2019 Starting Rotations

I have to admit that this set has me flummoxed. I have tried all types of SP rotations. Degrom, Verlander, Strasburg all in the same rotation, five SP's priced between 4 and 7 mil, 5 SP's priced around 3 mil, 5 SP's below 1 mil. Every version gets blown up and no matter how much I spend on offense I cant seem to score enough runs to overcome my starters ineptitude. My bullpens have been great but I always find myself down after 5 innings.

I have seen some of the same pitchers that failed me pitch well for others even though I use 1's and 2's up the middle.

Anyone have any thoughts on their experience with starting pitchers in this set?

Please post a link to the team.

https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1603546
https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1604888

Here are my two most recent, both in high hr parks.

Looks to me like your bullpen is a bigger problem. too many blown saves by pitchers who should not be in save situations
, I am not good with bullpen settings.

Other than the Yates blown saves, which other than one 5-10 double have been homers on the hitters cards, the blown saves have been after I have fought back to regain the lead in the middle innings. Seth Lugo in particular. Whatever is happening to my teams is probably happening to others as well. I feel like I have a blind eye towards my pitching problems and wondered what I was missing. After all, somebody is winning these leagues. I have looked at their roster construction and havent really had a "Eureka" moment reviewing the winning teams' rosters. Oh well, I have played sets before and only had one champ out of 8 or so tries and other sets where I was able to win 30-50% of my tries . Seems like one of those sets that have my number.

Thanks for your input, Scumby

My thoughts:

(1) The first team your pitching imploded. To me, the issue I see is your fielding. You have cheap starters but you set up a good relief corp. And that strategy can work. What you need are cheap starters with high WHIP that dont give up homeruns but are helped by the home park not allowing bp singles. And helped by defense. But youre only making 70% of your X chances and that puts too much stress o n your weak starters. With a team like that I would like to be around 80% on X chances.

(2) your second team you went with middling starters. I am not a big fan of middling starters. You spent 37 million on pitching for a 4.2 ERA which aint great. Moreover, that crimps your ability to get the on-base/power combo you want in Citizens/Great American. In those parks I like to spend around 25 million (maybe closer to 20 mill if I am using the cheap starter strategy), at most 30 mlion. In those parks generally I want guys I think can perform at a high-level (either from starters or relievers) I dont want to have a bunch of mediocre guys. So maybe a two *starter strategy that will pitch 80% of your starter innings and then fill in with some cheaper guys. Something like that.

Here is an example of a cheaper starter strategy in Great American:

https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1602605

Here is the two *starter strategy in Citizens:

https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1542125

I have also gone with all under a million guys and that has worked, too.

https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1580695

With all that extra money on offense I try to get a good defense, on-base, power team.

Very nice. I cant figure out how 1. Your left handed starters who arent very good to rh hitters do so well in a high homerun park (G Gonz and Rodon) 2. your sub 1 mil starters all had whips under 1.5 which is probably equal to or lower than their mlb actual whips . You indicate my fielding is an issue but I am running 2's and 1's up the middle with low e ratings and 2,s and 3,s elsewhere ( I think I do have a 4e16 at third on one team) so it doesnt seem that egregious.

Thanks for showing me what you are doing. Its working for you for sure.

I know. I scratch my head looking at some team and wonder what the heck? One last point: it's not enough to have 1s and 2s up the middle. I know you know this but sometimes it bears mulling over...but X chances are part of a pitcher's card in a real sense. There is no Verlander card; Verlander gets 78 of the 108 chances and the other 30 go to fielding (well, 2 of those are contributed by the pitcher). So you in a sense help to create that card with your defense. And, yes, 1 and 2s up the middle are nice (thats 13 out out of 30)...but not everything. Dont be afraid to go with 2 1s up the middle. Dean Carrano has a chart up where you can calculate defensive runs given up/saved and I like to be close to zero (even negative). And in real play I like to be close to 80% if I have weak pitchers. You probably have 800 X chances in a year so the difference between 70 and 80% is about 80 runners. I have teams with terrible offenses win championships with all 1s (you would convert 85%+ with that level of defense). Just something to consider I think

Good luck!

It all makes sense and you have proven that by building strong teams very frequently. I once tried an all 1 defense in AT&T with a quality pitching staff but couldnt score enough runs. Its a delicate balance, one which I havent been able to find in this set. I thank you for you thoughts as I certainly can learn from everyone who has been successful

It took me a while, about 30 games, to realize after your previous post (.5 SP strategy) that we were in the same league, so I thought I would respond to both posts, as I am using a similar, but not as extreme approach to pitching (maybe comparable to Freeman’s two *starter team), even though I have had only four teams this year, with just the last two using this approach, so I don’t have a lot of data to work with.

My previous team, which I was attempting to replicate in our league, won the championship.

https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1591584

I had an ace and some other >$1 million starters, but the latter were all specialty pitchers; I particularly like extreme reverse LHP, for a total of seven starters, which I managed on a per game basis. But I went all in on relief pitching, with Lugo and Bummer, both R2, the key components of the staff. Total on pitching: $31.49 million. We were 76% on X chances, which I consider adequate, and ended up fourth in runs allowed, in Citizens Bank Park, a home run park. A long time Yankees fan, my favorite play is the three-run home run. We were third in runs scored.

Unfortunately, the draft did not cooperate for my current team.

https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1603424

I still have an ace, and an assortment of specialty starters (although I wanted Snell and/or Beeks), with the exception of Gibson, who has suffered from a lack of run support, for a total of six starters that I manage for each game. The real problem though is with the relief staff; I ended up with Bass and Giles, both R1, instead of Lugo and Bummer, so I have two backup R2 relievers to eat up the innings. Total on pitching: $31.81 million. I also had some issues with the offense in the draft and our OBP is lower than I would like. We are again 76% for X chances and currently fourth in the league in runs allowed. Right now, at 41-37, we are underperforming the championship team, but are one game out of first for the Division and for the Wild Card. There is a long way to go.