MLB 2K13: The Franchise Mode Thread

[Sullyb2332]

Re: MLB 2K13: The Franchise Mode Thread

Series 2 @ Chicago White Sox - Seattle takes 2 of 3
Game 1
SEA – 1 / 5 / 0
CHW – 2 / 8 / 2
WP – G. Floyd (1-0) 9 IP / 5 H / 1 ER / 0 BB / 5 K
LP - B. Beavan (0-1) 5 IP / 7 H / 2 ER / 2 BB / 9 K
HR’s – SEA : K Seager (1) CHW : P Konerko (3)
Notes – Floyd dominated, only giving up a late solo shot to Seager. A first inning Konerko BOMB was enough to get the win. Morales and Ibanez both went 2-3.

Game 2
SEA - 5 / 6 / 0
CHW - 0 / 4 / 0
WP – F Hernandez (2-0) 9 IP / 4 H / 0 ER / 0 BB / 14 K (109 Pitches)
LP - J Danks (0-1) 9 IP / 6 H / 5 ER / 2 BB / 5 K
HR’s – SEA : J Bay (1)
Notes – King Felix was dominating from first pitch to last pitch, never allowing a runner into scoring position and taking a no-hitter into the 6th inning. J Montero was 2-4 and F Gutierrez finally got his first hit of the season going 1-4 with a 2 run double.

Game 3
SEA – 7 / 11 / 2
CHW – 4 / 10 / 1
WP – J Saunders (2-0) 6 IP / 6 H / 3 ER / 1 BB / 7 K
LP – C Sale (1-1)
S – T Wilhemsen (3)
HR’s – SEA : K Seager (2), K Morales (1), J Smoak (3), J Bay (2) CHW : A Dunn (1), T Flowers (2)
Notes – K Seager goes 3-5 with a HR and 2B. J. Smoak and J Montero both went 2-4.

Next up are the Houston Astros; the newest members of the AL West.

[bigfnjoe96]

Love Joe's sliders too, but I'm striking out a ton of opponents. My k-to-bb ratio is 14-2 through 11 games. That's with the O's too.

Think I'm gonna play around with the pitching sliders to get the pitching in line.

That's the only issue I've had so far.

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Drop User Pitch Control Slider to 10 & bump the CPU Contact Slider to 50 & see what happens

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[Mt Oread]

Re: MLB 2K13: The Franchise Mode Thread

Drop User Pitch Control Slider to 10 & bump the CPU Contact Slider to 50 & see what happens

I think Pitch Break Influence can be a big part if you are striking out guys with soft tossers. A good 12-6 can destroy AI hitters, but decreasing the break seems to help some.

I just won a nightmare of a game. Barry Zito was not only shutting my Cards down, I struck out 17 times over 7+ innings to the guy. It was out of nowhere. Like the PBI, I was whiffing on a ton of 12-6 curves in the dirt. And it got me completely off my game. I don't think I have struck out more than 9 times in any other game I've played.

But I was able to get 6 solid innings out of Shelby Miller, although giving up a bomb to Posey had me down 1-0 when I finally broke through and hit a two-run homer with Yadi to go ahead and win the game.

I had Motte out to save when he gave up a double into the corner to Pagan to lead off the ninth. I was sweating with that much speed on second and the meat of the order coming up. But a line drive out to the second baseman, Kozma, who had to leap to snag it, resulted in a DP when Pagan broke for third and couldn't get back.

I'm now 3-2, with the rubber game against SF coming up. It will be nice to get back the St. Louis for the home opener. Speaking of which, I think I screwed up my rotation, as I should have arranged to get Waino the home opener start. Maybe I will bring up a minor leaguer to pitch the next game. I just called Joe Kelly up to pitch Westbrook's next start, and he is not even close to ready to pitch.

It doesn't matter that much, as I am waiting on final rosters to start my season. That way I get to shamelessly use Furcal for now.

[steelereign]

Drop User Pitch Control Slider to 10 & bump the CPU Contact Slider to 50 & see what happens

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Will try that. Thanks.

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[steelereign]

Drop User Pitch Control Slider to 10 & bump the CPU Contact Slider to 50 & see what happens

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Dropped user control to 10 and struck out 14 Royals. That being said, the game still was a close one. I'm dropping the user control to 5. Will let you know how that turns out. I've got the pitch meter speed at 100 as well.

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[steelereign]

Still smoking opponent batters with pitch control at 5. Going to bump up AI contact a bit more. Still having great games with realistic stat lines, except for the strike out totals.

Just beat the Padres 6-3 in 10 innings. Was up 3-0 after a gem of a start by Miguel Gonzalez. But gave up the tying 3-run shot to Carlos Quentin in the top of the 8th.

