When the Playing Time Limits feature is enabled, players will perform at full strength until they reach their playing time limit. When a player exceeds his limit, he immediately becomes a replacement level performer. This is true for all players, including those who are already rated to perform at less-than-replacement level. In other words, if in real-life a batter was 3 for 25 with no power, he will start to perform as a better player after he has reached his playing time limit.

During games where a team is under computer control, the computer manager will adjust its strategy to account for the performance level changes for players who have exceeded their limits. In other words, the computer manager will recognize when a player has a replacement level event table and avoid using him if appropriate. Keep in mind that if a player is listed for specific roles in the team's manager profile, that will influence how the computer manager handles him. For example, if a pitcher is listed as the number one closer in the team's pitching chart, he will still be considered the primary closer even after he has exceed his playing time limit.

It's important to note that a player's event table is not permanently altered when you use the playing time limits system. The adjustment to replacement level is applied before each game and before the standard adjustments for park factors, era and weather are applied. For this reason, you are able to activate or deactivate the playing time limits system or change any of the limit settings at any point during a season with no unexpected consequences.

NOTE: If a league has been assigned to an organization, the playing time limits of the organization are used to govern the limits for both leagues in that organization. In this case, those playing time limits are shown on this page but can be modified only through the Modify Organization window.

The playing time limits system is enabled by checking the Activate playing time limits box. Leave the box unchecked if you choose not to use the playing time limits system. In addition, you may enable or disable the individual limit options by checking the box associated with each limit. When a limit is enabled you will also be able to set the usage threshold as a percentage of playing time.

For the purposes of determining whether a player has exceeded his playing time limits, the player's real-life playing time is compared to his accumulated simulated playing time. For example, if the Total plate appearances option is enabled with a limit of 110%, a player with 500 real-life plate appearances will exceed his limit and begin to perform at replacement level once his simulated number of plate appearances is greater than 550 (500 plate appearances x 110%).

By clicking the Set Defaults button, you can restore all playing time limits to their default values.

Batters

For Batters, you may activate and set separate usage limits for Total plate appearances and Plate appearance splits. These settings may be used individually or in combination.

When a player exceeds his Total plate appearances limit, his batting performance will be adjusted to that of a replacement level batter with standard platoon splits.

When a player exceeds his Plate appearance splits limit for one platoon split, his batting performance will be adjusted to that of a replacement level batter for that platoon split only. In other words, a player who has reached his limit against left-handed pitchers will perform at replacement level against left-handed pitchers, but will continue to perform at his usual level against right-handed pitchers.

When it comes to determining replacement level for batters, all positions are not the same. Depending on the player's primary position his replacement level performance may be higher or lower than the overall average replacement level. Using the results of our extensive research, we are able to rank the relative offensive contribution of each position from highest to lowest as follows:

1B RF LF DH 3B CF 2B C SS

For example, the expected replacement level performance of a player whose primary position is first base will be higher than that of a player whose primary position is shortstop.

The batting limits apply to both batters and pitchers-as-batters, however, a player's pitching and fielding performance will NOT be affected by exceeding his batting limits.

Pitchers

For Pitchers, you may set usage limits for Innings pitched, Batters faced, or Games started. These settings may be used individually or in any combination.

When a player exceeds any one of these limits, his pitching performance will be adjusted to that of a replacement level pitcher. For example, if a pitcher has exceeded his Games started limit he will perform at replacement level whether he's used to start a game or in relief, even if he has not reached his Innings pitched or Batters faced limit. In addition, other than fatigue, which is not affected by playing time limits, replacement level for a starter is the same as replacement level for a reliever.

The pitching limits apply only to pitchers since non-pitchers are already rated to perform at a level that is considerably below replacement if they are used as pitchers.

Batting and fielding performance is NOT affected by exceeding the pitching limits.

Fielders

For Fielders, you may set usage limits for Fielding games by position. This limit is applied to each position individually.

When a player exceeds this limit at a particular position for which he is rated, his fielding rating at that position is removed. If the player is put in that position anyway, his performance will be governed by our standard adjustments for out-of-position players. In other words, a player who is rated at LF and RF who has exceeded his Fielding games by position limit at LF, will still be able to play RF without penalty until he also reaches his Fielding games by position limit for RF.

Post Season

For Post Season play, you may set the Pro-rating factor to adjust the playing time limits that will be used for each playoff round. This percentage works with the playing time limits for batters, pitchers and fielders by adjusting them to be applied once the pro-rated limit is reached. For example, when the Total plate appearances limit is set to 110%, a batter with 500 player appearances during the real-life, regular season will reach his limit after 550 plate appearances in your simulated regular season. If his team makes the post season, his playing time limits are reset. If the post season Pro-rating factor is set to 10%, the player would get 55 plate appearances for EACH round (550 plate appearances x 10%) before his playing time limit is exceeded.

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