Tell me about your OOTP Universe!

bubba22plus · 10-11-2010, 07:06 PM

So i decided to start up playing again, and i wanted to hear about everyone's universe, like how it's setup, what's going on with your team and what not, so i can hopefully get some ideas for my own universe.

damientheomen3 · 10-11-2010, 10:17 PM

I always play fictional. I start a league, usually with 16 teams, and sim month by month, looking at the league leaders to sort of gain a consensus on the best players of the league. I build the all star rosters as well, and sometimes do the awards. I usually get so immersed that I'm GMing a team by the time I'm in my third or fourth season of my league.

bulldog55 · 10-12-2010, 12:09 AM

I've been addicted to the independent league lately. Start a modern MLB league, then create an indie league with lower finances so you can only pick off the bench warmers and AAAA scrubs. It's a completely different way to enjoy Major League Baseball.

DreamTeams · 10-12-2010, 10:08 PM

Been running a 16 team fictional league for quite some time now. Play in god mode. Love fictional teams and players. The league also includes a 24 team indy circuit, as well. It's also a complete league with all teams having individual stadiums and unis. Usually watch selected games through the first and last months and sim between, but making sure to stop and watch the All-Star classic. Watch all post season games in both the big and indy league.

You can read more about my fictioanl universe by clicking the link in my sig, if you want.

Afino · 10-12-2010, 11:09 PM

This is season 23 for me.

Fictional.
20 team league - two subleagues of 10 each.
94 game season with a complete custom schedule.
AAA/AA/A/R.
Used to have feeders. Got rid of them about 5 seasons ago, although apparently they somehow live on with players on them DESPITE BEING DELETED...grrrr
Got rid of the DH about 13 seasons in.
Playoffs are 4 teams per subleague.
Play out every team game.

Season takes me 2-3 weeks

Just hit the one year real-time anniversary of my league!

Chicagofan76 · 10-13-2010, 12:08 AM

Well i created my ABF which you can find my various postings on here for. it started out as a 12 team league which i just expanded my 2 teams. I play as the Chicago Fire who in the 1st 3 season won the world series, lost the world series and finished 3rd 1 gB. normal setup for 2000, no dh, all players started out with rookie contracts, now every team is broke. i am 23 mil in debt.but i have my core players locked up to long term deals.
I won my 3rd consecutive Pitcher Of The Year Award, my now 17 yr old SS won his 3rd consecutive MVP avg approx .352 46HR 117RBI thru 3 seasons.

i love my league but the fact that all my teams r broke is troublesome since making trades is next to impossible, and i want to trim payroll.

PhillieFever · 10-13-2010, 08:26 AM

I'm in the first season of a historical league started in 1947. I've set it up to be more of a sim than an alternate history. I've disabled development, and the personality and morale systems. I'm using a 3 year recalc using real stats with players retiring according to history, and missing season's according to history as well. Injuries are on low(with a modded injury file). I've also decided to use real life transactions, using baseball-reference as my guide. I'm managing the Phillies, playing out every one of their games(right now it's June 15th, and we are 25-37 in last place). The league is being chronicled in a dynasty titled "The Golden Age Of Baseball" over in the dynasty forum.

Jaxxvain · 10-13-2010, 10:13 AM

I just started a new solo league.

Fictional
No financials
20 National teams, 4 Pools of 5 teams each.
Play each team in your pool 8 games
Play one team from another pool 4 games
Total of 20 games
Top 2 from each pool make playoffs, plus 8 wildcards, so 16 total teams in World Cup playoffs. The playoffs are 4 rounds, best of 3, top seed hosts all 3 games.

One of the key differences that I employed for this league is that the players are amateurs, and that they are ages 18-24.

These settings make for a wide variety of skill levels, with some teams even starting players who have 1-1-1 ratings!

I just restarted last night, to improve the schedule, and to implement some uniforms (thanks Tobair!), and my US team was upset by a pesky Australian team 9-6!

Also in this universe I created an American Pro Senior League (ages 25-up) so some of these studs can move on after they "retire" from my amateur global league. This APSL league only has 4 teams to start, but I left the evolution expansion button on to see where that goes.

Looks like I just found my hobby league for the next couple months!

reds1869 · 10-13-2010, 10:35 AM

I'm in my first season of a fictional 24 team league. There are 3 divisions of 8 teams each, with division champions and one wild card making the playoffs. Both playoff rounds are best of seven. I play every game out for the team i control, which is currently the Cincinnati River Cats. I use three levels of affiliated minors.

