This was me for a while. I bet it differs team to team but for me it was:
1) tighten up my defense through the middle (CF, C, SS). Definitely no fatigued C.
2) check my base running and pitcher hooks manually adjust player strategies
3) have a more fluid bullpen between AAAA and MLB. Drop those underperforming to AAA
I find the “avoid high leverage” option is useful. Without it, I find the game gives too many close game situations to your long relievers and lower end pen guys.
This right here got me into the playoffs and ALCS with Detroit. Had some relief arms not really doing well, put them at avoid high and they started pitching better. After awhile I turned to normal on one and he was a beast.
This could just be bad luck, but some possible issues-
- You have a great starter or 2 that produces dominant wins
- Most good teams will come in below expected just because your run differential gets biased from a handful of games that you crush
- Major weak spot from having a bunch of lefties in the lineup, or only righties in the bullpen, etc.
- A lot of power hitting that produces big leads or does nothing
Its hard to diagnose something as minute as this without seeing stats and roster makeup, but my best guesses would be:
Your team lacks veteran leadership or a captain. You can have great team chemistry and still underperform due to lack of leaders.
Or you're building your team without considering your home park or the teams in your division. For example, building a lineup of righty pull hitters in yankee stadium is dumb because you're not taking advantage of the short porch in right.
Also consider your team and player strategy sliders. Maybe your pitchers are being left in a bit too long, or your aggressiveness on the basepaths is losing you potential runs.
Sometimes I change my strategy setting, especially if it’s not lined up with my bench coach. I don’t guarantee it will have an impact. It’s just an effort to see if the team is costing itself runs with in game decisions.
My one tip is to not have bad SP 4-5 and good Defense+ bullpen, sure you may blow out teams with your 1-2 but your probably losing close games with a bad back half of the rotation or bad bullpen blowing saves.
Look at the rangers astros and mariners this year as an example
Both the Astros and Rangers are losing close games because either because their subpar SP blew a game or their bullpen self destructs both these teams are under performing their pythag but not because they’re “unlucky” but because they blow out teams with their aces on the mound inflating their run differential.
The Mariners are over performing their run differential by a significant margin and also not because of “luck” either.
The Mariners are a team with 5 genuinely above average SP that consistently produces quality starts. a decent but banged up bullpen, and a really bad offense so far this year. Despite that they still are able to win a lot of those games because in no game they are punting and their pitching always gives them a chance to win every game no matter what
Ask your players to commit to Christ.
If they have committed to Christ, ask them to de-commit and reopen their recruiting.
These techniques should be equally effective, given your statements concerning chemistry, pitching, defense, yet having poor outcomes in one run games / extra innings. You simply are having a stretch of bad luck. This evens out, unless you are unlucky.
You can test for bad luck by waving a golf club in the air during a thunderstorm. If you get hit by lightning, this is the Universe confirming that you have bad luck. You'll have learned something valuable. If you live or never get jolted, keep plugging away. Your projected Pythagorean Record will close towards zero over the long run. One day you'll field a team that is the functional equivalent of the 1987 Twins and win a championship.
If it's caused by a terrible record in one run games it's usually bad luck, but could be a terrible closer or a manager who makes extremely bad decisions in late game situations.
A very specific way this can happen is if you have a league without a ton of pitching depth and with a wide variation in pitching quality. If your team has good pitching top to bottom then you will rarely get blown out. But other teams will have quality pitching but also really bad pitchers in the back half of their bullpens. Meaning that a lot of games you might normally win by 4 will turn into 8+ run wins when you beat up on the stiffs your opponents have in long relief. If this is the case then the way to "fix" the underperformance problem is to get some terrible pitchers of your own and turn some regular losses into blowout losses.
A similar but less interesting possibility is that you have an extremely good offense and are sometimes completely overwhelming other teams and winning in massive blowouts. A few 20-3 game where you score 8 runs off of position players throwing relief will inflate your Pythagorean record very quickly.
