British and Irish Baseball - Making Another Attempt

[as5680]

This is a reboot of a British and Irish league system that I made a start on several years ago in OOTP16 but which ground to a halt because I wasn’t happy with how it was developing. I decided to expand the number of leagues and teams and try to build them into league pyramids over time – many of the teams are the same as in the original save but with a few name changes, and plenty of new teams added.

I first tried the new setup last year in OOTP20, but stopped that save after I discovered that many of my college players were being deleted despite having the option not to delete players who didn’t reach the majors selected. In this version, the college leagues have been designated as ‘major’ in the game to prevent this, but given much lower sabermetric PCMs. I have also had one attempt at in OOTP21, which ended because I reconsidered the way I wanted the leagues to develop. This time I’m planning to make a quickstart each year so I can easily go back to the start of any given season. I back up much more regularly than that in case of crashes. I should be able to play through the first twelve seasons reasonably quickly because that is how far I got in the previous save, so all the team information and uniforms/logos etc. are ready to go.

The universe is based on the premise that the game had been brought to London shortly after the formation of the NABBP in 1857. Numerous clubs then formed in London and by 1865, six of them formed the first organised competition - the Metropolitan Baseball League. The league is named after London's local government authority of the time, the Metropolitan Board of Works. That league is the only one in the game at the start, others will be added - initially 2-3 small leagues per year - once a few years have passed.

[as5680]

This is the boring post – with all the explanations of my starting points for the league and the rules that I have decided to set for myself.

- I have tried to make player names as realistic as possible by creating name sets for England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

- I have also amended the world database for these countries by placing all the towns in 'states' using the traditional counties of the UK and Ireland as they existed in 1865.

- To begin with, there are no players from outside the UK and Ireland. Indeed, there are no other countries in the game. I plan to gradually add other countries, initially the USA and the old 'dominions' of the British Empire as would have existed at the time.

- I don't plan to follow the real-life development of the game in terms of strategy. I have used 1871 strategy settings and will initially leave the stats settings unchanged. Player creation modifiers are changed marginally each year after 1875 with the intention of reflecting the modern day 1.000 across all fields by 2025 (although to get there would take me a very long time!).

- The only change to the strategy settings was to set a 2-man rotation with teams always starting the highest rested pitcher. This was because I wanted a 1-man rotation but didn’t want teams whose starter got injured to collapse, as had happened in the initial incarnation of this set-up.

- I don't intend to have leagues playing 'every day'. Initially, there will be one game per week, on Saturdays. This is partly because the league will initially be amateur, with no financials. Leagues will gradually turn professional and midweek games will be added but even then there will probably be no more than three games per week.

- I will often not keep to the format of 'Place name/Nickname' for team names, especially in the early years. This will cause a few difficulties with the news stories in the game but that is not a major problem

- Regions will be used to ensure that most of the initial players come from the geographical area where the league is based, at least in its early days.

- I will also use coloured jerseys rather than white or grey, although away jerseys will usually be white.

- I will not manage a team, but rather just develop and plan the league.

- Teams will initially be allowed 20 players on their active roster, with an unlimited reserve roster and no secondary roster.

- Trading will initially be disabled, and then gradually introduced as the leagues develop.

- The starting format of the Metropolitan League will be a 30 game season, each team playing six games against each of the other five, beginning in late March and ending in mid-October. There will be no play-offs, unless a tie-breaker game is needed. Future leagues will follow a similar length season as long as they remain amateur.

- There will be no ‘injured list’ as such, although it is set to one day in order to lead the AI to remove the injured player from the active roster and bring up a replacement.

- There will be no minor leagues, all leagues will have the same status ('Major League') although they will have varying league reputations. The Metropolitan League starts with a reputation of 0 in its first season.

- There is no inaugural draft or amateur draft, at the start of the league teams are filled with fictional players, having a number on their reserve roster (in addition to the 20-man active roster) allocated based on the population of the town/city they came from (at the correct point in history). New free agents will add to the pool each year.

- For college leagues, where teams lose players due to age restrictions, the free agent pool will be increased by five times the number of teams each year (i.e. 40 players in an eight team league). Every fifth year, that number will be doubled to ten per team. These players will be created at 75% development.

