MLB expansion help

[baseballfanmas]

OK guys, assuming everything goes right with OOTP 14 (a little worried hearing all the stories of crashes, no crashes on my end yet, but I also have not tried to play a game or advance a day yet.) But if all goes well, I will expand. I am going NFL style with the divisions being simply: east, west, north, and south.

Here is what I have so far:

East- Boston, Baltimore, NY Yankees, NY Mets, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Toronto, Washington

North- Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Detroit, Minnesota

South- Florida, Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Kansas City, Houston, Texas, St. Louis

West- Arizona, LA Angels, LA Dodgers, Oakland, San Diego, San Francisco, Colorado, Seattle

I still need a team for the North and a team for the South, and I'm struggling to find big cities that don't already have a major or minor league team. Can anybody help? Also, what do you think of my alignment? Kansas City and St. Louis were tough since they are right in the heart of the Midwest. I ended up putting them in the South over the North because I think they might be a little more South.

I am open to all comments and opinions, as I want to get this as good as I can.

[baseballfanmas]

Also a side note, I have not decided yet whether I am going to go with 4 divisions of 4 teams in each division, or 2 divisions with 8 teams in each division. I do know I will have an AL and an NL, and the designated hitter rule will be used in both the AL and NL.

Any opinions on how I should align? Do you guys like the NFL style of 4 divisions with 4 teams in each division? Or should I be different and go with 2 divisions, 8 teams? Ugh, too many choices. Another reason I love OOTP

[olivertheorem]

For the South you could put a team in San Antonio or New Orleans. I doubt you'll find a city of any notable size that doesn't already have at least a minor-league team, but several MLB cities also have minor league teams in the immediate area (Texas Rangers in Arlington/Dallas, nearby Frisco has the Roughriders).

For the North...Indianapolis?

[mgom27]

Orlando? Columbus? Green Bay? Charlotte? Nashville?

If your going to do it NFL Style then a Central Division to? Also could rename all Teams to NFL Teams Names.

[IcePhoenix]

Originally Posted by mgom27

Orlando? Columbus? Green Bay? Charlotte? Nashville?

If your going to do it NFL Style then a Central Division to? Also could rename all Teams to NFL Teams Names.

NFL hasn't had a Central division in like a decade

[mgom27]

Chicago,Detroit/Minnesota/Green Bay NFC Central.

[ubernoob]

Originally Posted by mgom27

Chicago,Detroit/Minnesota/Green Bay NFC Central.

NFC North. The last time they were the central is when the Yucs were still in the division.

[mgom27]

My bad.

[Cras]

Originally Posted by mgom27

Chicago,Detroit/Minnesota/Green Bay NFC Central.

more like NFC North

[IcePhoenix]

Originally Posted by ubernoob

NFC North. The last time they were the central is when the Yucs were still in the division.

which was in 2001

[Cras]

Originally Posted by IcePhoenix

which was in 2001

now I feel old....it has been that long since the Bucs were in the Bears' division.......

[Royalsusedtorule]

I have expanded leagues with OOTP13 and mostly used some combination of San Antonio, Charlotte, Indianapolis and Portland. Obviously, you have two South and two North choices there.

I believe San Antonio might be the largest US city without a current MLB team, or close. Charlotte is a very fast-growing area, Indy can obviously support pro sports and I have heard Portland has actually put together a committee or something for whenever MLB might expand in real life. Not sure of any details there.

I am actually planning something similar to what you're doing. I will be using San Antonio for sure. Still deciding on the 2nd team. It will depend on what part of country I need a team. I might even put a team back in Montreal. I am actually trying to come up with geographical 'pods' to go with 8 4-team divisions. My plan is to do away with NL and AL and put all teams under a MLB umbrella. Whichever playoff format I decide on will be seeded and re-seeded by winning %. Also going with DH for all.

[Royalsusedtorule]

OK, just following up on my post above, this is what I have tentatively come up with:

Expanding with Charlotte and Montreal. Charlotte will be the Knights (will replace their minor league team) and Montreal the good old Expos.

No AL/NL. League will be under 'United Major League Baseball Association'.

Geographic division names were gonna get messy with 8, so following the old NHL version of divisions under famous stars of the past. Divisions are split into geographic pods.

Lou Gehrig Division: NY Yankees, NY Mets, Boston, Montreal

Walter Johnson Division: Washington, Baltimore, Philly, Pittsburgh

Bob Feller Division: Cleveland, Toronto, Detroit, Cincy

Hank Aaron Division: Atlanta, Charlotte, T Bay, Miami

Ernie Banks Division: Chi Cubs, Chi White Sox, Minnesota, Milwaukee

Stan Musial Division: St. Louis, Kansas City, Texas, Houston

Willie Mays Division: San Fran, Oakland, Seattle, Colorado

Sandy Koufax Division: LA Dodgers, LA Angels, San Diego, Arizona

Division winners and best 4 2nd place wild cards will make playoffs.

[baseballfanmas]

That looks pretty good. I decided I'm going to throw Indianapolis in the North and San Antonio in the South. The only thing I'm still debating on is the format.

Format 1: AL and NL, 4 divisions, 4 teams in each. Playoffs would be division winners plus 4 wildcards from each league (wildcards would be 4 best records that didn't win their division)

Format 2: AL and NL, 2 divisions for each league, 8 teams in each. Top 4 teams in each division make playoffs, first round would be cross divisional. For instance, in the AL, top team in 1 division would play 4th place team in the other division, and so on.

Opinions?

I am very hesitant to really get going on this dynasty until after the patch comes out on Monday. I have read on the boards way too many posts about the game randomly crashing.

Has anybody successfully started and is playing through a dynasty on OOTP 14 without crashes? I'm curious

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by baseballfanmas

I am open to all comments and opinions, as I want to get this as good as I can.

You may wish to peruse this thread in the OOTP 13 discussions form last year. It used BEA income data (rather than Census population figures) to rank the top metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S. It perhaps will give you some ideas on candidate cities and how they compare to established MLB cities.