Quote:
On this occasion what is the context? Did the opponent have a pinch hitter ,and the AI decided to bring in a reliever (Marshall) for a better matchup? I'm not sure.
Did the AI leave the pitcher in at bat (Carrasco) because he had no more options left on the bench? Was the pitcher (Carrasco) injured and not able to pitch the 9th?
Marshall could have come in to pitch the 9th to close the game which it looks like he has, Carrasco may have been left in to bat previous inning as a there were no more pinch hitting options....as you say this has happened occasionally.
Who knows?
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Let's pretend that none of the above has occurred. The pitcher is not injured and the team had multiple pinch hitters left to hit.
It is not optimal for the AI to bat the pitcher in the 9th and then substitute the pitcher with a relief pitcher in the next half inning. The pitcher may well get beaned and hurt. He may hurt his leg running the bases. He may hurt his hand/arm/shoulder sliding into a base. Pitchers (especially ones capable of throwing a shutout thru 8 IP) are not put in harms way just 'for the heck of it.' I imagine anyone who follows baseball can agree with that statement.
Though, I can understand that you are searching for context, your conclusions of liking the AI to be unconventional" is an excuse and is exactly what I was attempting to explain is counter-productive to the process of improving the AI. I understand and even grant that all these things that you mentioned "might" have happened. But if the answer is the AI / sim engine is being "unconventional" ... well, it isn't just a one-off...bc it is part of the code. The AI is not actually "thinking," it is acting upon the coding. This means it happens more often (this is not a human making a one-off decision, its a computer reading code). Therefore, it is a coding issue and should be fixed.
But, immediatley assuming that the AI / sim engine produced this result due to the scenarios you listed is not the correct response. Rather, you should note it, and then watch for it in your game. If it happens in your game, as well, then there
is a problem and it
should to be reported because this is obviously peculiar activity by the AI / sim engine. And then, once it is reported by several people, Markus Heinsohn can then explain that, "yes, this is built into the game on purpose for this reason..." .... or he can say, "yes, this is a mistake and it should/can be fixed."
The point is not to argue between ourselves with, "well, it
does or
can happen" vs. "it
doesn't and
shouldn't happen," ...the point is... in programming/coding, assume there is fault, until proven otherwise - and I'm sure Mr. Heinsohn and his team can appreciate that, and that bringing this to his attention is a benefit to the product.