season. We will at that point modify our schedule, possibly by extending the end date of the season. But rest assured, as long as we can have 'first pitch' by even mid-July, we will have a season.
Of course, baseball is of low priority right now but we have been asked these questions by many parents, fans, players, sponsors, coaches, and staff members so wanted to address them. PLEASE follow guidelines and stay home and keep your kids home so we can get through this crisis quicker and limit those infected. Stay safe and hope to see everyone at the ballpark soon!!!