five-man rotation

[Schaefling]

I would love to be able to force a five-man rotation on the computer. This is particularly important in the playoffs when starting pitchers seem to take a pounding if they start too much.

In fact, the problem in the playoffs is so bad I usualy try to rest my starters during the season but this frequently fails to have any benefit at all during the playoffs.

By the way am I the only one who has noticed how often starting pitchers perform so much more poorly in the playoffs?

[christoph]

Perhaps I am mistaken but I thought there already was a five man rotation. Is that not what the starting lineup is about? What I would like to see is an expanded bullpen, i.e. the option of having more relievers and spot starters working for the big club.

[Schaefling]

In Baseball Mogul Online the fifth starter only pitches when there are five consecutive game in a row. Whenever there is a day of rest on most teams the fifth starter gets skipped. That's why on most teams the fifth starter usually pitches far few innings over the course of the year.

The exception to this is where a team has a fifth starter who is as good as the other four starters. For some of my teams I have had years where the fifth starter has lots of innings pitched but it's not that common and I cant figure out how the computer decides the fifth pitcher is good enough to share starts with the other four starters. After playing many seasons I would say getting good use out of your fifth starter only happens about 20 percent of the time.

If we had the ability to check a box and force a five-man rotation this would solve the problem. It would allow a human player to better rest his starters which from my view appears crucial for good pitcher performances in the playoffs.