Is anyone planning on the structure of their new (fictional) baseball world yet?

[cephasjames]

Originally Posted by Greg Layton

Gosh, the possibilities really are endless.

That almost makes it a little overwhelming.

[tim_uwrf]

Originally Posted by PotatoPeeler

I was thinking of making a MLB meets the NHL universe. It'll be all the NHL teams and their affiliates as well as top foreign leagues. Only difference is they'll be playing baseball instead of hockey! It'll be interesting to see if I can pull it off. Might be too much research!

Why not do soccer...thats what this game is gonna be anyway...

[PotatoPeeler]

Because hockey is the 2nd greatest sport on the planet!

[canadiancreed]

these last two posts are smile-a-rific!

As for me I've already got mine in mind.....I jsuthave to get off my lasy ass and do it (look at my sig for what "it" is)

[RMc]

And, yes, there will be promotion and relegation in the The Baseball Leagues, with four teams moving up/down between the levels each year. Here's how it works:

The Cup Winner (champion of each level), automatically gets promoted, taking the place of the lowest-rated team (determined by power ratings) of the next-highest level. The other three Cup semifinalists each play "Survivor Series" against the bottom three teams in the next-highest level. So four teams move up and four move down every year.

Example: Billings (MT) wins the AA Cup, and is automatically promoted to AAA, replacing Yonkers (NY), who finished dead last in AAA. The other three semifinalists in AA are Simi Valley (CA), Ann Arbor (MI) and Trenton (NJ); the next lowest-rated in AAA (after Yonkers) are Jersey City (NJ), Fort Wayne (IN) and Little Rock (AR). Simi Valley plays Jersey City, Ann Arbor plays Fort Wayne, and Trenton plays Little Rock; the winners of the three series play in AAA next year, while the losers play in AA.

Exemptions: The current real 30 MLB franchises are forever exempt from relegation; they cannot drop down, ever. (Don't worry, Mets fans...your team is safe.) In addition: the World Series champion is exempt from relegation for the next ten years, and a minor-league Cup Winner is exempt for the next three years. So if the Dayton Dragons win the AAA Cup in 2006 and join MLB in 2007, they cannot be relegated back into AAA before 2010. (Other ideas may include individual league winners -- remember, each level has at least eight leagues -- getting a one-year exemption or something.)

Promotion/relegation will probably include just the all-professional levels (MLB through A) at first, then expand into the semi-pro B and C leagues later. The R, X and Y leagues are designed for smaller towns that can't really support pro baseball, and will probably be left out of it.

Again, good grief!

[RMc]

For more on The Baseball Leagues, please see my new topic...post there with suggestions/compliments/insults...

[RchW]

I have an ambitious plan to try a league/dynasty based loosely on "The Culture" a utopian galactic empire created by reknowned UK author Iain M Banks. One of the key parts of this construct are huge artificial intelligences called "Minds" that create and build habitats, planets, orbitals (see Ringworld) and ships, huge ships that are sentient and can carry millions of beings (human and non-human). Since the Culture is utopian people live for hundreds of years and have extreme wealth. From an early age you are connected to the 'net with a neural lace such that virtual reality is available in a thought. After a night of drinking you can "gland" a hangover cure, or fix a broken bone.

The attraction for me is the brilliant names that Banks uses to identify these sentient ship "Minds". I hope there is room for some of these long names for leagues or teams. I haven't really thought in detail how I'd set this up but it will be fun to try an interglalactic league, epecially in a place where AI's are the dominant force.

Anybody who reads Banks and has ideas, I'd love to hear them.

Here are a few ship names

Culture - includes Ulterior and Eccentrics

General Contact Unit

GCU Different Tan (Mountain Class)
GCU Fate Amenable To Change (River Class)
GCU Gray Area
GCU It's Character Forming
GCU Jaundiced Outlook (Ridge)
GCU Problem Child (Troubadour)
GCU Reasonable Excuse
GCU Recent Convert
GCU Tactical Grace (Escarpment Class)
GCU Unacceptable Behaviour
GCV Steely Glint (Plains)

Highpoint (ulterior)
Shoot Them Later (eccentric;ulterior)

Limited or Rapid Offensive Unit

LOU Attitude Adjuster (Killer Class)
ROU Killing Time (Torturer Class)
ROU Frank Exchange Of Views (Psychopath Class)