BusterKing · 10-13-2010, 11:06 AM

I started a new solo league with OOTP11 using the 2010 MLB roster and managing the Blue Jays.

I proceeded with an inaugural draft, trades set to hard and prospect preference. Also set the talent fluctuation to 200 instead of default 100.

I fast simmed the first 2 seasons monthly controlling the trades and lineups (losing record first 2 seasons) then took control of my team in 2012 by managing every game on one pitch mode but only controlling substitutions (bullpen warm ups not required, will turn that on when Markus has it right and we can see who the other team is warming up). Finished first in my division but got eliminated in the first round. Now in June of 2013 and only ahead by one game over the Yankees.

I never had so much fun with OOTP, this version is the best. Make sure to include all the MLB logos, parks (Night/Day) and facegen of all the players.

MizzouRah · 10-14-2010, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BusterKing

I started a new solo league with OOTP11 using the 2010 MLB roster and managing the Blue Jays.

I proceeded with an inaugural draft, trades set to hard and prospect preference. Also set the talent fluctuation to 200 instead of default 100.

I fast simmed the first 2 seasons monthly controlling the trades and lineups (losing record first 2 seasons) then took control of my team in 2012 by managing every game on one pitch mode but only controlling substitutions (bullpen warm ups not required, will turn that on when Markus has it right and we can see who the other team is warming up). Finished first in my division but got eliminated in the first round. Now in June of 2013 and only ahead by one game over the Yankees.

I never had so much fun with OOTP, this version is the best. Make sure to include all the MLB logos, parks (Night/Day) and facegen of all the players.

Wow.. did the same except with the Cardinals and trading is set to hard, neutral. Was 13 GB last year and so far this year, I'm 2.5 games out with about 25 games left.

ootpFox07 · 10-14-2010, 10:04 AM

My current NABL is a fictional reboot started in OOTP 2007 in 2007 and migrated to 11.

28 Team Major League
2 Sub leagues, 3 divisions each
AAA,AA,A,R
162 Games
MLB Style Playoffs (Div w/ WC, Champs, WS)

12 Team Independent League
3 divisions
AAA
130 Games
2 Round Playoffs (Div w WC, Champs)

16 Team International League
Based in US, Foreigner % set to 100
2 Sub leagues, 2 divisions each
AAA
Teams similar to World Classic but with no US Team
124 games
2 Round Playoffs (Champs, Finals)

Once every four years I take the top four teams in each league and have a manual World Cup Style Tournament using Exhibition games.

wellsoliver · 10-14-2010, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamTeams

Been running a 16 team fictional league for quite some time now. Play in god mode. Love fictional teams and players. The league also includes a 24 team indy circuit, as well. It's also a complete league with all teams having individual stadiums and unis. Usually watch selected games through the first and last months and sim between, but making sure to stop and watch the All-Star classic. Watch all post season games in both the big and indy league.

You can read more about my fictioanl universe by clicking the link in my sig, if you want.

What's to do if you're not actively GMing one of the teams in your league?

wellsoliver · 10-14-2010, 08:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BusterKing

I started a new solo league with OOTP11 using the 2010 MLB roster and managing the Blue Jays.

I proceeded with an inaugural draft, trades set to hard and prospect preference. Also set the talent fluctuation to 200 instead of default 100.

I fast simmed the first 2 seasons monthly controlling the trades and lineups (losing record first 2 seasons) then took control of my team in 2012 by managing every game on one pitch mode but only controlling substitutions (bullpen warm ups not required, will turn that on when Markus has it right and we can see who the other team is warming up). Finished first in my division but got eliminated in the first round. Now in June of 2013 and only ahead by one game over the Yankees.

I never had so much fun with OOTP, this version is the best. Make sure to include all the MLB logos, parks (Night/Day) and facegen of all the players.

Similar to what I did except I'm using the Padres. You can look into my universe @ San Diego Padres OOTP Simulation.

Jaxxvain · 10-15-2010, 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wellsoliver

What's to do if you're not actively GMing one of the teams in your league?

Same thing he would do if he went to check out your site. Read about the leagues goings on, check boxscores, follow career paths, watch games, etc.

He just wouldn't be connected to one team in particular.

