Christopher Linden of the National Master Continuous Draft League (aka NMCDL aka “N-1450”) contacted me last night. Though his main purpose was to ask about finding managers to fill spots in his league, he did want to tell me how much he enjoys Scott Fennessy’s Deadball replay updates. If you haven’t checked them out, do so. They’re fun and an exit from our droll reality.
But back to Chris’ original request. I don’t normally put out ‘ads’ per se but I’m making an exception. I’m seeing requests like this more and more so I’m looking into efficient methods of implementing this into The APBA Blog. Matching leagues with managers, that kind of thing.
In the meantime, Chris forwarded this from his commissioner. I’m posting it in case it helps N-1450:
The National Master Continuous Draft League (NMCDL), aka the “N-1450”, is the only Master Game e-mail league in APBA. We finished up our first season several months ago and are now preparing for Season 2. We’re looking for a couple of owners who are looking for a good Master Game league where mail play is available.
We use the CMBA pitching system. What CMBA does in a nutshell is to make any pitcher a D or an A pitcher depending on the roll. If anyone has played the Master Game, you know that an “A” pitcher shouldn’t be an “A” on every single roll of the dice. CMBA also addresses HR and walks and fine tunes them to more accurately reflect the pitcher on the mound. We are a National league, so pitchers hit. No DH. I’ve set this league up as fairly as possible to make it as competitive as possible. No more 30 CG by A starters. Fatigue for pitchers is based on batters faced, which is close to real life. With the pitchers hitting, it does make for some interesting decisions in the 6th and 7th innings of our games. If you have additional questions about CMBA just ask, and I will explain it further.
The league right now has six owners with two teams currently on the shelf that were drafted last year. I’d like to get to 10 teams and have a completely new draft, but if we stay between 6-8 teams, we will continue with what we have. What we have right now is three drafts lined up, an auction first, then a standard free-agent draft, then a waiver draft to cover players who were cut in the first two drafts. We have it fair for teams losing a Pujols (which happened this year), plus Fielder and Greinke, among others.
Last year our league played a 2/3 season of 108 games. We did this because with six teams we do play each other a lot! The extra games weren’t needed, but also it made playing in the league more enjoyable in that you weren’t swamped with a lot of games each month. We played anywhere from 6-8 games at home each month. If we do expand to a full season, I think we will just add an extra couple months to the season, but this would probably only happen if we expand to the full 10 teams. The maximum the league could expand to would be 12 teams, but that is a long way off, if it would ever happen.
There is nothing a new owner has to do, except play, do stats, send instructions for his road games. The rest of the stuff is provided. We do play FTF online when possible, but it isn’t required. If you are interested, even just a little, please inquire and I will get more information to you and answer any questions you may have. One more thing, the master game doesn’t take much more time to play than the basic game. There is some fear out there that the game takes a long time, which isn’t the case. Yes, some games can take a while, just as they do in the basic game, but I don’t want that to shy you away from giving the master game a try. To my mind, playing the master game feels closer to real ball, something the basic game doesn’t provide. I can be contacted at
Good luck in finding someone, guys!
Hi Chris,
I have a question regarding the CMBA system. I understand the theory about not making A pitchers into gods, but if I am reading your comment properly it sounds a bit random on the adjustments. Mabye if you could provide an “in game” example I will understand better.
FYI Thank you for saying N O to the D H.
Don’t know if this is going to simply or complexinate, but is the CMBA primer:
1) It was created by the Central Massachusetts Baseball Association draft league, and was originally (I think) released to the public in an APBA Journal article. CMBA grades aren’t publicly available, but BBW add-ons can create them. It was designed for the Master Game.
1) CMBA has two grades on a 50-point scale, 1-50, higher is better. 1st grade (G1) is based on batting average allowed & is for bases empty. 2nd grade (G2) is based on ERA and is for runners on base. The two-grade system allows the game to replicate guys with abnormal hits-to-runs relationships. Master Game platoon splits to apply, though with a 5/3 adjustment to account for 50 grades instead of the MG’s 30.
2) There’s a chart that lists hit-prevented dice-roll ranges for each grade. On any preventable single (7-11, plus 12 & 35 for the super-low grade dregs) you reroll and if it falls within that grade’s range, the hit was stopped (a one-die roll then tells you what the out was). Example coming up.
It’s the year 2012, and a batter with an APBA-issued platoon rating of +5/-2 steps to the plate to lead off against Cincy righty Johnny Cueto. Cueto’s 2012 CMBA is 23 G1, 34 G2 (meaning he’s better with runners on). Because APBA has decreed the batter -2 against righties, we’ll call him -3 (-2 * 5/3) and add 3 points to Cueto’s 23 G1 (bases are empty, so we use G1; had a runner been on, we’d have added the three points to Cueto’s G2 of 34).
1) Roll the dice and it’s a 22-7.
2) Look up the hit-stop range for a Grade 26 against a play-result 7. Chart tells me the hit is stopped on 11-22 (looking at an old chart, which is all I got handy right now). Reroll for hit prevention. Roll a 14. Hit is stopped. A single-die roll (let’s say a 3) tells me that the out number to use instead is 31. Fly out to center.
Counter-example coming up.
1 out, bases empty, next batter to face Cueto (23/34) has an APBA-issued platoon split of -2/+6. We’ll take that +6, multiply by 5/3, and make him +10, then subtract those ten points from Cueto’s Grade 1 of 23, making him a Grade 13 for this at bat. Dice roll is 44-8. Chart says a 13 stops an 8 on 11-16. Hit-prevention reroll is 36. Base hit stands, check the boards for runner advancement.
Because a runner is now on, Cueto will be a Grade 34 to the next hitter, who’s platoon is 0/-4. The 5/3 change makes him -7, so Cueto is a Grade 41 here. 51-9. Grade 41 stops a 9 on 11-52. Reroll is 42. He’s out. Single-die roll is a 5, so chart says to use play-result 32.
There are also re-roll ranges for walks and home runs (strikeout letters stay the same).
All CMBA (pronounced “simba”, BTW) ratings, including platoon adjustments, are provided by the league.
Again, anyone with interest, please contact Don at the e-mail address above. The Master Game with CMBA adjustments is perfect for draft-league play and we want to keep mail-league play alive.
Happy Base Ball
Christopher Linden
Thanks for the info. While that cleared it up for me, it seems like a lot of extra work for each at bat. That said, it may seem longer than it is in reality.
Appreciate the clarification.