[Zeth]

It's maddening but realistic. Pitchers throw to first over and over and over and over in real life, too--sometimes to keep a fast runner close, but just as often they just lob it over to first because they get set and decide they don't feel perfectly ready to pitch.

20 years ago Bill James argued for a rule that a pitcher gets two freebies on throws to bases per inning, and after that if he throws to a base and doesn't pick the runner off, it's a ball for the batter. I agree with him. As maddening as the throws to first are in OOTP, they're ten times worse when you're actually trying to watch a baseball game.

edit: Here's the money quote:

"The problem is that while throwing to first base may be good strategy, it is lousy entertainment. If the people who wrote baseball's rule book, most of which was basically drawn into its current form in the 1880s and 1890s--if those people had ever thought that some bastard was going to stand on the mound and throw repeatedly to first base, there is absolutely no question but that they would have immediately prohibited it. After all, they did limit the number of times that a pitcher can throw home without getting something accomplished. What kind of sense would it make to say that if you can't get the batter out within four throws you have to concede, but if you want to make 35 pointless throws to first base, I guess that's OK?"