My team in Aaron last season was in the top 3 in most offensive stats, a little below league average in pitching, and won 98 games. I made changes @ 2B, CF, and DH this off-season and all 3 are performing better so far than last season guys. Started out 10 & 3 including 4-2 against 2 of the league's best teams and then went on a 17 games tear, losing.  Finally won a game today. During the losing streak I made all the adjustments I could think of, switching the order, changing the line up, even used tandem pitching, called up a youngster and sent down an old guy. Nothing seemed to help. Now that it is over, at least temporarily, I would like to hear opinions and/or suggestions others out there may have.  
BTW, anyone know what the record losing streak is?

It happens, maybe your players stayed out late partying too many times.   :P

Could be an anomaly, could be that your team's performance last year was an anomaly. My guess is definitely the latter since two years ago your team went 35-127, before somehow improving by 63 wins the following year (a virtually unheard-of turnaround even with your FA acquisitions in season 18). Bailes had the season of his LIFE last year, and many guys also played way above their heads (Simon & Costilla especially), so it's no surprise that many of them are tumbling back down to Earth. Moreover, a huge decline is to be expected with a pitching staff like yours; for a team to win 98 games without a single pitcher winning even 10 games is absolutely bizarre, and with a 4.84 team ERA in season 18 virtually any decline in offense the next year was always going to start to increase your losses exponentially. Overall you've got some great talent on your team right now, but it's mostly on the offensive side; with a pitching staff like yours, no offense, I'd never go into a season expecting to win 98 games. If a team is largely one-dimensional (in your case, offense) than when that one dimension goes into a slump it becomes impossible to win baseball games.

Thanks prez, I think you are spot on and this is the kind of info I was looking for. I thought last year was over the top but at the same time there were only 3 guys (I think) left from the 35-127 bunch. I took that team over with about a month left and it was impossible to evaluate because it had been on auto for over a month and played in What If Park as well. I knew pitching was a problem, especially with the talent on some of the other teams, but I couldn't improve it during either off season. Suppose I will sit tight with most of the bats and try to improve the pitching. I thought I had up graded the defense but since we are making almost an error a game I guess not, but hope that will come around a little.

Posted by tecwrg on 1/7/2011 10:51:00 PM (view original):

I'm sure the record losing streak is a lot longer than 17 games.  Abandoned teams, tanking, etc.

 

We had a guy lose over 30 in a row last year before we were able to get rid of him. He didn't abandon or consiously tank. It was his 1st season and he just didn't bother to learn anything about the sim. We tried to help with various suggestions, but he did nothing and so he had to go. Guy who took over was experienced and managed to win more than he lost after he took over.