[mlyons]

Conventional wisdom says your leadoff guy would have the best combination of OBP and speed on your team. Your #2 hitter is usually another high OBP guy, preferably one who can bunt and steal a few bases. #3 is usually just your best overall hitter. #'s 4 and 5 are generally your best homerun hitters, and after that you just slot in your best hitters as you go. (I generally use OPS to determine quality.) Teams that play with a DH will occasionally try to put another guy with speed at the #9 slot, to give them two speedsters in a row after the first inning. It's also nice to stagger your left-handed hitters with your right-handed hitters to decrease the effectiveness of specialist relievers on the other team. As far as pitching rotations go, it's pretty basic; you put your best starter at #1, your second-best at #2, and so on. How you determine who's best is up to you; I generally go by ERA first and look at W-L for similar ERA's.