I have been playing Hardball Dynasty for quite a while now and I cannot seem to get over the hump and see some playoff success or at the very least some playoff opportunities. Really enjoy the game, but getting over the hump and having some success would be nice too. Any suggestions?

Playoffs are a coinflip...teams get hot and cold and before you know it, you're out. Half of my teams that have won championships were teams that I thought had no shot. On the other hand, I had a juggernaut that lost in the NLCS something like 8 times out of 9 (seriously). Your Montreal team is solid, if anything maybe it tilts a bit too much towards speed and defense and could use some power.

One thing I added that has helped me recently is to track my team stats across a five-year trend. I look at basic stats like OPS and WHIP, but also things like SB and SB allowed per game, plus and minus plays per game. Pulling it out to a macro view helps me figure out why a 95 win team is suddenly 81-81, and where I need to add a piece or two in free agency the next season.

The two biggest factors for making and succeeding in the playoffs are 1) your ability to use your budget efficiently and then use those funds to 2) evaluate and acquire the best players. If you're letting more than $1M go to waste in a given season (unused player or prospect payroll, wasting money on advanced scouting or coaches), you're probably doing it wrong. I plan out my budgets 5 to 10 years out in a spreadsheet so I know exactly how much I'm paying to who and what I'll be able to do in FA or prospect acquisition in future seasons.

IMO, to have consistent success in the playoffs you need at least 10 guys that are near the top of the league at their position surrounded by decent role players. There's a couple ways to do this. Mine is a fairly typical strategy that I've found works best for me - rebuild for a few seasons picking up one good/great top 10ish draft pick paired with one good/great IFA. After I've got at least six really good pieces from that I'll start competing, drop all my prospect budgets to $0 and grab the rest of the high impact guys I need in FA. I might have to extend my rebuild a year if I whiff in the draft and/or IFA. So many owners get stuck in a cycle of mediocrity where they don't really have a plan, let millions in budget go to waste, spend way too much on average players, never take the plunge and do a full tear down or start competing before having enough pieces in place, etc. etc.

A good lesson in player evaluation and how most owners don't understand it as well as they could is Hector Chisenhall. He was taken with the 31st pick in his draft. I had him #2 on board behind only a HoF level SP. Loads of teams passed on a guy that might be the best vsRHP his league has ever seen because they saw his 0 rating VsLHP. Hector has a 1.030 career OPS, a .466 OBP(!!) and crushes it in the playoffs. Yes, those numbers are mostly vs righties but 2/3's of the pitchers in leagues are righties. I was able to trade for him early in his career by giving up an 88 OVR 3B/SS and a 75 OVR RP, both whom were very good players but not elite. And I gladly gave those guys up because Hector is a god. Yet he was passed by almost every team in the draft and nobody tried trading for him for his first three seasons in the league.

Anyway, the point in the above example is that you need to have a discerning eye for guys that are heads and shoulders above their peers. Especially when they are a bit unconventional and most of the league can't see their true value.

Then there's all the small tips and tricks that add up to a few extra wins - playing cheap C's (or anyone really) with huge bats in RF, using opposite handed openers in playoff series to exploit lefty/righty matchups, waiting until the last coaching hiring cycle to get really good ML coaches for $400-600K, acquiring good switch hitters when the opportunities arise, scanning the DITR pool when it drops and finding good value there, etc. etc.

TL;DR - don't settle for mediocre or even good players, you want great players and quite a few of them. But you have to know what greatness looks like and know how to use your budget to get those guys.

Hector Chisenhall, career, vs RHP: .398/.503/.662
Hector Chisenhall, career, vs LHP: .246/.386/.373

(note-- above OBP do not count his HBP; he likely gets hit a lot due to temper = 10)

He's not only a GREAT player, he's fun as hell to own. And because his OVR is only 78, brianplath signed him long-term for $6M a year. Just awesome.

He is fun as hell to own! A .386 OBP despite a 0 vsLHP rating is crazy to me. The only downside to watching his career is knowing that a guy with his level of talent doesn't have a chance of sniffing the hall due to platooning.

Posted by bogden1971 on 11/8/2023 6:35:00 PM (view original):
I have been playing Hardball Dynasty for quite a while now and I cannot seem to get over the hump and see some playoff success or at the very least some playoff opportunities. Really enjoy the game, but getting over the hump and having some success would be nice too. Any suggestions?

Unfortunately it’s entirely to random and feel the logic is purposely set this way to create this result. Something seriously changed a number of years ago with the game logic and the results just have been far too unpredictable.

Posted by brianplath on 11/9/2023 10:03:00 PM (view original):
The two biggest factors for making and succeeding in the playoffs are 1) your ability to use your budget efficiently and then use those funds to 2) evaluate and acquire the best players. If you're letting more than $1M go to waste in a given season (unused player or prospect payroll, wasting money on advanced scouting or coaches), you're probably doing it wrong. I plan out my budgets 5 to 10 years out in a spreadsheet so I know exactly how much I'm paying to who and what I'll be able to do in FA or prospect acquisition in future seasons.

