Fictional, Stats-Only League

[FlipCup]

I began research a few months ago into creating a Stats Only league with both High School and College feeders. I have since simmed 25 seasons to give my league some history. I then took over a team.

However, I have a few questions for you fictional GM's out there:

1) How do you get to know your players and remember who they are? I constantly look through stuff but only have a few names that stick with me.

2) Do you keep an almanac of every year?

3) Without knowing players, what approach do you take towards trading?

I am trying to get the most out of my league as possible.

Thanks!

[ukhotstove]

1) Not sure if it's your thing or not but I write about my fictional players, give them a personality with notes and stuff.

2) I personally save after every season or in my case every 1st January, really I save everyday but the main one is the 1st January then I copy it to an external hard drive so I have a seperate file for each year of my league. I also write stuff up, records broken and such and a type of media guide for my team.

3) No idea as I know my players and players that have played for my organisation in the past, it's nerdy and maybe a step further than you wish to go but I know the wives and kids of my players, to me and yes it's crazy but my players are real to me and not just letters in a text sim.

To get the most out of your league, that's down to you but I'd say give the league and players some life, you don't have to go as far as I and others go but just give it some life other than just names on a screen.

[dward1]

play out every game if you want to know your players really well. you get to know them really fast when you do that, a few clutch hits by a guy who only OPSes 650 and you love him, always allowing inherited runners to score will make you suspicious of a reliever with good other stats, etc, etc. I signed a veteran OFer who ended the year with solid stats (775 OPS) but started off sizzling, with 4 HR in the first 4 games after he hadn't hit 4 in a season for 4-5 years. since I played out the games I will always remember him storming onto the scene with my franchise. if I just looked at stats every week or so, it wouldn't stick as much. this led me to sign him in the offseason when otherwise I probably wouldn't have.

[limsol45]

Originally Posted by dward1

play out every game if you want to know your players really well. you get to know them really fast when you do that, a few clutch hits by a guy who only OPSes 650 and you love him, always allowing inherited runners to score will make you suspicious of a reliever with good other stats, etc, etc. I signed a veteran OFer who ended the year with solid stats (775 OPS) but started off sizzling, with 4 HR in the first 4 games after he hadn't hit 4 in a season for 4-5 years. since I played out the games I will always remember him storming onto the scene with my franchise. if I just looked at stats every week or so, it wouldn't stick as much. this led me to sign him in the offseason when otherwise I probably wouldn't have.

How long does it take for you to play out a season? I'm usually a sim and check stats guy, but like the OP sometimes forget my players.

[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by limsol45

How long does it take for you to play out a season? I'm usually a sim and check stats guy, but like the OP sometimes forget my players.

If you go with playing out your games it depends, how many games per day, how much of the game you sim. At the moment I sim a day per real day, so a full year in game will take a real year. However I sometimes skip half an inning in games and such, mostly I take over the hitting and let my pitchers work alone, also my top or favourite players I'll leave alone in game.

[dward1]

Originally Posted by limsol45

How long does it take for you to play out a season? I'm usually a sim and check stats guy, but like the OP sometimes forget my players.

I play fictional league, 80 game seasons plus a couple Cup competitions. 162 is just too long for me. I'll play half those games with fast, full PBP and half with instant, short PBP. takes about 3 minutes to play a game on instant and probably 10-15 to play on regular. so for every 4-game series it takes maybe 40 minutes counting all the off-the-field stuff? so 13 hours of game-time per season is my estimate

[le receveur]

How many level of minors? I have standard MLB, so by the time my guys make it to the majors i usually know them quite well.. every couple of days, i go check each affiliates, see how they are doing, probably go through the roster each week, make sure guys i want to develop play where i want them to play...


edit. on point 3, i don't trade except for roster fillers

[FlipCup]

Originally Posted by ukhotstove

1) Not sure if it's your thing or not but I write about my fictional players, give them a personality with notes and stuff.

2) I personally save after every season or in my case every 1st January, really I save everyday but the main one is the 1st January then I copy it to an external hard drive so I have a seperate file for each year of my league. I also write stuff up, records broken and such and a type of media guide for my team.

3) No idea as I know my players and players that have played for my organisation in the past, it's nerdy and maybe a step further than you wish to go but I know the wives and kids of my players, to me and yes it's crazy but my players are real to me and not just letters in a text sim.

To get the most out of your league, that's down to you but I'd say give the league and players some life, you don't have to go as far as I and others go but just give it some life other than just names on a screen.

Thanks for your reply. I actually think you make a great point about writing about your team, the league, and each season. It would definitely help me create a story.

Now, creating a family for them is a whole new ball game. Awesome to see you go that deep into the game!!

[FlipCup]

Originally Posted by le receveur

How many level of minors? I have standard MLB, so by the time my guys make it to the majors i usually know them quite well.. every couple of days, i go check each affiliates, see how they are doing, probably go through the roster each week, make sure guys i want to develop play where i want them to play...


edit. on point 3, i don't trade except for roster fillers

Not sure if your post was asking me the question. However, I have the normal setup with the MLB, AAA, AA, A, R, R. Also have high school and college feeders.

[MUFC1878]

Originally Posted by FlipCup

However, I have a few questions for you fictional GM's out there:

1) How do you get to know your players and remember who they are? I constantly look through stuff but only have a few names that stick with me.

2) Do you keep an almanac of every year?

3) Without knowing players, what approach do you take towards trading?

I am trying to get the most out of my league as possible.

Thanks!

1) I usually set up small leagues. 12 teams max. I also write small bios for each player, although a lot of the times I just memorize them. I also change some of their names.

I play out every game, which IMO is probably the easiest way to get to know your players. I play maybe one or two games everyday. But I micromanage too much. :/

2) Yes. The almanac is one of my favourite features.

3) I'm not good at trading when playing semi-stats-only. Every player I release/trade ends up turning into MVP quality. Probably too impatient with the younger players. But I guess I'm good at drafting them.

.