Posted by dedelman on 2/7/2013 2:21:00 PM (view original):
Minor disagreement with tec.
A number of people have observed that when a pitcher is at 100% (rather than, say, 81(100)) on the day before he starts, his fatigue number dips less far after a similar length start; that is, all 100% are not equal with regard to fatigue. Assuming that in-game fatigue works the same way as post-game fatigue, a pitcher who is rested one extra day will perform somewhat better on average, due to less in-game fatigue, than a pitcher who pitches on the first day he achieves 100%.
The reason it's a minor disagreement is that I haven't noticed that a pitcher who has had a long rest fatigues less than a pitcher who has just had a single off-day at 100%. So I don't really think long rest helps. But I feel certain that there are wide ranges of fatigue that all show up as 100%.
OK, I agree with that. In fact, I've been saying for a long time that all 100%s are not equal regarding fatigue for pitchers. However, whether in-game fatigue actually exists is debatable. One would assume that it should be programmed into the game, but I don't think it's ever been conclusively confirmed or acknowledged that it is by ADMIN.
As to a long rested pitcher (multiple days at 100%) fatiguing less than a short rested pitcher (i.e., one day at 100%), I can definitely confirm that as true. I tracked pitchers and fatigue patterns a couple of years ago for one of my minor league teams, did some crazy things with their pitching patterns, and got some pretty good data. There does seem to be a maximum number of days of rest where you get no more benefit from additional days of rest. I documented that it a thread, I'll see if I can find it.