Greetings again, Show Community!
So every year, despite the new and improved game modes that come out for major electronic sports franchises, I still find myself mostly obsessed with my favorite element of these games: the franchise mode fantasy draft. Whoever conceived the idea deserves no less than 3 Nobel Peace Prizes.
Anyway, though the concept has given me tremendous joy and infinite hours of exciting gameplay and management decisions, it has also given me frustration, especially during the initial snake draft process. I am something of a perfectionist when it comes to drafting from scratch, so there are countless times where I have abandoned teams after the first few rounds and restarted several more times thereafter.
As was done last year and the year before, I have essentially simulated all 30 picks of the first 25 rounds (for the active roster) of a Fantasy Draft in Franchise Mode with the most recent rosters as of today and recorded the results. Since automatically simulating the draft takes you immediately to the franchise home screen and doesn't allow you to view the draft summary, I just selected one User team and picked everyone using the "Recommend Player" function, and then picked based on overall rating and age trends.
The positions have been color-coded in the following manner for easier viewing:
SP Red
RP/CP Orange
C Yellow
1B/3B Green
2B/SS Light Blue
LF/RF Dark Blue
CF Pink
While this certainly does take some of the fun out of drafting organically with no expectation of what will happen, I myself have done the draft mode so many times that at this point I already know vaguely what's going to happen, so I figured I might as well put it all down on paper and use it as a guide, and boy is it helpful. For example, The Show 19 still has the infamous Round 9 Relief Pitcher Extravaganza, meaning Josh Hader will never get taken by simulation until the first pick of that round since he's listed as an RP and not a CP.
That said, I have attached the spreadsheet as a PDF for viewing, for now just the SCEA version (not sure if I'll have time for OSFM yet). Unfortunately, since OS for some reason doesn't allow uploads of spreadsheet files directly, I am offering to email either to anyone who would want to have an editable copy. I'm also planning on updating this every month or so, as the changing ratings and sometimes positions do have an impact on when certain players tend to go. The next update will be probably late April, when most of the hyped prospects have been called up and franchise drafting really gets fun.
Also, keep in mind this is only based on one simulation and doesn't guarantee when players will get picked. This year has yet more variation in player drafting, which does yield a more realistic and fun mode! And I'm so happy we finally get to do contract extensions

Have lots of fun and let me know if you'd like an editable copy of either! Cheers!
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