pitching????

[ynkefan23]

What am I doing wrong? I'm playing every game of 2019 Yankees. I'm under .500 which I am fine with...but it's because of my pitching. ALL of my pitchers STINK. TEAM ERA is over 5.50 .... All my starters get LIT UP every night.

[Déjà Bru]

Short answer: Small sample. The game is built to allow some variability from expected or actual results. If you were to run the 2019 NY Yankees several times, the simulation would tend to coincide with the history on average.

There is also another answer which I should mention: How are you simulating or playing, and if playing, are you a good player? For example, are you playing your games out and are you mishandling your pitching staff?

[BirdWatcher]

My question would be, to follow up on what Deja Bru wisely said, how many games into the season are you?

Given that the 2019 Yankees team ERA was 4.31, somewhere around 5.50 in a limited number of games wouldn't concern me. (I mean, it would frustrate me, if it was my team. But I would know that it will likely revert to the mean.)

Now if it is well past mid-season then I might figure that the chances are good the team won't end up with as good an ERA as IRL, but there can be many factors for this, some of which have nothing to do with the pitchers. (Are you using different position players than were used IRL, possibly leading to a lesser defense behind your pitching staff? Or, as Deja Bru mentioned, it is possible you are using the pitchers in a way that is less effective and leading to bad results.)

[ynkefan23]

I never play guys out of position and only use SP on full rest. Try to do the same with RP

[BirdWatcher]

Originally Posted by ynkefan23

I never play guys out of position and only use SP on full rest. Try to do the same with RP

Okay, good.
But how many games are we talking about?

[ynkefan23]

how many games? it's June 8th... so over 60.
and there is not 1 SP in my rotation with an ERA under 5.00.

[AirmenSmith]

Originally Posted by ynkefan23

how many games? it's June 8th... so over 60.
and there is not 1 SP in my rotation with an ERA under 5.00.

Fire your pitching coach.

How is your bullpen era? Maybe put pitch limits on SP to get the bullpen in sooner?

[Dyzalot]

I wouldn't do anything other than maybe try replacing the number five starter with someone from AAA if you had a choice between a few reasonable guys before the season started. 60 games is still not a huge sample size. If your pitchers worked to a 4.00 ERA the rest of the way then the final number won't look out of place, Pitching in general can be pretty unreliable in OOTP, pretty much like actual MLB.

[KBLover]

Originally Posted by ynkefan23

how many games? it's June 8th... so over 60.
and there is not 1 SP in my rotation with an ERA under 5.00.

I agree with firing the pitching coach.

Try to find one who is:

-either a manager who'd be willing to be a pitching coach for you
-a pitching coach interested in being a manager (he has a manager type)

Reason being is you get a little more subtle hints on how good he might be.

A manager will have a "development influence" rating which is impacted by his teaching and handling ratings. It might not mean he's great at teaching pitching, but odds are better if some of the players he'd have "more influence on" are pitchers. Also, higher development ratings are more likely to just be good teaching across the board.

For the pitching coach who'd consider being a manager, there's a blurb at the end of his profile that hints at his teaching and handling ratings. It might say something like "While not a manager, he could end up as a great manager one day if given the chance" or it might say "he might be an average manager", etc.

Since he's a pitching coach, you can be pretty sure he has at least decent Teaching Pitching ratings and handling ratings if the blurb says he'll be an average or better manager.

Of course, no guarantee this will turn your pitchers around. You might have to look at some other things/metrics, but it probably can't hurt unless you have a good pitching coach already.

[BirdWatcher]

Yeah, at this point I'd be looking at things like BABIP, FIP, FIP-, etc.
Again, as mentioned above, 60+ games is not a large sample size.
So, do BABIP's indicate that your pitchers have been significantly unlucky thus far? Do they have FIP's/FIP- that indicate they have actually pitched better than their ERA's seem to show. If so, maybe this is an indication that they will soon see their ERA's return to levels more expected. Or that your defense is really hurting your pitching staff.
(It should be noted that we haven't even talked about the value of ERA as a stat in this thread, but it would be a mistake to assume too much based upon ERA alone.)