Howdy,

This is my first playoffs in SimLeague. Wondering if anyone has any general advice on how Playoffs are different than regular season?

I think my lineup will be easy - I really only have eight good guys anyways. And I can handle the manager settings. Its the pitching I have a hard time with. I had a four man rotation all year - should I move to two tandems with the two starters How do I make sure that my best relievers are the ones chosen in close games? I may rest my long relief guy so he isn't chosen ever, he's terrible.

Thanks!

Obviously everything depends on your team's individual makeup and fatigue levels, but in general in a scenario like you are describing I would most likely do this:

Rank your starters 1-4 on effectiveness. Season ERA is an ok starting point, but it's not a bad idea to dig a little deeper and get opponent specific; if your opponent was 2nd in the league in HRs and one of your starters gives up significantly more HRs than the other 3, you might want to downgrade that guy. If your opponent led the league in walks and one of your starters walked a bunch of guys, you might want to downgrade him. Et cetera.

Move your #3 starter (effectiveness, not regular season starter #3) to Long A. Put the remaining 3 guys in the rotation. Make sure that dude #4 is Starter #3 so he won't start twice in a 5-game series. Ordering of #1 and #2 is situational and not extremely important.

Move your Long A guy to Long B or mopup (or rest if you want, but mopup at least will protect your other arms in the event of a blowout).

There's not a lot you can do to make sure your best relievers are chosen in close games. Put the better ones at Setup A and the lesser ones at Setup B and hope for the best. The lead at which Sparky switches to Bs is bigger than I would generally prefer, especially in postseason play, but there's not a lot you can do to game the system.

With all of this being said, in the case of your particular team I'd probably be inclined to make Liriano the Long A and leave the 3 Johans in the rotation. You just don't have enough long arms to work around the guaranteed short outing Liriano would give you. You could, however, consider throwing Liriano out there in Game 5, if it comes to that and if you'll have a Johan in the 90s or 100 who can follow him into the game if he only goes 2.2.

The playoffs are the time to dig deep and play as many favorable matchups as you can. I like to look at how my opponent fared against LHP and RHP during the season. If there was a significant split, I'll try to pitch my most favorable SP against them as much as possible.

Even if you don't micromanage individual matchups, it's a good time to shorten up the rotation and set up your bullpen so your best arms throw the most IP.

Posted by dahsdebater on 6/18/2020 3:28:00 PM (view original):
Obviously everything depends on your team's individual makeup and fatigue levels, but in general in a scenario like you are describing I would most likely do this:

Rank your starters 1-4 on effectiveness. Season ERA is an ok starting point, but it's not a bad idea to dig a little deeper and get opponent specific; if your opponent was 2nd in the league in HRs and one of your starters gives up significantly more HRs than the other 3, you might want to downgrade that guy. If your opponent led the league in walks and one of your starters walked a bunch of guys, you might want to downgrade him. Et cetera.

Move your #3 starter (effectiveness, not regular season starter #3) to Long A. Put the remaining 3 guys in the rotation. Make sure that dude #4 is Starter #3 so he won't start twice in a 5-game series. Ordering of #1 and #2 is situational and not extremely important.

Move your Long A guy to Long B or mopup (or rest if you want, but mopup at least will protect your other arms in the event of a blowout).

There's not a lot you can do to make sure your best relievers are chosen in close games. Put the better ones at Setup A and the lesser ones at Setup B and hope for the best. The lead at which Sparky switches to Bs is bigger than I would generally prefer, especially in postseason play, but there's not a lot you can do to game the system.

With all of this being said, in the case of your particular team I'd probably be inclined to make Liriano the Long A and leave the 3 Johans in the rotation. You just don't have enough long arms to work around the guaranteed short outing Liriano would give you. You could, however, consider throwing Liriano out there in Game 5, if it comes to that and if you'll have a Johan in the 90s or 100 who can follow him into the game if he only goes 2.2.

So not a good idea to go to Tandems? I was thinking of pairing Liriano and a Johan and then using the other two Johans and going 3-4 innings with each guy. You'd be pitching them more often but that way they hopefully get through 7 and I have my two elite relievers for the end. Will they wear down being used like that? I've kept their innings low - they're all right around their actual so I should have that 5% bonus that you carry over plus the playoffs. That enough?