There is a team in one of my leagues that has almost zero innings by the relief staff. I asked the owner how he did it but he hasn't answered. I have tried all the settings I know. All 9 innings pitchers, conservative usage of relief pitchers, all SP with slow hook.
Fatigue ratings pitchers become less effective as there number drops. F1 is totally ineffective like a .50 pitcher. At f7 a great pitcher is still pretty good and hal can't remove him until he drops below that Except for a ph in non dh league.
Pull up 'Pitcher Preferences' from the drop down menu under 'Your Team'. Next to your starters will be a box for 'Don't Rel. B4'. Set those to F1 or F7 or whatever you want. In Steve's case with his pen you can see why he went F1 next to each of his SPs.
Effective since the team had 99 wins but, curiously, it didn’t save much salary cap $. About 35 mm in pitching cap space which is a bit higher than the typical.