Alright Boyz, Here We Go!!!! (OOTP 2007 Preview Thoughts...)

[TheOhioStateUniversity]

Sort of off topic. I used to be heavy into baseball mogul in middle and high school, because I followed the game of baseball very closely and knew every player, prospect, etc...Since Ive been in college I haven't really followed baseball at all and part of my enjoyment of sports sims is knowing the universe. I may give this game a try but does anyone know a website or something with a 2007 season preview that can get me up to speed on rosters, top prospects,etc...Thanks

[cougarfreak]

Question...............I can't get into the preview forum yet. I have the game, and am running a test sim starting in 1901, and the 1901 stats ended up modernesque. Is there a button you can hit so that the first year stats end up correct, or is this like the previous versions where you have to sim 1901, get the correct imports after the rollover to 1902, stat over and plug the numbers in?

[jbmagic]

Originally Posted by cougarfreak

Question...............I can't get into the preview forum yet. I have the game, and am running a test sim starting in 1901, and the 1901 stats ended up modernesque. Is there a button you can hit so that the first year stats end up correct, or is this like the previous versions where you have to sim 1901, get the correct imports after the rollover to 1902, stat over and plug the numbers in?

You need to reply back with the email that Marc Duffy sent you with what your forum name is at ootp.

[MizzouRah]

This thread is definitly interesting. I will say, "kudos" to Markus and SI for really getting this year's version out to the doubters. I'm one of those, but I forgot to send a PM.

Keep the information coming fellas. Markus might make me regret not pre-ordering.

[cougarfreak]

Originally Posted by jbmagic

You need to reply back with the email that Marc Duffy sent you with what your forum name is at ootp.

did that did i

[TigerFan1]

Originally Posted by cougarfreak

Question...............I can't get into the preview forum yet. I have the game, and am running a test sim starting in 1901, and the 1901 stats ended up modernesque. Is there a button you can hit so that the first year stats end up correct, or is this like the previous versions where you have to sim 1901, get the correct imports after the rollover to 1902, stat over and plug the numbers in?

I assume you are using historical players with Lahman (or another DB) rather than fictional?

It still takes a season for the auto adjust league totals to have something to work with but for the most part the initial year of a league seems much better. For example, I just completed a sim from 1901-2006 and here are my 1901 numbers:

		SIM	REAL LIFE
HOME RUNS (AL)	261	228
HOME RUNS (NL)	219	227
AVG (AL)	.286	.277
AVG (NL)	.281	.267

A little high but not too far off the mark. There is an issue with stolen bases being quite a bit too high from 1901-1910 and triples need some work but other stats seem pretty close. Here are my 1901 leaders

AMERICAN LEAGUE

SIM			REAL

AVG			AVG
Lajoie .393	Lajoie .426
McGraw .358	Donlin .340
Brodie .353     Freeman .339

HR			HR
Lajoie   15	Lajoie   14
Freeman  11	Freeman  12
Mertes   11     Grady	  9
Seybold  11

	
WINS			WINS
Young    28	Young 	  33	
Callahan 23	McGinnity 26	
Kellum   23     Griffith  24

SAVES			SAVES
Leitner   4	Hoffner	  3
Carrick   3	Garvin    2
Nops      3

   K's			K's
Kellum    160	Young	  158
Morrisey  153	Patterson 127	
McNeil    146   Dowling   124

NATIONAL LEAGUE

SIM			REAL
  AVG			AVG
Keeler  .382	Burkett    .376
Burkett .367	Delahanty  .354
Flick   .366    Sheckard   .354

  HR			HR
Crawford  10	Crawford   16
Delahanty 10	Sheckard   11
Flick     10    Burkett    10

WINS		    WINS
White    25	Donovan    25
Waddell  24     Harper     23
Leever   21     Hahn       22

SAVES		   SAVES
McJames   3	Donovan   3
Sudhoff   2     Powell    3

  K's		  K's
White   237	Hahn    239
Waddell 231     Donovan 226
Hughes  207     Hughes  225
Mathewson 177   Mathewson 221

[cougarfreak]

Actually I'm doing fictional. Just trying to run a test with fictional players to see how the game will adjust totals as the years go on. It would seem to make sense to me to add a "recal" button for league totals after the creation year has been typed in. This can really mess up your leaderboards.

