Hey. I skimmed through the forums to see if this has ever been addressed, but I don't think it has.
I'm the type of person who likes to play 10-20 years into a franchise. I play 10-25% of the games and simulate the rest. This is my first year playing the show (I had a 360 prior to PS4), and I've noticed a few things that really ruin the mode for me.
First off, I have downloaded the OS rosters, and I'm still having these problems. I consider myself pretty "baseball-savvy." I understand the MLB offseason and how/why teams manage their money.
Problem 1 - Too many players have unrealistically high potential.
I have taken a few different franchises into years 6,7, and 8, and in all instances every team in the league was over saturated with talent. Where as most teams in 2014 have 4-5 starters rated in the 70's, there are almost no starters rated in the 70's 5+ years down the road. Every team is loaded with position players with overall ratings from 80-95. There are close to no starting pitchers with overall ratings below 80. Most teams have 2 starting pitchers with 90+ overall ratings and some have 3. Realistically, any given year, there should be only 10-15 pitchers rated 90+.
I guess you could say this isn't that big of a problem. You could just say that an 82 in 2020 is equivalent to a 76 in 2014, however I think the inflated ratings ruin the sim engine. I'm big into the statistics of baseball, and unrealistic stats take me out of the experience. By years 5 and 6 Miguel Cabrera was striking out 150 times a year and taking below 70 walks despite maintaining a 99 overall rating and having little change in his more specific ratings like vision and discipline.
Problem 2 - Teams have too much money, Players ask for too little
Another big problem I've noticed is that by year 3 every team's available budget is much higher than it originally was. The A's have around an 85 million dollar budget in 2014, but by 2017 it was 120 million. What is the appeal of playing with a small market team like the A's or Rays if, by year 3, you can spend like you are the Red Sox or Yankees?
To compound this, players settle for too little money in contract negotiations. In real life the Braves recently signed Chris Johnson (rated 78 in The Show) to a 3 year 23.5 million dollar extension. Disregarding the way his contract is structured, that's roughly 8 million a year. That's a pretty significant chunk of the Braves ~100 million dollar payroll. In The Show he only asked for a 1.9 million dollar contract. So in the The Show I could sign 4 ~78 rated players for what it took the Braves to realistically sign 1. I know this isn't as much of a problem with the big name high 90's free agents who ask for 40 million a year, but all players rated in the 70's and 80's ask for way too little.
These problems ruin the entire reason I like playing franchise modes in sports games. I like being constrained by a budget and struggling to find appropriately priced talent like the real clubs have too. In The Show there is too much talent and too much money.
Am I crazy? Does anyone else have these complaints? Should I stop caring so much about the franchise mode of a video game? Thanks!
I'm the type of person who likes to play 10-20 years into a franchise. I play 10-25% of the games and simulate the rest. This is my first year playing the show (I had a 360 prior to PS4), and I've noticed a few things that really ruin the mode for me.
First off, I have downloaded the OS rosters, and I'm still having these problems. I consider myself pretty "baseball-savvy." I understand the MLB offseason and how/why teams manage their money.
Problem 1 - Too many players have unrealistically high potential.
I have taken a few different franchises into years 6,7, and 8, and in all instances every team in the league was over saturated with talent. Where as most teams in 2014 have 4-5 starters rated in the 70's, there are almost no starters rated in the 70's 5+ years down the road. Every team is loaded with position players with overall ratings from 80-95. There are close to no starting pitchers with overall ratings below 80. Most teams have 2 starting pitchers with 90+ overall ratings and some have 3. Realistically, any given year, there should be only 10-15 pitchers rated 90+.
I guess you could say this isn't that big of a problem. You could just say that an 82 in 2020 is equivalent to a 76 in 2014, however I think the inflated ratings ruin the sim engine. I'm big into the statistics of baseball, and unrealistic stats take me out of the experience. By years 5 and 6 Miguel Cabrera was striking out 150 times a year and taking below 70 walks despite maintaining a 99 overall rating and having little change in his more specific ratings like vision and discipline.
Problem 2 - Teams have too much money, Players ask for too little
Another big problem I've noticed is that by year 3 every team's available budget is much higher than it originally was. The A's have around an 85 million dollar budget in 2014, but by 2017 it was 120 million. What is the appeal of playing with a small market team like the A's or Rays if, by year 3, you can spend like you are the Red Sox or Yankees?
To compound this, players settle for too little money in contract negotiations. In real life the Braves recently signed Chris Johnson (rated 78 in The Show) to a 3 year 23.5 million dollar extension. Disregarding the way his contract is structured, that's roughly 8 million a year. That's a pretty significant chunk of the Braves ~100 million dollar payroll. In The Show he only asked for a 1.9 million dollar contract. So in the The Show I could sign 4 ~78 rated players for what it took the Braves to realistically sign 1. I know this isn't as much of a problem with the big name high 90's free agents who ask for 40 million a year, but all players rated in the 70's and 80's ask for way too little.
These problems ruin the entire reason I like playing franchise modes in sports games. I like being constrained by a budget and struggling to find appropriately priced talent like the real clubs have too. In The Show there is too much talent and too much money.
Am I crazy? Does anyone else have these complaints? Should I stop caring so much about the franchise mode of a video game? Thanks!
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