OOTP 23 suggestions

[jaa36]

I tried to organize these in categories... The game keeps getting better but there are always things to improve!

1. Awards. We should have the ability to enter or change award winners retroactively. There should be an option to only have a player from the winning team win a Player of the Game or postseason series MVP award, and to be able to select or edit these awards. And finally, more than one Custom award.

2. More options for how players enter the league. These would include:

a. Amateur draft based on lottery or market size
b. International (or all amateur player) draft
c. Free market system in which players either enter at a specific time or over the course of the year and you just sign them to whatever contract you want. Like the current international amateur system, there could be a spending cap, and ideally cap money could be traded.

3. More All-Star game options. Allowing the ability to select all-stars or an all-pro team after the season would be great, and to have an all-star game for leagues with only a single subleague and single division. Being able to pick teams by “player draft” (a la the NBA all-star game) would be fun, or by nationality (US vs the world) in some cases.

4. Better support for amateur baseball. I'd love to have a more true-to-life high school and college system. For colleges, they should have a "prestige" rating that would determine the quality of players that go there. There should be a weekly ranking system, and a College World Series at the end of the year. High school could be more abstracted- perhaps just generating a few hundred players with stats to simulate each class, but then have a recruiting model for the college level based on the college's prestige, and a rating for the player as far as how likely they were to sign with a major league team rather than going to college.

5. Adjustments to the stamina system for pitchers. There should be both a current and a potential rating for stamina- but it should change much more rapidly than other ratings. A starter being shifted from shorter to longer outings would see his stamina increase to his potential max relatively quickly over a few weeks. Additionally, you should be able to set expectations for a pitcher- both generally (by what role you are assigning him in your pitching staff) and specifically to the game in which you're planning to use him. So if your starter gets injured in the first inning, you could bring in the long reliever and instruct him that you’re expecting five innings from him, which really isn't an option currently. If the pitcher expects to go just one inning, he’d end up with the “standard” bonus to his stuff, but otherwise he’d be treated more as a starter would by the engine. This is sort of in place with the opener/follower system but could be applied to many other circumstances.

6. More options for what happens when tied after nine innings. Would be great to support games ending in ties, and various modifications to the “zombie runner” rules, like putting the runner on first base, or only starting after a certain inning.

7. A global events simulator! This could be the next phase of “automatic evolution” and incorporate not just expansion and relocation, but also contraction/dissolving franchises, new stadiums, ownership changes, playoff expansion, and worldwide events like pandemics and wars. (Well, maybe those last few are a bridge too far…) Ideally you’d be prompted when one of these is triggered to occur so that you can choose to decline it in favor of the status quo. Expansion option should have a long lead time, so teams might develop their stadiums, farm systems and staff months to years ahead of time.

8. A few changes/additions to stats. wRC and wRC+ should be in single-season and career records for hitters. RA9 (as in runs allowed per 9 innings) should be included for pitchers, and this and rWAR should be in single-season and career records for pitchers. The number of games a player has played at each position should also be viewable as a stat within a custom view- this really comes in handy for selecting all-stars. Times reached on error, pickoffs, and won-lost record during games pitchers appear in would also be helpful. It would also be great to have more control over what stats are displayed on the Standings, Statistics, and Leaderboards pages- for example, I’d be more interested in seeing the wOBA and runs scored leaders on the standings page than OPS or hitting streaks.

9. Better interface in the League Totals section. I should be able to see from this section very easily what the estimated statistical output will be for the league, including how (very approximately) the leaderboard will look. As it stands, you can tell what the projected BA, OBP and SLG, but not much more than that. It’s difficult to have any sense of how to set the modifiers lower down, like balks or outfield assists, or what the value “should” be in comparison to modern MLB.

10. Calculation of projected park factors. The game should determine, based on the league totals modifiers and the parks that are in the game, what the estimated effect of the park will be on average, doubles, triples, home runs, and (most importantly) runs scored. As it stands, it can be hard to tell (except in very obvious cases) whether a park will function as a pitcher's or hitter's park. A league “ballpark summary” page could be very helpful for this.

11. Some more roster options. There should be an option to limit when a player can be called back up to the majors after being sent down- for example, in MLB, a player cannot be recalled within 10 days of being sent down unless replacing someone going onto the IL. There should be an option to edit the time someone needs to spend on the “60-day” IL. And it would be great to have a “taxi squad” roster option, where for example you have 30 players on the active roster, but only 20 are eligible to dress for a given game- this would help to reduce roster shuffling when pitchers are tired or players are injured for just a few days.

12. An easier way to rotate the DH among players that would otherwise start. A lot of teams do this now rather than have a full-time DH. I guess you can do this with seven-day lineups, but that's a lot of work. Perhaps just having a selection in the DH slot within the lineups page where you can just check "rotate among starters." Or perhaps allowing an option on the player strategy page to select "start at DH when tired." Also, it would be good to have an option to tie the DH to the starting pitcher- so the DH would need to be removed from the game if the starting pitcher were removed.

