Strat History

Going into this season I thought we had the most balance we’ve ever had from top to bottom of the 8 teams. I think 3 of our teams - (and maybe a 4th) - are better than the others, but I thought the gap was closer than it has been the past two seasons - (and definitely more balance than Season 0 when we had drone teams).

However, that doesn’t appear to be the case:

  • Season 1 - Best Regular Season record was Jason’s team at .623. Worst record was David at .414
  • Season 2 - Best St. Louis at .571. Worst Ottawa at .426
  • Currently - New Orleans at .562. Worst is El Paso at .415.

Clearly switching out Mom as an owner/drafter for Scott from Season 01 to Season 02 brought more balance decreasing the gap from 209 points to just 145. In addition to David & Sarah being older and wiser. It would stand to reason that David & Sarah getting even older and wiser would’ve helped reduce the gap even more coming into this season. Not to mention the better drafts by both Leachs who were able to attend in person. And, again after seeing the draft I thought that the teams were indeed better matched than in Season 02. And still think so. But in practice the gap has increased - (although only very slightly) - to 147 points.

Also interesting that Jason has won two regular season record crowns - (I know we’ve noted that before, but I had forgotten it) - but no title. And the World Series has been won in both previous seasons by a Wild Card team - (Grandpa and then Vegas).

I also noted that in spite of Hornsby hitting .407 in Season 01 with 75 extra base hits, his OPS was 1.106 which would rank him 3rd this season behind both Ruth and Greenberg.

The Homefield Advantage rule change has helped offensive numbers tremendously. The 10th ranked player in Avg./OB/Slugg./OPS from Season 01 was .329/.402/.505/.891. From Season 02 .327/.393/.514/.901. From this Season .340/.411/.560/.937. League Leaders in Runs for Season 01 ranged from 114 to 136. Season 02 from 112 to 125. This Season already we have from 107 up to 135. RBIs for Season 01 ranged from 118 to 151. Season 02 from 116 to 140. And this Season from 105-156. With 30+ games to go we’ve already got a League Leader ahead of the end of season League Leader in each of the past 2 seasons. Homeruns is the same. Season 01 from 28-39. Season 02 from 27-45. Now from 29-47. I really, really want that rule changed back to being a defensive weapon. I feel like we’ve created our own little Steroid Era. Maybe the more applicable analogy is the famous 1930 “juiced ball” season. I want to compare seasons together on as consistent a basis as possible. It could be argued that using HA offensively will become the new consistency. So, I guess it’s just a preference for what I see as more normal totals