Now that opening day’s just a week away, I thought I’d start a pool for the SDMB’s fans of America’s pastime.
The game’s simple: Each week, pick the Major Leaguer who you think will hit the most homers in the upcoming week. At the end of the regular season, the participant whose picks hit the most HRs in the weeks that they were picked wins.
Now for the rules:
You may not pick the same player more than once over the course of the season. Your picks for each week don’t have to be unique, but please don’t just blatantly copy another participant’s picks.
You must make your pick for a week before the scheduled time of the first pitch of the first game of that week. You may pick players for any number of weeks in advance, and you may also change your pick at any time before this deadline.
Please make it clear exactly which player you wish to pick (and, if you’re picking players some weeks in advance, which week you wish to pick him for). If the player you wish to pick has the same name as another Major Leaguer, please give additional identification (such as his team).
Each week runs from Monday to Sunday, with exceptions being Week 1 (which will run from Sunday, April 4 to Sunday, April 11), and, if a one-game playoff is needed at the end of the regular season, that game will count as part of the last full week.
The total number of home runs your picks hit in the weeks you pick them will be used to rank participants. Ties will be broken by counting the number of at bats your picks accumulate in the weeks they are picked for (same number of HRs in fewer at bats is better).
Only regular season games count for accumulation of stats. Home Runs hit in the All Star game, Home Run Derby or Postseason games don’t count.
If a suspended game is resumed in a later week, the player who you selected in the week that the game was started will count for accumulation of stats.
I think that’s all you need to know; please let me know if you think of a scenario that isn’t covered by the above rules.
The deadline for picks for Week 1 is 8:05 PM (ET) on Sunday, 4 April
Why do we have to pick a new guy every week? I want to go with the long-shot Garret Jones, but I have no idea what week to pick him for. I’d rather just fill out a roster of, like, 5 guys and let it ride all season. You can sub out for injuries, of course.
Because everyone’s roster would be:
Fielder
Howard
Pena
Teixeira
And it would be decided by whoever your 5th player would be. This is interesting, keeps us active all season long, makes us look at matchups for the upcoming week, factoring for hot/cold streaks and balance that out with saving up the big dogs.
If you’re not looking to stay active, then fill out a roster of 35 guys and have it ride consecutively down the list.
Happy Opening Day!
hopefully there will be some more people playing. Come on people! This will be a fun and easy game to play, just one post a week is all that is required!
Week 1 I pick
Victor Martinez C Boston
I think you should let people submit their names all week long if they forget, they just don’t get to use the days they burned. (Guess on Tuesday, lose Mon./Tues.)
Good suggestions. I was originally planning to do it like this, but instead opted to do it by full weeks only because I thought it would be easier to implement the spreadsheet I am using to keep track of the stats. However, having thought about it more, I realize it will be no harder to do it day by day, even if some people don’t pick until after the week has started. Therefore, the following changes will be made to the rules:
**- You may make a pick for a week at any time during that week. However, in order for a day to count for accumulation of stats, your pick must be posted before the scheduled first pitch time of the game your pick is playing in. Please make it clear whether you are picking players for the remainder of the current week or for the whole of next week.
Any player who has already hit a home run earlier in the week is an invalid pick for the rest of that week. The scheduled time of the first pitch of that day’s game will be used to determine the validity of your pick (for example, if a game starts at 7:05, you make your pick at 7:15 and your chosen player homers at 9:00, the pick is invalid even though you made your selection before the player homered). This rule exists because it is difficult to determine the exact time a player homered unless I happen to be watching that particular game.
Any changes to your pick for the week must be made before the start of that week - no changing players in the middle of a week.**
Hopefully these changes will get a few more people playing. Please remember that Dustin Pedroia, Curtis Granderson and Jorge Posada are invalid picks for the rest of this week due to them hitting home runs in last night’s game.
Depending on who you want to pick, you have anywhere from 5 minutes to several hours to get your pick in for today - Good luck!
Mods: Can you please add a line to my OP directing people to look at this post for rule changes
Here’s some numbers to consider for reference for this game: There are 26 weeks in the season, and the average amount of HR by the top 26 sluggers last year was 37, an average of about 1.4/week. It’ll be fun to see how well the top players in this game do compared to that. With some good strategy, the winner should definitely beat the years MLB HR leader.