If you did not see the announcement surrounding the warmup timer, its a very big deal that can drastically affect your lineup. Each time you play a card there is now a period of 60 seconds that you will have to wait for the player to be active. Today’s tip is about knowing which cards to play and when to play them.

Pitchers

As it stands right now, most of the top players in the game are playing as many pitchers as possible. The reason, as I have mentioned before is that pitchers are the top scoring cards in the game, and they rarely score negatively unless they get lit up. If you wonder why so many trades are coming in for your pitchers, that’s why.

Its also very easy to prepare for their active time on the field, because you can either start them and forget about it until they are pulled from the game, or you can switch them in when their team is on defense. Both are very easy to get them active, even with the warmup timer.

For reference, I am running about 7-9 pitchers at a time right now, as it is proving to be the best way to get points.

Hitters

If you dont have enough pitchers to fill out your starting lineup, that’s okay too. There are a lot of ways for hitters to score as well.

The easiest players to run with are infielders, because if you leave them in the whole game, they should get some point from defense. If you are playing offense only, the first and third baseman are usually power hitters with good potential for HR.

Because of the warmup timer, hitters will need to be switched in as soon as you know it is going to be worth it to play them, maybe as soon as you see their turn in the lineup is coming and there are runners on base. Be careful, as you will likely be stuck with the outcome from the at bat, even if it is negative.

As much as I want it to be different, hitters are not the prime focus this year as of right now. That may change as Topps adjusts the gameplay as the season goes on.