MLBTS 22 Community Franchise Feedback/Work-Around Thread

[CBoller1331]

EDIT/DISCLOSURE: I started this thread as a somewhat ambitious endeavor at launch, and then got busy with work, and spent most of my time with the game editing the rosters. I have only recently had the chance to start a franchise. Hopefully now that more people have had the chance to get into their franchise we can get a few more people to share their feedback. The trade deadline reminded me of this thread and a few things I would like to see in the mode in the future

Hello everyone,

I figured that with OS Legend tabarnes moving on to the dev team, he probably wouldn't be making his annual franchise mode issue/workaround thread, so I figured I'd take a shot at trying to keep the yearly thread going this year so we can bring some attention to any issues with the mode and how to go about fixing them.

I know that TA still lurks around the forums so there is certainly a chance that any feedback we give here will make it to the dev team, so keep that in mind when giving feedback.

A couple things I don't really want this thread to turn into:

1. A Community Gripe Fest
---If all we do in this thread is complain about how things don't work in franchise mode, then I don't think anything productive will come out of it. There is certainly a place for criticism here, but let's keep it productive with suggestions for how to work-around those short-comings, or suggestions for how the mode can improve.

2. A General Franchise Discussion Thread
---There is already an awesome thread in place for this. Please post there to give general updates on how your franchise is going

3. A Bug Reporting Thread
---I'm sure there are still 'bugs' that we will encounter, and it is fine to give feedback on them here, but definitely fill out a bug report on the game's website as well

4. A Wishlist Thread
---There is certainly a place here for letting the devs know what types of new features we want in the game, but let's try to keep this focused on how the mode in it's current state can be improved upon. Let's not immediately jump to a massive overhaul of the mode, tell us why your suggestion would improve the mode and what issues it would fix.

With that said, here are some things I would like the thread to be

1. A place to report issues within Franchise mode in MLBTS 22, and how to work-around them or suggestions on how the dev team can address them (either this year with a patch or in next year's cycle)
---This can be short-comings in the logic, drafting, simulated stats etc...and how we can work around them (roster edits/draft-class edits/custom sliders) or how the devs can address them

2. A place to suggest Quality of Life improvements to the mode that will potentially fix any of those short-comings
---Maybe you think saving more minor-league stats will help improve the accuracy of the player-metric (I do), or that trade logic could be improved by allowing more than 3 players to be traded from each team (I also do). That is good constructive feedback to give here.

3. A place to acknowledge improvements to franchise mode this year as well.
---There are definitely some things to build on here, and acknowledging them probably helps keep the "bigger-picture" of where the mode is heading in mind

Ok...last set of "Guidelines" I will give regarding what to include when posting feedback:

1. Be specific about the issue you encountered and any relevant background information to the situation
---How far along are you in the mode? Are you using custom rosters/sliders?

2. Try to look "under-the-hood" and think why this issue might be occurring
---Don't just say "the trade logic sucks" when you see a 72 OVR reliever traded for an A Potential prospect. Try to think why the computer might evaluate those players as equal in value

3. Screenshots are helpful if possible (but not necessary if you are descriptive)
---I know sometimes they can be a hassle but it is helpful to see the issue like that. I will try to keep the first page updated with issues and post the page of the thread you can find any screenshots on if you post them

4. In his interview with EmmdotFrisk, Nick Livingston gave a good answer on what type of feedback is helpful (beginning at about 18:27 in the video). Try to keep that in mind when posting here

If you need inspiration on what to look for, I'd recommend reading through TA's thread from last year that I linked at the top.

Like I said, I will try to keep the first page updated with issues that are posted here (I am going to reserve the first couple posts). I cannot promise that I will be as thorough as TA was, but I'm sure there are other people who post here that have done a lot of testing as well, so I think we can still provide quality feedback.

I am off work today, so I should be able to get some testing/simming done and try to get the ball rolling.

Happy Franchising everyone! Here is to providing everybody with the best experience we can with the mode this year!

