jdlikewhoa
Well-Known Member
Being that it's a slow week and we've not reached our requisite number of new OOTP threads for the month on this dead NCAA Football vidya game site, the cOmissioners have requested we take a vote on whether to allow additional pitching roles.
Some background for those new to the game, particularly our friend(s) across the pond:
For over 200 years across the MLB, UBL, and WBL, teams adopted starting rotations consisting of various numbers of starters with all other pitchers on the active roster serving as relief pitchers in various roles (i.e. Long Relief, Middle Relief, Setup, Closers, and the ever controversial Stopper or Fireman). Traditionally, a starter has been expected to start games and throw the majority of the innings before giving way to various combinations of relievers.
However, teams have occasionally experimented with more nontraditional gimmick pitching staffs. For instance, in Game 7 of the 1924 World Series, the Washington Senators had their starting pitcher, Curly Ogden, pitch to only two batters and then brought in a left-handed pitcher, with the intent of locking the opposing team into their right-handed lineup. Similarly, in the 1990 National League Championship Series, the Pittsburgh Pirates decided to open the game with right-handed relief pitcher Ted Power before installing the announced starting pitcher, left-hander Zane Smith, in an attempt to get the Cincinnati Reds to change their batting lineup. In 1993, the Oakland Athletics had a poor starting rotation, and manager Tony La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan split their pitchers into platoons, with a core of dedicated relief pitchers. Though the experiment lasted for only six games before the Athletics returned to a traditional starting rotation, Ron Darling, a member of the 1993 Athletics, called it "a precursor to all the things that you see today".
In the 21st century, baseball writers advanced the idea that starting pitchers are less effective against the opposing team's hitters the more times in a game they face them. Dave Fleming, a writer for Bill James Online, wrote in 2009 about a proposed "3-3-3 rotation" where pitchers would be limited to throwing three innings in a game. Bryan Grosnick, writing for SB Nation's Beyond the Box Score, suggested using an opening pitcher for an inning or two before giving way to a more traditional starting pitcher in a 2013 article. In his 2016 book, Ahead of the Curve, Brian Kenny suggested the possible use of an opening pitcher, noting that the highest scoring inning is typically the first inning, so a team should use a relief pitcher to shut down the top of the opposing team's batting order.
Some more historical examples of the utilization of the regular use of the opener/follower role are the 2018-2032 Tampa Bay Devil Rays who began experimenting with these roles in May and June of the 2018 MLB season. During this stretch, the Devil Rays deployed Sergio Romo, Ryne Stanek, Diego Castillo, and Hunter Wood as openers before turning the game over to a "follower," or a pitcher who would've otherwise been a traditional starter.
During the 2019 season, the New York Yankees experienced a suspicious number of starting pitcher injuries, similar to the suspected cOmmissioner WOOLYING fragility scandal that rocked the 2080-2081 False Bay Flying Whites. To cope with the injuries to their starters, the Yankees used reliever Chad Green as an opener. Green would pitch the first inning or two and then hand over the game to a long reliever. The False Bay Flying Whites, however, were unable to adequately address the devastation to their pitching staff due to the limitations INDY developers placed on the WBL.
So, what now?
Because of the modern day emphasis on analytics, INDY developers have taken notice and added the option to implement the non-traditional opener/follower role. OOTP 20 allows relief pitchers to be set as openers. These pitchers are used to start the first innings of a WBL game. They are utilized in no particular order (like a middle reliever in a traditional WBL staff) with no ability to choose which will start each game. The followers are slotted into the starting rotation section of the game and are brought in to pitch multiple middle innings. These pitchers are cycled through in order just like a traditional starting rotation. For example:
Game 1: Random opener / followed by Rotation Follower 1
Game 2: Random opener / followed by Rotation Follower 2
Game 3: Random opener / followed by Rotation Follower 3... and so on.
It has been mentioned that there is some concern over what effect these roles will have over WBL gameplay. As this is new to the OOTP franchise, there is only a small sample of literature on other OOTP sites. Nothing I've read has brought up borcked gameplay, but it's entirely possible that I've missed something. Please voice all concerns below and vote in the poll.