- Sabermetric PCMs are .800 for new leagues. They increase by .05 each preseason until reaching 1.000 ahead of the fifth year. For college leagues, the starting point is .550 and the annual increase is .025 to reach a final figure of .650.

- New teams in existing leagues are created with sabermetric PCMs set to .800 rather than the league’s current value. For college leagues, all sabermetric PCMs are set to .550 for new teams. New teams (including all teams in new leagues) have fan interest set at 50 with 0 modifier, loyalty 5 and market size default 5. For tournament teams these values are all left at zero.

- Stadium size is initially based roughly on population size and should be between 2 and 3 times the initial attendance baseline, then will increase if a certain percentage of capacity has been filled in recent seasons. No stadium may increase beyond double the size of the smallest in its league, however.

- Once PCMs start to change after 1875, players for new teams, including all teams for new leagues, are always created using settings five years behind the current date. Settings are then changed to the current year after free agent creation.

- For new leagues, coaches are created as required and their birthplaces adjusted for realism. Coaches for new teams in an existing league are automatically generated during team creation. Otherwise, the game will keep the personnel pool topped up and I will only create additional coaches if there is a shortage.

- Storylines, owner goals and suspensions are turned off.

[as5680]

1865 SEASON

NEW LEAGUE: METROPOLITAN BASEBALL LEAGUE
The line-up for the Metropolitan Baseball League's inaugural 1865 season:

ANGEL ISLINGTON
Ballpark: Almeida Street; Jersey Colour: Sky Blue
The club was founded by patrons of the 'Angel' inn on Islington High Street. With not many open spaces in Islington, the club managed to find an area just large enough for a home field on a site surrounded by houses just off Almeida Street.

CITY OF LONDON CLUB
Ballpark: Artillery Ground; Jersey Colour: Red
The oldest club in London and in its early days, often known as simply 'The Club’. Also the only club to carry the name of London itself. Despite its name, the club plays a few hundred yards outside the historic boundaries of the City of London at the 'Artillery Ground'.

CLAPHAM COMMON
Ballpark: Clapham Common; Jersey Colour: Royal Blue
The only one of the six clubs to play south of the River Thames. Formed when some members of the City of London Club moved out to the new suburbs of south London, forming their own club to play at the eastern end of Clapham Common.

KENSINGTON VICTORIA
Ballpark: Queen's Gate; Jersey Colour: Purple
The Kensington club plays a short distance from Kensington Palace and Gardens, and the land on which its ballpark is built is alongside Queen's Gate, a major route leading to the gardens. It was therefore no surprise that members chose to name the club after Queen Victoria.

OLD WESTMINSTERS
Ballpark: Vincent Square; Jersey Colour: Pink
The only one of the founding clubs to originate from a school, being formed by ex-pupils of the Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, commonly known as simply 'Westminster School'. The club was allowed to play on the School's playing fields at Vincent Square.

THE REGENT’S PARK
Ballpark: Regent's Park; Jersey Colour: Red and Yellow
Formed by a number of members of the Marylebone Cricket Club who preferred the game of baseball, the new club was given permission to use an area of the southern end of Regent's Park for their games. This led to the club becoming commonly known as 'the Regents'.

LOGOS AND UNIFORMS:
Top Row (L-R): Angel Islington, City of London Club, Clapham Common
Bottom Row (L-R): Kensington Victoria, Old Westminsters, The Regent's Park


MAP OF TEAM LOCATIONS:

[Sizeman21]

I loved your original British and Irish Baseball dynasty report on the forums. I missed it alot. Glad to see you are attempting this large scale project again. Will be following with great interest!

[as5680]

Originally Posted by Sizeman21

I loved your original British and Irish Baseball dynasty report on the forums. I missed it alot. Glad to see you are attempting this large scale project again. Will be following with great interest!

Thanks - this version is even more ambitious than the original but I'm determined to stick with it this time! Probably with updates at the end of each month of the season.

[as5680]

1865 SEASON PREVIEW

Six teams are ready to do battle across thirty weeks of play, each facing the other five on six occasions, three on each team’s ground. With no past history on which to base predictions however, nobody can really be sure what to expect when the games get underway.

