Finishing touches on solo league

[jeheinz72]

Hey folks,

I'm a huge solo fictional fan. Started a couple, and I've decided I am now officially ready to create the one I "keep". Here is what I have so far

- 24 teams, all fictional (like Albonta Slam and Drake City Demons)
- No coaches
- Serpentine fantasy draft, draft order determined using random number generator
- Logos for each team (logoserver)
- Fictional facepacks for all players
- 77 mil salary cap (though my personal one will be 70 mil)
- 2 proposed trades max per season for me, can accept any cpu offers
- I own the Tylerville Kings (who picked 19th...not the best serpentine position). I made my first 4 picks in the draft, then let CPU do rest (so I don't get a clear cut top team, which worked, my team officially blows since I picked 3 young guys who are stud AAA guys and 1 SP)
- Fictional stadiums for each team, as well as fictional minor league team names
- 110 game season (I wanted something different, so I culled down the HOF criteria proportionally)

So I have two questions for the folks out there:

1. What other "extras" do you recommend? If I did a dynasty would it be actually read? I did one for a manager career awhile back, but it is hard to tell if I am just wasting keystrokes or people actually read it

2. What do you do in order to "get to know" the league. The best I can divise is playing the first game of each series, then doing the sim until 6th for the other games, to save some time. This though, only gets me half the league though, as there is no interleague.

Any ideas? Thanks in Advance.

[Riverdome]

I love to play games out but also love the off season aspects of my solo league. To get the best of both worlds I play out the first hand full of games. This is anwhere from 10-25. This gives me an idea who is on the squad and what to expect. Then I sim one week at a time the rest of the season. In between sims I look at most boxscores, player dev., minor report, minor league stats, standings and news. This keeps me "in the loop" even though I am simming games. If the standings warrent I start playing games out again in October. And I always play out every post-season game, if I'm lucky enough to qualify.

What else to do?

Try keeping tabs on a players development. I built a simple Access database once so I could track the number of bumps and the ratings before and after. Seemed simple but I grew tired.

I keep an Excel log of the final standings each season. I get a teams avg. number of wins over the last xx years and all time. I also can see how many times a team has made the playoffs and won/lost the World Series. I use the avg number of wins stat to decide how/if I will trade with a team. I am ultra fair to the poor teams and occationally will take some liberties with a team that doesn't need ANOTHER trip to the post season. Not that I cheat, I just trade in a way that attepts to keep a competative balance.

I also have a salary matrix that allows me to see what my payroll will be in the future. Basically all it does it add up the contracts I have already agreed to. It's nice to see that next season I am already up to $68 million. No matter how much I want to keep player xxxxxx I need to stop spending money.

Keeping on the money thought I also don't give myself a hard salary cap. Instead of making myself stay under 70 mil when everyone else gets 77 mil, I make myself stay in the bottom 1/2 of all teams payroll. I once tried staying in the bottom 1/3, but that was really tough.

You should also have a plan for expansion. Say add two teams every 10 years until you reach a max of 32 teams. I've never done expansion, but it sounds like so much fun!

[jeheinz72]

River, thanks for your tips! The standings log and salary matrix, sound like excellent ideas! In fact, I think I will work on them now (I can use Excel at work!). The PD idea is also something worth looking into, I'll maybe give it a go as well.

Thanks!

[LivnLegend]

jeheinz, good luck with your league! The extra time and effort you have obviously put into it will help you really appreciate it as you move forward.

Originally posted by jeheinz72
So I have two questions for the folks out there:


1. What other "extras" do you recommend? If I did a dynasty would it be actually read? I did one for a manager career awhile back, but it is hard to tell if I am just wasting keystrokes or people actually read it

2. What do you do in order to "get to know" the league. The best I can divise is playing the first game of each series, then doing the sim until 6th for the other games, to save some time. This though, only gets me half the league though, as there is no interleague.

