With the season just about to begin (and the fact
that I can't wait for the season to start I'll ramble on about anything baseball) I thought I would put in my 2 cents on statistical accuracy.

Most leagues are 20 team, some 24, so all leagues have better than average players with the bottom of the barrel as FA's or on the farm. This would mean all players face slightly better than average opponents, thus stats slightly worse than in real life.

We also know that hitters can be platooned because we know their OPS before the season starts so we know their advantages and disadvantages. Thus hitters will have a slight advantage due to this. We can also put relief pitchers into this category half the time - when at home. A manager can insure that his relievers are being used at appropriate times - facing a lefty or righty that best fits his OPS. Thus a good manager can platoon his relievers.

Starting pitchers can't be used this way. They pitch for 6 innings against a lineup that has been tailored to hit the daylights out of him. IF he is great vs one side, most likely the lineup he faces will be hitters from the other side of the plate.

This leaves us with the following modifications:

Hitters & relievers:
......20 team league - hitting will be down
..........platooning - hitting will be up
..............Result - effects may cancel out.
Starting pitchers
......20 team league - pitching will be down
..........platooning - pitching will be down
..............Result - pitching will be worse.

This means that we will see more accurate results of our hitters and relievers (and I'm talking over 15-25 leagues worth of stats) while starting pitchers stats should be worse (I'd guess 15%).

I'd love others opinions. Good luck to all.

Ken G