In more than 7000 Major League plate appearances over 16 years, Ozzie Guillén faced some of the game’s great fireballers, with his share of success. How would he have fared against intimidators like Don Drysdale, Bob Gibson and Aroldis Chapman? When the three-time All-Star and host of La Vida Baseball’s Being Guillén wanted to know, he turned to the experts at Strat-O-Matic, the market leader in sports simulation, for the answer.
Revealed on last Friday’s episode, the series of 10 simulated at bats against the three marked the start of a content partnership between La Vida Baseball, the digital media platform that celebrates the passion of Latino baseball’s past, present and future through original video, written and social content, and Strat-O-Matic, through which viewers and readers can see how some of the sport’s great “what if” moments might have turned out, as well as the results of fantasy events that only the world of Strat-O-Matic can simulate with unmatched accuracy.
“It was fun to see how I would do against guys like Drysdale, Gibson and Chapman, and it’s great that Strat-O-Matic has the tools to show us,” said Guillén, who hosts Being Guillén alongside his sons Ozzie Jr. and Oney live on Fridays at noon CT. “I think there are so many things we can do to create scenarios that fans will love to see what would have happened.”
The idea of “What If” using Strat-O-Matic data was first realized with the Marquee Network and the Chicago Cubs this past summer, where Marquee talent Len Kasper, Jim Deshaies and Taylor McGregor looked at some of the iconic moments in team history and created alternative results that delighted fans and had some fun buzz, like Deshaies facing the 1927 Yankees. Strat-O-Matic is currently in discussions with a host of other media partners locally and nationally to reimagine other classic moments in time in baseball and other sports.
While MLB paused at the beginning of the 2020 season because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Strat-O-Matic simulated the season as it would have been played, with results published daily by dozens of media outlets. Strat-O-Matic also posted results of the shortened 60-game schedule and playoff seasons.
“The possibilities are endless with what we can simulate working with La Vida Baseball,” said Adam Richman, Strat-O-Matic president. “From ‘what if’ player and game situations to imagined international tournaments and customized leagues, we look forward to tapping the creativity of La Vida’s personalities and fans to create content that they will enjoy.”