Jaxxvain · 10-15-2010, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Wow.. did the same except with the Cardinals and trading is set to hard, neutral. Was 13 GB last year and so far this year, I'm 2.5 games out with about 25 games left.

What number did you draft in your inaugural draft, and did you for a bat or a pitcher?

MizzouRah · 10-15-2010, 06:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaxxvain

What number did you draft in your inaugural draft, and did you for a bat or a pitcher?

First, of course.

Albert Pujols was my #1 pick, followed by Adam Wainwright at #2.

Mr. Baseball · 10-15-2010, 08:12 PM

I'm getting ready to kickoff the inaugural season of my new league. It has 20 teams, and the divisions are broken up based on regions. One of my teams is from northern Mexico and the other 19 are American teams. The teams play all over the country in cities with populations around 100,000. I didn't include any big cities in the league because I wanted kind of a small feel too it. Players also make significantly less money then Major Leaguers. The average salary of a player is only $750,000.

It's basically a cleaned up version of MLB with a few less teams.

Mitch McQuick · 10-16-2010, 12:45 AM

I was thinking the other day that I'd like to see a poll of the forum posters to see how they played the game most often with maybe 5 or 6 options to pick from ...
　
As for me, I just finished my first OOTP season simulation. From perhaps 1985 to 2000 I did maybe 9 hands-on computer simulations on the then-current MLB seasons using a variety of programs (Computer Baseball, MicoLeague 1, MicroLeague 2, APBA for Windows). And that's basically what I did this time around too.

I started my season out with the OOTP11 default 2010 season rosters in commissioner mode (giving me the power to make some roster changes with the other clubs) post-spring-training and acted as manager of my favorite team (who I knew would be terrible), and let about a month of the 2010 MLB and MiLB seasons play out. I played each of my team's games out pitch-by-pitch mode with me in control of all pre- and in-game strategy and substitutions of my team, and with me also in control of my opponent's pre- and in-game lineup subsitutions (but not strategy obviously, I do this to make sure my opponent is making sound baseball decisions regarding use of set-up guys, closers, pinch-hitters, etc.). I also disable the require warm-up settings for relievers as that's just too cumbersome for me to manage (esp. controlling both teams' subs).

About 1 month into the season I decided to shut-down the AI control of all teams (click Set all teams to NOT allow AI roster changes on the Game Set-Up screen of the Legue Options and Rules) putting me in complete control of all organizations' moves (including minor league ones), cancelled the draft (I noticed only about a dozen or so players in the draft pool were real-world draftees and didn't want to waste time with a draft involving mostly fictional players), and I deleted the schedules of the short-season A and rookie level leagues (since there weren't enough players to fill them post-draft cancellation, and I now had to manage the transactions of every team of every franchise; I basically used these teams simply to stash reserve players for the full-season A league teams). At this point with me in control of all organizations, waiver claims basically ceased. There was a substantial added time burden though, as I now had to handle all transactions, lineups, and pitching rotations of all teams in every organization. Around then, anticipating the upcoming trading season, I also went to places like mlbtraderumors, baseball-reference, and Cot's baseball contracts and correctly configured the player/mutual options for the contracts of all players who had such options (once you check the Commisioner Mode checkbox in your Manager Options, an Editor tab will appear on each player's screen from which you can edit their contract info, among other things).

From that point forward I basically did as before with me playing my team's games pitch-by-pitch and the computer auto-playing all other games. Every day or two of the season, I would check the league's Injury Log (under Reports) to ID guys that needed to be DLed and replaced (and every week or so for minor leagues). In the rare event where a star player of a would-be contender were lost for a lengthy number of games and there were no solid in-house replacement options, I would sometimes coordinate a trade with another club that had a surplus at that spot, a would-be free agent, or simply wasn't expecting to contend. Perhaps every other week I would re-evaluate the rosters, lineups, and rotations of all clubs and execute demotions, releases, and call-ups. Before the July 31 and Aug 31 trade deadlines, I would evaluate the needs/weakness of all contenders and seek to find matches in terms of potential trades with a non-contenders. On pre-July 31 trades, if there were an extremely hot commodity on the block (Adam Dunn), I would even go so far as to randomly select which team got him among the would-be pursuers. On the pre-Aug 31 trades, I would use the waiver order to decide any virtual draws in terms of trade packages (team with worst record in same league as the player on the block gets priority). Besides looking at the short- and long-term needs of each club, I would often switch between mangaing the two clubs and use the Initiate Trade screen to see what each opposing GM would expect in such a proposed deal and then manually Force the trade once I felt I had satisifed both GMs as best I could. Post-September 1, I promoted players that I thought worthy of a call-up, generally allowing teams involved in minor league playoffs to keep the majority of their guys until their playoffs were through.

