that is the question i have: why is it allowed that one team can decide the pitching order AFTER another team has announced the pitching order? wouldn't that give a significant strategic advantage to the team deciding later?
for example: team A has 4 pitchers a1 - a4, assuming their pitching skills as a1>a2>a3>a4; similarly, team B has 4 pitchers b1>b2>b3>b4.
let's also assume team A's pitchers are uniformly better than team B's, i.e., a1>b1>a2>b2>a3>b3>a4>b4.
let's further assume in every game, the team with better pitcher wins.
then, if both teams decide pitching orders without knowledge of each other, they will come up with a1 vs b1, a2 vs b2, etc. and it'll be a sweep for team A.
however, if team A has announced its pitiching order as a1 - a4, team B can then make its pitching order as b4, b1, b2, b3. and team B will win 3 -1, although they have inferior pitchers.
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