New: Stat tracking in the Game Day tool

The Game Day tool keeps the stats now.

When you set up a game you pick one of two modes. Basic is what you have been using: your lineup and field positions, the score, and automatic pitch counts. Stat tracking does all of that and records each at-bat as it happens.

Tap balls and strikes as the umpire calls them and 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. On a ball in play you say where it went, how it was hit, and where each runner ended up, all by tapping the field. Every at-bat is written into a plays log in plain English, so you can read back an inning without knowing what 6-3 means.

Runners moving between pitches count too. Tap a runner, tap the base he reached, and say how he got there: a stolen base, a wild pitch, a passed ball, caught stealing, picked off. Stolen bases land in the box score with everything else.

The game ends with a real box score: at-bats, runs, hits, RBI, walks, strikeouts, stolen bases and average for every batter, innings and earned runs for every pitcher, and putouts, assists and errors in the field. Those numbers roll into your season, so the Stats tab on your team page now carries batting and pitching totals for the year and every player has their own stat page. You can print a recap sheet to hand out on the way to the car.

Basic mode has not changed and is still the default, so if you are also coaching third base nothing about your Saturday is different. Stat tracking works in the free app too, and a game you score there comes with you if you make an account.