[TigerFan1]

Originally Posted by cougarfreak

Actually I'm doing fictional. Just trying to run a test with fictional players to see how the game will adjust totals as the years go on.

Ah. Sorry, I am not as familiar with the fictional side of things. You may need to adjust the player creation modifiers for the first season of a fictional league to get decent 1901 numbers. However, I believe there are some options to create players with other era style ratings. On the league setup screen from the strategy tab did you check auto import historical player creation modifiers and auto adjust league totals each season for historical accuracy.

Those two options should help fictional players perform similiar to deadball era baseball when you are in the 1901-20 seasons of your fictional league. I am not sure but it still may take a year or two for the stats to smooth out though.

[cougarfreak]

Originally Posted by TigerFan1

Ah. Sorry, I am not as familiar with the fictional side of things. You may need to adjust the player creation modifiers for the first season of a fictional league to get decent 1901 numbers. However, I believe there are some options to create players with other era style ratings. On the league setup screen from the strategy tab did you check auto import historical player creation modifiers.

Yep, sure did. Oh well.

[TigerFan1]

Originally Posted by cougarfreak

Yep, sure did. Oh well.

Ok. Well, let me fire up a fictional league and see what happens. I will make Markus aware of any issues.

[cougarfreak]

Originally Posted by TigerFan1

Ok. Well, let me fire up a fictional league and see what happens. I will make Markus aware of any issues.

Oh, it's cool. The game has some impressive new features.

[TigerFan1]

Originally Posted by cougarfreak

I have the game, and am running a test sim starting in 1901, and the 1901 stats ended up modernesque. Is there a button you can hit so that the first year stats end up correct

To create a fictional league with stats that will somewhat closely resemble the deadball era do the following when creating your league.

You can use the League Creation Wizard to select your league structure and get all the basics set up but when you get to step 7 make sure you change the starting year of your league to 1901 (or whatever season you want). Once you have done that and selected a name for your saved game I would suggest clicking on Advanced Mode rather than Start Game.


You are now in the Advanced Mode. Select the options tab and check to enable the option to automatically adjust league totals afer each season for historical accuracy.
You may also want to enable import adjusted financial settings after each year if you want realistic contracts and revenue for the period.

Next click on the Strategy & Equivalencies tab:
Make sure you check to enable both of the Historical Modifier & Totals Options:
Automatically adjust league totals modifiers after each season for historical accuracy
and
Automatically import historical player-creation modifiers

I would also suggest changing your General strategy tendancies to the following
Use of Relievers - Very Rarely
Use of Closers - Very Rarely
Pitcher Endurance - High
Typical Starting Rotation size - 4 man rotation
Pinch hit for pitchers - very rarely
the other settings are up to you.

You are now ready to start your game. I set up my league with a 140 game schedule just like real life 1901 had.

Here are my league totals and leaderboards: (two 8 team leagues with one division each same as 1901 AL and NL had)

League one batting average was .280 with 108 homers hit and 980 stolen bases
League two batting average was .280 with 98 homers hit and 774 stolen bases


STAT LEADERS
I left the names out since they are all fictional players

BATTING AVG
.363
.362
.352

Homeruns
8
6
6

Triple
13
12
11

Doubles
56
53
51

Stolen Bases
93
83
78

PITCHERS WINS
23
23
22

ERA
1.85
2.15
2.22

Strikeouts
158
126
117

It certainly does not match 1901 historical stats perfectly but for a fictional league I think it gives you the feel of the deadball era. I believe from there on it will automatically adjust the settings to mirror whatever year you are playing.

Hope that helps.

[Eaglesfan27]

I'm posting the "cards" of multiple league leaders in the dynasty thread (I don't want to clutter this thread.) Looking over things from just an eyeball test at this point, I'm enjoying seeing variability in how guys end their career. I see some players who hung on until the bitter end. Others who retired as soon as they started losing it. With injuries on average (and everything else at default), my career Home Run Leader has 941 homers. The next closest guys had 832 and 769.


Feel free to let me know if there is any particular statistical leaders you want me to take a closer look at. I'm enjoying just looking through so much history. Also, at least among the best players, I'm seeing very few suspicious releases or trades. Tomorrow, I'm going to play through a season or several much slower and look much closer for any odd releases.

