Setting up league advice

[TheGreatAndini]

Seeing as I have never actually done a proper fictional league (Always used Cubby's roster), i was wondering what the best way to go about it is.


I'd like to have a league start in 1900, with not to many teams, but is expansion easy at a later date? And how would i set up the minors and financials yada yada?

Anyone got any advice? Thanks

[Curtis]

Well, I'll cover the easy one: You can't start before 1901. Other than that…

[TheGreatAndini]

1901 is fine

I just want to know what financials, structure and so on to use that won't screw the game up 10 years in or something.

[Bluenoser]

Originally Posted by Curtis Cook

Well, I'll cover the easy one: You can't start before 1901. Other than that…

You can start in any year you like - 1802, 1894, 1900, whatever your fancy is. Especially since you intend on using fictional players. But even with real players you can go back into the 1800's. Your first year would have to be fictional but after that you can import real players from the Lahman DB.

[Curtis]

Originally Posted by BruceM

You can start in any year you like - 1802, 1894, 1900, whatever your fancy is. Especially since you intend on using fictional players. But even with real players you can go back into the 1800's. Your first year would have to be fictional but after that you can import real players from the Lahman DB.

I have both read in the player's guide and seen in several places in this forum that the game cannot be set pre-1901. People complain about it. If you know differently, please tell us how to do it, because I'd love to start in 1871.

Back to The Great Andini: I don't believe that there are financial settings you can use that you'd set in 1900 and have semi-historical results, then not touch again. There are suggestions for financials that you would have to change every season to keep things 'sorta-kinda' historical as your league progresses. I'll try to find the reference for you.

[TheGreatAndini]

don't worry to much about the financials, i don't mind if they stay constent with modern day prices, its more the player things i am worried about to be honest. wort coefficiants or ahwatever they are called would i use to make it all work out nicley? how how would i actually structure the leauge,m and how easy is it to expand?

[Curtis]

Okay, in that case I'll bow out. My best advice would be to use one of the default templates and just change the date from 2006 to 1901. I would also advise (for simplicity's sake for your first fictional league) to not use independent minor leagues, or more than five affiliate teams (one per level) per ML club, or add any international leagues.

Finally, you might want to turn off options like international scouting and developing hidden players. Or not. I like the world scouting system, but many players hate it, and it does add another level of complexity.

Last financial note: A lot of people complain about the excess money in the system leading to runaway inflation. If you're feeling adverturous, you might want to check how much of a surplus each of the ML clubs is predicted to run after the initial setup, then reduce everybody's merchandising revenue by the amount (or half the amount) of the smallest surplus. Before you do, save your game as a quickstart, so if teams start going bankrupt in ten years, you can just sigh and begin again with one button push.

A lot of players complain about how hard it is to expand in this game. I've never tried it. Unless you have a good reason for it, you probably shouldn't mess with either the development/aging or PCM/MLE numbers. A good reason would be wanting your batters to have longer careers, or prefering the deadball era style of play. I hope someone else shows up to give you better advice.

[Bluenoser]

Originally Posted by Curtis Cook

I have both read in the player's guide and seen in several places in this forum that the game cannot be set pre-1901. People complain about it. If you know differently, please tell us how to do it, because I'd love to start in 1871.

1. Start a new game

2. On the very first page that opens for setup there's a box to "Enter Starting Year". Put whatever year you desire in this box, for example 1871.

3. Continue setting up your league as desired


As I stated above, if you wish to use real players, you'll have to have fictional in the first year. However in ensuing years you can import from Lahman. Just make sure you have the option checked under rules "Automatically Import Historical Rookies".

I think you're misunderstanding the Guide. Basically you cannot start an historical league with real players from the Lahman DB prior to 1901. Using fictional players in the first year is the only workaround.

Since Andini is interested in fictional, he doesn't have to worry about this at all. He can start in whatever year he likes.

[Bishop]

Originally Posted by TheGreatAndini

Seeing as I have never actually done a proper fictional league (Always used Cubby's roster), i was wondering what the best way to go about it is.


I'd like to have a league start in 1900, with not to many teams, but is expansion easy at a later date? And how would i set up the minors and financials yada yada?

Anyone got any advice? Thanks

As others have said, you can use 1900 just fine. I just picked 1901 for, well, I don't really have a reason why.

Minors are a bit trickier, do you want them to mirror the current MLB format? if so, you'll end up with unaffiliated teams until expansion comes along in the various leagues. If you don't care if you have the "PCL, IL, TEX" etc, it's easier. You can't add -leagues- later, but you can add teams, as well as change affiliations.

For financials, there's a spreadsheet available in the mod section I believe, or the historical section (can't recall which) that has the modifiers to use each season. You'd have to enter them in each season if you wanted to be strict about it. (I changed them every 5 or so years).