Vol. IV, Issue #6 - August 2016

** "Baseball Daily – 3rd View" –  Wolfman Shapiro **
      (Starting on April 3rd, a new level of playing Strat-o-matic Baseball begins, it is
called Baseball Daily, here is my experience managing the 2016 Chicago Cubs as
I continued playing their current season through the end of August. Let's continue
to see how close to their actual performance and their stats I saw in my play.)

(Notes from the Wolfman:  Hello dear members, as we go to press, your editor has seen the Cubbies turning things around in real life even though at this time, some of their key pitchers are injured. However, when these players come back from their injuries (Lackey, Rondon & Strop), I these boys have a shot at the gold.  In my replay, where I am happy to report that we are doing a few games better than the Cubbies are in real life, I really have a good sensing of the capabilities of this team and the shot they have to break their 100+ year curse.

The goal of this article is to continue to build upon the reports I made about our replay in our May and July issues and let our readers know how our version of the 2016 Chicago Cubs are doing as compared to the real life Chicago Cubs. Now with the Allstar glitch out of the way and the downloads providing the same lineups as what each team is using for that day's game, all aspects of the game are flowing nicely. I just wish I would have not played the extra 3 games that were rainouts earlier this year so I could do a more true comparison of the two versions of this team but as with all new products, it takes time to get all the kinks out.

So to re-summarize my criteria for how the Chicago Cubs 2016 Baseball Daily manager Wolfman Shapiro is guding their play it is as follows: That I am selecting the same starting pitcher used on each day for the Cubs and the same 9 players used to start the game in real life from their current opponent; That I will not use a player who is injured even if I could for that game (meaning that he is shown on the roster of this day); That I am granting to myself the freedom to make changes to the batting lineup for this game meaning that at times I would keep the same starting positional players in the lineup but change their order of when they hit; That, at other times I will possibly switch some players in the starting lineup given with another because this other player has a better hitting card in relationship to the enemy starter, giving us more of a chance to win.

Thus, what you will find in this report once again, is first I will give an overview of how my Cubs are performing, looking at the cards of various players (some key hitters and pitchers as they look after the game from August 29th and finally sharing their stats discussing which players were doing better than in real life, or are the same or worse. 

Now if you are not familiar with how Baseball Daily works, you may want to check back to our May Issue of this year, where I wrote about with screen examples from the game, how Baseball Daily differs from the normal play of SOM Computer Baseball.  You can find this article by clicking the link below:

http://www.ultimatestratbaseball.com/USBN-5-2016/WolfmanShapiro-BaseballDaily-May2016.htm

To check my report from last month describing the play of my Cubbies feel free to visit:

http://www.ultimatestratbaseball.com/USBN-7-2016/WolfmanShapiro-BaseballDaily-July2016.htm

Hope you enjoy this next report. So are you playing along with your favorite team too?)

 

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Our Baseball Daily Replay and Challenge ....
Can we take the Cubbies to a Championship?

In this article I am continuing my report on my re-creation of the Chicago Cubs 2016 season using Baseball Daily so the readers of my first two articles, the May and July issues, can see how my Cubbies are doing. I cut the games off through August 29th, just as the Cubs are beginning a series with the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field.

You may recall that my version of the Cubs also started off to a fast start but as the season wore on, they begin to show ware and tear.  Since the last time I reported my Cubbies also were showing signs of being human and not playing as well just like the real Cubs. However, after the Allstar break, they began to hit that stride again and right their ship. They seem to be holding their own even though they have lost temporarily three key pitchers to injuries but the young Edwards has been performing brilliantly and they have Chapman to close games.  Once again in my replay I am doing a few games better than the real life Cubs.

I have included in this report again the card image comparisons of the same players I showed before with the image of their "Day 0" cards verse the card image they have through August 29th (Note - remember the players cards change each day when the new daily stats are added) plus a few other players who I didn't look at initially but are making a difference with the performance of my Cubbies.  Also remember that I have already played the three rainout games the Cubs had so my stats below will show a difference of these 3 games (BTW - SOM had suggested not to play these games even though they do show up on the schedule page and no other games have been cancelled recently for the Cubs due to the weather.

