Another UK Newbie

Rob Morris · 05-02-2016, 03:03 AM

Hi

I know there are other threads from fellow UK newbies but I didn't want to hijack their threads so I thought I'd start my own.

As I love sports management games I have purchased OOTP 17 even though my knowledge of baseball is pretty minimal. I know the basic rules and some very basic terminology (like what a RBI and ERA is).

However I struggle with the tactics and strategies and the seemingly endless statistics!

So let me start with a couple of hopefully simple questions. Pitchers, why do you have starting pitchers, closing pitchers, relief pitchers? Do closing pitchers pitch near the end of the game? If so, why? I know you are meant to manage your pitchers thru the bullpen but I don't know how to.

Also during the commentary I had a guy batting who was 1 for 3 with 1 home run and 1 RBI. Why isn't he 2 for 3? Or am I misreading the statistic?

I have been reading stuff online (any suggestions for guides welcome!), watching games on TV (it's a US feed so a little tough for a newbie to follow) and I even bought MLB The Show 16 to help increase my knowledge! After a few years of buying OOTP and not playing it much this year I am determined and I am enjoying it!

Thanks for reading this far, for any help given and sorry for the newbie questions, when you don't grow up immersed in the culture of a sport it can be tough to pick up.

joefromchicago · 05-02-2016, 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Morris

So let me start with a couple of hopefully simple questions. Pitchers, why do you have starting pitchers, closing pitchers, relief pitchers? Do closing pitchers pitch near the end of the game? If so, why? I know you are meant to manage your pitchers thru the bullpen but I don't know how to.

Really, you don't need to have starters - your staff can be made up entirely of relievers and you can use five or six pitchers every game, with no one pitching more than two or three innings. It has been tried a few times in the major leagues, but it's hard to manage (e.g. what happens if the game goes into extra innings?). So starters are expected to go at least five innings - the rules, in fact, encourage using starters because a starting pitcher can't earn a win unless he pitches at least five innings

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Morris

Also during the commentary I had a guy batting who was 1 for 3 with 1 home run and 1 RBI. Why isn't he 2 for 3? Or am I misreading the statistic?

"1 for 3" means he had one hit in three at-bats. So RBIs don't fit into that at all.

Number4 · 05-02-2016, 10:33 AM

You have 2 kinds of pitchers, starting pitchers and relief pitchers. The closer is just a special kind of relief pitcher, the best on his team, used as you correctly guessed to close out his game.

Almost every or actually every team in baseball uses a 5-man starting rotation. As no starter can pitch every game, this allows for every game to have a starting pitcher rested and ready. If you play 6 games in a row, starters 1-5 will be used in games 1-5, and by the time of the 6th game, starter 1 will be rested again.

However, as every team has better and worse starters, if there are free days starters will get skipped, giving as many starts as possible to the better ones.
So if on days 1-10 day 3 is a free day, the rotation might look like this:

Game 1, Day 1 - Starter 1
Game 2, Day 2 - Starter 2
Game 3, Day 4 - Starter 3
Game 4, Day 5 - Starter 4
Game 5, Day 6 - Starter 1 (Though it is 5s turn, Starter one is rested and ready and usually way better than 5, so he gets the nod)
Game 6, Day 7 - Starter 2
Game 7, Day 8 - Starter 5 (As starter 3 has only 4 days rest)
Game 8, Day 9 - Starter 3
Game 9, Day 10 - Starter 4

And on with 1,2,5,3,4 until the next rest day, injury, etc. disrupts the rhythm.

I myself set my team up with a "5 man rotation, always start highest rested" and I get during normal usage good results. Only if there is a cancelled game, a doubleheader (2 games on the same day) or other special circumstances, I check if the AI suggested starter is the one I want use.

I'll write about bullpens in a new post.

Number4 · 05-02-2016, 11:57 AM

Addendum to the starting pitchers: Starters need 3 different pitches on a solid level and good stamina (at least 4/10) to be an effective starter. As a starter, you are expected to face a lot of batters, but if you don't throw a diverse amount of pitches, batters will figure out your limited arsenal and you'll get shelled. The only exception are knuckleballers, they don't need other pitches beside the knuckleball, as the pitch itself is unpredictable enough that you don't need to worry about getting figured out. Note that a knuckle curve is not a knuckleball, just has a similar name.

