If you hit a ground out, more of the bat hit the top part of the ball, making the ball go toward the ground. When you hit a pop fly, more of your bat hit the bottom of the ball making it go high into the air. If you hit the ball dead on, you will get the ball out of the infield and into the outfield. Since we are here.... If you swing early with a right handed pitcher, the ball will go down the 3rd base line. If you swing late with a right handed pitcher, the ball will go down the 1st base line. The degree's of movement are directly porportional to your hitting the ball early, on time or late. So, not only do you have to hit the ball dead on, you have to time your swing dead on to hit a deep ball down center field. That is how it is determined where balls batted go.
I remember bringing the pitching rotation up before the season started and I was told we were allowed to change our rotation. There's no way we should have to go through a whole season with the guys we put in there to begin the season. You dont see guys staying in the rotation in real life if they give up 6-7 runs a game do you?
How in the hell would it matter if all you have to do is stand in the circle? Oh and while you're explaining that tell me how I can get my players to not overthrow first base.
Of course some things are computere determined. Why does Brett Hull outskate Al MacInnis on a breakaway? Because he's a faster skater and his rating is higher. Why does Albert Pujol punish bad pitches while Bo Hart hits the same pitch and it dribbles to the pitcher? Because they aren't the same player and have different ratings, hot/cold zones, etc. Also, each pitcher has different ratings on different pitches. One guy might have a deadly fastball, while another pitcher's fastball is only his 3rd best pitch (mainly relievers). Why does Jamal Lewis run over LB's while Tiki Barber gets knocked for a loss? Because they are different backs. This game isn't played in a vacuum with all of the players having the exact same rating. If it was like that, noone would play it and it would be quite boring. I don't expect my catcher to get as many hits as my centerfielder, even when they are swinging at the same pitches. I don't understand why this isn't obvious to everyone. This is nothing new, every single sports game works this way.
It helps if you're facing home plate on popups. If you're facing the outfield, there's a good chance that your IF will drop the ball and not see it. Before throwing the ball to 1B, get your momentum going to 1B first by running a step or two. You'll throw the ball harder and more accurately. Again, your number of errors aren't out of line from the real thing. What's the problem here? Your players WILL make unforced errors from time to time (probably one per game), that's baseball, it's part of the game of baseball. If they didn't, we'd be complaining about that too and that the game isn't realistic because fielders never throw the ball wild or drop them from time to time. If it were always automatic, the game would be very very boring.
Dude. IF you have a Short Stop who not only can't catch, but makes errors and throws over your first basemans head, you need to pull him and put someone else in. It is time for a substitute.
I notice the errors happen when the programming says they should. I didn't notice that it has anything to do with the flow of the game. I actually don't think the confidence meter serves any purpose. By offline I meant playing against another human. Not the CPU. Keeping you on your toes and having to sweat a routine pop fly that you have been under for 10 secs is a different story. If I am under a pop fly for a significant amount of time, I expect my fielder to catch it. Not have it bounce off his head for a triple. Doesn't matter. I was just saying that I do not like Pro and find the games on All Statr & Legend much more balanced. I am not blaming my 3-8 record on the Pro setting either. I have actually had some really competitive games on Pro. When the BS happens to me or my opponent I am equally disgusted about it. Like MP said, I want to win or lose based on my knowledge of the game. Not some random programming code.
Unfortunately, that's how these team sports games work. It's a fine balance between user input and the ratings of the players that you're controlling. Most people find it more entertaining to play a game that resembles the real product. Good players player well, crappy ones don't. If the bench warmer hit 70hrs in a season and you could hit .350 with anyone in the lineup, I think most would find that boring too. I don't think it can be 100% based on knowledge of the game and user input like the single player sports games (Links, Top Spin, MotoGP2, etc) it's a mix of both. However, if you look at Sega's hockey game, some of our better players in the league use the lower rung teams and are very successful. Gurps was unstopppable with the lowly Sabres last season, and is doing it again with Pittsburgh this year. The Flames are downright awful in the game, but Skater works his magic with them. Ted Danson was unstoppable with the Buffalo Bills in the NFL league. dan53080 is doing great so far with the Brewers. mnkytrix and Skater have winning records with two sub-par teams in the DBacks and Padres. Marauders is blowing people away with the Texas Rangers. I could on... for every one of these team sports games (EA Sports is the same way too). Some of your success depends on your team and the skill or your individual players, but not so much that it can't be overcome or that it's predetermined that you'll have a bad result with them. I'd say it's more like 80/20 in favor of the user. I have what is supposed to be one of the best lineups in baseball, along with arguably the best hitter in baseball (Pujols). Yet, my team batting average is near the bottom of the league, Pujols is struggling to stay over .200 and Scott Rolen is hitting .125. In this case, it's not something wrong with my players... it's me swinging at junk in the dirt and out of the strikezone and not being patient enough.
Here are the ratings for defense on the default rosters. Colorado Rockies - 90 Houston Astros - 90 Seattle Mariners - 90 Boston Redsox - 90 Arizona Diamondbacks - 89 (clearly not the worst as was previously said.) Los Angeles Dodgers - 88 St. Louis Cardinals - 88 Detroit Tigers - 88 San Francisco Giants - 87 New York Yankees - 87 California Angels - 86 Atlanta Braves - 85 Minnesota Twins - 84 Baltimore Orioles - 83 San Diego Padres - 82 Cincinnati Reds - 82 Philadelphia Phillies - 82 Montreal Expos - 81 Milwaukee Brewers - 80 Tampa Bay Devil Rays - 80 Chicago Cubs - 79 Oakland A's - 79 Chicago WS - 77 Florida Marlins - 77 Kansas City Royals - 76 Pittsburgh Pirates - 75 New York Mets - 75 Texas Rangers - 75 Cleveland Indians - 73 Toronto Blue Jays - 70
Funny that we are both noticing the same random errors and that our teams defense levels are really close to the bottom. Must be us.
You just reminded me of another thing I hate about this game. The National League pitchers hit way too well. I have noticed this no matter what the game setting.
That's not right my Rockies are horrible in the field. I've had 2 or 3 5 error games and Helton keeps missing easy throw at first, very frustrating.
Yeah your team defense sucks. Its part of the game and you are the one that chose them. You have a great offense to back that up.
Exactly! Your team is rated the best D in the game. You should rarely have an error that isn't your fault.
They bat all the time, it is the part of their league. The American league pitchers only bat when playing at a National league park. Now how the heck do you think a player who never bats is going to preform against a player who does it all season in every game he is in?
