2024 USPBL SEASON
SEASON 45 OF THE USPBL IS COMPLETE.
The 2024 USPBL Season was the 2nd consecutive season where we started and finished with the same 20 managers. No rookies this year.
STANDINGS
BRM won 121 games taking over the top spot from LSR. SRR's 109 wins was the second most, yet the Rockets still only placed 2nd place in their division! Some teams improved upon the previous season in a big way. After losing 101 games last season, they won 92 this season, and increase of 27 wins. SRR increased their win total by 24. Both teams made the playoffs after sitting out last season. 2nd year skipper of EHH also increased their win total by 24 games. On the other end, CLC won 58 this season after a 113 win last, a decrease of 55.
PLAYOFFS
The Playoff picture shaped up like this:
GGM @ LSR MIX @ VAV OOS @ BRM SRR @ OTB
GGM defeated LSR VAV defeated MIX BRM defeated OOS OTB defeated SRR
GGM defeated VAV BRM defeated OTB
BRM defeated GGM to win their 4th USPBL Championship.
USPBL ALL-STARS & STATS
MVP Mookie Betts (SRR) Runner-up Luis Robert (BRM
CY YOUNG Geritt Cole (BRM) Runner-up Spencer Strider (LSR)
MANAGERS of the YEAR:
Mark Sanner (OOS #3) went 92-74 and a playoff spot after finishing 65-101 last season having undergone a voluntary restructuring of his team
Tyler Petrie (EHH #11) Improved from a miserable 53-113 season to a respectable 77-89 finish.
LSR led the league with 313 Homers, followed by BRM with 305.
GGM led in Stolen bases with 165, OTB had 163. We'll likely see SB rise with the increase in MLB.
BRM not only hit the long ball, but had a remarkable 2.95 team ERA. Explains the 121 wins.
The Beacon selects the USPBL All-Stars.
The process is quite general in nature, but mostly follows these guidelines.
*All Active managers get either 2 or 3 players named to All-Star Team.
* A combination of USPBL Stats and the Strat Card are used to determine the team,
*The team is comprised of 26 players, with 7-9 pitchers and 17-19 position players.
ROBINSON LEAGUE ALL-STARS
C - A Rutshman (VAV) JT Realmuto (GGM)
1B - M Olson (RVD) V Guerrero (CLC) Y Diaz (VAV)
2B - K Marte MIX) L Arraez (LSR)
3B - M Machado (VAV) E Suarez (LMD)
SS - F Lindor (RVD) E Tovar (EHH) T Turner (CLC)
OF - J Soto (CLC) L Thomas (SAS A Garcia (RVD) S Kwan (LMD) J Outman (MIX)
DH - N Gorman (CHC) S Ohtani (LSR)
P - S Strider (LSR) F Peralta (GGM) J Foley (EHH) D Williams (GGM) R Helsley (CHC)
C Kimbrel (SAS) P Fairbanks (MIx)
MUSIAL LEAGUE ALL-STARS
C - Wlm Contreras (OOS) C Raleigh (WIS)
1B - F Freeman (OTB) J Turner (WDW)
2B - M Semien (WIS) B Stott (SSB)
3B - A Bregman (OOS) A Bohm (SSB)
SS - D Swanson (OOS) B Witt (OTB)
OF - L Robert (BRM) M Betts (SRR) C Yelich (WIS) R Acuna (CON) M Kepler (MIR) J Chisholm (OTB)
DH - J Burger (SCS) JD Martinez (WDW)
P - G Cole (BRM) M Mikolas (WDW) Z Gallen (SRR) A Diaz (MIR) C Doval (SCS) L Castillo (SRR)
E Phillips (BRM) Z Eflin (CON)
TRADES
A "Deep-Dive" into the trades was presented in SPRING BEACON (Currently still available).
There were 108 trades made. After several season with slow starts, we got right into the swing of it with 13 trades in July, 13 in August, and 3 more in September. That's 29 before the MLB season even ended.
In all there were 133 players involved in trades. There were 67 trades which included money, totaling 1940K.
There were 70 trades involving draft picks, though many more picks than that were traded. We got off to a
fast start for 2025 but nothing like last season as we're at 19 trades when the MLB season ends
DRAFTS
The 2024 Money Draft is still currently available above.
