how easy/difficult have Championship teams been to get?

[Filthy Slider]

I just completed my 2nd full season in my solo career manager mode by winning the World Series (I have 16 teams altogether in my league)...I took over the team for the last month of a season before the two full seasons...i did that to start rebuilding over the offseason that year and to have some games at the end of that first year to get used to the dynamics of this team.

I'm somewhat fearful of the answer to this question I'm about to ask...not because my ego is at stake (well, ok, maybe just a little...can't help it entirely) but because I am hoping that OOTP 5 does not make it easier for a team when in manager mode to win. (My difficulty level is set at 'Average' so that players will, or so I've been told, perform according to their normal abilities).
So, the question I have is:
Does playing in manager mode make it easier to win?
We got crushed by Toronto during the regular season and yet beat them 4 games to 1 in the post-season championship series...and the same went for Houston too (4-8 against them in regular season...4-0 against them in playoffs) Did our team just get hot or lucky?

Or, is it the case that the AI in ootp5 is still ...well, I've read that the AI is supposedly more challenging in ootp 6...well, that's part of the advertisement for it...I haven't seen anyone who has played it report one way or other on how much more/less tougher the AI is in ootp 6.

So, what did everyone else find?
I know I'm a bit 'behind the curve' here since most people have already probably moved on to ootp 6. I just wanted to finish out my ootp 5 season yet on ootp 5 before converting over to ootp6 for the next season for my solo league team.
Did everyone have a relatively fast time to get to the Championship?
Has anyone played a solo league team that just failed to go anywhere for a number of seasons?

[I should also note that when I took over my team, that they were kindof an average team...power ranking 10th of 16 teams...financially maxed out [I had to trade away a bunch of starting players to be able to have enough money to hire a batting coach, a scout and two minor league coaches]...very little offense...above average pitching (but with aging starters on the decline and unreliable relievers in clutch situations)...only about two good looking prospects in the minors' system...both a couple of years away from the Bigs...
In my first year there I struggled to get to .500 ...finished the year at 66-66 and worried that I'd be fired for not going over .500...and, my 'trading difficulty' setting is set at "Hard"].

Well, those are the specs on my team...I'm really not posting all of this to 'brag' about my team (well, ok, maybe subconsciously I am...but its not my conscious intent--or, excuse [depending on what theories of psychology you ascribe to])....Rather, I am just wondering if everyone else had an easy time of getting to the Championship or not

Looking back, it now seems that it was easy...but when I started this season at 2-5 it didn't seem that way...lol...and, we were like 2 games over .500 at the all-star break...

Also, with all my stars on contract for at least another year...and, having the highest rated minor league system for two years running...with 5 of the top 30 league prospects currently in my minors' system including the #1 league prospect of this year...and, that doesn't even include the guy I brought up early this year who in his rookie year set the team franchise record for homeruns, drove in almost 80 runs playing in about 110 games...hit .300...etc. (he was, last year, the #1 rated prospect)...well, with all of that, things are looking very good for the team for at least the next 2 years.

I suppose that one reason I am asking all of this is that if it turns out that its easier to win in manager mode, then I might just turn manager mode off (don't know if at this point that I could use the MMeditor to do that and then continue playing without it in manager mode? )
Being now, as I am, in between seasons, this seems like a natural time for me to make any changes in how the game is set up that I might want to make.
Any input (well, ok, maybe not ANY input...I mean if ya just wanna post to tell me to go stick my finger in my ear and cluck like a chicken, then...) would be very much appreciated...thanks.

[remington]

I've played over 30 seasons in manager mode using OOTP6. I don't remember what difficulty I selected, I know it wasn't the hardest or easiest though.

I spent my first two seasons finishing in dead last place, and improving to a .400 winning percentage and still finishing last. My owner didn't want me to come back, at which point I looked at the offers I had in the offseason, and signed with a team that made the playoffs in season 1, and finished 3rd in season 2. Since that time, I've won the World Series more than 50% of the time I've been in the playoffs. I've been in the playoffs probably 70% of the time. On seasons I have missed the playoffs, it was USUALLY attributed to key injuries to star players (starting pitchers usually) or a rebuilding year after too many players retired or got traded due to severe talent drops. My minors consistently run amongst the best simply because I scout prospects to trade for when I am looking to move some of my veterans before they sign contract extentions. I'm getting ready to start a new league with the difficulty set on hard, just to see how hard it is.

From my findings, it is easier to win if you PLAY the games. If you strictly sim the games, it doesn't seem to make a difference in manager mode vs. non-manager mode. It pretty much is dependant on how well you scout talent, how you use your pitching staff, how you use your depth chart and lineups, how often you look at your team to evaluate weeknesses, and how good you are at retaining star players while they are stars and getting rid of them before they flop.

[Filthy Slider]

Thank you for the feedback on that...I had really been wondering.

I DO play through each of my games and I suppose that there might be some strategic advantages for me in getting to make choices for my team on a very detailed level.

I do have to admit, however, that I was pleasantly surprised with how good the AI was at managing their teams in OOTP 5. I didn't watch very closely to study how well they were making decisions, but, for the most part I didn't notice any really obvious errors in its decision making.

I read somewhere that the AI for ootp 6 is supposed to be even more developed and I'm looking forward to finding out: about ready to begin an ootp 6 season tomorrow evening.

I'm also looking forward to H2H whenever that can be gotten to work. I will find it a lot of fun to play in such a league.