Vol. IV, Issue #5 - July 2016

s** Interview with Scott Leitner
- the Illinois Valley Strat League **

(Yet another league I discovered on StratDraft via their
commissioner, out of my home state of Illinois.)

(Notes from the Wolfman:  This month we got lucky again and were able to meet another great commissioner from a league based out of Illinois.  I want to thank Scott for being so open to answer all of my questions and tell us about their very fine computer based league.  He has some interesting stories to tell us of what it has been like for him to be the commissioner, so we welcome Scott to our USBN family.  Ok enough chit-chatter, let's get on with Scott's interview .... Oh yes, he is another person I found via StratDraft through their service to help leagues find new members.)
 

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Wolfman:  I would like to welcome to our newsletter Scott Leitner, the commissioner of the Illinois Valley Strat League (IVSL) which is a computer based strat baseball league using the current cards this league originating from within the great state of Illinois, or as those of us were reminded, as we grew up the, "The Land of Lincoln".

Scott, thanks so much for spending time with us here at the Ultimate Strat Baseball Newsletter.

Scott:  I'm glad to do it Wolfman.

Wolfman:  Scott, I like to ask of those I interview, some personal questions first to give our members chance to meet you and know little bit about your background before we talk about Strat and your fine league. So first, which part of the world do you live in right now and is this where you grew up? So then, is this where your league originated and do you have league meetings to play your games in person or is everything done online?
 

Scott:  I've lived in Central or North Central Illinois most of my life and this is where the league originated. It started with the board game which I learned from one our founding members, Rick Graves, who is still part of the league. Then from there, I taught a few other people, including my sister and my friends John & Greg how to play the game. Of course, that's when we were doing the game face to face. Over the years, it's morphed into other forms and we changed the name twice, but it's still the same league.

Wolfman:  When you were younger - did you actually play baseball and if so what was your
best position?

Scott:  I wasn't very good at baseball when I was younger and thus, I never played in high school. It wasn't until I was out of college and had moved back to Illinois before I figured out how to hit the ball and be an effectively fielder. I even became a coach for my son's tee ball & little league teams, mostly coaching defense. I'm pretty good at 2nd base now though.

Wolfman:  What about which MLB team did you root for when you were younger and are you still fan of this team? Are there any ball players you really followed or were your favorite players?

Scott:  I've been a Cardinals fan since I was 5 years old (1968) and I still root for them, although since I started playing Strat, I have greater appreciation of other teams. Now I can look at all the players and teams more objectively. I've always said I'm a baseball fan first. Like this year, I'm convinced that the Cardinals won't finish much above .500. I'm pragmatist.

As far as players go, my hero was Bill Doran. I had him on several of my teams during his playing days and I loved his defense. Related to a more recent player that would be my current SS, that would be Francisco Lindor. I just love everything about the kid. When we were all discussing who our first round picks wound be (I was drafting 9th), Lindor was my key guy and I got him.

Wolfman:  How did you hear about SOM Baseball? When did you first begin to play the game?

Scott:  I actually started learning in college in 1985 from my friend Rick, who was president of the
Heart of Illinois Gamers and we'd hang out a lot in the college's game room either playing Strat, cards or role playing various board games like Dawn Patrol (a WWI flying combat game). He taught me everything about the SOM board game and in 1986, we decided to start the Varn League, which was my home town at the time. It's a little town of about 500 people in North Central Illinois.

Wolfman:  What is your history participating in leagues (face-to-face or computer based)? Have you ever played in any tournaments?

Scott:  I've only ever been in 2 leagues...ours and the Greater Half Moon, which I did for only 2
years. I met my #2 Rich Weinberg there and now he's in our league. It's all computer based and I've actually made some changes in our league based on what I learned from the other league, such as managers running their home games and so on. Unlike the other league, though, we play from month to month where the other league goes half year, then submits a new computer manager and then runs their games for the 2nd half of their season. I've never been in tournaments because I don't really have the time.

Wolfman:  How did the IVSL come into existence? Where did the name come from for your league?

Scott:  The Illinois Valley Strat League originally started out as the Varn League, as I said in 1986. It included my closest friends and my sister. By the mid-90's, we had moved to Peoria, IL and then we renamed the league to the Peoria League. It stayed thais way until 2010, I think it was, when we renamed it the Illinois Valley Strat League, although by that time we were doing a lot of our league play by computer. By this time, we had members from all over, including Maryland, California & Toronto. Now, our league still has 5 members from my area and 7 members from outside Illinois. Prior to this year, managers had choice as to whether they would submit their settings via a computer manager file or by email. This season, we decided to "get with the program" and put the fate of our games into the managers' hands for home games. We still have one manager who won't buy the game and does it by email.

Wolfman:  What is the name of the team you manage?

