Detroit Tigers Roundtable: A Potential Scherzer Deal, Late-Inning Relievers, and More

May 2, 2013; Toronto, ON, Canada; A bat and a baseball and a batting glove on the turf field during batting practice before the Toronto Blue Jays game against the Boston Red Sox at Rogers Centre. The Red Sox beat the Blue Jays 3-1. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports

What’s your favorite type of non-real baseball game?

Michael Emmerich: I used to love Strat-o-matc, although my favorite was a game put out by Sports Illustrated in the 1970s called All-Time All Stars. It included the 16 original franchises with SI’s picks of the all-time best players at each position for each franchise. It was pretty realistic for its day, each team chart was intuitive and colorful, and that’s how I learned about baseball history (and such Tiger stars of yesteryear like Bobby Veach and Donnie Bush, and Tommy Bridges and so on.) You can get it on ebay for around 50 bucks.

Matt Pelc: MLB The Show for Playstation is a great baseball simulation. I’ve found it a more convincing simulation than Madden is for the NFL. My only complaint is that they introduced historic stadiums (like the Polo Grounds, Forbes Field, etc) to play in but never added Tiger Stadium.

Tom Zahari: To this day, I still play what we called “duct tape ball”. When I was 12 or 13 some of the neighbors got together in my backyard and we played whiffle ball, but we used metal bats which ended up breaking the ball. Like any males, we pulled out the duct tape to patch up the holes and we just duct taped the entire thing. If flew better than a whiffle ball, but it never broke any windows.

Blair Tatrault: Whiffle ball, hands down. The game could be played endlessly in tight outdoor settings without fear of broken windows. Whether hitting,fielding, or pitching you could develop genuine hand-eye coordination and skills transferable to baseball. When the real deal (hardball) wasn’t a possibility, whiffle ball was the natural alternative.

Chris Hannum: Haven’t had time for any of them lately, but the one I really want to play is MLB Front Office Manager for Xbox.

Grant Stoye: I’m a fantasy baseball obsessive (an AL-only league and a mixed league that’s been going for 13 years straight), but as an xBox 360 owner I’m attached at the hip to MLB2k13. Keeps the winter tolerable, y’know?

Josh Paulisin: In their four years of existence, the Virginia Beach Mighty Ducks have made the Fantasy Baseball Championship each season despite “poor drafts” according to other managers in the league. After raising a banner in its expansion year and looking to rebound from agonizing defeats the past three seasons, I’m counting down the days till draft night where once again the VBMD’s will almost assuredly have another “awful draft.”

Matt Snyder: During the season I can regularly be found obsessing over my fantasy baseball team. It’s a points-based scoring league (the only good way to play fantasy baseball), so it’s about building the best team however you want, not just accumulating a bunch of stat categories.

Sam O’Toole: The Bigs. It’s a video game that was released in 2007. It is the baseball version of NFL Blitz or NHL Hitz. I remember playing it all the time when I was younger, and I still own it. It has to be the funnest baseball video game I have ever played. It’s not traditional whatsoever, and is based on turbo, power ups, etc. Very fun and entertaining game.