Question

David Watts · 05-17-2026, 04:58 PM

Was messing around with a historical league with full minors yesterday. Started the league in 1948. I know all those leagues existed and it is historical minors, so that's probably the answer, but do we really need every single one of those leagues? I didn't count them, but I think there's more than 30 leagues total. The whole thing is just so massive. '

I would enjoy less leagues, even if the game had to break from history to do so. Then again, I too would like the game to assign minor league teams to teams in the 20's even though they didn't have affiliations in real life.

luckymann · 05-17-2026, 06:22 PM

The sooner they come up with some sort of compromise for historical games, the better, IMO. Historical minors are a huge commitment, and the standard historical game not using them is basically broken.

The ability to access the players with various custom minor-league structure options is the way to go for mine, but I doubt they'll address it. They won't even acknowledge there's a problem to be addressed.

G

David Watts · 05-17-2026, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luckymann

The sooner they come up with some sort of compromise for historical games, the better, IMO. Historical minors are a huge commitment, and the standard historical game not using them is basically broken.

The ability to access the players with various custom minor-league structure options is the way to go for mine, but I doubt they'll address it. They won't even acknowledge there's a problem to be addressed.

G

I would love it if there were custom minor league structure options. For me the players are the important aspect of the equation.

luckymann · 05-17-2026, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Watts

I would love it if there were custom minor league structure options. For me the players are the important aspect of the equation.

Have you tried this workaround? It's what I use to facilitate what you're after. Seems like a lot of work, but it isn't. It's just tricky to implement at setup. After that, it's a simple toggle on-off routine either side of the draft reveal.

You also need to create your own MiLB level(s) if you want them. An expanded MLB is another option, with maybe one MiLB club for spillover.

LansdowneSt · 05-17-2026, 08:26 PM

It's not a popular opinion, but for me the historical minors should be culled.

Tough to say that given the expansion of the them was only in OOTP25. It's a massive effort to keep the data organized and the data is so incomplete as to be meaningless or made up. It slows sims and I quit using the minors after Ballplayer Jones won the Cy Young in an OOTP25 sim of mine. He had a real life history of 2 G and zero recorded stats in some 1915 D league and advanced to the majors as a stud once the development engine got hold of him. Some think that's really cool. To me, it's noise and in the way. So much so, I won't play with them on anymore.

Don't get me wrong, I still spent hours this weekend tending to some oddities in the minor league database... but didn't mean it was worth it.

I felt the same way about things like the French league and stuff when that was in the game. Who needs 1,000 more players to keep track of when time is so precious for OOTPD?

luckymann · 05-17-2026, 10:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LansdowneSt

It's not a popular opinion, but for me the historical minors should be culled.

Tough to say that given the expansion of the them was only in OOTP25. It's a massive effort to keep the data organized and the data is so incomplete as to be meaningless or made up. It slows sims and I quit using the minors after Ballplayer Jones won the Cy Young in an OOTP25 sim of mine. He had a real life history of 2 G and zero recorded stats in some 1915 D league and advanced to the majors as a stud once the development engine got hold of him. Some think that's really cool. To me, it's noise and in the way. So much so, I won't play with them on anymore.

Don't get me wrong, I still spent hours this weekend tending to some oddities in the minor league database... but didn't mean it was worth it.

I felt the same way about things like the French league and stuff when that was in the game. Who needs 1,000 more players to keep track of when time is so precious for OOTPD?

Yeah, I hear you bud. It is not for the faint-hearted running a sim using them, so I can only imagine what it takes to keep the minors part updated accurately.

The problem is, the historical game pretty much doesn't work without them. HM are the go-to excuse in this regard for the devs, so good luck trying to take that away from them.

The mod provides the best hybrid IMO, but not all people are keen to integrate before time. And even you'd concede the setup is tricky enough to deter many others.

I really hope the whole thing gets a proper review and some suitable solution concocted, but I am sceptical in the extreme.

G

David Watts · Yesterday, 06:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luckymann

Yeah, I hear you bud. It is not for the faint-hearted running a sim using them, so I can only imagine what it takes to keep the minors part updated accurately.

The problem is, the historical game pretty much doesn't work without them. HM are the go-to excuse in this regard for the devs, so good luck trying to take that away from them.

The mod provides the best hybrid IMO, but not all people are keen to integrate before time. And even you'd concede the setup is tricky enough to deter many others.

I really hope the whole thing gets a proper review and some suitable solution concocted, but I am sceptical in the extreme.

G

Probably obvious, but what does HM mean?

luckymann · Yesterday, 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Watts

Probably obvious, but what does HM mean?

historical minors

David Watts · Yesterday, 08:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luckymann

historical minors

Oh man, just gave myself a blackeye when I smacked myself in the head for that one. Wow! Pretty darn obvious.

