I have become good at taking poor teams and over a few seasons rebuilding them into 100+ win teams.  However, those same 100 win teams usually get crushed in the playoffs. This is not a one time isolated event; it has started to become a regular trend for me. Here is a recent example:

My 100 win - #1 seed team is swept out of the DCS 0-3 by the 89 win - #5 seed wildcard team.

(Sorry, I had the wrong team linked to in the previous link.  See post below for correct link to franchise profile).

Lineup: Team tied for league lead in runs scored in NL
#1 lead the NL in SB 
#2 15HR/22SB in regular season
#3 lead the NL in BA
#4-#6 all hit 40+HR
#7-#8 weaker but not terrible hitters
Bench has power, speed and defense to cover any late inning need
Team has solid defense and catchers that have high pitch calling ratings.

Pitchers: Team was second in fewest total runs allowed in NL
#1 - #2 SPs both had regular season ERA under 3.00
Based on pitching ratings, I have the best bullpen in the NL

I know you guys are not going to give out all of your World Series winning secrets.  I'm just hoping a few of you would give me some tips as to what I am doing wrong and/or what I can do differently to have a little more playoff success.  I'm at a loss as to why this team could not win at least 1 game in the playoffs.  Are the playoffs in HBD nothing more than random luck that I have been on the bad end of a lot recently?

I would give you my post-season secrets, but I'm afraid that they would just make you worse.

But here are some random thoughts:

1)  It helps to have a "top heavy" pitching rotation, i.e. a solid SP1-SP2-SP3.  Depth at SP4 and SP5 is great during the regular season, but provides little value in the post-season as you rarely would need to go to your SP4 and never to your SP5.

2)  Turn off auto-rest for your position players in the post-season.  They can rest in the off-season.

3)  Keep in mind, you are playing other good teams in the post-season.  Your series' are more likely to be evenly matched, so "random luck" may play a larger role in the post-season than it would during the regular season.

4)  If you have a top-quality minor league prospect who's ML ready, but you've been holding them back for next season, don't be afraid to put them on your playoff roster.  I've had a number of players make their ML debut in the playoffs.  They don't accumulate any service time during the post-season, and if they are better than a corresponding player on your regular season roster, it's basically "free" to put them on your post-season roster.  You just have to make sure they are on the 40 man roster before the "set post-season roster" date during the regular season.  At worst, you burn an option year.

The short series is the key.  If you don't have your rotation lined up (or the opponents #1 beats your #1), you're gonna be out before your depth and superior talent can be leveraged.  

You can get by with a 8 or 9 man pitching staff, and increase your pull ratings. Add pinch hitters, pinch runners, and defensive specialists with the freed up roster spots. Correspondingly, increase your pinch hitting and pinch running settings.

As the #1 seed, I had plenty of rest days.  My position players were all at 100%.  Several of his were in the mid 90s.  I had my rotation set with my best 2 SPs lined up #1- #2.  Bullpen was fully rested and set.  I lost the 3 games by scores of 2-0, 6-2, 4-1.  I did everything you guys have suggested.  Just wondering if there was something I had missed but looks like there wasn't.  Only explanation anyone can give me is that it was random bad luck AGAIN.  I know winning isn't everything but when you loose in the playoffs season after season after season the enjoyment of this game wears off. 

Posted by MikeT23 on 2/1/2014 7:39:00 AM (view original):

Any chance you lost three games in a row during the regular season?

It happens I know.  It's just a bummer when you work hard for 3 months to watch it all get washed away in less than 48 hours when you supposedly did everything right.

Thanks for your replies guys.  It confirms I am not missing anything when the playoffs role around.  I did everything right, except for setting my expectations too high when I expected a 100 win team to win a playoff game. 

I predict you will win your next playoff series

Posted by shobob on 2/1/2014 10:28:00 AM (view original):
I predict you will win your next playoff series

While I have won a playoff series in the 2.5 years since this thread was active..... I now have an active streak of 30 playoff appearances (throughout several different worlds) with no Worlds Series titles. I set my rotation and bullpen, up pull numbers, set my lineups, defense, etc. Still no WS titles. I often see owners with 10-15-20+ WS titles in HBD. How are they winning all those WS titles? I have always felt the playoffs in this game are nothing but luck. Is it just really, really, really rotten luck for me? I know you guys are not going to give up your secrets but it just feels good to rant a bit after another failed playoff appearance. I was up 2 games to 0 in the WS and still couldn't win it all. Bah!

If you're griping because you haven't won a WS, I get it. I think it was my 28th playoff appearance before I got one.

But, if you think there's some "secret sauce" to winning the WS, ask one of those 10-15-20+ guys directly. I don't think they'll tell you anything you don't already know but it doesn't hurt to ask.

In your case it's not luck, it has everything to do with the league you're playing in. Take a look at the trade history of the team that just beat you in the WS (his 5th title in nine seasons). Every single stud I clicked on was traded for in their second pro season from owners with career HBD win%'s of <.500 (I stopped after five players, he is literally fielding an all-star team). Looks like the original owner responsible for the trades no longer manages the team. My guess is he was kicked out or he got bored of robbing the league blind year in and year out.

If you are playing in leagues where everyone is trying to trade rape the clueless owners (or using alt's) and no one is calling these guys out, chances are you're not going to win any titles (it probably doesn't help that your commish has a career win% of .460 in 77 seasons). You have two options: a) find a better managed world or b) poach the players before those types of owners do. Option b) is why everyone complains about open worlds, i.e. bad ownership pushes out good, tragedy of the commons, whatever you want to call it. I'd suggest option a)

1) My streak of 30 includes playoff appearances several other worlds, not just the world I am currently in.

2) The long time owner of the team that just beat me one day went AWOL, never again to check in on any of his teams.

3) The trades he made to build up the team to what it is now were legit, not trade rapes. He would trade an All-Star caliber player who is in arbitration for a couple high end prospects. Make 1 or 2 of these trades every season, thus keeping his payroll low enough to snag a top IFA most seasons. Even experienced owners had a hard time turning down his offers when he offered the one piece they were missing to have a playoff caliber team.

4) The team that just beat me was the superior team based on player ratings comparison with mine. However, several times I have had the better team based on ratings and gotten beat.