Sun Nov 29, 2020 10:35 pm
I wouldn’t put too much stock in clutch rating. Its effect over a full season is negligible. As for the rest, speaking as someone who doesn’t make bomber teams and tends to draft in a balanced matter most of the time, here’s what I can add:
-your record in 1-run games is often the arbiter of your season success. Make sure you have some way to shut the game down in the later innings, either through strong RP (various strategies there), or SP’s who can get you consistently into the late game ahead,
-strong OF arms, especially in CF, are run reducers.
-contrary to prevailing winds, you can be successful in a balanced park, though I’d recommend platooning heavily and/or having several switch hitters.
-scout your division’s BP choices and their lineups prior to game 1. If you spot trends, adjust during free agency. For example, I had one team have a super successful year because I made changes based on seeing most of my league’s teams skewed lefty. So, I hit them with lefty starters and reverse righties to offset any R-bashing switch hitting. And since they also had predominantly lefty SP’s I made sure I had some lefty bashers in the lineup, as well.
And finally,
Don’t jump on the bandwagon when it comes to play styles. It’s your money. Play the kind of team you want to play. It’s a game based on random dice rolls, after all, not a testament to real life managerial acumen. The only guarantees are (1) nothing is guaranteed and (2) some people just can’t adjust to that fact, so they bitch about their random results. As if like Isn’t already short enough without complaints and conspiracy theories to muck it up. Have some fun. Everything else is gravy.