David Watts · Yesterday, 09:40 AM

In the long run, I really don't think I'm cut out for historical minors. I love having the extra players, as I like playing with injuries set to no lower than normal, but usually much higher My problem is, I don't want Wilson Fishstick who spent his entire career in AA ball starting for the Yankees, unless it's due to a massive amount of injuries. I always cringe when I see team/s with 1 or 2 career minor league slugs listed in their 5 man rotation. For example, this weekend I set up a historical league using HM

beginning in the year 1948. I'm watching a Red Sox game and Mel Parnell comes in late in the game in relief. Right away, I'm what the heck! Sure enough, the Sox have Nostril Pegboard in their rotation and Parnell in the pen. Ole Nostril pitched his entire career in the minors. What drives me even more nuts, is when the minor league scrub is stinking the joint up at Tom Veryzer levels and the game just keeps trotting him out there.

Carplos · Yesterday, 10:21 AM

Can't you prevent players who never played in the majors from making it to the majors, or am I losing my mind?

David Watts · Yesterday, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carplos

Can't you prevent players who never played in the majors from making it to the majors, or am I losing my mind?

Yes you can. I've always looked at playing way as nothing more than a way to have a really large game file, but maybe that's the way to go. I wonder if one selects that option if there are enough cup of tea type players available to make using higher injury settings feasible? I always assumed it would not. Now you've made me curious.

I wonder how the game operates when so many players are blocked from ever getting promoted? Do the AAA and AA levels get jammed with tons of aging players?

David Watts · Yesterday, 10:51 AM

With the addition of the added Negro League players, I probably don't even need to use historical minors. I don't use retire according to history, or miss seasons according to history. I use a combo of recalc and the development engine for my leagues or at times simple use development only. Playing this way it doesn't take long for teams to accumulate enough players for me to set injuries to my hearts content. The one thing one does miss out on though, is having a guy enter the big leagues a year or two ahead of his actual MLB debut. That and injury depth are the main reasons I ever use Historical Minors.

David Watts · Yesterday, 12:03 PM

New questiion. If you use the feature that prevent guys that never made it from reaching the majors, does it prevent the Negro League players from being promoted?

luckymann · Yesterday, 05:53 PM

I don't think you can do this, I believe you can only stop fictional players from doing so.

The NeL guys aren't fictional, so only the color bar can stop them.

luckymann · Yesterday, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Watts

In the long run, I really don't think I'm cut out for historical minors. I love having the extra players, as I like playing with injuries set to no lower than normal, but usually much higher My problem is, I don't want Wilson Fishstick who spent his entire career in AA ball starting for the Yankees, unless it's due to a massive amount of injuries. I always cringe when I see team/s with 1 or 2 career minor league slugs listed in their 5 man rotation. For example, this weekend I set up a historical league using HM

beginning in the year 1948. I'm watching a Red Sox game and Mel Parnell comes in late in the game in relief. Right away, I'm what the heck! Sure enough, the Sox have Nostril Pegboard in their rotation and Parnell in the pen. Ole Nostril pitched his entire career in the minors. What drives me even more nuts, is when the minor league scrub is stinking the joint up at Tom Veryzer levels and the game just keeps trotting him out there.

Yeah, it is a huge investment that is beyond a lot of people's level of interest.

Since 25, I don't seem to have issues with MiLBers being too prevalent at the MLB level. It does happen on occasion, but not how it used to a couple versions ago. Having them retire as per history makes it even less of a problem.

David Watts · Yesterday, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luckymann

I don't think you can do this, I believe you can only stop fictional players from doing so.

The NeL guys aren't fictional, so only the color bar can stop them.

I worded my question wrong, as usual. Didn't want to block the Negro League players. I was worried since they didn't get to play in the major leagues, because they weren't allowed to, if the block players that didn't play in the majors feature would effect them. You cleared it up, by pointing out that's only a feature for fictional players.

David Watts · Yesterday, 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luckymann

Yeah, it is a huge investment that is beyond a lot of people's level of interest.

Since 25, I don't seem to have issues with MiLBers being too prevalent at the MLB level. It does happen on occasion, but not how it used to a couple versions ago. Having them retire as per history makes it even less of a problem.

Too bad one can't choose to only have the minor league players retire as per history. I don't want Sandy Koufax to retire young

David Watts · Today, 08:25 AM

Created 1946 last night without historical minors turned on. No minors whatsoever. I actually prefer to use reserve rosters So much less work and so much less to worry about.

Wanted to see how many free agents were available prior to opening day. There were roughly 292 free agents available upon creation of the league. That's enough players for each team to add at least 18 players. I think most teams had around 14 or 15 players on their reserve rosters upon league creation. The roster depth is there and available. The teams just have to be programmed to make use of it.

The vast majority of players on the reserve roster should sign pretty much any contract offered to them. If they are free agents, they are unemployed If a team needs another catcher and one is available, they should be able to quickly nab one off the free agent list. No drawn out negotiation process needs to take place No need for Al Bumbry to have to play catcher. Of course, the other option available is to run a free agent draft prior to the start of the season. This would fill up rosters and provide roster depth. Drives me nuts when there's like 8 or 9 catchers sitting on the free agent list and instead of a team signing one of the available, they instead trot out Paul Blair as their backup catcher.

