Prognostikeggers 2012 - Week 9: Brewers vs. Cubs

(Programming Note: Kyle is taking a much-needed day off, and is taking the Frosty Mug with him. However, there will be plenty of coverage today. We will have an open draft thread posted around 11 AM for you to discuss day two of the MLB draft, along with supplemental coverage for the draft. Plus, we will have our usual game day coverage for tonight's Brewers game.)

Welcome to the start of the second part of the Prognostikeggers season.

As mentioned yesterday, there's a big announcement for today. Starting today, you will have the chance to win some small prizes by playing Prognostikeggers. Kyle has provided some prizes to give out that you can win through playing Prognostikeggers, as well as Pick 6. Here's how it works. You will make your daily picks as usual. Each day, the person with the highest point total in Prognostikeggers will earn one entry into a drawing. Only daily winners will earn entries into the drawing. While I will continue to track the weekly and overall winners, you cannot earn additional entries by winning the week or winning one of the mini-seasons this year. You can find all of the official rules for the prize drawing by clicking here, or by reading on below the jump. All participants are subject to the official rules. No purchase is necessary, and a purchase will not increase your chances of winning.

Because of the addition of this sweepstakes, I made some small changes to the Prognostikeggers game rules. Scoring is the same, but I tightened up some of the rules in regards to your entries. There will no longer be a grace period on getting your entries in. Your entry for a game must be in and timestamped before the scheduled first pitch time. Also, I made some adjustments to what happens in case of a rainout and doubleheader (rules that rarely come into play, but need to be in place). There are some other small adjustments as well. All of the rules for the game are below the jump, or you can go right to them by clicking here.

To recap, here's what you should do today before making your first entry: Read the official rules for Prognostikeggers and the official rules for the prize giveaway. All participants are subject to the official rules.

Once you've done that, you can continue on to our normal Prognostikeggers forms below and continue to play the game. If you have questions, post them in the comments below. I hope that you all enjoy this new twist this season.

Extra Prediction for the Series: With the excitement leading up to this, I didn't have a chance to come up with a great prediction for the series, so we're going to reuse a good one. Predict the length of the longest home run hit in the game. You will get 1 point for being within 10 feet of the actual length, 2 points for 5 feet, and 3 points for an exact prediction. You may also predict a length of 0 for no home runs hit, and if you are correct, you will get 2 points.

Entry Forms

June 5 - Ryan Dempster vs. Yovani Gallardo
Click here to enter your predictions
Predictions lock at 7:10 PM CDT
Click here to view all predictions

June 6 - Paul Maholm vs. Zack Greinke
Click here to enter your predictions
Predictions lock at 7:10 PM CDT
Click here to view all predictions

June 7 - Matt Garza vs. Randy Wolf
Click here to enter your predictions
Predictions lock at 1:10 PM CDT
Click here to view all predictions

Check below the jump for the rules for Prognostikeggers, as well as the official rules for the the sweepstakes.

Rules for Prognostikeggers
Last Revised 6/5/2012 3:30 PM

Scoring Periods

This season, there will be three different mini-seasons.

• Week 1 - 8 (April 6 - June 3)
• Week 9 - 16 (June 4 - August 5)
• Week 17 - 24 (August 6 - October 3)

I will track scoring through each week and each mini-season. However, entries into the sweepstakes will only be earned in Prognostikeggers through a daily win. Refer to the rules below for further information about earning entries into the drawing.

Entry Forms

• Entry forms will be provided on the first day of a new series.
• All predictions must be made using these forms.
• Predictions may be made any time after the forms are posted.
• You may update your predictions as many times as you want before the lock time by making a new post, but only the last version counts for the game.
• Predictions must be posted by the lock time, which is the scheduled time of the first pitch. The time stamp on your entry must show that it was made before the first pitch was thrown.

Scoring - How It's Done

• After each game, the predictions will be reviewed and points will be awarded for correct predictions according to the point breakdown below.
• Once the scoring for the day is finished, you can check the spreadsheet for viewing predictions to see an overview of how the day was scored.
• Every effort will be made to make sure that the scoring is correct each day, but it's a human process so mistakes will happen. If you notice something off in the scoring, it is your responsibility to bring it up.
• Doubleheader Policy
  • For a doubleheader, two entry forms will be posted for that day.
  • Predictions must be made for each individual game.
  • The winner for the day will be the person who has the highest score for the combined two games.
• Rainout Policy
  • If a game is rained out before it begins, all predictions for the day are not counted. If the makeup date is set in the same series, I will post a new form for the makeup game.
  • If a game is rained out before the game is official, no points will be scored for the day.
  • If a game is rained out after the game is official and the game is called, points will be scored as usual for the shortened game.
  • If a game is rained out, the game is official, and is suspended, points will be scored for that game up to that point. Predictions will not carry over to the conclusion of the game on a future date.