[Eaglesfan27]

I think I made one big mistake (well two) in my first test league that is hurting the success of some teams. I didn't use the button that assigns fictional contracts to all of the players (and I don't think the database that I used has real player salaries.) Two, I didn't use the button that sets team budgets to be balanced for their current payrolls. The default game setting doesn't seem to give New York a huge payroll and the Yankees have been hamstrung in my test league as a result. Same for my Phillies (to a lesser extent.) I'll use those options in my next test league (which I'll probably start tomorrow evening) and see if that makes a big difference.


Edit: Actually, I'll probably start that tonight before bed. I'll be able to compare to see if there is variability at the 50 year mark and take that hopefully more stable league further into the future. But, I'll keep my first test league around in case I want to continue it at some point or look at something else.

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I think I made one big mistake (well two) in my first test league that is hurting the success of some teams. I didn't use the button that assigns fictional contracts to all of the players (and I don't think the database that I used has real player salaries.) Two, I didn't use the button that sets team budgets to be balanced for their current payrolls. The default game setting doesn't seem to give New York a huge payroll and the Yankees have been hamstrung in my test league as a result. Same for my Phillies (to a lesser extent.) I'll use those options in my next test league (which I'll probably start tomorrow evening) and see if that makes a big difference.

The game does that automatically after the inaugural draft, and bases the financial numbers on the payroll of the team. So you may up ending up with NY having a low budget, depending on how they draft.

If you want the game to resemble real life markets, you will need to edit the financial values of the teams after the draft, i.e. increase the market size of the Yankees.

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by cougarfreak

Question...............I can't get into the preview forum yet. I have the game, and am running a test sim starting in 1901, and the 1901 stats ended up modernesque. Is there a button you can hit so that the first year stats end up correct, or is this like the previous versions where you have to sim 1901, get the correct imports after the rollover to 1902, stat over and plug the numbers in?

That was not implemented yet. It has been meanwhile... now the correct settings are imported correctly before the first season

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

The game does that automatically after the inaugural draft, and bases the financial numbers on the payroll of the team. So you may up ending up with NY having a low budget, depending on how they draft.

If you want the game to resemble real life markets, you will need to edit the financial values of the teams after the draft, i.e. increase the market size of the Yankees.

Yeah, I just figured this out. Also, BOTH times I created test leagues, I forgot/missed scrolling down league rules to set average TV contracts, average ticket prices, max money a team can hoarde, etc. I think that is going to take care of the issues that I was seeing with the Yankees running out of money and sucking as a result.

[Fouts]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

That was not implemented yet. It has been meanwhile... now the correct settings are imported correctly before the first season

Does this mean we don't have to go thru the advanced settings to get a realistic fictional deadball era league?

Not sure what you mean that wasn't implemented yet.

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by Fouts

Does this mean we don't have to go thru the advanced settings to get a realistic fictional deadball era league?

Not sure what you mean that wasn't implemented yet.

It was not implemented in the preview version yet

It will work in the release version... you enter the year (i.e. 1903), tick 3 checkboxes (import financials, import creation modifiers, adjust league strategy) and that's it.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

It was not implemented in the preview version yet

It will work in the release version... you enter the year (i.e. 1903), tick 3 checkboxes (import financials, import creation modifiers, adjust league strategy) and that's it.

Is there an easy way to start a fictional league in 2007, but import creation modifiers for, say, 1987, and have those modifiers work for the rest of the league's history so that I'll always have 1987-style stats?

[Ben E Lou]

FACEGEN SUGGESTION: Can we get some goatee-mustache combinations, and not those silly no-mustache ones that make all the goateed guys look like little weenie beatnik Abe Lincoln wannabes???


Add an option for this:











And I'll put 0% on this crap:

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

Is there an easy way to start a fictional league in 2007, but import creation modifiers for, say, 1987, and have those modifiers work for the rest of the league's history so that I'll always have 1987-style stats?

No easy way, sorry.

But I suggest importing 1987, remembering the settings in the league strategy tab, and later apply them to your fictional league.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

No easy way, sorry.

But I suggest importing 1987, remembering the settings in the league strategy tab, and later apply them to your fictional league.