Another comment I want to share about this current replay has to do with how the other teams are doing in my replay MLB league.  Now I realize since I am letting the computer play for all the other teams, this is affecting the results of how I do in my games and the standings of my live-time replay of the 2016 MLB Season.  Let me show you the standings so you can see, I am seeing some differences with how other teams are doing:

LEAGUE STANDINGS FOR 2016 Major League Daily
 
AL East                     WON LOST  PCT   GB  MAGIC#
2016 Boston BOA              89  45  .664 ----    19 
2016 Toronto TOA             77  55  .583 11.0       
2016 Baltimore BAA           71  65  .522 19.0       
2016 Tampa Bay TBA           64  68  .485 24.0       
2016 New York (AL) NYA       57  75  .432 31.0       
 
AL Central                  WON LOST  PCT   GB  MAGIC#
2016 Kansas City KCA         74  60  .552 ----    28 
2016 Detroit DEA             72  61  .541  1.5       
2016 Cleveland CLA           63  70  .474 10.5       
2016 Minnesota MNA           60  74  .448 14.0       
2016 Chicago (AL) CHA        57  76  .429 16.5       
 
AL West                     WON LOST  PCT   GB  MAGIC#
2016 Los Angeles(AL) LAA     68  64  .515 ----    29 
2016 Texas TEA               68  66  .507  1.0       
2016 Houston HOA             63  70  .474  5.5       
2016 Seattle SEA             61  71  .462  7.0       
2016 Oakland OAA             54  79  .406 14.5       
 
(In my American League we have quite a few surprises - the Boston Red Sox, not doubt with the great hitting they have this year have the best record in my league, better by a 1/2 game on the Cubbies.  Kansas City is in 1st place and Cleveland is slumping and what, the Angels in 1st over the Rangers and Houston and Seattle floundering??)

NL East                     WON LOST  PCT   GB  MAGIC#
2016 New York (NL) NYN       77  57  .575 ----    25 
2016 Washington WAN          72  61  .541  4.5       
2016 Miami MMN               71  62  .534  5.5       
2016 Philadelphia PHN        55  77  .417 21.0       
2016 Atlanta ATN             54  79  .406 22.5       
 
NL Central                  WON LOST  PCT   GB  MAGIC#
2016 Chicago (NL) CHN        88  45  .662 ----    13 
2016 Pittsburgh PIN          71  62  .534 17.0       
2016 St. Louis SLN           69  64  .519 19.0       
2016 Cincinnati CIN          63  69  .477 24.5       
2016 Milwaukee MLN           50  83  .376 38.0       
 
NL West                     WON LOST  PCT   GB  MAGIC#
2016 Los Angeles(NL) LAN     79  53  .598 ----    23 
2016 San Francisco SFN       70  61  .534  8.5       
2016 Arizona ARN             66  66  .500 13.0       
2016 Colorado CON            62  72  .463 18.0       
2016 San Diego SDN           49  84  .368 30.5      

(In my National League a few surprises as well with the Mets and Dodgers doing significantly better then in real life, the Nationals not as well - the Cubbies Division similar to real life.)

Now lets take a look at the card images again to see how the players cards are changing over time to give our members more of a feel for how Baseball Daily is functioning. And BTW, those of us who do play Baseball Daily, when the real MLB season ends you will know every player who will receive an SOM card and what that card is going to look like to help you with your draft and team strategies next year, aye?
 

Lets see how the Cards Change Day by Day?

In this next section of my report, I show you three of the best Cub pitchers  and hitters, how their baseball daily card looked like before the season began and what their baseball daily card looked like on August 29th of this year.  You will see some cards just had subtle changes and others, you can see a big change due to the player performing poorly or on a hot streak. I added some extra cards which I don't have their Day 0 image, such as the young catcher Contreras who we looked at last month and this month I added Addison Russell's card image who is having a tremendous season with over 80 RBIs and 19 homers. From the pitcher's side, besides share A. Chapman's card again (which regressed a bit) we just had to take a peek at this phenomena rookie reliever in Carl Edwards and the National League ERA leader Kyle Hendricks, enjoy ...
 

2016 Cubs Pitchers
(Arrieta, Lester, Rondon and Chapman)

Jack "the snake" Arrieta
(Day 0 - before the MLB season begins)

Jack "the snake" Arrieta
(Card Image from Stats through August 29th, 2016 )

(Analysis - Arrietta card definitely shows against righties he is not super human, and although
he has a great card as of August 29th, his walks and homers allow are stinging him.)

