The RDL OOTP 19 Style

[David Watts]

Decided last night to turn off storylines. I usually enjoy them, but last night I had a young Shane Victorino donate a kidney. Not a massive loss, but what if that was Rickey Henderson...….

[David Watts]

Albert Pujols took home MVP honor for the inaugural season. Pujols hit 38 home runs, hit in the neighborhood of .315 and drove in 132 runs.

Bill McGee earned Cy Young honors. Bill had an era under 2 and finished with a 21-4 record. 17-1 as a member of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. 4-3 as a Quad Cities River Bandit.

I really like the stat output for the first season. 204 was the high for hits in 1978. Pujols led with 38 home runs. I like my home run leaders to be in the 30-50 range. Above 50 should be a very rare and very special achievement.

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Well it ended up being Quad Cities vs Bowling Green in the Wildcard round. Quad Cities would jump out to a 2 game lead, only to see Bowling Green win the next 3. Quad Cities would then find their groove again and take games 6 and 7 to earn their right to face the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in the LCS. So we had the two teams that swung one of the biggest trades I've ever seen facing off for the title. Perfect right? Wrong. Quad Cities played like they were just happy to be there. The Wisconsin pitching staff was simply too strong and the Rattlers swept the River Bandits in 4 less than memorable games.. Bill McGee took the loss in the first game. Meanwhile, the Timber Rattlers success in the series was in no way due to the play of Mickey Mantle. The Mick had a dreadful series, hitting somewhere in the neighborhood of .077.

Interesting that one of the biggest AI trades that any of us have ever seen did not have much of an impact in the games that really mattered. Baseball's full of things you didn't see coming, and things you thought would happen that didn't though.

[David Watts]

Decided this morning to sim April and May and start watching a game a day June 1st. I've done this in the past. It allows me to get through more seasons and build history.

[JaBurns]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Could it be due to the league being a AAA league? Do minor leagues have a league reputation? If so, what is your AAA set at? Just trying to come up with a reason why you would have so many guys unemployed., How many players are your big league carrying on average?

Big league rosters are pretty much full at 40 (25 + 15) with a couple teams at 14 on reserve roster. AAA league reputation is set at 9 with some teams having less than 10 players on the 15 man reserve roster.

I may trying running a AAA free agent draft at the end of the season which was suggested and see what happens next season....

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Decided this morning to sim April and May and start watching a game a day June 1st. I've done this in the past. It allows me to get through more seasons and build history.

Hello, my name is Action and I'm a simaholic. Just can't seem to play the games out, no matter how fancy pants the graphics get. Plus I can build the history of my league quicker. Can't wait 'til I get to build a HoF. The draft thing is slowing me down a bit, but I wouldn't change that for anything.

[JaBurns]

Figured out my roster problem, I wasn't counting the guys that were not on the 60 day as part of the reserve roster. Just expanded the AAA reserve roster by 5 to 20 and that sucked up 80 Free Agents. Just a little

[warneke]

Like your 12 team, 154 game schedule setup. May have to try that some time. The only drawback to me is that I don't like wildcards. I usually play 16 teams, two leagues (classic MLB) and if you didn't finish first then tough titties. I also turn off story lines. They are a distraction and get repetitive. I twice had one of the best players in the league quit to become a missionary, and this right before he was supposed to play in the WS! Never again.

[David Watts]

Got a strange one in my league that no matter how hard I try, I just can't wrap my head around it. So when my league formed, I was pumped when I saw a 25 year old Mickey Lolich was part of league. Mickey was selected by the Bowling Green Hot Rods in the second round of the inaugural draft. This is when the strange stuff began. Mickey's first season with the Hot Rods saw him pitch in 45 games, starting only one time. He threw 76 innings, going 13-5 with 8 saves. Mickey started the second season in the Hot Rods rotation, starting 18 games, but he would finish the season in the bullpen. 11-7, 5 saves. I just started the 3rd season by simming April and May. Mickey is once again a part of Bowling Green's bullpen. Pitching long relief. Just odd. I'm guessing this has to do with Mickey real life stats in which he started the majority of the time, but did pitch the occasional game in relief. It's just odd.


Another odd one is Catfish Hunter. The inaugural season saw Catfish start 30 games for the Dayton Dragons going 14-15. Season 2, Catfish would start only 5 games, pitching 45 more times in relief. He was pretty awful. 4-7, 5.49. -1.7 WAR. 3rd season has Hunter back in the rotation. He's started 10 games so far, 4-3 5.22 ERA.

[italyprof]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Albert Pujols took home MVP honor for the inaugural season. Pujols hit 38 home runs, hit in the neighborhood of .315 and drove in 132 runs.

