I am trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong. Is someone willing to mentor me? Someone seasoned and has had good success.

I have a team in a pitcher's park (Seattle). I've tried different things constructing a team, but I feel like my results indicate I don't know what I'm doing.

The most recent season I've completed we were 38-43 at Home and 47-34 on the Road. We had the best BA on the Road and the worst BA at Home (among AL teams).

I'd previous tried constructing a team that focused on pitching and that seemed to have worse results. I feel like I just need a few pointers to get in going in the right direction.

https://www.whatifsports.com/hbd/Pages/Popups/FranchiseStats.aspx?fid=6560

Player Profile: Pat Kobayashi - Hardball Dynasty Baseball | WhatIfSports, Player Profile: Patrick Obermueller - Hardball Dynasty Baseball | WhatIfSports and Player Profile: Timo Walker - Hardball Dynasty Baseball | WhatIfSports are AAA guys. If you are gonna go with SP's that have vLvR less than 70 (but no less than 55), then P1 and P2 should be 85+, 80+ in my experience. Add in a P3 65+ to that formula if possible.

Player Profile: Erubiel Jacquez - Hardball Dynasty Baseball | WhatIfSports has a vR of 50 which is playing with fire. The p1 is great but P2 and p3 are not enough to off set the vR 50. I have seen vL 50 guys do ok, but there is always pot'l to get blown out of the water in any game. Stick with vL vR 60+ to be safe AT THE MINIMUM

I feel like Player Profile: Clinton Moriarty - Hardball Dynasty Baseball | WhatIfSports is also lacking P1 and especially P2

and so.. IMO, you have 5 pitchers that have the potential to get torched on any given outing. Understanding good pitching takes awhile, but being aware of bad pitching is an absolute must do quick lesson. Signing bad pitching to lengthy contracts will just destroy a team.

That said, I just looked and you have not signed any of those guys long term. that's good. I would not bring any of those guys back next season.

I find that playing in Seattle is equalizer meaning that teams seem to even out. I find that it is not as much a pitchers park is it is neutralize hitters park. I pretty much expect to not hit at home and hope we can outpitch the opposing staff. The Irony is all of these components that you use to try to win in Seattle that don't really give you an advantage seems to give an advantage on the road.

Every starting pitcher doesn't have to be a CY winner. I think the pitchers referenced above can be useful in the back of the rotation or bullpen. Look at the teams in your league and see what makes them successful. Look and see where the teams that consistently make the playoffs are in offensive and defensive ratings. If you have the best pitching staff, you typically don't need to have the top offense to be successful. Every guy on your roster doesn't have to be a stud. I spent a lot of time early in my HBD time to build the best 1-25 roster every year. You need a strong 1-25 but 1-15 is more important.

Posted by bigbucks07 on 9/27/2020 1:36:00 PM (view original):
Every starting pitcher doesn't have to be a CY winner. I think the pitchers referenced above can be useful in the back of the rotation or bullpen. Look at the teams in your league and see what makes them successful. Look and see where the teams that consistently make the playoffs are in offensive and defensive ratings. If you have the best pitching staff, you typically don't need to have the top offense to be successful. Every guy on your roster doesn't have to be a stud. I spent a lot of time early in my HBD time to build the best 1-25 roster every year. You need a strong 1-25 but 1-15 is more important.

I understand...and maybe I should take another look at the rest of the teams in my world.

My pitcher's ERA's are comparable home/away, while I'm the best hitting on the road and worst hitting at home. My record 38-43 at Home and 47-34 on the Road seemed odd, but I guess that was just the way the ball bounced? Just wanted to know if I was missing something.

Posted by bigbucks07 on 9/27/2020 1:36:00 PM (view original):
Every starting pitcher doesn't have to be a CY winner. I think the pitchers referenced above can be useful in the back of the rotation or bullpen. Look at the teams in your league and see what makes them successful. Look and see where the teams that consistently make the playoffs are in offensive and defensive ratings. If you have the best pitching staff, you typically don't need to have the top offense to be successful. Every guy on your roster doesn't have to be a stud. I spent a lot of time early in my HBD time to build the best 1-25 roster every year. You need a strong 1-25 but 1-15 is more important.

I agree, frankly I'd take Obermueller any day on the back end of the rotation. Only guy above I'd definitely not have in my ML roster is the 50 vR.

I also would be careful when building a team around pitching or hitting, etc. Don't overspend or overdraft too much just to fit a need. Sometimes it's best to just take what falls to you in the draft/int/fa/etc. You can always trade down the line, and you'd be surprised to see how much a team can change in a few seasons. Get the value when you can.

I think you have more wiggle room if you focus on types of pitchers (groundball/control/etc) or types of hitters (good fielders/power/contact/etc.). But at the end of the day there are hundreds of ways to win, and you better your chances by being flexible.

Ill answer any questions via sitemail.

Id probally never use Player Profile: Patrick Obermueller - Hardball Dynasty Baseball | WhatIfSports or Player Profile: Erubiel Jacquez - Hardball Dynasty Baseball | WhatIfSports at the ml level unless I had a ton of injuries and he was a mop up. Look at players successful owners use and there players ratings.

The problem with the pitching staff, now that you've made some changes, isn't so much that you have bad pitchers as it is that you don't have good ones; only Ross and Taylor are better than ¯\_(?)_/¯, and even those two, especially Taylor, are vulnerable to platooning. Jacquez isn't acceptable at all, Obermuller's a terrific mop-up but should never pitch important innings, and in my opinion Walker and Navarro don't pitch enough innings to keep them on the roster with the slightly below league average ERA they project to. Remember that in Seattle, in the NL, an ERA of 3.60-3.70 is average; you'll want your best guys to be in the 2's pretty frequently.

The position players are pretty good; you could use a better SS plan. You could maximize this group by:

1. Playing Elarton at 3B every day;
2. Platooning Simon and Nova (vs. LHP) at 2B;
3. Playing Wise every day in CF.;
4. For an NL team, Julio's glove won't justify his bat against LHP. Force him into the lineup in RF against RHP, probably platooning with Sanabia. Sanabia also catches occasionally against RHP to rest Moya.