Expansion, realignment, etc...

NotMuchTime · 06-19-2019, 12:53 PM

I thought I'd share what I've done and see what others have done, if anything. It's the beauty of OOTP, as you can do anything you want.

Here is what I did...

1) Sim'd thru 2019, no changes
2) I completely realigned minor leagues and added missing region information. Mostly it involved A-, rookie and DSL leagues. I planned ahead for 2 expansion teams. I had to move players from one team to another in many cases so the AI could decided who to keep. All MLB teams now have 1 each of AAA, AA, A+, A, A-, R and DSL. App and Pio leagues were moved to A-. GCL and AZL are the only Rookie leagues other than DSL.
3) I realigned MLB by Time Zone. There where 14 teams in the EST. I put 7 in the 'AL Atlantic'. This include both NY teams, Boston, Toronto, Baltimore, Washington and Philadelphia. This leaves room for Montreal. I put the remaining teams, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Atlanta, Tampa, Miami and Pittsburgh in the 'AL East'. This leaves room for Charlotte. I put the teams from the CST (and Colorado) in the 'NL West' and all 8 teams from the PST zone in the 'NL Pacific'.
4) I expanded the league, adding Montreal and Charlotte, after free agents filed.
5) I deleted their Minor league teams and added them where I had planned (OOTP should give the option to manually add them). I regenerated all schedules and playoff formats for the minor league teams.
6) I disabled DH.
7) I wrote a Linux/UNIX korn script to generate a custom schedule. It's based on 44 4 game sets. The season is 182 days long (2 MLB-wide off days). No inter-league and no wildcards. Each team plays 14 (4H/4A, 3H/3A) games within division and 8 (4H/4A) against non-division teams. Some division series are only 3 games (this adds the 'off days'). Off days are day 1 or day 4 of the 4 game span and never on a weekend. Start times consider travel days and weekends. All-star break is 4 days and game is always on Saturday.

It's a lot of work, but enjoyable.

I understand why MLB hasn't done much about expansion. If you want to preserve the current structure (AL/NL) and address travel issues, you are gong to have 4 team divisions. In fairness, teams should play close to half, or more, of their games against the division and that leads to 24-30 games against division opponents.

Fun game, ain't it?

Ty Cobb · 06-19-2019, 01:32 PM

I once, in 17, ran a league from the 50's until into the 00's. It ended up as a 64 team monster. It was a bizarre experience. Lack of funds for every team finally forced me to abandon the league. It was fiscal paralysis. But it sure was fun getting there.

mgom27 · 06-19-2019, 06:44 PM

Geographical is what you want.

cheo25 · 06-20-2019, 09:34 AM

Thanks for sharing this. At some point down the road, I will expand and I always struggle with how I will do it. So many possibilities and I like seeing what others do. Thanks!

06-19-2019, 12:53 PM	#1
NotMuchTime Minors (Double A) Join Date: Mar 2016 Posts: 150	Expansion, realignment, etc... I thought I'd share what I've done and see what others have done, if anything. It's the beauty of OOTP, as you can do anything you want. Here is what I did... 1) Sim'd thru 2019, no changes 2) I completely realigned minor leagues and added missing region information. Mostly it involved A-, rookie and DSL leagues. I planned ahead for 2 expansion teams. I had to move players from one team to another in many cases so the AI could decided who to keep. All MLB teams now have 1 each of AAA, AA, A+, A, A-, R and DSL. App and Pio leagues were moved to A-. GCL and AZL are the only Rookie leagues other than DSL. 3) I realigned MLB by Time Zone. There where 14 teams in the EST. I put 7 in the 'AL Atlantic'. This include both NY teams, Boston, Toronto, Baltimore, Washington and Philadelphia. This leaves room for Montreal. I put the remaining teams, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Atlanta, Tampa, Miami and Pittsburgh in the 'AL East'. This leaves room for Charlotte. I put the teams from the CST (and Colorado) in the 'NL West' and all 8 teams from the PST zone in the 'NL Pacific'. 4) I expanded the league, adding Montreal and Charlotte, after free agents filed. 5) I deleted their Minor league teams and added them where I had planned (OOTP should give the option to manually add them). I regenerated all schedules and playoff formats for the minor league teams. 6) I disabled DH. 7) I wrote a Linux/UNIX korn script to generate a custom schedule. It's based on 44 4 game sets. The season is 182 days long (2 MLB-wide off days). No inter-league and no wildcards. Each team plays 14 (4H/4A, 3H/3A) games within division and 8 (4H/4A) against non-division teams. Some division series are only 3 games (this adds the 'off days'). Off days are day 1 or day 4 of the 4 game span and never on a weekend. Start times consider travel days and weekends. All-star break is 4 days and game is always on Saturday. It's a lot of work, but enjoyable. I understand why MLB hasn't done much about expansion. If you want to preserve the current structure (AL/NL) and address travel issues, you are gong to have 4 team divisions. In fairness, teams should play close to half, or more, of their games against the division and that leads to 24-30 games against division opponents. Fun game, ain't it?

06-19-2019, 01:32 PM	#2
Ty Cobb Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Grayling, MI Posts: 4,623	I once, in 17, ran a league from the 50's until into the 00's. It ended up as a 64 team monster. It was a bizarre experience. Lack of funds for every team finally forced me to abandon the league. It was fiscal paralysis. But it sure was fun getting there. __________________ "You could not live with your own failure. Where did that bring you? Back to me." Thanos

06-19-2019, 06:44 PM	#3
mgom27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 3,535	Geographical is what you want. __________________ Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

06-20-2019, 09:34 AM	#4
cheo25 All Star Starter Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Louisiana Posts: 1,343	Thanks for sharing this. At some point down the road, I will expand and I always struggle with how I will do it. So many possibilities and I like seeing what others do. Thanks!