Did a forum search for "streak' but didn't find anything.

I'm fairly new, but I've noticed that the teams I've had are very streaky.  If a team of mine wins, say, eight in a row, I know I'm in for a landslide of losses immediately afterward, every time.  I can't back this up yet with hard statistics, but it is the one and only area of the sim that is bothersome to me.  Entire pitching staffs - or relief corps - that were doing great, suddenly (and still at 100%) will all start giving up lots of runs.
I'm only wanting to learn how things work.  Is this to be expected as seasons go by?

Thanks in advance!!  

Oy Vey!  Thanks boogerlips, I don't want to start something like that again!   I'll just go my merry way. 
Meanwhile, I can see that I did not extend my search far enough back in time.   No need for further responses. 

mixtroy, you may have started to answer my next question.   If you get a guy who starts off good, showing that he can actually play for a long time - and then goes in the dumper....do you drop him?   Or do you consider that the law of averages will cause him to pick it up?   
An example is an OL team I have that uses recent SF Giants pitchers.  They went for about 50 games as the best staff in the league.   Then for the past 40 games or so, they have tanked as a unit.  The pitch counts are fine.  Would you start replacing them on the wire or consider that their earlier success wil return?

Posted by uncleal on 1/10/2012 1:45:00 PM (view original):
Never use the WW for "poor performance". If you didn't think you'd eventually get success out of them, then why were they drafted in the first place? There are reasons to use the WW (such as eliminating PAs you don't need thanks to quality, identified AAA) but poor performance isn't one of them -- you'll almost never overcome the salary hit.

Mixtroy is one of the rare exceptions who actually seems to be able to get gold out of the WW... somehow.

I use the waiver wire for poor performance and for others reasons, have used the waiver wire in the average of 30 players a season and have averaged 98 wins over my last 12 seasons. And am a game away from my 3rd world series win and 4th appearance in my last 8 seasons. Yes you lose 10%, but you should look for a player with close to 10 percent less Pa's or innings (to get equal value) as your replacement and become more diligent in using rookies to fill in blowouts and when games are out of hand. The waiver wire is not a problem, if you're getting equal value off of it and you know already who the players are that give you equal performance for less utility(ie Steele or Nehf for Toney). Poor replacement choices are. Most people that lose with the wire are people who are already 20 games out of a pennant race and are in desparation mode. So the appearance is that it doesn't work. I also plattoon a lot so when I do replace a player it's not a high cost player subject to a substantial salary loss. Maybe troy and I are exceptions and most people simply don't have the experience and knowledge gained by using it, but there are rules, methoods and a thought out process to using it.

If a team struggles I sometimes enjoy trying the waiver wire to see if I can better the squad.  Thats whats fun about the game, if you are having a bad season there is always something to learn or some possibility for hope using the waiver wire among lineup changes and other things.

Look at that. Stengel made me laugh. I didn't know that he had it in him.

Thanks for all of the great answers!   uncleal, what do you do, though, if you have a good player batting - say - around .150 after 50 games?  I've gone to a platoon system, but now I feel as if I have a $7mil player riding the bench most of the time.  I'm curious to learn.

Where can I get one of those?

If he's costing you $7mil and hitting only .150 after 50 games (in which I assume he's played regularly), and is sitting on the bench platooning, it's time to cut your losses and replace him, especially if your team isn't a contender.