Chris Davis came through AGAIN with a 3-run walk-off.

I was seriously sweating. Love this game!

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[pistolpete]

Re: MLB 2K13: The Franchise Mode Thread

Still smoking opponent batters with pitch control at 5. Going to bump up AI contact a bit more.

I didn't get into 2k13 that much, but when I had pitch control at 30 on 2k12 I walked EVERYONE!!

[steelereign]

I didn't get into 2k13 that much, but when I had pitch control at 30 on 2k12 I walked EVERYONE!!

Clearly a difference in the slider affect this year. I've got the Pitcher control at 5 and am still striking out 12 or more per game, while only walking 1 or 2.

Then again, maybe the Orioles staff is just that good! Probably not.

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[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: MLB 2K13: The Franchise Mode Thread

Clearly a difference in the slider affect this year. I've got the Pitcher control at 5 and am still striking out 12 or more per game, while only walking 1 or 2.

Yeah, I am definitely not seeing the same slider effects that you are. I have the pitcher control at 30 and rarely hit my spots, and this is even with a "max pitch." Though I am ok with it because it's more realistic to not always have pinpoint command. I do agree with you however that the pitcher control slider is touchy. At 35, I can hit my spots maybe 75% of the time. At pitcher control = 30, it's probably ~25% of the time that I hit my spots. I am still striking out 7-9 per game, which is realistic. I have had a couple of 10+ K games, but not that high on average.

Something that might make a difference to you; you could try upping the CPU contact slider if your pitcher's BAA is really low (< .230). If not that, you could try to make your pitch meter speed faster or drop pitcher control to zero. It could also be due to the quality of your staff. The O's pitching isn't great, but it's pretty ok. Far better than the staff in my Astros 'chise. If it really irritates you, you could have a fire sale and trade all you pitching away for scrub pitchers .

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: MLB 2K13: The Franchise Mode Thread

OK, finally got to the end of Spring Training with my Astros 'chise (went 10-20 during ST mostly testing out sliders and young players) and can now report on my 25-man roster and lineups etc..All of the line-up spots were pretty much pre-determined by my roster (except my 4th and 6th place hitters swapped during ST based on performance), but I had a surprising development in that my 5th starter came out of nowhere to unseat the pitcher I thought would get it.

Lineup v/RHP and LHP w/DH (* = lefty, ** = switch):

1 - CF - Gerardo Parra*
2 - 2B - Jose Altuve
3 - DH - Brett Wallace*
4 - 3B - Mike Olt (rookie)
5 - 1B - Carlos Pena*
6 - LF - Chris Carter
7 - C - Jason Castro*
8 - RF - Thomas Neal (rookie)
9 - SS - Brendan Ryan

Bench:

Tyler Greene (SS)
Ryan Wheeler* (3B, rookie)
Carlos Corporan** (C)
Brandon Barnes (CF, rookie)

Rotation:

1 - Lucas Harrell
2 - Patrick Corbin*
3 - Phillip Humber
4 - Erik Bedard*
5 - Adam Wilk* (rookie)

Pen:

Jose Valdez (rookie)
Sergio Escalona* (rookie)
Sam Demel
Xavier Cedeno*
D.J. Mitchell (rookie)
Rhiner Cruz (set up)
Kyle McClellan (closer)

Notes:

-I brought in Casey Crosby in a trade to compete for a rotation spot with prospects Jordan Lyles and Alex White, who were already on Houston. However, after about 3 Spring Training starts a piece, it was obvious that none of them really wanted the spot (ok, so I was controlling them, blame me...). So, I actually had to turn to a guy I thought would be long relief in AAA for the 5th spot in Adam Wilk. For whatever reason (I think his command is better) he's been quite successful for me in 2-3 starts. In fact, with the starting spot still open in the last ST game, he pitched 5.1 IP of a shutout of the Braves. That pretty much solidified it. I've never had a rotation with 3 lefties in it before, so this should be interesting. Bedard and Humber will not be Astros past the trade deadline I am predicting. Same goes for Carlos Pena and possibly Brendan Ryan also...

-Kyle McClellan and Rhiner Cruz will be duking it out for closer all season. McClellan was 4 for 6 in SV opps in the spring, and Cruz has a nice mid-high 90s FB that I like from my closer. McClellan may also be trade bait if he does well. I am giving the nod to McClellan based on experience for now.

-Gerardo Parra and Patrick Corbin were acquired from the D'Backs in exchange for prospects J.D. Martinez (RF), Matt Dominguez (3B), and reliever Wesley Wright. I felt I needed a solid defensive CFer as well as more rotation depth, hence this deal.

