Pitching is harder with aces

[Musty_Elbow]

This is frustrating me beyond end with this game. I've noticed it before, but the franchise in doing with the Cubs right now is the epitome of the issue. Obviously, Jake Arrieta is on a different level than the rest of the league when it comes to pitching. In The Show, however, this is not replicated well. Through 2 months of this Cubs franchise, my 2-5 starters have ERAs ranging from mid 2s to high 3s, and I have no problems at all pitching with them. With Arietta, I can't pitch effectively. My ERA with him is 3.78. I just get a general feel that pitching is generally harder with aces like this. I'm not sure what exactly it is about it, but something just seems different. You would think it would be the opposite, I don't know. Am I the only one who feels like this at all? Or is it all in my head?

[KBLover]

Quote: Originally Posted by Musty_Elbow

This is frustrating me beyond end with this game. I've noticed it before, but the franchise in doing with the Cubs right now is the epitome of the issue. Obviously, Jake Arrieta is on a different level than the rest of the league when it comes to pitching. In The Show, however, this is not replicated well. Through 2 months of this Cubs franchise, my 2-5 starters have ERAs ranging from mid 2s to high 3s, and I have no problems at all pitching with them. With Arietta, I can't pitch effectively. My ERA with him is 3.78. I just get a general feel that pitching is generally harder with aces like this. I'm not sure what exactly it is about it, but something just seems different. You would think it would be the opposite, I don't know. Am I the only one who feels like this at all? Or is it all in my head?

I won't say it's in your head, because I have no idea if there's anything there or not.

But I can say in my carryover, my Ace is like easy mode most games and a ton of fun pitching with him. His ratings are quite high, though. Arrieta probably is too low given what he's doing now and what he did last year.

In my other franchise (new MLB16), Chris Sale is my ace and he's doing the best. He's the most consistent and while he frustrates me sometimes, I can't say I do worse with him than any of the other bodies in the rotation.

Do you notice if you're pitching differently with Arrieta? Maybe there's something subtle?

[Sgexpat]

The timing needed for the pitch meter is dependent upon their throwing motion. Beyond their pitch types and other traits, I find some guys just easier to pitch with than others. It could be the same for you with Arrieta just being a little trickier with the motion.

Anyway , I definitely have that experience. For example, dealt for Chris Archer and got bombed to bits every start ... Traded him away. Not because he sucks but I just found it hard to manage his pitches , I always felt my timing was off. Kluber and Lance McCullers are two who I feel are at the opposite extreme, very easy to hit the meter.

This may obviously vary for each player.

[Sgexpat]

One other thing to keep in mind is sample size. One franchise I traded for Darvish and named him my staff ace immediately. First 6 weeks of the season he had surrendered more than 10 bombs and sported a 5 ERA or so. By season end ERA was under 2.5 and he had racked up 285 K's. So... You may want to give Arrieta more time if you aren't super deep into the year.

I've had star players turn in pretty pedestrian half seasons too in the game only to shine through in the 2nd half.

[WhiteBunny]

Quote: Originally Posted by Musty_Elbow

This is frustrating me beyond end with this game. I've noticed it before, but the franchise in doing with the Cubs right now is the epitome of the issue. Obviously, Jake Arrieta is on a different level than the rest of the league when it comes to pitching. In The Show, however, this is not replicated well. Through 2 months of this Cubs franchise, my 2-5 starters have ERAs ranging from mid 2s to high 3s, and I have no problems at all pitching with them. With Arietta, I can't pitch effectively. My ERA with him is 3.78. I just get a general feel that pitching is generally harder with aces like this. I'm not sure what exactly it is about it, but something just seems different. You would think it would be the opposite, I don't know. Am I the only one who feels like this at all? Or is it all in my head?

I'm doing a Franchise with Cubs too. HOF pitching with default sliders. In Spring Training, Arietta was a shoutout machine. He's pretty unstoppable with an average of 10 strikeout per game. I've close the Spring Training with an ERA of 1.00 or less. For me, it's like playing in God mode.
I'm doing well with other pitchers too, but not that well, and according to their ratings i find game stats pretty spot on. I struggle a bit with Hendricks and basically because he has some trouble to play the ball up in the strikezone due to the lack of a fastball.
I've played also with other great pitchers like Greinke, Kershaw or King Felix. For me, the game does a pretty good work on how they pitch. You feel the power.
Bullpen is a hit and miss but some relivers like Strop, Rondon and Machi ( he's in AAA Iowa Cubs, i strongly suggest to call him up, he's really good ) are playing really well. And Warren is a huge bonus, solid pitcher, great stamina, he's great when your starter is in a bad day.

[bestbrother]

Im not that great pitching but the one thing I like about the top guys in my rotation (or bullpen), is that they have at least one pitch that I know if I get right, will produce the goods. If I get in a hole, I know there is a way out...

Down my rotation, I find that this is less common and often if im in a jam, things can go to pot very quickly.

[Unlucky 13]

I've had a similar issue for years where I just cannot get comfortable with a pitcher due to his motion or timing. I think its normal. I LOVE pitching with Arrieta, personally. He fits my style perfectly, and in early August in my franchise, he's now 19-1, and closing in on 300 strikeouts. Lester is second in the league but about 100 Ks behind, to give reference to just how well Jake does for me.

But it works the opposite way too. A few years ago, I traded for Kershaw in my franchise (gave up a ton to get him of course), and he just was awful for me. Worse than the guy who had been my #5 starter. I couldn't get a handle on how to use him properly. I've had it happen numerous other times too.

The best thing is to either A) Find guys who's natural motion and strengths work for your own style in the game, or B) Go into the editor, and change their pitching motion to one that you do like.

[HypoLuxa13]

I had problems using Arrieta at first, also. Through his first few starts in my Cubs franchise his ERA was around 3.50. I was giving up way too many hits and was actually walking more than I would have expected (using All Star/Classic pitching).

One thing that helped me was going in and editing his pitches to mirror his real life repertoire better. I'm still not dominating with him, but I'm doing much better. Strangely enough, I AM dominating with Lester. His ERA is down under 1.50 through 8 starts. Leading the league in strikeouts at over 11 per game. Still using All Star/Classic pitching. I even did an experiment, I left my pitching cursor untouched in the middle of the plate for all pitches w/Lester for an entire game. Lasted 7 innings, gave up 2 runs on 4 hits, struck out 12.

The variance of using Classic pitching certainly made it so pitches didn't actually go right down the middle. But it is making me think that the CPU AI has some sort of guess pitch logic going, based on patterns you develop with your pitcher during a game. That would explain a lot of the "comeback AI" people seem to think is in the game. It may just be a case of becoming way too predictable with your pitches and the AI adjusts. When you have no pattern or trend, the AI is just unable to do anything at All Star and below. Problem is, if I move up to Hall of Fame pitching, what is that going to do with the rest of my pitchers on the staff? I guess I could use Hall of Fame just for Lester and actually have to try and pitch a good game....