Recalc and Freezing Performance at Pre-Steroid Levels

[fauteuil7]

I've bought every OOTP edition since version 5, usually start my game in 1981 or 1991 and play out every game, but get frustrated and quit once players start hitting 80 homeruns. It usually catches me off-guard and I feel like I've wasted all this time playing a computer game when I get to a point where it's no longer what I was enjoying. Sometimes it happens with real players (Sammy Sosa hitting 88 homeruns in 1993, Russell Branyan hitting 93 in 2004 when I finally gave up) and other times with fictional players once I get past the most recent year in Arod/Garlon, which is more understandable. I prefer pitching dominance, so once the stats get like this, it's just not fun for me. I may as well be playing Baseball Stars on Nintendo the way the stats get. Can recalc be used to do this? Would I have to go into the stats database to make these changes, or is there an easier way?

What I would like is some way to put a cap on certain stats, with an obvious +/- margin of error, say 50 homeruns as the feat it was when Cecil Fielder did it, but with a +/- of 15 so that Maris would be chased in some years, and 35 would lead the league in others.

Apart from that, will there be (or is there a way in 2006) to keep stats as they were in a certain year? I'm ready to admit that I may have been ignoring some obvious but slightly involved feature that already does this, and would appreciate any help you might have about this problem which, apart form crashes in prior versions (after all the patches I never lost a league in 2006 which was a first for me) usually marks the point where I get up from my desk and say "What did I just do with the past x days/weeks/months of my life?" which is certainly not good for immersion.

Thanks in advance!

[Doughnuts?]

This is something that has always been an issue with me as well. I grew up when hitting 30 hr's really meant something, and I like my baseball that way. I have no problem with the occasional 50 hr plateau, but it should be a relative rarity. I played around with different settings in 2006 to try and maintain that level of play, but hopefully someone can suggest the best method for this in the new game.

[endgame]

It looks like Markus addresses this here:

http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...83#post2051983

[fauteuil7]

Thanks Endgame...

but I don't think that's the solution. With the player import stats changing every year leading up to McGwire's 70, Markus' answer sounds a little too simplistic to work. In fact, I'm sure that I did try this, and it didn't really work. Intuitively I would think that you'd need a sliding scale that changes each year unpredictably, especially since Ron Kittle from the league example I gave hit 63 homers in 1985 when I had the player creation modifier for power set at 0.7. If I hadn't done that, would he have hit 81?

Like I said, my understanding may be faulty and I'm going to run a quick historical league now changing the MLE as opposed to the player creation modifiers and see if I get better results. If anyone else has done work on this, please let me know. I haven't posted in these forums in a long time because I got frustrated with the game but am sure that someone has come up with a solution for this since then.

[akw4572]

A good workaround for this is to find a year of league totals you like, then copy and paste them into every season on the league totals document into your game folder.

[RchW]

As above, setting league totals to reduce home runs should help. Markus' suggestion for player creation doesn't apply to real players. With 2007 you should be able to get whatever stat output you want.

For reference, I completed a historical sim (1901-2005). Todd Helton hit 72HR in 2000. Taking into consideration that the ball may still have been juiced in 2000 (affecting league totals), the park factors for Colorado are 1.13 for HR, and the possibility of steroids, this is not out of the park (excuse the pun).

The single season leaders 60HR and over were:

1. Helton 72 2000
2. Ruth 70 1922
3. McGwire 68 1997
4. McGwire 66 2000
5. Kiner 63 1950
6. McGwire 63 1996
7. Snider 61 1955
8. Sosa 60 2000

IMO if you get 88 and 90HR seasons the league totals are definitely suspect. Messing with MLE's may be risky, but I don't know enough to say for sure.

[Raidergoo]

From latest Lahman sim... Mind you, there were no injuries in this, so the HR totals are a little high.

