The digital age that we live in has provided fans with more options than ever in terms of offering virtual, interactive products related to the sports that we love. Fantasy simulation gaming has been a popular way for fans to live out their dreams and assume control of their team, affording everyone the opportunity to run the proverbial show for themselves. Strat-O-Matic Baseball has upped the ante for baseball fans with their latest feature, Baseball Daily, the company’s most innovative offering to date.
Strat-O-Matic Media, LLC., based out of Glen Head, New York, is a manufacturer of popular sports board games and video games rooted in realism and statistics. Their newest feature, Baseball Daily, is representative of what the company prides itself most on: statistical realism and accuracy.
“Our games have always been the most realistic because of our attention to detail and the care we take in player analysis,” said founder and CEO of Strat-O-Matic, Hal Richman.
The new feature will involve digital player cards that are updated on a daily basis, reflecting how the player is actually performing in real life. A player’s Strat-O player card will reflect the all the trials and tribulations he experiences over the course of the season, adjusting for both hot streaks and cold slumps alike.
“This history of realism coupled with the algorithms we’ve developed to adjust the cards daily and has brought a new level of realism that I never would have dreamed of,” said Richman. The cards will be based off of a combination of current season statistics, projected statistics, recent player performance and Strat-O-Matic’s proprietary algorithms and ratings. This is in conjunction with historical data that is factored into the cards at the beginning of the season. As the season progresses, a player’s stats from the current season will have an increasingly greater impact.
This feature aims to satisfy the desires of hardcore baseball fans. As a result of the advent of advanced statistics and sabermetrics and their subsequent entrance into the mainstream, there is increased interest in and analysis of sports statistics. To test the accuracy of their simulator, Strat-O-Matic used their Baseball Daily digital cards to predict the events of the 2015 World Series. The results were stunningly accurate. For Game 1, the simulation accurately predicted that Matt Harvey would allow three earned runs, that both Alcides Escobar and Alex Gordon would hit homeruns, and that the Mets bullpen would implode and lose the game. How many earned runs each starter (Johnny Cueto and Jacob DeGrom) would surrender in Game 2 was also accurately predicted. The simulation was even able to predict what would appear to be great anomalies, such as Jeurys Familia blowing a save in a game that would end in 14 innings, as well as Matt Harvey’s exact pitching line in Game 5 through seven innings, only being off by one strikeout.
What makes it a realistic simulator is the fact that it accounts for current player performance. The accuracy of the simulator is what separates Strat-O-Matic from other popular baseball simulation games such as “Out of the Park Baseball” and “MLB Manager.”
Yoenis Cespedis stats for September 15, 16, 17, 20 and end of season
Baseball Daily will be available in the Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365 online game, where one can sign up for a Baseball Daily league at any point during the MLB season. This feature will also be available for their Strat-O-Matic Baseball 2016 Windows game, as an optional add-on. Here, users can manage their favorite team on a nightly basis, following their current schedule.
Gone are the days of disagreeing with a manager on player personnel decisions and not being able to back up your claim. Baseball Daily puts the fan in charge. The game will become accessible to the public on Monday, April 4th, the day after the MLB season begins.