13. Option for extended spring training- or more broadly, a way to shake off the rust for player you've signed late in the spring or in midseason without immediately adding them to the active roster. Likewise, it would be helpful to be able to do something with the same effect as a rehab assignment even after the minor league seasons are over.

14. Better schedule generator and schedule editing interface. I'd like to be able to suggest how many games per team within the division, outside of the division, in the other league, etc, and have it throw out a schedule. And I'd like to be able to click and drag a game or series from one day to another day.

[mitchkenn]

ability to trade players in the International Complex, or at least be able to create a player for the IC.

coaches (managers, GM etc) to be entered into the Hall Of Fame.

[Kylecolletti50]

I second notions 2, 7, 10, and 14!

[jaa36]

Someone else mentioned this in another thread recently, but I think it would great to have challenges or scenarios that come with the game each year. For example:

1. 1998 home run chase. Starting at the All-Star break, play as the Cardinals (McGwire), Cubs (Sosa) or Mariners (Griffey) to see if your guy can beat Maris's record and win the home run title.

2. 1994 stretch run. The owners and players come to a last minute agreement- see if you can lead the Expos, Astros, Braves, Indians, White Sox or Yankees to their first championship ever/in a long time.

3. 1951 pennant race. Can the Giants make up a six-game deficit with two weeks to play? Will there be a Shot Heard Round the World?

4. 2004 Tigers. Rebuild the club from a 43-119 debacle to make the playoffs within three seasons.

And many many other possibilities...

[BeastNick13]

As someone that enjoys using the historical leagues, there are a few things I've wanted to see added to make it a more enjoyable experience.

1. Classical Stadiums:
   
   One thing that I would like to see added are classical stadiums for the historical leagues (i.e., Polo Grounds, Yankee Stadium I, Kingdome, Astrodome, Busch Stadium, Candlestick, Forbes Field, Griffith Stadium, etc.). To me it gets a little dull when a team who is not playing in their current stadium (There are only 6 stadiums currently in use built before 1989) plays in a default stadium. To me part of the classic baseball experience should be playing in those classic stadiums.
   
   
2. Historical Scouting Discoveries:
   
   The next addition I think is something that could be added as an option next to the Real Historical Transactions box. I never use real historical transactions because trading and players getting drafted to different teams are what make the game interesting. That said I do think that the option to have real historical scouting discoveries would be a good feature. Someone like Edgar Martinez or Mariano Rivera should not show up in the draft pool the year they signed with their team. They did not play baseball in the U.S. and they were not a part of the draft. Their respective teams discovered the talent and developed the player through their farm system. I think when playing through a historical league this should be an option rather than getting "fake" players from your scout instead.
   
   
3. Improved Expansion Drafts:
   
   Another thing I noticed as I played through the 1970s, in which there were a few expansion drafts, is that the American League expansion teams were able to draft players from the National League teams (and vice versa). I think it would be good to add updated expansion draft settings that make sure the expansion draft pools only apply to the league (American or National) that is expanding.
   
   
4. Customizable Training:
   
   Another thing I think could be a neat addition to OOTP is the idea of customizable training, where the user can tell players to work on a part of their game, whether it be in the offseason or during Spring Training. For example, if you wanted to have a third baseman move to second base, but their turning DP rating is in the 30s you could have them work on making the transition from 3B --> 2B and work on turning DP. Another example on the pitching side is if you wanted a pitcher to add a pitch to their arsenal. This is where the pitching, hitting, and fielding (another thing that could be added) coach ratings would take more effect. The success of the "customizable trainings" would also take into account a player's personality traits. If they are not a hard worker, then maybe the results of the training are little to none, but if they are a hard worker, then their turn DP goes up 10 ratings or so.
   
   
5. User Manager/Player Relationships:
   
   The last thing I think would make sense to add is player/manager relationships which could have a positive boost on a player's morale and performance. I know the game has the Bench Coach and thus he has a relationship factor with the players, but in real life a player's relationship with their manager can have an influence on their game. Even the Great Willie Mays attributes a lot of his success early on to his great relationship with Leo Durocher (his manager in New York).

[banning23]

I would like to have a area where everyone can see in division W/L records as well as win / lose overall records can we have this done in the game.

[monkeyman576]

It seems that when you ask for the AI to set up your team, it is over reliant on ratings as opposed to in season performance. It would be nice if you could ask the AI to use in season performance more.

[scgamecock]

An ability as commish to "force win" games for a certain team would be great. This feature is in 2K, and GM Basketball/Football

Also an odds prediction for each game would be great, show which team is favored to win and by how many runs or a matchup screen showing the probability of the outcome of games.

for College baseball things are nearly perfect but I wish you can add a hitting, pitching, and assistant coach per team. also There doesn't need to be a major overhaul with recruiting but I would like to see prestige factor added per team so you could control which teams (like USC, Texas, Vandy) get the best players, right now it is just random.