Point Breakdown

• Attendance - All predictions within 1000 of the actual attendance will get two points. If you are within 10 of the actual attendance, you will get four points instead.
• Line Score - A total of seven points are available from the line score.
  • Correct run predictions are worth two points.
  • Correct hit predictions are worth two points.
  • Correct error predictions are worth one point.
  • If you are correct on all three parts of the line score, you will get two bonus points.
• Brewers MVP by WPA - Predict the MVP of the game as shown by WPA from FanGraphs. This is the total WPA for the player (meaning for pitchers, the sum of their batting and pitching WPA). If you correctly pick the MVP of the game by WPA, you will get two points.
• Sausage Race - A home game prediction only. If you correctly predict the winner of the sausage race, you will earn two points. (Note that in games with multiple races, all winners count for this, and points double or triple if the same sausage wins two or three times. There is always a race in the 6th inning, and will be extra races if the game reaches the 12th inning, 18th inning, and every six innings after.)
• Extra Predcition - This prediction varies from series to series. Check each series post for the rules and scoring regarding the extra prediction for that series.
• Bonus Prediction - This is where you get to be creative. Make your own prediction about the game. If your prediction is correct, the number of points you will score is based on how often your prediction occurs in a game.
  • For starters, percentages below are based on games the player has actually played in.
  • For nonstarters (bench players, relief pitchers), the chance of the player appearing in the game will also be taken into account.
  • Baseball-Reference.com is mainly used for judging predictions. In cases where it can't be use Baseball-Reference for scoring, a sample of the last twenty games will be used to figure out a percentage.
  • When making a prediction, make sure it is easy to understand what you are predicting. This includes adding over (or under if under is better) in your prediction even though you will get that under normal circumstances. Certain predictions are easy to understand (a player home run, player multi-hit game, pitcher strikeouts, etc.), but if what you are predicting can't be figured out, then you prediction could be scored wrong or not at all.
    
  • Percentage breakdown
    • 31% or more: No points
    • 21-30%: 1 Point
    • 11-20%: 2 Points
    • 2-10%: 3 Points
    • 1% or less: 5 Points
• Player Bonus - These will come up once a month. In these series, you can earn up to three bonus points by making predictions based on a specified player. Here is the breakdown:
  • MVP Prediction - One extra point for correctly picking the specified player as the MVP.
  • Extra Prediction - One extra point for correctly picking the specified player for the extra prediction.
  • Bonus Prediction - One extra point for making a bonus prediction about the specified player that qualifies for at least one point under normal circumstances.
  • For the remainder of the season, the player bonus weeks will be on the final series of Week 10, 14, 18, and 22.

Official Rules for the Brew Crew Ball Pick 6 Sweepstakes

No Purchase Necessary. A Purchase will not Increase Your Chances of Winning.

1. Eligibility: The Brew Crew Ball Pick 6 Sweepstakes (the "Sweepstakes") is open only to legal residents of the United States who are at least eighteen (18) years of age. Employees of Vox Media, Inc. or other companies associated with the Contest, as well as the immediate family (spouse, parents, siblings, and children) and household members of each such employee, are not eligible to enter.

2. Sponsor: The Sweepstakes is sponsored by Vox Media, Inc., 1740 N Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036 ("Sponsor").

3. Agreement to Official Rules: By entering the Sweepstakes, you indicate your full and unconditional agreement to, and acceptance of, (a) these Official Rules and (b) Sponsor’s decisions, which are final and binding. Winning a prize is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements set forth herein.

4. Entry Period: The Sweepstakes begins at 12:01 AM ET on Friday, June 1 and ends at 8:10 PM ET on Wednesday, October 3. Entries submitted before or after the Entry Period will not be eligible. Sponsor’s computer is the official time-keeping device for the Sweepstakes.

5. How to Enter: Participants will enter into the contest by playing Brew Crew Ball’s "Prognostikeggers" and "Pick 6" games. The top scorer in each game each day (or all players tied for first in the event of a tie) will receive one entry in the drawing for prizes listed below. There is a limit of one (1) entry per person/e-mail address per game, per day. Entrants into the contest can play both games as many days as they would like, but once an entrant has received a prize they are not eligible to receive another for the duration of the sweepstakes. Entries will not be acknowledged. The use of an agency or any automated system to enter is strictly prohibited and Sponsor reserves the right to disqualify any entries received through such methods, as determined by Sponsor, in its sole discretion.

6. Drawing: After the Entry Period, Sponsor will select a number of potential winners equal to the number of items in the prize pool in a random drawing of all daily winners of "Pick 6" and "Prognostikeggers" during the entry period. The odds of being selected depend on the number of entries received.