1. I don’t think many of the dynasty threads have a huge following. You'll have to ask yourself would you get any enjoyment out of writing the dynasty submissions? If you have a devoted audience of 3 or 4 people, is that enough to make the effort worth it? If you answer yes to those questions, then go for it!
2. I play about half or more of the games on “my” team’s schedule. If the game turns into a blowout, I’ll sim the rest of the game. I figure if I play 2 games of a 3 game set, that’s enough. I also keep my fictional leagues smaller, 16 is my favorite. In fact, I often start with 12 and then expand after several seasons. This helps me get a hold on the stars of the league before increasing the number of players in the league. If you start a dynasty thread, you’ll force yourself to take a good look at the progress of each season and it will help you get a feel and learn the other league in which your team does not play any games. Even if you don’t write articles for the dynasty thread, make sure you stop and take the time to really se what is going on by checking the leader boards and the transactions. Avoid the temptation to “hurry up” to the postseason by simming a month’s worth of games. Here’s one last thing I did to really give my fictional players life: I had picked the photos I used for my stars, semi-stars, and many of the regular position players. I put together my own photo pack of “fictional” faces and matched them up one by one to the players in my league. It takes awhile but it gave me a lot of satisfaction of having as “close to a real” league as possible!

[Rizon]

Originally posted by jeheinz72


2. What do you do in order to "get to know" the league. .

I play my games for my fictional league on the same schedule as MLB. That means come November, no games until April. So I only play one season a year. This makes you hungry, especially if you choked during the last season ... you have all of winter to think about it.

I export nearly every single report I can find to Excel. Spend alot of time making them look pretty, and printing them out in color. I review this constantly throughout the off season. Great place is in the john

I print out ratings reports, sort them by team, project lineups, rotations etc. Then I figure out my own formula to rank teams and players through a bunch of different categories. I even predict what order teams will finish in for the next year. As I said, I print alot of these things out, spend hours upon hours reviewing them. When April comes around, I feel like I know everything about my league.

[jeheinz72]

Thanks for the tips guys, I appreciate them! I'm still hedging on the dynasty...the start is easy, that is when it is fun...we'll see. Keep an eye out for it.

Livn - Thanks for the tips, I think that is a great way to get to know the league. I definitely operate on the blowout principle myself. I thought about a 16 team league, but just couldn't pry myself from the WildCard. Not only because I want a chance at it, but also, I'm making the playoffs a huge deal (hence the shorter regular season). I'll probably do 7-7-9 in the playoff format.

Rizon- Way, that is tough. I'm almost certain I wouldn't have the self-control to let a league sit for 6 months like that. Even with all the reports in the world, it would just make me want to act on them. Do you have a mirror league that plays November-April and sits in between?

[Rowleyball]

Rizon, that sounds like a pretty ambitious idea. If I tried that I don't think I would have the patience. I do play out every game when I'm controlling a team in a solo league (I have other leagues I just act as commissioner and sim), but to play along with the real-time calendar sounds pretty fun.

I also make Excel worksheets pretty similar to what Riverdome described. It keeps track of each team's record every year, and as the league evolves, their record for each decade, etc. Then I'll name one team the "Franchise of the Decade" based on their record, postseason appearances, and anything else that seems relevant. It also keeps track of the award winners each year, and this is how I determine my fictional photos.

I used to give a photo to any player that appeared in the league news for something, like a Player of the Week or a no-hitter (I assign pictures so that they match the player; I don't want my 5'10" - 160 lb Puerto Rican to be a huge red-headed dude), but after doing that it so many times it became boring. Now I just assign a picture to the player once he wins one of the major awards (except the fielder award unless they win it 5 times in a row or something) or is drafted first overall in the amateur draft. It's fun for me to look at everyone who's been drafted first overall and see how many of them lived up to his potential. That way only the elite players of the league have a player photo, so it's kind of an honor for them.

[Carlton]

Well as one who read every Dynasty report, I'd say the main thing about the Dynasty Forum is 80% for you, 20% for the readers.

I disagree with LL, as I think there are at least 20 people who are lurkers who read the Dynastys...to help with their own leagues, or for a good story.

That leads me to your 80%...Excel sheets are fine for records, but when you hash out your league month by month, you catch the "good stories" that you may have missed if you just simmed the season and looked at stats. For example what about Joe Schmo, backup player for 11 years, starting for the injured star player of a team about to clinch or lose its first pennant. Joe Schmo then hits a loop single in the bottom of the 13th to win the pennant...20 years later, it is still the only pennant that team has EVER won.

Joe Schmo is a story...and a hero, and YOU will never forget him. Even if he only lasted 12 years and hit .230