Spring Training!

   Please forgive the chicken-scratching above.  I have drawn up a nice scoresheet on Excel, but didn't want to waste it on a spring training game.

   I'm re-creating the 1994 Montreal Expos season using the classic board game Strat-O-Matic Baseball, and blogging about it as I go.  I, like many Expos fans, was devastated when the 94 season was cancelled, and have always wondered "what if" the strike had never happened.  This is a journey with that team, a journey into what might have been.
   I grew up an avid Strat player, but have not played in some time.  The last set I owned was the 1986 season, which still sits in a Creemore Springs Brewery box in my basement.  Actually, the box came up this weekend, as I needed the strategey and fielding charts.  I discovered that the ballpark effect chart had been nibbled on by a family of mice that set up housekeeping in my basement, so I had to download a new one from the Web - I would have needed to anyway, since mine was 30 years old, and many of the parks on it are no longer in existence.
   I also downloaded Pitcher's Hitting Cards as well.  The Internet is a wonderful thing.
   I'm playing the Advanced version, but I'm not sure that I'm up for the Super Advanced one.  I'm still mulling that one over.  Many people have suggested that I play the computer version of Strat, but the cards and dice is what I group up with - there's something about rolling the dice, shuffling through the cards, and keeping score yourself that is comforting to me.

   I played a pair of games between the Expos and the other team of my youth, the Blue Jays.  Game one was a home game for the Jays, so we used the DH.  Cycling through the Toronto lineup, it's easy to see why they would not have repeated as World Series champs, strike or no strike.  Their pitching was highly suspect, both starters and relievers, and once you got past the front line guys, it was a pencil-thin lineup of position players.  The Jays failed to re-tool after their 1993 win - the farm system had not produced a great deal in several years, and some of the top talent had been traded (Steve Karsay, Jeff Kent) in deals to bolster the team for pennant runs.  The cupboard was becoming quite empty, and when you combine the indifferent ownership of Belgian conglomerate Interbrew (who inherited the team after acquiring its original owners, Labbatt Brewing Company of Canada), it's no surprise that a decade of lousy baseball ensued.
   I've stated that I'm going to use some tactics from my study of baseball analytics, and I incorporated them into these games.  As you can see, I have Will Cordero leading off, and Marquis Grissom hitting 7th. Cordero had a superior on-base percentage, and Grissom's speed would be better suited to the bottom of the lineup - yes, stealing 2nd would likely mean that the opposition would walk Mike Lansing (of course, I'm the opposition manager), but I still think having a guy who gets on base and doesn't steal a lot of bases in the lead off spot is better than the reverse.  And on this occasion, I think the results bear witness to that - Cordero got on base three times in this first game, scoring a run in the 1st, and driving in what proved to be the winning run in the 8th.  Roberto Alomar led off the bottom of the 1st with a Home Run, and stole a base later - his speed was a major factor in the game.
   One strategy that didn't work out was bringing in Expos Closer John Wetteland into the game in the 8th inning.  With the Expos ahead by 5, it wasn't a save situation, but with the heart of the Toronto order coming up, I thought it was wise to turn things over to the usually lights-out Wetteland.  The plan backfired, as Ed Sprague hit a three-run Homer.  Wetteland got out of the inning, and Mel Rojas came in to get the Save in the 9th.  As the late Earl Weaver would say,

If I send Terry Crowley in with the bases loaded to hit for Mark Belanger and Crowley strikes out, that's not a mistake.  Or if I bring in Tippy Martinez to face Graig Nettles and Nettles homers, that's not a mistake.  Those are moves that didn't work.  There's nothing to aplogize about.

  I don't think this experience will deter me from doing the same thing again in a similar situation.  To me, it makes more sense to bring Wetteland in to face the 2/3/4 hitters in the 8th, and not the 5/6/7 (or lower) hitters in the 9th for the sake of a Save.

  In the second game, Joe Carter's 9th inning Grand Slam assured a 10-5 victory.   Alomar led the way with four runs scored, and stole a pair of bases, showing that Expos C Darrin Fletcher's arm may be a bit of a concern throughout the year. Installed in the #2 spot in the order for this game, Paul Molitor was 4-5 with a walk.  Not to beat my own analytic drum, but this had to be a huge factor in the Jays' win.  I chose Alomar over Devon White to lead off for the same reasons I chose Cordero over Grissom, and even though it's a small sample size, it's hard to argue with the results.  Then again, the Cordero-Moises Alou combo at the top of the order didn't do a whole lot in this game.

   I used the pitcher's fatigue point in these games, and even though no starter reached that point, it did become a factor in both games.  The ballpark effect chart also came into play several times in the second game, as potential Home Runs became lineouts to 2nd.  I downloaded the weather effect chart, but I'm not sure how much I'll use it - if any Strat players reading this would like to convince me that I should consider using it, please feel free to let me know.  I also could not find what an upside down clear triangle means, nor could I figure out how to use it.  Again, please inform me if you know.  I also did not use the pitcher's ability to hold runners on, and will have to figure out how to use this, or the opposition may steal everything but Fletcher's shinguards this year.  I started Jeff Fassero in the 2nd game, and in hindsight he may have helped to limit the running game a bit if I had used that element.

   When the regular season starts next week, I will make every attempt to look up the pitching matchups on baseball reference for each series and use them, to try to keep the simulation as real as I can.  I don't think I will look up injuries for the other teams as I go, and I realize that may put the Expos at a disadvantage - they will have to face the other team's best lineup day in and day out.  I may consider using back up Catchers in day games after night games, though.  Pitching matchups go out the window, of course, after August 11th, and I think that I will try to cycle through each team's rotation after that, so that the Expos will face the pitchers they likely would have faced.

   Having the dice and cards in my hand, hunched over my makeshift scorecard on my desk, it was just like my youth - except for the Jays spring training game I was streaming on my tablet.
   I wonder if I would have had any clue what that meant 30 years ago.
   I am truly looking forward to this endeavour.  It felt good to be playing Strat again, and living with the 94 Expos for part of an afternoon.