I'd have to agree with Napolean because although I will run a low cost, low PA, high production player in the ground and play him all the way down to 0% as long he's still hittting, I hardly EVER use a starting position player (or pitcher) if they're less than 100%.  In fact, most of my starting position players automatically get a rest when I hover my mouse over their fatigue level and it says they're overused by 5% or more even though they're still listed as 100%.  This way, they're fresh the whole season and I don't have to worry about them being in the low 90's down the stretch and at playoff time. As for resting stars against the other league, I may be missing the boat on this, but I've never quite understood the concept of resting players on the sole and exclusive basis that you're playing a team from the other league. IMO a win is a win regardless of which league the other team is in, and I'm not going to rest my players and take an automatic loss against a team (especially a bad team) just because they're in the other league, because those 4-6 games that you threw to teams from the other league  will come back to haunt you in the end in a tight div.  And besides, if you've drafted properly, you shouldn't have to worry about resting your stars too much.

If you've got a team that's good enough to win, say, 90 games, where do you want those 90 wins to come from?  

0-24 vs. other league
54-42 vs. teams in your league but not your division
36-6 vs. teams in your division

OR

16-8 vs. other league
64-32  vs. teams in your league but not your division
10-32 vs. teams in your own division

Both teams win 90 games, but the first team is probably going to win its division, and the second team is not.

And yeah, it takes some micromanaging to pull off something like the first record, but it's definitely doable.

Posted by crazystengel on 10/21/2010 7:32:00 AM (view original):
If you've got a team that's good enough to win, say, 90 games, where do you want those 90 wins to come from?  

0-24 vs. other league
54-42 vs. teams in your league but not your division
36-6 vs. teams in your division

OR

16-8 vs. other league
64-32  vs. teams in your league but not your division
10-32 vs. teams in your own division

Both teams win 90 games, but the first team is probably going to win its division, and the second team is not.

I dont see it that way. If you maximize your potential then your 90-win team can win 93 games. if you rest inefficiently you win 89 games. I play to win against the other division too, I might lose an extra game to a playoff spot competitor but I've gained more than one win.

"Maximizing your potential" is another issue.  I'm saying if 90 wins is your team's maximum potential, then it's in your interests to get as many of those 90 wins as possible against teams that are your division/wild card rivals.  If 93 wins is your team's maximum potential, then ditto.

 my point was if you rest too much against the other league you probably aren't maximizing your potential number of wins. I suspect you'd be throwing more games than you'd make up elsewhere.

Isn't the goal to "make the playoffs", not accumulate as many wins as possible.  Once you get to the playoffs, anything can happen, regardles of W-L record.  Everybody here knows the propensity of 85 win teams beating 100 win teams in the playoffs, so the difference between 90 wins and 93 wins is somewhat meaningless if either gets you into the playoffs.  So, I am all for "trying to win" against teams in your division to increase the changes of making the playoffs - as these wins ARE more valuable, b/c not only do you get a win, but your main rival gets a loss.

I'm with ya, Rbrains. Pythagoras says, "consistency equals more wins". If you turn a 100 win team into a 90 win team, you'd better win your division, lol. I'd rather just make the playoffs with my record. There's always the wild card if you happen to get stuck in a tough division.

Ha!  Good one, grizz.