Date Player HR Seasons   
1920 Babe Ruth 61 Home Runs, .381/.513/.819, 178 RBI and 174 Runs in 554 AB, 148.9 VORP   
1921 Babe Ruth 58 Home Runs, .404/.549/.822, 168 RBI and 173 Runs in 534 AB, 156.9 VORP   
1925 Babe Ruth 55 Home Runs, .389/.519/.762, 175 RBI and 169 Runs in 563 AB, 133.0 VORP   
1929 Babe Ruth 58 Home Runs, .349/.466/.709, 143 RBI and 157 Runs in 571 AB, 98.7 VORP   
1949 Ralph Kiner 50 Home Runs, .273/.408/.580, 112 RBI and 126 Runs in 560 AB, 52.5 VORP   
1950 Ralph Kiner 53 Home Runs, .319/.432/.672, 144 RBI and 114 Runs in 551 AB, 83.4 VORP   
1954 Ted Kluszewski 50 Home Runs, .289/.354/.580, 131 RBI and 110 Runs in 602 AB, 58.2 VORP   
1955 Mickey Mantle 51 Home Runs, .339/.438/.667, 138 RBI and 143 Runs in 573 AB, 90.4 VORP   
1961 Mickey Mantle 55 Home Runs, .350/.481/.720, 129 RBI and 140 Runs in 529 AB, 110.3 VORP   
1962 Mickey Mantle 50 Home Runs, .311/.445/.615, 102 RBI and 122 Runs in 559 AB, 83.3 VORP   
1985 Rob Deer 50 Home Runs, .258/.352/.563, 128 RBI and 107 Runs in 563 AB, 49.1 VORP   
1986 Fred McGriff 54 Home Runs, .262/.387/.583, 145 RBI and 121 Runs in 595 AB, 59.0 VORP   
1987 Ken Phelps 51 Home Runs, .320/.469/.697, 130 RBI and 119 Runs in 478 AB, 96.4 VORP   
1990 Kevin Mitchell 51 Home Runs, .272/.339/.570, 133 RBI and 110 Runs in 596 AB, 50.0 VORP   
1993 Fred McGriff 53 Home Runs, .315/.406/.625, 173 RBI and 126 Runs in 613 AB, 87.9 VORP   
1993 Mark McGwire 50 Home Runs, .245/.391/.562, 121 RBI and 120 Runs in 552 AB, 47.2 VORP   
1994 Kevin Mitchell 53 Home Runs, .339/.421/.680, 150 RBI and 128 Runs in 584 AB, 95.1 VORP   
1994 Mark McGwire 53 Home Runs, .281/.458/.603, 161 RBI and 134 Runs in 544 AB, 77.1 VORP   
1994 Matt Williams 53 Home Runs, .316/.364/.622, 162 RBI and 118 Runs in 637 AB, 69.2 VORP   
1994 Albert Belle 58 Home Runs, .324/.396/.675, 165 RBI and 146 Runs in 636 AB, 86.4 VORP   
1994 David Justice 54 Home Runs, .316/.429/.661, 139 RBI and 122 Runs in 560 AB, 87.3 VORP   
1994 Jim Thome 58 Home Runs, .327/.454/.696, 139 RBI and 136 Runs in 559 AB, 101.2 VORP   
1994 Mo Vaughn 54 Home Runs, .322/.389/.625, 117 RBI and 129 Runs in 661 AB, 65.6 VORP   
1994 Ryan Klesko 60 Home Runs, .328/.412/.697, 149 RBI and 152 Runs in 601 AB, 85.0 VORP   
1995 Mark McGwire 62 Home Runs, .273/.450/.669, 137 RBI and 134 Runs in 505 AB, 86.1 VORP   
1995 Juan Gonzalez 51 Home Runs, .306/.344/.605, 143 RBI and 113 Runs in 612 AB, 56.6 VORP   
1995 Frank Thomas 51 Home Runs, .343/.455/.658, 111 RBI and 131 Runs in 591 AB, 109.4 VORP   
1996 Mark McGwire 58 Home Runs, .287/.438/.639, 160 RBI and 125 Runs in 560 AB, 84.9 VORP   
