Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365

I have a certain R2 pitcher who, through 60 games, has pitched 97 innings. My basic question is this..Is there a punishment that the online game gives to this pitcher?

Reason I ask is because his dice rolls are 221 to the hitter and 165 to the pitcher and it seems to be worse lately...last 2 games he had 4.1 innings with 14 hitters to 8 pitchers. Hal actually had him pitch 7 innings in one game. After that I set him as a quick hook after F8, but Hal will still leave him in there sometimes. I have 4 other relief pitchers who are R1 and they may be over used as well. I'm thinking I should try to replace one of my r1's with another r2 to help control overusage. Thoughts?

I think with the R2 guy set at F8 and quick hook, he shouldn't be staying in games for 7 inning stints, unless all the other bullpen guys were tired (which can happen).

I can see more Hitters rolls if pitcher is set to F0, if the pitcher stays in at F0 for a while the it gets worse and worse to the point where the AI favors hitter rolls. More than likely it's a run of poor luck on the hitters rolls though.

Most of the veteran online owners would probably need to see your team, and know your Starter settings to make an educated comment.

I don't have as much experience as some other guys here, but when I started online play (with the 2012 card set) I had a similar problem with my bullpen pitchers being tired all the time. I was using no F settings at the time, and if you use aggressive relief too that's a recipe for a tired bullpen--especially with a bunch of R1 guys.

A couple of R2 guys will help--but really all R1 should be fine if you get the pitching settings right.

On no-DH teams the relievers get pinch hit for a lot if you are behind (regardless of the F settings)--so that can lead to tired bullpens too.

One thing I did that helped was to set my better Starters to F8 with a quick Hook, top flight starters (like Kershaw) can be set all the way to F1--as even tired he is better than most of the relievers.

This keeps starters in longer most games. (a 5 run inning will most always get the starter pulled) F0 is much more risky to me.

I think it more important to use F ratings for better starters with no-DH teams also--tends to leave them in the game (Hal doesn't seem to pinch hit for them as much) in the 5th inning when just 1 or 2 runs down.

Another thing I found was that using F settings with the better relievers actually kept them in most games longer.

If--going into a new 3 game set, you know all your bullpen guys have been used two games in a row and are tired--set your next starter to F1 quick hook no matter how bad he is (make sure to reset him afterwards)--at this point you need innings out of him.

Also a cheap F2 or F3 for a second mopup (if you have the money)--some one like Morris or Stammen--can help when your starter gets tagged early and you never get back in the game. (I use a better guy for the first mopup because I may be 5 runs ahead, but if I'm still 5 runs behind when he comes out I just want innings)

ringojb wrote:I have a certain R2 pitcher who, through 60 games, has pitched 97 innings. My basic question is this..Is there a punishment that the online game gives to this pitcher?

Short answer: no.

In the short run, a pitcher forced to pitch without adequate rest can result in a loss of effectiveness. However, relief pitchers can pitch a surprising number of innings before that kicks in.

The way to tell is to simply look at the play-by-play and see if your pitcher is pitching at below F9. As long as he is at F9, there is no penalty whatsoever for overuseage. Furthermore, there are no long-term effects from pitching a lot of innings. Give a reliever a day's rest (which the game will usually do if he pitches two games in a row), and he's as fresh as he was on opening day.

R2 pitchers with a great card are worth way more than the card they are printed on. Use the cards for what this game is played for and not what you would do if you used these players in real life. Put the best cards out there for the rolls of the dice when you can.

This is a great card game for baseball but it is really only as good as you roll dice on the Crap table in Vegas. I will now put $20 on the hard 8.

milleram wrote:I think with the R2 guy set at F8 and quick hook, he shouldn't be staying in games for 7 inning stints, unless all the other bullpen guys were tired (which can happen).

I didn't have that setting when that game happened....that game made me change my setting for him.

milleram wrote:I can see more Hitters rolls if pitcher is set to F0, if the pitcher stays in at F0 for a while the it gets worse and worse to the point where the AI favors hitter rolls. More than likely it's a run of poor luck on the hitters rolls though.

I hope so...the last two games it was 11 hitters to 4 pitchers when he was at F8 or F9.

milleram wrote:Most of the veteran online owners would probably need to see your team, and know your Starter settings to make an educated comment.

My starter settings were all set to quick hooks...I suppose this could cause over using the bullpen...I have recently changed this as well.

Thanks everyone for the feedback!