Quote:
Originally Posted by TomVeal
It's not clear to me how or why the reclassification of the Negro Major Leagues would affect players' ratings in OOTP. Nothing about the players or their abilities has changed. Aristotle said that even God can't alter the past. A fortiori, neither can Rob Manfred.
OOTP already, so far as I can discern, treats Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, Martin Dihigo, Cool Papa Bell and their peers as the superstars that they were. Some of the lesser lights were also good and, if allowed to, could have competed in the white-only Majors. On the other hand, lots of Negro League players were scrubs, fillers and never-will-be's. They shouldn't be boosted just because they are now officially Major Leaguers.
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Yeah, I don't think the decision by MLB will have any effect on player ratings in OOTP. Those ratings are based on the stats, and the stats won't suddenly get more accurate and comprehensive just because the commissioner waved his magic wand to make over a century of discrimination disappear.
That said, I think OOTP's ratings tend to hurt Negro League players simply because those players almost always played fewer league games than their white counterparts. OOTP will adjust ratings downward for players who didn't appear in a minimum number of games. That way, the benchwarmer who hit .415 in 15 games doesn't automatically run away with your league's batting title. The problem with the Negro Leagues is that, for some seasons, there may only be stats for 20 or 30 league games. So OOTP dings all of their ratings. That's not something that will be changed by MLB's latest pronouncement. It may, however, be something that OOTP's design team might want to consider when it comes up with ratings for those players.