Bullpen: Bullpens consist of:

Closer: The best guy, used if protecting a small lead (3 or less) at the end of a game or in a tied game, 9th inning, if you're the home side - because if you take the lead, the game is over, he can't be used to protect a lead.
Usage: 9th inning is normal, 8+ if he has good stamina, 8th inning only if he has elite stamina (blue bar).

Setupmen: Those are the sidekicks of the closer, the next best pitchers in the bullpen. You usually have either one or 2 of those, for me it depends on how the difference in quality to the middle relievers is. If a guy is just barely better than his middle reliever peers, I don't give him a setup role. However, if there is a significant difference, setup it is.

Usage: Similar to the closer, one inning if normal stamina, 2 if exeptional. Set the usage so that there should be no gap between the closer and the setup man/men - so if your closer pitches the 9th, your setup man should come in the 8th or in the 7th with good stamina, or if you have 2 guys I'd go one in the 8th, one in the 7th. If your closer lasts long, maybe push them back to the 7th and 6th.

Middle Relievers: The workhorses of the bullpen. Other guys come in in special situations, they come in if not. So called because they are often used in the middle innings if your starter was not going strong enough, yet it is too early for the setup men and closer to do their work. I set good pitchers and higher stamina pitchers to "use more often" and a worse guy to use less often.

Long reliever: Probably the last guy to make the roster, he gets the innings if either a starter has to leave early because of injury or just having a bad day and using the rest of the bullpen that early would overtax them, or if the game is decided and you want to keep your better pitchers rested.

Ideally, he has high stamina and is maybe even the first in line to be the next starter in case of injury, however more often I just give the role to whomever I don't trust the ball in more important situations, yet his replacements suck even more.

Specialists: As some pitchers have extreme platoon splits against lefties or righties, this role is for the guys who will be used only against their "prey". I'd only use specialist as primary role if someone has that extreme split, however I usually set a lefty middle/long reliever to lefty specialist as secondary role. As lefty batters tend to perform much worse against lefty pitchers, an average lefty reliever might perform against them as good as a righty setupman.

Rob Morris · 05-02-2016, 04:43 PM

Great help guys, thanks.

jncca1215 · 05-04-2016, 05:27 PM

I'll also note that the current closer role is relatively new, and in historical baseball in, say, the 1950s-1980s (and on OOTP) you can have a "stopper" instead -- the stopper is more likely to come in to pitch in the 7th inning of a 4-4 tie instead of in the 9th inning when you are winning 7-4, which is more valuable in many ways.

battists · 05-04-2016, 08:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jncca1215

I'll also note that the current closer role is relatively new, and in historical baseball in, say, the 1950s-1980s (and on OOTP) you can have a "stopper" instead -- the stopper is more likely to come in to pitch in the 7th inning of a 4-4 tie instead of in the 9th inning when you are winning 7-4, which is more valuable in many ways.

Yes I will add to this and say that most of what was mentioned above applies to modern day baseball. Usage of pitchers has changed considerably over the history of the game. Even the concept of the "closer" really only came into being a short while ago.

A few other things from your first post:

You had asked a question about "1-for-3". That's a very common stat line you will see that means "the player got one hit in three at-bats." Of course, things are actually a little more complex than that.

An "at-bat," you would think, is every time a player comes up to bat in a game. However, it actually has some exceptions, for example, if you get a walk, that doesn't count as an "at-bat". But at-bats is what is used to calculate batting average, one of the most common baseball statistics.

It's actually a different stat, "plate appearances" that counts the total number of times a player comes up to bat.

So your player was 1-for-3, which means he got one hit in three at-bats (a .333 batting average). But he might have had FOUR plate appearances, and walked in the other one. (In fact, that's relatively likely. Most players get 4 plate appearances per game.) Another common statistic to measure then, is OBP, or "on base percentage." This statistic uses plate appearances instead of at-bats, so it shows you what % of the time the player gets on base through any means other than an error. So in your case, if your player was 1-for-3 with a walk, he had a .500 OBP because he got on base twice out of four plate appearances.

