I've played simleague baseball here on and off with various usernames for going on 20 years. I often think I am picking killer teams. High OPS, BA, and OBP...low era and whip...but my teams routinely get crushed. Am I missing something? Probably a stupid question, but I had to ask...once.

Read the pinned threads on the forum. contrarian23 has put most of the crucial ones together, the ones at the top of the page when you come to this forum.

Use the + and the # stats in your player searchas, not the absolute numbers - the + ones show how your players did compared to others from the same year/season. The # ones are important to see how that player year compares to other seasons across the whole history of baseball. For example, a player with a lot of home runs in 1998 or 2000 played in an environment when Homer's were common, so their stats are not as meaningful as high home run numbers when home runs were rarer.
A lot of great people here have taught and explained to us all how things work: how pitching works and how to set pitch counts, how fatigue works, how stadium factors affect outcomes and the rest. We all had a big learning curve - I still mostly suck - but this game is more enjoyable the more you study.

So go to the threads above in the forum home page with the title "Frequently Asked Questions About Sim League Baseball," that contrarian23 assembled in one place.

Thanks!!!

Depends on the league parameters of course, but load up on high-average low-HR switch hitters. You will find guys like Frankie Frisch, Willie McGee, etc. perform pretty well in most league formats.

High-walk low-average right-handed power hitters are pretty useless, despite having decent OBP and SLG numbers.

Use low-inning SPs with IP/G > 2 as your best reliever options. Modern day RPs get hammered in most formats due to the fact that they get tired after like 10 pitches.

Good range defenders > good fielding defenders. Check range factor on A+ guys and compare the + plays in their performance review. Not all A+ are created the same. Find the guys at the extreme. Avoid D- range at all cost.

You are definitely going way over the required number of innings, even if you were playing in Coors.

I'll disagree with d_rock a bit...

I see fatigue kill more teams than any other single factor.
I routinely use around 1500 innings, so I don't have to micro-manage my pitchers.
Batters are a bit less crucial. I want my best guys to be able to play, without being too fatigued, whenever the game is important... but my bench guys can wear down as they are usually only in during blowouts.

another thought regarding pitching. Be sure you understand "in game fatigue" and understand it well. Pitchers lose their mojo quickly as they exceed their Real-Life pitches per game. For example, if you have a pitcher who throws 1.05 IP/G he will start fatiguing once he passes ~16 pitches in a game. His performance starts dropping quickly and "God help you" if you have his Target/Max Pitch Counts at 30/35 (again for illustration). I use a "quick cheat" of setting my target/maximum pitch counts using a 15.5 factor against the RL IP/G. The 15.5 factor represents my average for number of pitches to work with for a inning by any given pitcher.

e.g.
2011 Javy Guerra threw 46-2/3rds IP/162 in 47 games played. That works out to 0.99 IP/G. In setting the TPC/MPC, I'd figure Javy by using the .99 RL IP/G x 15.5 = 15.34 pitches per game he'll throw before his performance starts dropping. I'd set his TPC/MPC at 15/15 before he's pulled. If I set it at 25/25, his performance would drop off for pitches past the 15.34 number at an accelerating level AND he would take more time before he's back to 100% for future games.

e.g.
2018 Oliver Perez looks like a great pitcher to use. Good OAV#, WHIP#, HR/9# and a 363 ERC+. The problem is he is only good for 10 pitches a game before his in game performance decays (his RL IP/G is 0.63). Using my "quick cheat"... .63 x 15.5 = 9.76 pitches per game. You would be playing with fire by setting his TPC/MPC at anything over 10/10.

e.g.
2012 Kris Medlen of the Braves. He looks pretty good. Costs about $40,000 per inning pitched, has a.212 OAV, 1.54 BB/9# and is stingy in giving up bombs.
He threw 138 innings in RL that year. Problem? His IP/G is only 2.76 so he'll tire after about 43 pitches in a game (2.76 x 15.5= 42.78). He creates a usage problem. How do you get the full value of all those innings? He can't throw 80 pitches as a spot starter since in-game fatigue will kill him once he exceeds ~45 pitches. If you use him out the pen, it will take quite a bit of micromanaging to keep him at/near 100%.

e.g.
1907 George McQuillan. he threw 46 IP/162 in 1907 and has an IP/G of 6.83. He was a starter then, but can make an excellent Closer A. He doesn't give up homers and has a .167 OAV#. While I'm not personally thrilled with his bb/9# of 2.58, he doesn't kill you with walks. You can set him at 15/20 pitch counts with no worries about him losing his in game effectiveness.




I'm posting this off the top of my head and there are some old forum posts which describe the issue of "in game fatigue" far better than I'm stating. The gist is you need to be sure you're not over-taxing your pitchers by setting their pitch counts (TPC/MPC) too high based on their RL IP/G. Hope this makes sense.

great post redwingscup, that's definitely up there for the biggest mistake I see people making

Also, just because you set a guy at 10/10 doesn't mean he'll never throw more than 10 pitchers. I've gotten burned many times when a guy I set at 10/10 throws 17 pitchers or a guy at 15/15 throws 21 pitches (and those guys get shelled). Really ticks me off, so I tend to be conservative and put a guy who should be 15/15 to 10/10.