[CBoller1331]

Re: MLBTS 22 Community Franchise Feedback/Work-Around Thread

[Reserving this post for specific issues/workarounds]

• Issue: CPU carrying too many catchers (Post#4 on page 1)
  EDIT: Seems like after a couple days teams trim down to no more than 3 catchers (probably to balance minor league rosters as well?)
  Workaround: Roster Edits or 30-team control

• Issue: CPU bullpen relying on LRP too much (Post#6 on page 1)
  Workaround: Rotating bullpen spots every couple days using 30-team control & keeping SPs out of LRP spots

[CBoller1331]

Re: MLBTS 22 Community Franchise Feedback/Work-Around Thread

[Reserving this post for QoL suggestions]

• Issue: Depth Chart for NL Teams does not have a DH spot even with Universal DH turned on

• Issue: Recently signed players being traded in year 1 (Post#7 on page 1 [taken from another thread])
  This is likely because there is no information stored about when a player was acquired going into franchise mode.

• Issue: Rebuilding teams are too likely to trade their young, controllable talent (specifically pre-arbitration players) at the trade deadline
  This is likely because the trade logic still sees them as free agents at the end of the year since they aren't under contract (even though they are still renewable)

• Issue: Option years are inaccurate leading to too many veteran players being demoted to AAA. Fixing this should help Opening Day rosters be a bit more realistic, as the CPU will have their hands tied as to which players they can send to the minors, and which ones they would have to DFA

[CBoller1331]

Re: MLBTS 22 Community Franchise Feedback/Work-Around Thread

[Reserving this post for Miscellaneous suggestions/issues]

• From Funkycorm (Quoted in Post#7 on page 1):
  Regression seems to have been tweaked a bit so that star players no longer fall off a cliff after 33

Okay....I think this will be the last reserved post...

[CBoller1331]

Re: MLBTS 22 Community Franchise Feedback/Work-Around Thread

**Note for right now I am using first SDS Updated roster for testing**

Ok, one thing I am seeing off the bat is some teams carrying 4 catchers on the MLB Roster right out of spring training.

It seems like the CPU just takes the 13 highest pitchers and 13 highest hitters who are on the 40-man for the 26 man roster without much regard for positional depth.

Some workarounds are making ratings adjustments (I'm sure there will be plenty of rosters to choose from that address this) or positional updates. Catchers OVR seem to generally be rated higher than other hitters with lower offensive ratings, so it makes sense that they would be over represented on the 26-man roster

[CBoller1331]

Re: MLBTS 22 Community Franchise Feedback/Work-Around Thread

One obvious improvement is in the DH logic for CPU lineups. It is no longer just the highest OVR bench player. They really take into account defensive ratings and there are situations where a higher OVR player is actually used as the DH because his defensive ratings are lower than the other option at his position.

Still some odd decisions here and there (Tatis as a DH) but the decisions are clearly based on a combination of offensive and defensive ratings. I think some of those can be avoided with some ratings edits.

[CBoller1331]

Re: MLBTS 22 Community Franchise Feedback/Work-Around Thread

Bullpen logic for simulated games seems about the same. Still seeing the CPU over-rely on the LRP and one or two MRP while almost never using the Set-up men.

**I cannot speak for played games yet as I haven't played any games in franchise yet**

Also a quick update on the 4 catchers: after a nice tip from a certain dev , teams do trim down to at most 3 catchers after a day or two. It does seem like the teams that still carry 3 catchers still let one rot on the bench unless he has multiple secondary positions.

[CBoller1331]

Re: MLBTS 22 Community Franchise Feedback/Work-Around Thread

Stealing a couple things from other threads and will update the OP

Pretty sure I read that no recently signed player would immediately be available to be traded for.

In my Pirates relocated franchise I can trade Oneil Cruz for Corey Seager. Maybe since Seager is already on a team it doesn't consider him a recently signed player.

This one seems like a case where there is no way for the CPU to know who is "recently signed" in year 1. I will try to test some time this weekend to see if this happens at all in future years

In response to a question about progression/regression this year:

In 2029.

Progression is still the same.

Regression has been tweaked a bit it seems.

In 2029, players like Trout, Arenado, Lindor, and many others are not high 90s anymore but are still great players ratings wise. They are not the top tier anymore but I would say second tier. Trout is 88 overall in my sim so far with 2 years left on his contract still. In previous games, he would be in the mid 70s at this point and buried in the bench of the Angels. Still relevant.

Performance does seem to impact it. He won MVP in 2026 and didn't regress much.

It is still far from perfect, and some editing has been needed for some players, but big names are still household names in 2029.

Like I said, Trout is not the top player in the league any more or even the top CF, but he is still very relevant.