Make sense?

Lots of weirdness like that in baseball!

BigRed75 · 05-06-2016, 01:48 PM

That's what happens when you let a cricket-loving Brit (Henry Chadwick) come up with a lot of the statistics...

Rob Morris · 05-07-2016, 11:16 AM

Thanks for all help, I am (very) slowly getting to grips with it. It's a great game but I am struggling with getting the rotation of pitchers right. Currently I'm 2-5 with Toronto 😞

Déjà Bru · 05-07-2016, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Morris

Thanks for all help, I am (very) slowly getting to grips with it. It's a great game but I am struggling with getting the rotation of pitchers right. Currently I'm 2-5 with Toronto 😞

Heh, Rob, I hope you stick with us and baseball! Use these forums frequently; there are many helpful people here.

By the way, it's pronounced "two and five" if you verbalize your current won/loss record. Please don't call it "two for seven."

battists · 05-07-2016, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Morris

Thanks for all help, I am (very) slowly getting to grips with it. It's a great game but I am struggling with getting the rotation of pitchers right. Currently I'm 2-5 with Toronto

Also, as people in baseball love to say, "it's a marathon, not a sprint". When you play 162 games in the season, starting off 2–5 is no big deal.

Incidentally, you have chosen to play in a division that is historically pretty tough for Toronto.

chucksabr · 05-08-2016, 07:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Morris

Thanks for all help, I am (very) slowly getting to grips with it. It's a great game but I am struggling with getting the rotation of pitchers right. Currently I'm 2-5 with Toronto 😞

If you want to take a break from all the stress of managing a Canadian team to try to win a title in the American League, check out my history of the English Baseball League, which includes a brief history of how the game took root in England, which became a baseball mad country. Links below.

HUNT3R · 05-16-2016, 02:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Number4

Addendum to the starting pitchers: Starters need 3 different pitches on a solid level and good stamina (at least 4/10) to be an effective starter. As a starter, you are expected to face a lot of batters, but if you don't throw a diverse amount of pitches, batters will figure out your limited arsenal and you'll get shelled. The only exception are knuckleballers, they don't need other pitches beside the knuckleball, as the pitch itself is unpredictable enough that you don't need to worry about getting figured out. Note that a knuckle curve is not a knuckleball, just has a similar name.

Bullpen: Bullpens consist of:

Closer: The best guy, used if protecting a small lead (3 or less) at the end of a game or in a tied game, 9th inning, if you're the home side - because if you take the lead, the game is over, he can't be used to protect a lead.
Usage: 9th inning is normal, 8+ if he has good stamina, 8th inning only if he has elite stamina (blue bar).

Setupmen: Those are the sidekicks of the closer, the next best pitchers in the bullpen. You usually have either one or 2 of those, for me it depends on how the difference in quality to the middle relievers is. If a guy is just barely better than his middle reliever peers, I don't give him a setup role. However, if there is a significant difference, setup it is.

Usage: Similar to the closer, one inning if normal stamina, 2 if exeptional. Set the usage so that there should be no gap between the closer and the setup man/men - so if your closer pitches the 9th, your setup man should come in the 8th or in the 7th with good stamina, or if you have 2 guys I'd go one in the 8th, one in the 7th. If your closer lasts long, maybe push them back to the 7th and 6th.

Middle Relievers: The workhorses of the bullpen. Other guys come in in special situations, they come in if not. So called because they are often used in the middle innings if your starter was not going strong enough, yet it is too early for the setup men and closer to do their work. I set good pitchers and higher stamina pitchers to "use more often" and a worse guy to use less often.

Long reliever: Probably the last guy to make the roster, he gets the innings if either a starter has to leave early because of injury or just having a bad day and using the rest of the bullpen that early would overtax them, or if the game is decided and you want to keep your better pitchers rested.

Ideally, he has high stamina and is maybe even the first in line to be the next starter in case of injury, however more often I just give the role to whomever I don't trust the ball in more important situations, yet his replacements suck even more.

