Regarding pitch counts and general in-game strategy

[John]

At least a couple teams had pitchers throw an insane number of pitchers (150-180) during these first round of games. I explained some of the possible reasons for this in this thread, but I wanted to make a separate post to show how to avoid this happening in the future.

From your team page, click on the "Strategy" tab and then click on "Player Strategy" (located on the bar directly beneath the "Strategy" tab). You'll now see a large window displaying your active roster. Below are two smaller windows that say "DRAG & DROP a Player here!" Do just that with one of your SPs. The left-hand pane now shows offensive strategies for this player (you can ignore this since pitchers don't bat in PEBA) while the right shows pitching strategies.

To limit how many pitches your SP will throw, first change the Mode option to read "Override Team Strategy Settings". Below that you'll see an entry for pitch count. It'll read "0" right now, meaning there is no pitch count. Enter in a number you feel is appropriate. The game is smart enough to pull your player before an at-bat that's likely to put him over this count (it won't pull him during an at-bat, however).

Repeat this for other pitchers, and then start looking at specific player strategies for those hitters whom you'd like to issue special instructions to. Once you've finished with that, click over to "Overall Strategy" on the bar below your main tabs. The sliders here allow you to adjust game strategy in different circumstances (i.e. early/late innings, winning/trailing, etc.). These sliders will control the behavior of any players to whom you haven't issued specific instructions. Set these to your personal preferences.

Now that we're getting into game action, you really should take a bit of time to thoroughly examine this previously unneeded section of the game. Web users, send me any questions you have about the Strategy tab. I'll set any strategies you want implemented upon your request.