Do you play this game realistically?

[Tigers94]

Like I know it sounds nerdy,but say I have a rookie that's starting I do make sure he doesn't log too many iniings by skipping his starts and I even might put hiim in the bullpen.

Does anyone else play like this or am I just taking this too far?

[fred13]

yeah, i do that too. When I',m the jays, and I have a rookie in the rotation for whatever reason, i might keep him on the bench and start someone like downs occasionally.

[KillerBs]

I ususally spot start my rookies too.

[Myztery]

It depends for me. I look at how many innings they've pitched, but it usually depend on the team I'm facing and who my alternatives are.

[Tigers94]

Good,I not the only one who plays this game really seriously,lol.

[Guest]

After I clinched, I tried to hold all my starters to just 5 innings. :lol:

[Tigers94]

Smart!I've never thought of doing that,I will probably start doing that now(If I ever clicnh the division,lol)

[Guest]

5 innings + 6 man rotation should do it. Just bring up a triple A pitcher.

Playing realistic really makes the game much more enjoyable.

[Tigers94]

Yeah,it makes the game ten times better!

[rig99]

I play it very unrealistically. I hate walking batters so I'm always throwing strikes. If at the end of the game my total pitchers' pitch count is higher than 70-something it's usually not because I was striking people out or walking them. It's because I was giving up a ton of hits. I got into a nice stretch of having normal pitch counts but now I just can't do it anymore, I guess I'm impatient.

[Myztery]

I think the one thing I really focus on is laying off of bad pitches and working the count. I can usually get their pitcher to 100 pitches by the 6th or 7th. Then I get some good pitches, and put my runs on the board. I get really angry at myself when I swing at bad pitches.

[Tigers94]

I know,I always chase low sinkers,low changes,and high fastballs(The good thing is that half of the time I hit a homer )

[Myztery]

my problem is the change from a lefty coming in to my right-handed hitter....they give me fits.

[SwinginSoriano]

Half the fun of the game is purposely doing stupid moves because it's realistic.

[Tigers94]

Yeah,I just traded away half of my team for younger guys that weren't as good because my team became too good.

[kkingevan]

how do u get those sigs???

[Myztery]

go to tthe thread called "Sigs" and ask politely for a sig of the desired player. Most people will be more than happy to make one for you.

[tejdog1]

Earlier in Year 2 of my dynasty, I had my 6 man rotation, and Mike Pelfrey was struggling as a rookie pitcher will, and he pitched an absoulte freakin gem, 8 innings, 3 hits, 2 earned, 3 walks, 6 Ks, and I pulled him because I didn't want anything to ruin his accomplishment.

I usually skip Pedro and Glavine occasionally

After I clinch the division, I downshift radically, not letting my starters go much beyond 6 innings, or 40% stamina (whichever comes first).

[medric822]

when it comes to my rookie batters, I have them bat nineth usually (I play as the Marlins), when it comes to pitchers, I have them either start as a Mop-Up, or a 5th starter at best.

[UncleMo]

When you all say you limit your rookie pitcher's innings, or any pitcher's innings, what is the limit? I need to know for own dynasty.

What I do is only draft players that have a high rating for plate discipline. Even if it means drafting a player lower on the list. I don't care about star rating. I also make sure that player has great D or else I have it in my mind that he is trade bate to an AL team as a future DH.

Other things I do are to try to hit pitchers in the batter's box, even though I can not injure them in the game to have them go on the DL.

I throw stuff out of the strike zone to make player's chase pitchers. I take mental notes as to what you can throw where on a player (I own Guillen the outfielder).

Sometimes I try to never swing at the first two pitchers. And by reading those two pitches I try to start guessing what I'd personally throw next and where if I were the CPU.

I try to always carry a strong Bullpen, sometimes overbloated with talent in case the game goes into extra innings.

I guess I play it realistically.

[medric822]

Nice drafting stratagy. I would assume that if you were to limit a rookie starter, it woulb be 5 innings one start, then miss the next. Or if your that crazy, have a 70 pitch putch count.

[abc006]

i usually write my preffered batting order down, then let cpu optomize the rosters, see what it did, and decide with the input of both, what the roster should be. i also almost always bat rookies 9th/8th (al/nl) even if the cpu says he's good enough to bat 6th or whatever. although, i hardly ever limit the pitcher's starts, even if i've clinched, especially if i just want their era to go a bit down for the season's end, or get that 20th win or something. i'm very picky about their final season statistics. i must say, that's kind of my favorite aspect of the game - playing with these players, and seeing how their seasons turn out, how their careers turn out. i almost care more about seeing what the players do than what the team does mostly.

[gimpy7816]

I kind of agree with abc006 in that I care about the stats of my players.

But you know? That's realistic too!

End of this year, Scioscia batted Vladdy on the final weekend just to get his 200th hit, and as soon as he got it, tommy murphy came in to pinch run and play right field.

I try to get my pitchers to 20 wins, and keep their ERA under 4, or 3.5 depending on what they are closest too. I don't watch my rookie pitchers too much aside from not letting their stamina drop below 50% to avoid injury. I try to get my rookie pitchers to dominate if I can because I like ROY awards and I like ROY/CY combos too.

I take the MVP and all-star voting into account for when I play bench players and rest guys. Typically I will rest my catcher the start that would end with his stamina at 70 something percent and I will rest everyone but my super stars when they get to below 80 percent or close to it like 81 - 82. I try to keep it that way so that my bench players get enough playing time to stay happy, and so do my starters and super stars. Frowny face guys are more likely to retire at the end of a season for personal reasons, or in older players, age.

I always throw strikes because that's what you're sposed to do, but I use the game options modding stuff to change how quickly my pitcher's stamina goes down and the difficulty for the meter so that it's harder for me to be accurate...that way I sort of undermine my own desire to always throw strikes somewhat unrealistically.

The one thing I do that isn't realistic is turn the power up on the options modifying stuff because I can't seem to hit homers to save my life. I just don't think it's fair to a guy like Vladdy or even say Mickey Mantle to finish a season with less than 15 homers.

===Edited=== (Added Below)

When I throw strikes all the time, I do throw pitches like you would in real life...I don't throw a high splitter just because the guy has a cold zone there. I stick with the hard in, soft away approach. I try to work fastballs early and then fool them with offspeed stuff, and then switch it up later as the batters catch on. Also, I try to drop changeups breaking balls and sinking pitches into the dirt or just below the bottom of the strike zone to get check-swing and swinging strikeouts. I try to use changeups more on opposite handed batters and so forth as well.

If you play above pro difficulty and don't pitch realistically, the computer hands your rear end to you on a silver platter, right next to cashman's lunch.