Scott:  I manage the Staunton Bunnies. The name comes from Route 66 attraction called Henry's Rabbit Ranch in Staunton, IL. Last season, I took the year off and lost my old Dodge Bullets team. My current team was originally my son's team from 2 years ago. He didn't have the patience or the time so I took over. When I came back this season, the team appealed to me despite the lack of pitching, because they could hit home runs, which has never really been a benchmark for my teams. It's been a real challenge never-the-less.

Wolfman:  Can you describe the structure of your league and how the playoffs work?

Scott:  The league has 3 divisions: East, Central & West. Previously, we had them broken down into area, but last year the league couldn't find 4 new managers and thus froze 4 teams, including my current Staunton Bunnies team. When I came back and we found the three managers to fill our openings, including Rich Weinberg, these teams became unfrozen. Then it was decided to put them into a division of their own and reshuffle the existing teams for more parity. The team with the best record plays the wild card team while the other 2 division winners play each other. The rest is self explanatory. The first round is 5 games and the remaining 2 rounds are 7 games.

Wolfman:  How do you create your teams (players you keep from year to year and your draft and trades) and can you discuss any key rules in your league? What is your personal view on how to build your own teams?

Scott:  Our league has been a 16 player keeper league since the 1990's and we use a straight draft order instead of the serpentine order like some leagues do. We've been using StratDraft for something like 6 years now and I wouldn't change that for anything. Our rules are pretty basic: home games are played by the home managers and they can control their lineups during those games. Each team has to submit a computer manager file by the 5th of every month. I then issue an lzp file so they can run their games. They then have until the 25th to run their games, zip up the game results files and send these files to me. Then they post the  box scores in our Yahoo group. Once that's done, I issue another lzp file with the results & post the line scores on StratDraft along with the league standings.

Trades can be made any time, but any player traded after August 31 is not eligible for the playoffs. I'm a traditionalist when it comes to building teams. I believe in pitching and defense, this the way how I try to draft all my teams. This year, I was at disadvantage due to the lack of pitching depth on my team (since I inherited it) and the lack of available starters. I do have John Lackey & Cole Hamels, but they can only do so much. In the past, I had always played "Whitey Ball" & had lots of speed. I have some this year but it's not as strong as what I had with my Dodge team. However, I have tons of power hitters and lead the league in home runs thanks to David Ortiz. This is a .500 team at best due to the pitching I have, so I'm going to have to take time to rebuild it the way I want my team to be.

Wolfman:  What is your life as the commissioner of the IVSL like? How much time does it take, and what are your duties? Do you have other officers in your league?

Scott:  I wasn't the original commissioner...that title belonged to Rick Graves up until last year when I took my year away from the league. However, when I came back, I took over the reins from George Taylor, who had run the league in my absence last year and had done so, a couple of years previously. Because of the nature of how we were getting our submissions of the data files from some of the managers, it got to be very tedious. This is one reason why I came back this year as the commissioner with the provision that we change how we submit the league CMs and play the games.

You see, in previous years, when I was league secretary, I'd spend several days making out the schedule and posting it online for all of the managers to see who they would be playing and then submit their rosters, rotations and lineups. I would then run all of the games for the month and post the results. This year's change eases that burden. George is technically still an officer of the league but I've taken the day to day operations over from him. Rich Weinberg is my 2nd.

Wolfman:  Scott have you ever been the champion of the IVSL? Is so, when did this happen and what type of team did you have then? Can you expand more about the type of team you generally like to create? How did your team do last season?

Scott:  I have been champion before, mostly in the 80's. I've always based my teams on speed, defense and pitching, although this year's team defies those odds as I explained before. For me, it's all about defense. I won't play someone in the field who is a "4" and generally, I have my regular lineup filled with "2's" or "1's". I went after Francisco Lindor mostly for that reason. Last year, I sat out because I was frustrated with how everything was going. I hated having to do everything for the league and I needed a rest.

Wolfman:  How is the relationship of your members amongst each other? Is there one member who dominates the league and consistently wins championships -- or the league very competitive and you have quite a few different people who win your league?

Scott:  We've had a very cordial relationship generally among the members, that is until this year, when I made the change in our procedure how to play the games. Some of the members either didn't understand this change or they didn't want to do what was needed to be done to progress our league. Specifically, this was true of our league champion, who has been the league champion for the last few seasons due to his pitching staff and his hitters. Even with keeping (protecting) just 16 players before our draft; he knows how to pick very good players in the draft and is one of our founding members.

Unfortunately however, he also refuses to obtain the computer baseball game and would rather bribe another member to run his games and do his computer manager. The season didn't start off well either because I got into an argument with one of the other managers who left the league, who came back a month later when he left with 3 other managers, so then we had to find new people. The league got off to very slow start and when I came back, I had no choice but to take over completely the operation of the league. Thankfully, we're now on track again.

Wolfman:  When you have had successful (playoff bound team) what were the keys to your success with this team (or teams)? Is there special strategies you use to build your team? And special strategies you use when playing your games?