Many people are predicting that The Regent’s Park might be the team to beat, as they look strong on both sides of the game. Their first choice pitcher Mark Howe looks to be one of the best in the league, while with the bat, second baseman Josiah Summers is one of the more talented players around. Clapham Common and Angel Islington could be the chief rivals for the Regents, although Clapham’s hitting and Angel’s pitching may prove to be the weaknesses which cost them dear. Of the other teams, it is the Old Westminsters who appear as though they may be the weakest, although the oldest of all English teams, the City of London Club, may find the going tough as well as they have the look of a team which will struggle to score enough runs.

Pre-Season Predictions:
The Regent's Park 18-12
Angel Islington 16-14
Clapham Common 16-14
Kensington Victoria 15-15
City of London Club 14-16
Old Westminsters 13-17

[as5680]

MONTHLY ROUND-UP: MARCH 1865

There's very little news to report at the end of March with only one round of games having been played, but those games were the first in the history of the Metropolitan League so they are well worth mentioning.

The first run to be scored in the new league came at Angel Islington, but it was the visiting City of London Club who scored it. With a runner at second base and two out in the second inning, a base hit from left fielder Henry Clarke gave the City Club a lead which they never relinquished. Further runs in the fourth and fifth extended the advantage to 3-0, while Angel could only respond with one in the sixth as the City Club took a 3-1 victory.

There was also a strong start from the visiting team at The Regent’s Park, as the Regents failed to live up to their status as pre-season favourites. Clapham scored three in the third inning and they too held the advantage throughout, scoring two more in the seventh and going on to take the victory by a score of 6-1. The game at Kensington was hard fought and remained scoreless until the sixth inning. The home team found the first run there and added one more in each of the seventh and eighth, to defeat the Old Westminsters 3-0.

After one game then we can say that Clapham, Kensington and the City Club share the lead in the standings with one win each, but there is still a very long way to go in this season. With five Saturdays in April this year, by the time we reach the end of that month the picture will really be starting to take shape as the season will have reached the one-fifth mark.

[as5680]

MONTHLY ROUND-UP: APRIL 1865

Every team has now played six games in the Metropolitan League's inaugural season, and against many expectations it is Clapham Common leading the way. Having won their first three games, Clapham suffered a first defeat at the hands of the Old Westminsters but recovered to end the month with two wins and sit on five victories and just one defeat. They lead the standings but only by a fraction as the Old Westminsters sit on four wins, having achieved victories in every game they played in April. Their visit to Angel was postponed because of the poor state of Angel’s home field, and the two teams will attempt to make up the game the next time the Westminsters are due to visit Angel in June.

Angel are another team in fine form, as having lost their first two games they have responded by winning the next three. Kensington’s form is going the other way, as they won their first two but have now lost four successive games to sit in the lower half of the standings. They are level with the City of London Club, while to the surprise of many it is The Regent’s Park who sit in last place. The Regents were well backed to have a good season and indeed they have score more runs than any other team in the league so far, but their pitching is unexpectedly poor meaning that they have managed just one victory from their six games.

[as5680]

MONTHLY ROUND-UP: MAY 1865


The end of May brings the Metropolitan League season to the one-third mark with the Old Westminsters now leading the way, despite beginning the month with a defeat to The Regent’s Park. The Westminsters won their remaining three games in May, including a 6-1 victory over previous pacesetters Clapham which moved them into first place. Clapham remain just a fraction behind, as both they and the Westminsters have seven wins to their name, Clapham having lost one more.

Angel Islington looked to be mounting a strong challenge after victory over Clapham to begin their May schedule, but they were beaten both by the Westminsters and a resurgent Regents team. Strongly fancied at the start of the year, The Regent’s Park entered May with just one win from six games but were victorious in all four of their contests this month, as pitcher Mark Howe finally found his form with two complete game shutouts.

The season is shaping up to be one of struggle for both Kensington and the City of London Club, as the only game won by either this month was Kensington’s success when the two met one another. Indeed, the City Club have now been defeated in their last six games and sit alone in last place, with only two wins to their name from ten games.

[as5680]

MONTHLY ROUND-UP: JUNE 1865

With one week remaining until the season reaches its halfway point, The Regent's Park have produced an incredible turnaround and now share first place in the Metropolitan League, after a second successive month without defeat. The Regents won all four games in June, including narrow wins over Clapham and the Old Westminsters and an overwhelming 10-1 victory against Kensington. They share first place with the Westminsters, who ended the month by edging out Clapham 1-0 to drop the early season leaders one game behind in the standings.

