Power Pros Forum

I'm not sure if this strategy works yet, I just thought of it in the middle of a game against the Mets, so I haven't played a full game with this strategy....

Obviously, making your opposing pitcher throw lots of pitches will make them tired, right? So here's my strategy:

When you come up to bat, set your batter to "Big Swing" in case he gets a chance to hit a homer. Let the opposing pitcher just throw pitches until he gets two strikes, then go back to normal swing and just swing at everything whether you foul off pitches, strikeout, or put it in play. The reason for having it on "Big Swing" at first is in case the pitcher accidentally throws one directly down the middle in which case you are totally prepared to crush it out of the park.

I tried that strategy but it ended up backfiring a bit. I think It was more my fault than anything. When I was trying to take more pitches, I found myself getting lazy and waiting on mistakes that never came. Instead of going after hittable pitches that weren't mistakes, I took them and then had to hack at borderline pitches that resulted in pop ups and ground outs. I didn't put too many runs across the board because of it.

Do you have a better strategy I can try? Because lately the opposing pitchers have been going deeper into the game than mine and it's irritating me. Plus, I'm not putting very many runs on the board lately, I used to be winning 7-0, 9-0, but now I'm winning 2-0, 3-1, very low scoring games.

Unfortunately, I don't really have much of a strategy. What i do do is take a bunch of pitches early in the game, work the count full with my first couple hitters If I can. I also try to make sure I make them throw at least 10 pitches an inning. A lot of pitchers will tire after 70 or so pitches. Usually if you can put up some runs, like 4 or 5 early, they wont last that long. If you can freak out a pitcher by getting a bunch of consecutive hits, his stuff diminishes and they eventually take him out.

What I do is hammer the ball early on. If he gives up 5 runs by the 3rd inning he should be out of the game.

well I have the strike zone turned off so I strike-out more but after alot of practice I memorized the strike zone (like Ted Williams ) and allowed pitches that are balls go by and time my swing so I would foul off or get lob shots so after the 4th inning i usually have the CPU at about 75-85 pitches

Well I began using this strategy and it TOTALLY works! You guys should try it. I got 5 runs off Bronson Arroyo of the Reds and he only lasted 4 2/3 innings. I ended up winning the game 1-8. Plus, players on my team who don't often hit home runs went yard.

Hits drain more stamina than taking pitches. If you hit a pitcher hard and force him to work out of jams, he'll run out of gas earlier.

EXACTLY!

Try to hit aggressively and get a lot of hits in a row. Don't let the pitcher get a chance to breathe. If you let him throw pitches between hits, he gets a chance to "shake it off". I think it only takes a few hits in a row (swinging on the first pitch) to make just about any pitcher start breathing heavily and maybe 4-5 hits before they start seeing stars. When this happens, it's rally time!

Of course, the harder the difficulty level you're playing, the harder it is to do, naturally.

Well when you are more patient and don't swing at the first pitch or two, you obviously do much better. I tried a new stratagy out that worked very well to get a full count. Every pitch, pretend that you are going to bunt. The pitcher will throw a lot more balls. Even with two strikes continue to "bunt" but be ready to hack off any pitches or take any good ones. I get hits much more often as the infield is commonly in and the pitcher is more likely to give up a bad pitch. If you do this for everyone in the line up, the pitchers will get tired by the 5th and start throwing mistakes. It gets to the bull-pen much faster which is generally a very good thing for the majority of teams.

Well, I don't need any strategy in my season, because the Cardinals(the only close team at 2 games back, we've been switching back and forth between 1st and 2nd place the whole season) bring in pitchers that are already dead tired, it's just some stupid managing by the CPU, they will bring someone in and they will be wiping their forehead(what they do when they start to get tired) then after one batter they are breathing heavily(when a pitcher is just completely done). I'm not sure why they do this, but they bring in starting pitchers that pitched in the previous day or two, has anyone else seen this?

I love watching the angry ones stomp around all red in the face after a few hits/homers

Lol, I have Rich Harden and he has hot head, and I sometimes get into jams and he is always stomping around on the mound, it's pretty funny...until they score a couple runs.

I've never seen it with a team as good as the Cardinals. I'll see it with perennial cellar dwellers like KC. That usually only happens after someone slaughters them for a series and the exhaust their bullpen. It could take weeks for a team to get over that.

I guess it will take a couple weeks because I've played them in 2 3 game series in a span of 1 and 1/2 weeks and they've been tired both times.