After a long rebuilding wait, I've made the playoffs for the first time. Now that every pitch matters more, I want to make sure I'm putting my best foot forward throughout each game. What tips or tricks do you use for winning five or seven-game series that you wouldn't necessarily deploy over 162 games?

Posted by LoboOne04 on 3/21/2019 11:34:00 AM (view original):
After a long rebuilding wait, I've made the playoffs for the first time. Now that every pitch matters more, I want to make sure I'm putting my best foot forward throughout each game. What tips or tricks do you use for winning five or seven-game series that you wouldn't necessarily deploy over 162 games?

I am interested in hearing any responses as well. While I think it has a lot to do with luck, I have a decent MLB regular season record and a terrible playoff record, so any advice given, I will listen.

I’m relatively new but I’ve been able to rotate my top two SPs, for the most part. You just have to stay on top of rest if one of them isn’t fully ready to go, which can be tricky and hurt me last season (accidentally started my ace at low energy in an elimination game). This would allow you go with an 8 or 9 man staff and call up speed/defense/platoon guys.

Shorten the pitching staff. You've probably got at least two pitchers you don't want pitching critical innings. Use their roster spots for, say, a pinch hitter and a baserunning/defense extra.

If you've got enough innings in them, you really only need a three man rotation in the playoffs. And schedule your rotation around the off days. When I won my WS, I used a 2 1/2 man rotation. The 1/2 man was a rookie with a nice home split, I started him only in home games. I only needed two spot starts from other pitchers, they were both losses.

Double check your Pitch Hit settings, Defensive Replacements etc - maybe also look at adjusting your Manager Settings as well.
Maybe your opponent has a great defensive catcher and you'll want to run less (or the opposite), for example.

Start all your bench players because they'll be well rested. Ditto for your worst reliever. Play your SS at catcher, his superior arm and glove will make your pitching staff invincible.

P.S. Only apply above advice if the team you're playing against is in a city that start with a C and the team owner's name start's with a D.

Posted by daahdeedaa on 3/21/2019 6:28:00 PM (view original):
Start all your bench players because they'll be well rested. Ditto for your worst reliever. Play your SS at catcher, his superior arm and glove will make your pitching staff invincible.

P.S. Only apply above advice if the team you're playing against is in a city that start with a C and the team owner's name start's with a D.

Haha! Can you tell I’m nervous, daahdeedaa??

Make sure to change your 'rest players' option. You don't want your scrubs coming in in the 7th inning if you are down (or especially if you are up) to blow the game or ruin a comeback. Up the pull rating for your pitchers. You can't really afford to have 1 pitcher have a bad outting and be stuck in the game for longer then they need to. Look at your opponents pitchers and try to play to their weaknesses. Do they have starters that are no good against lefties? Do they have a lot of flyball pitchers? As someone else mentioned, if they have a crummy catcher set your running to aggressive, and vice versa if they have a really good one.

Don't be afraid to tweak after every game, especially if you lost. Those small changes can make the difference in a run or two.

Oh! The other big one I have noticed as well is occasionally if you need to steal a win you can catch your opponent sleeping. Some teams, if you have a right handed pitcher will load up on guys who's splits are extreme 25 VsL 89 VsR. So if you have a really good leftie (or vice versa) you put in a decent reliever that throws with the opposite hand, set their pitch count to 40/40 and their pull rating to 5. Then have them tandem A with your starter as tandem B. Your starting pitcher will be against a very favourable lineup.

This is why I usually like to make my lineups

R
L
R
L
R
L
R

as much as I can.

It took me until my 5th visit to the playoffs before I won a series and my 8th visit to win a WS.....the had only won the one series in 7 trips and thought I would never figure out the playoffs. I really don't make any wholesale changes to how I manage for the playoffs except for pitching. As was said....pitch the best pitchers as much as possible. I also try to keep my position players rested through the season so they are optimal for the playoffs.

Do all of this stuff. But remember, playoffs are a crapshoot. Such a small sample size means that the better team wins just barely more than half of the time, especially in a 5 game series. All teams that make the playoffs are capable of winning a series against most other playoff teams, unless you are facing a juggernaut.

Things... did not go well.

Get lucky, run good

Record Information
Overall Record:	15117-13881 (.521)
Post Season Record:	501-389 (.563)
Franchise Information
Total Seasons:	179
Division Titles:	65
Playoffs:	90
World Series Titles:	20

As the guy with the perhaps the best playoff resume here are my tips. Some of them duplicate what is above.

1. Before you even get to the playoff rest your guys as much as possible. You don’t get a special ribbon for winning the #1 seed by 20 games over 3 games.
2. Whenever possible, get the #1 or #2 seed. The easiest way to not lose in the first round is not to play in it.
3. Use the regular season as data gathering. The playoffs may be a small sample size, but the regular season is a big one. When you are arranging your playoff line ups look carefully at the L/R splits. I haven’t used the same line up for righties vs. lefties in. . .well ever.
4. Think carefully about your bench. It should only have the following
   1. A productive right-handed bat
   2. A productive left-handed bat
   3. A high PC catcher
   4. Shortstops
5. Run a two-man rotation as long as you can using the tandems. Set your best starter as 1A and your best reliever with at least a 30 stamina as 1B. Set your second best starter as 2A and the worst pitcher on your staff as 2B. Make your next best pitcher set up A and the next after that your closer. After the first game look and see how you 1B guy is doing. If he is at least a 90 still make the 2A guy 1A and the 1A guy 2A. Since there is an extra day of rest after game 2 he will still be able to throw game 3. Anyway, keep swapping as long as you can so that the only guys that are pitching 90% of the innings are your two best starters and your best reliever with 30 stamina. Eventually the reliever will get tired and you have to stop the tandem thing, but its great while it lasts. You shouldn’t have to use your 3^rd best starter or any of your lesser relievers until game 5 of the ALCS/NLCS if done right. Plus, keeping your worst pitcher in the unused tandem spot keeps him off the field.
6. Turn down your subbing. You gave your guys all the rest in the regular season so that they were fresh now.
7. Don’t try to get to cute. If you have one of the top 4 teams in the league go for it. Don’t start thinking about your dynasty. Win the title now and worry about tomorrow tomorrow.

really good information there Topofworl, much appreciated. I'll use this as a checklist come post-season.