Before each MLB playoff series, I flipped a coin to decide which team I would guide the entire series, and I played out every LDS, LCS, & WS game in pitch-by-pitch mode as I did before (Cardinals beat Rays in WS).

So it is really the current season simulation where my basic interest in OOTP lies, and in trying to make that simulation as realistic as possible (not so much in terms of how the results play out versus the ongoing season but more in terms of how each franchise would act in the situation they found themselves in). I probably will run a much-less-hands-on sim of the 2011 season but I'm very unlikely to go beyond the 2011 season with OOTP11, mostly due to my bias against fictional players. If I had 2 things to do over again with the 2010 simulation, I probably would have taken the time to import the career stats of all minor leaguers before I let their seasons play out, and I would have been more hands on with the 8th inning and beyond of the games where I wasn't acting as manager (the AI managers tend to struggle with the correct use of relievers during the 8th inning of games where a save situation is in effect). As a caveat, what I did takes a ton of time, but what was nice about it was that the time required kept my simulation roughly on pace with the progression of the real season, which provided for an interesting comparative frame of reference.

DanP68 · 10-16-2010, 10:53 AM

Currently playing a MLB 2010 based game, where the league expanded for the 2011 season. I took control of the Carolina Blue Fish in the AL Central, while the Las Vegas Gold joined the AL West.

The Expansion Draft and subsequent FA period showed two organizations taking totally different paths. The Las Vegas club signed a lot of established MLB ready players in the draft, then spent the big bucks and signed several high level MLB players. It was incredibly successful. The Gold nearly won the AL West in its first season, and grabbed a wild card spot. They were eliminated in the first round by Tampa.

Meanwhile my Carolina club used the expansion draft to build the minor league system with plenty of very young players with high upside. We hired a Legendary scout and pumped maximum dollars into his budget, targeting amateur and international talent. In the FA period, we grabbed several mediocre to poor players to give us a MLB ready (but cheap and terrible) product. We finished dead last in the Central as expected but we built a good cash base and got our future rolling.

Year 2 (2012) is underway and already the tide is turning. The Gold lost some talent to Free Agency, and several of their other players are aging fast. Meanwhile many of our Blue Fish prospects are developing quicker than expected. In the 2011 off season, our scout found a Dominican kid who has a 101(!) mph fast ball. We signed him immediately and he showed up to spring training already with MLB skills. He cruised through March and won the closer role on the MLB club. We have a rookie 3B in Matt Dominguez who combines tremendous fielding ability with a bat which is getting better and better. The team has a ton of position talent on the way, but the starting pitching prospects leave a lot to be desired. We'll be hitting the amateur draft hard for pitchers.

My guess is we will win 76-81 games this season, then make a wild card run in 2013. The minors are fully stocked and we are going to be a Central power for many years once we arrive.

10-12-2010, 12:09 AM	#3
bulldog55 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: California's Canada Warnings: 17 Posts: 2,481	I've been addicted to the independent league lately. Start a modern MLB league, then create an indie league with lower finances so you can only pick off the bench warmers and AAAA scrubs. It's a completely different way to enjoy Major League Baseball. __________________ Commissioner, Trans-Continental Base Ball Association Owner/GM, Los Angeles Electrics (TCBA), Beaverton Rangers (OTBL), Portland Mavericks (Union League), and Los Angeles Superbas (Century League) Being smart, don't always make you popular.

10-12-2010, 10:08 PM	#4
DreamTeams Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 2,522	Been running a 16 team fictional league for quite some time now. Play in god mode. Love fictional teams and players. The league also includes a 24 team indy circuit, as well. It's also a complete league with all teams having individual stadiums and unis. Usually watch selected games through the first and last months and sim between, but making sure to stop and watch the All-Star classic. Watch all post season games in both the big and indy league. You can read more about my fictioanl universe by clicking the link in my sig, if you want. __________________ Last edited by DreamTeams; 10-12-2010 at 10:10 PM.

