Independent Leagues
 

I am in the process of starting an Independent leagues in conjunction with the MLB. I was wondering, is there a way to include the Independent leagues to sign free agents that are in the MLB universe. I can only get it to be a fictional league. Thanks for any info.

Currently, even with OOTP X, the game does not understand or comprehend the concept of "independent leagues." The only way it's possible to remotely emulate them is by defining and tweaking the financials, and making them drastically different. For example, keep the default MLB financials, create a AA or AAA level fictional league (your independent league) and scale the financials WAY down. So you'll have a major league minimal salary of $400k versus an independent salary of $4k or whatever you choose. In theory, the games AI should make realistic and logical choices for players, however, it does not always happen that way. In my experience, a decent number of former MLB farm hands end up in the indie leagues, but my tests are further complicated with other international leagues that pay higher, and are more competetive. Definition and implementation of independent leagues is something surely needed and long overdue for OOTP.

I was actually able to get the league into the game while using current free agents. I have to go to the league setup after starting a new game an add the indie league then and make it either a winter or international league, then making the league an affliate of the MLB. The next thing you do is clear the indie leagues rosters. Now, my only problem is that I cannot sign a single player becuase under the financials screen, it shows there is no money what soever to deal with...anysuggestions?

If the league is affiliated with another league, it won't have its own financials, and it won't sign free agents.

Again, read my earlier post.

I've never had any big problems with indy leagues existing alongside other leagues, such as MLB and its affiliates. Generally the indy leagues are in smaller cities, or with smaller financial setups. They end up signing lesser players who don't demand as much money. Much like real life.

My universe has 40+ leagues, including the Majors, a third major league, all of the real affiliated minors, five or six fictional indy leagues, some winter leagues, and a bunch of foreign leagues. Except for Cuba, all of the other leagues sign each other's free agents, usually in ways that make sense. The Majors scoop up a lot of the best players, the 3rd major league gets its fair share, some 2nd-tier guys end up in Japan or Korea, and lower level players end up in the US indy leagues or other foreign leagues.

Your universe sounds like a lot of fun. I've never come close to getting that kind of detail in any of mine.

Sheesh, I can't imagine setting that up. Mind posting your set up? I'd like to give that a shot.

Okay, CBL, maybe you're the person who can help answer my question. My number one complaint is that there is no way to set the various leagues' financials to evolve consistently. Let's say you set your major league to import updated financials each year. Now, if you do the same with your independents, they will simply rise to the same level as your majors. If you don't have the independents import financial settings each year, they either revert to current financials (terrible if you're trying to model the past) or they don't change at all (in which case the majors leave them so far behind that they're no fun any more). Of course, you can have the game not automatically update any league (majors included), and then it's 1940, or 1980, or whatever, forever . . . financially speaking. How do you model financial evolution in your world?

I don't. I really don't do much historical play. So maybe I won't be much help.

My league began many, many years ago as just the Continental League. When OOTP started to support multi-league universes I took the best real life rosters for MLB, the affiliated minors, Japan, and maybe a couple other leagues, added my Continental League, and then the rest of the world was populated with fictional players.

I play essentially in real time, simming/playing one game day for each real calendar day. So I've really only played about 3-4 seasons/years with this full universe. And I just let the universe evolve as it will.

1. Major League Baseball
2. The Continental League

3-18. All MLB affiliated leagues down to Rookie Ball, but not including the Dominican Summer League or other Latin American summer leagues. (16 leagues)

19. Taiwan Professional Baseball League
20. Mexican League
21. Dominican Winter League
22. Puerto Rican Winter League
23. Venezuelan Winter League

24. The Atlantic Confederation (CBL AAA)
25. The Consolidated Freight CBL AA League
26. A Loose Affiliation of Teams (CBL S A)

27. Southern Maryland League (Ind - Fictional)
28. Timberline League (Ind - Fictional)
29. Far North League (Ind - Fictional)
30. Portland, OR Municipal League (Ind - Fictional)

31. [league redacted] League (Int)
32. Nippon Ni-Gun League (Int- AAA)

33. Korean Baseball Organization (Int)

34. Greenland Winter Ice Baseball League (WL - Fictional)
35. Greenland Winter League Rookie League (WL - Fictional)

36. Sao Tome Baseball Conglomeration (Int - Fictional)

37. Northern League (Ind)
38. American Association (Ind)
39. Canadian-American League (Ind)
40. Atlantic League (Ind)
41. Frontier League (Ind)
42. Golden League (Ind)

43. Australian Claxon Shield (Int)
44. Hoofdklasse (Int)
45. China Baseball League (Int)
46. Baseball Bundesliga (Int)
47. Italian Serie A (Int)
48. Cuban Baseball League (Int)

I can probably cut-and-paste the list of teams from a csv dump, but there has to be 400 or 500 of them, total. Not sure I've ever counted.

Thanks, I'mma give this a shot.

Well, after reading this, I know I am out of my league. I was just taking a shot of running a league that can use the free agents from the MLB universe. Were you able to achieve this or are all of your indie leagues completely fictional?

I populated the majors, the affiliated minors, Japan, and maybe one or two other leagues with real players circa 2006, and everything else was fictional.

But all the real players have since just gone about their careers. Some stayed in their first leagues, but many have moved to the Continental League, the indy leagues, foreign leagues, or whatever. So you'll see, oh I don't know, Alfonso Soriano in Japan. Or Dustin Pedroia playing for Yukon on the CBL. Or some fictional Mexican player now on the Indians.

What I'd really like to do is find a way to import the real MLB draft class to be my MLB draft class every year, so I have a constant infusion of some real players. But I haven't figured that out yet.

CBL, how do you play that? Are you in charge of one of the teams? Do you just watch?

How long would it take for you to sim a season if you just kicked it off?

That would be great if you could incorporate real MLB players every year. I guess the only way to do that would be to do a historical league. I think anyways.

I run the Yukon Prospectors of the Continental League. Sometimes, in the offseason, my alter-ego takes over a team in the Greenland Winter Ice Baseball League.

Don't know, never tried.

I think someone once told me there's a way to edit or import your draft pool. But I'm not sure anyone has come up with an importable full, real draft class, and I really don't have the time to try.

CBL, my question is...is there any way you can post your templates for us to try out. I would like to see what you are doing. Right now all I have is all of the Independent leagues thrown into one big gigantic league called "The Independent Baseball league", where you have multiple leagues.

Let me see what I can do...