Chris M (CHC #9) came in with a record high 1527K and got the top two players for 586K each....
ESalas and P Skenes.
There were a total of 79 winning bids was was among the most successful Money Drafts in the Modern Era.
The Rotation Draft was hosted by Rich CLC once again resulting in a great draft experience once again.
Prospect Abael Amador was selected by CHC with the first pick. A bunch of role-player veterans went with the next 9 picks before another prospect was picked. The very last pick with DP140 was prospect Christian Scott by LSR, and he did make their roster. The entire draft was completed in an amazing 1:58 with all the rounds lasting between 17 and 33 minutes.
RULES
We can go years in the USPBL without having to vote on new rules. Entering the 2024 season did require a look at some things as the Strat Game was presenting new rules to keep up with the Major Leagues which seemed to feel that changes were needed.
We decided to keep the 110% usage bonus instituted the prior season.
We voted on using the "Current (2022) MLB Rules" which meant we would have to adhere to the 3 batter minimum of the MLB. But we also got to use the "Extra-Inning Ghost Runner". Most in the USPBL liked this aspect of the new rules. The longest game was 15 innings, and 2 went 13 innings. The previous year there were 2 that went 16 innings and another 6 of 13 innings. No more of those 24 inning games that MIR and OTB played in 2021.
The league voted on whether to keep the option for the CLUTCH RULE or turn that option off. While many don't like the Clutch Hitting Rule, Strat strongly suggests that it should be used along with the ballpark and weather effects rules which we do use. So it was decided to keep the Clutch Rule in a close vote.
We also voted on whether or not to continue using the CLOSER RULE in light of the 3-batter minimum rule also be being used which could result in some problems. The league voted overwhelmingly to keep the Closer Rule.
The Rule changes aren't ending there as we had two more ballots for the 2025 Rules.
More on that to come.
So that's a wrap on 2024....well, once the playoffs are completed.
CARD QUIRKS - HAL JUST BEING HAL
For the most part we have the Strat game figured out. They still have some secret formulas they aren't sharing such as what's going into the BUNT FOR HIT process. When you try that, you see they're safe or out, but we aren't privy to as to what ratings and rolls went into the call.
Sometimes we see the rolls for Stolen base attempts, but sometimes it just says safe or out. No rolls
or explanations. And errors. We see the rolls for the X-plays and range effects, but if there's an error, we just see the error and not how we got to that. I ended up looking at the board game Error charts to try to
recall how they work and even that required some hard "remembering" what I was looking at.
Spoiler - The error chart uses a 3 d6 with 216 combinations. Errors are checked before the Range result.
Rare plays occur with a 2.3% chance on the error chart. A bad error rating can come up as often as
25% while a good error rating may come up just 2% of the time. (My opinion - Range is still far more important than errors).
I guess a few of you still have the board game around as well so you might have a better
concept of some things, but it's mainly the computer (HAL) that I'm concerned with here.
Some of these have been addressed league-wide and the first one is even included in the Pre-season
set-up. Another is one that I've just recently learned about.
STARTING ROTATION (affects the CM)
While the USPBL requires all teams have their STARTING ROTATION for the entire season
submitted at the start of the season, it's still necessary to insert starting pitchers to the Computer Manager
Starting Pitchers. If not, when facing a CM, you will get the error "Starting Pitcher Not Found". This section is there for when the Starting Rotation is not used. So why we get this error message when it's right there in the computer manager is unknown. It's just one of those Quirks of the game.
STARTING CENTER FIELD (affects the CM)
A little known quirk is that while the Strat game allows Outfielders to play other outfield positions for which they aren't rated, it won't allow the CM to start a non-CF in CF. This has mostly gone unnoticed because using a non-CF in CF is rare in itself. And when a human manager sets their lineup, they are allowed to put players at any position. In the USPBL, players are required to be rated at a position in order to play that position. Outfielders however are allowed to play at any outfield position while receiving the possible penalty Strat imposes. LF lowers 1 grade playing RF and 2 playing CF. A RF lowers 1 grade playing CF. Note that this only applies when they are not rated at other positions. And in a confusing turn, the lowering always
starts at LF. So if your OF is rated a 2 in RF and a 3 in LF but is not rated for CF, he would be given a CF 5
rating. Rather than lower his RF 2 one grade to a 3 in CF, they will lower his LF 3 two grades. But if he wasn't rated in LF and just a RF 2, he would be a CF 3. Yeah, tough to figure this out.
