Fictional Rosters

[Knight165]

Re: Fictional Rosters

Man, this sounds like a blast. I've been having fun using the excellent 1987 set (that set is crazy, as it has full minor leagues from 87, to go along with the MLB teams. Ramone is on the Marlins playing 2B, btw, which I found amusing when opening my Mets season), but this looks like it could be a real cool project to start up.

I'll look for the V2 in the vault. Did anyone take up Knight's roster that has guys based off the 60's? I wouldn't mind seeing a completed version of that, but the default rosters you guys created will work just fine.

No one has grabbed my semi completed "60's" version, but I am updating it in franchise. I've got about 8 teams left(I'm just doing SP's before one game....RP's before another etc).
I started the franchise with 30 team control, so I could finish up the teams and then sim to the end of season and post the franchise file if you guys like.

...NOW....

This set is a COMPLETE WIN for anyone who wants a good change of pace from a "regular" MLB game.
It's great to have to learn the players in the league and have absolutely no preconceived notions about the players.(just read some of the "trade" threads and the "I can't pitch with Mo thread....while there might be some valid points quite frankly IMO...bitchin' and moaning...and that's my point guys can't just play and accept what happens when it's real players sometimes)

M.K.
Knight165

[DJ]

Re: Fictional Rosters

Knight, that is a good point about this roster set, and is why I'm excited to use it.

[TripleThreat1973]

Re: Fictional Rosters

Agreed.

I'm midway through September and tied for the Wild card lead.

I usually play with heavy pitching and speed teams, but just went with what the Ai drafted for me for this season.

It's an power and speed team with no pitching (except my closer is pretty good). Let me put it this way, my 2nd best pitcher is a middle reliever that's 12-4. He's been a "good luck charm" of sorts. When trailing or tied in the 6th/7th Inn, I bring him in and usually make a comeback.

I have a power hitting lefty 1B that'll likely end up with 55 HR, and a 2B and C that will end up with 35.

I plan on trading the C for a SP in the off-season.

This roster is exactly what I would do with High Heat way back when. The players, teams, and leagues take on a life of their own.

Damn awesome.

[crques]

Re: Fictional Rosters

So what's the most recent set of these fictional rosters on SportsConnect and what name do I find them under? This sounds like a fun idea roster to run a franchise with. Thanks.

[sluggbugg]

Re: Fictional Rosters

There are actually three different "updated" versions. The "official" updated version is V2 called OSFictional V2 under RM's PSN name which escapes me right now in the Fantasy Roster selection of Sportsconnect. I believe you can find it on page one of this thread.

Then there is "my" version called OSFictional Vsluggbugg under the name sluggbugg in the Fantasy Roster selection of Sportsconnect. This is RM's V2 with more "star power". Not saying its better in anyway, just "my" version. Kinda like we've gone back to the steroid era a little bit. lol

Then there is Knights version that he has up that is partially completed turning the clock back to the 60's, I believe. He talks about it a couple posts back.

[Rwings832]

Re: Fictional Rosters

This is actually quite fun, I did a fantasy draft, and I picked about the first 25 rounds to get guys I would like to try to build my team around, but I love the challenge, b/c you know nothing about these guys. I ended up taking a national league team b/c I never have managed a team from the NL. I chose the Mets, and decided to build a team with speed, and hopefully pitching, but the relief pitching thus far has not been to good.

Knight, would love to keep going with the 60's style set. I guess when you say 60's style I noticed the high socks, but is it something with the ratings, and stances that are making it like a 60's style? Very cool Idea none the less.

[raleigh mcclure]

Re: Fictional Rosters

Hello All,

I hadn't been back to the thread in awhile. It was fun to see the recent activity and that people are enjoying the rosters.

SluggBugg and Knight, I haven't had a chance to look at your versions of the roster. I may do that tonight.

crques, OSFictional V2 is under my PS3 handle "Diogenes2000".

I'm into the fourth season of my franchise. I'm pretty happy with the results. Some players have become stars that I hadn't anticipated. Most of the "MLB Ghost" players have disappeared. I've enjoyed getting to know players and I've found that almost all player types are represented. So when I wanted to trade for a #3 or #4 pitcher with decent control, I've been able to find a handful of them at different ages.

I'm also thrilled with the "unknown" quality of the players. Even having edited the spreadsheets, there are just so many players that I'm still learning names. I'm doing 30 team control but I don't think I've rejected any trades. In fact, if I had the draft to do over again, I don't think I'd have put near as much time or energy into drafting for team "identities". For instance, I tried to draft strong teams for the Red Sox and Yankees just to keep some areas similar to real life. But a few years into my franchise, the veteran stars I drafted for those teams collapsed and the Red Sox and Yankees traded much of their talent and last year the Yankees came in last. So most of that initial effort wasn't really worth it.

Instead, I agree with those above that said they let the computer do the drafting. If you let trades go about on their own, the lineups will get shuffled and the teams will be randomized without too much effort.

I've been so happy with things that I haven't had too many complaints. Batting averages may be a touch low. There could probably be some higher contact ratings on otherwise average players. I think I kept some of the contact ratings low when I didn't need to, especially since the game doesn't weigh contact nearly as heavily as power. There could certainly be some 2b's and OF's that hit closer to .300 than there are currently.

Rwings832 mentioned the relief pitching. There are some good relievers out there, but maybe they're a bit hard to come by. One possibility is to find a good closer and convert him. I don't think I handled some of the #2 or #3 CP's all that well (due to my understanding of player progression, which is still a bit shaky since the player progression system is something of a puzzle). So by year 4, I noticed that quite a few teams had all 3 closers at the MLB level and were only using 3 RP's on the MLB team.