Specialists: As some pitchers have extreme platoon splits against lefties or righties, this role is for the guys who will be used only against their "prey". I'd only use specialist as primary role if someone has that extreme split, however I usually set a lefty middle/long reliever to lefty specialist as secondary role. As lefty batters tend to perform much worse against lefty pitchers, an average lefty reliever might perform against them as good as a righty setupman.

This is a very helpful post, thank you.

You mentioned that normally Closers will pitch only for 1 inning, being the 9th. The Setup will also pitch 1 inning, normally the 8th. How long do you keep a Starter going then? And a reliever?

I'm just trying to get my head around a typical game and how the pitchers would be used within one, sort of like this:

Starter - 3 innings.
Reliever - 4 innings
Setup - 2 innings
Closer - 1 inning

I guess it all depends on Stamina though, right?

battists · 05-16-2016, 03:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HUNT3R

This is a very helpful post, thank you.

You mentioned that normally Closers will pitch only for 1 inning, being the 9th. The Setup will also pitch 1 inning, normally the 8th. How long do you keep a Starter going then? And a reliever?

I'm just trying to get my head around a typical game and how the pitchers would be used within one, sort of like this:

Starter - 3 innings.

Reliever - 4 innings

Setup - 2 innings

Closer - 1 inning

I guess it all depends on Stamina though, right?

Generally speaking, most teams strive to get at least six innings out of their starter. A pitcher who is doing very poorly, for example who has given up five runs in just three innings, might get pulled from the game sooner. But that isn't desirable, because if you do that repeatedly your bullpen will get very tired.

If a picture is going well (<= three runs through six innings), and he hasn't thrown a huge number of pitches, you might let him pitch into the seventh or eighth. (if you are getting close to 100, it's probably getting dicey)

30 years ago, it was common for pitchers to pitch the entire game. (shown in the game as the stat quote CG" for complete game). However, in modern day baseball, most starting pitchers probably throw around six on average. (I'm not someone who pays a lot of attention to those sorts of numbers, so I'm sure someone will correct me. But that is probably the ballpark.)

So then if your starter pitches six innings, you try to use your weaker bullpen players to get through the seventh, so that your set up man can pitch the eighth, and your closer the ninth if you are winning. (usually, the closer only pitches if youre team is winning by three or fewer runs in the ninth-inning.

I hope you appreciate this. I dictated it all to Siri, and she is infuriatingly awful at telling the difference between picture and pitcher, hahaha.

scott1964 · 05-16-2016, 10:27 AM

Welcome to many sleepless nights worrying about your team.

Number4 · 05-16-2016, 01:04 PM

If your bullpen is rested, don't be afraid to pull a weak starter early. Relievers do usually pitch as a group better than a lower slot starter, so if they can handle the workload, your team will usually be better off. Ideally, you have your #5 or #4 guy in the rotation followed by your ace, the #1 guy, who usually pitches well enough to rest most of the bullpen and you are more likely to let him pitch even if he gets into some trouble, hoping that his quality will pull you through.

aquapong · 05-17-2016, 01:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Morris

Pitchers, why do you have starting pitchers, closing pitchers, relief pitchers? Do closing pitchers pitch near the end of the game? If so, why? I know you are meant to manage your pitchers thru the bullpen but I don't know how to.

Starters generally have a lot more stamina than bullpen pitchers and a larger repertoire of pitches. Most effective bullpen pitchers have two good pitches. Starters must have at least 3 because they will hopefully go through the opposing lineup at least 2x. Bullpen pitchers specialize as closers and setup because they are your better relievers. Ideally, your starter goes 6 or 7 innings and you can play matchups with your bullpen before bringing in your closer for the final inning.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Morris

Also during the commentary I had a guy batting who was 1 for 3 with 1 home run and 1 RBI. Why isn't he 2 for 3? Or am I misreading the statistic?

He hit one homerun in 3 at bats. That gives him a hit as well as a run batted in (rbi). Hits and rbi's are separate stat categories.

Whoofe · 05-19-2016, 10:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HUNT3R

This is a very helpful post, thank you.

You mentioned that normally Closers will pitch only for 1 inning, being the 9th. The Setup will also pitch 1 inning, normally the 8th. How long do you keep a Starter going then? And a reliever?