But the point is that if you have a RF 2 that you want to start in CF as a CF 3, you are allowed to do this.
BUT, if you have the RF 2 starting in CF on your CMs lineup, the CM will remove that RF and insert a
random player that IS rated at CF. In this event, a CF rating (with the proper penalty applied) will be added to the player's card. Another Quirk.
13 ACTIVE PITCHERS (affects the Active Players/Minors)
Something that we just discovered last season is that you absolutely have to limit your eligible pitchers to 13.
The regular Strat Rules state that the active roster can have 25 eligible batters and 15 eligible pitchers.
We use the "Current MLB Rules". With the 2022 Rules, the actives are limited to 25 eligible batters and
just 13 eligible pitchers. Now, you should not even be able to leave your Active Screen unless you are withing these limits. There have been reports that on occasion that one has been able to leave more than 13 eligible pitchers active. But the most likely cause of having more than 13 active pitchers is this situation:
A pitcher appearing on the CM's STARTING ROTATION will be brought in to start even if they are not
listed as active. This is where the problem begins. So if there are already 13 active pitchers besides that one that is scheduled to Start, the CM will change on its own. It will activate the scheduled starter while making another player inactive. And in an unusual and unnecessary move, it will change a lot of the players on the inactive list from ineligible to eligible and vice versa. This includes making uncarded players active and making key starters inactive.
So it's important that you make sure that your intended starting pitchers are active, or that you mark only 12
pitchers active which will allow for another pitcher to be activated without the eligible list being altered.
SUPER HAL SUB CHART - DEPTH CHART (affects the Lineups)
Something that I first discovered this year came up though it involved someone else's team.
On the Computer Manger Default Lineups page, you set your intended lineups. It's pretty straightforward.
On the bottom of the lineup page there's a button for SUPER HAL. This is where you set the order for your subs should a player in the starting lineup get injured. Note that this only applies for "lineup" and is not used
for "in-game" injuries. The in-game replacements follow a "secret Strat method" which is unknown to all.
The SUPER HAL DEPTH CHART is exclusive for each of the lineups being used. Lineup #1 will have it's
own list, as will Lineup #2 and so on.
When viewing the SUPER HAL DEPTH CHART, you'll see a column of players that are rated at the position.
(I'm not sure how order of the list is determined as mine has been altered from the default).
The players in the DEPTH CHART are color coded. RED indicates that they're already in the lineup
either at the current position or at another position. BLUE indicates that they're inactive. And WHITE indicates that they're on the bench.
This is where I found I've screwed up and I imagine others have as well.
I always assumed that if the player was already in the lineup at another position that they would be passed over and the first available player would be selected as the SUB. Not so.
HAL will in fact select the first player on the list. Then, if that player is already at another position, it will
replace the sub at their position. This doesn't make sense to me for several reasons but it appears that this is the case. I mean, if it's only going to select the 1st player on the list, why even have more than 1 active player listed?
Using my Wisconsin Dairymen as an example:
Update Default Lineups. This is my lineup #1 vs LHP Road. Select Super Hal at the bottom.
This shows the depth chart for catcher. Fermin is shown in white so he's on the bench and available.
He'll be inserted in the lineup should the starter, Maldonado be injured. No problem here.
Go to 1B. Noda is the starter. If he's injured, HAL will select the next player. It's Steer, who is already starting in LF. The first "available player is Wisdom, and it's he that I thought would be inserted as the Sub if Noda
injured. But no, it's Steer. HAL will remove Steer from LF and replace him. Whether it'll use the SUB CHART
for LF to replace Steer is unknown.
And just to make matters more complicated, Strat, in spite of its existence going back to 1973, has not recognized the Designated Hitter as an official position. So there is no Depth chart for DH.
If the DH is injured, or if the player HAL selects as the sub was already at DH, there will be a real mess.
We've seen HAL insert the most inappropriate player on the roster for DH duties. Likewise if the player HAL moved from DH to replace an injured player is involved.
SUGGESTION FOR AVOIDING THE WORST......
When setting your SUPER HAL SUB DEPTH CHART, move the player you really want as the sub to the very top of the list. If you don't want players already in the game moved to another position, make sure they're far down the list.
