Next-level help

[Findest2001]

I made it to Gold... and boy am I getting smashed. 4-15 w/ .211 WP%. Nothing is working. Hitting sucks (SEVEN players hitting below .210 w/ FIVE below .187. Only 3 positive WAR players this early in the season. What am I doing wrong...again. It seems like every time I get promoted I can't even compete with the backups to the backups of the teams I'm playing, and quite frankly I have a pretty sweet team IMO. So...once again suggestions are badly needed.

[Orcin]

It is not even 20 games.

[bluesguy]

I agree,"just let the kids play".
162 games is a long season.
m

[Findest2001]

For those saying "small sample" or it's "Early in the season"...have you ever seen a team in PT gold-level or above (not IRL) start a season 20 games in with a .211 WP% and even finish .500?

This isn't just bad, this is Cleveland spiders bad.

[CrazyWR]

Yea, it is doable, but putting yourself in a 10 game hole this early means 2nd WC is your goal now, not the division

[Findest2001]

30 games in and I still am the only team in the league without double-digit win total...

Kershaw 0-4, Verlander 0-4, Raschi 2-2 6.91 ERA, and 5 pitchers with a 6.50 FIP or higher, with 3 of those higher than 7.70

[Eric]

How does your team rank against the others in the various batting/pitching categories? You can see a summary on your team Home tab.

[Findest2001]

Second-to-last or last in 6 of nine categories. You know it's bad when your team's BEST ERA is 4.48. It's like I'm Colorado or something...and my park factors are .940 for HR.

[Findest2001]

And this...

[joehart]

When I run into a bad start of a season, the best way to identify the issue is to look at the actual box scores and teams you are facing.

Lots of losses by just 1-2 runs can get better or are more easily fixed.

Are my opponents a lot better ? Would I trade in my team for theirs if I could?

Do they balance out my strength (my power hitters are facing pitchers with high movement) ?

Do they have a ballpark that further builds on their strength or reduces mine?

Is my bullpen used up every day and yellow/red?

Not every league is the same. You may have been shuffled into a league with much better teams.

Take a look at the league statistics and the players that are doing very well. Do they have something in common?

If they are the same as your players, you may be able to wait it out and still get better. Or maybe an adjustment is needed to your strategy and various sliders.
Example, my aggressive base stealing failed once I ran into top catchers/pitchers.

Running into a performance wall is to be expected. I moved my silver only player team all the way to Perfect before getting pushed back to Diamond. After replacing some silver pitchers for diamond players, the team made it back to Perfect League but is still not strong enough to fully compete for titles.

[Findest2001]

Well I had the fewest 1-run games in the entire league and that was 65 games in and I only had 11 of them and was 4-7 in them. Other teams had as many as 27 1-run games

[Dogberry99]

This team has a number of inefficiencies, both in the players being used and the manner in which they are being used.

Is Ichiro better in CF than Trout? And why is Albies your SS?

[Findest2001]

The most recent team is just getting those players to learn those positions in case I ever need them at other positions, and Albies has actually increased his SS value to higher than his 2B rating since I've done that. The season is already lost, and since I made those changes my team actually got BETTER. I checked this morning and I had my first L10 better than .500! They were 6-4. That's how bad my original team was. I also upgraded a pitcher slot with Bob Gibson, too. So that has helped already.

[Findest2001]

Here is how bad it has gotten... my park factor is .940 HR for both L and R hitters. 96 Verlander is 1-13...

[Kushiel]

He has 45 movement. He has already given up 19 HR's. Your park factor means little with that movement rating. He would need 128 stuff to be just barely decent in Gold or higher.

This is just my opinion and as such means absolutely nothing.

[Findest2001]

Maybe I misunderstood my statistics, but I was under the impression that a 1.4 or lower HR/9 was serviceable? I've got a guy with the same (1.4) and one guy with a HR/9 over 3 who are way outperforming him. Plus, I understand HR aren't great to give up, but why are so many people in here against pitchers with low movement? I get that it reduces HR, but A) I thought I offset that with my park factors, and B) Teams score runs in a lot of ways that aren't homeruns.


Pardon my ignorance but I don't understand how a 96 can be so transcendently(sp?) terrible.

[Kushiel]

Results are why people are against low movement.The best place for you to find starting pitchers that give you a chance is in the post about starting pitchers in this forum. There is a very good list there. Get starters from that list as near to the top as you are able. Low movement can be somewhat mitigated with high enough stuff and control both or with groundball pitchers if you have almost immaculate defense in the IF to slow down the high contact hitters singling you to death. . Verlander is a great pitcher in MLB but not in PT. People have answered in your posts many times to forget the OVR for PT 19. I will say PT 20 does get the OVR a little closer.

This is just my opinion and as such means absolutely nothing. Have fun!

[joehart]

Don't sell yourself short...your Yaks team have been one of the better teams in the league these last 20 seasons and your comments are usually spot on.

I tried to see where your current pitchers fall in terms of projected FIP and most
of them are outside of the top100:
Dierker (106), Bob Gibson (not sure which card you have), Martinez (115),
Verlander (152), Whitley (166).

See if you can get lucky with a 86 Keuchel or 93/94 Maddux to really reduce HRs.

Also, you mentioned that you adjusted your park to reduce HRs but I see Max Munzy, who makes very little contact (52) and strikes out a lot (Ks:22).

You would be better of with someone like Rod Carew (82), Pete Rose (71), Dan T Murphy (79), Keith Hernandez (77), or a good contact hitter.

here is my silver team that looks playoff bound in Perfect league (using some diamond pitchers like Brown/Clemens/Gibson/Drysdale/Rigney).

[joehart]

I know the market is probably pretty empty and popular history players are hard to find but you may be able to ask here and someone could list them for you in the AH at standard pricing.
I bet some of the folks here still have plenty of extra in their reserves.

[Findest2001]

Originally Posted by joehart

Don't sell yourself short...your Yaks team have been one of the better teams in the league these last 20 seasons and your comments are usually spot on.

I tried to see where your current pitchers fall in terms of projected FIP and most
of them are outside of the top100:
Dierker (106), Bob Gibson (not sure which card you have), Martinez (115),
Verlander (152), Whitley (166).

See if you can get lucky with a 86 Keuchel or 93/94 Maddux to really reduce HRs.

Also, you mentioned that you adjusted your park to reduce HRs but I see Max Munzy, who makes very little contact (52) and strikes out a lot (Ks:22).

You would be better of with someone like Rod Carew (82), Pete Rose (71), Dan T Murphy (79), Keith Hernandez (77), or a good contact hitter.

here is my silver team that looks playoff bound in Perfect league (using some diamond pitchers like Brown/Clemens/Gibson/Drysdale/Rigney).

Ive kept my eye open for them since i started playing and have never seen one in my price range.
But thanks for the advice.

And i basically ran with your exact roster sans the mentioned pitchers and outfielders and got absolutely destroyed in bronze. So bad of i couldve been relegated to the entry pool i should've been.