Saved Lineups

You may create up to six saved lineups in a team's manager profile. Each lineup is tagged with two indicators so the computer manager knows when to use the lineup:

• whether to use it against left- or right-handed pitchers

• whether to use it in DH games or non-DH games

Whenever you play (or autoplay) a game with the computer manager handling this team, the computer manager searches the list of six saved lineups and selects the first one that matches the opposing pitcher and DH rule for that game.

If you plan to manage the team yourself, you can choose to load any of the six saved lineups at the beginning of the game.

One way to use the additional saved lineups is in leagues. If you have a five game road series coming up, you can define a saved lineup and depth chart for each game, and tell the home manager to use these five lineups in the series. The home manager would set your team's manager for Starting lineups to Human (leaving all other manager options set to Computer) and make all of the pregame lineup selections. The computer manager would then makes in-game substitutions and tactical decisions. See Managers: Human or Computer for more details.

You select who plays each defensive position and the batting order. If necessary due to injuries, fatigue, or the desire to give a spot starter his share of playing time, the computer manager adjusts the starting lineup and batting order. When adjusting the batting order, the computer manager moves the newly-inserted players up or down in the order based on their ability, but preserves your saved batting order as much as possible.

Depth charts

Each saved lineup goes hand-in-hand with its depth chart. The depth chart identifies the roles assigned to all players who are not already in the starting lineup. Whenever you make a change to a saved lineup, it's a good idea to see if the starter you just replaced should be assigned one or more roles in the accompanying depth chart.

Usage modes

Sometimes the computer manager chooses to use a spot starter in place of the players who is listed in the saved lineup. See the depth chart topic for a description of these usage modes and how they affect the computer manager's decisions about spot starts.

TIP: If you want the computer manager to use your saved lineups exactly as they are in the manager profile, make sure you have chosen the Game by game usage mode and that none of the utility players in the accompanying depth charts have spot start percentages greater than zero. With those settings, the computer manager will replace a starter only when he is injured.

Adjusting the batting order

Whenever the computer manager is unable to use the saved lineup as-is because of injuries or spot starts, it may make adjustments to the batting order. Its main goal when making these adjustments is to preserve your saved lineup as much as possible.

If, for example, your #7 hitter is out with an injury, the computer manager won't change the order of the top six hitters in the lineup. If, however, your #3 hitter is hurt, and his replacement is a much weaker offensive player, the computer manager will shift the replacement to a lower spot in the batting order and put another player in the #3 spot. This type of adjustment may also involve moving a couple of other players around.