< back

Fatigue & Resting Players

Baseball players generally suffer from two types of fatigue: day-to-day (short-term) fatigue, and the seasonal (long-term) fatigue.

  • Day-to-day fatigue

Day-to-day is a reflection of what happens when a player plays continually without a day off (either scheduled or by being rested). Generally, players recover relatively well when given a day or two off. Pitchers, depending on use, may need more than one or two days; it depends on how extensive they are utilized in the games prior to the day off. All players suffer some fatigue when they play, and all players rest with each day off.

Season fatigue

  • Season fatigue is a reflection of the wear-and-tear of the baseball season – traveling and playing the game. Season fatigue takes into account the overall durability of a player (i.e. Endurance) in determining how hard he can push himself before starting to suffer long-term adverse effects. A player with low endurance may find it harder to play at full strength if he's terribly overworked. A player with high endurance may be able to play nearly every day without adverse effect.
  • How Day-to-Day Fatigue Works

    Fatigue is a factor of a player's Endurance. Each player has a current and maximum endurance - when a player is fully rested these values will be the same, ex. 60/60. All players lose a similar number of Endurance points when playing, but a player with higher overall Endurance will fatigue proportionally more slowly than players with lower overall Endurance.

    Example:

    Player A: EN = 80/80 Fatigue = 100%
    Player B: EN = 40/40 Fatigue = 100%

    Both play a game and tire similar amounts

    Player A: 78/80 = 97.5% rested
    Player B: 38/40 = 95% rested

    As you can see, both players suffered the same endurance loss, but because Player A has a greater overall Endurance rating, the effective fatigue he suffers is less than the less-durable Player B.

    How quickly do players fatigue?

    Position player fatigue is based on how much playing time they have in a game. Designated hitters generally lose about 1/2 the fatigue of non-DHs and catchers generally lose about double the fatigue of other position players. In addition, a non-catcher playing catcher will suffer additional fatigue after each game. Pitchers lose fatigue points based on pitch count. Whereas players lose a little fatigue each day, pitchers may lose a lot of fatigue when they pitch, especially starters. As a result, pitchers need more rest to get back to fully rested.

    Pitchers lose fatigue points based on pitch count. Whereas players lose a little fatigue each day, pitchers may lose a lot of fatigue on any given day (especially starters). As a result, pitchers need more rest to get back to 100%.

    How quickly do players recover fatigue points?

    Each day off, a player recovers 1/3 of his maximum Endurance. So, a player with an Endurance of 60 would recover about 20 points of Endurance after a day off. As a result, any player - pitcher or position player – will generally return to their maximum endurance after three days of rest, 'provided their fatigue did not go below 0%'. In all cases, players do not suffer fatigue penalties until their fatigue falls below 50%. At 50%, players begin a steady decline in their ratings until 0%, where their ratings are reduced by 20% (10% for pitchers). Once a player’s endurance falls below 0% there is a more accelerated decline. Position players who reach -50% fatigue would be playing with their ratings reduced by 60% and there would be a 30% reduction for pitchers. All skills are effected by fatigue with the exception of EN and SY.

    How can I rest my players?

    There are a few ways keep your players rested, aside from manually adjusting lineups between games.

    • Platoon your players. Change up your vsR and vsL lineups – use RH hitters vs LHP and LH hitters vs RHP. About one in five starters are left-handed, so this is an easy way to rest players and maximize your righty/lefty matchups.
    • Set your team's manager settings to automatically substitute players when they are below a given fatigue threshold, set on the Manager page. Set the fatigue level for your players, and whenever a player is below the threshold, the computer manager will automatically substitute him, giving him a day off. Setting the slider more to the left will cause your manager to sit the player more quickly; moving it to the right will ensure they play as much as possible.
    • Players can rest in AAA. The advantage of this is that the player is not on the Active roster, thereby guaranteed not to play – which also ensures days off.

    How Season Fatigue works

    A full baseball season can take its toll on a player. Players have limits as to how much they can participate in a season before they start suffering long-term fatigue penalties

    How much a player can play is a factor of a player's Endurance. Players with the bare minimum Endurance (1) can play in about 50% of a team's games before suffering any sort of long-term penalties. Players with a high endurance (over 90) can play in nearly all of a team's games without issue. Season fatigue can set in early, or late in the season, depending on overuse of the player. The impact of the season fatigue depends on how overworked the player is and how long the player has been overworked.

    • Note – the exact level of season fatigue for a player is no longer visible as of June 2022 update, but it is still a part of the game.

    'Example:' Player C has an Endurance of 50, which allows him to play in about 75% of his team's games without any adverse effect. Twenty games into the season, he's played in all 20 games. This is over the 75% limit, but since it's only been 20 games, the impact will be small (if not non-existent). However, if the player continues the pace the impact of season fatigue can grow.

    You can offset season fatigue by resting a player to get him closer to his physical limits. If Player C from our example played 80 out of 80 games, he would be suffering some season fatigue, as he has played in 100% of his team's games halfway through the season (compared to his reasonable limit of 75%). However, if he played in 20 of his team's next 40 games, bringing him to 100 out of 120 games played, his season fatigue will go down.

    Season fatigue can be very small or very dramatic, depending on the Endurance of a player and how much he is overworked. Most players with reasonable endurance will be able to play in the majority of their team's games with minimal impact.

    Note: Each game at DH causes less potential season fatigue than when playing a position. Toggle your use of designated hitters to extend low-endurance players.

    Impact of season fatigue

    Whereas day-to-day fatigue reduces a player's current Endurance, season fatigue impacts two things:

    • A player's recovery rate during days of rest. If a player is suffering season fatigue, the amount of Endurance he recovers with a day off (normally 1/3 of a player's Endurance) will be reduced, based on the extensiveness of the season fatigue.

    • A player's maximum overall fatigue. A player who is suffering season fatigue would have his maximum Fatigue capped at a certain number. As a result, players may never be able to reach 100%

    Some specific details on season fatigue

    • An average position player is expected to play at least 120 games per year. The overall range is between 80 and 160 games per year.
    • An average pitcher is expected to start every fifth game (assuming a reasonable number of innings per start), or appear in about 60 games and/or pitch 60-100 innings in relief. Usage is based on both innings pitched and games, and balances usage based on pitching 6+ innings every 5 games (starters), pitching 2+ innings every 3 or 4 games (middle relievers), or pitching 1+ inning(s) every 2 to 3 games (setup men and closers).

    The formula for season fatigue is complex, but takes into account a player's usage as compared to how far into the season it is. Players can be used lightly at the beginning of the season and play hard at the end to avoid suffering season fatigue. Similarly, players can be rested at the end of the season to get themselves a little extra rest (and less season fatigue) before the playoffs.