Mario Superstar Baseball - Superstar% Yoshi in

Описание: OK, it IS possible for everything to line up perfectly, and with some better batting I quite possibly could have sent this run home one inning and about a minute faster, but honestly it's just such a relief to have the defense in particular go as planned for once. So many times, the Monarchs just do not offer you the necessary hits to clear the category, and on the rare occasions when they do there's always the opportunity for a disastrous bobble to ruin things. This run has three clean, clean, clean reflex Big Play infield Tongue Catches. The overall strategy worked as intended. I'm pretty happy with this one, and will likely rest on it - we'll see, but this is a brutal run to even attempt, so don't be surprised not to see any more of these for a while.

The big breakthroughs that made this run possible are thus:
1. Going for Tongue Catches against Peach as 2B without any fielder positioning swaps. Mario has a mix of sluggers and speedsters, whereas Peach's team is consistently small-ball oriented, ideal for farming the infield - plus, the metal blocks over the foul lines can occasionally block errant fly balls and deliver Yoshi a much-appreciated free snack. Toadsworth and Peach prefer to push to RF, whereas Toadette and the Balanced characters are side-ambivalent, which is why 2B is likely slightly better than SS (but both can probably work).
2. Delayed Double Steal to dodge the go-ahead bonus. Unless Yoshi hits a solo HR to kick off the match or you shunt him down the lineup, 8 or 13 or so MVP points are going to one of Yoshi's teammates - that is, unless the scoring play occurs from baserunning alone rather than from batting. In this run, no-one got the go-ahead MVP points, and Yoshi's batting combined with FOUR Big Plays made him the obvious choice for MVP. (Managing MVP points is tricky, and absolutely required for a fast finish.) You can put Yoshi back on the mound if you're in MVP danger and get your third Tongue Catch before your last out, but as you can see it's not mandatory and every fielding position switch avoided is eight seconds saved. I have a tutorial on Delayed Double Steal for those interested:    • Yoshi/Daisy IL Strat Improvement: Dodging ...  
3. Egg Swing rather than bunt hit to kick off the match. In this run as well as plenty of other attempts the Egg Swing converted to a triple, letting me check that goal off early - I've also gotten an inside-the-park HR from Egg Swing once, which if it happens makes MVP trivial (although it's very rare). In other runs, the Egg Swing went foul, and I was able to immediately pivot to the bunt hit while the bases were still nice and empty, getting that goal out of the way early instead. The big point here is that the Egg Swing is very erratic, and with practice (and Dash Spikes) the bunt hit is IMO reliable enough to delay until later on the match. No more runs dying to Egg Swing eight minutes in - now it's three minutes in at most, and that makes a huge difference.
4. Team Swap. Yoshi Sunshines, with the three Islanders speedsters sending Pianta's ass(es) back to the beach/bench, is a dream of a team for any% bunting strats especially with those fancy cleats on. Doing the strats against Peach really pushes your ability to send the ball along the foul lines, because Peach herself handling the ball can do you in quickly. I can say that I got some excellent bunting practice with the Yoshi IL and am excited to apply my improvement to other characters' runs.
5. Full commitment to a two-inning clear. One inning is hilarious but not remotely practical. The Monarchs are way too good at both striking out and hitting lineouts that you don't have time to dodge. 6+ outs is small enough to let good luck smile upon you without overcommitting to unambitious, plodding safety. Plus, depending on when you end the Top of 1, you can set yourself up for Yoshi's remaining batting missions strategically (in this run, giving Yoshi the ideal conditions for Bunt Hit, as Triple and the Egg Swing were already taken care of). This category is masochistic as it is and two innings is just about bearable - one inning simply wouldn't be. To anyone who is disappointed, here's your chance to put me in my place and style all over my pragmatism with a 17-0 miracle run. Good luck!

One last thing: 110 is the optimal score for Piranha Panic, so I'm glad to have nailed that too as a "high-value" side goal. ;)