I’m in my second HBD season and with 23 games remaining I am 1 GB in my division, 4 games up for the second WC spot.
My questions are: should I think about resting my starters during the regular season to maximize their effectiveness in the playoffs? Or is there a break between the regular season and the playoffs for players to recover?
Also, does having everyone at 100% make a big difference compared to having guys in the mid-to-upper 90s?

I wouldn't rest until I've clinched a spot. Non-bye teams get one day rest.

A difference? Maybe. A big difference? Probably not. WiS claims rest% has an effect but WiS has also been known to exaggerate the depth of the game's capabilities.

I'm with Brian on this one. Usually my order of operations in order of importance look like this when there is about 20 games left in the season:

1) Clinch a playoff spot (I'll go all in for the bye as it means you get past the first round and have about 7 days to rest your players)
2) Get my pitching rotation all sorted out for game 1 if I have to play in the wildcard round.
3) Get my position players rested and back up to 100% health.

Its not a perfect science but my rule is usually that if you take a players ratings and multiply it by their health % then you get the ratings they will use for the next game. So a 100% player is their ratings X 1. A player with 80% health you would take their ratings and multiply by 0.8%.

Now, keep in mind, your players aren't the only ones getting exhausted as the season rolls along. This is why, if you keep your players healthy and rested in the first half of the season you can often times hammer out a good winning streak going down the stretch. Your guys will all be playing at 100% while other teams may have a 5-10-20% penalty.

Posted by hockey1984 on 3/12/2021 9:20:00 AM (view original):
I'm with Brian on this one. Usually my order of operations in order of importance look like this when there is about 20 games left in the season:

1) Clinch a playoff spot (I'll go all in for the bye as it means you get past the first round and have about 7 days to rest your players)
2) Get my pitching rotation all sorted out for game 1 if I have to play in the wildcard round.
3) Get my position players rested and back up to 100% health.

Its not a perfect science but my rule is usually that if you take a players ratings and multiply it by their health % then you get the ratings they will use for the next game. So a 100% player is their ratings X 1. A player with 80% health you would take their ratings and multiply by 0.8%.

Now, keep in mind, your players aren't the only ones getting exhausted as the season rolls along. This is why, if you keep your players healthy and rested in the first half of the season you can often times hammer out a good winning streak going down the stretch. Your guys will all be playing at 100% while other teams may have a 5-10-20% penalty.

This, I believe, was the biggest factor in my recent world series win. I clinched the division with something like 24 games left, and so the last 24 games were pretty much spring training all over again with call ups taking the bulk of the playing time. My entire team rolled into the playoffs at 100%, and not one player dipped below 100 again.