Frequently asked questions

First it assigns every present player in every inning: on the field or on the bench. Its built-in fair-play baseline shares playing time and rotates positions. The controls marked changes future generated lineups add their own tie-breakers; the controls marked hand-edit check tell you what a manual card warning means.

On a hand-edited card, a strict rule shows a red issue and a best-effort guide shows an amber heads-up. Amber means the roster, available positions, or eligibility may make the ideal result impossible. The status inside each rule tells you whether that switch changes future generated lineups, checks hand edits, or is a readiness check.

At Fair play, the field is driven by rotation and the built-in safety rules. As you move toward Max, the competitive defensive controls can use player skill ratings to choose among already-fair fielding options. They normally do not change who sits. Best players never sit is the explicit exception: if you turn it on, it intentionally gives clearly higher-rated players more innings.

Sliding it up does not mean half your players stop rotating. It simply dials up how strongly skill ratings break ties among already-fair options. If defensive skills are blank, there is nothing to weigh, so fair rotation stays in charge.

In player-pitch games, Pitch speed is a small mound-only tie-breaker when Defense play-to-win is above Fair. It never overrides willingness, no-go positions, an owed pitching turn, a fresh available arm, your pitcher innings cap, or the no-back-to-back rule.

At Fair rotation, players who have batted later on average across past logged games are moved earlier. At Winningest, stronger rated bats move toward the top. Values in between blend those two goals.

The order leans most on contact, then power and discipline, with bunting ability, baseball IQ, and speed helping a little. Missing ratings are neutral, never a penalty.

The Skills screen totals each player 0-100 so you can compare at a glance. The multiplier is how much each skill counts toward that total, taken from the same fielding and hitting math the engine uses. The skills that decide the most plays - fielding grounders, catching fly balls, range, and arm strength on defense, and contact at the plate - count the most. Quieter skills like footwork, bunting, and base IQ count less.

Only the ratings you have filled in count; a blank is never held against a player, and intangibles never change a lineup - they are in the score only to round out the picture.

When batting skills are filled in, Rally momentum spreads the lowest-rated batting tier through the order so two weak bats are not placed back-to-back. It does not change fielding, playing time, or attendance. With too few rated hitters to form tiers, it has nothing to rearrange.

Game Day needs at least 8 players marked present, and your roster has to be at least as big as the field you set up (9 or 10 spots). If a few players are missing you can still generate a card with some open spots. If your whole roster is smaller than your field, lower the field size in Team settings to match your team.

There are only so many bench spots in a game, and they rarely divide evenly among your players. When they do not, some players sit exactly one more time than others - that one-inning gap is the fairest a real game allows. The tool always spreads the bench as evenly as the numbers permit, and never sits anyone twice before everyone has sat once.

• No consecutive sits: when there are many bench turns to hand out but few innings to spread them across, someone may have to sit two innings in a row.
• Fresh positions: a player needs enough allowed positions to fill every inning they field. Marking spots off-limits can force a repeat sooner.
• Everyone gets infield and outfield: in a very short game there may not be enough outfield turns for every player to get one.
• Balanced groups: there are more infield spots than outfield spots (pitcher and catcher count as infield), so time cannot be a perfect 50/50 split.
• No infield/outfield repeat: when the infield is bigger than the outfield, some players have to stay on the same side two innings in a row.

These are real limits of your roster and the number of innings, not a glitch.

In player-pitch games no pitcher can throw more than your innings cap (2 by default; set your own on the Rules board), and pitchers usually rest an inning between outings. So a full game needs a few willing pitchers to share the mound. A game longer than one inning normally needs at least two willing catchers whenever the catcher-break or catcher-recovery rule is on.

Pitcher warm-up and catcher recovery also need a bench after inning one. With no bench, they are mathematically impossible; the tool still makes the usable card and marks the missed guide amber. No-go choices can make either assignment impossible even when the headcount looks adequate.

A player is identified by their exact name, so a game logged under even a slightly different spelling - a typo, or an import from a differently-typed sheet - counts as a different person and splits their stats. The Roster screen flags a likely mismatch and offers a one-tap merge into the matching roster player. Keep each player under one consistent spelling.

No. Rules, sliders, and season tie-breakers affect future generated lineups. Saved game logs remain the record of what happened. Season fairness uses attended innings and never pays back a player for games they missed.

They are an optional Player Pitch tool for factoring recorded pitching workload into lineup decisions. Choose an official league profile or build a profile with only the limits your team follows, such as rest days, rolling pitch or inning limits, per-game limits, and appearances on the same day.

Workload rules depend on what actually happened and when it happened. The engine needs dated game records to calculate rest, rolling limits, and same-day appearances. A planned card alone cannot tell it how many pitches a player threw.

After every game, use Log to season. For reliable availability, also add official work completed for another team.

When logging a completed game, the workload section lists pitchers from the card. Enter the actual pitch count or innings for each player who pitched. If a different player took the mound, choose Different player pitched?, add that player, and enter their actual total.

The Season Log keeps the player name and their actual workload with that game.

Yes. Open the completed game in Season Log and choose Reopen this card on Game Day. The saved pitching rows and values come back for editing. Log the game again to update the same Season Log record rather than create a duplicate.

Enter the actual total from the completed game, even when it differs from the card or goes over a limit. Accurate history is more important than making the record look compliant. The engine can only assess the next game correctly when the previous record is truthful.

Use the official scorekeeper count. If a declared last batter caused the official recorded count to be lower than raw pitches thrown, enter both values and mark Declared last batter. The engine never guesses that adjustment.

For a suspended game, record each pitching segment on the date those pitches were actually thrown. This keeps rest and calendar-day limits tied to the correct day.

On the Rules tab, use Workload from another team to add their official game date and actual pitch or inning total. That record is included in the same workload timeline but remains separate from this team's Season Log.

The app marks availability as unconfirmed when a recent logged game has no actual workload inside the selected rule window. It does not invent a pitch count. Reopen that game and record the real total before relying on the workload result.

Yes. Give the coach-built profile a name when you save it, then use Export to download a clearly labelled JSON copy. It remains a coach-built profile, not an official league profile. The receiving coach must check it against their own current league or tournament rules before using it.

Each saved workload record keeps a coach-review snapshot of the selected profile version, ledger coverage, warnings, and calculated player availability. When the engine can calculate one, it shows the first date a player may pitch from the records entered so far.

These are coaching aids, not a league compliance certificate. Missing games, scorekeeper corrections, local rules, and live game facts can change the answer.

New lineups and hand edits stop considering recorded workload, rest days, pitch or inning limits, per-game limits, and same-day appearances. Your rule profile and entered Season Log history are kept so they are available if you turn the feature back on.

No. Confirm the exact rules for your organization, division, tournament, and date with the governing body. The app is a coaching aid that applies the profile and history you supply. It does not provide medical advice or replace official scorekeeping and coach judgment.