As a result, many of my modern day RPs won't even average an inning per appearance. It's a flaw of the game, as modern day closers rarely can complete a 9th inning without reaching their pitch count, at least at caps above $80M.

When given the flexibility in the theme leagues I join (I rarely play in open leagues), I almost never take modern day RPs, and instead gravitate toward low-IP starting pitchers for my bullpen.

I Set IP/G at 1.67 or PC 25 and P not SP or RP ... Like the thought of low-IP starting pitchers ... Read somewhere that SP penalized in Relief ... Is this True to any appreciable amount ?

i would Set a 45 IP/162 P at 20 even with 1.67 (or more) as would want a somewhat quick return time for Fatigue 90 setting (there again read somewhere a Post stating 90 in essence same result performance wise as 100) ... Noticing that WIS regularly allows 5 more Pitches past Max PC is important for SP and RP when considering in-game Fatigue hence the 20 and not 25 PC as well ... I never exceed 115 for SP as some games are completed by then and If not maybe SP is being errantly kept in by Sparky ... Mostly though when considering a Relief Pitcher want 90 Plus IP for Long A and hopefully nothing below 70 with 1.67 and above for Setup or Closer --- therefore less pitchers on staff

Posted by Ribbentrop on 7/19/2024 11:09:00 AM (view original):
I Set IP/G at 1.67 or PC 25 and P not SP or RP ... Like the thought of low-IP starting pitchers ... Read somewhere that SP penalized in Relief ... Is this True to any appreciable amount ?

i would Set a 45 IP/162 P at 20 even with 1.67 (or more) as would want a somewhat quick return time for Fatigue 90 setting (there again read somewhere a Post stating 90 in essence same result performance wise as 100) ... Noticing that WIS regularly allows 5 more Pitches past Max PC is important for SP and RP when considering in-game Fatigue hence the 20 and not 25 PC as well ... I never exceed 115 for SP as some games are completed by then and If not maybe SP is being errantly kept in by Sparky ... Mostly though when considering a Relief Pitcher want 90 Plus IP for Long A and hopefully nothing below 70 with 1.67 and above for Setup or Closer --- therefore less pitchers on staff

re: fatigue percentage. This is by no means empirical, but a few years ago (actually more than a few; it was before Covid), I tested allowing my pitchers to pitch with some fatigue (am sort of a sticker for keeping them at 99-100% and draft total staff IPs accordingly, dependent on other factors such as K/rate, BB/9, and ballyard). I saw what I considered a significant drop off in performance when the guys dropped below 95%, but recall it was a bit "all over the place". I don't believe that pitching guys down at 90% is anywhere close to their performance at 100%, but am not smart enough to know how to quantify that fact. My opinion only, but it's served me pretty well through the years.

Posted by redwingscup on 7/21/2024 8:50:00 PM (view original):

Posted by Ribbentrop on 7/19/2024 11:09:00 AM (view original):
I Set IP/G at 1.67 or PC 25 and P not SP or RP ... Like the thought of low-IP starting pitchers ... Read somewhere that SP penalized in Relief ... Is this True to any appreciable amount ?

i would Set a 45 IP/162 P at 20 even with 1.67 (or more) as would want a somewhat quick return time for Fatigue 90 setting (there again read somewhere a Post stating 90 in essence same result performance wise as 100) ... Noticing that WIS regularly allows 5 more Pitches past Max PC is important for SP and RP when considering in-game Fatigue hence the 20 and not 25 PC as well ... I never exceed 115 for SP as some games are completed by then and If not maybe SP is being errantly kept in by Sparky ... Mostly though when considering a Relief Pitcher want 90 Plus IP for Long A and hopefully nothing below 70 with 1.67 and above for Setup or Closer --- therefore less pitchers on staff

re: fatigue percentage. This is by no means empirical, but a few years ago (actually more than a few; it was before Covid), I tested allowing my pitchers to pitch with some fatigue (am sort of a sticker for keeping them at 99-100% and draft total staff IPs accordingly, dependent on other factors such as K/rate, BB/9, and ballyard). I saw what I considered a significant drop off in performance when the guys dropped below 95%, but recall it was a bit "all over the place". I don't believe that pitching guys down at 90% is anywhere close to their performance at 100%, but am not smart enough to know how to quantify that fact. My opinion only, but it's served me pretty well through the years.

Thanks it seems like their is a subtle balance here to be considered ... In the Draft Center I always have saved "Pitchers" with the 8 possible parameters listed in order as IP/162 --- $/IP --- HR/9# --- OAV# --- WHIP# --- ERC# --- BB/9# and IP/G ...

I used 6 of those parameters as my starting point Ribben. Looks like we're on the same page.