Osb vs plywood sheathing, plus installation question – GreenBuildingAdvisor

I am beginning to sheath my garage workshop with OSB and am second guessing my choice. OSB just seems so fragile. Plywood can get wet and be fine once it dries out, OSB gets damaged by one wetting, which could happen in one bout of driving rain before I manage to get it covered. 1/2″ plywood is over 3x the price of 7/16″ OSB, and even 3/8″ plywood is almost 2.5x. But in the grand scheme of things, a couple thousand dollars is small compared to the whole project budget.

The annoying thing is I already have the OSB, and it’s been too long to return it.

For the installation question, the walls are 10.5′ tall. Is it worth alternating the tall and short pieces every 4′ section? Like 8′ on botto, 2.5′ on top, then beside that 2.5′ on bottom and 8′ on top. Is that adding any strength and if so is it significant?