Jon Lester
(Day 0 - before the MLB season begins)

Jon Lester
(Card Image from Stats through August 29th, 2016 )

(Analysis - Lester's card at this date in August is excellent, he is a reverse LH starter,
I think if I was Maddon he is the pitcher I would use first in the playoffs, as of
August 28th, he has improved his card from last month aye?)


Hector Rondon
(Day 0 - before the MLB season begins)

Hector Rondon
(Card Image from Stats through August 29th, 2016, injured at this time )

(Analysis - Rondon did a good job early on as the Cubs closer but then he started to give
up too many home runs - so now his card is pretty bad especially for Wrigley Field - hopefully
when he comes back to help preserve the saves for Chapman his card will calm down .......)

Aroldis Chapman
(Card Image from Stats through August 29th, 2016 *)

(Analysis - Chapman is his usual self with a Strat Card. Lots of strikeouts with walk chances.
However in real life Chapman start to give up some hits verses righties but I still would
want him to be my closer and he is going a great job in my Baseball Daily replay.)

Carl Edwards
(Card Image from Stats through August 29th, 2016 *)

(Analysis - Edwards has been a real surprise for the Cubbies and I am glad to have him, in
my replay he has given up an earned run yet.  With him and Chapman, along with the other
various relievers the Cubs have, we are not feeling the loss of Rondon and Strop.)

Kyle Hendricks
(Card Image from Stats through August 29th, 2016 *)



(Analysis - Hendricks card right now is very similar to the card he has in the 2015 set,
where he is almost unhittable against righties and gives up too many home runs vs.
left handed hitters but he has 13 victories for my Cubbies and I am happy to have him!!)


=======================

2016 Cub's Hitters
(Rizzo, Bryant, Heyward, Contreras*)

Anthony Rizzo
(Day 0 - before the MLB season begins)

Anthony Rizzo
(Card Image from Stats through August 29th, 2016 )

(Analysis - Rizzo's current card image shows a decline from the previous month, as he
hasn't been hitting home runs like his brother Kris, I think that the Baseball Daily system
should give him more homerun chances as he does have 25 homers and just hit
another one against the Pirates on August 30th - he is not hitting for us right now.)

Kris Bryant
(Day 0 - before the MLB season begins)

Kris Bryant
(Card Image from Stats through August 29th, 2016 )

(Analysis - Bryant's August 29th card is really a representative of what he is doing
at this time, as he is becoming the player we all thought and I think he will most likely
be the National League MVP - the question now is how many homers will he hit
before the season is out? He is making some erros in my replay and hitting a little less.)
 

Jason Heyward
(Day 0 - before the MLB season begins)

Jayson Heyward
(Card Image from Stats through August 29th, 2016 )

(Analysis - Jason Heyward was going to be another key player the Cubs had in 2016 who
helped not only defensively but with his hitting and power. Unfortunately, Heyward has not
been hitting as expected even though recently he is doing a bit better - he is doing better in our
replay and has gotten lucky on the splits to have 13 home runs for us. If Heyward could
come back to the form he had with the Cardinals, the Cubs could be unbeatable!)


Willson Eduardo Contreras
(Card Image from Stats through August 29th, 2016 * )

(Analysis * - I think now Baseball Daily is finally starting to honor this young catcher, I wish
he would be a little bit better with his defense but now his power/homer chances are picking
up, it is quite possible the Cubs could have like 7 or 8 players this year with 10 or more HRs.)

Addison Russell
(Card Image from Stats through August 29th, 2016 * )



(Analysis * - I wanted to show Addison's card because he really has started to show his
power and has been hitting more home runs - didn't know he played 2B, I think they
should rank him as a "1" shortstop as he is being discussed as the NL Golden Glove winner,
in our replay I haven't been able to get him going as a hitter with all the RBIs he is doing!)



=======================

And how are the Baseball Daily Cubs doing vs. Real Life?

Obviously, in this last section we want to look at is how are the 2016 Chicago Cubs doing in my Baseball Daily replay vs. how they are doing in real life.  I am not sure if I would have gone with 12 hitters and 13 pitchers as they did at the beginning of the year or at certain other times like they are doing current at the time of this report. Normally I have the same selection of players to use as in real life although sometimes (like when the Cubs brought up two rookie pitchers to replace Strop and Rondon) for one day I didn't see them. This also means when I go with this roster of 12 hitters, at times in the close games or in extra inning games, the pitchers are having to be used as pinch hitters but fortunately Arietta and Hammels have good hitting cards. 

