4th Street Baseball - Information Page

 

Playing the Game

Select your teams, select the ballpark you are to play the game in, choose your pitchers and make out your starting lineups. 

Using the players shown below, we will run through some examples to demonstrate how the game is played.

Notice that the pitcher is a lefty (his “Thr” grade is “L”) and that the batter hits right-handed (his “Bts” grade is “R”).


The following 5 examples provide a tutorial as to how to play the game.

Example #1…Batter vs. Fielder Matchup
 Select a card from the deck. This will be the type of pitch thrown to the batter. In this example, we’ll assume a “Fast Ball” card was selected.


 Roll all five dice. For our first example, this is our dice roll:
  o Red d10 = 3
  o White d10 = 7
  o D20 = 8
  o First d6 = 1
  o Second d6 = 5


 Combine the two 10-sided (d10) dice…colored die first, white die second. In our example, a red “3” and a white “7” would read “37”.


 Look down the “Match” column (under “L” if facing a left-handed batter, “R” if facing a right-handed batter) on the pitcher until you find the range of the d10 combination. More details are provided below (assuming that the hitter is right-handed):

So in our example of a d10 combo roll of “37”, the matchup is with the CF, since “37” falls between the range of “36” through “41” .


 Our matchup is between the batter and the center fielder.

 Find the batter’s “OF” grade against LHP (remember, our pitcher is a lefty). This number is found in the “vs LHP” column directly under “OF”, and in this case is a “15”.


 Find the center fielder’s “CF” grade. Since we didn’t show the fielder before, let’s assume that his “CF” grade is a “6”. (If you look at our batter, you will see that he is a catcher with a defensive grade of “5”).


 Subtract the two grades…in this case, 15 – 6 = 9. If the twenty-sided
die (d20) is less than or equal 9, the batter wins the matchup. If not, the fielder wins the matchup. Since our d20 roll was an “8”, the batter wins the matchup.


 Add the two six-sided dice (d6) and find the result on the player who won the matchup. Our two d6 were a “1” and a “5” for a total of “6”. Looking under “OF” in the “vs LHP” column on the batter and across from the “6”, we see that the result code listed there is "20."


 Find the result of the play on the “Basic Results Chart”. In this case, the result is a double.

Example #2…Batter vs.Fielder Matchup

 Strategy card selected: “Fast Ball”


 Batter is right-handed, pitcher is left-handed


 Dice roll:
  o Red d10 = 0
  o White d10 = 7
  o D20 = 19
  o First d6 = 4
  o Second d6 = 5


 The d10 combo is “07”. The matchup is “P”, which means the ball is hit to the pitcher and we will use his defensive grade.


 The batter’s “IF” grade “vs LHP” is “13”. The pitcher’s defensive (“P”) grade is “4”. 13 – 4 = 9. The d20 is a 19, which is greater than 9, so the pitcher wins the matchup.


 The d6 total is 4 + 5 = 9. Looking under the pitcher’s defensive
column, a “9” gives the result code of “71”. On the “Basic Results”
chart, this is a ground out.

Example #3…Batter vs. Pitcher (“Control”) Matchup

 Strategy card selected: “Breaking Ball”


 Batter is right-handed, pitcher is left-handed


 Dice roll:
  o Red d10 = 6
  o White d10 = 6
  o D20 = 14
  o First d6 = 4
  o Second d6 = 2


 The d10 combo is “66”. The matchup is “vsP”, which means this is a control matchup with the pitcher, frequently resulting in a walk or a strikeout.


 The batter’s “P” grade “vs LHP” is “16”. The pitcher’s “Brk” grade “vs RHB” is “7”. 16 – 7 = 9. The d20 roll is greater 9, so the pitcher wins the matchup.


 The d6 total is 4 + 2 = 6. Looking under “Brk” on the pitcher’s “vs RHB” column and across from “6”, the result code is “43”. This is a strikeout.

Example #4… Power


 Strategy card selected: “Breaking Ball”


 Batter is right-handed, pitcher is left-handed


 Dice roll:
  o Red d10 = 0
  o White d10 = 1
  o D20 = 9
  o First d6 = 6
  o Second d6 = 4


 The d10 combo is “01”. The matchup is “Pw”, which means that the pitcher “got one up in the zone”, and the ball is hit deep. The batter automatically wins this matchup, and we do not need to look at any of the player’s grades (the “+1” grade for the batter is used in ball park matchups).


 The d6 roll is 6 + 4 = 10. Looking under “Pw” under the batter’s “vs LHP” column and across from “10”, we find the result of “49”. This is a homerun to right field.

Example #5…Ball Park

 Strategy card selected: “Fast Ball”

 Batter is right-handed, pitcher is left-handed

 Dice roll:
  o Red d10 = 9
  o White d10 = 8
  o D20 = 12
  o First d6 = 4
  o Second d6 = 4

 The d10 combo is “98”. The matchup is “Prk”, which means this is a ball park matchup. At this time, we won’t need to look up any of the player grades. The batter has hit a screaming line drive which may or may not fall in for a hit.

 Re-roll the dice:
  o Red d10 = 8
  o White d10 = 6
  o d20 = 11
  o First d6 = 3
  o Second d6 = 4


 The d10 combo is “86”. This roll tells us the “lane” to which the ball was hit. If you look across the top of the playing field, you’ll see that “86” falls in the range listed for lane “M”.

 The d20 roll tells us the depth to which the ball was hit. If the roll is 11 or higher (which in this case, it is,) add the batter’s “Pw” grade (in this case, “+1”) to the roll. 11 + 1 = 12. So this ball has been hit to lane “M”, depth “12”.
  o If a fielder is positioned at that lane and depth, the line drive is automatically caught and all runners hold.
  o As shown by the shaded areas in the diagram below, if the ball is hit one zone directly in front of the fielder, one zone directly behind the fielder, or one zone to the left or right of the fielder, re-roll the d20; If it is less than or equal to the fielder’s fielding grade, the ball is caught for an out and all runners hold.

  o Balls that are not caught and land in depths 1 through 10 are singles.
  o Balls that are not caught and land in depths 11-20 are doubles.
  o Balls that land OVER the fence are homeruns.
  o Balls that hit a shaded area of the fence bounce back to the nearest fielder and are singles.
  o Balls that land in lanes “A” or “O” are hit “down the line” and are doubles, regardless of the depth (unless they go over the fence, in which case they are homeruns).
  o Runners advance 2 bases on all singles, 3 bases on all doubles.


The defensive team may choose to position their defenders in zones other than those marked with an “X”.