Multiple Leagues In OOTP7 like CM?

[Tiger Fan]

A little early but with the talk on the SI board about adding the Mexican and Japanesse leagues I thought this should also be mentioned. I made this post on the SI board but I am sure it will get much more discussion here.




I see several on this board requesting the inclusion of the Mexican and Japanesse leagues (among others) for OOTP7.

I feel they are an important addition but even more important is for Markus to finally include the full North American system. Approx. 99% of all major league baseball players and a good deal of the foreigners in the Japanesse leagues have played minor league baseball. It is important that we have a full working minor league system in OOTP7. The ability to create your own minor league allignments, play or sim out your minor league affiliates games and even start your OOTP career as a minor or independant league manager or GM is just as important to the OOTP experience as having lower division football clubs in FM/CM.

Ideally I would like to have the following challenge when I start my OOTP7 career. Do I begin it as a General Manager of a major league baseabll club or in a league in another country? If I choose the major league route I want to be able to have my full minor league rosters with the ability to play or sim out any game at each of the minor league levels (optional of course for those with limited cpu systems). Perhaps we have a 20-25 round draft as I need to stock my short season and advanced Class A teams as well perhaps a club in one of the Instructional Leagues. I will also want to spend some time scouting the Dominican League and other Carribean and South America Leagues I have running in the background so that I can sign a half dozen youngsters who might have some potential. Perhaps I will get an email from an agent saying his star player in Japan is entertaining offers to jump to North America. I will not only need to work out a deal with the player but also come to an agreement with his Japanesse League club. On top of all of that I still have my major league team to run.

My star player's agent is making noise in the media that he is unhappy I havent offered him an extension and a raise despite the fact he just signed the deal last year. I have a couple of players unhappy with playing time and they are demanding a trade. The 40 man rosters and waiver wire are still intact from OOTP6 with all the bugs ironed out so that is another concern I must always be cognizant of.

I would also like to be able to hire major and minor league managers with tendancies and attributes similiar to the coaches and scouts already in the game. Certainly some former players will be canvassing me for a job in the organization. Now maybe (for those who play out all their games) I will decide I want to be simply the manager rather than the General Manager. Either way, as GM or manager, if I don't do the job I can expect to get fired. Then I will be shopping my services around. Maybe I get another major league job or maybe I have to catch on with a team in the independant Atlantic League or perhaps even go overseas and try and build a winner with limited resources in a British League.

I am by no means a football expert (soccer for us Canadians) but the thing that impressed me the most about the one version of CM I purchased was the immersion factor. All the background leagues running together with everything intertwined. Player personalities to contend with, owners to impress, and the media to deal with. I, for one, am eagerly looking forward to the marraige between OOTP and FM. Let's hope OOTP7 can incorporate most, if not all of this and more.

[kingfc22]

All I can say is wow. If any of these ideas got incorporated into OOTP7 it would be hands down the most in depth baseball game ever made.

[John C]

In addition to this, could you see doing historical-style leagues, where you have the MLB and the PCL, the Texas League, the Pioneer League, NY-PA league, and several others?

Holy crap.

[andymac]

This is exactly the direction that I hope OOTP goes.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally posted by Tiger Fan
It is important that we have a full working minor league system in OOTP7. The ability to create your own minor league alignments, play or sim out your minor league affiliates games and even start your OOTP career as a minor or independant league manager or GM is just as important to the OOTP experience as having lower division football clubs in FM/CM.

De-coupling the minors and majors in OOTP is something I've been suggesting for awhile now - it'd be great if they could have their own level of customization.

This has mostly been for historical reasons so far. For many years, there were more AAA level minor league teams than there were major league teams, and they were playing different full-length schedules.

For example, in 1933, the Pacific Coast League played a 187 game schedule which started on Apr. 4 and ended on Oct. 1; the International League played a 168 game schedule which started on Apr. 12 and ended on Sept. 10; and the American Association played a 154 game schedule which started on Apr. 11 and ended on Sept. 10. (The majors for that year played a 154 game schedule which opened on Apr. 12 and ended on Oct. 1.)

Being able to recreate this sort of historical alignment, even if it were only for the highest level of the minors, would be excellent. For fictional leagues, of course, it would greatly expand upon the depth of that fictional world, making seem even more life-like.

One could create a situation where the minors are deep, such as when for many years there were only 16 major league teams but 24 AAA level minor league teams. Conversely, one could create a situation where the minors are thin, with fewer teams than there are in the majors, putting a premium on good scouting to pick up the best players.

I'd love to see the option for independent minor league clubs as well, instead of them always being a farm team of a major league team. That would open up a whole new area of team management, such as trying to buy that hot minor league prospect while several other major league teams are also eyeing him. It also of course makes historical leagues more accurate as well, since in the earlier years major league clubs did not have their own farm teams and instead relied on the independent minor leagues to supply them.

So yeah, I heartily second TF's suggestion! (Well, as long as it's customizable like the rest of OOTP is.)

By the way, since I've already done the major league schedules, I'm well on my way to gathering and compiling all the AAA level minor league schedules. After that, I'll probably try to do the AA level. That is a lot of schedules to find and type up, but the historical schedule pefectionist in me demands that the real schedules be available for use...