
MLB games were played this opening weekend…but only on paper. Here’s how the eight AL home series simulations turned out.
If you’re as much of a baseball fan as I am, this is a sad day. It’s supposed to be the start of opening weekend, yet no games are being played…nor is there any expectation when MLB games might begin.
The uncertainty of the present circumstance can only be remedied one way … with a simulation.
More from Call to the Pen
- Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
- Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
- Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
- Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
- 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals
There are plenty of games on the market that will produce a reasonable facsimile of what might have taken place this weekend had those games been played.
This simulation uses one of those games which, out of a desire not to provide free advertising, shall remain unidentified.
For the vast majority of players, the simulation is based on the actual 2019 statistics generated by those players. In rare exceptions, modifications are required, and when that happens one of two avenues is taken.
For a handful of players whose 2019 experience was both abbreviated and sensational – think Sean Manaea and Gavin Lux – their 2020 projections are used to modify the 2019 data.
In a second and more difficult handful of cases where a player simply has no previous major league experience yet is expected to play a big part in his team’s 2020 season, projections are based on a fairly standard major league season. Those players include Louis Robert and Yoshitorro Tsutsugo
These projected outcomes follow the published MLB schedule. Are they accurate?
We’ll let you know that at such time as the actual Major League season gets underway.
In the meantime, root for your favorite simulated team.
The AL home series results follow. You can find the National League home series results in a companion article.