Yeah. That's what I was figuring I'd do unless I was missing something.

[Ben E Lou]

Wait....once I've started a league, where ARE the creation/stats modifiers? Can I not change them?

[Ben E Lou]

Never mind. I find them. Now, what about league totals and their modifiers? Are they more intuitive now?

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

Never mind. I find them. Now, what about league totals and their modifiers? Are they more intuitive now?

Well, after simming a season and you realize you want 10% less homeruns, simply set the league totals HR modifier to 0.9 ...

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

Well, after simming a season and you realize you want 10% less homeruns, simply set the league totals HR modifier to 0.9 ...

Good, good.

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

Good, good.

If you already know what kind of league you like, I suggest setting the player creation modifiers while creating your game. For example, if you like 80's baseball, set your league up in the wizard as usual, then at the last step hit "advanced mode", then go to the league strategy tab, select "normal" for pitcher endurance, adjust the reliever/closer useage a bit down, and set the player creation modifier for homeruns to 0.80 and the one for contact to 0.95... voila, you got a nice 80's fictional league.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

If you already know what kind of league you like, I suggest setting the player creation modifiers while creating your game. For example, if you like 80's baseball, set your league up in the wizard as usual, then at the last step hit "advanced mode", then go to the league strategy tab, select "normal" for pitcher endurance, adjust the reliever/closer useage a bit down, and set the player creation modifier for homeruns to 0.80 and the one for contact to 0.95... voila, you got a nice 80's fictional league.

Gotcha. It's hard to know exactly what kind of league I want compared to the default until I get a better feel for the default stats, though.

[Ben E Lou]

Some e-mail messages do not contain the player positions, and when I click on the link to the player, it is not readily apparent what his primary position is. It is buried on the left in the Personal Details section. I'd suggest one of two things here:

1. Put the Position in color, so that it stands out in the Personal Details.
2. Add it at the top. Instead of "#75 Charlie Parkinson", I'd go with "SP Charlie Parkinson." I mean, I don't really care what his number is, but I sure care what position he plays.

[CraigSca]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

If you already know what kind of league you like, I suggest setting the player creation modifiers while creating your game. For example, if you like 80's baseball, set your league up in the wizard as usual, then at the last step hit "advanced mode", then go to the league strategy tab, select "normal" for pitcher endurance, adjust the reliever/closer useage a bit down, and set the player creation modifier for homeruns to 0.80 and the one for contact to 0.95... voila, you got a nice 80's fictional league.

Will this remain an 80's league over time, or do I need to do this each year?

[KWhit]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

Instead of "#75 Charlie Parkinson", I'd go with "SP Charlie Parkinson." I mean, I don't really care what his number is, but I sure care what position he plays.

Agreed.

I think that makes the most sense.

[Bee]

Originally Posted by KWhit

Agreed.

I think that makes the most sense.

Ditto. That would be much better IMO as well.

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by KWhit

Agreed.

I think that makes the most sense.

yeah, also think that would be a good idea.

[Markus Heinsohn]

SkyDog, you'll like this:
http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...04#post2082304

PS: I'll add position to the top of the player profile screen... makes sense.

[Northwood_DK]

I’m looking to some day buy my first Baseball sim. What is the chance that I as a total newbie can enjoy this game? I see all the options for starting a game and they all look a bit overwhelming for a rookie. What’s the learning curve for this game?

[Ramzavail]

How was the Howard for Penny deal - much different from the Thome for Roward deal?

if both brought up a prospect, that laters plays well.

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

SkyDog, you'll like this:
http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...04#post2082304

PS: I'll add position to the top of the player profile screen... makes sense.

So are you dropping the number or keeping it and adding the position?

#29 Joe Blow SP
or
SP Joe Blow

Not a big deal but I prefer number and position if it can be done. The number adds some to the immersion IMHO.

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by Sweed

So are you dropping the number or keeping it and adding the position?

#29 Joe Blow SP
or
SP Joe Blow

Not a big deal but I prefer number and position if it can be done. The number adds some to the immersion IMHO.

SP Joe Blow (#27)

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

SP Joe Blow (#27)

Very nice, thanks

[Terps]

Before I fire up my preview version, does the game run well on Windows Vista? If not I'll have to play it on my desktop.