IMO, to have consistent success in the playoffs you need at least 10 guys that are near the top of the league at their position surrounded by decent role players. There's a couple ways to do this. Mine is a fairly typical strategy that I've found works best for me - rebuild for a few seasons picking up one good/great top 10ish draft pick paired with one good/great IFA. After I've got at least six really good pieces from that I'll start competing, drop all my prospect budgets to $0 and grab the rest of the high impact guys I need in FA. I might have to extend my rebuild a year if I whiff in the draft and/or IFA. So many owners get stuck in a cycle of mediocrity where they don't really have a plan, let millions in budget go to waste, spend way too much on average players, never take the plunge and do a full tear down or start competing before having enough pieces in place, etc. etc.

A good lesson in player evaluation and how most owners don't understand it as well as they could is Hector Chisenhall. He was taken with the 31st pick in his draft. I had him #2 on board behind only a HoF level SP. Loads of teams passed on a guy that might be the best vsRHP his league has ever seen because they saw his 0 rating VsLHP. Hector has a 1.030 career OPS, a .466 OBP(!!) and crushes it in the playoffs. Yes, those numbers are mostly vs righties but 2/3's of the pitchers in leagues are righties. I was able to trade for him early in his career by giving up an 88 OVR 3B/SS and a 75 OVR RP, both whom were very good players but not elite. And I gladly gave those guys up because Hector is a god. Yet he was passed by almost every team in the draft and nobody tried trading for him for his first three seasons in the league.

Anyway, the point in the above example is that you need to have a discerning eye for guys that are heads and shoulders above their peers. Especially when they are a bit unconventional and most of the league can't see their true value.

Then there's all the small tips and tricks that add up to a few extra wins - playing cheap C's (or anyone really) with huge bats in RF, using opposite handed openers in playoff series to exploit lefty/righty matchups, waiting until the last coaching hiring cycle to get really good ML coaches for $400-600K, acquiring good switch hitters when the opportunities arise, scanning the DITR pool when it drops and finding good value there, etc. etc.

TL;DR - don't settle for mediocre or even good players, you want great players and quite a few of them. But you have to know what greatness looks like and know how to use your budget to get those guys.

A spreadsheet guy, I LOVE IT! I've done a lot of spreadsheet in Cobbfather. Perhaps we can chat one day.

@minihouston

It's nothing fancy. Just a 10-ish year projected salary payroll and spending budget so I know roughly how long my contention window will last and when to plan for the eventual rebuild.

I can't get over the hump because I trade away all-stars for two good players

Posted by SimSoxs on 12/19/2023 8:43:00 PM (view original):
I can't get over the hump because I trade away all-stars for two good players

Thanks for the constructive comments.

Posted by brianplath on 11/9/2023 10:06:00 PM (view original):
He is fun as hell to own! A .386 OBP despite a 0 vsLHP rating is crazy to me. The only downside to watching his career is knowing that a guy with his level of talent doesn't have a chance of sniffing the hall due to platooning.

This brings up a great point. While its not the be all to end all I find a lot of owners that have a lot of success will utilize the platoon quite a bit. Rather then having 8-9 guys that are mediocre to very good, successful owners take advantage of the guys that are only good against left handed pitching or right handed pitching and they slot them into the lineup to platoon with a player that does well against the opposite. Typically for me that will be corner fielders or catchers.

They make for a great pinch hitting opportunity as well. This all ties into remembering that this is a sim and not real life baseball and exploring that. would a guy have crazy splits like the one Brian listed above in real life? Maybe very rarely but in HBD its quite common.

Next thing is a lot of people have their own categories for players but for me there are 5 tools for lineup players in HBD (that are very different then the 5 tools in real life baseball)

They are (in no particular order)

Hitting for contact
Hitting for power
base running
defense
versatility (how many positions they can play)
with the occasional 6th being pitch calling
(being able to take a walk is important too...... I guess there's 7)

After you figure out who the all stars and game breakers are, getting a player in the 2nd, 3rd or 4th round of the draft or off of free agency that has 2-3 of these tools can be super valuable.

For me personally I love having a gold glove caliber shortstop that can come off the bench that can also run. That way you have him come in when you are at bat in the 8th, steal a base or score from second on a single and then he comes in to shut it down in the 9th. Or a catcher that can take a walk and then assist your bullpen with a pitch calling of 90 in the bottom of the inning. Chances are these guys can't hit a lick and will have splits, power and contact around or below 30, but that is exactly why other owners will pass on them and you can get them in a later round of the draft as a throwaway or pick them up late in free agency for 1.5-2 million.

The last part, and I find this is a big one in HBD is figuring out what trends are in the world you are in, and then going the opposite of them. Typically owners will overpay for power hitting and homeruns as well as a good starting pitcher. People are spending all of their money there meaning defense, slap hitters and bullpen arms are coming cheap. Now, thats not always the case and things will change year over year. But it helps to have an idea what is trending.