Clapham have now lost their last two games, as have Angel Islington who sit on an even seven wins and seven defeats. They shared the day with the Old Westminsters when the two met in the league’s first double match-up, to make up the game postponed earlier in the year. Angel took the first game of the two, but the Westminsters responded to win the second.

At the bottom of the standings, the City of London Club won consecutive games against Kensington and Clapham to move level with Kensington in a tie for last, but ended the month one game behind again after a narrow loss to the Regents. It still appears that any one of four teams could take the inaugural championship, and by the end of July the season will be well into its second half and we should have a much clearer idea of where the championship trophy may be going come October.

[as5680]

MONTHLY ROUND-UP: JULY 1865

Despite beginning the month of July with two successive defeats, the Old Westminsters end the month in first place in the Metropolitan League standings, aided by a dramatic victory over The Regent’s Park in a game which took seventeen innings to find a winner. Indeed, that was the second time in the month that the Regents had suffered defeat in a very long game, having already fallen to Angel in nineteen innings.

Despite those two defeats, the Regents sit just a fraction behind in second place having ended the month with two victories. Clapham’s challenge suffered a setback as they ended the month with successive defeats, the second in a hugely important game against the Westminsters. Angel’s hopes as despite beating the Regents to begin the month they went on to lose their other four games in July.

The City of London Club enjoyed a much better month despite ending with defeat to the Regents, as by that point they had already won their previous four games. That was enough to move the City Club out of last place in the standings, as they now sit one game ahead of a Kensington team who they defeated comprehensively, by a score of 9-2, when they met one another.

[as5680]

MONTHLY ROUND-UP: AUGUST 1865

August has ended just as it begun with the Old Westminsters a fraction ahead of The Regent’s Park in the Metropolitan League standings, but it did not look that way midway through the month. With the Westminsters losing their first two games and the Regents winning theirs, it was the Regents who appeared to be taking control, only to suffer a crucial defeat when the two teams met. The Regents led the game 2-0, but a late turnaround gave the Westminsters a 6-2 victory. When they won their next game as well and saw the Regents lose to Kensington, the Westminsters had back their narrow advantage.

It appears that one of those two teams will be the inaugural champions, as Clapham were beaten in each of their last three games in August to drop back to an even record of eleven wins and eleven defeats. They are now only narrowly ahead of the City of London Club, who recorded another fine month with three victories from four games and moved ahead of Angel Islington, who are enduring a poor second half to the year.

Angel are now only one game ahead of Kensington at the bottom of the standings, as Kensington enjoyed surprise victories over both the Old Westminsters and The Regent’s Park. With five Saturdays in September this year, we should have a clear idea of who the league’s first champions will be come the end of the month, as each team should have just two games remaining by that point. Indeed, the Regents have six to play in September as there is a postponed game against Clapham to catch up when the teams play twice in a day.

[as5680]

MONTHLY ROUND-UP: SEPTEMBER 1865

The Metropolitan League’s inaugural season is set for a remarkable finish as the Old Westminsters and The Regent’s Park sit tied at the top of the standings with three games each to play. When the Regents were beaten by Angel it appeared as though their challenge may be fading, but they responded by winning both games against Clapham to close to just a single game behind the Westminsters ahead of the final meeting between the two this year. That game was postponed however, and has been rescheduled for the Saturday following the intended end of the season.

The race took another turn as September ended, when the Westminsters were beaten by Angel and the Regents edged a close game against Kensington, to leave both teams on seventeen wins and ten defeats for the year. Should both record identical results in their next two games, the championship will be decided by that final rearranged game between them.

The other four teams all have losing records for the year and look set to stay that way, but currently it is Angel and the City of London Club who share third place. That is because Clapham lost five games out of six in September to fall into fifth position, their excellent start to the year and apparent championship bid now a very distant memory. They may yet finish last, as they sit only a single game ahead of a Kensington team who they meet in the final game of the year.

[as5680]

MONTHLY ROUND-UP: OCTOBER 1865

The Old Westminsters are the inaugural champions of the Metropolitan League after a thrilling end to the year which saw them win their rescheduled game at The Regent’s Park 4-1 to claim the crown. When the Regents opened October by losing out to the City of London Club, they left the Westminsters having only to beat the City Club themselves to be champions, but they lost a late lead in that game and the Regents beat Angel to draw level again. In the final, decisive game however, the Westminsters scored two in the opening inning and were never caught. The Regents can be proud of the fight they made, but will no doubt rue the fact that they one just one of their first six games at the beginning of the year.

