Everyday Lineups and You Need a Bench...
You play a 25-week season in Benchwarmer
Baseball - 150 games. It's a long haul from April to
September. When you put a team together, you're trying
to field a complete lineup - 9 hitters, a 5-man starting
rotation, and a 5-man bullpen. In our scoring formula,
each game is a separate occurrence. So, what players
do in Major League game number 5 or game number 76 will have
a direct correspondence to what happens to your team in
Benchwarmer game number 5, 76, 17, 150...you get the
picture.
So, each day, you need to have a complete
lineup. What happens if your starting catcher pulls a
hamstring? What if your DH is a platoon player in real
life? In Benchwarmer Baseball, you have a 5-man bench.
IF you have a backup catcher and IF he played in the game
your starter misses, he'll fill in that spot in the lineup.
BUT, if you don't have a guy to fill in for that game, you
get the dreaded "Benchwarmer Batter." The Benchwarmer
is not a guy you want to see. He'll go 0-for-5 and,
even worse, will commit two errors in that game.
Your pitching rotation is similar.
Your 5-man rotation needs to pitch regularly in order for
them to appear in your games. (Now, since pitching is
different, we don't make them play in the exact same game
number - and there are allowances in the system if they skip
a start or two). Your 5-man bullpen needs to be
complete. You'll only need your closer if your
starting pitcher lasts 8 innings...but if you get only 4
innings (or less) out of the starting pitcher, you're going
to need that 5th reliever. Hopefully he's not sitting
in the minor leagues in real life.
If you don't have a starting pitcher ready
to go (and they can only pitch once every 5 games), you get
the dreaded "Pinesitter Pitcher" who may be even more of a
buzz kill than the "Benchwarmer." The "Pinesitter" has
a pitching line of 3 IP, 5 H, 5 BB, 0 K, and 5 ER. In
the same way, if you're short a reliever, you're going to
get hit by the Pinesitter there too.
What's the effect of this? You need to pay
attention to your entire team. And - just like Major
League teams need a guy on the bench who can play multiple
positions, you'll find the value of the utility player and
the long reliever. Benchwarmer Baseball is a game
where Chad Pinder and Daniel Hudson can actually
be valuable.
In some cases, you may have to make tough
decisions. If you've got one or more players sitting
on the disabled list for a long time, maybe you've got a guy
in the minors you can bring up to replace him. Maybe
you can go out and sign a free agent. But if you don't
have the room on the roster, or enough cash to sign a new
player, you may need to cut someone...
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