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The Pitcher * Rule
Peezy

SOM can’t cover everything with its board game.   That’s why they instituted a number of MAX rules in the computer version.   They also have to make certain compromises within the game design, if for playability than no other reason.  

There’s a reason why specific pitcher hitting cards looks like a big headache.   Most pitchers don’t get a lot of at bats in a season.   Breaking into the 80 and 90 AB territory is a good feat in this era.   There’s no reason for SOM to provide a specific hitting card for a reliever who did nothing in 10 at bats.   Given the deviation in replay results, the #1 hitting card provides the same bang for the buck.

Still, some things in the SOM baseball game just don’t work in terms of accuracy and realism.   The SOM * (asterisk) rule represents one of those grey areas where playability doesn’t necessarily coincide with actual usage, at least for the modern major league era.  

For the dead ball era or decades past, the * rule helped the high-inning starter get the appropriate number of game starts.   You don’t see a lot of high-inning guys anymore compared to previous decades.

36+ Starts

2005 – 0 pitchers

2004 – 0 pitchers
2003 – 2 pitchers
2002 – 1 pitchers

230+ Innings
2005 – 6 pitchers

2004 – 5 pitchers
2003 – 7 pitchers
2002 – 9 pitchers

We’re taking about a very small number of pitchers who reach the 36+ start or 230+ innings categories.   Even 34 and 35 starts in a season is a fairly small percentage in terms of starters for a given season.  

Now, SOM doesn’t tell you how to use your players in a replay or draft league.   They don’t designate an * for a pitcher and tell you to start him every 3 days.   The rule, by my interpretation, means the pitcher has the ability to pitch on 3 days rest if necessary.

The only thing is that 3 days rest is a fairly foreign concept to most pitchers.   The 2005 season had 9 pitchers with 35 starts.   They didn’t pitch in many games with 3 days rest.

Greg Maddux – 3 of 35
Jon Lieber – 1 of 35
Livan Hernandez – 1 of 35
Derek Lowe – 0 of 35
Doug Davis - 0 of 35
Barry Zito – 0 of 35

Rodrigo Lopez – 1 of 35
Roy Oswalt – 0 of 35
Chris Capuano – 1 of 35

Doing the math, the pitchers who led the league in games started pitched 2.2 percent of their starts on 3 days rest.   There’s no reason for any of these guys to have an * on their card.  

Livan Hernandez, for example, made a start on 3 days rest because opponents roughed him up in a previous appearance that lasted 1.1 innings.   He wasn’t really pitching on 3 days rest.   He barely threw 1 inning in the preceding game.

Here we see the problem of the SOM * rule.   Pitchers don’t work on 3 days rest, even those logging in with a high number of innings in a season.

SOM has an arbitrary system that assigns the * rule based on a combination of GS and IP.   That works fine as a system.  But why should Lowe, Davis, Zito, and Oswalt get an * on their card when they didn’t even work on 3 days rest for the season?

That doesn’t make any sense.  

The * rule is a bad idea for draft leagues.   It gives some starting pitchers an advantage in the game when they didn’t have it in the regular season.   It can take away from the precision and exactness of a replay and can impact the season’s final outcomes.

The * rule is outdated and old-fashioned.  The modern-day evidence does not suggest much of a need for it.   The percentage of starts with 3 days rest is extremely small.  

You don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water, if you will, because the rule works for some of the past card sets, especially those long ago.  Still, the SOM * rule is certainly not an accurate reflection of today’s game and the company should abandon their current framework for assigning the * in favor of something more realistic.