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TMB
80 Posts |
 Posted - 01/10/2010 : 20:34:43
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| How important is "pool" play in Travel Tournaments? Can anyone explain "pool" play and "Sunday" play? (Difference) |
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6bomber
68 Posts |
Posted - 01/10/2010 : 21:28:40
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pool play normally just sets you up for sunday. seen teams rule pool play and go home first game sunday.
the main difference is sunday loses send you home. |
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Peanutsr
171 Posts |
Posted - 01/10/2010 : 22:04:15
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How you do in pool play seeds you for the elimination bracket.(Sunday)
Typically the worst record in pool play plays the best record.
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C. MORTON
1051 Posts |
Posted - 01/11/2010 : 07:40:52
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| It also depends on how large a tournament is also..If you are in one that has gold and silver you may be playing in the silver bracket instead of the gold. The more temas you have, say over 10, the more inportant pool play is..Some teams may not make it to CHAMPIONSHIP play if they didn't do well in pool play.. |
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Goin Deep
140 Posts |
Posted - 01/11/2010 : 09:13:01
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| It also depends on how deep your pitching is.....It is possible to goof around and "hope" to win in pool play and then throw your best pitchers (save them for sunday) when it counts. But you HAVE to have 3 or 4 go to guys. I have seen it done both ways. |
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Alter-Ego
802 Posts |
Posted - 01/11/2010 : 10:31:58
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As C.Morton brought up, besides just normal seeding, Pool Play may eliminate your from the Championship Bracket.
I have always said, though, that if you are last seed, and beat the first seed in the first round of the playoffs, you inherit the first round's bracket the rest of the tournament. Yes, you meet up with a tough team right off the bat, but I would rather meet them then, when I have all of my pitchers, than at the end when I may be out. I will take my chances after that game that I can get through the rest.
Unless you have 8 or 9 Sunday Pitchers, I don't think winning a pool game is worth burning one of your Sunday pitchers, just to win unless it keeps you from advancing.
My question has always been "If pool play eliminates you from Championship play, is it really pool play or really the first round of eliminations?" |
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bballman
1432 Posts |
Posted - 01/11/2010 : 10:50:36
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As others have stated, it all depends on the tournament. There are really three scenarios.
1) Pool play games - everyone makes the playoffs. Pool is only for seeding.
2) Pool play games - top "x" number of teams make it to the championship bracket, rest go to a lower teir bracket. If you want to win the "real" tournament, you must do well in pool play.
3) Pool play games - Only top "x" number of teams make the bracket. Rest of the teams go home. Most younger ages don't really do this, but you will find it more and more as you get older, especially HS age.
Obviously, in the 1st scenario, it really doesn't matter what you do in pool play, unless you play for a "bye" in the first round. A lot of teams will pitch their "pool" pitchers during pool play and hope for the best. They save their studs for bracket play to make a run for the championship. In the second 2 scenarios, obviously, there is a lot of strategy going on as to who to pitch when because it becomes very important what your record is following pool play. You may have to pitch your studs here in order to get a chance at tournament champion. |
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TMB
80 Posts |
Posted - 01/11/2010 : 12:42:24
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| Those are all VERY helpful. Roughly, Friday and Saturday, how many games will you play? (2-3) or just play everyone in that bracket 1 time? Some teams have DEEP pitching (guys that can soak up innings) and good enough to come in for 1 inning or 2 on Sunday to get the ball to your closer........ |
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Alter-Ego
802 Posts |
Posted - 01/11/2010 : 14:00:50
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| Friday and Saturday you typically play 2-3 games depending on the number of teams. Most of the time it is a 4 game minimum with 3 pool games and single elimination. If so, you play 1 game on Fri night and 2 on Saturday. Saturday evening start elimination games by the lower seeds. Looking at these brackets ahead of time may help you plan your pitching, as well. For instance, if you have 9 teams in a tournament, you may have 8 vs 9 play the first round of elimination play, on Sat night, to see who moves on to play 1 seed on Sunday. 1-7 don't start elimination play until Sunday AM. In this case, you want to make sure you seed out no lower than 7. Otherwise that is an additional game to win it all. It may not be a big deal if you have the pitching, but if you ended up as 8 or 9, you probably don't unless you really sandbagged. |
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whits23
596 Posts |
Posted - 01/11/2010 : 17:45:26
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| I will say one thing that has not been brought up yet is the way i have looked at it. IF we play on Friday and i can throw my Sunday pitcher then and win a game and then i go ahead and throw my next best pitcher and try to get a bye the first round. This acutally saves using a pitcher. I guess this is something i have done because i felt my pitching was not always deep enough and it could shorten the tourney for me. I wish i could say it worked all the time |
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AA17Dad
211 Posts |
Posted - 01/11/2010 : 18:36:02
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Being #1 seed often means you don't have to play that 9AM game.....you get alittle more sleep/rest. this can be a big factor if you are driving an hour to the game and need to be there 1 hour before the game to get warmed up.
It often means 1 or 2 games to get in the Championship Game instead of 2 or 3 games to get there and the Championship game being you forth of the day.
You can't pick your seeding and luck still plays a big part in game times and opponents.
It's hard to stratigize Pool Play...to many factors that you can't control.
Lots of theories but............. |
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BBmaniac
24 Posts |
Posted - 01/12/2010 : 08:46:44
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| Sometimes a coaches does his best (or worst) coaching during pool play. Ever coach must have a handle on his pitching depth and make decisions on when to pull and save innings. It can also be a good opportunity to play the bench more to give those lower end roster players some valuable field time.....Everyone's goal in a tournament is the same....to go as deep toward that final game as possible. You can overcome a loss in pool play (generally) but never a loss in bracket play. |
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Alter-Ego
802 Posts |
Posted - 01/12/2010 : 11:17:01
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We used to use the 2-2-2 method to a lot of success. Use your pitchers for 2 innings at a time. If they are efficient with their pitching, they can keep pitch counts down, they can get out of those two innings without throwing more than 20-25 pitches. If you use pitchers with varying pitching styles, back to back, you could cause the opposition to see three different type pitchers in their 3 AB's in the game.
It gives you more options as you go along. You can always continue to use a pitcher, if they are dominating, if you want to, but don't have to.
Just one type of strategy. There are several others out there as well. |
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Topic |
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Pool Play