I'm just trying to get my head around a typical game and how the pitchers would be used within one, sort of like this:

Starter - 3 innings.
Reliever - 4 innings
Setup - 2 innings
Closer - 1 inning

I guess it all depends on Stamina though, right?

you want your starters to go at least 6 innings if they can. there is a statistic called a quality start, that means the starting pitcher was able to get thru 6 innings and give up 3 runs or less. if the pitcher is doing well, going 7 or 8 innings is not unusual. if they pitcher is having an outstanding game and his pitch count is still low, they can pitch a complete game of 9 innings - though this will be fairly rare

I'd say most starting pitchers will go from 5 to 7 innings unless they get shelled

even the best pitchers wont always be able to go 6 innings though. sometimes they just have a poor game early on and its time to bring in the long reliever for 3 innings

Rob Morris · 07-09-2016, 11:36 AM

Hi all

I had a short break from OOTP 17 due to work comittments, first game back I lost 19-3!!! So I looked again at the comments by you friendly folk at the pitching rotation, next game I was 5-1 up at the top of the 8th but I had a poor relief pitcher (my error) in the 8th and we ended up tied at 5-5. I used my CP in the 9th but we ended up losing 6-7, my overall record now is 3-9.

We have a Red Sox fan in work who has promised to lend me the book Baseball for Dummies which should help.

I remember reading this fan guide EHM 2007 Guide - The Blue Line Wiki to Eastside Hockey Manager which I found invaluable to learn to play that at the time, is there a similar guide for OOTP?
Or any links or YouTube clips that explain the strategies more, a lot of the stuff I find is dealing with very basics (how many innings there are, how many outs, etc) and I'm past all that now.

BBGiovanni · 07-09-2016, 11:46 AM

Greetings and welcome to a lifetime of learning about baseball! Like, as they say, drinking from a firehose

My all-time favorite baseball game was the unfortunately-named "Sammy Sosa High Heat Baseball 2001". It included a very well-written 18 page "strategy guide", which was not about strategies for the video game, but strategy in baseball. It's really pretty good, and through the miracle of the internet here you go...

https://archive.org/details/High_Hea...Strategy_Guide

[Edit] The guide is written very subjectively, so it shouldn't be taken as gospel... many of the observations are things that are highly debated among baseball nerds. But it's a very useful primer on "how baseball works", and once you master it you too can learn to hate the sacrifice bunt (and other sacred cows of baseball)

I can't vouch for the baseball "for Dummies", but I have read others of its kind and they aren't terrible. If you can get a hold of Keith Hernandez' "Pure Baseball", give that a go. It's a very, very detailed pitch-by-pitch analysis of two regular season ballgames Keith watched a few years ago. Oh, and if you are watching baseball on your own, I highly recommend the Mets' broadcast team. They are funny, acerbic, and very analytical of the game. And Keith is a real weirdo

05-02-2016, 10:33 AM	#3
Number4 Major Leagues Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 460	You have 2 kinds of pitchers, starting pitchers and relief pitchers. The closer is just a special kind of relief pitcher, the best on his team, used as you correctly guessed to close out his game. Almost every or actually every team in baseball uses a 5-man starting rotation. As no starter can pitch every game, this allows for every game to have a starting pitcher rested and ready. If you play 6 games in a row, starters 1-5 will be used in games 1-5, and by the time of the 6th game, starter 1 will be rested again. However, as every team has better and worse starters, if there are free days starters will get skipped, giving as many starts as possible to the better ones. So if on days 1-10 day 3 is a free day, the rotation might look like this: Game 1, Day 1 - Starter 1 Game 2, Day 2 - Starter 2 Game 3, Day 4 - Starter 3 Game 4, Day 5 - Starter 4 Game 5, Day 6 - Starter 1 (Though it is 5s turn, Starter one is rested and ready and usually way better than 5, so he gets the nod) Game 6, Day 7 - Starter 2 Game 7, Day 8 - Starter 5 (As starter 3 has only 4 days rest) Game 8, Day 9 - Starter 3 Game 9, Day 10 - Starter 4 And on with 1,2,5,3,4 until the next rest day, injury, etc. disrupts the rhythm. I myself set my team up with a "5 man rotation, always start highest rested" and I get during normal usage good results. Only if there is a cancelled game, a doubleheader (2 games on the same day) or other special circumstances, I check if the AI suggested starter is the one I want use. I'll write about bullpens in a new post. Last edited by Number4; 05-02-2016 at 12:07 PM.

