Hal makes mistake?

1st time posting: Hal had my relief pitcher bat in 9th inning down 2 runs with one runner on. The inning before pinch hit with two of my bench players, yet the players they hit for were better hitters. Make my head hurt!!!

I recommend setting the majority of your starting position players under hitter preferences to "don't pinch hit for."

I'm curious if some of our resident experts agree with this.

Well, I'm not quite a resident expert--very few are--but I definitely know enough to sagaciously weigh in. But, yeah, I would definitely set the majority of my starting hitters at "do not pinch hit for." The exceptions would be the weak-hitting, strong-fielding shortstops and catchers I occasionally use and (of course) the platoon players with whom I would allow them to be pinch hit for against their weak-side pitchers.

The argument could be made that, if you have a platoon player like Jordy Mercer (a very expensive platoon player) or Jeff Baker who is very strong against lefties, you should leave your other regular non-platoon players who are not strong against lefties (like David Ortiz) open to being pinch hit for against lefties by those players...or vice versa in the same situation against righties if you have a platoon player like Scooter Gennett. However, I'd usually avoid this, as you'd be taking a player strong enough against both sides to avoid being platooned--such as Ortiz--out of the game in favor of a platoon player who may be stuck facing numerous future pitchers on his weak side or a bench player (replacing the pinch hitter) who can't hit anyone at all.

After witnessing HAL lift Cesar Tovar (1966 mystery card) for Jerry May (1969 mystery card) on repeated instances against a right-hand pitcher, I can only conclude that HAL understands which mystery cards he's playing with and that Jerry May was a slightly better choice.

So, unless I see proof of HAL making outrageous choices (such as ones discussed at beginning), I tend, for the most part, to allow him to choose to pinch hit any starter.

It's simply another technique, albeit, weak relative to other methods, to narrow down which mystery card you may have.

After witnessing HAL lift Cesar Tovar (1966 mystery card) for Jerry May (1969 mystery card) on repeated instances against a right-hand pitcher, I can only conclude that HAL understands which mystery cards he's playing with and that Jerry May was a slightly better choice.

So, unless I see proof of HAL making outrageous choices (such as ones discussed at beginning), I tend, for the most part, to allow him to choose to pinch hit any starter.

It's simply another technique, albeit, weak relative to other methods, to narrow down which mystery card you may have.

Mystery Card is a different animal demanding different approaches, and my earlier post above yours was definitely addressing pinch-hitting strategy in the 20xx (and 1986 and 99) seasons. However, once I have discerned my players on Mystery teams are on solid cards (perhaps through pinch-hitting as you mentioned), I would apply the same pinch-hitting strategies to them that I mentioned in that earlier post.

After witnessing HAL lift Cesar Tovar (1966 mystery card) for Jerry May (1969 mystery card) on repeated instances against a right-hand pitcher, I can only conclude that HAL understands which mystery cards he's playing with and that Jerry May was a slightly better choice.

So, unless I see proof of HAL making outrageous choices (such as ones discussed at beginning), I tend, for the most part, to allow him to choose to pinch hit any starter.

It's simply another technique, albeit, weak relative to other methods, to narrow down which mystery card you may have.

Also note that HAL tends towards slugging, HR in particular, to weigh a card. It used to really bad (lifting a guy with 50 OB but w for a guy with 20 OB but 2 HR chances). They've fixed that for the better part, but all things equal they rate slugging more important than OB%.

hal continually has me kicking virtual water coolers. a common ph for me is my lh heavy dh avoiding lh pitching. my best rh ph is my backup catcher. somehow he feels the need to insert the backup catcher in the game. not at dh, but at the expense of pulling my regular catcher (the best hitter on my team).
in a game last night hal allowed my opponent to use an R1 reliever for 100 scoreless pitches (6 2/3 innings). his arm should have fallen off well before the 14th inning. he had plenty of options available, and I can't imagine why he would have stayed in so long.