10-12-2010, 11:09 PM	#5
Afino Hall Of Famer Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Buffalo, NY Posts: 3,827	This is season 23 for me. Fictional. 20 team league - two subleagues of 10 each. 94 game season with a complete custom schedule. AAA/AA/A/R. Used to have feeders. Got rid of them about 5 seasons ago, although apparently they somehow live on with players on them DESPITE BEING DELETED...grrrr Got rid of the DH about 13 seasons in. Playoffs are 4 teams per subleague. Play out every team game. Season takes me 2-3 weeks Just hit the one year real-time anniversary of my league! __________________ GUBA: Moscow Enforcers

10-13-2010, 08:26 AM	#7
PhillieFever Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Elk Twp. NJ Posts: 6,763	I'm in the first season of a historical league started in 1947. I've set it up to be more of a sim than an alternate history. I've disabled development, and the personality and morale systems. I'm using a 3 year recalc using real stats with players retiring according to history, and missing season's according to history as well. Injuries are on low(with a modded injury file). I've also decided to use real life transactions, using baseball-reference as my guide. I'm managing the Phillies, playing out every one of their games(right now it's June 15th, and we are 25-37 in last place). The league is being chronicled in a dynasty titled "The Golden Age Of Baseball" over in the dynasty forum. Last edited by PhillieFever; 10-16-2010 at 12:26 PM.

10-13-2010, 10:13 AM	#8
Jaxxvain All Star Reserve Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 531	I just started a new solo league. Fictional No financials 20 National teams, 4 Pools of 5 teams each. Play each team in your pool 8 games Play one team from another pool 4 games Total of 20 games Top 2 from each pool make playoffs, plus 8 wildcards, so 16 total teams in World Cup playoffs. The playoffs are 4 rounds, best of 3, top seed hosts all 3 games. One of the key differences that I employed for this league is that the players are amateurs, and that they are ages 18-24. These settings make for a wide variety of skill levels, with some teams even starting players who have 1-1-1 ratings! I just restarted last night, to improve the schedule, and to implement some uniforms (thanks Tobair!), and my US team was upset by a pesky Australian team 9-6! Also in this universe I created an American Pro Senior League (ages 25-up) so some of these studs can move on after they "retire" from my amateur global league. This APSL league only has 4 teams to start, but I left the evolution expansion button on to see where that goes. Looks like I just found my hobby league for the next couple months! __________________ Jaxxvain aka Molson ~~~~~

10-11-2010, 07:06 PM	#1
bubba22plus All Star Reserve Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Equestria Posts: 808	Tell me about your OOTP Universe! So i decided to start up playing again, and i wanted to hear about everyone's universe, like how it's setup, what's going on with your team and what not, so i can hopefully get some ideas for my own universe. __________________ OOTP Resident Brony

10-13-2010, 12:08 AM	#6
Chicagofan76 Banned Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Diamond, IL Posts: 6,339 Infractions: 2/2 (3)	Well i created my ABF which you can find my various postings on here for. it started out as a 12 team league which i just expanded my 2 teams. I play as the Chicago Fire who in the 1st 3 season won the world series, lost the world series and finished 3rd 1 gB. normal setup for 2000, no dh, all players started out with rookie contracts, now every team is broke. i am 23 mil in debt.but i have my core players locked up to long term deals. I won my 3rd consecutive Pitcher Of The Year Award, my now 17 yr old SS won his 3rd consecutive MVP avg approx .352 46HR 117RBI thru 3 seasons. i love my league but the fact that all my teams r broke is troublesome since making trades is next to impossible, and i want to trim payroll.

10-13-2010, 10:35 AM	#9
reds1869 Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Cincinnati, OH, USA Posts: 258	I'm in my first season of a fictional 24 team league. There are 3 divisions of 8 teams each, with division champions and one wild card making the playoffs. Both playoff rounds are best of seven. I play every game out for the team i control, which is currently the Cincinnati River Cats. I use three levels of affiliated minors.

10-13-2010, 11:06 AM	#10
BusterKing Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 2,436	I started a new solo league with OOTP11 using the 2010 MLB roster and managing the Blue Jays. I proceeded with an inaugural draft, trades set to hard and prospect preference. Also set the talent fluctuation to 200 instead of default 100. I fast simmed the first 2 seasons monthly controlling the trades and lineups (losing record first 2 seasons) then took control of my team in 2012 by managing every game on one pitch mode but only controlling substitutions (bullpen warm ups not required, will turn that on when Markus has it right and we can see who the other team is warming up). Finished first in my division but got eliminated in the first round. Now in June of 2013 and only ahead by one game over the Yankees. I never had so much fun with OOTP, this version is the best. Make sure to include all the MLB logos, parks (Night/Day) and facegen of all the players. Last edited by BusterKing; 10-13-2010 at 11:09 AM.

