[sreem]

How I play, almost exclusively.
1) Sim through first season of an MLB Quickstart
2) Release all players/coaches on Astros & Marlins (cause I just don't care for those teams, sorry)
3) Expand league by 2, one in each league
4) Remove Houston & Miami from the game
5) Remove all minor league teams created for my expansion teams
6) Assign the unaffiliated minor leage teams left from removing Miami and Houston to my expansion teams
7) Customize playoffs (this will get auto changed when you expand, and you have to reset it if you want to keep current postseason setup)
8) Make all coaches on expansion teams free agents
9) Do any neccisary editing to my expansion teams (owner profile, colors, logos, parks, etc.)
10) Retire #42 on both expansion teams

I then pick one and take it over. This gives me a very HIGH level of immersion, as I am forced to fill all levels of minors, both players and coaches. It allows me to be in complete control from the birth of my team. I do this all on the first day of the offseason, the expansion draft gets auto scheduled for a few days after free agency starts.

As a side note, I usually always make my owner a 10 in patience, to ensure a long leash as we go through the first few years of build our club. I'm sure there are things I missed but this is the basic system I follow, in the process of setting up my new game in 17 now using this way. If you have questions just ask and I'd be happy to share!