What is the general opinion about how many pitchers to carry , and the rotation set up, for the play-offs?

With all the scheduled off-days, I generally go with a three man rotation.  The rest of my normal rotation becomes long relievers (either LRA or LRB).  I usually have a mopup guy on my regular season staff who I don't need in the post-season, so I'll drop him in favor of another position player (pinch hitting specialist, defensive specialist, base-stealing specialist, etc).

I carry 8-9.  Three SP, two LR, 3 short relievers and one more if I don't really have a 17th position player I think I can use.

Thanks for the good info.

Posted by MikeT23 on 6/13/2012 9:30:00 PM (view original):
I carry 8-9.  Three SP, two LR, 3 short relievers and one more if I don't really have a 17th position player I think I can use.

17 position players? Two full lineups of players? That's a bit extreme and might explain the numbers 183-214. :O ..... I do what tecwrg said .... Trim the rotation to 3 or 4 depending on the durability of my SPs, move the the other SPs to the bullpen and lose a short reliever or two for pinch hitters/runners.

I use a 3 man rotation, put my SP4 at LRA and cycle him into the rotation if I need him due to fatigue at any point.  Then I rest my entire bullpen except for a SuA (or two if I have good ones) and a closer.  If they fatigue I cycle in a rested guy to pick up some slack while they rest.  

You want your best guys getting all the innings if they can.

Posted by hbdgirl on 6/14/2012 12:50:00 AM (view original):

Posted by MikeT23 on 6/13/2012 9:30:00 PM (view original):
I carry 8-9.  Three SP, two LR, 3 short relievers and one more if I don't really have a 17th position player I think I can use.

17 position players? Two full lineups of players? That's a bit extreme and might explain the numbers 183-214. :O ..... I do what tecwrg said .... Trim the rotation to 3 or 4 depending on the durability of my SPs, move the the other SPs to the bullpen and lose a short reliever or two for pinch hitters/runners.

More PH, PR and D replacements.   Are you saying you have 10 pitchers on your rosters that you want pitching in the playoffs?   Well, you know, if you ever make the playoffs again.

I checked MLB for some reference and virtually every playoff roster had at least 11 pitchers. Let's say your NL team in Moonlight Graham makes the playoffs ... Wait that won't ever happen ... Ok, let's pretend a generic NL team makes the playoffs. If you carry only 8 pitchers and 3 are starters, that leaves 5 pitchers ( including the starter ) you could potentially pinch hit before you'd be down to your last pitcher. You wouldnt make it through the order that many times in a 9 inning game. Now let's assume a playoff team has a reasonably good lineup with at least 5 or 6 guys that wouldn't be replaced during a game. That means in a 9 inning game you'd probably use 4 or 5 bench player max. Trust or not, it seems smarter to have the extra pitchers for extra innings or back to back extra inning games.

That's all well and good but HBD isn't a duplicate of MLB.   I have a couple of platoons on most of my teams.   My 1B isn't going to be a glove guy and LF/RF might not be.   There's little doubt that I don't have a better fielder on my 40 than my starting 3B.  A couple of PH, a PR and 3-4 defensive replacements can get you thru 14-15 players pretty quickly.   I've only had one "OH ****" moment wrt pitching in my 59 playoff appearances.   And I won my first WS when Hardball Dynasty – Fantasy Baseball Sim Games - Player Profile: Alex Watson pinch ran, and scored, in the bottom of the 9th, game 7. 

I also change my rosters between series based on my opponent.   I could add or change a pitcher and/or position players.  If a PP doesn't play in the first series, I'll usually add a pitcher.   A 5 game series isn't going to require more than 8 unless you really suck it up.

That's great about Alex Watson but was he the 17th guy to come in the game? I carry a speed guy too and still manage 11 pitchers. Your theory is even less necessary in the AL with the DH and most of your teams are AL.. I think I figured out why you only average 6 games played per playoff appearance. OVERMANAGEMENT !!!!!!!

RSF!!!!!! BOY VS GIRL EDITION

I carry one less pitcher than I do in the regular season, if I still have a low IP mediocre pitcher slotted to the make the roster, I will drop him as well. 

This is something I have gone back and forth with a bunch of times.  It would obviously be better to have access to more role players, but the edge they provide is only marginal.  If you get stuck having to use fatigued pitchers it the drawback can be signifigant.

With anyone I don't want pitching set to rest. 

I try and use 3 pitchers 3 SP's but often I will have to use 4,  at least in one series.  I try and be very thoughtful in terms of game theory with how I set my rotation, with the goal being to win the world series not any one game.

I use tandem starters almost always the game before an off day to make sure my best available reliever is the second pitcher into the game. 

Posted by sergei91 on 6/14/2012 11:58:00 AM (view original):
RSF!!!!!! BOY VS GIRL EDITION

I've always pictured hbdgirl with more facial hair.

Posted by hbdgirl on 6/14/2012 11:27:00 AM (view original):
That's great about Alex Watson but was he the 17th guy to come in the game? I carry a speed guy too and still manage 11 pitchers. Your theory is even less necessary in the AL with the DH and most of your teams are AL.. I think I figured out why you only average 6 games played per playoff appearance. OVERMANAGEMENT !!!!!!!

Maybe.  I didn't save the boxscore since I figured I'd win more than one WS and I knew I'd make the playoffs more than once every 4 seasons.

Rather than worry about my 11th pitcher on my playoff roster that MIGHT pitch 0.1 innings, maybe you could work on figuring out how to make the playoffs more than 25% of the time.

And you might try to work on figuring out how to do anything but get swept once you get there. I've been to more WS than you in 49 less playoff appearances. BTW ... Tanking only works in the regular season.