How do you keep up with your league?

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by CubMariner

As a total noob to the game (long time SOM player), I've found this thread very helpful! I finally got the chance yesterday to start dabbling with a league and found myself amazed that five hours went by!

5 hours? Turn back while there's still time! You have started down a path that has no end.

[CubMariner]

Originally Posted by Sweed

5 hours? Turn back while there's still time! You have started down a path that has no end.

Yeah, I know I'm in trouble when I'm already thinking of about 10 different projects.

[RchW]

Originally Posted by Sweed

Are you talking about the old BNN Page? It's still there with all of the links it always had. Or is it something else? Two screenshots so you can see the whole thing.

That's been my opening screen for as many versions as it has been available.

[Eugene Church]

Take reds1 advice and create a dynasty report where you cover your league... do your own game recaps (the AI does a poor job on the recaps)... and covering the league is the best way to learn the teams and the players.

Strongly suggest that you create small leagues... 16 teams is the best number in my opinion... over time you can learn the teams and the players... I don't use minor league teams... I use the reserve roster in place of the minors to replace players.

The original MLB only had 16 teams... the American League and the National League... and the playoffs was just the World Series with the champion of the AL playing the champion of the NL.

I grew up in the 1950s... I knew the starting lineups of every team in the Majors at that time... and I also knew the basic stats of most players... I got this from the newspapers.

You can do that in OOTP if you keep your league smaller than 20 teams.

Historical players are easier to get to know... because we probably already have a good idea of their talent... it takes much longer when you use fictional players.

If you create a small league... 8 teams each in 2 leagues... play out the last 5 innings of each game in the one-pitch mode... and use the 3D animation using custom camera views... take over from the AI in the 5th... otherwise you get stuck with the AI substitutions... the AI doesn't usually make a lot of changes in the lineup in the early innings... basically, it just pulls starters that don't do well early in the game.

[Syd Thrift]

I have my league at 24 teams and am probably pretty close to being able to remember the lineups for all of them… still, yeh, slowing it down is the way to go IMO.

[JWW]

Originally Posted by Sweed

I play out ever inning of every game including spring training. After each game I look over the "score" page of MLB (not the minors) and check the R-H-E, HR, WP, S, and POG. If a game sticks out I check the boxscore.

After that I "finish" the day and go through my mail (reading every one and most times digging into the links included) and my bookmarks...

MLB standings
BNN (the old html page) where I click on "all transactions" and read those
MLB Home page
World Home Page
MLB transactions set to Waivers tab
MLB transactions set to Prospects Pipeline tab
My team page
My office page
History

If there are any trades I look them over on the trade page clicking on every player involved.

I also review any player that is extended, discovered, retired, waiver claimed, signed from the FA pile, etc. etc. etc.

It takes about 12 to 13 weeks to complete a season. When a new version comes out I import my league into it and continue. Been playing the same game (started with v4) since 2002 and continue on with v23 in 2022.

It's about the journey, not how fast I get there.

I play fictional leagues only, and I am currently playing a fictional league with 2 12-team leagues based in large cities that don't have MLB teams, and with one minor league level, AAA. I only sim games, but I play a week at a time and then do many of the things Sweed does every day, as well as scanning box scores from my team's games. That can create more immersion as I get to know the other teams and a lot of the players. Another thing I did at the start of this one is put one league west of the Mississippi River, the Western League, and one east of the river, of course the Eastern League, each with one northern division and one southern division. Then I picked out what I thought were appropriate and neat looking logos, a few of which I found on line, like the El Paso Chupacabras. That just seems to give me a little more investment in the league as a whole, as well as finding a neat USBL logo on line. I am GM/Manager the New Orleans Voodoo, and I found New Orleans Voodoo OOTP compatible images on line. There are a lot of OOTP compatible logos on line, including many city specific ones. Near the end of the season I sim one day at a time if I'm in contention, and then one day at a time in the playoffs, checking box scores aftere each game. I also eliminate a couple of rules, so I can promote or demote players at will.