05-17-2026, 04:58 PM	#1
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 10,159 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	Question Was messing around with a historical league with full minors yesterday. Started the league in 1948. I know all those leagues existed and it is historical minors, so that's probably the answer, but do we really need every single one of those leagues? I didn't count them, but I think there's more than 30 leagues total. The whole thing is just so massive. ' I would enjoy less leagues, even if the game had to break from history to do so. Then again, I too would like the game to assign minor league teams to teams in the 20's even though they didn't have affiliations in real life.

05-17-2026, 06:22 PM	#2
luckymann Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2019 Posts: 14,132	The sooner they come up with some sort of compromise for historical games, the better, IMO. Historical minors are a huge commitment, and the standard historical game not using them is basically broken. The ability to access the players with various custom minor-league structure options is the way to go for mine, but I doubt they'll address it. They won't even acknowledge there's a problem to be addressed. G __________________ HISTORICAL DO-OVERS A'S RED SOX DODGERS PIRATES MARINERS CUSTOM SAVES LGB NEXUS

05-17-2026, 08:26 PM	#5
LansdowneSt Global Moderator Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: From Duxbury, Mass residing Baltimore Posts: 8,151	It's not a popular opinion, but for me the historical minors should be culled. Tough to say that given the expansion of the them was only in OOTP25. It's a massive effort to keep the data organized and the data is so incomplete as to be meaningless or made up. It slows sims and I quit using the minors after Ballplayer Jones won the Cy Young in an OOTP25 sim of mine. He had a real life history of 2 G and zero recorded stats in some 1915 D league and advanced to the majors as a stud once the development engine got hold of him. Some think that's really cool. To me, it's noise and in the way. So much so, I won't play with them on anymore. Don't get me wrong, I still spent hours this weekend tending to some oddities in the minor league database... but didn't mean it was worth it. I felt the same way about things like the French league and stuff when that was in the game. Who needs 1,000 more players to keep track of when time is so precious for OOTPD? __________________ Complete Universe Facegen Pack 2.0 (mine included) https://www.mediafire.com/file_premi...k_2.0.zip/file Just my Facegen Pack: https://www.mediafire.com/file_premi..._Pack.zip/file

Yesterday, 05:53 PM	#15
luckymann Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2019 Posts: 14,132	I don't think you can do this, I believe you can only stop fictional players from doing so. The NeL guys aren't fictional, so only the color bar can stop them. __________________ HISTORICAL DO-OVERS A'S RED SOX DODGERS PIRATES MARINERS CUSTOM SAVES LGB NEXUS

Yesterday, 09:40 AM	#10
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 10,159 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	In the long run, I really don't think I'm cut out for historical minors. I love having the extra players, as I like playing with injuries set to no lower than normal, but usually much higher My problem is, I don't want Wilson Fishstick who spent his entire career in AA ball starting for the Yankees, unless it's due to a massive amount of injuries. I always cringe when I see team/s with 1 or 2 career minor league slugs listed in their 5 man rotation. For example, this weekend I set up a historical league using HM beginning in the year 1948. I'm watching a Red Sox game and Mel Parnell comes in late in the game in relief. Right away, I'm what the heck! Sure enough, the Sox have Nostril Pegboard in their rotation and Parnell in the pen. Ole Nostril pitched his entire career in the minors. What drives me even more nuts, is when the minor league scrub is stinking the joint up at Tom Veryzer levels and the game just keeps trotting him out there.

Yesterday, 10:21 AM	#11
Carplos Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Idaho Posts: 2,899 Infractions: 1/0 (0)	Can't you prevent players who never played in the majors from making it to the majors, or am I losing my mind?

Yesterday, 10:51 AM	#13
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 10,159 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	With the addition of the added Negro League players, I probably don't even need to use historical minors. I don't use retire according to history, or miss seasons according to history. I use a combo of recalc and the development engine for my leagues or at times simple use development only. Playing this way it doesn't take long for teams to accumulate enough players for me to set injuries to my hearts content. The one thing one does miss out on though, is having a guy enter the big leagues a year or two ahead of his actual MLB debut. That and injury depth are the main reasons I ever use Historical Minors.

Yesterday, 12:03 PM	#14
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 10,159 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	New questiion. If you use the feature that prevent guys that never made it from reaching the majors, does it prevent the Negro League players from being promoted?

Today, 08:25 AM	#19
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 10,159 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	Created 1946 last night without historical minors turned on. No minors whatsoever. I actually prefer to use reserve rosters So much less work and so much less to worry about. Wanted to see how many free agents were available prior to opening day. There were roughly 292 free agents available upon creation of the league. That's enough players for each team to add at least 18 players. I think most teams had around 14 or 15 players on their reserve rosters upon league creation. The roster depth is there and available. The teams just have to be programmed to make use of it. The vast majority of players on the reserve roster should sign pretty much any contract offered to them. If they are free agents, they are unemployed If a team needs another catcher and one is available, they should be able to quickly nab one off the free agent list. No drawn out negotiation process needs to take place No need for Al Bumbry to have to play catcher. Of course, the other option available is to run a free agent draft prior to the start of the season. This would fill up rosters and provide roster depth. Drives me nuts when there's like 8 or 9 catchers sitting on the free agent list and instead of a team signing one of the available, they instead trot out Paul Blair as their backup catcher.