Please find below, the real life hitting and pitching stats shown first followed by my Baseball Daily Stats.  I will give you my analysis after the hitting and pitching is given.
 

2016 Chicago Cubs
(Real Life Hitting Stats through August 29th, 2016)

Player	Pos	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Kawasaki, M	2B	3	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0.333	0.333	0.333	0.667
Bryant, K	3B	127	491	109	150	31	1	35	89	65	126	8	5	0.305	0.402	0.587	0.988
La Stella, T	3B	51	105	14	31	9	1	2	8	14	22	0	0	0.295	0.388	0.457	0.846
Rizzo, A	1B	126	475	77	140	37	4	25	91	64	87	3	4	0.295	0.392	0.547	0.939
Kalish, R	LF	7	7	1	2	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	0.286	0.444	0.286	0.73
Szczur, M	LF	88	154	28	43	8	1	5	22	10	30	2	3	0.279	0.327	0.442	0.769
Zobrist, B	2B	121	442	79	123	27	2	14	66	75	69	4	4	0.278	0.384	0.443	0.827
Fowler, D	CF	98	361	68	100	22	4	10	39	59	96	8	4	0.277	0.389	0.443	0.833
Baez, J	3B	113	342	38	94	16	1	13	47	13	89	11	3	0.275	0.312	0.442	0.754
Contreras, W	C	58	200	27	54	9	1	9	28	21	51	2	1	0.27	0.348	0.46	0.808
Arrieta, J	P	23	56	6	15	2	1	2	6	4	26	0	0	0.268	0.317	0.446	0.763
Almora, A	CF	34	83	8	22	7	0	2	9	3	15	0	0	0.265	0.291	0.422	0.712
Hammel, J	P	30	56	6	14	3	0	0	7	1	23	0	0	0.25	0.263	0.304	0.567
Soler, J	LF	69	187	31	46	8	0	10	27	22	50	0	0	0.246	0.33	0.449	0.779
Russell, A	SS	123	437	53	106	18	3	19	84	47	117	4	1	0.243	0.325	0.428	0.753
Heyward, J	RF	115	438	49	102	22	1	6	36	42	80	8	4	0.233	0.307	0.329	0.635
Ross, D	C	57	139	20	32	5	0	8	27	27	44	0	1	0.23	0.347	0.439	0.786
Coghlan, C	LF	27	54	14	12	4	1	0	5	12	19	0	0	0.222	0.377	0.333	0.71
Wood, T	P	65	9	0	2	0	0	0	1	1	3	0	0	0.222	0.3	0.222	0.522
Montero, M	C	67	191	25	38	5	1	5	25	34	48	1	0	0.199	0.323	0.314	0.637
Federowicz, T	C	13	26	3	5	2	0	0	2	1	9	0	0	0.192	0.222	0.269	0.491
Cahill, T	P	39	8	1	1	0	0	0	1	1	4	0	0	0.125	0.222	0.125	0.347
Hendricks, K	P	24	43	1	5	0	0	0	2	1	24	0	0	0.116	0.156	0.116	0.272
Lackey, J	P	24	56	1	6	2	0	0	2	2	27	0	0	0.107	0.138	0.143	0.281
Candelario, J	3B	5	11	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	5	0	0	0.091	0.286	0.091	0.377
Lester, J	P	25	47	2	3	2	0	0	4	5	16	0	0	0.064	0.154	0.106	0.26
Edwards, C	P	23	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Montgomery, M	P	8	5	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Patton, S	P	12	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Peralta, J	P	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Richard, C	P	26	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Rondon, H	P	45	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Schwarber, K	LF	2	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	0.2	0	0.2
Strop, P	P	48	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Warren, A	P	29	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
Zastryzny, R	P	4	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Chapman, A	P	16	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	0
Concepcion, G	P	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	0
Grimm, J	P	54	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	0
Matusz, B	P	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	0
Nathan, J	P	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	0
Pena, F	P	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	0
Ramirez, N	P	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	0
Smith, J	P	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	0
Team Totals		130	4442	663	1148	239	22	165	630	528	1091	52	30	0.258	0.345	0.434	0.779

