Fictional league without a draft

DustyElbows · 02-19-2025, 06:50 PM

I am trying to run a completely fictional sim starting in the early 1900s. To mimic reality at that time, I turned off the draft and set international finds to zero across the board. I am also using reserve rosters instead of minor leagues.

Within a few years, I have teams running out of players. There just aren't enough players available for them to sign (it's not related to teams being broke).

What is the best way to generate new players and keep rosters full without having a draft?

luckymann · 02-20-2025, 04:08 AM

It's probably as simple as unchecking the disable free-agent creation box in the RULES tab.

DustyElbows · 02-20-2025, 07:45 AM

That box is already unchecked (automatic creation of free agents *is* enabled).

Bluenoser · 02-20-2025, 08:12 AM

Put yourself in Commish Mode. Go to the Free Agents Screen. From the "Actions" dropdown (top right) select "Create Fictional Player(s)".

A window will pop open where you can select various settings for the type and amount of fictional players to create.

Be sure to scroll all the way down in the window. There are several choices to consider.

David Watts · 02-20-2025, 08:20 AM

This is an interesting question. If the draft is enabled, one gets to choose how many rounds the draft is and how many rounds worth of players the game creates for the draft. For example, 6 round draft with enough players 9 rounds. If one turns the draft off, the game grays out that option. So, does that mean the game simply stops creating amateur players altogether?

Is it possible to turn the draft on long enough for it to create the amateur players and then turn the draft off, in effect cancelling the draft?

DustyElbows · 02-20-2025, 08:54 AM

Bluenoser - this is useful, I wasn't aware of this dropdown before now. Would be a bit tedious to manually do this every year of the sim, but definitely an option worth exploring.

David - this has basically been my question. How and when does the game generate new amateur players if the draft is turned off? Feels like it *should* just generate the same group of amateurs and have them enter the league through free agency, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

Another thing I'm tooling around with is enabling IAFA but setting their nationalities to be largely American. These players are then essentially the new domestic amateur free agent class each year.

Still seems like there must be a way for the game to handle this natively.

Carplos · 02-22-2025, 11:23 AM

If the draft is turned off and you have don't have disable automatic creation of free agents checked it will create amateur free agents on the first day of the offseason.

Carplos · 02-22-2025, 11:25 AM

You can't control the number of free agents created this way, I've never paid attention to how many it creates. If it seems like too little, I'll add more manually. In some cases, with smaller leagues, I'll disable creation of free agents and control the creation myself.

madcowsmind · 02-22-2025, 01:47 PM

As someone who has been testing the exact league you speak of (I try to not go to a draft till later in history), I came up with the idea of a Baseball Academy for young players. It isn't a feeder league because I didnt have much luck with feeders going into a league without a draft. It is just a fictional league with the league level set to "high school" and age minimum=13 and maximum=16.

So in theory when players turn 17 and their season is over they will become free agents for your baseball universe. After much work, I started to have success with this. After I built up a large pool of young free agents, I switched the Academy creation ages to just 13 or 14.

You will also need to set your Pro league to "allow free agents from other leagues" otherwise players will just get stuck in the Academy free agent pool with nowhere to go. I wanted my main league to not have financials for the early part of its history but you cant "allow free agents from other leagues" without financials on.

Hope this helps a bit and I encourage others to give their insight on how to make this idea work better!

02-19-2025, 06:50 PM	#1
DustyElbows Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Aug 2016 Posts: 224	Fictional league without a draft I am trying to run a completely fictional sim starting in the early 1900s. To mimic reality at that time, I turned off the draft and set international finds to zero across the board. I am also using reserve rosters instead of minor leagues. Within a few years, I have teams running out of players. There just aren't enough players available for them to sign (it's not related to teams being broke). What is the best way to generate new players and keep rosters full without having a draft?

02-20-2025, 04:08 AM	#2
luckymann Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2019 Posts: 12,662	It's probably as simple as unchecking the disable free-agent creation box in the RULES tab. __________________ HISTORICAL DO-OVERS PIRATES A'S RED SOX DODGERS CUSTOM SAVES ECLIPSE LEAGUE MOON SHOT LEAGUE EVERYMAN LEAGUE GULF LEAGUE

02-20-2025, 07:45 AM	#3
DustyElbows Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Aug 2016 Posts: 224	That box is already unchecked (automatic creation of free agents is enabled).

02-20-2025, 08:12 AM	#4
Bluenoser Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: In The Moment Posts: 14,075	Put yourself in Commish Mode. Go to the Free Agents Screen. From the "Actions" dropdown (top right) select "Create Fictional Player(s)". A window will pop open where you can select various settings for the type and amount of fictional players to create. Be sure to scroll all the way down in the window. There are several choices to consider.

02-20-2025, 08:20 AM	#5
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 9,483 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	This is an interesting question. If the draft is enabled, one gets to choose how many rounds the draft is and how many rounds worth of players the game creates for the draft. For example, 6 round draft with enough players 9 rounds. If one turns the draft off, the game grays out that option. So, does that mean the game simply stops creating amateur players altogether? Is it possible to turn the draft on long enough for it to create the amateur players and then turn the draft off, in effect cancelling the draft?

02-20-2025, 08:54 AM	#6
DustyElbows Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Aug 2016 Posts: 224	Bluenoser - this is useful, I wasn't aware of this dropdown before now. Would be a bit tedious to manually do this every year of the sim, but definitely an option worth exploring. David - this has basically been my question. How and when does the game generate new amateur players if the draft is turned off? Feels like it should just generate the same group of amateurs and have them enter the league through free agency, but that doesn't appear to be the case. Another thing I'm tooling around with is enabling IAFA but setting their nationalities to be largely American. These players are then essentially the new domestic amateur free agent class each year. Still seems like there must be a way for the game to handle this natively.

02-22-2025, 11:23 AM	#7
Carplos Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Idaho Posts: 2,717 Infractions: 1/0 (0)	If the draft is turned off and you have don't have disable automatic creation of free agents checked it will create amateur free agents on the first day of the offseason.

02-22-2025, 11:25 AM	#8
Carplos Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Idaho Posts: 2,717 Infractions: 1/0 (0)	You can't control the number of free agents created this way, I've never paid attention to how many it creates. If it seems like too little, I'll add more manually. In some cases, with smaller leagues, I'll disable creation of free agents and control the creation myself.

02-22-2025, 01:47 PM	#9
madcowsmind Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Apr 2021 Location: Cordova, IL Posts: 48	As someone who has been testing the exact league you speak of (I try to not go to a draft till later in history), I came up with the idea of a Baseball Academy for young players. It isn't a feeder league because I didnt have much luck with feeders going into a league without a draft. It is just a fictional league with the league level set to "high school" and age minimum=13 and maximum=16. So in theory when players turn 17 and their season is over they will become free agents for your baseball universe. After much work, I started to have success with this. After I built up a large pool of young free agents, I switched the Academy creation ages to just 13 or 14. You will also need to set your Pro league to "allow free agents from other leagues" otherwise players will just get stuck in the Academy free agent pool with nowhere to go. I wanted my main league to not have financials for the early part of its history but you cant "allow free agents from other leagues" without financials on. Hope this helps a bit and I encourage others to give their insight on how to make this idea work better!