WAY too many relief innings/appearances when simming seasons

[Double Deuce]

Hey all, dunno how many pay attention to this, but when you look at stats of simmed players at the end of a season, there are always a CRAZY number of relievers with over 100+ innings pitched, and a ton of games played.

In reality, most full-season relievers may get around 60 innings, some maybe getting into the 80s. Rarely higher than that.

I've been looking for a way to fix this in Franchise mode by tweaking settings, etc. but have yet to come up with anything. I noticed that setting the slider for CPU Starter Stamina DOES impact the innings pitched of starters even when simming, but doing the same to CPU Reliever Stamina does not seem to (at least not enough that I noticed a difference in overall reliever IP at the end of the seasons I simmed).

Does anyone know a way to address this, aside from going into each individual reliever and editing their stamina and/or durability?? This has been an issue in the series for as long as I remember, and I keep expecting them to address it, but it never happens. In past years I've been a crazy person and edited reliever stamina by hand for every reliever in the game, but I just can't bring myself to do that again this year.

Anyone solved this, or have good ideas on what might work? Thanks!

[thedude]

Are you sure it's that starters aren't going deep enough in games, or is it that the CPU is always using the same relievers?

[Double Deuce]

Quote: Originally Posted by thedude

Are you sure it's that starters aren't going deep enough in games, or is it that the CPU is always using the same relievers?

The starters' innings pitched seem about right, but yeah the same relievers are getting used WAY too often. It seems like their stamina is recovering too quickly, so they are "ready" too often. In real life, if a reliever pitches a few days in a row, the manager will make sure to give him a rest day.

I've cranked the injury slider to the max, to try and either slow down the stamina recharge, or cause the "main" relievers to get hurt more often and give other relievers a chance to get called up and gain some innings. But that hasn't seemed to work well either, despite there being more injuries overall.

They're just too damn durable.

[Double Deuce]

Now that I think more about it, I wonder if the issue is that the CPU is just choosing to pitch the highest rated relievers on the team as much as possible, despite their actual in-game results. The CPU doesn't pay attention to stats when making decisions on who to put in, I don't think, it's purely ratings. So maybe the same guys are getting used all the time because the CPU doesn't care if they're not effective, where in real life a manager would give a struggling reliever a break, maybe try to get him some low-leverage innings to get him straightened out. Or even send him down if he's struggling. That doesn't seem to happen with the CPU.

[Archie56]

It's not just simulation either. I do believe the CPU uses the best reliever available based on ratings. I just had a 3 game series against the Cards and every single game I saw Wainwright come into the game in relief, and all 3 games he pitched 2-3 innings. Now I know he was a starter so his stamina might be better than a regular reliever but still. Plus he's getting up there in age so I'm sure he tires out quicker than he used to.

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[DarthRambo]

This is a legacy issue that's plagued the game forever. If you notice when playing the cpu will bring in in the LRP any time they are losing. Only way they use the SU pitchers is if they're ahead. Tie game late? Bring in the LRP smh. They also will leave in a reliever when he's obviously getting shelled if they were already losing. The logic is God awful and not sure if they'll ever even look to fix it since it's always been this way.

What I do is switch the controller over and manage their bullpen for them most games. While I'm batting I switch over and schedule a pitcher for the cpu to enter next half inning. As soon as I get my 3rd out pitching, I switch over before game comes back so it asks me if I want to still put in new pitcher (for AI team). Then switch back to my team to hit.


That's the only somewhat fix for games played. If you really want to get into it then you'd have to manage every game on the calendar and manage both bullpens through the manage simulation.

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[kinsmen7]

I'm not 100% sure if it's the same as 21, but with 20, AI bullpen usage has always been an issue. There's an old thread here somewhere that discusses the optimal way to set up your bullpen if you're a sim-player. I feel like the suggestion was:

2 x long reliever
4 x mid-reliever
1 x set-up
1 x closer

I think sliders are also involved when it comes to actual gameplay, but I really can't remember...I've pretty much been running with the same slider set for a year and haven't really thought about them since. I'd suggest trying to find the actual thread though-It's very helpful.

[JTommy67]

You can alleviate this by controlling all the teams yourself and keeping their bullpen lineup adjusted. Make sure nobody is in the setup slots and from time to time you can rotate the relievers through the other slots to even things out. But you have to maintain 32-team control. If you leave it back to the cpu each bullpen will get reset upon the first injury.

IrishSalsa is dead on. This is an aggravating legacy issue they obviously don't care to fix. I don't suspect it or anything else affecting franchise mode will ever be addressed.