2016 Chicago Cubs
(Baseball Daily Hitting Stats through August 29th, 2016)

NAME	BAVG	GM	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	HB	SH	DP	SB	CS	E
T.Federowicz	0.375	11	24	2	9	1	0	0	3	2	4	0	0	0	0	0	0
A.Almora	0.326	32	86	9	28	3	0	2	7	7	24	0	0	2	1	0	2
D.Fowler	0.325	102	385	85	125	29	4	14	55	86	83	1	4	7	23	7	2
K.Bryant	0.298	131	516	100	154	24	4	38	109	74	136	0	0	11	10	3	19
K.Schwarber	0.286	2	7	2	2	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
T.La Stella	0.285	58	130	16	37	7	0	2	14	11	10	0	1	1	1	2	4
J.Baez	0.279	109	355	46	99	15	0	21	59	18	84	2	1	7	6	1	13
B.Zobrist	0.271	131	476	74	129	16	0	15	70	75	58	0	0	18	9	3	5
M.Szczur	0.261	88	157	19	41	8	0	2	16	15	36	0	0	2	2	2	0
A.Rizzo	0.258	132	507	82	131	27	11	24	78	66	118	8	0	13	9	6	8
J.Heyward	0.258	127	453	61	117	20	3	14	50	48	62	2	0	10	29	5	0
M.Montero	0.234	76	188	22	44	5	0	8	19	32	44	1	0	5	0	0	5
D.Ross	0.23	70	178	20	41	8	0	10	27	32	56	0	1	2	0	0	1
J.Soler	0.227	64	176	17	40	8	0	4	27	15	47	0	0	8	0	0	2
W.Eduardo Cont	0.225	52	169	20	38	7	1	7	20	21	40	0	0	1	0	0	4
A.Russell	0.203	129	449	45	91	12	2	12	45	55	142	1	6	6	6	3	10
J.Candelario	0.167	3	6	1	1	0	0	0	0	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
C.Coghlan	0.13	22	46	6	6	2	1	1	9	5	14	0	0	1	0	0	0
M.Kawasaki	0	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
R.Kalish	0	5	7	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
ALL PITCHERS	0.176	133	301	27	53	2	1	1	17	19	110	0	27	3	0	0	10
----------------------------	----	---	----	---	----	--	--	--	---	---	----	--	--	--	--	--	--
TEAM TOTALS	0.257	133	4618	654	1186	194	27	175	627	586	1071	15	41	97	96	32	85

(Analysis  - My Cubs in the simulation are still hitting for the same average (one point less) but the real life Cubs are scoring more runs than we are and have more doubles even though we have played those 3 extra games.  We are see a little bit more with home runs and walks and we definitely stealing more bases. Key players who show some significane differences:  Bryant slightly lower average but has hit a few more runs.  Fowler and Almora for a higher averages and Baez is showing more power with the same average.  Rizzo is a bit down in his average and RBIs (homers about the same) but Heyward has hit better average and with far more power.  I have found our rookie catcher W. Eduardo Contreras, not being given the card he deserves.  Russell also hasn't been hitting like he is with all his power and knocking in the amazing amount of runs he has.  Zorbist seems to be performing about the same.  I was hoping the Cubs could get another left-handed hitter, they tried using Coghlan when Soler was injured but it didn't work out.  My Soler is starting to hit more homers and I think he will be a key for the Cubs to go into the World Series.  Anyway my simulated Cubs hitting wise, if you look at the collective stats is fairly similar to their real counterparts.

Final Analysis --:  Right now the Cubs look like the best balanced team in the National League primarily due to the consistency of their five starting pitchers, their power and on base with walks and the young kids are showing the ability to come back when down.  They have the right manager (Maddon) to work with all the young players and should do better than the 97 wins last year.  The acquisition of Champman as their closer is significant as is showing in my replay with 11 saves in 15 games.  I think young Contreras is giving more consistency with a hitting catcher and Bryant could be the NL MVP - headed for belting over 40 HRs and over 100 RBIs with around a .300 average.  While Arrieta is not doing the super human effort of 2015, this year he has four other quality starters and Hendricks is starting to come into his own.  The only weakness I see with the Cubs, which killed them last year in the National League Championship series with the Mets, is sometimes they just stop hitting against good pitching.  Their defense also while above average could costs them at times as well.  Probably face the Nationals to get to the Series but who they will face from the American League is a toss up - don't be surprised if KC finds a way back for their 3rd straight trip. )
 

=======================

Chicago Cubs 2016
(Real Life Pitching Stats through August 29th, 2016)

