BZ 1807: Pickoff Attempts Result in Outs Far Too Often

[beavcha]

I dont' know for sure if this is a bug, or a problem with the way the code handles pickoff attempts, but it's not very realistic. I did some experimentation, and here are the results:

Pickoff at first: I attempted 250 pickoff attempts at first base, of that 250 only 23 resulted in an out. That seems about right to me.

Pickoff at second: I attempted 350 pickoffs here. The reason I did more here than at first is simple..I was making sure that what I was seeing was actually happening and not just the game hung up somehow. Of my 350 attempts, 137 resulted in the runner being tagged out.

Pickoff at 3rd: I also attempted 350 pickoffs here. The 350 resulted in only 6 outs! But 107 of the attempts resulted in the following (I'm not sure about the exact verbage but it was close to this): "Out! But no, (insert name of 3rd baseman) drops the ball!"

Seems to me to be far too easy to pick runners off at 2nd and almost impossible to pick runners off 3rd because the stupid 3rd baseman keeps dropping the ball. Now on the Rangers, my local team, that result would probably be pretty close, but not for a game this fantastic. It's pretty easy to kill a rally when every 3 or 4 pickoff attempts at second base results in an out. I've now limited myself to the inital pickoff attempt. If that doesn't result in an out I pitch to the hitter. This is not a huge issue to me, but it does affect the realism of the game to an extent. Just something you might want to look into.

[hefalumps]

I don't typically try the pickoffs at third, but I have noticed the high success of pickoff attempts at second base. In fact, I will occasionally "abuse" this unintentionally to get out of a jam. I'm not saying I'll keep throwing over to 2B over and over until I get a guy out, but I probably try picking off people at 2B more than a real life team would because I know I have a higher chance of success.

Glad I'm not the only one that has noticed this. I noticed it in OOTP 2007/8 too. Probably needs to be looked at.

[StyxNCa]

Originally Posted by beavcha

I dont' know for sure if this is a bug, or a problem with the way the code handles pickoff attempts, but it's not very realistic. I did some experimentation, and here are the results:

Pickoff at first: I attempted 250 pickoff attempts at first base, of that 250 only 23 resulted in an out. That seems about right to me.

Pickoff at second: I attempted 350 pickoffs here. The reason I did more here than at first is simple..I was making sure that what I was seeing was actually happening and not just the game hung up somehow. Of my 350 attempts, 137 resulted in the runner being tagged out.

Pickoff at 3rd: I also attempted 350 pickoffs here. The 350 resulted in only 6 outs! But 107 of the attempts resulted in the following (I'm not sure about the exact verbage but it was close to this): "Out! But no, (insert name of 3rd baseman) drops the ball!"

Seems to me to be far too easy to pick runners off at 2nd and almost impossible to pick runners off 3rd because the stupid 3rd baseman keeps dropping the ball. Now on the Rangers, my local team, that result would probably be pretty close, but not for a game this fantastic. It's pretty easy to kill a rally when every 3 or 4 pickoff attempts at second base results in an out. I've now limited myself to the inital pickoff attempt. If that doesn't result in an out I pitch to the hitter. This is not a huge issue to me, but it does affect the realism of the game to an extent. Just something you might want to look into.

I agree. I am rarely able to pickoff a runner at first, although the AI teams can get me there, but I am able to pickoff quite a few more runners at 2B then I think should be possible.

[pstrickert]

BZ1807: pickoff success at 2B too high

[pstrickert]

BZ1807 is now "fixed" according to Markus.

[StyxNCa]

Originally Posted by pstrickert

BZ1807 is now "fixed" according to Markus.

Kinda bittersweet. Although it was successful too often, it was a big help to me at times.

[Nutlaw]

If you continue to see this problem after installing the upcoming patch, please post in Tech Support. Thanks.