[NoOne]

~25 pitches would probably cover most innings and limit how often the enter a 2nd... reduce more and you can assure they never get to 2nd inning but then may tax your bullpen a bit, too. depends on context what would be best, eh? i have used 20-25 in the past. it has costs and benefits. setup and closer i'd use 25-35+ish. the closer shoudln't be less than 35, imo. a few years ago they said they improved bullpen use to not pitch as many multi innings, i haven't used pitch counts since - although more about maintenance involved, lol.

anyway, i get a good stratification with 'lesser' bullpen arms by using the roles. if you got 5sp avareging 200ip, your top 4+ rp can get most of the innings (includes whomever fills those roles through injuries during that time only). if you have 1cl 2su, then 1 mr and the others use less often is fine... it will deviate from the set frequency when others are tired, but will use them the absolute fewest times possible. don't put secondary roles on any pitcher that's not reliable.

if the starting 5 isn't that strong, then consider better quality a long reliever / sec: high lev. - instead of a weaker/est arm or whichever has 3 pitches.

cl 2su and a good mr (varying qualities according to role - "the reliable ones" if more are rated for the task, cool beans, but i assume with real competition it's more life-like expectations and most relevant perspective).