Just curious

Wasn’t sure where to put this. When it becomes clear early on in a particular season that it’s not going to happen and you’re an also ran, what are some motivations people use to keep it interesting? I know stats for one, but what else beyond that?

Be competitive. Look for any way to improve. Play spoiler against the good team with the offensive team name with a penchant for annoying emails. That manager in your division with the cool team name who is desperately trying for a wildcard and needs a little help will say "You're a good man, Charlie Brown!"

Great advice. Me? I make desperate changes and if that doesnt work...I drown my sorrows by getting a new team!

Haha I definitely have the desperate changes part down. I have tried to score a thousand runs, and end up with a pitching staff that gives up 1200.

I think it is hard to know that you are out of it. I have a team that started 23-15. Then it slumped to 37-48. Somewhere around that point I was offered a trade for a 4th S6* that I took. I used the trade to free up some money, which allowed me to upgrade my Closer. Now the team is 61-62. We are 3 games behind in the wild card. I have no idea how the team will finish, but I look at my lineups before every series to see if changes are needed and keep trying to find the best lineup.

On a side note, I only got 10 of the players on my draft list in the auto-draft. So I had to scramble to patch together a team I liked. I was really excited by the good start and then depressed by the slump. It could be an interesting finish?

If you are in a single-season league (i.e., not a mystery league), don't panic. I've seen managers cut players who are "slumping." If a player has a good card, it's just as good as the day you drafted it. In fact, if they are seriously under-performing, you can reasonably expect an improvement in output.*

Also, be conservative in making changes once the drop penalty hits 20 percent. Too many changes with a big cap hit will turn an 85-loss team into a 100-loss team.

Of course, the right tweak or clever trade can help turn things around. Just don't be making changes just to make changes hoping that will improve things.
----------------
*One caveat: In $80 million leagues, and especially in leagues with even higher salary caps, on average, every player can be expected to under-perform. That's because hitters will face stronger pitching and pitchers will face stronger hitting than they did in real life.

Not giving up too early is good advice.

When it is time to give up, tinker with Hitter/Pitcher Prefs and Team Strategy to learn as much as possible about game engine operation.

Keep the faith for some reason I have been getting off to terrible starts and finishing strong without making major changes
19-30 finished 86 wins playoffs
34-37 finished 86 wins playoffs
17-26 finished 87 wins playoffs
38-41 finished 92 wins missed playoffs

Keep the faith for some reason I have been getting off to terrible starts and finishing strong without making major changes
19-30 finished 86 wins playoffs
34-37 finished 86 wins playoffs
17-26 finished 87 wins playoffs
38-41 finished 92 wins missed playoffs

I just had a team that was 38-41 after 79 games win 89 games and a championship, so point well taken. I was dying to tinker with it, but decided not to go down that slippery slope and just made some slight tweaks to the bullpen roles and starting pitcher fatigue (moved all to an F8), and the team took off from there. Mainly though, starters just pitched more to their level than the underperformance that had been occurring. I am not a very patient person, and new roster construction is my favorite part of this, so it was not easy and counter intuitive to me haha.