Dear All-Knowing Rotoman,
In an 11 team, 25 player (15 batters/ 10 pitchers), standard 5 x 5 league that allows DAILY TRANSACTIONS, and free agent sinings are unlimited — what is the recommended cap for maximum innings pitched?
I’ve never played in a league that has a pitching cap. The problem is usually the opposite one: Teams going for too many relievers. But in a 5×5 league there is definitely an argument for going with starters, especially in a mixed league with daily transactions.
If you and your league-mates feel you need a cap, I would suggest a number of starts, rather than a number of innings. You shouldn’t be penalized for having starters who pitch late into games. I know that in many leagues the starts are capped at 180. I can’t really think of a reason why you wouldn’t want to cap them 162.
If you insist upon innings, I suppose the place to look is the ML team totals last year, which would be somewhere around 1,450 innings.