I wish it were possible to line up created college teams to the real life colleges, so real historical players will automatically commit to their real life school.

And of course would like to see a real NCAA tournament setup (regionals, super regionals, then CWS) although super regionals were only added in recent decades.

Also the ability to add managers to the HOF would be great, as well as an ability to import/export managers like you can players.

[WestCoastGuy]

Originally Posted by scgamecock

Also an odds prediction for each game would be great, show which team is favored to win and by how many runs or a matchup screen showing the probability of the outcome of games.

As long as we can click something to not see it. I already really dislike the game telling me who it picks position-by-position or spot-by-spot in the lineup just prior to a game starting. I don't ever want to see that, and I don't believe there's any way to stop it from showing. (To be clear, I don't mind your suggestion and I can see why many may like it. I just want to be able to hide it.)

Originally Posted by scgamecock

And of course would like to see a real NCAA tournament setup (regionals, super regionals, then CWS) although super regionals were only added in recent decades.

I don't understand why OOTP doesn't offer a proper double-elimination format. It just has the quirky one that the WBC uses.

[ojoe]

I like a lot of these, but specifically...

Originally Posted by jaa36

I tried to organize these in categories... The game keeps getting better but there are always things to improve!

1. Awards. We should have the ability to enter or change award winners retroactively. There should be an option to only have a player from the winning team win a Player of the Game or postseason series MVP award, and to be able to select or edit these awards. And finally, more than one Custom award.

I'd also like to get to vote on Manager of the Year.

[SouthpawJosh]

I don't know what it would take to make this happen, but it would be a great improvement (minor or not), if the "news" would be reported from the perspective of the team you are controlling.


Example #1:
Game Summary headline highlights the other team, and not your team.


Example #2:
Any trade that is made, more often then not, shows the player you traded away, instead of highlighting who you received back.

[pholmer]

I would still like to see a Home Run Derby as a stand-alone addition to OOTP. You could pick any two historical players from any era and match them against each other, using their best-year stats or career stats. Babe Ruth vs.Sadaharu Oh, Jimmy Foxx vs. Mickey Mantle, or Josh Gibson vs. Ted Williams. Or all of them competing at once, perhaps through several rounds. It would prove absolutely nothing, but I think it could be fun.

[84Cubs]

Originally Posted by pholmer

I would still like to see a Home Run Derby as a stand-alone addition to OOTP. You could pick any two historical players from any era and match them against each other, using their best-year stats or career stats. Babe Ruth vs.Sadaharu Oh, Jimmy Foxx vs. Mickey Mantle, or Josh Gibson vs. Ted Williams. Or all of them competing at once, perhaps through several rounds. It would prove absolutely nothing, but I think it could be fun.

This is a great idea, but I wouldn't limit it to two players. It would be nice to do more than two, if you want.

[noelypants]

I would like to be able to retain a fog of war when scouting is turned off.

I generally would prefer to have scouting off because of how much of an edge it gives the user in solo play, and it is helpful for online leagues as well. But I don't want to play on 100% scouting accuracy because the game loses a lot of its depth if you don't have to use stats in player evaluation. It would be great to be able to set scouting accuracy to low with scouting turned off, so every player (or CPU) is going off of the same ratings, but they aren't necessarily accurate.

[flerman]

For us statistical enthusiast and also for the ease of use of statistical data the following incremental improvement should be implemented:

• All team reports throughout the organization should have the complete team name which includes the team's location and club name, e.g., Boston Red Sox.
• For all statistics, both team and player, at any level within the organization should be exportable to a importable file format, for example, a CSV file.
• A customizable statistical screen should be made available, maybe under the Manager menu so a human manager can creat custom reports on either a team of player(s).

This would offer an elevated statistical experience for the human manager; as we all know, baseball is a strategic and tactical game derived from statistics.

[Jibby]

Better in-game graphics (like MLB 2K12 style or even MLB the Show style).

[flerman]

OOTP News on Facebook should be fixed so one can post to their Facebook account. Recommended putting Facebook login capability under the Manager Options just like the Twitter account login option.

[flerman]

I second jaa36 notions 7, 8, 9, 13, 14.

[flerman]

It should be more user friendly to start a Real World game with a different start date. The following should be considered:

• Have the option to override the March 5 date to a date of a user’s choosing, this would add the flexibility to play a complete 162 season “out of season.”
• The live start feature should not be restricted to March though October, but rather all 12 calendar months.
• An option to clean start a Real World League season at any date, then be able to configure Rules and Options as desired without constraints, unless a conflict is induced.

The whole idea is to create a game with Real World Leagues starting at any date configured through Advance mode, Rules, and Options.

[zappa1]

I only care about the historical part of OOTP. Please improve that. Especially pre 1900 baseball. The schedule maker needs to be improved as it gives night games in the pre 1900 schedule when you make one. Unacceptable for that time period.