This may be "cheating" in some tournaments where you're expected to fairly seed your players. But it's considered totally fine in sports like baseball. In a short playoff series, if you think the other team's starting pitcher is way better than yours, it's absolutely fine to sacrifice your #4 against the #1, then start your #1 against their #2, your #2 against their #3, and your #3 against their #4. The cost is that by pushing your best pitchers back a game, they may end up getting fewer starts.
The fix when it is considered cheating is pretty simple: let an impartial third party (like a referee) rather than than the coaches seed the players.
