Constructing Your Lineup

Once you know how to play, the first thing you will probably attempt is to create your Lineup. This is the lineup that will score you runs in the games you play, and you need a good lineup to win, even in this game. First of all, you need one of every position. If you play with National League Rules, then you will need all 9 positions, including the pitcher. If you are using American League Rules, then you will have someone be a permanent batter for the pitcher-the DH. The DH hits instead of the pitcher but does not play the field. He may bat anywhere in the lineup.

The first thing you should look at on the card of a batter is their On Base number. The higher the On Base number, the higher the chance of your batter getting the advantage. When you have the advantage, no matter whether you are the hitter of the pitcher, you have a higher chance of a positive outcome. So, a high On Base number is always good. Twelve is a good on base number. So is thirteen. Once in a while, you may get a fourteen, but don't count on it.

But there is more to a player than just his On Base number. He has stats with the advantage that are going to be different in some way than most other people. So, a thirteen in on base could be worse than a twelve in on base. Maybe the twelve in on base has a better chance of getting on base with the advantage, he hits more home runs, or he hits more extra base hits. All of these things matter. But when making your lineup, hitting isn't the only thing that matters. Your lineup will also determine how good your team is when it comes to fielding. This is also something to consider.

But then, there's one more aspect of your game that you should consider when constructing your lineup:speed. With a speedy lineup, you can steal bases, and advance runners. Maybe you want to follow these speedy guys by someone who has a high On Base number to drive them in.

But what if you aren't sure which hitter is better? What if you want to know how much better one is than another in on base average, average, singles, doubles, triples, HR's, or a combination of two or three of them? I've had this same problem. So, I came up with many mathematical formulas to help solve this problem and several other MLB Showdown problems I will explain later. Here is an example of the formula in its simplest form. This would be to find out the on base average of a 12 on base, 8-11 a walk, 16-18 double, 19+ Home Run against a 5 control pitcher, 18-19 a walk, 20 a single:

(65x.15+35x.65)/100
.325

This specific batter will have a .325 on base average against this specific pitcher. By the way, those x's are not variables. They're times signs. I couldn't get them any better.

Note: You shouldn't attempt this without a scientific calculator or it will be extremely complicated to get the right answer.

Now, I will explain the formula. First, you have to figure out the chance each the batter and the pitcher have of getting the advantage. To do this, subtract the pitcher's control number from the batter's on base number, then add 1. Then, multiply this number by 5. This is the pitcher's chance of advantage. Subtract this from 100 for the batter's chance of advantage(in percent form). Now, you have the chances of advantage. Now, you need to find the chance of the batter reaching base when it is the pitcher's advantage. To do this, find the first number on the pitcher's card in which a batter will reach base. Count how many numbers there are from it to 20, including itself and 20. Multiply this by 5, then divide by 100. Do the same for the batter's card. Now, you have all the necessary information for the formula. On your scientific calculator, type "open parenthesis", then put the "pitcher's chance of advantage", then "times", then the "chance of the batter reaching base with the pitcher's advantage(in decimal form)", then "plus", then the "batter's chance of advantage", then "times" then the "chance of the batter reaching base with his advantage(in decimal form)", then "closed parenthesis", then press "divided by", and then type "100". Press the equals button, and unless an error was made, this will give you the batter's on base average against that specific pitcher.

Note: If the pitcher has the K, 20, or RP icons, or the batter has the V icon, then the results will not be accurate. I will explain formulas for these later.

But what if you wanted to find a batter's batting average instead of on base average? There's a formula for that too. It's a little more complicated, but if you successfully went through the first one, you should be fine for this one.

Everything in the formula is done exactly the same except for the part where you had found the chance of the batter reaching base with someone's advantage. This part is changed a little. To find this for the pitcher's advantage, first count the number of walks he allows with the advantage. Then, subtract this from 20. Then, count how many base hits he allows with the advantage. Make this into a fraction or division problem, hits over the number you got when you subtracted the walks from 20. For the batter, first count how many walks he gets on his advantage(Advice: Really count on your fingers. If he has 7-11 walk, that is not 4 walks.). Subtract this from twenty. Then, count how many base hits he gets with the advantage. Make another division problem, hits over the difference between twenty and the number of walks. Now, you have two sets of division problems. Now, put parenthesis around each division problem. These will now replace the chance of a batter reaching base with someone's advantage from the last formula. Now, if I were using the same batter and pitcher as mentioned earlier but I was now calculating his average, then this would be the formula I would use.

(65x(1/18)+35x(9/16))/100
.232(9861111)

You may also want to find out the extra base hits, or maybe you specifically want to know doubles, triples, or home runs. This is the simplest when in a percent form, so you can see what percent of the time a batter will do something. Oh, by the way, this is per plate appearances, not at bats(at bats don't include walks). Do the exact same thing as said in the last formula, but when you had found out how many hits the batter gets with someone's advantage, you will now put the number of chances your batter has of doing what you're looking up. For example, if you want to find the percentage for all extra base hits and your batter has 16-18 double, and 19+ Home Run, then you would count from 16-20(5 numbers) and multiply this by 5, then divide this by 100. You'd put this in that spot we keep changing. This would be the formula to find the extra base hit percentage of that same batter against that same pitcher.

(65x0+35x.25)

8.75(%)

Notice that it says 0. This is because there are no extra base hits hit with the pitcher's advantage. When this happens, you can put 0.

So, you have now found out the percentage of extra base hits that batter hits.

Now that you know a few of the basic formulas to help you make your lineup, I'll put some guidelines up here for the actual construction.

1. Never disregard fielding. Fielding can save you runs if it's good enough. If you don't turn a double play, they have an extra baserunner an 1 less out. This can be a big difference.

2. Don't build your lineup truly on power or on base. You need both for a good team, so having a lot of one could fail you.

3. It is usually best to have a speedy leadoff man. In this game, it really doesn't matter that much, but if you single and then steal second, it's like you got a double. Then, maybe you steal third. Triple.

4. Make sure your lineup doesn't have too much speed. You probably wouldn't realize it, but when you overload on speed, some will go to waste while at the same time, you're taking away from the other things you need to have to win.

5. Have a well rounded lineup. This way, nothing like this scenario can happen: "You're batting in the ninth inning. Your big hitter is up fifth this inning. If you can get around to him, you'll have a good shot of regaining the run you lost. But wait-you have the end of your lineup up. And the end of it is weak. An average of 8.67 in on base. The chances are slim..." If you had a well rounded lineup, you would've had a shot of getting around to that big hitter.

6. If you're playing by AL rules, you may want to bat someone speedy ninth. That way, he's like a leadoff man at the end of your order. You can get him on base before you reach your stirdy top of the lineup.

7. Remember, on base is not everything. One out of twenty at bats, an 11 in on base will not get the advantage once when a twelve in on base would. That could be only twice a game. Make sure you don't go too crazy about getting high on base numbers. The bigger things like what happens with the advantage can also matter.

8. Your lineup may not always be the same-it can depend on the pitcher you're facing. If you're facing a pitcher with a low control, you may put in slightly lower on base batters who do better with hte advantage. If they put in a pitcher with high control, you may concentrate more on your on base numbers than before.

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