**
Welcome to USBN as the 2018 SOM Baseball Year moves forward with
the release this month of the latest seasons of
Strat-o-matic Cards, the new version of the computer game, the SOM baseball card viewer app and more Baseball Daily**
Comments from the Wolfman about
this current issue as we continue and begin our sixth year (2018) of operation and publication. This issue is full of
new exciting stories, interviews
and the latest news. As we
strive to continue to provide for
our
readers
the most unique and interesting aspects of Strat-o-matic Baseball
with key links
to Major League Baseball. Now it is time, once again, to meet some of the most interesting people
who
are connected to
the game we love.
2018 is
going to be another amazing year with all the
new products and services that
Strat-o-matic is
offering - so stay
tuned as you
ain't seen nothin' yet - from your staff at the USBN ....
Welcome - Welcome - Welcome - to
our first edition of your
Ultimate Strat Baseball
Newsletter
for the new and exciting 2018
Strat-o-matic Baseball Season. Yes, dear members we have been
gone for awhile - news of our demise is greatly exaggerated.
Now, we are back with a vengeance to pick up where we left off
as we begin this month, with another exciting year of
Strat-o-matic Baseball Game Play. Your editor, the Wolfman
is back!! But first lets talk Baseball ....
I don't know about you - but I see the 2018 MLB season as a
great mystery indeed. There are so many good teams that
exist now and with the recent trades and free agent signings, I
have no idea who is going to be the 2018 MLB Champ. Of
course the odds will favorite the Astros from the American
League as they only strengthened their team in the off season
with their new acquistions and as Mr. Richman said in his video
interview with us at "Opening Day", they have one of the most
powerful lineup of hitters one can remember for a long time.
But now, the Yankees, who no one expected to be there in the
American Championship series - and were just one game away from
returning to the World Series have murders row again with
Stanton and Judge and don't forget about Sanchez too! And what
about Cleveland which also was only one game away from winning
the World Series in 2016 that has their core players intact.
Don't count out Boston either with their new masher JD.
And how will the LA Angels do with Ohtani and what could be one
of the best defensive teams out there - its gonna be a crapshoot
in the AL, now on to the NL ...
Well Washington
is hungry and they still have a very good team with a balance of
hitting and pitching - so we can't count them out - the Dodgers
also who made it to the series and only one game away from a
Championship are still very strong only lost a wee bit with
their pullpen - and what about the Giants? Have they made the
right moves to fill their holes to win their division and unseat
the Dodgers? Milwaukee too made some key signings and is
an upcoming team as they showed last year - those two new all
star outfielders they have look mighty nice. And then,
there is my team the Cubs - who's pitching went way down last
year - did they fix that will all the new pitchers they brought
in (didn't lose any hitters although I was wishing for one more
speedy outfielder to be brought in) and how well will Darvish do
and can Morrow be a great closer. So within both leagues
great battles are going to erupt which means the 2019 card set
should be amazing ...
Speaking of cardsets - 2018 (based upon the 2017 MLB season) is
filled with lots of home run power (so can you win in a hitters
park or will you need a pitcher's park? Guess you better grab up
in your league any pitchers you can without ballpark homers on
their advanced cards!) and lots of strikeouts too. Who in your
league has Judge or Stanton or even JD Martinez - God Bless them
-- so it should be another great season of game playing for all
of us. Now on to what does this issue cover.
Well, I am
playing a bit of catch-up as the key new interviews were all
done last year and never posted == so it seemed like a good time
to begin with and get us back in the groove to get these out
first. Back in March of last year, we did Part One of a
two part interview with one of the most well-known and respected
teachers for Fantasy Baseball, Ron Shandler. So this time. we
are reprinting the first part of his interview to make it fresh
in your minds and then finish it up with the second part.
As some of our members might remember his new BABS system is
being touted as the best system out there to find the best
players for your league teams using so totally unique and alien
criteria, so we return with more questions of Mr. Shandler.
