FAQ

Gameplay
Basics

How does a round work?

Each round is one turn per player. Every swing that isn’t a home run is an out. Once a player reaches 10 outs, their round is over and their home runs for that turn are their round score.

What’s a hit-off?

If two or more players are tied for the most home runs in a round, we play a hit-off to break the tie. Each batter gets 2 outs. If there’s still a tie at the top, we repeat the hit-off until there is exactly one round winner.

What counts as a home run?

Any fair ball hit in the air that clears the fence in fair territory is a home run. The Rules page has all the edge cases (trees, lights, birds, do-overs, Double Jeopardy, etc.), but if the ball goes over the fence in fair and doesn’t get knocked back, it’s a homer.

What’s a pitcher catch?

If the pitcher catches a ball in fair territory, it counts as 2 outs against the batter. During Double Jeopardy, a pitcher catch counts as 4 outs.

When does a round become official for stats?

A round only counts when all players in that game have finished their turn (each reached 10 outs) and there is a single clear winner (including any hit-offs). Interrupted rounds without a clear winner at the time of stoppage do not enter the stats.

Stats &
Ratings

What stats do you track?

Per player we track rounds played, total round HR, hit-offs played, total hit-off HR, career HR (rounds + hit-offs), round wins, clutch factor (hit-off HR/out vs. round HR/out), rating, Hall of Fame (HOF) points, and a bunch of streak and drought stats.

What do the main leaderboard columns mean?

HR – Home Runs. Raw home run totals depend heavily on the balls and parks we’ve used over the years, so absolute HR counts are fun context but not the sole measure of greatness.

W – Wins. Each time a player finishes a round with the most HR (after any hit-offs), they earn 1 win for that round.

Clutch – Clutch factor. A comparison of a player’s performance in hit-offs versus regular rounds (hit-off HR per out vs. round HR per out). Higher numbers mean better performance when the round is on the line; a factor of 1 means their hit-off and round performance are about the same.

Rating – Glicko-2 rating, a modern rating system in the Elo family used in chess and other sports. Players start at 1500 and move up or down based on performance and strength of competition.

HOF badge – Hall of Fame badge shown next to a player’s name when they reach a HOF tier based on total HOF points. Tiers are Gold (≥ 300), Silver (≥ 200), and Bronze (≥ 100).

How do player ratings work?

We use a Glicko-2 style rating system. In each round, every player is compared head-to-head against every other player in that round based on total HR (round + hit-offs). All of a player’s results for that round are then fed into a single Glicko-2 batch update. New players start at 1500; ratings go up or down based on performance and the strength of the competition.

What are HOF points?

HOF points measure long-term accomplishment. Each round adds points based on how many head-to-head matchups a player wins in that round, plus a little for just showing up. Total HOF points determine Hall of Fame tier badges (Gold / Silver / Bronze) shown next to a player’s name.

What do the streaks and droughts mean?

On the Stats page, the Streaks table shows:

• Win Streak – consecutive rounds won.
• HR Streak – consecutive rounds with at least 1 HR.
• Hit-Off HR Streak – consecutive hit-offs with at least 1 HR.
• Win Drought – consecutive rounds without a win.
• HR Drought – consecutive rounds with 0 HR.
• Hit-Off HR Drought – consecutive hit-offs with 0 HR.

Dates under each number show when that best streak or drought happened; you can click those dates to jump to the underlying games.

Parks &
Park Factor

How do you choose parks?

We mostly play on tennis courts or similar spaces with fences so fair/foul and home run calls are clear. The Rules page describes recommended foul pole distances and field layouts, but in practice we play wherever we can build a good field.

What is park factor?

Park factor tells you how hitter-friendly a park is. A value of 100 is league average. Higher numbers mean more HR per round (hitter’s park); lower numbers mean fewer HR per round (pitcher’s park). The calculation weights each player’s HR rate at that park by their total career rounds, so data from veterans counts more than from one-off appearances.

What does “Home Park For” mean?

Each park shows which players have that park as their home park—the place where they have played the most rounds. It’s a rough “home field” designation, not a formal team assignment.

Rules &
Fairness

Where are the full official rules?

The complete rules, including Double Jeopardy, do-overs, equipment limits, and how to handle weird edge cases, are on the Rules page. The Rules page also has a quiz if you want to certify that you’re not making things up.

Are all games on this site “official”?

Only games that follow the official rules and are scored properly (all rounds complete, clear round winners, stats recorded) are considered official and appear in the stats. Experiments, casual games, or sessions where we didn’t keep full stats are documented separately or not at all.

Can players argue about calls?

Of course. When there’s a fair/foul dispute and no majority, we use Double Jeopardy or a Do-Over as described in the Rules. The goal is to resolve things simply and keep the game fun without bending the stats.

Data &
Site Details

How often is the site updated?

Stats and ratings are updated after each official game is scored. Historical fixes (e.g., rating system improvements) may trigger a full re-computation of ratings, but the underlying game and round data stays the same.

Can I see how ratings changed over time?

Yes. On each player’s page you’ll find charts showing their rating and HOF points by game/round, plus per-game breakdowns of rating changes.

Who built and maintains this?

The site was built and is maintained by players in the league (mainly Jeff, with plenty of feedback from Rob and the rest of the crew). If you find a bug or have a feature suggestion, let us know—preferably after you’ve lost a round.