Systems Vehicles (Class)
General, Limited, Medium

GSV Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The (Plate)
GSV Death and Gravity
GSV Ethics Gradient (Range)
GSV Honest Mistake
GSV Limivourous (Ocean)
GSV No Fixed Abode (Sabbaticaler, ex Equator)
GSV Quietly Confident (Plate)
GSV Sleeper Service (Plate)
GSV Uninvited Guest
GSV Use Psychology
GSV What Is The Answer and Why?
GSV Wisdom Like Silence (Continent)
GSV Yawning Angel (Range)
GSV Zero Gravitas
LSV Misophist
LSV Serious Callers Only (Tundra)
MSV Not Invented Here (Desert)

[Malleus Dei]

Originally Posted by qusip

I have created a database of current Major and Minor League Teams (now I am working on affiliations)...I plan on including the 7 independent leagues

Gee, me too. I'm going to try to model real baseball as much as the game will allow.

[cephasjames]

I've been trying to create a spread sheet listing every year from 1901 to now, showing all of the class AAA (are most foreign considered AAA?) to B leagues that really (and somewhat significantly) existed. I've been using this site to figure out what ones there were. I've come with 31 (3 majors included) leagues.

Does any one know of a better source? I haven't found any independent leagues that have been around for more than the past 15 years so I haven't added them in yet, since most of the leagues I found had some sort of independce at some point.

[Dark Horse]

Originally Posted by DreamTeams

I plan to keep my Metro Leagues in tact with the addition of one or two independent leagues were contracts can be bought by the major clubs if that's possible. It all depends on what the final release allows.

i kinda' have the same idea.

i have a fictional world with 60 cities in it. i just have to decide how i want to divide it into leagues. i'm toying with the idea of starting with a small major league and no minor league affiliates. There would be no amatuer draft. But there would be a lot of independent leagues where young players are created. And the major leagues would have to buy contracts from the independents. Hopefully, the AI can handle that type of setup.

For the last several years, i've been doing a lot of reading about the history of baseball. i even bought the Ken Burns documentary. So i'm thinking i want to start small and then let it evolve. Set up some rules for the teams. If teams are performing well, and losing a lot of money, maybe i'll contract it. If an independent team does well financially and has great fan interest, maybe i'll add it to the majors.

Of course, i'm slow to really nail anything down until i know for sure what the game will have. i've already done the map. i already have the cities and regions ready to be added to the international database. i did have to go back and change market sizes to actual populations. i still have to give the cities longitudes and latitudes. The other work is backstory and description about the fictional world. And like you and Eugene Church i'm working on city descriptions.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by qusip

I have created a database of current Major and Minor League Teams (now I am working on affiliations).

Not sure how much your database includes, but if you're just listing which team is in which league and affiliated with which major league club, that info is already around.

There's a Minor League History file floating around that has the listings of a huge number minor leagues along with the listings of the individual club affiliations (you should be able to dig up a link to it with a search of the forums).

I've done some work on expanding the info in that file to include leagues that were originally not included, along with adding league-level data like schedule lengths, opening and closing dates, league alignments, and so forth. At present I'm working with some other folks in SABR who were working on other minor league related items and an even better composite file with more info (such as spring training sites for minor league clubs, attendance figures for each season, just to name two quick items). I've no idea when it'll be done as it relies on the input from lots of people, but it's in progress.

Finally, I am way behind in getting the huge collection of minor league original schedules transcribed into text files so that they can be converted for use in OOTP, but I expect to get back to that at some point. Eventually it'll be possible to play out the minor leagues using their real schedules for every minor league from Rookie class on up from 1963 to the present.

Originally Posted by cephasjames

I've been trying to create a spread sheet listing every year from 1901 to now, showing all of the class AAA (are most foreign considered AAA?) to B leagues that really (and somewhat significantly) existed.

Look for the Minor League History file I mentioned earlier. It's an Excel file. I also downloaded from somewhere quite some time ago that took the info from Mike McCann's web site (the one you linked to) and reformatted it into Word files. One file listed by year all the minor leagues operating in that year, while the other file listed by year all the affiliates each major league club had in a given year. I don't remember where I got the files from, but if need be I can e-mail these to someone if their interested.

Also, note that while McCann's site is a great one, his listings don't include the Arizona League or the Gulf Coast League, nor the foreign-based Venezuelan and Dominican Summer Leagues. All four of these leagues are officially classed as Rookie level leagues.

