Now these are the results I like to see

[Kelric]

I run a test world for a semi-historical sim that I may finally be able to get off the ground now that the second final patch is released.

In this world I have a MLB setup of 8 teams in one division in each league, an 8 team Pacific Coast League (Triple-A level) and then three completely fictional leagues with two of them at Double-A and one at Single-A levels. There are no minor leagues in my world, just the reserve roster. I have no impact on these teams - I create the world, then let it sim. The drafting, FA signings, trades, etc., etc. are all handled by the game. I sim from 1870 through the 2005 season with no expansions or changing the league settings (I use 4-man pitching staffs, lots of steals, a few other things). In the past this setup has led to mini-dynasties in MLB where a good team can win three or four pennants in a row, sometimes six or seven in a decade, but it's never seen success like this before. Most teams get close to double digit Series wins, you'll occassionally see a horrible franchise with no wins but a few appearances.

Now, the exciting part. From 1870 through 2005, the Boston Red Sox won 97 pennants and 51 World Series. Holy crap. They had a .625 win percentage. The Philadelphia Athletics were also completely dominant, making 56 pennants and 29 Series wins. That A's club would be the most dominant in any sim of mine if it wasn't for those Sox.

The Sox won the American League in 1870 and lost the Series but then fell away to 3rd, 4th and 6th over the next few seasons. From 1874 to 1881, they were in first place every year, winning 3 Series and topping out with a 113 win season in 1879. A 3rd and 2nd place finish followed that streak and preceded a 10 year run in first with seasons of 128 and 122 wins in the middle. This trend continued through my entire world's history. They'd win the league for most of a decade, drop down to 90+ wins instead of 100+ and finish in second for one or two years, then win for the most of another decade.

To show their complete dominance if that doesn't do it for you, they had sub-100 win seasons 50 times in 135 seasons and only 13 of those were sub-90 win campaigns. The team was just sick.

Going through their positional chart, the Sox had no real life stars except for King Kelly for four seasons in the 1880s, Carlton Fisk in the 1970s and early 80s, Joe Morgan and Willie Stargell for a few years in the '70s and some time in the '80s and '90s from guys like Carlos Baerga, Mike Greenwell, Jay Buhner, Ray Lankford and Jose Guillen. With such a great team you'd expect to see Ruth, Williams, Clemente, Aarons, etc., etc. but no truly great real life positional player aside from Fisk/Morgan/Stargell ever played for the team. Yes the game only knows ratings, but in most sims the great players in life are good to great players in the game barring injuries.

Looking at the pitching register, the only names of note are John Smoltz for his whole career (316 career wins for the Sox, but remember that I use 4-man rotations so guys can regularly get 40 starts a year when healthy... but he also had a career ERA under 2.50 until 2003 when he fell apart with a 5.00+ ERA), Cy Young for 4 years, Todd Stottlemyre for 7 mediocre years, Kevin Rogers for 11 decent years, Tom Henke for 6 good years, Danny Darwin for 7 so-so seasons... and that's about it. Again, barely any impact by traditionally great players.

They completely outplayed traditionally great guys who always perform well in OOTP for 135 years using no-name real players and lots of fictional guys. Though I must say that Carlos Baerga is the 18th best all-time hitter in my MLB by VORP after 12 seasons with the Sox and four with other teams at the end of his career. 1020.12 VORP.

For some strange reason, this sim more than any other I've run has seen a huge impact from fictional players. But that's okay, cause different results is why I play the game historically anyways. The best hitter by VORP? Mel Ott at 1765, just ahead of Lou Gehrig at 1753. Ruth (779) and Gehrig (725) are the only ones to pass 700 homers. Ott had 693 and nobody else was over 577 though nine other guys were over 500. The best pitcher by VORP? Ray Sadecki with 1583. Played from 1961 to 1982 with the New York Yankees, giving them a career 2.01 ERA in 5703 IP. His ERA probably would have been under 2 if it wasn't for a 3.32 ERA in his last season. What a bum. Satchel Paige was 2nd with 1568, the aforementioned Smoltz was 5th at 1095.

[Pirates Fan]

Kelric,

How often do you check in on your unverses? Or did you just sim constantly and look over the year-end and career stats?

And did you use financials?

Geoff

[rasnell]

Also, what database did you use and what were some of the key settings in the game; did you use the historic modifiers; change stolen base settings (or stay on high the whole time) as the eras changed; handle expansion?

[Nukester]

Now, the exciting part. From 1870 through 2005, the Boston Red Sox won 97 pennants and 51 World Series. Holy crap.

Now THAT is a fictional fantasy league for sure