Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365

I have played in six leagues now.
I micro managed my lineups daily in each league.
Moving players up and down in the batting order based on hot streaks, cold streaks, injuries, trying platoons on the fly mid season (I haven't drafted for platooning yet)...experimenting constantly with different lineup combinations.... etc.
also constantly monkeying with my bullpen roles.

I am starting to think that this is a VERY bad idea.
Seems to be me...teams on auto pilot ...Hal sort of running everything...doing much better than I am consistently.

When I have a small hot streak and just leave things alone I do better overall.

As soon as I start tweaking again, I do worse overall.

I thought I would be rewarded for my daily "work".
But it seems just the opposite. Over managing is detrimental.

Your thoughts?

(Maybe this post belongs in general strategy. But I wanted to post it here, because I think strategy probably changes depending upon format...and I am specifically talking about my experiences in playing in ATG leagues)

of course, alot depends on things like cap, ballpark, etc., but as a general rule I end up tweaking my bullpen nearly every day depending on the matchups. Lineups are a little more solid at home, unless someone is throwing an extreme pitcher, but I definitely change them when on the road for a game.

Well, Chris, I'm sure that soon you'll get some far more useful advice from more expert players, but my experience has convinced me that my once daily urge to twiddle with my lineups was unproductive and often destructive. Because of how the rolls fall, in the short term you can think someone needs replaced for horrid performance, when all he needs is for the rolls to fall onto his card. Since there is nothing you can do to influence the rolls, obviously, it is often better to take a longer view.

Your question does also includes mention of platooning; this can be very effective in certain situations. Some managers here have developed a great touch for it, having discovered good combinations that seem to work regularly. Ballpark effects are also important, so looking at not only your home park but what others in your division play in will be a factor. Just one example is pitching; there are some great pitchers who have, unfortunately, too many HRs on their card to be fully effective in bomber parks, so are better employed where homers don't fly out so regularly.

As for bullpen settings, you'll notice that these are a constant source of debate on this forum; there isn't any "one-step solves all" solution out there (at least I've not found one!) so picking up pointers from other experienced players will help. HAL will outrage you with certain moves no matter your choices sometimes, so you'll be just trying to keep those instances to a minimum. Studying teams that are atop your leagues is a good way to learn some of the nuances of the game. I've found most folks here are willing to share their knowledge if you ask them.

I hope this contributes at least a little , and that it will spark further elaboration among the veterans. Enjoy the game!

For most caps, think of yourself as a hands-on GM. That's more what you do when you manage an online Strat team.

If you want to utilize a hands-on approach to managing your teams, then it behooves you to play at high salary caps, particularly 200M and up where daily micromanaging not only helps, it is essential. I used to play up to 50 ATG teams at once and did so by just setting up my team settings at caps of 140M and below, and then just letting the season play out, really paying attention only to injuries... But now I've taken to playing less teams, currently 15, and now I do micromanage things like bullpens, and the strategy page, especially base running and base stealing, irrespective of cap. This approach has yielded about a winning pct about .006 higher than previously. That may seem like a miniscule amount but it isn't - not at all. I don't screw around with lineups much, but again at higher caps your filler players can be serious assets and lineup juggling can pay off big time against pitchers whose effectiveness is limited to getting out either lefties or righties but not both. Most of us just play the game for fun, and it has always been my experience that winning is a lot more fun than losing..