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Example Gameplay and Update
This can serve as an example of updates for the sandcastle, as well as what the options will look like in the league creation process.
Welcome, comrades, to the inaugural season of the Baseball Advanced Losers League, aka BALL. I am manager Josef Stalinator, recently hired by the aptly named Kiev Holodomors to craft a team and lead it to victory in the annual Soviet Remembrance Series.
Comrade Putin has appointed me as manager of the Holodomors in order to further Russian control over the former Soviet Union. I cannot do this alone however, and will require your assistance in building an effective team that makes comrade Putin proud. The winner of the competition gains Putin?s favor ? and the loser, well, the loser may not have his job, nor head, for long.
Let?s take a quick look around our organization to see what personnel we will be working with (and under).
Looks like our owner is Mr. Mzareulov, a Russian oligarch who is more than generous with his copious amounts of cash. This will be helpful, for Mr. Mzareulov may be willing to throw money at us if we are in dire straits, or to give us an edge up over our competition. Let?s call him Mr. Mzar for short.
Comrade Stalinator, you will be making me much money, yes? You need more? I am tolerant man, you work as needed. I give you millions, you make me money. Or you don?t, it does not matter. Win American game, bring Americans shame.
And do not call me Mr. Mzar. Call me Mr. Tsar.
Alright, thanks Mr. Tsar. Good to know you have our back. Let?s have a quick look at our other, less important personnel and supporting staff:
Nothing spectacular, your usual bunch of Kazakhs, Russians, and Byelorussians. Our Manager and Bench coach aren?t bad, though we could use to improve elsewhere. These guys mostly provide passive bonuses to our players? morale and development, helping us turn out rookies and prospects into studs.
One of our personnel is not listed here, and he?s likely the most important of the bunch. That?s our scouting director. His job is going to be to determine the skill level of all players ? not just how good they are now, but also how good they might eventually turn out. He goes on tours of other countries too, hopefully poaching talent away from the other teams and leagues around the world. This makes his job of supreme importance ? if we don?t know how good our players are, we won?t know if they?re worth keeping. Let?s see how he?s rated:
That?s... ugh. That?s not good. We may want to consider getting rid of this guy. Unfortunately, he?s signed through 2016, so we?d have to pay his salary through 2016 on top of what we?d pay his replacement.
Let?s see what comrade Putin has managed to craft together as part of our great USSR league:
Looks like comrade Putin managed to get Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan into this baseball thing. Not sure how he got Kiev to sign up, but whatever, my job isn?t to question glorious leaders? dealings.
(Note: The game called the Almaty team the ?Mighty Cocks? by default. I didn?t have the heart to change it)
You can see that not much has happened ? we?re all left with 162 games left to play, and each of us is without players or anything to show for the league. So let?s get drafting!
Comrade Putin has blessed us with the first overall pick in the draft! As you can see, there are only 27 rounds (Note: I forgot to make minor leagues here, just deal with it for now), and it is a serpentine draft. This means that the draft order is reversed each round ? we get first pick, but then we don?t pick again until the 16th round. We better make our first pick count!
Mr. Tsar has also generously relieved us of any budget restrictions. I guess we?ll just let him decide those things, and for now, let?s pick the best team we can!
Oh god, this is a dizzying amount of information. First off, let?s explain the numbers and whatnot.
I?ve sorted them by overall and potential rating. Overall rating represents a player?s rating at the moment, while potential represents his maximum potential skill. Whether players realize their potential is partly luck, partly having good staff. Either way, right now we want to pick someone who is elite, and anyone who is 80/80 is damn good, at least in the eyes of our scout...
A couple other things to think about when drafting:
-Age: Age matters. A lot. Players generally develop until around 25, and begin to drop off in their mid 30?s. Every player is different, with some staying great until their 40?s, and others immediately sucking at 30. It?s best to draft young players, as you?ll have them longer and won?t see their skill drop off as soon.