05-06-2016, 01:48 PM	#8
BigRed75 Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 2,430	That's what happens when you let a cricket-loving Brit (Henry Chadwick) come up with a lot of the statistics... __________________ Mainline team SPTT team Was not a Snag fan...until I saw the fallout once he was gone and realized what a good job he was actually doing. - Ty Cobb

05-16-2016, 10:27 AM	#15
scott1964 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Denver Posts: 5,561 Blog Entries: 19	Welcome to many sleepless nights worrying about your team. __________________ This just feels more like waiting in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles. PETA.....People Eating Tasty Animals.

07-09-2016, 11:46 AM	#20
BBGiovanni All Star Starter Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Republic of California Posts: 1,850	Greetings and welcome to a lifetime of learning about baseball! Like, as they say, drinking from a firehose My all-time favorite baseball game was the unfortunately-named "Sammy Sosa High Heat Baseball 2001". It included a very well-written 18 page "strategy guide", which was not about strategies for the video game, but strategy in baseball. It's really pretty good, and through the miracle of the internet here you go... https://archive.org/details/High_Hea...Strategy_Guide [Edit] The guide is written very subjectively, so it shouldn't be taken as gospel... many of the observations are things that are highly debated among baseball nerds. But it's a very useful primer on "how baseball works", and once you master it you too can learn to hate the sacrifice bunt (and other sacred cows of baseball) I can't vouch for the baseball "for Dummies", but I have read others of its kind and they aren't terrible. If you can get a hold of Keith Hernandez' "Pure Baseball", give that a go. It's a very, very detailed pitch-by-pitch analysis of two regular season ballgames Keith watched a few years ago. Oh, and if you are watching baseball on your own, I highly recommend the Mets' broadcast team. They are funny, acerbic, and very analytical of the game. And Keith is a real weirdo Last edited by BBGiovanni; 07-09-2016 at 11:50 AM.

05-02-2016, 03:03 AM	#1
Rob Morris All Star Reserve Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Liverpool, England Posts: 594	Another UK Newbie Hi I know there are other threads from fellow UK newbies but I didn't want to hijack their threads so I thought I'd start my own. As I love sports management games I have purchased OOTP 17 even though my knowledge of baseball is pretty minimal. I know the basic rules and some very basic terminology (like what a RBI and ERA is). However I struggle with the tactics and strategies and the seemingly endless statistics! So let me start with a couple of hopefully simple questions. Pitchers, why do you have starting pitchers, closing pitchers, relief pitchers? Do closing pitchers pitch near the end of the game? If so, why? I know you are meant to manage your pitchers thru the bullpen but I don't know how to. Also during the commentary I had a guy batting who was 1 for 3 with 1 home run and 1 RBI. Why isn't he 2 for 3? Or am I misreading the statistic? I have been reading stuff online (any suggestions for guides welcome!), watching games on TV (it's a US feed so a little tough for a newbie to follow) and I even bought MLB The Show 16 to help increase my knowledge! After a few years of buying OOTP and not playing it much this year I am determined and I am enjoying it! Thanks for reading this far, for any help given and sorry for the newbie questions, when you don't grow up immersed in the culture of a sport it can be tough to pick up.

