I prefer higher cap leagues and manually chosen AAA pitchers. I set my starters at 4, same with long relief. I then set all relivers but the closer at 5. My closer starts the year at 3. I then use the AAA frequency train to keep my bullpen fresh by rotating relievers. I just hated seeing a guy give up 5 or 6 runs in 2 innings and not be pulled.

My overall winning pct has gone up 4 pts since I switched all my starters to 3-4 setting in just a few weeks. A few teams well under .500 have done much, much better.

It's really nice to see starters pulled if they are not doing well, which wasn't happening at 1-2 settings.

Have a high $ league with Tiant, Ryan, Palmer.Lemon, at 4. Seven very good RP set at 3. I'm 13-5 to start out the season.

If every at-bat is independent from the one that preceded it and there are no fatigue issues, why would you ever have a pull rating higher than 1? Just in case of a bad matchup that you didn't see coming?

Posted by _JJP_ on 5/23/2021 2:31:00 PM (view original):
If every at-bat is independent from the one that preceded it and there are no fatigue issues, why would you ever have a pull rating higher than 1? Just in case of a bad matchup that you didn't see coming?

If you have relievers who are better than your starters, you want them getting in the game sooner rather than later.

This topic seems to be the least openly discussed aspect of the game. Notice none of the long time vets are sharing anything here, lol. I need help with this part of the game too, but I've never really found any from the legendary HOFers on here.

Posted by dannyjoe on 5/24/2021 9:53:00 PM (view original):

Posted by _JJP_ on 5/23/2021 2:31:00 PM (view original):
If every at-bat is independent from the one that preceded it and there are no fatigue issues, why would you ever have a pull rating higher than 1? Just in case of a bad matchup that you didn't see coming?

If you have relievers who are better than your starters, you want them getting in the game sooner rather than later.

In that case, you should be taking SP with low IP/G to get them in and out the game ASAP, while still hitting their max IP/G with a 1 pull rating. You'll save $ by taking lower IP/G SP too.

I set all RP to RH Specialist and LH Specialist with 10-15 pitch counts. I vary their pull ratings bases on quality of the pitcher. If u don't have any RP as Setup A/B then it works just like setups would but gives the platoon pitching advantage whenever possible based on fatigue. If u prefer the better quality RP's to pitch the later innings, just set their innings available to the later innings. Over the course of the season, u get the handedness advantage as often as possible.

One legendary owner did this for a little while. I’m not sure if he still does

To add to the confusion, I have found that with equally good ratings, a solid starter is always a better value than a so-called shutdown reliever. In fact, in my experience, I've found relievers consistently unreliable. Whether it's Eckersley, Rivera, or freaking Cy Young--they will always blow more than a fair share of games. So... I've tried to keep good starters in the game as long as possible, with a 1 rating and lots of target innings. Unfortunately, the sim does not agree with this strategy and pulls my starters on a whim. Example: we're ahead 2-0 in the 7th inning. Starter, with 100 target pitches and a 1 pull rating, gives up an infield single and a game-tying HR. The sim immediately pulls him, although he's only thrown 70 pitches! WHY? Bullpen then blows the game badly. Thoughts?

Posted by oldtimer59 on 5/11/2021 12:41:00 PM (view original):
What setting do you like to use and why?

Six weeks since I started this and my win pct overall is up from .479 to .486. In over 7000 games. I had a 53-67 team just win 17 games in-a-row. They only gave up more than four runs once in the streak.

I have my pen guys set at 3. And they are getting pulled at first sign of trouble, instead of giving up four runs and then getting pulled.

It hasn't been perfect putting my SP's at 4, but it's been a lot better.

The old SP "1's" used to give up 7 runs in the 2nd, and then pitch to the 6th or 7th. Now they are getting pulled after 3-4 runs in the 2nd, and my pen is keeping it close and I'm rallying for way more wins. Many of my RP's have 4-7 W's.