Some background for those new to the game, particularly our friend(s) across the pond:
For over 200 years across the MLB, UBL, and WBL, teams adopted starting rotations consisting of various numbers of starters with all other pitchers on the active roster serving as relief pitchers in various roles (i.e. Long Relief, Middle Relief, Setup, Closers, and the ever controversial Stopper or Fireman). Traditionally, a starter has been expected to start games and throw the majority of the innings before giving way to various combinations of relievers.
However, teams have occasionally experimented with more nontraditional gimmick pitching staffs. For instance, in Game 7 of the 1924 World Series, the Washington Senators had their starting pitcher, Curly Ogden, pitch to only two batters and then brought in a left-handed pitcher, with the intent of locking the opposing team into their right-handed lineup. Similarly, in the 1990 National League Championship Series, the Pittsburgh Pirates decided to open the game with right-handed relief pitcher Ted Power before installing the announced starting pitcher, left-hander Zane Smith, in an attempt to get the Cincinnati Reds to change their batting lineup. In 1993, the Oakland Athletics had a poor starting rotation, and manager Tony La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan split their pitchers into platoons, with a core of dedicated relief pitchers. Though the experiment lasted for only six games before the Athletics returned to a traditional starting rotation, Ron Darling, a member of the 1993 Athletics, called it "a precursor to all the things that you see today".
In the 21st century, baseball writers advanced the idea that starting pitchers are less effective against the opposing team's hitters the more times in a game they face them. Dave Fleming, a writer for Bill James Online, wrote in 2009 about a proposed "3-3-3 rotation" where pitchers would be limited to throwing three innings in a game. Bryan Grosnick, writing for SB Nation's Beyond the Box Score, suggested using an opening pitcher for an inning or two before giving way to a more traditional starting pitcher in a 2013 article. In his 2016 book, Ahead of the Curve, Brian Kenny suggested the possible use of an opening pitcher, noting that the highest scoring inning is typically the first inning, so a team should use a relief pitcher to shut down the top of the opposing team's batting order.
Some more historical examples of the utilization of the regular use of the opener/follower role are the 2018-2032 Tampa Bay Devil Rays who began experimenting with these roles in May and June of the 2018 MLB season. During this stretch, the Devil Rays deployed Sergio Romo, Ryne Stanek, Diego Castillo, and Hunter Wood as openers before turning the game over to a "follower," or a pitcher who would've otherwise been a traditional starter.
During the 2019 season, the New York Yankees experienced a suspicious number of starting pitcher injuries, similar to the suspected cOmmissioner WOOLYING fragility scandal that rocked the 2080-2081 False Bay Flying Whites. To cope with the injuries to their starters, the Yankees used reliever Chad Green as an opener. Green would pitch the first inning or two and then hand over the game to a long reliever. The False Bay Flying Whites, however, were unable to adequately address the devastation to their pitching staff due to the limitations INDY developers placed on the WBL.
So, what now?
Because of the modern day emphasis on analytics, INDY developers have taken notice and added the option to implement the non-traditional opener/follower role. OOTP 20 allows relief pitchers to be set as openers. These pitchers are used to start the first innings of a WBL game. They are utilized in no particular order (like a middle reliever in a traditional WBL staff) with no ability to choose which will start each game. The followers are slotted into the starting rotation section of the game and are brought in to pitch multiple middle innings. These pitchers are cycled through in order just like a traditional starting rotation. For example:
Game 1: Random opener / followed by Rotation Follower 1
Game 2: Random opener / followed by Rotation Follower 2
Game 3: Random opener / followed by Rotation Follower 3... and so on.
It has been mentioned that there is some concern over what effect these roles will have over WBL gameplay. As this is new to the OOTP franchise, there is only a small sample of literature on other OOTP sites. Nothing I've read has brought up borcked gameplay, but it's entirely possible that I've missed something. Please voice all concerns below and vote in the poll.