So the deep CP pool may be a place to look for relief talent. And since even V2 was something of an experiment, you're always free to make a few tweaks here and there to some players.

I'm glad everyone is enjoying themselves. Especially with the hundreds of hours dedicated to this project, it was good to see over 80 downloads of V2. And I don't think I'll be availabe to do this next year (except for possibly in a small support role), so I may continue to play MLB 11 for awhile.

RM

[Rwings832]

Re: Fictional Rosters

Yeah this is really fun, and definately a great twist to the game. Like I said I did a draft and its great getting to know the teams.

I am like you, not sure if I will be able to get 12' right away, as this year I have to keep tabs on my money situation. Oh well there are plenty of rosters to keep me busy, as this one is really a challenge, but I love building my team from the ground up basically.

[sluggbugg]

Re: Fictional Rosters

RM, nice to see you around these parts again! I thought you had retired and become a MLB umpire or something! You seriously need to work on your strike zone, man. Every time Raleigh Mcclure makes a bad call I think about sending you PM! lol

[liftheavy]

Re: Fictional Rosters

I may fire up a franchise with these tonight ...

[cwilso44]

Re: Fictional Rosters

You guys have out done yourself. This has brought me back The Show. I got the itch to play after seeing the wildcard races and came here to check for th latest rosters. I noticed these and gave them a try in franchise mode with the twins. My team is loaded with power hitters but nothing on the pitching side of things. We will be good in a few years though as 4 of my starters are under 24 and they are all A prospects. My biggest dissappontment is Don Cain. My number 1 pick and I can't seem to get things going with him. Best player so far is a tie with my LF Johnston and my catcher Luna. Not sure of their first names. These are very rewarding bc you really have to study your opponents. I'm 15-15 right now and hoping my young pitching staff can grow up a little bit as the season goes on. My future ace is a 20 yr A prospect last name is Frye. Kid looks like he is going to be a stud. I do have a question though. How does the contracts look after a few years? This has to be the most fun I have had with The Show and I will probably be playing this franchise for awhile even after '12 is released so Im curious if anybody has notices anything crazy with the contracts or free agent pool after a few years. Thanks for all the work.

[raleigh mcclure]

Re: Fictional Rosters

cwilso44,

The contracts was one part of this project that there was no fix for. I even tried to use the trick of moving players on and off a team in the Player Movement feature out of the main menu. It didn't seem to give players realistic contracts. Since players need to accrue a few years of MLB experience before they can demand huge contracts, the financial side of the game won't normalize for five or six seasons at least. I'm into my fourth season of a franchise and teams have absurdly low payrolls.

If you want to get realistic budgets, you'll have to play quite a few seasons. That also has the consequence of keeping teams fairly consistent, since they don't have trouble signing their star players every year. I've gone ahead myself to help out teams that I think ought to be better, and I've manually controlled a few trades to move some talent around (using 30 team control).

There isn't much help for that particular problem, I'm afraid. I anticipated the problem with contracts, so in my own franchise I turned on the "Ignore Budgets" feature just to avoid any problems. I'd be interested to hear how the roster plays out with budgets on after six or seven seasons.

As an aside, I never get sick of the announcer saying the name of "Smokey Potter"! Go Smokey!

Thanks for the compliments!

RM

[Knight165]

Re: Fictional Rosters

cwilso44,

The contracts was one part of this project that there was no fix for. I even tried to use the trick of moving players on and off a team in the Player Movement feature out of the main menu. It didn't seem to give players realistic contracts. Since players need to accrue a few years of MLB experience before they can demand huge contracts, the financial side of the game won't normalize for five or six seasons at least. I'm into my fourth season of a franchise and teams have absurdly low payrolls.

If you want to get realistic budgets, you'll have to play quite a few seasons. That also has the consequence of keeping teams fairly consistent, since they don't have trouble signing their star players every year. I've gone ahead myself to help out teams that I think ought to be better, and I've manually controlled a few trades to move some talent around (using 30 team control).

There isn't much help for that particular problem, I'm afraid. I anticipated the problem with contracts, so in my own franchise I turned on the "Ignore Budgets" feature just to avoid any problems. I'd be interested to hear how the roster plays out with budgets on after six or seven seasons.

As an aside, I never get sick of the announcer saying the name of "Smokey Potter"! Go Smokey!

Thanks for the compliments!

RM

I'll let you know.
I'm rockin' the playoffs of Season 1 now.
Dominated the regular season.....winning 119 games(in manage only mode)
I just lost Game 1 of the NLDS to the Pods 6-4.

If you use 30 team control.....you can resign players yourself(for each team) to a more realistic contract and it should shorten the time of "eveness" in the league.

M.K.
Knight165

[sluggbugg]

Re: Fictional Rosters

"Chubby" Wang is a fave of mine RM. He's a pitcher for somebody. Don't remember who off the top of my head though.

[jcar0725]

Re: Fictional Rosters

I'll let you know.
I'm rockin' the playoffs of Season 1 now.
Dominated the regular season.....winning 119 games(in manage only mode)
I just lost Game 1 of the NLDS to the Pods 6-4.

If you use 30 team control.....you can resign players yourself(for each team) to a more realistic contract and it should shorten the time of "eveness" in the league.

M.K.
Knight165

Knight, I'm about to start my franchise using these rosters, so is 30 team control, IGNORE budgets the best way to go for the best realism for playing multiple seasons?