Tracking Player Stats in Game Day

Where this fits: the lineup is the plan, Game Day runs it

Game Day is the second half of something you have probably already done. The lineup generator builds the plan before the game: who bats in what order, and who plays where each inning. Game Day opens that plan on Saturday and runs it live.

That is why the board already knows your batting order and your field positions the moment it loads. You are not setting anything up again. You are picking up the lineup you built and playing the game with it.

• •The plan says Silas plays shortstop in the third. Game Day puts him there, and tracks that he actually did.
• •Move a player mid-game and the board follows from that inning forward. What each kid actually played is what counts toward playing time, not what you planned.
• •Pitches count themselves for whoever is on the mound, and the count follows a pitching change.
• •With Stat Tracking on, every at-bat is recorded too, so the game ends with a box score instead of just a final score.

How to get there

Three things have to exist first, and after the first game they mostly already do: a team with your roster, a game on the schedule, and a lineup for that game.

• •No team yet? Add one under Teams with each player and their jersey number.
• •No game yet? Add it to that team with the opponent and the date.
• •No lineup yet? Open the game and build one, or let the lineup generator do it from your roster in about thirty seconds.
• •Lineup done? Open the game and press Start Game Day. That is the whole path.

Picking the mode

When you start a game, the setup screen asks which one you want. Stat Tracking is the default, because the season numbers only exist if somebody records them and a game you scored in Basic cannot be filled in afterward.

Pick Basic when the tablet is going in the dugout and nobody is free to score. You are choosing between two jobs, not between an easy version and a hard one: a coach working third base wants the board, and a parent sitting down for two hours wants the book.

The difference shows up in what the scoreboard does. On the board you set the score, the outs and the bases by tapping them. In Stat Tracking those numbers are built from the plays you record, so tapping one asks whether you would rather record the play or switch to the board. That is the tool keeping the box score and the scoreboard from telling two different stories.

The best setup, if you have a second device, is one of each. Run Basic where the players can see it and hand Stat Tracking to whoever is willing to tap through the game.

You can switch mid-game from the gear menu, or from the prompt itself when you reach for a board control. Switching does not rewrite what already happened: turning Stat Tracking on starts recording from that point, and earlier plays keep the detail they were scored with.

If you move past a half-inning with fewer than three outs recorded, the tool asks whether to go back and fill it in or count the inning as ended early, so falling behind never quietly corrupts playing time.

Pitch by pitch

With Stat Tracking on, tapping ball or strike does more than move the pips. The count fills in, a fourth ball puts the batter on first, a third strike is a strikeout, and the pitch count for whoever is on the mound climbs on its own.

That last part matters even if you do not care about batting stats. Pitch counts drive required rest in most youth leagues, and counting them by tapping the game you are already watching beats a clicker in your pocket.

Recording the at-bat

The strip across the top of the screen shows who is up and who is on deck. When the at-bat ends, you record what it produced: a hit, a walk, a strikeout, an out, and so on.

• •On a ball in play, the tool asks where it went and how it was hit, so a grounder to short reads differently from a line drive to left.
• •Tap each base to say where the runner ended up. Runners the play forces are offered first, and one tap settles the common case.
• •You can name the fielder who made the play, which is what feeds putouts, assists, and errors.
• •None of the detail is a gate. Save works without a location tapped, and an unlabelled result still moves the game on, so nothing about the sequence traps you mid-inning.

The plays log

Every finished at-bat is written into the plays log as a sentence, not a code. You can read back an inning to settle an argument in the dugout without knowing what 6-3 means, and undo still walks back through it play by play.

Runners between pitches

Not every base is taken on a batted ball. Tap a runner on the field and the same diamond opens: tap the base he reached, or mark him out.

Then say how he got there. A stolen base, a wild pitch, a passed ball, caught stealing, picked off, or just advanced, if it was none of those. Only the answers that fit the move are offered, and each tap moves exactly the runner you tapped: if a wild pitch moved two runners, tap them both.

Stolen bases land in the box score. The rest are on the play log, where the game reads back in order.

The box score

The Stats tab shows the game as it stands, and the post-game view shows it finished. Batting gives you at-bats, runs, hits, RBI, walks, strikeouts, and average. Pitching gives you innings pitched, hits, runs, walks, strikeouts, and pitches. Fielding gives you putouts, assists, and errors when you named fielders on the plays.

You can print or hand out the recap sheet from the same screen.

What it does not track

• •League mercy rules and run caps are not applied automatically.
• •Out codes stay general. An out is an out, not GO, FO, LO or PO.
• •Season fielding totals are not rolled up. Putouts, assists, and errors are per game.

Turning on Stat Tracking

Start from the lineup. Game Day opens out of the game it belongs to.

1. 1

   Open your team and pick the game from the schedule.

2. 2

   Build the lineup for that game, or let the lineup generator do it from your roster.

3. 3

   Press Start Game Day on the game.

4. 4

   On the setup screen, choose Stat Tracking. It is the default, so this is usually just confirming it.

5. 5

   Confirm whether you are the home team, set a pitch limit if your league has one, then start the game.

6. 6

   While your team is in the field, tap balls and strikes as the umpire calls them. The count and the pitch count take care of themselves.

7. 7

   When an at-bat ends, tap the result.

8. 8

   On a ball in play, say where it went and how it was hit, then tap the base each runner reached.

9. 9

   Name the fielder who made the play if you want putouts, assists, and errors.

10. 10

    Check the Stats tab any time to see the box score so far.

11. 11

    End the game to lock the final score. The numbers roll into your season stats.

Frequently asked questions

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