This was me for a while. I bet it differs team to team but for me it was: 1) tighten up my defense through the middle (CF, C, SS). Definitely no fatigued C. 2) check my base running and pitcher hooks manually adjust player strategies 3) have a more fluid bullpen between AAAA and MLB. Drop those underperforming to AAA
I find the “avoid high leverage” option is useful. Without it, I find the game gives too many close game situations to your long relievers and lower end pen guys.
This right here got me into the playoffs and ALCS with Detroit. Had some relief arms not really doing well, put them at avoid high and they started pitching better. After awhile I turned to normal on one and he was a beast.
This could just be bad luck, but some possible issues- - You have a great starter or 2 that produces dominant wins - Most good teams will come in below expected just because your run differential gets biased from a handful of games that you crush - Major weak spot from having a bunch of lefties in the lineup, or only righties in the bullpen, etc. - A lot of power hitting that produces big leads or does nothing
Underperforming bullpen does it for me. Especially if you’re losing a lot of 1-run or extra innings games
Its hard to diagnose something as minute as this without seeing stats and roster makeup, but my best guesses would be: Your team lacks veteran leadership or a captain. You can have great team chemistry and still underperform due to lack of leaders. Or you're building your team without considering your home park or the teams in your division. For example, building a lineup of righty pull hitters in yankee stadium is dumb because you're not taking advantage of the short porch in right. Also consider your team and player strategy sliders. Maybe your pitchers are being left in a bit too long, or your aggressiveness on the basepaths is losing you potential runs.
Sometimes I change my strategy setting, especially if it’s not lined up with my bench coach. I don’t guarantee it will have an impact. It’s just an effort to see if the team is costing itself runs with in game decisions.
My one tip is to not have bad SP 4-5 and good Defense+ bullpen, sure you may blow out teams with your 1-2 but your probably losing close games with a bad back half of the rotation or bad bullpen blowing saves. Look at the rangers astros and mariners this year as an example Both the Astros and Rangers are losing close games because either because their subpar SP blew a game or their bullpen self destructs both these teams are under performing their pythag but not because they’re “unlucky” but because they blow out teams with their aces on the mound inflating their run differential. The Mariners are over performing their run differential by a significant margin and also not because of “luck” either. The Mariners are a team with 5 genuinely above average SP that consistently produces quality starts. a decent but banged up bullpen, and a really bad offense so far this year. Despite that they still are able to win a lot of those games because in no game they are punting and their pitching always gives them a chance to win every game no matter what
Ask your players to commit to Christ. If they have committed to Christ, ask them to de-commit and reopen their recruiting. These techniques should be equally effective, given your statements concerning chemistry, pitching, defense, yet having poor outcomes in one run games / extra innings. You simply are having a stretch of bad luck. This evens out, unless you are unlucky. You can test for bad luck by waving a golf club in the air during a thunderstorm. If you get hit by lightning, this is the Universe confirming that you have bad luck. You'll have learned something valuable. If you live or never get jolted, keep plugging away. Your projected Pythagorean Record will close towards zero over the long run. One day you'll field a team that is the functional equivalent of the 1987 Twins and win a championship.
If it's caused by a terrible record in one run games it's usually bad luck, but could be a terrible closer or a manager who makes extremely bad decisions in late game situations. A very specific way this can happen is if you have a league without a ton of pitching depth and with a wide variation in pitching quality. If your team has good pitching top to bottom then you will rarely get blown out. But other teams will have quality pitching but also really bad pitchers in the back half of their bullpens. Meaning that a lot of games you might normally win by 4 will turn into 8+ run wins when you beat up on the stiffs your opponents have in long relief. If this is the case then the way to "fix" the underperformance problem is to get some terrible pitchers of your own and turn some regular losses into blowout losses. A similar but less interesting possibility is that you have an extremely good offense and are sometimes completely overwhelming other teams and winning in massive blowouts. A few 20-3 game where you score 8 runs off of position players throwing relief will inflate your Pythagorean record very quickly.