Is regular gameplay necessary to improve ratings? Is a quality coaching staff the biggest factor? Is improvement possible at any time, or only during spring training? I'm wondering because I've played through two seasons in my first game, and it seems like almost every time a player's ratings change, it's for the worse. The team I started with (87 Astros) had a pretty great pitching staff, but all of the starters and half the bullpen have dwindled significantly in two years. I've read through a decent chunk of the manual, but I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong. Well, I'm sure I'm doing at least
something wrong, since I managed to crash and burn an expected playoff team into the NL West basement.