10-14-2010, 10:04 AM	#12
ootpFox07 All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 1,707	My current NABL is a fictional reboot started in OOTP 2007 in 2007 and migrated to 11. 28 Team Major League 2 Sub leagues, 3 divisions each AAA,AA,A,R 162 Games MLB Style Playoffs (Div w/ WC, Champs, WS) 12 Team Independent League 3 divisions AAA 130 Games 2 Round Playoffs (Div w WC, Champs) 16 Team International League Based in US, Foreigner % set to 100 2 Sub leagues, 2 divisions each AAA Teams similar to World Classic but with no US Team 124 games 2 Round Playoffs (Champs, Finals) Once every four years I take the top four teams in each league and have a manual World Cup Style Tournament using Exhibition games. __________________ OOTP Mods and Sites: SimLeaguesPro - The new Premiere site for Online Leagues that runs Fantasy Leagues off OOTP games! OOTP Fantasy Leagues - The original mod to run Fantasy leagues off OOTP games. Gaming Channels: GamerFox015 YouTube Gaming Channel with OOTP content Twitch.tv channel for live sims

10-15-2010, 08:12 PM	#18
Mr. Baseball All Star Starter Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Mequon, Wisconsin Posts: 1,020	I'm getting ready to kickoff the inaugural season of my new league. It has 20 teams, and the divisions are broken up based on regions. One of my teams is from northern Mexico and the other 19 are American teams. The teams play all over the country in cities with populations around 100,000. I didn't include any big cities in the league because I wanted kind of a small feel too it. Players also make significantly less money then Major Leaguers. The average salary of a player is only $750,000. It's basically a cleaned up version of MLB with a few less teams. __________________ Duluth Danger (HBL) Dynasty Report -- Online League Franchise Duluth - 1985/1989 North League Champions! Last edited by Mr. Baseball; 10-15-2010 at 08:14 PM.

