BWB Primer #3 - Batting Order Tips

The BWB Primer is a series of commentaries to provide rule interpretations and hints - something a bit more than you get out of the rules. See the Primer Index for the entire series.

There's a page on the web site that's probably not worth reproducing in whole here that gives some basic tips on setting your lineup. Check it out here. The page was written many years ago, but for the most part still holds up.

But, here are some things of note taken from the page:

• Hard numbers generally mean more than averages. For example, one part of our scoring formula is based on the number of hits and total bases in the game, not a players BA or Slg Pct.
• In order to be used in a BWB game, your bench players also need to play in real life. If you can get an MLB starter as a BWB bench player, that's valuable.
• "Minor Leaguers" in BWB can be any player making 250 or less. You can put cheap MLB players there who can fill in roster holes for you later on without needing to resort to free agency/trades.
• Multi-position eligibility is valuable for Bench Players.
• Since the DH is your first fielding substitute, multi-position eligibility is also good. For example - if you have 2 guys to put into OF and DH, if one of those guys also plays 1B, he is the probably the better DH candidate.

Build your batting order like you would in real life - top guys for runs and getting on base at the top of your order, weak guys at the bottom, probably your best overall hitter at #3.

Don't forget our new sample score page that will let you experiment with different lineups and see how that affects your hitting score.