Edgy MD wrote: Ceetar wrote: The 5th and 6th are some of the highest scoring innings, period. The heart of the lineup lines up with the third time through penalty. Games are won and lost, and Mickey's saying "hey, maybe let's address that". It's really just common sense and not sticking to a starting pitcher just because tradition suggests he should get more innings. It's actually not common, and I actually wrote nothing about tradition. the tradition is hard baked into the rules as per the useless Win statistic. would you prefer logically sense? statistical sense? Run scoring is up, fresh relievers perform better than third time through starters, especially non-aces. Aim the pitchers best suited to getting outs at the best run scoring opportunities.