Chicago RBI Baseball Tournament - 3/19/18 - Warm up for Omaha, NE

[RetroSportsGamerTom]

Hey guys we have a local Chicago player playing in Brad's RBI Baseball Tournament on 3/24/18 in Omaha, NE.  We want to throw a quick warm-up tournament to get him ready for it.  We usually call these nights, "Monday Night Football" and play mostly Tecmo Super Bowl, but have recently been mixing in RBI Baseball.  We have a dedicated 5 to 6 guys that play every week and we are looking to bring in a few more.  Here is the info:


Chicago RBI Baseball Tournament

When: Monday, March 19, 2018 at 7:00pm CST
Where: DMen Tap Chicago, IL - 2849 W Belmont Ave
Buy-In: $10
Registration: Pay cash at the event, be there by at least 6:45pm

Rules:
-Teams selected by coin toss, winner chooses matchup, loser selects team or controller
-No intentionally dropped pop outs to make double plays

Format: Round Robin then Single Elimination Bracket

Prizes:
1st - Winner takes all cash for entry fees
2nd - $20 Gift Card to DMen Tap (Bar hosting the event)

Live Stream Channel: https://www.youtube.com/theretrosportsgamer

[Gantry]

Man, that's like 2 blocks from Sperling's place.  Don't know that bar even though I lived right there for years, is that what Square used to be?

Monday is a pretty terrible day since I get back from Cleveland Sunday night, but I'll do my best.  Tempo - ¿Qué piensas tú?

[RetroSportsGamerTom]

Yeah, the bar just had their one year anniversary not too long ago, so it's a new place.  One of the owners, Phil, is a retro game player and has the back room set up with two CRT TV's at all times for Nintendo / Atari consoles.  They even have a couple pinball machines now.  It's an ideal place for these tournaments, since we don't have to bring much of our own equipment.  Hope you can make it out.

[Gantry]

That's awesome, sounds like an upgrade from Square big time.  Putting out the feelers to the rest of the Chicago Dee-Nee crew, let's see if a couple of us can show up.

[TempoGL]

Man, that's like 2 blocks from Sperling's place.  Don't know that bar even though I lived right there for years, is that what Square used to be?

Monday is a pretty terrible day since I get back from Cleveland Sunday night, but I'll do my best.  Tempo - ¿Qué piensas tú?

It's possible.  Depends on what I have going on with grad school and real estate at the time.

[RetroSportsGamerTom]

That's awesome, sounds like an upgrade from Square big time.  Putting out the feelers to the rest of the Chicago Dee-Nee crew, let's see if a couple of us can show up.

Thanks!  We would like to test our skills versus a few RBI veterans.

[Gantry]

Veterans we are but a lifetime of straight pitch has made the OG Dee-Nee crew pretty mediocre in curve.  We strike out, a lot...  Tempo consistently beats me in curve but he pretty much only plays Houston vs St. Louis.  I think it'll be fun from our side too to get out of our comfort zones. 

Sperling said he's likely down to come but wouldn't want to play.  Given that my odds of coming are over 50% - get a firm yes from Tempo and they are closer to 100. 

[RetroSportsGamerTom]

Veterans we are but a lifetime of straight pitch has made the OG Dee-Nee crew pretty mediocre in curve.  We strike out, a lot...  Tempo consistently beats me in curve but he pretty much only plays Houston vs St. Louis.  I think it'll be fun from our side too to get out of our comfort zones. 

Sperling said he's likely down to come but wouldn't want to play.  Given that my odds of coming are over 50% - get a firm yes from Tempo and they are closer to 100.

Are you saying you play a format with no curve balls when pitching?  That's interesting.  That would make a lot of sense if playing online with some lag.

[Gantry]

No curve balls, rules are on the main page:

http://dee-nee.com/rbi/drink.shtml

We made a drinking game out of it in college and played it obsessively - which turned into yearly (though at this point 2-3 years) tournies.  It's a ton of fun and you drink a boatload but the consequence it that we're basically Pedro Cerrano now and can't hit curves. 

[RetroSportsGamerTom]

Ha Ha!  Oh man this sounds fun, looks crazy, and seems intense.  I'm surprised you are alive to talk about this format.   I like the permanent retirement rule.   It reminds me of a beer by 3 Floyds Brewing called "Permanent Funeral."   That would go perfect with it.

[Gantry]

I'm pretty surprised we're all still alive too, the tournies are a war of attrition and managing your drunkenness.  It's easier than you think to strike out in straight pitch after 10 beers. 

[TbT]

This is great.  I'll start sharing this. 

[TbT]

The retro sports gamer youtube channel is great.  They breakdown TSB really well.  Other shows have a panel of 3 guys covering various games.  Check it out.

[TempoGL]

Veterans we are but a lifetime of straight pitch has made the OG Dee-Nee crew pretty mediocre in curve.  We strike out, a lot...  Tempo consistently beats me in curve but he pretty much only plays Houston vs St. Louis.  I think it'll be fun from our side too to get out of our comfort zones. 

Sperling said he's likely down to come but wouldn't want to play.  Given that my odds of coming are over 50% - get a firm yes from Tempo and they are closer to 100.

I also have always observed some gentleman's rules:

1.  Respect the infield fly
2.  Don't do the first/third juggle with trying to steal/advance to cheat your way into scoring position.
3.  Only one starting pitcher unless the game goes into extra innings.

I'm wired this way and my play style is affected as a result.  I am definitely not on the level of a competitive RBI player, and the aforementioned probably isn't the only reason why.

I do maintain that I have played more games as the Houston Astros in RBI than any other living person, though.

[RetroSportsGamerTom]

Thanks Brad!

In response to Tempo, we definitely view ourselves as casual RBI players.  We are more so competitive Tecmo Super Bowl players.

We adhere to rules 1 and 2.  Never played by the 3rd rule as some of these pitchers get gassed in 3 to 4 innings.   I see what you are saying though.  Wish there were some actual relief pitchers.

[Brookensrules!]

Didn't like the only one SP when we played in Milwaukee, that really threw me off despite coming close to winning the tournament.  When playing casual with a couple friends we have an unwritten rule of no striking the pitcher out. 

[ultimate7]

Always played 1 SP growing up (unless best of 7 series, then anything went).  Anything went on the base paths, good fielding/throwing would generally beat base running. 

[RetroSportsGamerTom]

So how many starting pitchers are on each team vs the amount of relievers?  Is it equal for each team?

[Gantry]

Every team has two starting pitchers and two relievers.  The starters in general can throw 40-50 pitches before they lose velocity and for the relievers it's about 15.  Every regular pitch reduces one from your endurance and every slowball/fastball reduces two.

If you are only allowed one SP the strategy changes a bit because it becomes a chess match of taking more pitches and getting the opponents starter tired.  With 2 SPs you can pretty much have a non-tired pitcher all nine innings so there's less focus on stamina. 

[Gantry]

Personally I much prefer one SP but that's also because I can't hit.  There's no right or wrong way to do it, not sure how TBT does it at tournies.