According to Baseball-Reference.com, it's Mike Marshall back in 1974 who relieved 106 times for the LA Dodgers throwing 208 IP going 15-12.
Let's add in that he is the ONLY pitcher in the history of MLB to appear in 100+ games in a season. As for 2nd place, it's a tie with Pittsburgh's Kent Tekulve (1979) and Solomon Torres (2006) coming in 94 times. Sort of amazing that both Marshall and Tekulve hold six if the top nine slots for a single-season in RP appearances (at age 40, Tekulve appeared 90 times in 1987). Starting from the 10th highest to the 129th place (in the history mind u) … these players carry the 80's where the 130th person (till the 163rd person) on the list is tied with 79 appearances. Since 2013, only 12 pitchers have appeared a min of 79 times with Brad Hand topping out at 82 in 2017.
Inside the Wally Berger League (as an example) ... in it's archives,
This sort of goes back to the health department. In actual baseball, it's hard on the legs to run in from the bullpen. To appear in half the games in a season is super intense. For Marshall and Tekulve to do it over multiple seasons is quite a feat. Prior to 1964, no pitcher had ever appeared in more than 79 games in a season (two in '64).… More than 100 pitchers have appeared a minimum of 105 times with a player topping out at 137 (1974 by coincidence).
While SimD owners may want the super-Avatar players to be a machine, where is the equal ground for the sub-par team to face these super-Avatar bullpen machine freaks closing the door way above the norm of a pitcher being used? I would like to see a crash and burn for RPs to stop the abuse of riding a super-Avatar and rely on manager preferences more.
Let it be weird for the trial leagues, but come on with the crazy bullpen stats. Already, in mid-August, the WBL has four pitchers who has surpassed the 79 plateau of appearances (with a bunch more to follow) in comparison to LIVE ball. Perhaps, the endurance factor is the key. Making players less of the C and C+ ratings and a lot more D- and F endurance to fix the cause of so many appearances. Sheesh, ABE doesn't know leg power when it comes to pitching it seems. We hope to see a significant change for the sake of simulation baseball. Oh yeah, there are NO Hall of Famers on the list btw.
Click the link to see the list: https://www.baseball-reference.com/lead ... ason.shtml
Maze