Player	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	SVO	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	AVG	WHIP
Nathan, J	1	0	0.00	3	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	0	2	4	0.250	2.00
Zastryzny, R	1	0	1.08	4	0	0	0	8.1	7	1	1	0	3	11	0.226	1.20
Chapman, A	0	1	1.23	17	0	10	12	14.2	8	3	2	0	4	25	0.157	0.82
Hendricks, K	12	7	2.19	25	24	0	0	152	114	45	37	13	38	135	0.207	1.00
Rondon, H	2	3	2.47	45	0	18	23	43.2	29	12	12	6	6	51	0.188	0.80
Cahill, T	3	4	2.63	39	1	0	1	54.2	42	18	16	5	29	58	0.203	1.30
Lester, J	14	4	2.70	26	26	0	0	160	126	50	48	19	45	160	0.217	1.07
Arrieta, J	16	5	2.84	26	26	0	0	168	111	55	53	13	65	161	0.185	1.05
Strop, P	2	2	2.89	50	0	0	4	43.2	26	15	14	4	13	56	0.168	0.89
Wood, T	4	0	3.04	65	0	0	1	53.1	43	22	18	8	22	41	0.214	1.22
Hammel, J	13	7	3.21	25	25	0	0	140	116	55	50	19	44	116	0.227	1.14
Edwards, C	0	1	3.28	24	0	0	1	24.2	9	9	9	1	10	35	0.111	0.77
Lackey, J	9	7	3.41	24	24	0	0	158	122	63	60	19	43	156	0.217	1.04
Montgomery, M	1	1	3.50	9	2	0	0	18	18	7	7	2	11	22	0.257	1.61
Grimm, J	1	0	3.83	56	0	0	0	44.2	37	19	19	5	16	54	0.219	1.19
Concepcion, G	0	0	3.86	3	0	0	0	2.1	2	1	1	0	1	2	0.250	1.29
Patton, S	1	1	4.67	12	0	0	0	17.1	17	10	9	2	11	16	0.246	1.62
Ramirez, N	0	0	4.70	8	0	0	0	7.2	5	4	4	1	8	10	0.200	1.70
Warren, A	3	2	5.91	29	1	0	1	35	31	24	23	7	19	27	0.238	1.43
Richard, C	0	1	6.43	25	0	1	1	14	23	14	10	0	7	7	0.377	2.14
Montero, M	0	0	6.75	1	0	0	0	1.1	4	1	1	0	0	0	0.500	3.00
Smith, J	0	0	7.36	6	0	0	0	3.2	6	3	3	3	4	1	0.375	2.73
Peralta, J	0	1	9.00	5	0	0	0	4	6	5	4	2	1	5	0.353	1.75
Pena, F	0	0	11.57	3	0	0	0	2.1	3	3	3	0	1	5	0.300	1.71
Matusz, B	0	0	18.00	1	1	0	0	3	6	6	6	3	2	2	0.429	2.67
Team Totals	83	47	3.14	130	130	29	44	1176	913	445	410	132	405	1160	0.213	1.12

Chicago Cubs 2016
(Baseball Daily Pitching Stats through August 29th, 2016)

