I'm about to be swept out of a $100M TOC by a team that's coasting along with an 8-1 record. The owner has a 'lifetime' simleague record of 240-105, so he's either a savant, or it's someone with more than 1 screen name.

What concerns me is that his pitching staff had only 1231 real-life innings, and his batters only had 3252 PAs. His team comes from a AAA league, but his TOC team only has 1 AAA pitcher, who is a scrub that has pitched only 3 of his 81 TOC innings.

Every time I've tried to get by with a pitching staff with much fewer than 1400 real-life innings, fatigue has killed me. After 9 TOC games, however, this guy's pitchers are still all at 100%, at least according to the box scores. Clearly, he is much smarter than me.

I love WIS, and I'll be a member for life, but it concerns me that a few people have figured out how to beat the SIM. In one of the most recent TOCs I was in (they're few & far between anymore), one owner had both of the final 2 teams, and his pitching staffs were also of the 1250 IP variety.

My main fear is that the few owners who have figured out how to beat the system will drive out the more casual members who pay the bills. I'd be lost without WIS around to occupy my time.

Fatigue works differently in TOCs.  A few things to note:

1. If your team is "coasting along" then chances are you are getting rest between rounds.  One or two extra days of rest is huge in a TOC.

2. A low inning stud (e.g. Milacki) is very useful in that you can pitch him 9 innings early in the tournament, which probably leads to the following: you win a game, make it through faster to the next round (see #1), and perhaps most importantly eat up a substantial number of innings, thus keeping your remaining pitchers fresh for later rounds.  

3. Remember that if your staff is made up of the best pitchers in the database, you can get by with a lot fewer innings.  Putting them in a pitchers' park, with good defense, can stretch these innings even farther.

I have won two TOCs and placed twice two times too.  However, I think the TOC is mostly a crapshoot.  That being said, I think how you manage fatigue is huge.  Personally, I won't start a fatigued pitcher unless it is a must-win last game in the series.  I have also intentionally blown games in the TOC by starting AA scrubs and an AAA pitcher to give my regulars a rest.

Also, I never draft more than ~1200 quality IP in an OL, not even for Coors.  If you are diligent, you will only need about 1200 IP, scrubs and AAA in any OL park to get through the season.  The TOC may be a different beast, but quality generally trumps quantity there too.

I couldn't agree more that the TOC is a glorified crapshoot. However, the note here is that the rest between rounds is likely helping this person tremendously. The fatigue in a TOC is VERY different from a single season, as each TOC game counts as if it is between 9-13 single season games.

From the Knowledge Base:

Tournament of Champions	Q.	How does fatigue work in the TOC?
A.		Fatigue works the same way in the TOC as it does in a SimLeague with one exception: the TOC begins as if it were the 26th game of the season where each player begins having used up a prorated percentage of their available plate appearances or pitches thrown. For instance, a hitter had 500 plate appearances during the actual season. An additional 10% is added for padding, bringing him to 550 PA. When the TOC is started, the first game is treated as game 26 and he begins having used up 25/162 of his plate appearances, or 85 plate appearances. Pitchers work the same way for pitch count.

Q.	How is rest issued in between rounds of the TOC?
A.		The only rest provided in between rounds of the TOC is if you knock off your competition in fewer games than your next round opponent. For example, if you sweep your first round opponent in 3 games but it takes your 2nd round opponent all five games to advance to the second round, your team will receive 2 games of rest. Rest is provided when the next round of the tournament is scheduled.

So if you win early (while your opponents play more games than you), you can manage to only use a few pitchers, never see extra innings, keep your PAs/game down or play low scoring games, you have a big advantage in the TOC. Even then, I still feel that in a 5 game series, all sorts of crazy stuff can happen, so it's really a crapshoot.

 

Posted by 0soup4u on 9/15/2014 8:43:00 PM (view original):
I'm about to be swept out of a $100M TOC by a team that's coasting along with an 8-1 record. The owner has a 'lifetime' simleague record of 240-105, so he's either a savant, or it's someone with more than 1 screen name.

What concerns me is that his pitching staff had only 1231 real-life innings, and his batters only had 3252 PAs. His team comes from a AAA league, but his TOC team only has 1 AAA pitcher, who is a scrub that has pitched only 3 of his 81 TOC innings.

Every time I've tried to get by with a pitching staff with much fewer than 1400 real-life innings, fatigue has killed me. After 9 TOC games, however, this guy's pitchers are still all at 100%, at least according to the box scores. Clearly, he is much smarter than me.

I love WIS, and I'll be a member for life, but it concerns me that a few people have figured out how to beat the SIM. In one of the most recent TOCs I was in (they're few & far between anymore), one owner had both of the final 2 teams, and his pitching staffs were also of the 1250 IP variety.

My main fear is that the few owners who have figured out how to beat the system will drive out the more casual members who pay the bills. I'd be lost without WIS around to occupy my time.

What crazystengel said is very true. Short inning starters and getting what you call 'the coast' seems the easiest way to do it. I've got two teams still playing in that same TOC as you, with the same amount of games played as your opponent. Both teams pitchers are all at 100 percent and each have two pitchers that haven't even pitched yet. In this TOC I believe you could have gotten by with 1200 innings, if you use short inning quality starters to help 'gain innings' to get through these rounds quickly (with the duel effect of getting the coast too). It's not possible here and  I make this point solely to emphasize short inning starters, but hypothetically you could theoretically field a team of 17 short inning starters Silimar to Milacki, Rasmussen, McDowell ect along with a 300 inning starter, you could get by with as little as 800 innings or less. I see you won your next game, GL hope to see you in the final.

Thanks for all of the excellent comments, guys! I now have a much better understanding of how & why low inning staffs have an advantage in the TOC. No wonder I get shut out by so many Milacki's when I get there :)

I certainly don't begrudge anyone using the best possible strategy to win. In fact, I sincerely tip my hat to those of you who have figured this out so well. After all, the reward points that come with winning a TOC can be turned into real money, or at least Amazon gift cards.

The problem remains, however, that the above strategies are not reflective of real-life baseball, which should be the goal of a sports simulation. The site even recommends drafting at least 6000 PAs & 1600 IPs for your team, but your team would be toast if you followed that advice.

I've read a lot of posts from people who say that they are quitting the site because they are fed up with the lack of realism. I hope they aren't serious, and that it doesn't become a trend. I'm a huge fan of the site, so I'd like to see more people join, not leave. Maybe there's no better way to do it, though.

It helps if you think of the TOC as a "bonus round" that WIS is under no obligation to give us.  It has its problems even beyond what's been discussed here (OL cookie teams vs. single season prog teams, anyone?), but if you don't look at it as something you paid for, it tends to annoy you less.

I totally agree, crazy. I'm used to being outsmarted, so I'm always pleasantly surprised when I do well in a TOC. As you know, though, there are a lot of owners who are less philosophical about losing to a staff full of Milacki's, McDowell's, and Carlos's, et al.

I don't think the TOC is a crapshoot.  I don't think any baseball sim I've played (not just talking about this site) reflects real life baseball.  A $60M cap league with no rookies would probably come to closest to being like a normal real life baseball team.  I think the lack of significant updates on a regular basis is a bigger problem at the moment than lack of realism.