What size rotation does everyone prefer?  What have you been most successful with?  What's the most overrated?

A 3-man rotation has always been the most successful for me in Open Leagues and Theme Leagues.

Theme restrictions aside, I agree with Italyprof - I know, a rarity (lol).  My predilection for the three-man rotation pre-dates the Deadball Era preference, however; looking at the playoffs a 4th starter may not get used in the 1st round (if you're lucky); and in subsequent rounds your ace only gets two starts - one of which is most likely not Game 7.  Now, you can drop your 4th starter from the rotation in the playoffs and move him to the bullpen, but he's most likely not a Long A (I hope your pen has better stats than your 4th starter), and you're leaving a lot of money on the table by not using him.  You're basically paying $5-$8 million for a Long B in the playoffs, and probably not your first choice at Long B.

Depends on the theme. I use whatever is most effective for the theme. I am very willing to use tandems if my optimum inning distribution calls for it.

4-man is my most common though

I love using 4 mans. I've used 3 mans but they aren't fun. The1908 squad of Joss Brown and Young always works for me but I haven't had success with anyone other than those 3 in a 3 man. I like using 4 mans with an Elton Chamberlain or JR Richard. (I mostly play 120 but have played a couple open leagues). I've even used a 5 man once with 2 $4 mil 200 inning eaters and won 89 games with that. But haven't tried that experiment again

5 man in an open league* usually 4 mans in leagues not $80 mil*

Has anyone else experimented with a 6 man rotation? 

It does depend on the theme. I think the 3 man with over 300 IP per starter works well....it means you can also load up on good relief pitching and the relievers only have 3 pitchers to pick up the slack for late in the game...so the bullpen is less taxed than with a 4 man or 5 man rotation. The other set up I like to use is tandems. You get 2 quality pitchers with equal innings to one more expensive starter and hence you are filling two roster spots and potentially saving money for use elsewhere on your roster.

Posted by bigben83 on 8/8/2015 11:53:00 AM (view original):
Has anyone else experimented with a 6 man rotation? 

I use 6-man rotations in progressives when the opportunity presents itself(it's often a last resort due to availability)

I just used a 6 man rotation in an OL. Missed playoffs by 1 game. All 6 pitchers were 140-160 IP. Salary range was $3.3 - 4.2M. A couple of them also saw a bit of use in the pen when necessary. 1924 Bill Doak was the best of the bunch. Played in Busch (1966) Stadium..


Perhaps I could host a theme? Required use of 5 or 6 man rotations...perhaps 5 or more must start a minimum of 25 games to be eligible for postseason play...

4 man rotations were the norm for many years, but with all the double headers and injuries, there was always a need for a spot or 5th starter...

I like a 2 or 3 man rotation. Some themes make other types of rotations necessary. A 1 / 2a / 2b is fun also...