1996 Jim Thome 55 Home Runs, .314/.461/.661, 137 RBI and 150 Runs in 557 AB, 97.3 VORP   
1996 Mo Vaughn 57 Home Runs, .335/.412/.647, 155 RBI and 137 Runs in 651 AB, 89.3 VORP   
1997 Mark McGwire 62 Home Runs, .266/.407/.615, 157 RBI and 144 Runs in 587 AB, 78.3 VORP   
1997 Ken Griffey 54 Home Runs, .321/.396/.646, 144 RBI and 121 Runs in 601 AB, 85.2 VORP   
1997 Sammy Sosa 50 Home Runs, .287/.330/.577, 141 RBI and 104 Runs in 617 AB, 46.8 VORP   
1997 Mo Vaughn 50 Home Runs, .332/.418/.632, 150 RBI and 134 Runs in 644 AB, 97.9 VORP   
1998 Mark McGwire 56 Home Runs, .289/.438/.631, 148 RBI and 127 Runs in 561 AB, 83.3 VORP   
1998 Ken Griffey 54 Home Runs, .278/.368/.594, 127 RBI and 102 Runs in 579 AB, 60.0 VORP   
1998 Sammy Sosa 60 Home Runs, .342/.386/.687, 157 RBI and 124 Runs in 597 AB, 83.4 VORP   
1998 Mo Vaughn 50 Home Runs, .319/.398/.611, 165 RBI and 114 Runs in 640 AB, 75.1 VORP   
1999 Mark McGwire 71 Home Runs, .290/.451/.703, 173 RBI and 155 Runs in 556 AB, 91.1 VORP   
1999 Rafael Palmeiro 53 Home Runs, .329/.419/.672, 132 RBI and 128 Runs in 577 AB, 87.9 VORP   
1999 Sammy Sosa 56 Home Runs, .306/.359/.609, 149 RBI and 122 Runs in 635 AB, 56.6 VORP   
1999 Carlos Delgado 51 Home Runs, .347/.455/.742, 133 RBI and 120 Runs in 507 AB, 109.3 VORP   
1999 Alex Rodriguez 58 Home Runs, .337/.402/.690, 148 RBI and 125 Runs in 603 AB, 63.8 VORP   
1999 Vladimir Guerrero 51 Home Runs, .340/.386/.634, 159 RBI and 133 Runs in 621 AB, 84.2 VORP   
2000 Mark McGwire 57 Home Runs, .281/.398/.632, 140 RBI and 119 Runs in 544 AB, 82.1 VORP   
2000 Sammy Sosa 50 Home Runs, .297/.348/.594, 132 RBI and 104 Runs in 616 AB, 50.6 VORP   
2000 Mike Piazza 50 Home Runs, .293/.353/.615, 148 RBI and 100 Runs in 546 AB, 55.1 VORP   
2001 Sammy Sosa 53 Home Runs, .296/.368/.608, 142 RBI and 115 Runs in 615 AB, 71.9 VORP   
2003 Jim Thome 53 Home Runs, .306/.437/.651, 130 RBI and 134 Runs in 581 AB, 105.1 VORP   
2003 David Ortiz 51 Home Runs, .316/.383/.623, 139 RBI and 113 Runs in 626 AB, 77.4 VORP   
2003 Aramis Ramirez 51 Home Runs, .293/.338/.584, 150 RBI and 116 Runs in 670 AB, 42.8 VORP   
2004 David Ortiz 52 Home Runs, .288/.388/.608, 139 RBI and 116 Runs in 586 AB, 68.9 VORP   
2004 Albert Pujols 53 Home Runs, .349/.423/.686, 132 RBI and 135 Runs in 598 AB, 105.5 VORP   
2005 Manny Ramirez 54 Home Runs, .296/.363/.629, 138 RBI and 108 Runs in 577 AB, 68.8 VORP   
2005 Tony Clark 60 Home Runs, .297/.360/.626, 153 RBI and 123 Runs in 657 AB, 64.9 VORP   
2005 Wily Mo Pena 51 Home Runs, .275/.313/.554, 124 RBI and 103 Runs in 630 AB, 37.9 VORP   
2006 Tony Clark 60 Home Runs, .357/.409/.715, 183 RBI and 144 Runs in 681 AB, 116.3 VORP

