I agree that this experiment was totally within the rules of PB and in the short term it proved to be effective. But, I wouldn't call it legitimate.

How often do you see a MLB playoff team send their whole starting rotation to the pen for a playoff series?

Two of those relievers only started one game, the other only started 3 games. Why should a reliever not get down-graded because of one start? Who's to say he didn't get hammered in that one game he started and otherwise built up a superb record as a reliever.

In MLB there are plenty of pitchers who began their career as below average starters and have gone on to become great relievers. These are also the types of guys that get called on to start the odd game in a pinch.

In a PB playoff series, guys like that become ace starters. If you quietly acquire a few of them during the regular season you can really ambush someone in the playoffs.

I don't consider this a huge problem, but it is a tad unrealistic. I'm not one who is overly concerned with the realism factor, but for those that like the sim to be as real as possible, I can see how they would be concerned with this. Maybe relievers should have a few more starts under their belt before they perform without a downgrade.

A more radical approach: Give all relievers the ability to start without a down-grade after their third or fourth PB start of the season (even if they haven't started a game in the corresponding MLB season) thus giving us the opportunity to convert pitchers from relievers to starters on our own. Pitchers who are converted during the regular season would have to be re-converted for the playoffs but with maybe only one or two starts instead of three or four.

Having to eat up a substantial portion of a relief pitcher's usage limit with this "conditioning" process would be a strong deterrent against this practice and thus it would only be done out of desperation, as it is usually done in MLB. If a MLB reliever is truly inserted into the rotation for a good stretch, he will accumulate enough innings to make the conversion worthwhile for a PB manager to consider.

But then again, with the way the offence is dominating in PB already, why make it harder to field good pitchers. If anything we need something to cool the offense a bit. Status quo is also fine with me, I'll always used my players the way I think I can get the most out of them regardless of whether or not it is realistic.