The goal with Baseball Sim Auctions is to create a platform that will provide enthusiasts of statistical baseball simulations an avenue to create teams via auctions and drafts and then quickly simulate entire seasons to determine who created the best team – this approach differs from the long-term commitment that is typically required when you join leagues. The computer game that is used to conduct the season simulations is APBA Baseball For Windows. For an excellent history and description of the game, click HERE .
It is not my desire to create a long rules manual, but of course some guidelines are necessary.
BEFORE THE AUCTION
- Each General Manager selects a historical team – every team in MLB history going back to 1901 is available.
- The players from the historical teams are made free agents and will serve as the player pool to create new teams during the auction.
- For positional flexibility, a few additional weak hitters will be added to the auction pool from the years selected for the auction (hitters with OPS below .600).
- For innings flexibility, a few additional weak pitchers will be added to the auction from the years selected for the auction (these pitchers will typically have ERAs over 5.50).
- A DH will be used.
- An auction date is scheduled.
BALANCE OF HISTORICAL TEAMS TO SIM AUCTION TEAMS
The intent of Baseball Sim Auctions is to build realistic teams and avoid creating all-star teams, so in all cases, the number of historical teams used in a Sim Auction will be equivalent to the number of new teams that will be created during the auction.
THE AUCTION
- Each General Manager starts the auction with $260 Sim dollars (a means to conduct the auction – not real money)
- Each GM must purchase 26 players during the auction.
- There will be a 4 round draft after the auction.
- The total roster will consist of 30 players.
- The nomination order will be determined randomly at the start of the auction. The first GM will nominate a player and the two or more GMs will bid back and forth until all GMs stop bidding and the player is awarded to the highest bidder.
- Any bid that would not allow a GM to purchase 26 players will be invalidated, the winning bid would revert to the prior bid. Example: the GM has $10 remaining and five more players that must be purchased, the maximum he can bid for any one player at this point is $6, which would leave him with $1 to spend on the remaining four players, if the GM bids $7, the bid would be voided, and the player would be awarded to the other GM
- Before all the SIM money is depleted, you must have at least one qualified player at each defensive position (C,1B,2B, SS,3B, OF-3)
- A player must have played at least 10 games at a position for the owner to designate him at that position.
- If a player played a minimum of 5 games at a position, but less than 10 games, he can be used as part of a platoon at that position.
- When a hitter is purchased, the owner must declare what position he will be playing, this can change during the auction as additional purchases are made.
Check out a recent auction on my You Tube channel to get a sense of what a Sim Auction is all about.
AFTER THE AUCTION
One of the challenges of creating a team via an auction is the multiple elements that must be juggled simultaneously, coupled with a short decision window. Among the things to be considered are the price of the player, how much money do you have remaining, how much money does your opponent have, who are the remaining players at the positions, how many hitters & plate appearances have you purchased, how many pitchers & innings have you purchased, etc.
Once the auction concludes, the rosters will be audited to ensure all the defensive positions are represented and each team has a sufficient number of innings pitched and enough plate appearances from their hitters.
When constructing your roster, you can encounter three obstacles that can hinder your team’s performance – not valuing players correctly, not purchasing enough players that will deliver enough plate appearances, and not purchasing enough pitchers that will deliver the requisite number of innings.
- The penalty for not valuing a player correctly is self-evident, you will get a statistical output that is less than what you anticipated.
- Not purchasing enough plate appearances at a position will cause that player to under perform since the APBA computer simulation and the Micro Manager will be forced to overuse the player, therefore using him in a fatigued state.
- Not purchasing enough pitchers/innings will cause your pitchers to perform in a fatigued state, similar to the effect fatigue has on hitters.
- During a Sim Auction, you must purchase a number of pitchers that will yield a minimum of 1,400 innings. But keep in mind that a typical 162 game season will generate approximately 1450 innings per team, so being closer to that number would be optimal.
- There are times during the auction when a GM will purchase a hitter or pitcher simply to block another owner from the purchase, but the GM does not intend to use that player during the season simulations. In those situations, the GM has the option to bench the player(s). There is one exception, if the player being benched is a pitcher, the total number of available innings for that team can not drop below 1375 innings.
