Possible Glitch?

Here is the reply I received from Customer Support:

Hi Steve,

This is not a glitch. Pitcher fatigue is based on batters faced in his previous games, not just straight innings. Even though he did have a day off in between, he still faced 21 batters in the previous 3 days which led him to tiring possibly earlier than expected in Game 9. An R1 would have tired earlier when facing an even lower number of batters than Sanchez did.

Sincerely,
Strat-O-Matic Baseball Online

I replied with an email asking why there isn't a link to a clear-cut set of rules, awaiting response on that one.

Steve, congrats on getting a response on the first question, please post the response to the second, would like to see how that is answered.

What ROBERTLATORRE said.

This is the most transparent answer I've EVER seen on the board; usually no black box stuff is revealed, only explanations of the posted rules.

OAS, I strongly suspect Rule 27.65 is NOT used in the online game engine.

I didn't know the old POW was not used at all, I thought the POW was fazed in until FO, then the rolls after that point would be altered.

I think strat should give the basic odds of rolls being altered--I have noticed that if a pitcher goes F0 for a long time (F0 Slow hook)--all the sudden all rolls are on the best column for the hitter, and sometimes that's on the pitchers card.

I had 3 games recently that I scored 25 or so runs and the opposing pitcher just stayed in at F0 for three or 4 innings--in the last 2 innings almost all the rolls were best column, Campana's (.5M guy) rolls were on the pitchers worst column.

I think F0 is about the half way point for tiring--but to make an educated decision on what F rating to use--I need to know the odds that a roll will be altered. As F rating goes down--is it F8--5%, F7--10% etc ???

How can a manager know what decision to make in preferences if he is blind to the process.

if a pitcher goes F0 for a long time (F0 Slow hook)--all the sudden all rolls are on the best column for the hitter, and sometimes that's on the pitchers card.

This is the first I've heard this theory, and it's good -- not just "more rolls on batters' cards," but "more rolls on the best/worst columns of the respective cards" -- the latter would introduce an interesting possibility of being especially lucky as an F0 pitcher, in a low percent of situations.

I've seen pitchers go many innings with no runs at F0 -- and quite a few times. I think this explanation explains how that might happen.

OAS, I strongly suspect Rule 27.65 is NOT used in the online game engine.

Of course, we've put multiple examples of R1 pitching 3 innings and R2 pitching 4 inning and coming back at F9 for the very next game, hence contradicting the 27.65. But like som's answer suggests, they don't start the inning as fresh as one would expect. They are vulnerable to get fatigued much faster and, in the case of R2, this vulnerable state may be carried over multiple games.

On another note, having played the computer game, I can confirm that the F0 is not a static state and that there is a load of hitter's best column getting read with this state.

To milleram, I remember a forum where some strat players hypothesized that F3 was similar to the traditional @=single** in terms of on-base, but the slugging is proportionate to each hitter.

Here is the email I received this morning about posting the rules. Rule 27.65 is not mentioned

Hi Steve,

The game itself uses the Super-Advanced board game rules with some changes, mostly with Maximum Rules. Here is a list of all the maximum rules we use in the game:

MAXIMUM RULES

Some rules have been added to Strat-O-Matic Baseball Online that improve upon minor limitations of the original board game. These 'maximum rules' could affect about 5% of all results and are listed below.

Bunt for Base Hit -- This will allow a player to try and bunt for a base hit when the bases are empty. The players ability to reach base safely on this bunt is affected by a number of factors including his bunting ability, his speed and the position of the infield defense.

Improve out distribution -- This overrides some of the default outs assigned by the board game for a more realistic distribution of outs. For example, ballpark chart outs can become fly outs, pop outs, ground outs, etc. instead of just lineouts. This also causes foul outs to be distributed amongst other players including second baseman and short stops.

Improve baserunning realism -- This can alter the location of base hits for more realistic baserunning results. In addition using this will allow for more baserunning realism including a few additional coaching decisions such as deciding whether or not to send a runner home on certain ground balls.

Home field advantage -- This forces a statistical advantage of approximately 10 points (.010) on the batting average for the home team. This is the traditional major league difference between batting averages at home and on the road.

More baserunning decisions -- This allows for more baserunning decisions because it does not follow the board game rules for baserunning. The computer manager decides to send a runner from first to third on a Single* or a Single** reading. In the board game Single* means a single with runners advancing one base and Single** means a single with runners advancing two bases (it is automatic in both cases, no option exists). This also allows certain base hits to be stretched. For instance, some singles will have an option to be stretched into a double, some doubles to triples and some triples to inside the park homeruns!

Realistic throwing errors -- Throwing errors by outfielders can be committed on throws.

Allow extra pre-1920 errors -- Before 1920 fielding errors were much more prevelant than they are today. There were sometimes as many as 12 errors committed per game, quite an extraordinary number by today's standards. Due to these extremes we have normalized the pre-1920 teams to 1920 levels which will keep the number of errors under control (this makes for a faster playing game that might be preferred by some). However, for realism sake this allows these teams to commit errors at their historical rate.

Pitch-Around option -- This strategy will cut the offensive player's power and batting average down dramatically. However, using this strategy will also dramatically increase the chances that you will walk the batter. The pitch around strategy is only used from the 7th inning on when there are 2 outs, first base is open and the tying or go-ahead run is on base or at bat.

Correct Board Game Excesses -- This improves overall statistical accuracy by adjusting for minor variances that cannot be accounted for in the board game. This improves the statistical accuracy of certain players who had extreme performances. For instance certain pitchers such as Greg Maddux allow very few walks. Using this will enable Maddux to duplicate his real-life dominance in this area. A number of categories are affected by this option including home runs, walks and strikeouts. Also pitchers hitting will be affected by using this, resulting in less walks and extra base hits by pitchers.

Pitch-Count Fatigue -- The pitcher's condition is listed on the right of the play-by-play as a number from F9 through F0. F9 means that he is operating on all cylinders whereas F0 indicates that he has nothing left in the tank. Normally pitchers start their appearance as a 9 and maintain that level until they start to approach their pitch count. The lower the number goes the worse the pitcher will perform. When a pitcher's condition drops below F9 he starts to give up more singles, doubles, triples, home runs and walks. If a pitcher's condition drops to level F0 he will continue to fatigue the longer he stays in the game. His condition rating will remain displayed as F0, but he will start to give up more and more hits and walks if you leave him in the game.

Here is some more information about the rules used in the game: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=631866.

Sincerely,
Strat-O-Matic Baseball Online
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com

For what is worth, here is what SOM published with the release of version 16 (which was in 2011, if not mistaken)
http://www.strat-o-matic.com/community/announcements/baseball-version-160-new-features

4) SUPPORT HAS BEEN ADDED FOR A NEW SADV RELIEF PITCHER FATIGUE RULE - This rule prevents relievers from returning too soon after pitching a large number of innings. Here is the text of the rule (which is rule 27.65 in the board game)- If a reliever pitches 2 or more innings above his relief fatigue rating then he must rest one day before his next appearance. If he pitches 3 or more innings above his relief fatigue rating then he must rest two days before his next appearance. If a relief pitcher is used without this proper amount of rest, consider him fatigued for the entire relief outing.

So the rule is now implemented on the CD game.