10-16-2010, 12:45 AM	#19
Mitch McQuick Minors (Double A) Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 115	I was thinking the other day that I'd like to see a poll of the forum posters to see how they played the game most often with maybe 5 or 6 options to pick from ... 　 As for me, I just finished my first OOTP season simulation. From perhaps 1985 to 2000 I did maybe 9 hands-on computer simulations on the then-current MLB seasons using a variety of programs (Computer Baseball, MicoLeague 1, MicroLeague 2, APBA for Windows). And that's basically what I did this time around too. I started my season out with the OOTP11 default 2010 season rosters in commissioner mode (giving me the power to make some roster changes with the other clubs) post-spring-training and acted as manager of my favorite team (who I knew would be terrible), and let about a month of the 2010 MLB and MiLB seasons play out. I played each of my team's games out pitch-by-pitch mode with me in control of all pre- and in-game strategy and substitutions of my team, and with me also in control of my opponent's pre- and in-game lineup subsitutions (but not strategy obviously, I do this to make sure my opponent is making sound baseball decisions regarding use of set-up guys, closers, pinch-hitters, etc.). I also disable the require warm-up settings for relievers as that's just too cumbersome for me to manage (esp. controlling both teams' subs). About 1 month into the season I decided to shut-down the AI control of all teams (click Set all teams to NOT allow AI roster changes on the Game Set-Up screen of the Legue Options and Rules) putting me in complete control of all organizations' moves (including minor league ones), cancelled the draft (I noticed only about a dozen or so players in the draft pool were real-world draftees and didn't want to waste time with a draft involving mostly fictional players), and I deleted the schedules of the short-season A and rookie level leagues (since there weren't enough players to fill them post-draft cancellation, and I now had to manage the transactions of every team of every franchise; I basically used these teams simply to stash reserve players for the full-season A league teams). At this point with me in control of all organizations, waiver claims basically ceased. There was a substantial added time burden though, as I now had to handle all transactions, lineups, and pitching rotations of all teams in every organization. Around then, anticipating the upcoming trading season, I also went to places like mlbtraderumors, baseball-reference, and Cot's baseball contracts and correctly configured the player/mutual options for the contracts of all players who had such options (once you check the Commisioner Mode checkbox in your Manager Options, an Editor tab will appear on each player's screen from which you can edit their contract info, among other things). From that point forward I basically did as before with me playing my team's games pitch-by-pitch and the computer auto-playing all other games. Every day or two of the season, I would check the league's Injury Log (under Reports) to ID guys that needed to be DLed and replaced (and every week or so for minor leagues). In the rare event where a star player of a would-be contender were lost for a lengthy number of games and there were no solid in-house replacement options, I would sometimes coordinate a trade with another club that had a surplus at that spot, a would-be free agent, or simply wasn't expecting to contend. Perhaps every other week I would re-evaluate the rosters, lineups, and rotations of all clubs and execute demotions, releases, and call-ups. Before the July 31 and Aug 31 trade deadlines, I would evaluate the needs/weakness of all contenders and seek to find matches in terms of potential trades with a non-contenders. On pre-July 31 trades, if there were an extremely hot commodity on the block (Adam Dunn), I would even go so far as to randomly select which team got him among the would-be pursuers. On the pre-Aug 31 trades, I would use the waiver order to decide any virtual draws in terms of trade packages (team with worst record in same league as the player on the block gets priority). Besides looking at the short- and long-term needs of each club, I would often switch between mangaing the two clubs and use the Initiate Trade screen to see what each opposing GM would expect in such a proposed deal and then manually Force the trade once I felt I had satisifed both GMs as best I could. Post-September 1, I promoted players that I thought worthy of a call-up, generally allowing teams involved in minor league playoffs to keep the majority of their guys until their playoffs were through. Before each MLB playoff series, I flipped a coin to decide which team I would guide the entire series, and I played out every LDS, LCS, & WS game in pitch-by-pitch mode as I did before (Cardinals beat Rays in WS). So it is really the current season simulation where my basic interest in OOTP lies, and in trying to make that simulation as realistic as possible (not so much in terms of how the results play out versus the ongoing season but more in terms of how each franchise would act in the situation they found themselves in). I probably will run a much-less-hands-on sim of the 2011 season but I'm very unlikely to go beyond the 2011 season with OOTP11, mostly due to my bias against fictional players. If I had 2 things to do over again with the 2010 simulation, I probably would have taken the time to import the career stats of all minor leaguers before I let their seasons play out, and I would have been more hands on with the 8th inning and beyond of the games where I wasn't acting as manager (the AI managers tend to struggle with the correct use of relievers during the 8th inning of games where a save situation is in effect). As a caveat, what I did takes a ton of time, but what was nice about it was that the time required kept my simulation roughly on pace with the progression of the real season, which provided for an interesting comparative frame of reference.

10-16-2010, 10:53 AM	#20
DanP68 Minors (Double A) Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 151	Currently playing a MLB 2010 based game, where the league expanded for the 2011 season. I took control of the Carolina Blue Fish in the AL Central, while the Las Vegas Gold joined the AL West. The Expansion Draft and subsequent FA period showed two organizations taking totally different paths. The Las Vegas club signed a lot of established MLB ready players in the draft, then spent the big bucks and signed several high level MLB players. It was incredibly successful. The Gold nearly won the AL West in its first season, and grabbed a wild card spot. They were eliminated in the first round by Tampa. Meanwhile my Carolina club used the expansion draft to build the minor league system with plenty of very young players with high upside. We hired a Legendary scout and pumped maximum dollars into his budget, targeting amateur and international talent. In the FA period, we grabbed several mediocre to poor players to give us a MLB ready (but cheap and terrible) product. We finished dead last in the Central as expected but we built a good cash base and got our future rolling. Year 2 (2012) is underway and already the tide is turning. The Gold lost some talent to Free Agency, and several of their other players are aging fast. Meanwhile many of our Blue Fish prospects are developing quicker than expected. In the 2011 off season, our scout found a Dominican kid who has a 101(!) mph fast ball. We signed him immediately and he showed up to spring training already with MLB skills. He cruised through March and won the closer role on the MLB club. We have a rookie 3B in Matt Dominguez who combines tremendous fielding ability with a bat which is getting better and better. The team has a ton of position talent on the way, but the starting pitching prospects leave a lot to be desired. We'll be hitting the amateur draft hard for pitchers. My guess is we will win 76-81 games this season, then make a wild card run in 2013. The minors are fully stocked and we are going to be a Central power for many years once we arrive.