When will the "Modern Times" era change??

[jpeters1734]

Currently in OOTP, "modern times" is 2005 and beyond. I would argue that the start of the modern times era should really coincide with the start of the Statcast era, 2015, or even once teams really started adjusting to the data, so 2016. Home run rates and strikeout rates have steadily increased, starting pitcher hooks have all greatly decreased since then. Baseball from 2005- 2014/15 looks VERY different than baseball currently.

[Emdy]

Yeah, it's a little thing, but I definitely agree. Especially the hooks, I clearly remember when starters regularly went 7 IP and that seems like an increasing rarity nowadays. Jordan Montgomery had a shutout through 6 the other night and the Cards pulled him between innings at like 90 pitches. Truly a different time.

[kidd_05_u2]

And what would changing the name of the era accomplish?

If what you want to change are the PCMs, then read through the following thread for an explanation of why it isn't necessary:
https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...d.php?t=346389

If your comment is about stats output and strategy settings, then those are already very different if you compare the stats and strategy the game loads for 2005 and 2023, right?

[jcard]

This, particularly as it pertains to player generation, leaves open questions, however.

1. Why were the eras included in the first place, if apparently the (convenient) current argument is that they really don’t matter?

2. Even if league-wide totals are unaffected, is it also true that distributions, particular player profile performances, etc., are equally satisfactory? Sure, OOTP can pretty much nail the expected OPS with Madoff-esque precision. This, however, can just be a product of the centripetal role of LTMs in the game engine. To make an extreme analogy, I can in no time design a game where the league average winning percentage is always .500. That hardly means the individual teams are accurately represented.

Honestly, a couple of years ago I would have been much more likely to take at face value the official line that these matters can be ignored at no penalty to accuracy. At this point, however, this claim seems of a piece with a general complacency.

[Matt Arnold]

The in-game eras are largely symbolic. The various modifiers will sometime change with the start of a new era when you are playing historical, but they're not limited to adjust to follow that. They're mostly there just as a way to break down the entire history into more manageable chunks without resorting to simply listing things out decade by decade.

Other than the deadball era, which also includes the 1800s game, the modern era is now listed as the second longest era. Is it time to break it into 2 pieces? I've definitely thought in the last couple years that's something that we should start to think about.

[jpeters1734]

Originally Posted by kidd_05_u2

And what would changing the name of the era accomplish?

Chill. We know that it doesn’t actually affect anything in game. We’re allowed to have conversations about very minor things in the game.

Originally Posted by jcard

This, particularly as it pertains to player generation, leaves open questions, however.

1. Why were the eras included in the first place, if apparently the (convenient) current argument is that they really don’t matter?

2. Even if league-wide totals are unaffected, is it also true that distributions, particular player profile performances, etc., are equally satisfactory? Sure, OOTP can pretty much nail the expected OPS with Madoff-esque precision. This, however, can just be a product of the centripetal role of LTMs in the game engine. To make an extreme analogy, I can in no time design a game where the league average winning percentage is always .500. That hardly means the individual teams are accurately represented.

Honestly, a couple of years ago I would have been much more likely to take at face value the official line that these matters can be ignored at no penalty to accuracy. At this point, however, this claim seems of a piece with a general complacency.

The era’s are just a way to group historical years. They don’t have any other significance

[jcard]

I was addressing the potential problems related to PCMs and LTMs. I am well aware that purely nominal decisions have a corresponding importance.

[LansdowneSt]

Originally Posted by Matt Arnold

The in-game eras are largely symbolic. The various modifiers will sometime change with the start of a new era when you are playing historical, but they're not limited to adjust to follow that. They're mostly there just as a way to break down the entire history into more manageable chunks without resorting to simply listing things out decade by decade.

Other than the deadball era, which also includes the 1800s game, the modern era is now listed as the second longest era. Is it time to break it into 2 pieces? I've definitely thought in the last couple years that's something that we should start to think about.

One could probably call 2005 to 2021 as "Moneyball" as that approach to the game really started to permeate every front office by '05. Then 2022 forward as "Modern Times". Once the DH fell in the NL, it seemed the start of the counter pendulum swing of the Moneyball game with rule changes coming thereafter (and more likely to come). Feels like a different era we are on the cusp of though, I admit, it will take more time passing to better see lines of where a conceptual era ends and begins.