I have a longterm fictional league that I have been playing and moving forward since ootp 11 or 12. Put most of the time in on version 15 and have amassed 110 years worth of history. Due to "life stuff" I didn't play much between version 17 and 20.
Anyway, just recently got everything moved over/imported and all set up in ver 21. Played out 3 and a half seasons so far and each season the league offense gets noticeably worse. Across the previous 110 years of league history, the league ERA had varied from about 4.0 to 3.5 (it was already a slightly offensively depressed league). Since importing to ootp 21 I have recorded league ERA's of 3.42, 3.35, 3.29, and 3/4 of the way through my current season we sit at 3.21.
League batting average has followed the same trend -
the previous 110 years varied from .264 to .250.
Post import has seen league average decline .250, .248, .243, and currently sits at .239
It dropped from .263 in the last year I simmed in ootp 20 to .250 in the first year I simmed in ootp 21. Same league, same players, same teams, just one offseason apart.
Guess I should have run a bunch of long term tests to see what the outputs of the stats engine looked like before importing a league that I cared about, but If anybody here was on the beta team or knows how the engine was updated I'd love a heads up.
I'm guessing that the AI now places more emphasis on defensive ratings than it did previously? This seems to be pushing the AI into using worse hitting players while also suppressing offense at the same time.
Babip dropped to the low .270's for all the years played 21 vs. being around .295 for all the earlier years.
I do have a few league modifiers altered, slightly reduced number of hits, slightly reduced home runs etc... but nothing has been changed since before the league started over 100 years ago.
Anyway, not really sure what the point of this post is. It's a bit of a warning for people importing long term leagues, a bit of a question - hoping someone out there knows what changed behind the scenes (I don't see any means to alter how much weight the AI places on defensive ratings), and just a bit of a rant to get my frustration out.
I need a "juice the ball" modifier