POTG Hot Take

[Bobfather]

A losing pitcher should never get POTG!! Mic drop.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Originally Posted by Bobfather

A losing pitcher should never get POTG!! Mic drop.

In our equivalent of the Superbowl (AFL Grand Final) there is nothing more empty a feeling than a player from the losing team winning our version of the MVP. It's happened more than once, and on one famous occasion in 1989 (not sure if true or apocryphal) the winner of the Norm Smith Medal (MVP) in our then so-called VFL Grand Final was from the losing team- Gary Ablett and he is said to have famously tossed his medal in the rubbish bin in the dressing rooms.
So you're on solid professional sporting grounds for your mic drop Bobfather! Even the winners don't like it- i kinda like the sentiment and the unintended saltiness to it ('you done won player of the game and your team still lost!!)

[SylvesterIronwood]

haha so true.

[uruguru]

The game struggles with evaluating pitchers.

Should a pitcher with a losing record make the All-Star team? It unfortunately happens a lot in OOTP, even when another pitcher has a better record, more innings, and a lower ERA.

[ColumbusJets]

Originally Posted by Bobfather

A losing pitcher should never get POTG!! Mic drop.

Never? How about Harvey Haddix on May 26, 1959.

[Bobfather]

[QUOTE=ColumbusJets;5230329]Never? How about Harvey Haddix on May 26, 1959.[/QUOTE
In this one case, and only because of the weird way the game ended. The exception that proves the rule.

[Bluenoser]

If you're looking at a pitchers won/loss record to see if they deserve POG or an All Star selection, then you're looking in the wrong place.

[uruguru]

Originally Posted by Bluenoser

If you're looking at a pitchers won/loss record to see if they deserve POG or an All Star selection, then you're looking in the wrong place.

OOTP supports historical play. Nobody was using FIP or WAR to evaluate players back in the day and having a pitcher who is 4-9 with maybe a 4.30 ERA is not a guy you ever expected to see in an All-Star Game.

With regards to pitcher evaluation, I literally had a recent postseason where the AI wanted put Don Drysdale in the Dodgers bullpen for the postseason despite the fact that he won 27 games and led the NL in ERA in the regular season.

But there was a pitcher who started a dozen games with a higher ERA in the 3-man playoff rotation instead. I can only assume he had a superior FIP to Drysdale. But it doesn't make sense that a game that supports pitcher BABIP would use FIP to evaluate pitchers.

It was reminiscent of a time in OOTP 25 when the AL's eventual Cy Young winner was left exposed for the 1969 expansion draft because FIP? I dunno. That was the moment that I had to start inspecting the protected lists before the expansion draft. Now I just replicate the real-world draft instead; it's a lot easier.

So I am always on guard to override the AI's pitcher selection for the All-Star Game and making sure the team's are using their proper starters in playoff games.

The game is really wonky in evaluating pitchers. I definitely never let it pick the Cy Young winners.

[Bobfather]

Originally Posted by Bobfather

A losing pitcher should never get POTG!! Mic drop.

I was only talking about it in OOTP.