-Mike Olt and Kyle McClellan were acquired from Texas for Bud Norris (SP), Justin Maxwell (CF), and Fernando Martinez (RF). This trade was about getting some experience for the pen along with a middle-of-the-order bat.

-Brendan Ryan and D.J. Mitchell were acquired from Seattle for Jimmy Paredes (OF) and Dallas Keuchel (SP). Wanted a GG-caliber SS for defense.

-Casey Crosby and Adam Wilk were acquired for Jose Veras (closer) and Marwin Gonzalez (SS/2B). Wanted to dump pricey closer Veras to needy team for some young starting pitching.

-Ryan Wheeler was acquired from Colorado for Che-Hsuan Lin (OF) and Thomas Neal (Yankees) was acquired for Brennan Boesch (OF, signed as FA). Needed to get a starting RFer and a versatile bench bat.

As you can see, it's still basically the Astros but with a bit of a cosmetic face lift to make them more playable. Out of the opening day 25-man roster, 9 players are new to Houston. The team is still rated badly (70 pitching, 61 batting, 71 OVR) so it'll be a challenge. In fact, anything close to .500 will be a major accomplishment, and that's the goal. It's a young team (8 rookies) with a few breakout candidates (Wallace, Olt, Parra, Harrell, Cruz).

I am also excited about my young, talented AAA rotation with:

1 - Jarred Cosart (not in game, had to create him)
2 - Jordan Lyles
3 - Casey Crosby
4 - Alex White
5 - John Ely

If these guys can perform, it will make it easier to deal vets later on.

I also created 4 of the other top Astros prospects (doing the whole minors would be overkill imo). Jonathan Singleton (1B, AAA), George Springer (CF, AAA), Lance McCullers (RP, AA), and Carlos Correa (SS, A) are all waiting in the wings for the day Houston can be a contender again.

More to come later...

[steelereign]

Yeah, I am definitely not seeing the same slider effects that you are. I have the pitcher control at 30 and rarely hit my spots, and this is even with a "max pitch." Though I am ok with it because it's more realistic to not always have pinpoint command. I do agree with you however that the pitcher control slider is touchy. At 35, I can hit my spots maybe 75% of the time. At pitcher control = 30, it's probably ~25% of the time that I hit my spots. I am still striking out 7-9 per game, which is realistic. I have had a couple of 10+ K games, but not that high on average.

Something that might make a difference to you; you could try upping the CPU contact slider if your pitcher's BAA is really low (< .230). If not that, you could try to make your pitch meter speed faster or drop pitcher control to zero. It could also be due to the quality of your staff. The O's pitching isn't great, but it's pretty ok. Far better than the staff in my Astros 'chise. If it really irritates you, you could have a fire sale and trade all you pitching away for scrub pitchers .

Well, my pitch meter speed is at 100 already. I may up the AI contact, but the opponent seems to have realistic hit numbers already. I'd really like to see more walks, but I guess by raising the contact slider I will be forced to nibble more corners. That should drive walks up and strike outs down.

Update on my pitching sliders. Kept control at 5, but moved AI contact to 60. Lost 9-5 to the Nats and had 12 strikeouts with 5 walks. Much more accurate. Had to nibble the corners much more and missed my spots a few too many times.

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[RoyalBoyle78]

Still enjoying the game, I'm going to wait for 2k,s opening day rosters and then work on a set myself, just getting contracts right, from that point who ever wants to help add minors and equipment updates let me know

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[RedsCountry]

Re: MLB 2K13: The Franchise Mode Thread

@RedsCountry - as an O's fan I'm curious what Baltimore got in return for Bundy. Was it a position player? If so, which position? Also, what level of the minors was he in?

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sorry it took me so long to get back on! but it was a shortstop in triple a, five star potential

[xcmart19]

Re: MLB 2K13: The Franchise Mode Thread

Thinking about possibly running a possible Astros Franchise as well. Some of my possible plans

-BigFNJoes Sliders
-Playing a game a series (Be around 50 games played for a season)
-Trading for Ubaldo Jimenez and getting his career back together. (Hopefully)
-Trading for Tony Cingrani if possible. (I'm a Reds fan)
-Might unload Altuve just to see where his career goes. (I can't hit with him anyways)
-Create my own crazy knuckleballer, just for lols. (Unless someone knows one I can pick up easy)
-I'm not really shooting for much, wildcard spot would be a pleasant surprise, so I may mess around with their triple A players who have potential.

Any prospects or players that aren't incredible that anyone recommends just to try out?
-I'm open for any ideas or suggestion.

[steelereign]

sorry it took me so long to get back on! but it was a shortstop in triple a, five star potential

Sounds like a good trade for both.

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