Playing Limits
A player in Scoresheet Baseball can only play about twice as much as he did during an average week of the year being used. (Your Scoresheet team will play 12 games per week - we estimate the average major league team plays 6 games a week.) Basically, we are going to take the player's yearly totals and divide by 11, and use those numbers to determine how much, and how well, a player will do each week. (This holds pretty strictly for hitters. Pitchers will get to slightly carry over innings pitched that are not used one week to the next.) The playing time limitations explain why a sub may start a game, or why a pitcher may be taken out before his hook number is reached. This means you should try to draft players who played a lot, or you should definitely trade if for example you end up with a lot of players with plenty of playing time in one year, but you are very thin in playing time from another.
If you run out of eligible players at a position, we automatically shuffle positions for you. We'll move players between 2B, 3B and SS; we'll move the guy on the bench with the top pinch hit rank to 1B; and we'll take the top listed player and move him to OF. (This shuffling only happens if you have no one on the bench or taxi squad qualifying at that position. If you have substitute OF'ers available then of course we move the top listed sub OFer to the starting lineup.) Such changes incur the fielding penalties discussed with fielding numbers. But this is a fairly realistic representation of what happens in the majors when a starter is injured.
If you are unable to field a position, we assign you an anonymous replacement. These replacements, appearing as Catcher(AAA), OF(AAA), Pitcher(AAA), etc., will be roughly .200 (or worse) hitters, or pitchers with an ERA double the league average (roughly an ERA of about 8). (AAA) players will bat differently depending on what position they appear at. (AAA) OFers and first basemen hit about .205, with a .255 slugging percentage, catcher(AAA) hits about .150 with a .200 slugging average, and (AAA) infielders hit about .190, but with only a .220 slugging average. These are the same types of players that are called up from the Triple A teams when injuries occur on a major league club. The use of (AAA) players enable your team to continue playing, but certainly do not increase your chance of winning. It is best to get plenty of playing time at all positions for all 4 years!
Miscellaneous limits:
- Short relievers (as designated by our player lists) cannot pitch more than three innings in a single game.
- A pitcher listed as a short reliever on our lists can NOT start a Scoresheet Baseball game. Also, pitchers on our short reliever list can not pitch in a game before the 4th inning.
- Any pitcher who didn't start at least 6 games in the majors that year can't pitch more than 4 innings in a single game for you (even if he starts for you).
- For pitchers, an appearance counts roughly as an inning pitched. (Each appearance in the majors adds an inning to the amount he can pitch in Scoresheet that week, each Scoresheet appearance costs him an inning.)
**NOTE: Pitchers can get at most 3 starts in each Scoresheet week - so if you have a pitcher who had a huge number of innings in the majors one year some of those innings may get 'wasted'. Also, if you hook pitchers early they may not get a chance to use all their innings - because of hooks, pinch hitting, etc., you should try and get at least 1200 innings pitched for each of the 4 years. (Having at least a total of 1250 to 1300 innings pitched for each of the 4 years is a very good idea if you want to avoid the dreaded PAAA.)