Then Marc Wass,
our co-founder of the newsletter and author of the Strat Wise
column, comes back with a sharing of what took place on
Strat-o-matic's "Opening Day", held Friday, February 16th, that
he attended this annual event. In edition he supervised
our video team as there is like 7 new videos on our Ultimate
Strat Baseball Youtube Channel dealing with "Opening Day" and
the new cards, all listed in his article as well. Then on
our SOM News page, if you haven't had time to keep up with all
the new stuff SOM is offering here in 2018, there is a complete
list of their new seasons and products as well as the new
updates for the computer game. In addition on this page is
a brief mention of the new Strat Tournament Player Club's new
"Worlds" champ - another article by Baseball Info Solution
(that's John Dewan's boys) on great defensive players, prospects
in the minors coming up and then we discuss again briefly, our
new improved and powerful Draft Guide (that was just released)
on the new players getting their first cards in the new 2018
cardset. Really, for our members in your Keeper Leagues
you have to check this out - very affordable and powerful. To
read more about this Draft Guide, click
here.
And finally,
two other interesting interviews are shared here, again
collected from last year - a great story told by Stephen Kahn,
the commission of the "Winter Need a Life League" (90 games via
Netplay) how he turned his team around, made the last playoff
spot and won the 2017 league season (as well as setup his team
to win their 2018 season) using an amazing strategy ... Plus, I
found author and fantasy game stat expert Derek Bain on Linkedin,
who also has played strat, to share with us some of his amazing
insights into winning with your team as well as key experiences
over the years playing many baseball simulation games. Of
course, as always we updated our recommend on-line baseball and
strat resource page and our recommend book page (don't forget
our members get a 10% discount on any books from Acta Sports).
We also wish to personally thanks those members who already have
purchased the new draft guide and added their contribution.
These contributions really help us with the costs we have to
maintain to keep the newsletter going and our website. We have
had several members in the past who have make such contributions
which are always greatly appreciated. You will find at the
bottom of each page a box where such contributions can be shared
with us via Paypal. We do this newsletter as a labor of
love, including our video channel on Youtube, to support this
game that we all love to play. We also do our best through
the newsletter to help the Game Company by sharing their latest
news and updates and we keep in touch with them on any new major
development. The simulated fantasy sports games is a very
competitive but highly popular hobby and we wish to see
Strat-o-matic continue to be successful as in turn, each year
they continue to improve the capabilities of the baseball game
making it even more realistic as well as using the new advances
in digital technologies. Anyway, if just a small group of
members were to make even a small contribution each month, it is
of immense assistance to us. Enough said ...
Further, as
your editor, the hardest task for me is not putting together the
newsletter so much but finding new and exciting information
related to Strat-o-matic Baseball or Major League Baseball, as
both of these areas are crucial for being successful in our
game. Over the past five years we have a combination of
articles, interviews, reports on tournaments, leagues and some
replays. We have been able to chat with people who have
worked with the game company. We have shared strategy and
draft tips. At times we have been able to create or
co-create special events. To me, as I have stated before,
this is a newsletter for all of us - it is a co-creation by all
of us. We each have our own special strat story to tell or
experience to share. All of our members have a chance to
be featured.
In our issues
we have covered all forms of game play from the leagues and
tournaments done on Baseball 365, to stories of leagues via
Netplay or all the various tournaments (and forms) held by the
Strat Tournament Player's Club. We have interviewed ex-MLB
ball players and Professional Baseball Announcers. Two of
our members have challenged ex-Major Leaguers in a Strat
Baseball Challenge. Plus, there is a ton, I mean a ton of
materials on our video channel too to supplement what you read
in the newsletter.
So lets begin
this new year of 2018 as the family we are - it is the
relationships we have with other strat gamers and the company
which makes this such an amazing experience - and then together,
take our newsletter to a higher level. I am always looking
for an assistant or two who can help me with getting new stories
and articles - or by working with me to create the newsletter
webpages. Such an individual can gain a greater experience
of what is it like to do such a newsletter. We are
providing this space so all of our members have a voice if you
want it.
Anyway - as
usual I apologize for writing so much but this 1st page is my
space to share my thoughts and views of what is happening in the
Strat Baseball and Major League Baseball Worlds. Our plan
for 2018 is to be a quarterly newsletter but I am also thinking
if special items or news comes up to post these via a bulletin
announcement and not wait till the next newsletter comes out and
then incorporate it later in the next newsletter. So don't
be shy feel free to chat with us. If you want to speak to
me personally please use my email below at the very bottom of
this page.
So glad to be
back and hope you enjoy this first issue of the Ultimate Strat
Baseball Newsletter.
If you missed
the file I sent out with our 1st bulletin of the year, which has
the lefty-righty split stats for the 2017 MLB season, you can
download it by clicking on this link:
Click Here for the Spreadsheet for Hitters/Pitchers vs LHP/RHP
