Fatigue & Resting Players

Baseball players experience two types of fatigue: day-to-day (short-term) fatigue and seasonal (long-term) fatigue.

Day-to-day fatigue

Day-to-day fatigue occurs when players play without a day off.

  • Position players recover well after a day or two off, while pitchers may need more rest depending on their workload.
  • All players experience fatigue when they play, and they rest on their days off.
  • Each player has a current and maximum endurance.
  • When a player is fully rested, these values are the same.
  • All players lose current endurance points when they play, with higher endurance players fatiguing proportionally more slowly than players with lower endurance.

Seasonal fatigue

Seasonal fatigue is the overall wear-and-tear of the baseball season.

  • A player's endurance determines how much they can push themselves before experiencing adverse effects.
  • Players with high endurance can play almost every day without adverse effects, while players with low endurance cannot play as many games at full strength.
  • Season fatigue temporarily lowers a player's effective maximum fatigue level.
  • It increases the time it takes for a player to recover. Players with high season fatigue will recover less on a day off.
  • Resting a player can reduce or eliminate season fatigue and restore their maximum fatigue level.
  • If a player doesn't regain all their endurance as expected, they may be suffering from season fatigue.
  • Note: Using designated hitters (DH) causes less potential season fatigue than playing a position. Toggle your use of designated hitters to rest players with low endurance.

Tracking fatigue Status

Each player has a status that reflects how rested they are.

  • The status levels as players get more fatigued - Rested, Good, OK, Tired, Fatigued, and Exhausted.
  • Performance penalties, in the form of reduced effective ratings, begin when a player is tired and increase until they are exhausted.
  • Exhausted players will not start games, and pitchers will be removed from the game if possible.
  • All skills are subject to performance penalties when a player is tired, except for EN (endurance) and SY (synergy).

How quickly do players fatigue?

  • All position players fatigue when they play, with catchers fatiguing faster than players at other positions, and designated hitters fatiguing slower.
  • Pitchers fatigue based on their pitch count, losing about one point of endurance for every two pitches. For example, a pitcher with 50 endurance can throw 100 pitches before becoming exhausted and being taken out of the game if possible.

How quickly do players recover?

  • Players will recover current endurance at a rate of about 1/4 of their maximum endurance.
  • This recovery rate gradually decreases as players accumulate season fatigue.

How do I rest my players?

  • Manually adjust your roster to ensure how much a player plays.
  • Platoon your players by changing your lineups against right-handed (RHP) and left-handed (LHP) pitchers. Rest players by using right-handed hitters against left-handed pitchers and left-handed hitters against right-handed pitchers.
  • Set your manager settings to automatically substitute players when they fall below a certain fatigue threshold. Adjust the "rest player" sliders to rest players sooner when they are tired. Players can rest in AAA, where they are guaranteed not to play.

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