NAME	ERA	W	L	PCT	G	GS	CG	SH	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO
G.Concepcion	0.00	0	0	----	1	0	0	0	0	1.0	1	0	0	0	1	0
C.Edwards	0.00	3	0	1.000	22	0	0	0	0	26.0	12	1	0	0	6	21
J.Smith	0.00	0	0	----	1	0	0	0	0	2.0	2	0	0	0	0	1
T.Wood	1.26	2	3	0.400	43	0	0	0	2	43.0	28	6	6	4	15	33
J.Grimm	1.69	6	2	0.750	31	0	0	0	0	37.1	41	9	7	2	10	44
J.Lester	1.76	15	4	0.789	26	26	2	2	0	189.0	144	38	37	12	28	181
P.Strop	1.77	5	1	0.833	53	0	0	0	2	56.0	24	11	11	4	18	72
K.Hendricks	2.07	12	5	0.706	25	25	2	1	0	174.1	138	46	40	11	30	143
J.Nathan	2.25	0	0	----	4	0	0	0	0	4.0	4	2	1	1	1	3
J.Arrieta	2.38	14	6	0.700	27	27	1	1	0	196.2	140	60	52	21	75	165
T.Cahill	2.39	2	0	1.000	28	1	0	0	0	37.2	27	12	10	1	19	31
N.Ramirez	2.57	2	0	1.000	13	0	0	0	0	14.0	8	4	4	4	1	18
H.Rondon	2.77	6	4	0.600	47	0	0	0	21	48.2	44	19	15	6	13	62
A.Chapman	2.81	2	0	1.000	15	0	0	0	11	16.0	6	5	5	3	4	20
J.Lackey	3.72	8	7	0.533	24	24	0	0	0	147.2	137	66	61	20	29	132
J.Hammel	3.79	9	9	0.500	26	26	3	1	0	168.2	152	80	71	20	53	152
C.Richard	3.86	1	0	1.000	7	0	0	0	0	4.2	7	2	2	0	1	3
M.Montgomery	4.02	1	1	0.500	5	2	0	0	0	15.2	17	7	7	3	6	13
S.Patton	4.09	0	1	0.000	10	0	0	0	0	11.0	5	6	5	1	10	14
A.Warren	4.71	0	1	0.000	21	1	0	0	0	28.2	36	15	15	6	8	19
B.Matusz	8.10	0	1	0.000	1	1	0	0	0	3.1	5	3	3	1	1	4
F.Pena	13.50	0	0	----	1	0	0	0	0	0.2	1	1	1	0	0	1
A.Brooks	----	0	0	----	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
M.Parra	----	0	0	----	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
B.Gomes	----	0	0	----	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
J.Machi	----	0	0	----	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
J.Collmenter	----	0	0	----	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
J.Thatcher	----	0	0	----	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
R.Zastryzny	----	0	0	----	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	3	1	1	1	0	0
J.Peralta	----	0	0	----	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
ALL NON-PITCHERS	----	0	0	----	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Team								10					0
--------------	--- ----	--	--	----	---	---	--	--	--	-----	-  --	- ---	---	---	---	----
TEAM TOTALS	2.60	88	45	0.662	133	133	8	15	36	1266.0	982	394	354	121	329	1132

(Analysis  - My version of the 2016 Cubs continues to see exceptional pitching as it is pretty unheard in the modern times for a team ERA to be under 3 runs a game.  This is probably the main reason why my versions of the Cubs have a slightly better record. Lester has been extremely dominate in my reply and Kyle Hendricks has continued to perform well as his real life self is showing his true colors. My cub staff is giving up less walks then their counterparts and home runs, which is probably way the ERA is down.  Chapman has given up a few home runs but he has an almost unhittable card in the replay and could be the main reason the Cubs will bring home the bacon this year.  Edwards has also been phenomenal in our replay and is helping to balance the team while Strop and Rondon are out to injuries.  But in the bullpen for my Cubbies also Wood, Grimm and Cahill are
doing way better than in real life.  15 shutouts for my Baseball Daily Cubs is outstanding and in the game
from August 29th, Arrietta throw a complete game shutout against the Pirates.

-- Final Analysis --:  It seems after the All Star break, the Cubs starters are back to their consistency they had at the start of the year.  The bullpen has been a bit shaky but with Strop and Rondon eventually coming back it should firm it up.  The power hitting and run producing uplifts by Russell and Soler are definitely going to help the Cubs {would would have thought Russell might have 100 RBIs this year?}. The Cubs have been winning without Heyward hitting and now he is coming back to his old form.  Rizzo is Rizzo and having another Rizzo year but now he has a good hitter around in Bryant who is doing what we expected.  So the Cubbies have a pretty balanced team and I don't think there is another team in MLB that can say the same.  Now that the
young players who were drafted and traded for are starting to perform, the Cubbies could be an item for
years to come.  I think KC is the only team in the AL, due to their great manager and post season play
who can stay up with them.  Anyway, it seems Baseball Daily does a good job to give us gamers
a chance to play along with our favorite team. )
 

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Final Comments from the Wolfman: It has been fun managing the Cubs, but I think rather than letting the computer manage all the other teams in the replay as I am doing, if there were enough people who could coach the other teams and knew the strategies of those teams using Baseball Daily might be a more true replay.  I don't try to manager the other teams because its enough to know one team well and since I am able to watch all the Cubs game live, I know the players very well.

It is also fun, when watching the real Cubs to see if Maddon will do some of the strategies that I (we) would use in those games - I find Maddon doesn't like to steal so much and I think this could help the Cubs be even stronger.  Also he doesn't seem to like to sacrifice so much unless its the pitcher.  So I hope you are enjoying this report of the replay Cubs and again, if any of our members wish to share their experiences with the new Baseball Daily, we would be happy to share it here in the newsletter!