Baseball FAQs

One person built and runs this website. I have a normal day job, and I do what I can in my spare time.

This website is "responsive" which means it will fit on any screen. But, we also have a mobile app available in the iPhone and Android App Stores. Just search for the Baseball Sim app from PennantChase!

You manage your team by setting the lineup, deciding on strategy, etc., and the game results are determined by computer simulation.

In earlier years, I loved PC games like Earl Weaver and MicroLeague. I wanted to move my league online, so I built my own simulator and website. In recent years, I tried other online leagues out of curiosity, but wasn’t thrilled with the cost, and I always had complaints about the results, limitations and usability.

That depends on the league your commissioner has decided to set up, or which league you join. It could be All-Time Greats, modern players, or completely fictional – or a combination. We can use real baseball stats because baseball sim, much like fantasy baseball, relies solely on real-life stats, which are public-domain material. We also have stats from black baseball history and Japan's baseball history.

I (gbacci) am listed as the commissioner for all Auto Leagues, but they essentially run on auto-pilot. I do not monitor these leagues, but there are rules in place to try to keep them as fair as possible. Contact me via one of the many forms on the site if you're having issues with an auto league.

Yes, but it takes a lot of work and dedication, and it's bad for the site if we have commissioners who aren't really dedicated. That's why we now require a donation before you can run a league. You should first visit the Test Drive league to see if you are comfortable running your own league. Then you can create your own league via the link on the homepage of the Test Drive league. (Join the Test Drive league via the Baseball -> Join Leagues page.)

In Auto Leagues, there will be more info on the homepage of the league. The games start after all teams have an owner and all teams have drafted. For more details on Auto League, please read all the information on your league's homepage. For other leagues, check with your individual commissioner.

For private leagues, this is at the discretion of your commissioner, and whether the commissioner allows user's to sim games. For Auto Leagues, barring any issues with the servers, there are auto-sims run about every eight hours. Users in the league can trigger games every eight hours as well. See your league homepage or "My League List" for more details.

I personally don't like salary cap leagues, because it usually means one player can show up on multiple teams, or it's used to help "inactive" owners remain competitive. In our leagues, active owners have the advantage, as it should be. Also, if you draft the player, he's on your team alone - there are no duplicate years for one player in a league (with the execption of "Favorite Team" leagues).

The Quick Draft is a quick way to draft and results in leagues starting the fastest. You are offered a small sample of players at each position. The intent is to keep the teams relatively balanced. The Daily Draft is more like a standard draft that takes place over several weeks. One round is run every eight hours, and you rank players before each round.

A batter’s and pitcher’s stats are taken into consideration, as well as a few other variables, to determine a result for every at bat.

Some sim games use arbitrary ratings instead of logical baseball stats to determine results. I prefer using stats because they are not arbitrary, and because real-life stats have been ruled by law to be public domain.

No, I have decided not to do any era adjustments. This means a .400 hitter is considered a .400 hitter, period. (The All-Time Greats Leagues do not include any players before 1900 for this reason.) I know there are lots of debates and arguments around this, but my goal with this site is to keep it simple and understandable. If you disagree with this, I suggest sticking with the single-era leagues and avoid the All-Time leagues. Keep in mind, WAR is used as an "on fire" factor, and dWAR is used on defense, so in that sense, how a player did in his "era" can be a slight factor.

Because you aren’t very smart. Just kidding! Hey, this is a game, don’t take it too seriously. It takes some time to learn how the simulator works – and even when you think you’ve figured it out, it doesn’t always play out as you expect. Baseball is just like that. Shocking teams often come from nowhere and strong teams on paper don't always win. It won’t always make sense, but that’s part of why we love the game. If you are really struggling, I suggest asking for help on the boards - vets will often chime in with some helpful advice. Remember, this is the type of game that can e hard on newbies who haven't learned the quirks of the engine. The more you're willing to put into it, the more you'll get out of it. Study winning teams - owners have all sorts of strategies that one, there definitely isn't one formula. Some like to load their lineup to one side of the plate and build their stadium to take advantage. Some like to focus on defense, which allows them to draft lesser pitchers. There are lots of ways to win, but it can take time to learn.

