I've recently started expanding my play from open leagues to theme leagues, and I've noticed a very clear trend of getting absolutely hammered in the higher cap leagues. I've been playing around with different strategies, but can't quite seem to figure it out. In the lower cap leagues, I think I'm pretty good at finding efficiencies and stretching dollars further, but I'm guessing that is less of a concern as the salary cap rises.

Looking for any basic philosophical or strategic differences anyone has found success with at the higher cap levels that you would be kind enough to share :)

Aside from needing to draft a bit more IP, it's the same sim and the same strategies that work at lower caps will also work at higher caps. If you gave an example of a team that wasn't doing well maybe that would help illuminate the problem.

What the heck, I'll throw out a couple of suggestions, with the huge caveat that I am nowhere near the top owners on this site in terms of overall performance at higher caps. Everything below should include two other caveats: "in my opinion" and "there are exceptions to every rule."

1.) At lower caps, the fundamental principle of roster building, IMO, is value/$. Salary rapidly becomes scarce, you want players who can deliver good performance relative to their cost. Seems obvious. But the higher the cap, the less salary becomes your primary constraint - and therefore the numerator becomes more important than the denominator. Taken to the extreme, at $255M you basically stop caring about salary altogether.
2.) Four examples of value that are important at lower caps and less so at higher caps: speed, SB ability, switch hitting, and range. Note I said "less important" not "unimportant." An A+ range outfielder who can hit - like Speaker - is still more valuable than a D-range hitter who can hit at a comparable level. But someone like Max Carey (a staple in OLs and even at 100M) becomes much much less valuable at higher caps. All the plus plays in the world won't make up for the number of runs you are giving up at the plate compared to using a better hitter. The higher the cap, the more you will find that you need every player in your lineup to be able to hit at a hall-of-fame level. If they can't do that, then you are at a huge disadvantage at that position, no matter what other assets they bring to the table.
3.) The higher the cap, the smaller the number of players who can legitimately contribute. This is especially true of pitchers. There are literally thousands of pitchers you can reasonably use at 80M. There are far fewer at 140M. It's also common at 80M and lower caps to have 1-2 mopup pitchers, and another 1-2 Long B guys or spot starters who are really innings eaters, used to stave off fatigue or to soak up IP in a blowout. You are much less likely to see rosters with those kinds of pitchers at higher cap. You want every one of your pitchers to be studs.
4.) Fatigue becomes a bigger factor. At lower caps I am comfortable using anyone at fatigue levels down to 90, and in some cases below that. At higher caps, I don't want to give up any performance. Note that this includes in-game fatigue for pitchers, so I manage PC more aggressively at higher caps too.
5.) Bench quality is more important

Your mileage may vary on all of the above. Hope others will share as well.

Platoon advantage is still important. Keeping the caveat above - you don't want a definitively lesser player just because they hit with the opposite hand - but the 5% difference is the same no matter what the cap is. So it's worth trying to get a couple of platoons.

You just have to accept the overpaid guys. Yes, '95 Maddux shouldn't be over 20mil. But it doesn't matter. You need to pay up for some of the crazy overpriced players. The reason they're expensive is because they were used frequently and successfully back in the days of salary adjustments, and $255mil leagues were factored into the equation.

Agree w/ C23 above, just my opinions, I have had a little success at high levels but had to LEARN a few things the hard way initially.

The modern HR guys will NOT come close to RL HRs. I think normalization contributes but Bonds will NOT hit close to 70.
BBs by hitters will meet / exceed RL totals most likely so assume more baserunners. <see below>
Pitching...Pitching...Pitching. You need lower HR/9 guys than you think no matter what park you plan on using.
You probably should have at least one "cookie PH" (Shane Spencer, Cesar Cedeno, Ted Williams, etc.)
Defense DOES matter...you dont need to have A+ all over the place but you will pay a steep price for Ds anywhere on the field except for maybe 1B. Remember every lineup will be loaded 1-8 so every error will likely cost you.

I've got 255 Mil figured out fairly well. So I'll stick with that.

The best, the absolute best is all that really works. I'm a "power hitting guys" player. I play 5 Babe Ruth's full time in a clone allowed league. 20-21-23 the 27/26/24 two of three. I can't stress how important it is to keep everyone at 100%. That little advantage means a lot. My RP is taken from players under a ERC# under 1.20 with maybe outlier specific others.

When facing a LHSP. I often platoon Cedeno/Spencer/Manny in for some Ruth's

This is some very good, very specific advice. Much appreciated, hoping to treat y'all to some good competition at high caps.

The higher the cap, the more random the results will be, assuming no player/roster restrictions. I've had Babe Ruth seasons be fantastic and I've had them be bad. More IP is needed and is easily affordable.

I've had the most success in high-cap leagues when I've played in parks that aren't necessarily great offense parks but will allow some HR. The slap hitter, speed, A+++ defense strategy only goes so far when every spot in the lineup can be filled by a stud. Using Coors might be fun in terms of generating offensive stats, but it doesn't always confer an advantage. '41 TW is more consistent in high cap leagues than the Babe and it doesn't cost much to draft a reasonable defensive replacement. '27 Gehrig isn't worth the $ because the + plays are dwarfed by relatively lower BA and Ks.

For starting pitchers, it's a balancing act. Deadballers aren't automatically effective but a strong modern pitcher who gives up too many HR/9 will get shelled. The 2020 pitchers with low WHIPs and OAVG will get hit hard once the cap reaches about $180M because the lineups are far too strong. Personally, I look to minimize Hit Rate and WHIP while maximizing K/9#. McNally, Verlander, Scherzer, and other modern pitchers with relatively higher HR/9 (even with HR/9+ of 99 or better) tend not to be effective in higher cap leagues because the lineups have too much power. And, Contact Rate for hitters matters a lot.

From what I've found, what works at very high caps is to take the same strategy that works 70-120M and use more of it. :-]