Quote:
|
Thanks guys, that clears it up somewhat... bottom line appears to be with double switching etc. there's some "legalised cheating" allowed.
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
|
It's no really though. You've only got 25 players that you can pick from, and any of them are allowed to play anywhere you want, but once you sub them they can't take any more part in a game.
Of those 25 players, there are usually 5 starting pitchers who are pretty much only available on the day they are due to pitch due to problems with injuries, and you've got usually 6 or 7 other pitchers who will pitch to finish a game after the starting pitcher reaches the limit of their pitch count (usually around 100 pitches). Of the relievers there is usually a hierarchy which goes "closer" (usually their best reliever who tends to pitch the last inning only when a team is ahead in a close game) "set-up guy" (next best one or two relievers who pitch late on in games but usually only in close games) "middle relievers" (couple of decentish pitchers who are quite often pretty inconsistent) and a "mop up pitcher" (pitcher who can throw a few innings but are usually only brought in when the game is either being heavily lost or winning). So most teams only have two or three really good reliable pitchers available after the starting pitcher so if you put someone in to pinch hit for them that's them gone from the game.
If you start picking up the reasons behind the decisions that the managers make relating to pitching changes it really helps you appreciate the importance of a long term strategic plan a team needs in the game imo. The fact that they play pretty much every day for 6 months means that there is a continual need to both stop yourself from over-working relief pitchers and getting them enough work in to keep them sharp. You quite often see managers hating the decisions they are having to make relating to pitchers but they have to do them. The sort of things I mean are where they have to not play their best reliever because they've used them for two or three games in a row, or someone who is pitching really well has to be taken out because they need a hit at that point (first sort of scenario you were talking about), or a starting pitcher reaching their pitch count, or someone getting blown away in the first couple of innings meaning pretty much the entire bullpen will have to be used for the rest of the game.
You can also see a lot of teams trying to take advantage of these sorts of things by only wanting batters who "work the count". What that means is that if someone is patient and causes the starting pitcher to throw a lot of pitches they will have to more than likely use their less reliable relievers or their more reliable ones for longer in the game. When you see someone continually fouling the ball off they can be having a pretty important impact on the game even though there appears to be nothing significant happening.