This is maybe the most asked question: Why don't players reach their real-life stats. It's important to understand most leagues on this site are loaded with stars. That will pull everyone's stats down. Consider the competition in your league. If you’re playing with All-Time Greats, no players will perform equal to their real stats. If you’re frustrated with results, I highly encourage you to browse the other active leagues to get a feeling for how players perform. Secondly, keep in mind baseball is a streaky game. Streaks happen naturally in the simulator. I’ve seen many great players have lousy seasons, only to bounce back the next season with an MVP performance. Many will bounce back within the same season.

See the answer to the previous two questions. One thing is certain about sim games – there will always be complaints about the accuracy of results. I can’t help that. And no two simulators are the same, they all have their quirks, so if you've played in other leagues, you may have to adjust to the tendencies of this game. After running my own league for over seven years, I am very pleased with the results. For the most part, the great players play great, the weaker players play weak, and there’s enough random variation to keep it interesting. I will stress, the more games in your schedule, the more the stats tend to drift back toward the "mean". Shorter seasons don't always leave enough time for the great players to get on a hot streak. As more people play and send me feedback, I can make adjustments to get the results even more consistent. Having said that, I wouldn’t want the results to be so consistent that there is no element of surprise. That would be boring.

I think in general the game follows what baseball is all about: good pitching tends to beat good hitting. Nothing is more valuable in baseball than a top-flight starting rotation, and I think that tends to play out in this game. But keep in mind, baseball is about long-term trends, not short-term results. Don't give up on your best players right away. I've seen teams struggle out of the gate and come roaring back later in the season. As mentioned in a prior question, study what winning teams do. There are lots of strategies. One thing is for sure, you will need high-rank players on your team. Think of each league like a real MLB season - there are star pitchers and there are dude pichers. If your league is loaded with All-Time Greats, some of those greats will stink, even though they were great in real life. Rank lets you know which players are the cream of the crop in each league.

In Auto Leagues, On Fire has been replaced by oWAR or pWAR. A player's real-life WAR is used to determine how often they are "on fire" and thus get a boost in the game. If a hitter's oWAR is 5.0, he has a 5% chance to be "on fire" in any given game. Some custom leagues might use the old "on fire" number, which is based off a formula using the player's other stats. It represents what percent of the time the player is "On Fire" (for example, "15" means the player has a 15% chance of being "On Fire" during any game). When a player is "On Fire" he has a better chance of getting hits or pitching well. Think of it as being "in the zone" for one game. Although keep in mind, there's no guarantee of success - even players who are "On Fire" can go 0-fer.

Rank is a new number introduced in early 2018. It's meant to give an idea of where a player ranks amongst the competition in that league. Use it as a guide post, but not the letter of the law. Always do your own research on how a player performs historically in your league. But, you are going to need some high-rank players on your team if you expect to win. Even if your player's real-life stats seem great, if they have low rank, it means they don't stack up well in that particular league. (For that reason, the same exact player can have a very different rank from league to league.) I often see teams with an entire pitching staff of players under 70 rank. You simply won't win that way. Think of 90+ rank pitchers as aces. You need one or two. Same goes for hitters.

Not really. Much like real life, you gotta wait for your best players to break out of it. Although, sometimes you can get lucky by just shaking up your lineup and putting in a new player. But statistically speaking, there's no benefit to benching someone who is slumping.

Depends on your league's settings. Auto Leagues do not use Endurance, so you can play someone 162 games without penalty. (Pitchers will tire an all leagues.) In custom leagues, some might use Endurance. When they tire, they can still play, but with reduced stats.

There's more detail on the Edit Lineup page, but in short, when a player plays his secondary position, he gets a 5% higher chance of making an error. When he plays totally out of position, he has a 15% higher chance of making an error. It's not adviced to play someone outside their secondary position.

I appreciate baseball tradition as much as anyone. When I started this site in 2008, this seemed like a good question, but now that MLB has fully embraced the DH, nobody seems to care. In short, the work required to build the logic of supporting pitchers batting wasn't worth the time it would require, and even when this site started many years ago, nobody seemed to care that we didn't support pitchers batting. So at this point, I have no plans to support this.