Bill McGee earned Cy Young honors. Bill had an era under 2 and finished with a 21-4 record. 17-1 as a member of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. 4-3 as a Quad Cities River Bandit.

I really like the stat output for the first season. 204 was the high for hits in 1978. Pujols led with 38 home runs. I like my home run leaders to be in the 30-50 range. Above 50 should be a very rare and very special achievement.

I agree.

[italyprof]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Got a strange one in my league that no matter how hard I try, I just can't wrap my head around it. So when my league formed, I was pumped when I saw a 25 year old Mickey Lolich was part of league. Mickey was selected by the Bowling Green Hot Rods in the second round of the inaugural draft. This is when the strange stuff began. Mickey's first season with the Hot Rods saw him pitch in 45 games, starting only one time. He threw 76 innings, going 13-5 with 8 saves. Mickey started the second season in the Hot Rods rotation, starting 18 games, but he would finish the season in the bullpen. 11-7, 5 saves. I just started the 3rd season by simming April and May. Mickey is once again a part of Bowling Green's bullpen. Pitching long relief. Just odd. I'm guessing this has to do with Mickey real life stats in which he started the majority of the time, but did pitch the occasional game in relief. It's just odd.


Another odd one is Catfish Hunter. The inaugural season saw Catfish start 30 games for the Dayton Dragons going 14-15. Season 2, Catfish would start only 5 games, pitching 45 more times in relief. He was pretty awful. 4-7, 5.49. -1.7 WAR. 3rd season has Hunter back in the rotation. He's started 10 games so far, 4-3 5.22 ERA.

Those are strange results. Especially Hunter, who if he was already a starter....?

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by italyprof

Those are strange results. Especially Hunter, who if he was already a starter....?

Glad to report Lolich made it back into the Bowling Green rotation and he's doing rather well. Just needs the Hot Rods manager to take notice and move him up in the rotation. Right now he is the 5th starter.

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Glad to report Lolich made it back into the Bowling Green rotation and he's doing rather well. Just needs the Hot Rods manager to take notice and move him up in the rotation. Right now he is the 5th starter.

Great to hear he's back on track. He went 2nd overall to Brooklyn (behind Edgar Martinez, who went first to the Senators) in my 1901 ammy draft. I wonder if your blip happened because of him being in the inaugural draft, or him being on a team that was crowded at SP. Whatever the case may be, glad he's at least in the rotation. Do you have allow starters in relief set to Yes on your Stats & AI page? That might do it. Starters very occasionally make appearances in relief in my game, but only in a postseason game where they're not going to start again in the series, and maybe once in a blue moon in the regular season.

Lolich has been the bomb in my league. In his first three seasons, he's made 80 GS (no relief appearances). He's dealt with finger blister issues four times, but none of them have sidelined him too long (didn't miss a start I don't think) and hamstring soreness (again didn't miss a start). He did suffer a torn rotator cuff on June 26, 1903 that ended his season and caused him to miss 17 or 18 starts. It's a shame too because he was 14-1, with a 1.79 ERA in 15 GS at the time.

Anyway, overall in my game in those 80 GS, he's gone 49-18 with a 2.66 ERA in 605.1 IP (about 7.2 IP per start). His peripheral stats are great too: 1.10 WHIP, 0.6 HR/9, 2.4 BB/9, 7.1 K/9, 3.0 K/BB. He has a 150 ERA+ as well. Him and Eddie Cicotte are going to have to kick it up a notch though, with the pending departure of staff ace Madison Bumgarner. Irv Young will be in his age 35 season next year, and Jaime Garcia just fell off a cliff in his age 27 season. Who knows, maybe Brooklyn will do something crazy, like sign Toad Ramsey...

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by actionjackson

Great to hear he's back on track. He went 2nd overall to Brooklyn (behind Edgar Martinez, who went first to the Senators) in my 1901 ammy draft. I wonder if your blip happened because of him being in the inaugural draft, or him being on a team that was crowded at SP. Whatever the case may be, glad he's at least in the rotation. Do you have allow starters in relief set to Yes on your Stats & AI page? That might do it. Starters very occasionally make appearances in relief in my game, but only in a postseason game where they're not going to start again in the series, and maybe once in a blue moon in the regular season.

Lolich has been the bomb in my league. In his first three seasons, he's made 80 GS (no relief appearances). He's dealt with finger blister issues four times, but none of them have sidelined him too long (didn't miss a start I don't think) and hamstring soreness (again didn't miss a start). He did suffer a torn rotator cuff on June 26, 1903 that ended his season and caused him to miss 17 or 18 starts. It's a shame too because he was 14-1, with a 1.79 ERA in 15 GS at the time.

