Crazy early years strike out totals.
 

Been fiddling around with a random debut replay from 1871. Got to the 1876 season and it seems all hell has broken lose with the pitchers. Now I get it, the early years were weird and OOTP does its best to do what it can to allow us to play those years. But wow, this is the craziest thing I have ever seen.

Hardie Henderson, playing for the Baltimore Orioles, went on a rampage and struck out 839 batters in 57 games. He had a 34-22 record and allowed 255 hits in 511.0 ip

But thats not all, meanwhile in the National League:

Allie Reynolds, for the Chicago White Stockings, also struck 829 batters, having a pitched 522.0, compling a 36-20 record, allowing 239 hits.

WOW, I thought this was a bit over the top, it was interesting, there was one game, that I believe Reynolds struck 30, winning 6-2 allowing 9 hits. I dont keep box scores so I cant give more details, but this is some insane stuff.

Anyone have similar examples?

Love this game

This happens. It is simply how the dynamics of the random debut feature interacts with structure of the game engine.

At this point in your league's development, you have relatively few pitchers in their prime and lots of pitchers taking roster spots simply because they can throw the ball from the mound. The pitchers that are quality pitchers are so much better than the rest of the field that you get these results. That you are starting in the 1870s exacerbates the numeric output due to the historical modifiers.

As your league's players that have been added via the amateur draft mature, you will get a balance of talent (probably in your next season).

The attached clip is from my current random debut league I am logging on this board for my HOF thread. I started this league in 1973 and am using historical modifiers. The single season pitching records from the first 5 years are standing, and will stand, until the completion of the league.

There are work arounds. One is to have extra teams in your initial draft and delete those teams after the draft. The drawback to this is that you will be burning through players, and getting more noteworthy players debuting past their primes.

Another is to have your amateur draft mid season, or even prior to the preseason, but this impacts the historical aspect of the individual players as well as the financial engine. These are not game breaking effects, but when you pull on one part of the spider web, the rest of it changes shape.

Since you are already 5 years in, I wouldn't change the settings of your league to correct this, as it will self correct, very shortly, perhaps for your 1877 season. If not in 1877, it certainly will within the next couple of years.

Thanks for the thoughts. Upon looking at the league again, the year before was not quite as intense but the next year, both pitches mentioned became more realistic. Reynolds led the league again but his strike out total was cut nearly in half, and his hits nearly doubled. The win totals are still crazy, one guy getting 60 starts is weird, but it comes with the territory. I love this game and these little jaunts to madness are expected. I am beginning to think that it isnt really worth it to go back that far, it just messes up the realism in the end.

Interesting. :ohmy::p

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/4010/64491863.jpg

Here is Henderson from my league. :laugh:

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/7411/henderson.jpg

It looks like you have the random debut option. That is probably the reason for the inflated numbers. I believe it takes away from the realism if you use the real guys that way. But to each his own, its your game play it the way you want to.

I actually find the results plausible in the unrealistic environment that is created. If we grant that when baseball is first founded, there isn't a whole lot of knowledge and experience amongst players. Therefore, guys that have seen nothing better than good college pitching run into a player with ML All Star ability once every two weeks are going to get dominated by those players with that ability.

As more players enter the league and more pitchers learn the craft, similarly, the hitters become more familiar with the craftiness of the pitchers, and these numbers even out across the league's staffs. Even with these eye-popping individual numbers, the league totals hold true to the environment selected.

There are work arounds, as I mentioned previously, that will alleviate this skewing of individual numbers early in a random debut league, but they do come at some cost.

For me, I choose to accept the individual pitching performances in the early years of a league knowing that balance will come in about 5 years time.

Yep, sounds like that is what you have to do in the end, is accept it. Which is fine with me, the work arounds are just too much.

One of the things that irks me tho is the difference in how one pitcher will do on a team that is computer run and how they are used on a human controlled team.

But that is again, one of the things you have to deal with. From the sounds of it, the new stuff in 14, the ability to block repeat trades, the, hopeful improvement, in how lineups and rotations are used and the changed developmental things will make 14 the best game ever.

Mo options, mo better!

I have finally decided to forgo the early early years and start a historical sim starting in 1901, allowing players to go to the real teams and make it my Pirates dynasty, Being from a place about half way between Pittsburgh and Cleveland, I get to root for two of the weakest franchises in baseball, yay, lol. Some day before I die, maybe, they will be in a world series together, maybe only in my OOTP World, lol.

While these are extreme. Hendersons career high is 346 in 439 IP 1884
Allie reynolds is way off.
Did you neutralize stats? what are your settings?

when I imported the teams, set everything based on real stats, entire career. Developement is by ootp engine, no recalc. other than that, everything is default I think.