7. Notification and Requirements of Potential Winners: Sponsor will attempt to notify potential winners within 3 business days of the drawing. If a potential winner does not respond within 3 business days after the notice is sent, the Sponsor will select an alternate potential winner in his/her place at random from the aforementioned list of daily winners. Only three (3) alternate potential winners will be contacted. Except where prohibited, a potential winner may be required to complete and return an affidavit of eligibility and liability/publicity release. If a potential winner is a minor, his/her parent or legal guardian will be required to sign the documents on his/her behalf. If a potential winner fails to sign and return these documents within the required time period, an alternate potential winner may be selected in his/her place in a random drawing of all remaining entries received. Only three (3) alternate potential winners may be contacted.

8. Prize(s): Prizes will include but may not be limited to: Copies of the DVD "The Next Step," (approx. value $10), tickets to Milwaukee Brewers games at Miller Park (approximate value varies by location). Any winner is responsible for paying any applicable income taxes and any and all other costs and expenses not listed above. Any prize details not specified above will be determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion. A prize may not be transferred and must be accepted as awarded. You may not request cash or a substitute prize; however, Sponsor reserves the right to substitute a prize with another prize of equal or greater value if the prize is not available for any reason, as determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion.

9. General Conditions: In the event that the operation, security, or administration of the Sweepstakes is impaired in any way for any reason, including, but not limited to fraud, virus, or other technical problem, Sponsor may, in its sole discretion, either: (a) suspend the Sweepstakes to address the impairment and then resume the Sweepstakes in a manner that best conforms to the spirit of these Official Rules; or (b) award the prize(s) at random from among the eligible entries received up to the time of the impairment. Sponsor reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any individual it finds to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Sweepstakes or to be acting in violation of these Official Rules or in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner. Any attempt by any person to undermine the legitimate operation of the Sweepstakes may be a violation of criminal and civil law, and, should such an attempt be made, Sponsor reserves the right to seek damages from any such person to the fullest extent permitted by law. Failure by Sponsor to enforce any term of these Official Rules shall not constitute a waiver of that provision. Proof of sending any communication to Sponsor by mail shall not be deemed proof of receipt of that communication by Sponsor. In the event of a dispute as to any online entry, the authorized account holder of the e-mail address used to enter will be deemed to be the participant. The "authorized account holder" is the natural person who is assigned to an email address by an Internet access provider, online service provider, or other organization responsible for assigning email addresses for the domain associated with the submitted e-mail address. The Sweepstakes is subject to federal, state, and local laws and regulations and is void where prohibited.

10. Release and Limitations of Liability: By participating in the Sweepstakes, you agree to release and hold harmless Sponsor, its parent, subsidiaries, affiliates, and each of their respective officers, directors, employees, and agents (the "Released Parties") from and against any claim or cause of action arising out of participation in the Sweepstakes or receipt or use of any prize, including, but not limited to: (a) unauthorized human intervention in the Sweepstakes; (b) technical errors related to computers, servers, providers, or telephone, or network lines; (c) printing errors; (d) lost, late, postage-due, misdirected, or undeliverable mail; (e) errors in the administration of the Sweepstakes or the processing of entries; or (f) injury or damage to persons or property which may be caused, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, from entrant’s participation in the Sweepstakes or receipt or use of any prize. You further agree that in any cause of action, the Released Parties’ liability will be limited to the cost of entering and participating in the Sweepstakes, and in no event shall the Released Parties be liable for attorney’s fees. You waive the right to claim any damages whatsoever, including, but not limited to, punitive, consequential, direct, or indirect damages.

11. Privacy and Publicity: Any information you submit as part of the Sweepstakes will be used for purposes of this Sweepstakes and treated in accordance with Sponsor’s Privacy Policy. Except where prohibited, participation in the Sweepstakes constitutes an entrant’s consent to Sponsor’s use of his/her name, likeness, voice, opinions, biographical information, and state of residence for promotional purposes in any media without further payment or consideration.

12. Disputes: Except where prohibited, you agree that any and all disputes, claims and causes of action arising out of, or connected with, the Contest or any prize awarded shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action, and exclusively by the appropriate court located in Washington, DC. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules, your rights and obligations, or the rights and obligations of Sponsor in connection with the Contest, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of Washington, DC, without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules (whether of Washington, DC or any other jurisdiction), which would cause the application of the laws of any jurisdiction other than Washington, DC.

13. Results: To request a winners list, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Vox Media, Inc. (c/o Brew Crew Ball), 1740 N Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036 [Attention: Legal Department]. Requests must be received within four (4) weeks of the end of the Entry Period.