Universe 16 Quickstart

[lungs]

After many years of tinkering with different baseball worlds, IÂ’m finally releasing one of them publicly.
This is Universe 16, which should give you an idea of how many times IÂ’ve rebuilt this thing from the ground up. I've been playing OOTP since OOTP2 when I was in high school, and I'm now firmly into early middle age. Over the years I've probably built dozens of fictional universes, but this is the first one that felt polished enough to share.
What this universe is

This is an alternate universe global baseball structure built around promotion and relegation.
The core of the universe is the Professional Baseball Association, which unified professional baseball in the United States and Canada in 1950.
The system includes:
North America

• American Professional Baseball Association (APBA) – 16 teams
• Continental Baseball League (CBL) – 16 teams
• United Baseball League (UBL) – 32 teams
• North American Baseball Federation (NABF) – 48 teams

Every league plays a single table season with no playoffs.
The first place team is champion and is promoted.
The last place team is relegated.
At the end of the season there is also the Association Cup, a knockout tournament featuring top clubs from every tier.
Global baseball structure

The world doesn't stop in North America.
Other leagues included:

• Greater Asian Baseball Federation
  (Japan, South Korea, Chinese Taipei)
• Liga de Beissbol de America Latina
• Australian Baseball League
• European system
  • European Championship Baseball League (top tier)
  • European Baseball Federation (second tier)

Every four years the world comes together for the Tournament of Nations, an international tournament that crowns the best baseball nation on earth.
Notes about the quickstart

• Logos and visual assets are AI generated
• I haven't spent much time on stadium work yet
• The financial structure and statistical output are fairly well tuned
• Rosters and contracts are designed to create a lot of player movement and competitive balance

Download

Steam Workshop
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfil...?id=3684967073
Google Drive (Direct Download)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ae4...usp=drive_link
Feel free to do whatever you want with it ~650 mb download

If you download this universe, please feel free to:

• modify it
• rebalance it
• change leagues
• expand it
• use the logos/assets
• release your own versions

I'm sharing it because fictional universes are one of the best parts of OOTP and I always enjoy seeing what other people do with them.
If people enjoy it, I may keep updating it as the universe evolves.
Enjoy!

[lungs]

The Professional Baseball Association

An Alternate History Baseball Universe

In our world, professional baseball developed through a chaotic web of independent leagues, rival organizations, and regional competitions. Throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the sport grew wildly popular across the United States and Canada, but its structure remained fragmented. Cities hosted proud local clubs, tournaments determined temporary champions, and rival leagues competed fiercely for talent and prestige.
By the middle of the twentieth century, however, the sport had reached a breaking point.
In 1950, leaders from dozens of competing leagues, clubs, and regional associations gathered to bring order to the increasingly chaotic landscape of professional baseball. Out of these negotiations emerged a unified governing structure: the Professional Baseball Association (PBA).
Rather than creating a closed league with permanent members, the founders chose a system that reflected the competitive spirit of early baseball: promotion and relegation. Teams would earn their place through performance on the field, not through ownership privilege or market size.
The result was a fully integrated baseball pyramid spanning the United States and Canada, allowing clubs from large metropolitan cities and small industrial towns alike to compete within a single competitive ecosystem.
More than a league, the PBA became an entire baseball civilization.
________________________________________
The Structure of Professional Baseball