[Eugene Church]

Originally Posted by RMc

And, yes, there will be promotion and relegation in the The Baseball Leagues, with four teams moving up/down between the levels each year. Here's how it works:

The Cup Winner (champion of each level), automatically gets promoted, taking the place of the lowest-rated team (determined by power ratings) of the next-highest level. The other three Cup semifinalists each play "Survivor Series" against the bottom three teams in the next-highest level. So four teams move up and four move down every year.

Example: Billings (MT) wins the AA Cup, and is automatically promoted to AAA, replacing Yonkers (NY), who finished dead last in AAA. The other three semifinalists in AA are Simi Valley (CA), Ann Arbor (MI) and Trenton (NJ); the next lowest-rated in AAA (after Yonkers) are Jersey City (NJ), Fort Wayne (IN) and Little Rock (AR). Simi Valley plays Jersey City, Ann Arbor plays Fort Wayne, and Trenton plays Little Rock; the winners of the three series play in AAA next year, while the losers play in AA.

Exemptions: The current real 30 MLB franchises are forever exempt from relegation; they cannot drop down, ever. (Don't worry, Mets fans...your team is safe.) In addition: the World Series champion is exempt from relegation for the next ten years, and a minor-league Cup Winner is exempt for the next three years. So if the Dayton Dragons win the AAA Cup in 2006 and join MLB in 2007, they cannot be relegated back into AAA before 2010. (Other ideas may include individual league winners -- remember, each level has at least eight leagues -- getting a one-year exemption or something.)

Promotion/relegation will probably include just the all-professional levels (MLB through A) at first, then expand into the semi-pro B and C leagues later. The R, X and Y leagues are designed for smaller towns that can't really support pro baseball, and will probably be left out of it.

Again, good grief!

I could be wrong,Rmc, but I don't think teams can change leagues in OOTPBM 2006.

How are you going to promote and demote teams?

I hope I am wrong as it seems a lot of people want promotion and relegation to be part of the game.

[Eugene Church]

I am presently planning to combine two current fictional leagues, the Federal Baseball Association of Ruthlandia (FBAR) and the United Baseball Association of Tycobbia. They are separate leagues now, but will be combined in OOTPBM 2006. They currently have 20 teams in each league. I will expand with 20 more teams, so I can have 5 classifications: Major League, AAAA, AAA, AA and A. There will be 12 teams in each classification with 2 subleagues of 6 teams each. Each ML team will have 4 farm teams.

I thought about adding 40 teams and making it 16 teams in each classification, but since I playout the last 3 innings of every single game in my league and control all teams, I decided it would be a little better to keep it to 12 teams in each class. Even at that 30 games a day is a lot of games to play when you don't sim totally.

I have all of the team names and team logos done...thanks to the many fine logo designers in the OOTPB Community. I hope to get custom-made schedules created by LGO or gmo...the schedule geniuses.

Now I just have to find enough stadiums to give each town it own unique stadium. This will be the hard part. I have about 50 now.

I create a town history for each team...and describe the culture, ethnic makeup, commerce and baseball traditions of each town. This makes my teams seem almost like real people and real places.

I thank Portlander/Goody of the great Laseron Baseball Association and DreamTeams of the great Metro League for inspiring me to do something similar to their leagues. I will soon have a website that will make my leagues accessible for those that are interested. All of town teams will have their beautiful jdew-designed home/away uniforms and all of the great stadiums by Teflon Skies and Henry/BigCity...and few by blueturf...displayed on the teams' pages.

I will continue my Alltime Allstar League in Version 2006. I am just about to finish year one in it. I hope all of the player ratings will stay the same when I convert it. A lot of research and data entry has gone into this league. I hope the conversion goes well with Version 2006.

I will attempt to do a Dynasty Report on both of my leagues.

I have found it very rewarding to playout a portion of each game (more realistic use of pitchers and pinchhitters this way) and to do a write up in the Dynasty Forum. You really get to know your players and teams this way.

[boilermaker]

The glory of the Cal-Nevada League will continue onward!



Will the Fallon Eagles ever convert their regular season dominance into a John C. Fremont Trophy win? The Atlanta Braves of the CNL.

[qusip]

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

Not sure how much your database includes, but if you're just listing which team is in which league and affiliated with which major league club, that info is already around.

There's a Minor League History file floating around that has the listings of a huge number minor leagues along with the listings of the individual club affiliations (you should be able to dig up a link to it with a search of the forums).

I've done some work on expanding the info in that file to include leagues that were originally not included, along with adding league-level data like schedule lengths, opening and closing dates, league alignments, and so forth. At present I'm working with some other folks in SABR who were working on other minor league related items and an even better composite file with more info (such as spring training sites for minor league clubs, attendance figures for each season, just to name two quick items). I've no idea when it'll be done as it relies on the input from lots of people, but it's in progress.

