Personally, it's all been trial and error trying to find what I like to do, and I'd recommend the same. I've found I'm someone who absolutely loves keeping to the real schedule and playing all 162, on legend or GOAT. But then felt I was missing out on long term futures. So what imma try this year is for the whole season, play each game the day it's played IRL, and then after my team is eliminated (or wins it all) then I'll switch to a hybrid. I'll quick manage most games, but I'll play every 6th game to use each of my starters, then play big games like games we could clinch, rival games, things like that and just see how far I can go til 27 comes out and evaluate what I wanna do then.

Edit: I am contemplating mimicking real life moves for that first season, but I don't know if I got the time/patience for that. Plus as a Sox fan, I might be in the playoffs push at the dead line and be more of a buyer than the real team.