3/11/19; revised 6/23/20, 6/21/21, 10/11/21, 11/4/23

11/4/23 revision: our current game settings make this article largely irrelevant. It is now a much riskier proposition to start a pitcher on short rest in OOTP than it was when this article was created.

Doubleheaders and the Four-Man Rotation

I usually try to avoid making rules that dictate managerial strategy, because for one thing, people tend to resent being told how to manage their teams, and for another, those kinds of rules require me to monitor all the teams to make sure everyone's doing what they're supposed to be doing.

That being said, here comes one of those rules.

Some teams in this league like to use a four-man rotation. Which is totally fine with me... for parts of the season. The issue is not pitchers starting on three days rest—pitchers did that all the time back then, and were still doing so in the 1970’s. In my opinion they could still do it now with no ill effects.

The issue is doubleheaders. Four-man rotations and doubleheaders do not mix. It was for this reason that teams in the 1940s and 1950s did not use strict four-man rotations. They would try to start their top pitchers every fourth day when the schedule permitted it, but they would usually revert to a five- and sometimes six-man rotation when there were doubleheaders so they could avoid having to start pitchers on two days rest.

If OOTP were a perfect simulation of real life, I would be okay letting teams risk injury by starting pitchers on two days rest. But it doesn’t appear that OOTP works that way. Injuries in this league are rampant, but they’re also random—as far as I can tell they are not caused by overuse. There appears to be no downside to overworking your pitchers in OOTP. That’s not realistic, and in this league, “not realistic” is not okay (See here).

So, here’s the rule:

GMs are responsible for ensuring starting pitchers get at least three days rest between starts at all times.

During the stretches of the season when there are no doubleheaders, it’s very easy to follow this rule. In fact, during those stretches, you have to go out of your way not to follow the rule.

But there is a substantial portion of every season when doubleheaders start appearing on the schedule, and sometimes we even have two doubleheaders in the same week. That’s nine games in seven days, so in order to comply with the rules, you’re going to need six different pitchers to start games.

There are two different ways to do this. The easiest way is just to make a 6-Man Rotation using the Strict Order option. The slightly more difficult way is to use 7-Day Lineups and select each pitcher on a per-game basis.

The easy way has the obvious advantage of being easy, but will cause the game to set the rotation somewhat nonsensically. I tested it, so I know. This is what it will do:
Monday—Starter #1
Tuesday—Starter #2
Wednesday—Starter #3
Thursday—Starter #4
Friday (2)—Starter #5, Starter #6
Saturday—Starter #1
Sunday (2)—Starter #2, Starter #3
It will give your #1 and #2 starters four days rest when it doesn’t really need to.

Setting your rotation using 7-Day Lineups allows you to do this:
Monday—Starter #1
Tuesday—Starter #2
Wednesday—Starter #3
Thursday—Starter #4
Friday (2)—Starter #1, Starter #5
Saturday—Starter #2
Sunday (2)—Starter #3, Starter #6
It will keep your top four starters on their regular three days rest (“regular”, that is, if you’ve been using a four-man rotation previous to this sim)

Using the 6-Man with one of the other options, on the other hand, will probably cause the game to do something really silly. Here’s what it did when I used 6-Man Rotation, Always Start Highest Rested:
Monday—Starter #1
Tuesday—Starter #5
Wednesday—Starter #2
Thursday—Starter #3
Friday (2)—Starter #4, Starter #6
Saturday—Starter #1
Sunday (2)—Starter #5, Starter #2
WTF? It started my #5 starter twice for no reason whatsoever, gave my #1 starter an extra day of rest that he didn’t require, and only started my #3 starter once.

And here’s what it did when I used 6-Man Rotation, Strict, On Occasion Highest Rested:
Monday—Starter #1
Tuesday—Starter #5
Wednesday—Starter #6
Thursday—Starter #2
Friday (2)—Starter #3, Starter #4
Saturday—Starter #1
Sunday (2)—Starter #5, Starter #6
Even stupider. Once again it gave my #1 an extra day of rest, and used my #5 and my #6 twice while only starting my #2 and #3 once.

I don’t know that the game will do the same thing every time when you’re using these options, but I’ve seen it do goofy things enough for me to be completely soured on using Always Start Highest Rested or On Occasion Highest Rested in a league that has doubleheaders, as this one does. You can probably get away with it in a sim with no doubleheaders. Means you have to pay attention to the schedule and not miss exports, though.

I’m not going to kick anyone out of the league for getting confused, or for forgetting to export once in awhile, or for making any kind of honest mistake that causes the game to screw up and start their pitchers on short rest. But… you now know what’s up with the game, so you don’t have that excuse.

Nutshell version: When there are two doubleheaders in a week, you need six different starting pitchers, and you need to either set your rotation using 7-day lineups, OR by setting a 6-Man Rotation using Strict Order.

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