runners advancing

[aldente]

I've noticed two things that seem out of whack with advancing runners.

First, even relatively fleet footed runners tend to go station to station with two outs. Runners should be taking off on contact and even relatively sluggish players should make it from first to third with two outs, or from second to home.

The other thing is the trailing runner on plays at the plate. If there is a play at the plate and a runner on first or second, shouldn't that runner probably advance on the throw home? They NEVER do. It seems a realistic expectation to have those runners advance at least a fair portion of the time. It is the only reason to have a "cut off throws" as an option in the strategy section. As it stands there seems absolutely no reason to move that option up.

It is like the "corners in" option. It seems to have no positive effect on getting the runner at second, and only a negative effect in the case where you have guessed wrong and the batter swings and hits something sharp down the line.

Am I outa line on these?

[Jaja]

No, I haven't noticed that at all, although runners don't go 2nd to 3rd on throws home, or 1st to 2nd on throws to 3rd. But they do advance on other plays. As for the station to station thing, remember that the visuals are pretty basic and "tracked", not physics based. So there is no way to determine just what kind of hit was made, how far it traveled to the outfield, where the fielders were positioned, or whether the runner stumbled or misread the play, etc etc. Also consider the throwing arms of the outfielders... when I had an outfield of Cuddyer, Hunter, and Escobar, few liberties were taken, but when Figgins and a platoon of Matt Watson and a fictional RF joined the outfield 2 years later, not only did more balls make the gaps, but more runners advanced extra bases. For all the complaints, I gotta say, defense DOES matter in this game, and it is done quite well. Also, check the sliders under team strategies, i think there is one for baserunning that you can tweak for more or less aggression, tag-ups, etc.

[aldente]

I may be wrong on the station to station aspect of advancing on singles and will check my strategies bars on that and see if it helps to move them up... Mainly though, I was concerned about the failure to advance on throws to home. Runners on first and second SHOULD be advancing on throws to the plate. Why should you have the cutoff slide anywhere but zero when runners never advance on throws?

I do appreciate that the defense does make a difference in the game and I try to avoid having marginal or subpar defensive players whenever possible. It just bugs the heck out of me to see a play at the plate and see that runner with the 87 speed rating rooted on first base.

[aldente]

After playing some more I remembered what my "station to station" complaint was.... it is when there are two outs and runners should be taking off on contact, making the move from first to third or second to home almost automatic for any but the most leadfooted player. It is hard to change my mindset that a runner on second should score on almost anything hit out of the infield with two outs. Unless they are of the fleet afoot variety, they rarely if ever do.

No biggee really. Just an annoyance.

[Lex Logan]

I had a runner on first with 90 speed not advance to third with the hit and run play on and a single to left. I suppose the runner tripped :) .