Fictional league with all players who were on rosters during the 1994 strike, plus new?

Shroomshade · 04-12-2021, 10:05 PM

To clarify what I'm looking for, I want to start a fictional league in a world where the MLB disbanded following the 1994 strike. The league will begin play in 1995. I want the inaugural draft to include all players who were on rosters (or in the minors) at the end of the 1994 season. I also want the draft in subsequent years to match what it was in reality. If possible, I want to retain MLB service time.

Is there a way to set this up that is relatively straightforward? Any advice would be appreciated.

Shroomshade · 04-13-2021, 01:55 AM

I think I got this set up, but would love if someone could confirm if this will work:

- Created fictional league and selected to hold inaugural draft. Checked option to 'automatically import real historical rookies'

- Deleted the free agents from the draft pool

- Created a historical MLB league from 1995 with full minors

- Delete the historical MLB league and minors to release players into the free agent pool

- Hold inaugural draft

This seems like it works, but will the 'automatically import real historical rookies' work as I want it to, ie. will the 1995 draft pool have the same players as the historical 1995 pool, same with 1996, 1997, etc.? If not, how can I get the second part of this to work?

ovccsteve · 04-13-2021, 12:25 PM

Not an expert but someone who is doing a similar experiment, circa 1973. I tried a real league with real players, reorganized the teams and held an inaugural draft. Worked great for one year, but when it rolled to the next season all the teams reset to their original cites and names, but carried their new rosters with them. (My San Juan team moved back to being the New York Mets.)
From that limited experience, the Rookie Draft is composed of players who made their ML debuts that year, not players who entered the systems. My guess is you'll either end up with duplicates of all players who were in the minors in Year One then made their ML debut in year 2, or it may delete the duplicates.
If you can come up with a way to pull off what you're trying, I would LOVE to copy it.

Shroomshade · 04-13-2021, 01:07 PM

I actually think I might know how to get this to work. Might try it tonight or tomorrow but curious if you have luck if you try it as well. But TL;DR, actually set it up as a historical league bit convert it to a 'fictional league' by making changes:

- create a historical league starting in the desired year.

- set up the game as desired. Make sure to select option to use historic minor leagues and DISABLE automatic evolution of league (I think that setting is leading to your changes being reverted)

- release all players and hold an inaugural draft

- change league structure to the preferred co figurstion/rename teams

- recalculate schedule

I believe if the historical minor leagues option is set, players will appear in the draft the year they did in real life. The biggest pain I see here is that I would then need to recreate my minor leagues from scratch...but mayhe there is a way to streamline that. In my game i don't really care what cities/names the minor league teams have, i just don't want real ones, so maybe I just delete the minors and add new minor leagues after releasing players

Curious if you forsee any potential issues with this approach.

ovccsteve · 04-13-2021, 01:34 PM

Adding new minor leagues should work. They randomize everything for you.
One of the challenges I'm not sure how to deal with is that when it comes to drafting, I KNOW George Brett is going to be George Brett, Fred Lynn is ROY and MVP but too injury prone to make HOF, and Claudell Washington is going to peak at 20. I'm certain it's an unfair advantage but I don't know how to mitigate it without just letting the AI handle the draft each year.

Shroomshade · 04-13-2021, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ovccsteve

Adding new minor leagues should work. They randomize everything for you.
One of the challenges I'm not sure how to deal with is that when it comes to drafting, I KNOW George Brett is going to be George Brett, Fred Lynn is ROY and MVP but too injury prone to make HOF, and Claudell Washington is going to peak at 20. I'm certain it's an unfair advantage but I don't know how to mitigate it without just letting the AI handle the draft each year.

Maybe change the order so you pick last every draft round? You'll still have some semblance of advantage but that might help mitigate it some.

Shroomshade · 04-13-2021, 06:33 PM

I think this works. I simmer a couple seasons to the draft and it looks right*, th initial player pool is good, etc.

* from what I gather, using historical minors causes players to appear in the draft the first year they played in the minors, not necessarily the year they were drafted. Vernon Wells therefore shows up in the 1998 draft, not the 1997 draft, for instance. This is good enough for me so I'm going to roll with it--i think getting 100% accurate draft classes would require an outside import for each draft.

