Quote:
Originally Posted by Donevyn
This is indeed a great thread and gives me an insight as to why fictional leagues are soooooo popular. I couldn't quite get my head around it completely, but this clarify's much.
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Most of my playing is done via historical replays. However, my only online league I'm in is fictional and I will occasionally start the big, fictional world with many leagues that takes forever to put together.
What I see in fictional leagues is that there is a completely blank slate. When you play historical, you generally know what you are going to get and when they are coming and, usually, about when they will leave the game. With fictional leagues, you get to see something completely new and you never know what direction these players will go.
Some examples:
I had a player in my online league named Manny "The Terminator" Nattes. He was a high draft pick and was a 5-tool prospect. He made his league debut at age 23, stealing 25 bases and hitting .298. He was mostly a top of the lineup hitter because his power hadn't fully developed yet. In his 3rd year, he hit .333 with 21 HR and 95 RBI as my franchise won their first league championship. A few years later, he hit .347 with 35 HR, 111 RBI and scored 129 runs. He was heading into the prime of his career with one of the top career batting averages. Then he got injured. It didn't seem too problematic, but before long he took a contact hit. Then another one. Then another one in quick succession. His season averages dropped from the .270s right after the injury to the .250s, then to the .230. He was still hitting with a lot of power, but in his last 4 seasons, he wasn't able hit above .236. His batting average of just .181 in his final year at age 35 wasn't enough, despite his power and speed and defense. He still retired with a .275 average, 305 HR and nearly 1,200 RBI along with 1,149 runs and 460 SB. Despite his problems in the 2nd half of his career he still ranks 34th all time in HR and 40th in RBI, 18th in SB. He was one that could have been the best all time in the league, but still turned out to be one of the franchise's all time greats.
There is also Dan King. Drafted in the 4th round, he developed into what looked to be a surefire ace starter. Then I put him in the rotation. He was rated at 4.5 stars and he was nearly fully developed. However, he just wasn't getting it done, at all. He would get shelled and walk everybody. From age 21 he kept going up and down from the starting rotation to AAA, back and forth because he wasn't getting it done. Finally, I could take no more of it. When he was 25 I put him in the bullpen and that's when the light went on for him. This season he's been dominating out of the bullpen. I am even thinking of possibly putting him back in the rotation to see if he has made the leap completely...
All these things are just complete unknowns, and you get wrapped up in the various storylines that unfold, from draft day to watching them develop in the minors to hopefully making the starting lineup with the big club. And then, of course, after a long career, the satisfaction of seeing the other GMs in your league vote your players into the Hall of Fame (my franchise has 2 Hall of Famers, hopefully Ed McGrath will one day be number 3).