[OldGiants]

My litmus test for historical simming is the 1961 season. I've yet to come across a computer sim that comes close to replicating this season, in particular Mantle and Maris. Using OOTP and Puresim I've never gotten more than 44 or so homers out of Maris, and he usually hits below .240, too. The big homerun hitter is often Wally Post, of the Reds, who is over 50 half the time. Post platooned with Jerry Lynch, who is famous for pinch hitting, but had a solid season in 1961. No sim ever selects Lynch over Post (even the vaunted R/L splits in OOTP don't project Lynch into the starting lineup).

Looking at a dozen or so sims of 1961 (and I love the speed) the Post problem is there, in that he plays, but he doesn't knock 50 HRs. No one, does, mostly. Lynch is either sent to AAA (WTF?) or traded, which makes some sense. The Reds and Yanks have won every replay, splitting the WS about evenly. The Yankees have wierd roster issues all the time, though. Berra catches and Howard is on the bench, saying he wants to be traced to KC or Washington (which is great). What's not great is Berra and Howard have the same arm rating. Yogi couldn't throw at all by 1961 while Howard was one of the top 2-3 arms in baseball. The Yankee pitching staff uses Mel Stottlemyre from day one (no way to avoid that, I suppose) but has Luis Arroyo in AA ball while Rhyne Duren is the closer. Duren had drunk himself onto the expansion Angels (he was traded for Bob Cerv early on, so his being a Yankee is correct), and was no longer dominant. 19-yr olds Al Downing and Fritz Peterson were on the staff all season long.

Looking at other teams, Cleveland does better in BM because 18 yr old Sam McDowell comes up three seasons early, as does 20 yr old Luis Tiant (he was really 47 at the time, but the computer doesn't know that, either).

So I'd say the roster selection needs work, and not only for leaving kids down too long. the Red Sox have 19 year old Jim Wynn in the bigs, while Yaz sits in A ball, dreaming of playing for Cleveland.

Statwise, 1961 produces high team HR totals, however, the Yanks set the team record for homers with 221 in reality, and I can't get them over 200 in BM, while Cincy, Mil and either SF or LA go over 200 regularly.

So I'm not too psyched on historic replays, but the regular 2005-to-fictional is coming along smoothly and I'm taking my time with the O's.