Advice on succeeding in postseason

[delucks]

Hi folks,

Just getting into OOTP and have finished my second season with Texas. I'm playing as GM only and delegating a lot of the day-to-day management so that I can focus on managing organisational rosters before getting bogged down into lineups, rosters etc.

I feel like I've got a good handle on the right kinds of players at each position, and finished top of the AL in both of my first two seasons. However, I also got thumped in the division series both years. I understand that playoffs can be a bit of a lottery, but given how dominant I was in the regular season I'm struggling to figure out how/where to improve in the offseason to hopefully be more successful next season.

What steps do people generally take to try and identify areas for improvement in the offseason, especially when you're trying to get over that last hump in the playoffs? Here's the stats for my most recent season: https://imgbox.com/IZ5Esb1h

How would you go about digging into what went wrong in the playoffs?

[monkeyman576]

Better starting pitching.

[delucks]

Originally Posted by monkeyman576

Better starting pitching.

Do you mean in general, or specifically for the postseason? What should I be looking at to see where/how to improve my rotation?

[ColumbusJets]

You've scored the most runs and allowed the fewest. You made it to the next to the last round two times in two tries. The problem isn't your team. The problem is the best team is very unlikely to win in the modern playoff system.

[Cod]

It's hard to say for sure without seeing more of information. Sometimes teams can dominate in the regular season thanks to depth, favorable schedule, weaker league/division opponents, etc. I finished a season recently similar to you, but lost in the first round. After some digging, I realized the backend of my rotation was dominant; however, they didn't pitch in the playoffs.

Another area to check is how your manager is utilizing your pitchers in the playoffs. Since your play GM-only (me too!), check to make sure your manager didn't go rogue. Match-up splits can help with this as you may just be getting exposed in a short series.

Player fatigue, injuries, and current hot/cold streaks can also play a part. This is tougher to spot, but you can glean some information by reviewing things such as rest levels before the playoffs and game logs to see if someone just went cold.

In the end, what you're experiencing is baseball! It can drive us mad, but we love it!

[Curve Ball Dave]

If we knew the answer we wouldn't all be suffering from concussions from slamming our heads against the wall

[uruguru]

Eliminate wildcards and reduce the number of divisions in your league

[monkeyman576]

His overall ERA is 1st but his Starters ERA is 6th. Like the above poster said, sometimes the postseason can be a crapshoot. It's probably just a matter of time.

Looking again, you're at the top in batting average and strikeout but near the bottom on base on balls. That means your team is being very agressive hitting which is generally a good thing but maybe you could have some hitters with more walks and better eye ratings?

[jg2977]

Yeah, the postseason is pretty much a crapshoot. I agree with that premise. Look at the Dodgers and all the times they failed recently with all of those amazing regular season teams. Now things are finally bouncing their way and they have three World Series titles in the past six seasons, including the last two in a row. And this year they almost lost the World Series by a couple of inches.

Make the playoffs enough times, and you will eventually start winning a championship or two.

In my league the Yankees won World Series in 1909 and 1912. They've been a 95-win or better team since. But now it's 1925, and they've won only one AL Pennant since, in 1921. They choked away the World Series against the cross-town Mets, blowing three 9th inning leads in Games 4, 5 and 6 to lose that series 4-2. And in the past three seasons they've been knocked out in the ALCS by Cleveland, who they just can't beat when it counts. The Yankees will win again, with their huge payroll. They're probably overdue. So I'm being patient.

[snepp]

This is totally un-scientific, completely anecdotal, and likely inaccurate to all hell, but I'm pretty sure I never win when I have the "best" team, and always win when I barely make the playoffs.

So there you go, welcome to the club.

[Curve Ball Dave]

Originally Posted by snepp

This is totally un-scientific, completely anecdotal, and likely inaccurate to all hell, but I'm pretty sure I never win when I have the "best" team, and always win when I barely make the playoffs.

So there you go, welcome to the club.

Yep. Having the best record is a virtual kiss of death. I've also won it all when I eeked in on like the last day of the season.

[delucks]

Thanks for the feedback everyone - I had chalked it up to bad luck, and spent the off-season upgrading my starting pitchers. Was confident about doing better and then all of a sudden this season I'm at .470 at the trade deadline with long term injuries to 4/5 of my rotation and seager at SS.

Brutal.

[kq76]

Originally Posted by Cod

... I realized the backend of my rotation was dominant; however, they didn't pitch in the playoffs....

Yeah, something similar is what's got me in my latest league. I assemble my team to do great in the regular season and that means good starters 1-6 or 7 even, but in the postseason what you really want is 1 or 2 starters who will go out there and just dominate the opposition, like Johnson and Schilling. But it's just not always easy to get those dominant starters. They're next to impossible to draft and develop so you pretty much have to either trade for them or sign them as FAs and either way they're going to probably be really expensive which takes away from the potential of the rest of your team. But when we, seemingly inevitably now, lose in the postseason, I can always point to the best pitcher or two on the opposition and say, "That's why we lost. We don't have somebody like him."

I think a great bullpen is important too, but that's just not as difficult to assemble as a great 1-2 punch.

As for the hitting, I'm squarely in the camp of you want a good mix of power and getting on base, but maybe even more importantly, getting hits and not striking out. Going strong one way vs the other (OBA vs SLG or small ball vs long ball) just doesn't work as reliably as a good mix does.

[Pelican]

A couple of other thoughts. I have learned (the hard way) that the AI Managers will not necessarily gear up the SP in the rotation and rest position players, anticipating the playoffs. [Of course what I am about to say does not apply, where a team is fighting for a Wild Card slot through the final games of the regular season. But that does not sound like the OP's situation.] For example, starting my #1 SP in a meaningless game on the last day of the regular season, thus depriving him of a start in the first playoff game, three days later. Playing all the tired regulars in the last few meaningless regular season games, after playoff position was assured.

I have learned to intervene, late in the regular season, to set the playoff rotation (which is four or even just three SP, depending on off days in your playoff schedule) and rest the regulars. Also, to prevent key RP from throwing too many pitches in the last few games of the regular season. I want everybody fresh, bullpen rested, and one or maybe two SP repackaged for long relief in the playoffs.

The World Series this year was a perfect example of this "all hands on deck" approach with SP in relief - for both teams. Managers can improvise in the post-season, and pitch guys longer, especially in the World Series, because "they have the entire Winter to rest". Fine, but that approach works best if they are all rested and ready, going into the playoffs. I don't want anybody on my playoff team to be showing one iota of fatigue, going into the postseason. And totally fine if they all are exhausted as they hoist the trophy.

Beyond that, there are two diametrically-opposed schools of thought on managing in the playoffs. The first, traditional, school is "dance with the date that brung ya", or use the exact same approach that got you to the postseason. Fine, makes sense. The second school of thought is that the playoffs are totally different, more pressure, better opponents, no tomorrow, experience helps - and what got you there may not work well. This is what both LA and Toronto embraced in the World Series. For better or worse; although I would argue it was the right approach for each team, and made for a riveting experience for the rest of us.