Sports Media Report
With baseball set to begin the 2020 season on fields across the U.S. this week, Strat-O-Matic (www.strat-o-matic.com) today completed the remainder of its simulation of the original league schedule, through the playoffs. The Los Angeles Dodgers, who finished the regular season with a league-best 112-50 mark, made it stand up in the postseason, winning the World Series, four game to one, over Houston, which posted a 109-53 mark during the year.
Individual awards were selected as follows:
AL MVP: Alex Bregman, Houston
NL MVP: Trevor Story, Colorado
AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander, Houston
NL Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles
AL Rookie of the Year: Luis Robert, Chicago
NL Rookie of the Year: Shogo Akiyama, Cincinnati
Strat-O-Matic will now simulate the amended 60-game schedule and playoffs for each team, with results to be announced later this week. Fans can access the full 2020 season standings, statistics and game results at https://www.strat-o-matic.com/2020-season-simulation/.
“We had such great feedback and interaction with veteran Strat-O-Matic players, new fans and media in simulating the full 2020 season,” said Hal Richman, Strat-O-Matic founder. “It’s interesting that in a season where anything can happen, the two teams with the best records met in the World Series and the best team, did, indeed, win.”
Some other statistics and items of note from the season:
- Luis Arreaz of Minnesota (.356) and Nolan Arenado of Colorado (.338) won the league batting titles, respectively
- Jorge Soler of Kansas City and Story both hit 51 home runs to lead their respective leagues. Soler knocked in 130 runs to lead the A.L., and Arenado had 127 RBI to pace the N.L.
- Eduardo Rodriguez won an A.L.-high 19 games for Boston, while Kershaw’s 21 wins and 2.16 ERA led the N.L.
- Other division winners were Tampa Bay (102-60), Minnesota (91-71), defending champion Washington (91-71) and Chicago (N.L.) (91-71). Wild cards were New York (95-67) and Oakland (90-72) in the A.L. and Philadelphia (90-72) and Atlanta (89-73) in the N.L.
- Higher seeds won every playoff round, including the Wild Card Games. The only series decided by a final game was the Washington-Chicago Division Series, a 3-2 Nationals win.
- In the World Series, Justin Turner hit .500 for the Dodgers, but Cody Bellinger was named MVP after hitting .381 with 4 HR and 7 RBI in the five games. Four Astros hit over .400 in the Series in a losing cause.
Strat-O-Matic has experienced unprecedented growth over the past quarter, registering sharp increases in sales, traffic and social numbers. Board and Windows games, digital platform Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365, Website traffic, new users and social media have all seen significant boosts over comparable time periods as fans continue to satiate their thirst for baseball, Strat-O-Matic style, connecting with the game and each other across all of these areas.
