Baseball fans love the game for many reasons. They have favorite players, teams, and even seasons filled with thrilling Pennant races wire-to-wire. All major sports have these 3 favorite reasons; they also have a strategy to winning. Strategy is the next level fans are entrenched watching their favorite sport. The best part about strategy in sports in my view, are the decisions made and carried out in real-time.
When managing against the Real-Time Decision Manager it’s all about strategy used based on the players ability to execute and game situation.
Baseball has many factors to be considered throughout a game as listed in the last article 21 Factors Impacting Baseball Board Game Play. Each factor impacts which strategy to use depending upon the game situation in real-time. When playing your baseball board game solitaire you take on the role as Manager for both teams. Calling all the shots depending upon the strategies you see fit then and there.
Baseball Classics has added an innovative approach to your solitaire play so you don’t have to do all the managing from the first pitch to the final out. The Real-Time Decision Manager can manage 1 or both of your Baseball Classics MLB teams, calling all the shots, making the calls in real-time.
Consider the Real-Time Decision Manager as the equivalent of having a Football Head Coach on the sidelines with a playbook.
The Real-Time Decision Manager can make decisions before, during, and after at bat, hence in real-time. There are 16 pages that provide the choices made, divided by the current inning played, current score, number of outs, runner(s) on base, and each batters OPS (On base average plus slugging average – listed on each Baseball Classics player position card in the Player Stats column). These form an intersection that reveals the decision(s) for that game situation.
For example, when the Real-Time Decision Manager is managing the team on offense, an intersection may consist of calling for a steal attempt, sending the base runner(s) as extra base, bringing in a pinch hitter, etc. When on defense, examples are pickoff attempts, pitchouts, bringing the infield in, changing pitchers, etc.
Some of the decisions are dynamic, such as stealing a base. A dice roll is used to determine if the Real-Time Decision Manager wants the runner to steal or not. Other decisions such as sending the base runner an extra base on a hit or intentionally walking a batter are straight up calls.
Once you choose the teams to play, make the lineups, and select the starting pitchers, the game then turns over to the Real-Time Decision Manager handling any game situation. It’s built to handle your managerial challenge and will keep you guessing from the top step of the dugout move after move.
The Real-Time Decision Manager is seamlessly integrated into your Baseball Classics baseball game play adding the challenge of someone else making the calls to counter your moves.
Let’s walk through a game situation to see how the Real-Time Decision Manager is processing what to do when on offense. It’s the bottom of the 9th inning, the team is behind 3-2, 2 outs, runner on 1st, and the batter at the plate has an OPS of .832.
This would take you to the page in the Real-Time Decision Manager for that game situation. The Real-Time Decision Manager has pages organized first by managing on offense or defense and the inning, then it’s based on the score, outs, runner(s) on base, and batter OPS. Note the grouping in the illustration above that reveals the intersection highlighted by the red rectangle.
The icon symbols represent the decisions made by the Real-Time Decision Manager based on this game situation. The first symbol in the green, calls to send a green Run rating base runner from 1st to 3rd on a single, 2nd to Home on a single, or 1st to Home on a double.
The next symbol is calling for a pinch runner to come in for the current runner on 1st if the following condition is met with an available player on the bench: He has a higher Run rating than the current runner. If so, then choose an available player from the bench with the highest Run rating when in the 9th inning or extra innings or second highest Run rating when in the 7th or 8th inning.
Every game situation is covered from the top of the 1st to the bottom of the 9th or through extra innings. Even threatening weather conditions. And just like watching a Major League Baseball game, you may disagree with the manager’s decisions now and then. There may be times when you second-guess the Real-Time Decision Manager too; it comes with the territory.
Now you don’t have to play your solitaire games alone, you can always have the perfect companion to play your games against. Think you can out wit, out play, and out manage the Baseball Classics Real-Time Decision Manager?