I can tell you there are ways to increase your chances at winning a TOC. I haven't played as many games as a lot of other HOF on the site, but I do think I have been very successful in OL's. Of the 103 seasons I have played, about 40 have been progressives and 36 have been in the WISC. That leaves around 27 OL teams. Of those 27 teams, 7 have won the TOC. To give myself the best chance of winning, I try to go for these ideas:
1. Get in the $80M TOC. It is the easiest TOC to win. About 75% of the teams are progressive teams, giving you a huge advantage. To make sure you get in the $80M TOC, enter a team in an OL. Use your AAA to your advantage, but at the 120 game mark make sure that all your AAA are in the AAA. Having any AAA on your roster will bump you to the $90M TOC or higher.
2. Use the TOC fatigue system to your advantage. As mentioned before, it is a different fatigue system and it is rough. BUT there are ways to use to help you out. My bullpen has 6-7 low IP SP studs on it. If you go all the way through the TOC, you can expect to use about 20-25% of a SP IP's. Keep those low IP SP in the bullpen until they pitch 3 IP of relief. Then start them for a game and let them go 9 IP. That allows you to use 12/27 IP, or about 45% of their IP. So other teams are only getting 20-25% of their value, and now you are getting 45% value on some of your pitchers. Another huge advantage.
3. This one is the most difficult to explain. You need to balance depth in the regular season and top heavy pitching in the TOC. In the regular season, I want to have two 300IP aces on top and an ok 400IP 3rd SP. But in the TOC you don't want to be sending out a below average SP, every game counts. So how do you balance needed depth for the regular season without wasting value on your bench in the TOC? The waiver wire is the answer. In the TOC you don't need a #3 pitcher because you have 7 low IP SP studs. You can run your #1, #2 and then spot start a low IP SP. So before the 120 game mark, drop your #3 pitcher on the WW. But you can't just drop 400IP any more, there is a minimum IP required now. So you need to have the cheapest IP on the bench without wasting too many roster spots. I usually get two of the cheapest 150 IP pitchers out there. You are losing about $3.2M of salary at the beginning of the season rostering these two pitchers, but you gain $9 when you drop your #3 SP around the deadline. So how can you spend $9M on the WW without changing your entire roster? Use the fact that anyone can play 1B in WIS without too much of a problem. When drafting your team, don't draft a 1B. Use your AAA players to fill in 1B spot until the 120 game mark. Drop your #3 starter and pick up the best hitter available for your 1B. Use whatever $ left on pitching spot that is now open. So to summarize, you lose $3,2M but gain $9M at the 120 mark for a net gain of $5.8M. Another huge advantage for your team.
Be aware that this is not an easy team to run at all. It requires a lower budget offense of around $32M to start with since you are losing $3.2M at the beginning of the season. You have to plan ahead on your pitching as well. You are going to use a 3 man rotation for 3/4 of the seson and then go to a 2 man rotation for the last 42 games. You need to plan ahead and keep your #1 and #2 on low enough pitchcount to switch to a 2 man rotation later. It requires a lot of micro managing since you are using all of your AAA to the fullest for 120 games and don't have a 1B. It can be difficult and even when run perfectly, you can still miss out on the playoffs. You are not going to win over 100 games with this team, but 90 wins is a good goal. But 90 wins in an OL isn't always eenough to get that WC spot. But if you do get in the playoffs, you should have a lot of success.
7/10/2014 12:21 AM (edited)