The Professional Baseball Association is organized into four competitive tiers. Each league operates as part of a single interconnected system in which clubs rise and fall based entirely on their performance.
American Professional Baseball Association (APBA)
Top Tier – 16 Teams
The APBA represents the highest level of professional baseball in North America. Its champion is widely considered the premier club in the sport.
The APBA features the strongest rosters, the largest stadiums, and the greatest national attention. While promotion and relegation ensure constant turnover in membership, the league consistently showcases the best talent in the association.
________________________________________
Continental Baseball League (CBL)
Second Tier – 16 Teams
The Continental Baseball League sits directly beneath the APBA and serves as the immediate gateway to the top tier.
CBL clubs are often extremely competitive, and many organizations have moved between the CBL and APBA multiple times over the years. For ambitious franchises, the CBL represents both an opportunity and a proving ground.
________________________________________
United Baseball League (UBL)
Third Tier – 32 Teams
The United Baseball League forms the broad middle of the professional baseball structure.
UBL clubs are often developing organizations, emerging cities, or recently relegated teams rebuilding their rosters. The league features intense competition, as clubs fight both for promotion upward and to avoid falling further down the pyramid.
________________________________________
North American Baseball Federation (NABF)
Fourth Tier – 48 Teams
At the foundation of the professional baseball system lies the North American Baseball Federation.
The NABF is home to dozens of smaller market clubs across the United States and Canada. While the level of play varies widely, the NABF remains one of the most important parts of the system.
Many legendary teams—and many future stars—have begun their journey in the NABF before rising through the ranks.
________________________________________
Promotion and Relegation
The defining feature of the Professional Baseball Association is its promotion and relegation system.
Each league plays a full regular season with no playoffs. The standings alone determine the outcome.
At the end of each season:
• First place teams are promoted to the next higher league
• Last place teams are relegated to the league below
The sole exception is the APBA champion, who simply claims the title of league champion.
This system ensures that every game carries meaning. A club fighting to finish first may be chasing promotion, while a struggling team near the bottom fights desperately to avoid relegation.
Over time, franchises may climb from the lowest ranks of the NABF all the way to the APBA—or fall back down again.
________________________________________
The Association Draft
Unlike many historical baseball structures, the Professional Baseball Association does not operate traditional minor leagues.
Instead, the entire system shares a single annual amateur draft.
Draft order is determined by the overall standings of the previous season, with the lowest teams selecting first.
This means:
• NABF teams receive the earliest draft picks
• The worst-performing club in the entire association gets the first overall selection
Young players typically begin their careers with lower tier teams, gaining experience before eventually moving up the pyramid through promotion or free agency.
________________________________________
Rosters and Player Development
Because the association has no affiliated minor leagues, player development occurs directly within the league system.
Each club carries:
• 35-man active roster
• 15-man reserve roster
Lower-tier leagues like the UBL and NABF often serve as developmental proving grounds where young players gain experience before becoming stars at higher levels.
However, the system also ensures constant movement of talent.
Players become eligible for free agency after three years of service time, meaning breakout stars in the lower leagues frequently sign major contracts with APBA clubs.
This dynamic creates a continuous cycle of opportunity and competition throughout the association.
________________________________________
The Association Cup
While each league crowns its own champion through regular season standings, the entire baseball world comes together at the end of every season for one final competition:
The Association Cup
The Cup is a tournament featuring the strongest clubs from every tier.
Participants include:
• Top 8 teams from the APBA
• Top 4 teams from the CBL
• Top 2 teams from the UBL
• Top 2 teams from the NABF
Teams are seeded so that higher-tier clubs face lower-tier challengers in the opening round.
The tournament format:
Round Format
First Round Best of 3
Quarterfinals Best of 5
Semifinals Best of 5
Championship Best of 7
The Association Cup gives rising clubs from lower leagues a chance to challenge the giants of the APBA and has produced some of the most legendary upsets in baseball history.
________________________________________
A Living Baseball World
The Professional Baseball Association is designed to simulate a fully connected baseball ecosystem.
Teams rise and fall.
Small towns can produce champions.
Dynasties can collapse overnight.
Young stars emerge from the lowest leagues and become legends.
Every season reshapes the hierarchy of the sport.
And every club, no matter how small, has a path to the top.

[lungs]

Placeholder

[Trebird27]

I love the idea of this I simmed 6 seasons the USA has won both tournaments of nations now I'm going to pick a team probably in one of the overseas league and stack them for fun

[lungs]

Originally Posted by Trebird27

I love the idea of this I simmed 6 seasons the USA has won both tournaments of nations now I'm going to pick a team probably in one of the overseas league and stack them for fun

Good luck stacking a European team with the default rules I've set up! The Euro teams have a limit of two foreign hitters and two foreign pitchers. But you can usually coax some decent aging veterans over to Europe from America to provide star power. But the rest of the roster you have to fill with guys from the home country which can get a tad challenging for teams like Kobenhavn.


The Latin American league is intriguing because at the top of its draft it generates players more than capable of playing in the upper levels of the American/Canadian pyramid. And you can also sign guys that wash out of the pyramid.


The Asian League is segregated from the rest of the world except guys that don't get drafted ironically sometimes end up in North America. I usually open the Asian League up to the rest of the world around 1970 when I'm playing.

[Trebird27]

I figured out if you give players second nationality in the nation the team is in they don't count as foreign and I took over Caracas and brought two players in so far

[Trebird27]

How do you open the Asian league to the rest of the world

[lungs]

League Settings, Financials, Allow Free Agents from Other Leagues and Allow Free Agents to Leave League need to be checked.

[Trebird27]

Ok I'll open it up next season

[Trebird27]

I brought in a catcher who's under contract to norfolk In the bottom tier I think he will be able to hit 4.00 in the Latin league

[Trebird27]

I have an idea make the aus league with new zealand teams in great work