Scott:  As I have said throughout this article, I still contend that defense and pitching will win. I have finished 2nd many times when I had the pitching but the hitting was mediocre. Whenever I've had the best hitting team, I always finished low in the standings because the pitching wasn't there. Just like most managers, I place my speed at the top and bottom of my order. We're a DH league, so this is easy enough. I'm also a hawk when it comes to usage. When I draft, I get at least 650 Plate Appearances per position and my innings will always be more than 1600 total (1200 for the starters). Those are firm numbers because I hate overusage.

Wolfman:  We always ask those we interview if they have any tips or advice for our members that could help them with success with their game playing?

Scott:  Even in a 12 team league like ours, you won't always get what you need. Concentrate on pitching if you can. If not, do the best you can and try to build around one key player and keep your team defense. It'll win you games, is all I know and have seen many times. Your team could be the best hitting team in the league but you're more than likely will be at the bottom of your division if you don't have pitching or defense. My pitching isn't great because this year because there wasn't a whole lot of good available pitchers in the draft. Thus, I went after innings and prospects. I know I'm not going to win this year. After 3 months, I'm right near .500.

Wolfman:  How did you do in the other league you joined before your current one?

Scott:  When I was in the Greater Half Moon Baseball League for a couple years, this was a much bigger league than our current one and I found I couldn't gain any ground there so I prefer the smaller size leagues.

Wolfman:  What do you like about the IVSL? What is the key for the longevity of your league?

Scott:  The size of the league is what matters to me. You can generally get the players you want since we can protect only 16. We do have an option that if you want to protect more players than you have to give up draft picks for every one you keep, starting with your 2nd pick. So you had better make sure that 17th player is worth that 2nd rounder.

This season, when I went to go to the draft, I had trouble getting my 16 keepable players so I traded my 2nd round draft pick for Ben Zobrist & Kevin Kiermaier and picked up Cole Hamels for an 8th rounder (which was steal). As for the longevity, it's about me, Rick, George and Jeff, the original managers, wanting to keep the league going despite my absence last year and a couple of years ago. It can be frustrating running a league and I don't always get the help I need, but in the end, it's worth it.

Wolfman:  Have you had any special experiences (certain games that stand out in your mind that you played or series you played) being a manager in the IVSL that were amazing or very unusual games, or just something you are proud of. Maybe some key trade you made ...?

Scott:  My 2014 draft was a high water mark for me. I had Max Scherzer, David Price, Andrew Cashner and few other big name pitchers, plus I had players like Nolan Arenado, Adeiny Hechavarria, Starling Marte, Yadi Molina and Manny Machado on my Dodge team. I had the 2nd best record in the whole league and went to the World Series. I was really proud of that team, but got beat in 4 games by the team that won 109 games that year.

Last year, the manager who took over for me basically gutted the team and I was disappointed to find out that several of my key players were gone. I had chance to take Dodge back, but it wasn't the same team I drafted despite having Scherzer, Price and Machado....everyone else was gone.

Wolfman:  Why do you personally like playing SOM - did you try other baseball games like SOM?

Scott:  SOM has been something I've enjoyed playing since 1986. It was my true introduction to baseball, and seeing the game of baseball in a whole new way as well as appreciating all players, not just the Cardinals. I've seen managers who favor one team over another and every one of those teams has trouble winning. You have to diversify if you're going to play in a good league. I also got good at collecting Strat cards and even spent a bit of money to have a custom set made back in the early 90's based on characters by one of my favorite authors. Unfortunately, when we moved to our current house, all of those were lost. No other game has held my attention.

Wolfman:  Finally is there anything else you would like to share with our members that I didn't ask you before that you think is important to let them know about?

Scott:  Let your passion for the game rule you but don't let it lock you in place. Of course, your real life has to come first and if you can't uphold your standards, walk away and try again at another time or in another league. Always remember that if you do, you will miss it greatly. I've gotten discouraged twice in the last 5 years at being the league secretary and have come back because I missed it. I came back under my own terms because the league needed me. It was in great danger of folding and I brought it out of the ashes because it was worth saving.

The nice thing about StratDraft is the ability to look for new members when you have need and I think we have a great group of managers who can keep this going.  Lastly, when you name your teams, be creative. Use cities and names that either mean something or are funny. The last couple of years I have gotten away from that, and part of it was because I wasn't around much.

Wolfman:  So thanks Scott for spending time with us. Good Luck in the current season
of the IVSL with another exciting season of play for you and your league members.

And if member of the newsletter wanted to contact you or had some questions for you, is this possible and if so what is the best way to do it?

Scott:  My email is: athosmr2003@gmail.com
That's the one the league uses as well & I receive emails on 3 different devices.

Wolfman:  Can we share your league website?

Scott:  We no longer have a website. Instead, like the Greater Half Moon, we use Yahoo Groups and it works well for us.

Wolfman:  All the best and thank you Scott.

Scott:  Thanks again for interviewing me Wolfman! Great questions!