Keep experimenting with settings. I guarantee you that you can find settings that result in a more challenging experience for you. You will never change the AI, but you can make it tougher on yourself. For example:
Don't use scouts or coaches - Levels the playing field and you can't give yourself a leg up on the AI by hiring the best of the best.
If there aren't enough players per team in the database turn off injuries and suspensions and turn position player fatigue up to high - The AI has enough problems with everyday roster management. There's no point in taxing it any further.
Turn off all ratings - Play stats only. This is even more relevant now that players in the amateur draft come with stats from HS or college, whether you use feeder leagues or not (OOTP vets please correct me if I'm wrong
- this game's complex enough without me leading the guy astray).
Switch from "Neutral" to "Favor Prospects" (along with low frequency and hard difficulty) in the Trading Preference field - You won't be able to pry away good cheap young talent as easily, which makes trades more challenging for you.
I'm not sure if it's still true, but the AI has been known to have a tough time with waiver logic. At the very least don't take advantage of this or seeing as you're still feeling your way around this game turn off the 40-man roster and go with a no limit reserve roster. Your minor leaguers will still develop. They just won't have stats - use the OSA scouting reports to help you figure out which guys are ready.
The idea behind all of this is to level the playing field so that you can't pilfer the AI. If you want to pilfer the AI and get a few 130 win championship seasons under your belt, by all means, go ahead. I can tell you that you'll eventually tire of this, although it sounds like you already are somewhat.
Do you really want a challenge? Overwrite all the first and last names in the master.csv database (backing it up elsewhere first), being sure to pull the historical database.odb out of the Stats folder first, also being sure to keep a copy of said .odb database elsewhere in case you want to go back to the way things were. Be sure to blank out other obvious tells like birth city, state and country, nickname and anything else that would give you an idea who the player is. You can re-visit things after you've played your game as far out as you want to, to see who was who and how they did. Of course you'd have to use FaceGen only with this setup, but I can assure you that if you use all or some of these options, you won't find it so easy to stomp the AI anymore.
