Tanking is the practice of losing as many games as possible during the regular season in a quest to get the highest possible draft picks.
Tanking requires fielding a team so poor it cannot reasonably compete with other teams.
To avoid tanking penalties a team's MAJ roster must meet the following criteria:
All pitchers on the major league roster must have a CO rating of 80+
All pitchers on the major league roster must have a BP rating of 85+
All hitters on the major league roster must have a CH rating of 80+
At least 6 pitchers on the major league roster must have a CO rating of 86+
At least 6 pitchers on the major league roster must have a BP rating of 90+
At least 4 hitters on the major league roster must have a CH rating of 85+
The average CO rating of all pitchers on the major league roster must be 88+
The average BP rating of all pitchers on the major league roster must be 90+
The average CH rating of all hitters on the major league roster must be 84+
If your team is at risk of being penalized for tanking, you will see an alert in your roster page. The alert is ginormous, and explains exactly what you need to fix.
After any game in which a team is determined to be tanking, their following 10 home games will draw very low attendance, costing them roughly 95-98% of normal revenue over those 10 home games.
An owner's reputation is decreased for each game played in which a tanking roster is used. A lower owner reputation leads to lower attendance at games, and a more difficult time signing or extending players.
While tanking may have grown popular in real life after the Houston Astros used extreme tanking for years to improve their draft picks, it is generally frowned upon as a bad-faith management tactic.
In MLB, HOU's tanking scheme led to construction of a team that has seen regular season dominance for several years. In 4040 baseball, results will differ as follows: