I’ve tried going through the FAQ sticky but the posts that are linked are taken down.

How does the pitching engine work and how do I get the engine to bring in pitchers according to leverage? Do I just have to play live if I want to use my pitchers efficiently?

Not sure what exactly you mean by leverage.

You set each pitcher to a specific role: Starter, mop up, Long A/B, Setup A/B, LH Specialist, RH specialist, closer.
You can also decide what innings your pitchers are available to come in.

It's pretty straightforward. If you have a closer and set him to be available in the 8th or 9th, and check the box that says "Use closer only in save situations" then basically that is how he will be used. If you opt not to check that box, he'll still mostly be used in save situations, but may be brought in during tie games of other games when the score is close.

Similarly, if you have guys as SetUp A or SetUp B, they will generally be used appropriately (late innings of close games), depending on what inning you set them to be available for.

You cannot micromanage much more than that, But in general, I find SLB's use of the pitching staff to be extremely efficient. Not perfect, but good enough in most cases.

I would like to do a very basic thing that every MLB team does: pitch the better part of my bullpen in situations that matter more and pitch the worse part of my bullpen in situations that matter less. How does one do this?

Posted by anthatortc on 7/24/2026 7:30:00 AM (view original):
I would like to do a very basic thing that every MLB team does: pitch the better part of my bullpen in situations that matter more and pitch the worse part of my bullpen in situations that matter less. How does one do this?

You can't achieve this perfectly in the SIM, but you can manipulate bullpen roles and available inning to get close.

Setup A/B and Closer are used most often in those high-leverage situations. For Setup A/B that does NOT always mean while winning. LH/RH specialist, Long A/B, mopup are not specifically high-leverage roles but can appear in those situations (usually when pitchers in the other roles aren't available).

If two pitchers are both available and have the same role (like Setup A), then the pitcher with the lower OAV is used first.

The whole thing is a big puzzle, but you can adjust roles and settings to get some sense of predictability in most game situations. It will never be perfect, though.

So if I set someone to Long A or Long B and usage 6th or later, will he get used in the 6th or later inning in approximately low leverage situations?

If I have a pitcher for high leverage and want them to pitch a large number of innings as long as the situation remains high leverage and set them to Setup A with an inning of 3 or later will they come in in the third inning leading 1-0 ahead of my low leverage long reliever? Or is setup designed for higher innings so having a setup A with inning three won't ever get used that early. If I set a low target pitch count and a high maximum pitch count, will he lift for a long reliever if the game situation changes to something low leverage as long as he's above the target pitch count but below the maximum pitch count? Or will he still wait to his maximum pitch count to lift?