Just wondering. When people draft their teams they are naturally drafting for a team they think will win over the course of a 162 game season. However, in addition, do people look beyond the regular season and use drafting strategies that will give them an edge in the playoffs? (If they make them)

For me because I am a begginner I am just looking to get into the playoffs, not really thinking beyond that. Right now I am in a league with 5 games left and in playoff contention but my players are getting tired. I am going to make some tweaks to my next team so fatigue doesnt creep up so fast and often but some of the good players do well with low plate appearance guys and manage alot of fatigue.  I think I asked you this before, but why did you pick the name stfrancis?

It depends on the league.  I think you'll find the really successful OL owners draft for winning in the playoffs though.

How come when I click on your guys names and click on theme league baseball all the league(s) you are in say "theme league" when some are really "open leagues?"

Me, personally, as Trentonjoe mentioned, I always draft with an eye toward the postseason because you can have a regular season team that wins a ton of regular season games, but then get waxed in the first round of the playoffs.  So, unless you're just one of those lucky sorts, your team has to be built for the postseason.

I believe that most teams that are successful, in the sim and real life, are geared toward the playoffs a bit.  Most playoff teams shorten their rotation, and you can do that in the sim as well.  So basically you are looking at two things, quantity and quality.  You have to find the mix that works for you, but a lot of highly successful owners push that quantity line as low as possible to max out the quality.  I think that is one of the hardest things for new owners to learn.  

Great question saint. Went through this quandary myself. I feel like the poster child for this having the unique distinction of losing my first 7 playoff series in the first round. I'd found a formula that could win in the regular season (with an extremely high percentage of beating bad and average teams, and an extra-ordinarly low winning percentage against good teams).   Even though I was now making the playoffs, without getting into strategies, I hadn't gotten there by the means that the truly good teams were.  Made what I feel are the nessesary adjustments and have now won 7 of my last 9 playoff series and am advancing pretty far consistantly.  As someone who has experienced both extremes.....It is correct to say that winning in the OL regular season, doesn't nessesarilly correllate to winning in the playoffs.

Guys that over draft shut down starting pitching tend to win 100+ games in Season and then are exposed on offense in the Playoffs since you only need 2 or 3 pitchers to win.  You do need to carefully manage the regular season to get into the PL though.

I draft hoping my team can get by in the reg season even with the natural disadvantage I give by drafting so few PAs, then in the playoffs I'm all set.

Pitching wins playoffs, but it is very hard for new owners to learn not to overspend on pitching.  Not all starters in your rotation are created equal.  Many experienced owners will have two shutdown starters to take them through the playoffs, and then there will be a significant dropoff in quality to a more economical No. 3 starter (and Nos. 4, 5, etc. if applicable).  Many owners will also draft an Elmer Steele/Art Nehf type for long relief and occasional spot starts during the regular season and then make him a No. 1 or 2 starter in the playoffs.  Ditto with ultracheap position players with extremely low PA's and ridiculously good offensive stats who can be stashed for most of the regular season and then inserted in the starting lineup during the playoffs as "instant" .400 hitters.

That's one reason why you hear so many owners whining that the playoffs are "random" and "mediocre" 80/85 win teams blow past their 100+ win counterparts to win the WS.  Very often these "mediocre" teams are managed by experienced owners who try to calculate just what it takes to sneak into the playoffs and then blow the competition away. .

in a theme league I draft mostly for the regular season. the season is 8 weeks of fun, the playoffs are a few days of a crapshoot. in Open Leagues you already know the strategy and you fully expect to make the playoffs so it's more reasonable to design your team for the playoffs. but I'm too impatient to wait 8 weeks for the quick payoff.

Posted by thunder1008 on 11/3/2011 12:38:00 AM (view original):
Pitching wins playoffs, but it is very hard for new owners to learn not to overspend on pitching.  Not all starters in your rotation are created equal.  Many experienced owners will have two shutdown starters to take them through the playoffs, and then there will be a significant dropoff in quality to a more economical No. 3 starter (and Nos. 4, 5, etc. if applicable).  Many owners will also draft an Elmer Steele/Art Nehf type for long relief and occasional spot starts during the regular season and then make him a No. 1 or 2 starter in the playoffs.  Ditto with ultracheap position players with extremely low PA's and ridiculously good offensive stats who can be stashed for most of the regular season and then inserted in the starting lineup during the playoffs as "instant" .400 hitters.

That's one reason why you hear so many owners whining that the playoffs are "random" and "mediocre" 80/85 win teams blow past their 100+ win counterparts to win the WS.  Very often these "mediocre" teams are managed by experienced owners who try to calculate just what it takes to sneak into the playoffs and then blow the competition away. .

I.e. Les Mann, Gates Brown, etc.

Thanks thunder1008 for the good input, it will be usefull along the way.

Posted by thunder1008 on 11/3/2011 12:38:00 AM (view original):
Pitching wins playoffs, but it is very hard for new owners to learn not to overspend on pitching.  Not all starters in your rotation are created equal.  Many experienced owners will have two shutdown starters to take them through the playoffs, and then there will be a significant dropoff in quality to a more economical No. 3 starter (and Nos. 4, 5, etc. if applicable).  Many owners will also draft an Elmer Steele/Art Nehf type for long relief and occasional spot starts during the regular season and then make him a No. 1 or 2 starter in the playoffs.  Ditto with ultracheap position players with extremely low PA's and ridiculously good offensive stats who can be stashed for most of the regular season and then inserted in the starting lineup during the playoffs as "instant" .400 hitters.

That's one reason why you hear so many owners whining that the playoffs are "random" and "mediocre" 80/85 win teams blow past their 100+ win counterparts to win the WS.  Very often these "mediocre" teams are managed by experienced owners who try to calculate just what it takes to sneak into the playoffs and then blow the competition away. .

I agree with all of this. Properly tiering your pitchers will help you in the playoffs as well as the regular season. I'll give you an example using ERC# as a stand-in for quality but any metric will do.

SP1: 300ip, 2.20 ERC#, 10mil
SP2: 300ip, 2.20 ERC#, 10mil
SP3 300ip, 2.20 ERC#, 10mil

----OR----

SP1: 300ip, 1.80 ERC#, 12mil
SP2: 300ip, 2.00 ERC#, 11mil
SP3: 300ip, 3.00 ERC#, 7mil

Yes, the 2nd example sets you up better for the playoffs, but it also gives you a better pitcher 2/3 of the time in the regular season.

In RL no team wins the WS unless they are better at the end of the season than they were at the beginning. You have to step it up a notch once the postseason comes around. Unless your OL playoff team is better than the regular season team, you are not likely to win the WS. Using Jfranco's example, the 2nd option allows for a 2 man rotation in the playoffs. Another option is to overspend on SP and get cheap RP. Then use one of the SPs as a RP during the playoffs. If you take the $10m SP3 from the 1st example and make him the SP3 in the 2nd example, you have to save 3M somewhere. That money can be spread through 3 or 4 RPs who will use most of their IP in blowouts and will also cost you some games along the way. But the superior SP3 will also win a number of games the $7m guy would not have won. You get 54 starts with 90-100 pitches of superior pitching, many of those against teams throwing an inferior $7m guy against you. It gives you a huge advantage over the course of a 162 game season. I won my 1st WS the first time I decided not to compromise at the bottom of my rotation.