Those two teams finish well clear of the rest of the pack, as the City Club’s wins over the two championship contenders left them as the only other team who were able even to post an even record. They finished in third place, with Angel’s defeat to the Regents in their final game denying them the chance to end on an even fifteen wins and fifteen defeats.

There was a tie for last place, as Kensington scored twice late on to edge out Clapham by a score of 2-1 in the final game of their season. That drew them level with their opponents on twelve wins, as Clapham lost their last six games of the year and ten of their final eleven, having seemed to be set to challenge for the title through the first half of the season.

The league’s first season may be considered a great success, and there is sure to be great excitement ahead of the second campaign in 1866. Before then, the clubs are due to meet next week to vote on which players will receive special awards for their performances this year.

[as5680]

SEASON ROUND-UP: 1865

The Old Westminsters may have won the championship by a single game ahead of The Regent’s Park, but when time came for the players to vote on which of their peers had performed the best over the year the two teams shared the major prizes between them.

The award for Best Player went to Edwin Sutcliffe of the Regents, deserved acclaim having posted a wonderful .376 batting average, easily the best in the league. Best Pitcher was a close vote between the Westminsters’ James Smith and the Regents’ Mark Howe, with Smith narrowly victorious. Just as the Regents’ poor start to the year as a team may be said to have cost them the championship, Howe’s own poor start undoubtedly cost him the award. The award for Best Manager also went to the Westminsters, with Nicholas Close the winner.

Looking ahead to the 1866 season, the league will run with exactly the same format as it did this year, but Clapham will have a different man in charge as following their poor second half to the season, it was decided that Horace Wheeler would leave his position. His replacement is Ellis Elliott. Next year's campaign is scheduled to begin on 24 March and end on 13 October, unless postponements should lead to an extension being required as was the case this year.

LEADERS:
Batting Average: Edwin Sutcliffe (RP) - .376
Home Runs: Howard Taylor (ANG) - 2
Runs Batted In: Josiah Summers (RP) - 17
Stolen Bases: Ralph Baker (OW)/Vincent Speight (ANG) - 10
Earned Run Average: James Smith (OW) - 2.10
Pitching Wins: Mark Howe (RP) - 17
Strikeouts: James Smith (OW) - 165

[drambrosini]

Originally Posted by Sizeman21

I loved your original British and Irish Baseball dynasty report on the forums. I missed it alot. Glad to see you are attempting this large scale project again. Will be following with great interest!

I second that

[HumanRainDelay]

You have done a great job in adding context and depth to this league. The map showing proximity of teams was a super idea.

I do find it humorous that the teams with the worst uniforms (Old Westminsters sporting the hot pink and The Regent's Park with their Ronald McDonald costumes) are atop the rankings.

I guess fashion and performance are unrelated in OOTP.

[dward1]

excellent!

[as5680]

Thanks all - unfortunately I fear this save may be dead already. Since I updated to the final patch, the game is behaving very differently from how it did previously in terms of postponed and suspended games, in a way that severely damages the realism for me. I may have to restart in OOTP XX or wait for 22 if I can't resolve this.

--------------

EDIT: Figured out the pattern for this - I need to use real-time simulation to play the games, OOTP seems to be handling this differently if I just sim through the season. I don't want to have a game where one season is different to every other though, and for realism I want more postponements, so unfortunately I'm going to have to start this again. Apologies to The Regent's Park who lose a hard-won title, but they're not the first team it's happened to in one of my saves!

[as5680]

Originally Posted by HumanRainDelay

You have done a great job in adding context and depth to this league. The map showing proximity of teams was a super idea.

I do find it humorous that the teams with the worst uniforms (Old Westminsters sporting the hot pink and The Regent's Park with their Ronald McDonald costumes) are atop the rankings.

I guess fashion and performance are unrelated in OOTP.

Some of the uniforms in all my leagues for this universe are awful by design - to add realism, especially in the 19th century setting. So many football/soccer teams in Victorian England played in terrible or (to modern eyes) downright bizarre outfits!