Some players ending big contracts have still signed new contracts for a year or two.

And in free agency by the end of the offseason, pretty much all players over 76 are being signed to contracts.

Note that I am using my potential edited roster which helps all of the above substantially.

If there is anyone who knows about Progression/Regression its Funky, as he rerates potentials to aid with this. So this is encouraging. Worth noting he is using a custom roster, but its good that players no longer fall off a cliff after 33

[CBoller1331]

Re: MLBTS 22 Community Franchise Feedback/Work-Around Thread

Bumping this because after 4+ months I have finally gotten a chance to get immersed into a franchise. With the trade deadline looming IRL, I was reminded of some things I'd like to see as far as the logic goes:

In Franchise mode, rebuilding teams seem all too willing to part with their young, controllable talent. Especially pre-arb players. A couple examples I saw numerous times in sims was the Orioles trading away Ryan Mountcastle and the Reds trading Jonathan India. To SDS's credit the packages for these deals were often close to fair value, but there isn't any reason for rebuilding clubs to part with their young, cheap and controllable players. They will just get stuck in a perpetual rebuild if that happens. (Example: Orioles (Rebuild) Trade Cedric Mullins to the Yankees (Playoff Push) for Ken Waldichuk, Oswaldo Cabrera and Everson Pereira. That's a decent package, but the Orioles probably aren't going to trade a guy at the deadline when they can control him for 3+ more years)

There are also a whole lot of prospect-for-prospect(s) trades. Again, these deals are usually close to fair value (props to SDS I think the trade metric is working fairly well), but these type of deals just don't happen very often. There are certainly times where both teams will attach prospects to a deal in order to get closer to equal value, but a lot of these deals don't make much sense. (Example: DBacks (rebuild) send the Rockies (Playoff Push) Corbin Carroll in exchange for Elehuris Montero, Drew Romo, and Noah Davis. The DBacks make out alright, but there is no reason for them to trade their top prospect in his rookie season)

One way to improve this IMO would be to build off of the Depth Chart screen. I know many on here scoffed at the idea that this was our main improvement to the mode last year, but it is a really good tool to get a snapshot of the present & future state of the organization. There is enough information stored on this screen to use for trade logic. On the depth chart you can see players in contract years (these are the ones who should be traded at the deadline, and occasionally players with 2 years left), you can see where you lack organizational depth (these are the positions that teams should target at the deadline), which players are controllable (these are the players that rebuilding teams should hold onto), as well as how these players might progress through the years.

Two last somewhat related trade notes:
--Contracts need to be tied into trade value (especially in the negative direction). No team is going to give any prospect up for a 38-year old Miguel Cabrera who is still going to get paid $31M this year and next year

--(This one is barely related to trades but I am going to force it) We need to be able to edit option years if SDS doesn't want to take the time to make them accurate at launch (as well as adding the rule that players w/ more than 5 years of service time must consent to being optioned. Maybe just automatically update a players options to 0 after he reached 5 years). This should hopefully help the waiver wire be a bit more active, and it will keep teams from optioning low-rated veterans to AAA. This will add another layer to CPU decision making. Now forcing the trade example: The Astros send 3 prospects to the Giants for Alex Cobb (who was having a good season but regressing a bit). Upon acquiring Cobb the immediately optioned him to AAA. No team is going to give up 3 prospects for a veteran then just send him to AAA to rot away for the rest of the year

Ok. I hope more people join in this time now that they've had a chance to dive into the mode. I don't want to be the only posting in the thread!

[Jr.]

Re: MLBTS 22 Community Franchise Feedback/Work-Around Thread

[Reserving this post for specific issues/workarounds]

• Issue: CPU carrying too many catchers (Post#4 on page 1)
  EDIT: Seems like after a couple days teams trim down to no more than 3 catchers (probably to balance minor league rosters as well?)
  Workaround: Roster Edits or 30-team control

• Issue: CPU bullpen relying on LRP too much (Post#6 on page 1)
  Workaround: Rotating bullpen spots every couple days using 30-team control

Another workaround for the bullpen usage issues, make sure cpu teams don't have more than 1 SP in the bullpen. It works even better with no SPs in the bullpen. The usage is more distributed, though still leans towards LRPs.

Can do this through 30 team control, or by editing SPs to RPs. I do a mixture of both

Sent from my SM-G970U using Operation Sports mobile app