[Tiger Fan]

HOW TO ADD FICTIONAL LEAGUES TO YOUR HISTORICAL MLB WITH MINORS ENABLED
Last year I was asked if I could explain how I set up my league with minor league teams in the 1900-1930 range as the game does not add any additional leagues until the Federal League and Texas League begin in 1914 and 1919. In real life the Southern Association began play in 1892, the International League has played consistantly since 1912, the American Association can go back to 1902 and the Pacific Coast League traces back to 1903 so with plenty of players available I wanted leagues for them to play in. Here is an easy way to have those leagues appear in your game during those years or even earlier if you so desire.


Not only can you add those leagues earlier than the game does but with OOTP19 if done properly it will allow the league history from my created league to merge with the real PCL or Southern Association (or any other league for that matter) when OOTP19 automatically adds them in. It is also very easy to ensure you never have a fictional player pop up in your league.

There may be multiple ways to do this but here are the steps I follow.


MY OBJECTIVE- By 1901 I want my historical league to have a bunch of minor league teams. This will allow a large percentage of the real-life minor leaguers that get imported each year to have a place to play rather than just sit in the free agent pool (or retire) before the OOTP created minor league teams appear.

STEP 1 - LEAGUE SETUP. Since 1901 is my target for wanting all of these minor leagues running I create a new historical game with 1894 as my start year. Why? Because it will give the game a number of years to add minor league players. I could start in 1901 but would likely only have enough free agents to add 1 minor league each season so it might by 1905 or 06 before I add the number of leagues I want. There is, of course, nothing stopping you from choosing 1901 or going earlier than the 1894 season I selected. The only key is to make sure their are enough free agents available for a new league when you add it.

So having decided on 1894 I also check Import minor leaguers (ignore it says 1915+ as you will get them coming in right away). Finally, I decide to import complete history to 1894 (optional) and click next to load the players.

Once loaded I click to move to advanced mode:

STEP 2 - COMPLETE LEAGUE SETUP : Nothing essential for you to do here other than Enter Game Name. I choose Minors Tutorial for this game name. The only change I make to the default setup is I decide to disable the draft. It is a matter of personal preference but I like to see players in this era debuting with the team they really began their career with rather than a draft. It won't happen for everyone - for example Joe DiMaggio debuts not as a Yankee but as a San Francisco Seal of the PCL and can be signed by any MLB team. If you prefer you can leave the draft enabled.

You could make other changes if you like to your league such as the recalculate ratings options but I like to just leave things at the default and I am good to go. Click on start game and let it load.

Images below are of Step 1 and Step 2 screen