[NoOne]

i create leagues conducive to a balanced schedule with ~162 games. This year i am using real players again... and doing my best to ignore my neuroticism about the transition to fictional players, lol.

I also make my own schedules and typically thin out any real-world minor league system so that i can reduce the # of rounds in the draft to something more manageable. i'd much rather do 19-24 than ~35 rounds even if i let the AI pick once the options become a commodity.

recently i'm doing a 10/10 (20T) league with 162games. each team playes each other 9H/9A and all have the same days off etc. there is still a reduced financial stratification, but think of a mostly stock MLB setup. it increases the proportion with which player talent and gm/manager decisions affect things by removing noise.

i've done 156g 14/14 (28T) leagues before too. usually with fictional players, but i've started by editting a real-world setup on occasion in the past. i've even imported fictional players from a 50year old league using playerIDs of a real-world setup to avoid the problems of initial leagues - which is less of a problem now than ever before. it's not worth the effort to do that anymore, imo.

basicaly i remove the stuff that i perceive as fluff... tv considerations and the like. i also don't pretend the game does anythign it doesn't - e.g. travel is not a factor. so, i don't worry too much when making my customized schedule. i try to make it as much about the games played and gm/manager decisiosn and less about outside things... That being said, somethings are meant to be a random and unfair (not equal among teams) effect, like injuries. if it's actually part of playing baseball and modelled in the game i generally use it. Although, i never use owner goals and i am becoming iffy about personality and morale (this year i've begun not using morale..still unsure). i do like the full coaching system, though... (i rationalize looking at ratings of my "top" choices for coaching/scouting positions etc)