-Position: At this point, we either want to select an elite bat or starting pitcher. Closers and relievers have much less impact on the game, and won?t get drafted until later. An individual pitcher is likely to have the greatest single impact on a team, but ignore hitting, and you?ll cry at all the 1-0 losses you incur.
-Positional Scarcity: Some positions are harder to find great hitters/fielders in. Great first basemen are a dime a dozen, while great catchers are much harder to come by. Generally, positions are considered more valuable in this order (stolen from the BBM thread):
1. Catcher
2. Shortstop
3. Second Baseman
4. Center Fielder
5. Third Baseman
6. Right Fielder
7. Left Fielder
8. First Baseman
The abbreviations for positions are as follows:
Catcher - C
Shortstop - SS
Second Baseman - 2B
Center Fielder - CF
Third Baseman ? 3B
Right Fielder - RF
Left Fielder - LF
First Baseman ? 1B
Starting Pitcher ? SP
Middle Reliever ? MR
Closer ? CL
With all that in mind, our scouting director thinks Fadeuka ?Buzzy? Azanov would make the best first pick. He?s 25, at a relatively rare position, so it?s really not a bad recommendation. Let?s take a closer look.
Let?s explain these various things first:
In defensive ratings, the thing you need to pay most attention to is the ratings by position. Azanov is a mediocre Shortstop, and that?s fine. As he gets older, we may shift him to third base, but he?s a versatile infielder for now.
His batting stats are brilliant, but let?s break them down:
Contact: The ability to hit the ball to reach base safely. Hitters with high contact will hit for high average.
Gap Power: The ability to hit the ball in the gaps. Hitters with high gap power will hit many doubles/triples.
Home Run Power: The ability to hit dingers. Hitters with high power will hit many Home Runs.
Eye/Discipline: An important stat that determines a player?s ability to judge the location of a pitch, what type of pitch it is, and whether to take it or swing at it. Players with high eye/discipline will draw many walks, and generally swing at better pitchers (helping their other stats.
Avoid K?s:The ability of a hitter to avoid striking out. Hitters with high avoid K?s will strike out less, and generally put the ball in play to avoid striking out.
Other ratings include his speed and baserunning ability. Azanov is an absolute monster who could probably steal at will. He is also good at 
ing, to satisfy your inner LaRussa.
Here?s where goons vote on their preferred candidate, and I show information about others if they request it
Alright, it seems you guys agree with the director for now. Let?s draft him and move on.
Well, we?re finally up again. Lots of Centerfielders and other outfielders have been poached from us, as well as some of the starting pitchers. Let?s see what our options are now:
Ignoring the MR?s and CL?s, we can see that there?s still quite a few good hitters left. However, they?re largely at common positions (such as 1B), and they?re older.
Our scouting director moronically recommends a 48/48 (overall/potential) centerfielder. I recommend ignoring him, and instead I propose we draft the ace Gafarov instead:
Gafarov is a beast, but one knock against him is his age. At 32, he?s nearing the end of his prime, and may fall apart within a few years. Let?s look at his other stats first:
Defensive ratings don?t matter that much for a pitcher, but he will need to make plays from time to time, so it?s nice that he won?t be a liability.
Pitching Ratings are, of course, the most important of the statistics:
Stuff: Stuff represents a pitcher?s overall ability to record outs and pitch well. High stuff pitchers will record many strikeouts, and just be generally good.
Movement: Movement represents the amount a pitcher?s pitches tend to move. This is especially important for pitchers that rely on non-fastball pitches, though it impacts all pitchers. High movement pitchers will see less good contact, and give up fewer HR?s and extra base hits.
Control: Control is a pitcher?s ability to control where his pitches go. High control pitchers will throw to parts of the plate that avoid good contact, and will generally walk fewer batters.