04-12-2021, 10:05 PM	#1
Shroomshade Bat Boy Join Date: Apr 2021 Posts: 9	Fictional league with all players who were on rosters during the 1994 strike, plus new? To clarify what I'm looking for, I want to start a fictional league in a world where the MLB disbanded following the 1994 strike. The league will begin play in 1995. I want the inaugural draft to include all players who were on rosters (or in the minors) at the end of the 1994 season. I also want the draft in subsequent years to match what it was in reality. If possible, I want to retain MLB service time. Is there a way to set this up that is relatively straightforward? Any advice would be appreciated.

04-13-2021, 06:33 PM	#7
Shroomshade Bat Boy Join Date: Apr 2021 Posts: 9	I think this works. I simmer a couple seasons to the draft and it looks right, th initial player pool is good, etc. from what I gather, using historical minors causes players to appear in the draft the first year they played in the minors, not necessarily the year they were drafted. Vernon Wells therefore shows up in the 1998 draft, not the 1997 draft, for instance. This is good enough for me so I'm going to roll with it--i think getting 100% accurate draft classes would require an outside import for each draft. Last edited by Shroomshade; 04-13-2021 at 09:45 PM.

04-13-2021, 01:55 AM	#2
Shroomshade Bat Boy Join Date: Apr 2021 Posts: 9	I think I got this set up, but would love if someone could confirm if this will work: - Created fictional league and selected to hold inaugural draft. Checked option to 'automatically import real historical rookies' - Deleted the free agents from the draft pool - Created a historical MLB league from 1995 with full minors - Delete the historical MLB league and minors to release players into the free agent pool - Hold inaugural draft This seems like it works, but will the 'automatically import real historical rookies' work as I want it to, ie. will the 1995 draft pool have the same players as the historical 1995 pool, same with 1996, 1997, etc.? If not, how can I get the second part of this to work?

04-13-2021, 12:25 PM	#3
ovccsteve All Star Reserve Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Sanford, NC Posts: 571	Not an expert but someone who is doing a similar experiment, circa 1973. I tried a real league with real players, reorganized the teams and held an inaugural draft. Worked great for one year, but when it rolled to the next season all the teams reset to their original cites and names, but carried their new rosters with them. (My San Juan team moved back to being the New York Mets.) From that limited experience, the Rookie Draft is composed of players who made their ML debuts that year, not players who entered the systems. My guess is you'll either end up with duplicates of all players who were in the minors in Year One then made their ML debut in year 2, or it may delete the duplicates. If you can come up with a way to pull off what you're trying, I would LOVE to copy it.

04-13-2021, 01:07 PM	#4
Shroomshade Bat Boy Join Date: Apr 2021 Posts: 9	I actually think I might know how to get this to work. Might try it tonight or tomorrow but curious if you have luck if you try it as well. But TL;DR, actually set it up as a historical league bit convert it to a 'fictional league' by making changes: - create a historical league starting in the desired year. - set up the game as desired. Make sure to select option to use historic minor leagues and DISABLE automatic evolution of league (I think that setting is leading to your changes being reverted) - release all players and hold an inaugural draft - change league structure to the preferred co figurstion/rename teams - recalculate schedule I believe if the historical minor leagues option is set, players will appear in the draft the year they did in real life. The biggest pain I see here is that I would then need to recreate my minor leagues from scratch...but mayhe there is a way to streamline that. In my game i don't really care what cities/names the minor league teams have, i just don't want real ones, so maybe I just delete the minors and add new minor leagues after releasing players Curious if you forsee any potential issues with this approach.

04-13-2021, 01:34 PM	#5
ovccsteve All Star Reserve Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Sanford, NC Posts: 571	Adding new minor leagues should work. They randomize everything for you. One of the challenges I'm not sure how to deal with is that when it comes to drafting, I KNOW George Brett is going to be George Brett, Fred Lynn is ROY and MVP but too injury prone to make HOF, and Claudell Washington is going to peak at 20. I'm certain it's an unfair advantage but I don't know how to mitigate it without just letting the AI handle the draft each year.