[cougarfreak]

Originally Posted by Terps

Before I fire up my preview version, does the game run well on Windows Vista? If not I'll have to play it on my desktop.

I'm running it on Vista, no problems. Sim season #45 last year for me took 7:20 seconds. I'm about to time sim season 107.

[cougarfreak]

Sim season 107 went to 10:40. Not bad considering the amount of data. This is default league (2 8 teams leagues), with 5 levels of minors. My computer is a new laptop, 1.66 ghz dual core, with 2 gigs of ram.

[Eaglesfan27]

My second test league ran quite a bit faster. It's in 2064 as I wake up late this morning. Going to take a look at some stats now and see if the "big money teams" play more like big money teams with the adjustments I made to financials.


Yep, they did. Chicago with the big media market got together a powerhouse team and made it to 6 World Series in a row from 2030-35 (they won 3.) Yankess won quite a bit more too as did the Mets, and even my Phillies team. More big market teams won in general when I adjusted finances, but still a few smaller market teams snuck in wins in the last 60 years. Posting some stats in the dynasty thread (I'll use the same one for comparision purposes as the first test league.)

[TroyF]

I started in 2007 with all defaults, a fictional MLB style league with full minors. The sim crashed at the end of the 2096 season. I'll run through to 2097 later and see if it's a fatal error or if it's just one of those things. Either way, 89 years isn't bad, is it?

If you have any questions about the stats, let me know. I'm going to start sifting through the history now and see what it tells me.

Early impressions:

Career leaders - Avg - .345, HR - 730, RBI - 2,139, SB - 997, H - 3,225, W- 300, Saves - 646, K - 4,305

Single Season - Avg - .421, HR - 65, RBI - 180, SB - 99, H - 257, W - 24, Saves - 54, K - 345

[MrBug708]

Both of those SB records seem to be those marks that would drive a player crazy as they would have just missed them

[TroyF]

The first player I looked at is fascinating. The guy with 300 wins and 4,305K is the same player. His name is Chris "Fearless" Carrol.

He was the 21 pick in the draft in June of 2016. He started out as a reliever in the minors. He wasn't really good in A ball, but was promoted to AA at the start of 2017. He pitched well there and moved up to AAA. He lit up AAA and was promoted to the majors.

He worked as a reliever during for the rest of that year and the start of the next year. He had 26 saves and seemed to be destined to be a world class reliever until mid August when the team decided they wanted him to start. He started 8 games to finish the year. The following season, he pitches in 22 games, all starts, and racks up a 12-3 record, with a 1.15 ERA, 23 BB and 183 K. He tears his labrum and is gone for 7 months after that fantastic start. He's 22 at this point.

He comes back the next year and has a terrific year, going 15-7 with a 1.98 ERA, 46 BB and 289 K. The following year he herniates a disk 6 innings into the season and misses the rest of the year.

Then starts the legendary run. 8 Cy Young awards in 9 seasons. His high ERA during the stretch is 2.22. His low ERA was 1.38, a season in which he went 21-4 with 30BB, 303K and 144 hits given up in 234 innings. Yikes.
He starts to fade a bit at the end and spends the last year of his career as a middle reliever before retiring.

His final numbers = 300-130, 28 saves, 2.45 ERA, 3,901.2 IP, 2,944 H, 755 BB, 4,305K, 10 complete games (?), 7 shutouts (?), and a .95 WHIP

He spends his entire career with the same team, signing extensions most of the time. The most lucrative was a 3 year, 74 million dollar extension.

[Buccaneer]

Troy, that sounds like a number of HOF pitchers I have seen when I play in the Golden Age except that CG and SHO would be much, much higher. The Golden Age is very pitcher-centric but the use of relievers is nowhere near the later eras. I can only imagine that the current/modern trend of more reliever specialists would only intensify to where CG would be a thing of the past. It alos sounds like that it's an era of really good hitters with a few HOF pitchers, explaining the low SHO?

[Markus Heinsohn]

Or that guy simply had low stamina...

[Eaglesfan27]

In my test career (with modern settings that has pitcher endurance as low and reliever use set to very high) I have one pitcher who is getting 5-8 CG's each year. Of course, he is one of the most dominant pitchers so managers are leaving him in to finish games.