Anyway, overall in my game in those 80 GS, he's gone 49-18 with a 2.66 ERA in 605.1 IP (about 7.2 IP per start). His peripheral stats are great too: 1.10 WHIP, 0.6 HR/9, 2.4 BB/9, 7.1 K/9, 3.0 K/BB. He has a 150 ERA+ as well. Him and Eddie Cicotte are going to have to kick it up a notch though, with the pending departure of staff ace Madison Bumgarner. Irv Young will be in his age 35 season next year, and Jaime Garcia just fell off a cliff in his age 27 season. Who knows, maybe Brooklyn will do something crazy, like sign Toad Ramsey...

If you look at Mickey's early career in the 60's, you will see he often pitched in relief. His rookie year(1963) he pitched in 33 games, starting 18. 1964 44 games, 33 starts. 1965 43 games, 33 starts. 1966 40 games. 33 starts. 1967 31 games, 30 starts and then 1968 39 games, 32 starts. So, I'm not sure I can really fault OOTP.

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by David Watts

If you look at Mickey's early career in the 60's, you will see he often pitched in relief. His rookie year(1963) he pitched in 33 games, starting 18. 1964 44 games, 33 starts. 1965 43 games, 33 starts. 1966 40 games. 33 starts. 1967 31 games, 30 starts and then 1968 39 games, 32 starts. So, I'm not sure I can really fault OOTP.

Ah. I use Entire Career for both "base pitching stamina on" and "base fielding ratings on", so that may be why I was able to avoid that. Entire career may mess up some guys like Eckersley and Smoltz (two-way pitchers if you will), but I find in the overall I'm enjoying it.

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by actionjackson

Ah. I use Entire Career for both "base pitching stamina on" and "base fielding ratings on", so that may be why I was able to avoid that. Entire career may mess up some guys like Eckersley and Smoltz (two-way pitchers if you will), but I find in the overall I'm enjoying it.

Never thought of that. I bet that's it.

[David Watts]

Well I screwed up my league last night and it is no more. For the second season in a row, my postseason was marred by the wrong team having home field advantage in the League Championship Series. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong, as I even checked my playoff setup against the setup I used with 16 and they were exactly the same. In this league, 3 teams qualify for the postseason. The regular season champion and 2 wildcard teams. The regular season champ gets a bye and moves straight into the league championship series and is supposed to be guaranteed home field advantage. The two wildcard team faceoff in a best of seven. Problem is, for two straight seasons, the winner of the wildcard round is given the homefield advantage. For the life of me, I can't figure out my mistake. Like I said, I used this very same setup with 16 and never had a problem.


So my solution was to expand my league to 14 teams and use divisions. Problem is, I didn't think it through and screwed things up royally. So on to another project. Ugh.

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Well I screwed up my league last night and it is no more. For the second season in a row, my postseason was marred by the wrong team having home field advantage in the League Championship Series. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong, as I even checked my playoff setup against the setup I used with 16 and they were exactly the same. In this league, 3 teams qualify for the postseason. The regular season champion and 2 wildcard teams. The regular season champ gets a bye and moves straight into the league championship series and is supposed to be guaranteed home field advantage. The two wildcard team faceoff in a best of seven. Problem is, for two straight seasons, the winner of the wildcard round is given the homefield advantage. For the life of me, I can't figure out my mistake. Like I said, I used this very same setup with 16 and never had a problem.


So my solution was to expand my league to 14 teams and use divisions. Problem is, I didn't think it through and screwed things up royally. So on to another project. Ugh.

Sorry to hear that dude. You can still make the team that should have home field advantage get home field advantage by going to League Settings > Functions > Edit League Schedule and flipping all the teams in each of the seven games of the series. Of course you have to catch the game's boo-boo first, which sometimes is not so easy when you have other things on your mind. I do it all the time when the game has a brain fart (which seems to happen more often than it should). You probably already know this, but it never hurts to be reminded.

[JaBurns]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Well I screwed up my league last night and it is no more. For the second season in a row, my postseason was marred by the wrong team having home field advantage in the League Championship Series. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong, as I even checked my playoff setup against the setup I used with 16 and they were exactly the same. In this league, 3 teams qualify for the postseason. The regular season champion and 2 wildcard teams. The regular season champ gets a bye and moves straight into the league championship series and is supposed to be guaranteed home field advantage. The two wildcard team faceoff in a best of seven. Problem is, for two straight seasons, the winner of the wildcard round is given the homefield advantage. For the life of me, I can't figure out my mistake. Like I said, I used this very same setup with 16 and never had a problem.


So my solution was to expand my league to 14 teams and use divisions. Problem is, I didn't think it through and screwed things up royally. So on to another project. Ugh.

I know this isn’t your first time at this rodeo, you always learn something new from every league. “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” attitude. Good luck on your new league !