05-02-2016, 11:57 AM	#4
Number4 Major Leagues Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 460	Addendum to the starting pitchers: Starters need 3 different pitches on a solid level and good stamina (at least 4/10) to be an effective starter. As a starter, you are expected to face a lot of batters, but if you don't throw a diverse amount of pitches, batters will figure out your limited arsenal and you'll get shelled. The only exception are knuckleballers, they don't need other pitches beside the knuckleball, as the pitch itself is unpredictable enough that you don't need to worry about getting figured out. Note that a knuckle curve is not a knuckleball, just has a similar name. Bullpen: Bullpens consist of: Closer: The best guy, used if protecting a small lead (3 or less) at the end of a game or in a tied game, 9th inning, if you're the home side - because if you take the lead, the game is over, he can't be used to protect a lead. Usage: 9th inning is normal, 8+ if he has good stamina, 8th inning only if he has elite stamina (blue bar). Setupmen: Those are the sidekicks of the closer, the next best pitchers in the bullpen. You usually have either one or 2 of those, for me it depends on how the difference in quality to the middle relievers is. If a guy is just barely better than his middle reliever peers, I don't give him a setup role. However, if there is a significant difference, setup it is. Usage: Similar to the closer, one inning if normal stamina, 2 if exeptional. Set the usage so that there should be no gap between the closer and the setup man/men - so if your closer pitches the 9th, your setup man should come in the 8th or in the 7th with good stamina, or if you have 2 guys I'd go one in the 8th, one in the 7th. If your closer lasts long, maybe push them back to the 7th and 6th. Middle Relievers: The workhorses of the bullpen. Other guys come in in special situations, they come in if not. So called because they are often used in the middle innings if your starter was not going strong enough, yet it is too early for the setup men and closer to do their work. I set good pitchers and higher stamina pitchers to "use more often" and a worse guy to use less often. Long reliever: Probably the last guy to make the roster, he gets the innings if either a starter has to leave early because of injury or just having a bad day and using the rest of the bullpen that early would overtax them, or if the game is decided and you want to keep your better pitchers rested. Ideally, he has high stamina and is maybe even the first in line to be the next starter in case of injury, however more often I just give the role to whomever I don't trust the ball in more important situations, yet his replacements suck even more. Specialists: As some pitchers have extreme platoon splits against lefties or righties, this role is for the guys who will be used only against their "prey". I'd only use specialist as primary role if someone has that extreme split, however I usually set a lefty middle/long reliever to lefty specialist as secondary role. As lefty batters tend to perform much worse against lefty pitchers, an average lefty reliever might perform against them as good as a righty setupman.

05-02-2016, 04:43 PM	#5
Rob Morris All Star Reserve Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Liverpool, England Posts: 594	Great help guys, thanks.

05-04-2016, 05:27 PM	#6
jncca1215 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Oct 2015 Posts: 39	I'll also note that the current closer role is relatively new, and in historical baseball in, say, the 1950s-1980s (and on OOTP) you can have a "stopper" instead -- the stopper is more likely to come in to pitch in the 7th inning of a 4-4 tie instead of in the 9th inning when you are winning 7-4, which is more valuable in many ways.

05-07-2016, 11:16 AM	#9
Rob Morris All Star Reserve Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Liverpool, England Posts: 594	Thanks for all help, I am (very) slowly getting to grips with it. It's a great game but I am struggling with getting the rotation of pitchers right. Currently I'm 2-5 with Toronto 😞

05-16-2016, 01:04 PM	#16
Number4 Major Leagues Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 460	If your bullpen is rested, don't be afraid to pull a weak starter early. Relievers do usually pitch as a group better than a lower slot starter, so if they can handle the workload, your team will usually be better off. Ideally, you have your #5 or #4 guy in the rotation followed by your ace, the #1 guy, who usually pitches well enough to rest most of the bullpen and you are more likely to let him pitch even if he gets into some trouble, hoping that his quality will pull you through.

07-09-2016, 11:36 AM	#19
Rob Morris All Star Reserve Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Liverpool, England Posts: 594	Hi all I had a short break from OOTP 17 due to work comittments, first game back I lost 19-3!!! So I looked again at the comments by you friendly folk at the pitching rotation, next game I was 5-1 up at the top of the 8th but I had a poor relief pitcher (my error) in the 8th and we ended up tied at 5-5. I used my CP in the 9th but we ended up losing 6-7, my overall record now is 3-9. We have a Red Sox fan in work who has promised to lend me the book Baseball for Dummies which should help. I remember reading this fan guide EHM 2007 Guide - The Blue Line Wiki to Eastside Hockey Manager which I found invaluable to learn to play that at the time, is there a similar guide for OOTP? Or any links or YouTube clips that explain the strategies more, a lot of the stuff I find is dealing with very basics (how many innings there are, how many outs, etc) and I'm past all that now.