Dear SDS,

Despite all the haters this has been a really good year for the Show in my opinion. Yes there are issues with hitting especially, and since I do meter pitching it seems completely random -- sometimes you hang a curveball with perfect meter, sometimes the FB you miss completely winds up dotting the corner.

But there is a simple suggestion that I have for MLB 2021. Please, for the love of God, do not make an end game starting pitcher available at the beginning of the game. Especially one like Cory Kluber, who is just frustrating -- not overpowering, not interesting, just with juiced stats and three different fastballs who just entices 'good/okays' for no particular reason.

After talking on here about how excited I was for TA3 to diversify the pitching pool, today and tonight I played eight games between 700-850 and faced Kluber in seven of them. Of those seven I think I won five, so it's not that I'm griping because I lost. It's that I'm griping because facing Kluber, particularly on HOF, is just such a [censored] drag.

When I see that I'm facing Kluber, is my reaction "ooo, this will be cool" or "ooo, this is scary!," the way I feel when I see 97 Chapman. No, it's "ok, I'm going to get 2-4 runs and am going to have baserunners every inning, but for the most part I am going to square sinkers or be ahead of cutters and then get good/okays and hit into fly balls and double plays."

There is no surprise. There is no enjoyment. There is just the weak "yay" when the RNG gods deny Kluber's juiced H/9 stats on an inside sinker and it drops, and mostly just "ugh, whatever" when for the 10,000th time I strike out like twice in the game and mostly just hit weak liners and groundouts on balls I thought I squared up.

I've played about 280 RS games, which means that I've faced Kluber roughly 180 times because (I've started counting over the last 25 games or so) I face him -- at All-Star and at HOF level -- almost two-thirds of every game I play, either as a starter or late inning reliever.

It's just lame, guys. And it's no fun. And I'm hoping you drop some more juiced pitchers soon or I hope people start picking up some of the really good TA3 pitchers (note: Smoltz sucks, Orel good but overrated; Wood and Burnett are money).

Because what defines the experience of a game more than anything is the pitcher you're facing, and unlike in years past I know exactly what I am going to be doing for the next 30 minutes when I queue up a RS game: getting good/okays off Corey Kluber.

I'm bored, I'm gonna uninstall for a couple weeks and screw around with trying to learn guitar.

Maybe when I get back I'll get some variety when I play. But somehow I doubt it.

99 position players make fine rewards. You don't need to kill an entire year by putting a pitcher like Kluber in every game from the beginning.

(And no hate to Hal -- Hal is actually fun to face, because he's got good stuff and variety and is a challenge, unlike a boring frustration).

Fin.

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Garet_Jax82