Thanks for the help! I was able to find a copy of the spreadsheet. The spreadsheet I am working on includes population data (2000 census). I am planning to use it to "expand" the real baseball universe.

I am really interested in seeing that data for the minor league history. That is really interesting stuff. I'd be happy to help if I had anything like that - heck I'd love to do some research on that too.

Malleus Dei - Glad I am not the only one - I am planning to create the 2006 Baseball world and then create a "Fantasy 2006 Baseball World" that includes some extra leagues for towns/cities that I "think" can support Minor League/Independent Baseball.

[Dark Horse]

Originally Posted by Eugene Church

I am presently planning to combine two current fictional leagues, the Federal Baseball Association of Ruthlandia (FBAR) and the United Baseball Association of Tycobbia. They are separate leagues now, but will be combined in OOTPBM 2006. They currently have 20 teams in each league. I will expand with 20 more teams, so I can have 5 classifications: Major League, AAAA, AAA, AA and A. There will be 12 teams in each classification with 2 subleagues of 6 teams each. Each ML team will have 4 farm teams.

EC, i've been looking forward to these two leagues. Every once in a while i'll pop over to your website to see if they've gotten started. Can't wait 'till opening day in FBAR & UBAT!

[Eugene Church]

Originally Posted by Dark Horse

EC, i've been looking forward to these two leagues. Every once in a while i'll pop over to your website to see if they've gotten started. Can't wait 'till opening day in FBAR & UBAT!

I will have a new website pretty soon. F. Montoya has helped set it up. It should be ready to go by the time OOTPBM 2006 gets here...actually it should be ready in a few weeks...that the site I am talking about. Not OOTPBM 2006. I do hope the game will come out by April...or maybe March.

Thanks for your interest, Dark Horse. I'll try to let you know when it is ready.

I may start the Dynasty Report for the FBAR/UBAT league and cover each town's history and culture prior to beginning the league in Version 7. And show the team logos and stadiums as well.

I have to get busy and choose my 20 additional towns that I will need.

I have about 50 town names to choose from...and a fine logo for each town. I gleaned them from enuttage's and illeracula's great logos sites.

Just need uniforms done for the new teams and I have to find a few more stadiums. I hope jdew is available to do the new uniforms...he does them brilliantly.

[DreamTeams]

Originally Posted by Dark Horse

i kinda' have the same idea.

i have a fictional world with 60 cities in it. i just have to decide how i want to divide it into leagues. i'm toying with the idea of starting with a small major league and no minor league affiliates. There would be no amatuer draft. But there would be a lot of independent leagues where young players are created. And the major leagues would have to buy contracts from the independents. Hopefully, the AI can handle that type of setup.

For the last several years, i've been doing a lot of reading about the history of baseball. i even bought the Ken Burns documentary. So i'm thinking i want to start small and then let it evolve. Set up some rules for the teams. If teams are performing well, and losing a lot of money, maybe i'll contract it. If an independent team does well financially and has great fan interest, maybe i'll add it to the majors.

Of course, i'm slow to really nail anything down until i know for sure what the game will have. i've already done the map. i already have the cities and regions ready to be added to the international database. i did have to go back and change market sizes to actual populations. i still have to give the cities longitudes and latitudes. The other work is backstory and description about the fictional world. And like you and Eugene Church i'm working on city descriptions.

Super! One easy way to get city descriptions is to think of a real city that is close to the one you imagined. Then, find descriptions of the real city on the web and use (or combine) them as the bases for your fictional city description.

[scuffleball]

Being from West Virginia, [cough] Sugar Bowl Champions [/cough], I plan on creating my own professional league, the Mountaineer League (logo below). It will be a 10-team league playing a 126-game regular season schedule. The league's teams are cities in my beloved state. I am undecided on minor league levels or affiliations just yet, but I do know that I will be creating a 6-8 team independent league to also be playing. This league will be used primarily for aging players to still play and for the 'big' ML clubs to pick any good players out of

My idea is basically that baseball history to this point just never happened and leagues are more a state thing than a national thing. My focus will be solely on the Mountaineer League, though. All talent will have to be from West Virginia as well.

Mountaineer League Logo


Thanks!

[andjbock]

I haven't decided what to do, but since there looks to be population data for real cities, I'll most likely use them.