- Trades are not allowed.
- Once the rosters are validated each team submits the lineups (Left & Right) and pitching rotations.
- Each owner selects a Micro Manager to manage their team during the season simulation.
MICRO MANAGERS
A full season simulation is the Litmus Test for determining the best team, a short series will often result in a weaker team beating a stronger opponent, so 162 games is the barometer of choice in Sim Auctions. The only way to simulate an entire season expeditiously is by using Micro Managers to manage all the Sim teams.
- You can choose from a collection of 88 Micro Managers.
- The Micro Managers have different tendencies (i.e. closer selection process, how quickly they pull the SP, steal strategy, hit & run strategy, wait for the big inning or play small ball, etc.)
- Most Micro Managers are programmed with attributes that are applicable to specific eras, but some can be used over multiple eras.
- It is advantageous to align your Micro Manager with the roster you have created (i.e., you would not want a dead ball era manager for your 1990 era Sim team)
THE SEASON SIMULATIONS
- A World Series is played to determine the best team – each “game” of the series is represented by the simulation of an entire season, the team that wins 4 out of 7 seasons, wins the World Series!
- Click HERE for an interesting article on the effects of random variation on player and team performance, and hence, the need for multiple simulations to determine the best team.
- The APBA computer program (aka – BBW) is used to conduct the season simulations (scheduled and conducted via ZOOM approximately one or two days after the auction) – the process takes approximately 1 hour.
- Box scores are reviewed periodically during the simulations.
- Standings are reviewed periodically during the simulations.
- The statistics for the hitters and pitchers are saved after every season simulation.
- After the simulations are complete, I send the participants a comprehensive excel file containing the combined player and team statistics for all the simulations.
Check out a recent Sim Auction World Series:
SIM AUCTION POWER RATING
Sim Auction General Managers will receive a Power Rating based on their cumulative performance – the rating is based on the following criteria:
- Wins
- Run Differential
- Bonus points for winning 100 or more games in a season
- Bonus points for sweeping a World Series
- Bonus points for Run Differential above the historical average of World Series Teams and teams that won 100 or more games in a season
- Bonus points for defeating opponents with a higher Power Rating
- Point loss for losing to opponents with a lower Power Rating
- Point loss for losing 100 or more games in a season
- The Power Rating will be calibrated periodically to ensure the lowest ratings are near zero – typically the lowest Power Ratings will hover close to zero and the highest ratings will be 700 to 800.
A.I.M – Advanced Injury Management
A.I.M. is a feature of the APBA computer baseball game that provides for increased realism in the conduct of a series of games over the course of a season schedule. A.I.M. is designed to recreate the actual level of involvement of players in the historic season being emulated by simulating fatigue.
The purpose of A.I.M. is to encourage realistic usage of pitchers and players, in the sense that pitchers do become fatigued as a result of performing their role in a game, and players who played less than a full season should not be allowed to increase their playing time without an equivalent decrease in their performance.
There are four levels of A.I.M. interaction:
Fatigue only: A.I.M. will report the current status of a player, and will modify the player’s abilities based upon his usage under fatigued status conditions. However, no injuries that occur in games or that might result from over-use in A.I.M. terms will be enforced upon a player for subsequent games.
Game injuries enabled: In addition to maintaining fatigue status effects, injuries that occur due to rare plays during the course of a game will be enforced on players for the length of time in days that injury is scheduled to run.
All injuries enabled: In addition to the above, A.I.M. will often assess injuries against players who participate in a game while fatigued. That is, players who are Tired, Bushed, or Worn out may become injured after a game if they appear in an active role in that game.
Reduced Injuries and Fatigue – this option is identical to the above option except that the duration of AIM injuries has been somewhat reduced.
In the Sim Auctions we will use only the “Fatigue Only” setting.
BALLPARKS
Ballpark factors will not be used in Sim Auctions, the player performance will only be influenced by the player’s historical stats and the batter/pitcher interactions.
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