Lineups

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Hi,

How much do you look at lineup balance when putting together a team? Would you go with a team of say 6 or 7 right hand hitters or do you always try to go with a 5/4 split of lefty and righty hitters?

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[MARCPELLETIER]

All depends on how your opponents will react.

If you go with an extreme stadium, say Minute Maid (3-16), I would try to go with as much as 8 powerful right-handed hitters. Yeah, up to 8. BUT it's not worth to go with 8 rh if you have rh with few or no homerun ballparks. For example, if you have missed on the homerun kings at ss and planned to rely on, say, Crosby (4 BP vs lhp, 1 BP vs rhp, for an average of 1.9 BP), I would highly recommend to drop Crosby and rely instead on a weak left-handed or switch hitters.

Then I would wait until the season's beginning. If you see your divisional opponents load their team of one or two right-handed killers, then I woud go down to 6 right-handed hitters. If they don't move, then I wouldn't hesitate to stick with 8 or 9 right-handed hitters and take full advantage of your stadium.

This reasoning and example holds for extreme stadiums. If you go with a stadium that slightly gives an edge to rhp (say Cadmen, 8-11), then I wouldn't recommend to go with 8 players. I don't think it is worth in such stadiums to expose yourself to right-handed killers.