The pitch ratings themselves show the variety of pitches a pitcher has, and how good they are. More pitches is always good, as hitters will have a harder time adjusting to pitchers who can fool them with different pitches. Gafarov has a great cutter, with solid forkballs and changeups to fall back on, with a slider for some periodic variety.
The other main statistic worth checking is stamina, as it represents how deep into a game a pitcher can go. Higher stamina pitchers can pitch more innings, or throw more pitches, than those with lower stamina. Starters will tend to have high stamina ? otherwise they won?t pitch long into a game.
What do you think, goons?
Here goons vote on Gafarpv
So it will be Gafarov, great! Let?s get drafting.
Simulate rest of draft for now
Well, our draft is complete. Let?s meet our hitters and pitchers:
Our boy Azanov is our best player and sits atop our lineup. As a fast, contact hitter, that?s not surprising ? you want your guy who gets on base the most to bat the most, so the people behind him can get him home and generate runs.
Third base is our weakest position, which is somewhat surprising given how good third basemen are generally not that hard to find. Still, we can?t have a perfect team ? we may want to improve upon this position by checking free agents, or even making a trade.
Let?s see how our pitching staff looks.
Gafarov is still our ace, but he?s joined by a few others on the rotation. Lichkanovs, at the bottom of the rotation, doesn?t look very reliable, but not every staff can be perfect.
One interesting draft acquisition is Ogilko, who rates as an 80 rating closer. This is good ? this means our late game leads will be preserved, and Ogilko will rack up saves very effectively.
Now that we have our staff and our lineups set, let?s sim to the preseason!
Sim to preseason, will include any notable fluff
Oh boy. Comrade Putin came by today to take a look at our teams, and declared his predictions for this year?s inaugural year. While we didn?t make first place, we are projected to finish fourth in the league behind strong hitting.
It is not surprising that Putin should decree Sevestapol to be the strongest team. Comrade Putin is no stranger to good politics, and a successful Crimea is a successful Russia.
However, while I dare not question comrade Putin?s brilliance, these are only predictions. Much can change, from injuries to great rookies and over performances. Let us show comrade Putin that Kiev is strong ? though I realize that doing so many even undermine his own political goals... Let?s hope our success does not come back to bite us.
Sim to opening day
Comrades, the day has finally come! Our first match sees us up against the Volgograd Gorbachevs. Let us hope they are as weak as comrade Putin predicted, and as weak as the fool whose name they bear, who oversaw the breakup of our once glorious union.
One bit of bad news befalls us before the first game. Spring training saw our second basemen Luzanov go down with knee inflammation. No worries, we can move our superstar Azanov to 2B, and put in our backup shortstop at SS. It?s not ideal, but it will have to do.
The game is underway! The game started without incident, but Volgograd struck first, scoring two runs off Gafarov in the second inning:
Unfortunately, Kiev wouldn?t even log a hit until the fourth inning, while Gafarov would give up four more runs. Finally, in the 7th, with the score 4-0, Gafarov would be pulled.
I have... failed you. I am sorry comrades. Perhaps next time, yes?
Worse for Kiev, the Gorbachevs? pitcher, Adelhanov, was dominant. Through 8 innings of work, Kiev only mustered 5 hits and 1 walk, so the team went into the 9th with its last three outs, attempting to deny Adelhanov the complete game shutout.
You and your team are weak like enemies of Putin.
The first two hitters were retired without incident, but our wonderful first baseman Witkoroff drove Adelhanov out with a double. A walk followed, but the Kiev rally was stymied by a strikeout by centerfielder Niekerov. The Holodomor would be shutout in their first game.
Oh well, at least future games will-
This is bad. Perhaps we displeased comrade Putin in some way, but Azanov has been injured. While it is only a two week injury, it is difficult to lose the overall first pick, and likely best player in the league, for two weeks.
Oh well, like the Russian people, we must endure. If our grandparents could survive Hitler?s occupation, Stalin?s purges, and decades of glorious decline and stagnation, we will endure.
Thus ends the informative demonstration