Rotation
 

Since I am playing an historical season for the first time, I have a aquestion about pitching rotations.

The default in '77 seems to be a 4-man rotation. When does it switch to 5?

What stamina ratings do my pitchers need to have to withstand a 4-man rotation? When do I need to switch to 5 as the team progresses through the years?

1982 approx maybe 1983. You should notice at some point the stamina rating for pitchers will switch from normal to low league menu - league setup - global setup. Some teams I guess switched in mid to late 70's from what I was reading on baseball ref.

One thing I have always wondered about, but never asked, is when stamina is set on normal and the rotation size is 4, the majority of the time pitchers are going to be less than 100% rested. Often times they are less than 90%. I always wondered if this effects there performance? Does it lead to more injuries?

I checked the real '77 Jays and they had three pitchers with 34,34 and 33 starts. That is more than 1 in 5... but not much more. Maybe I should switch to 5 man but set it to highest rested instead of strict, occasional which is what I usually use.

Given that in real life the schedule, particularly as it relates to postponements, often dictated a 'fluid' approach to rotations, I'm not sure one can declare a definitive starting point for five-man rotations.

The following research paper may be on interest: Starting Pitching Staffs and Pitching Rotations. It's a 15-page PDF of a SABR 41 presentation.

In my now defunct custom league I did not have any injuries to my 4 SP. 162 G. GMO schedule. I had more off days then the real 1981 schedule. My 4 SP were a clone of Doc Ellis, 2011 Carlos Zambrano, 2011 Ervin Santana and 1 game generated SP with a STA of 5.