[fauteuil7]

Thanks for all the help. I ran two test leagues (one great thing about the newer OOTP is that you can go through 20 years of simming so fast) with the HR ratio set at 0.750 as Markus said in the post which was referred and another at 0.500, neither of which seeming to have much of an impact. I'm running a third right now at 0.250 just for completeness sake. I will post some of my results from all three once I'm done, but the first two, which ran from 1981 to 2001, both had years where the homerun leader hit in excess of 70 taters, which doesn't make sense if it is supposed to be three-quarters or half of what the actual totals are.

After Raidergoo's post I will go back and do the same with the Lahman Database and see if the ratio changes affect that more than they do ARod/Garlan. I've been stuck home with the flu which has given me the opportunity to dust off the ol' OOTP 2006 for some test runs. I hope I can get a satisfactory solution; I don't want to buy 2007 if I'm just going to get frustrated again.

[fauteuil7]

Okay, I just looked at my "0.250" league and saw that Darryl Strawberry hit 54 homeruns in 1983, so I officially don't understand how to make this game do what I want. I'll start up the Lahman league now...

[Craig Scarborough]

Well - that's troubling.

Perhaps PCMs have no effect when you're importing from a database? They're only used for fictional players?

[MadMax58]

Have you been editing the League Totals, or League totals modifiers?? Or perhaps the MLE's??

Just curious as to what you've tried. There was a really long thread last year, which IIRC the majority of people posting said that adjusting the League totals modifiers was the way to go.

Otherwise I think akw's suggestion was the only other way to do it...but it does require some file editing(although not too difficult). That raises another question...do you have adjust league totals after each year checked off?

[Raidergoo]

Originally Posted by Craig Scarborough

Well - that's troubling.

Perhaps PCMs have no effect when you're importing from a database? They're only used for fictional players?

I am pretty sure this is accurate. As I understand it, PCM are involved only in the "big bang" when all the fictional players get made at the start of the game, and never come into play afterwards.

I don't understand them, I don't use them, and they are not well defined.

[ctorg]

Sounds like you need to edit your league totals modifiers. You can actually set them in advance in the erastats.dat file. It's accurate enough that you can force 1980s-like numbers on modern players pretty easily.

[PotatoPeeler]

I don't know much about this topic but what ctorg said seems to make sense to me. Personally, I'd like to set up an historical league with 1980s type statistics all the way through history.

[ctorg]

Originally Posted by PotatoPeeler

I don't know much about this topic but what ctorg said seems to make sense to me. Personally, I'd like to set up an historical league with 1980s type statistics all the way through history.

If you go into the database folder and open erastats.dat (opening as comma-delimited in Excel works best, but make sure you save in the same format), you just find the year you want to emulate and copy it to all the other years. Then set your league to recalculate the historical modifiers each year. The game looks at the ability levels of players in your league and adjusts the modifiers to make them produce results like whatever is set for the current year.

It works pretty well, but it's not 100%, especially if the player abilities are very far off from the current year stats. For instance, trying to apply 1998 stats to players with ratings like those playing in 1903 might produce some oddities.

[PotatoPeeler]

Originally Posted by ctorg

It works pretty well, but it's not 100%, especially if the player abilities are very far off from the current year stats. For instance, trying to apply 1998 stats to players with ratings like those playing in 1903 might produce some oddities.

Yeah, I kind of figured that. But I think 1980s era might work pretty well for that since it seems to be kind of in the middle of the road and such. Hopefully I'll win a preview on Monday so I can play around with it.

[ctorg]

Originally Posted by PotatoPeeler

Yeah, I kind of figured that. But I think 1980s era might work pretty well for that since it seems to be kind of in the middle of the road and such. Hopefully I'll win a preview on Monday so I can play around with it.

There seems to be a consensus among many fans and observers of the game that the early 1980s represented pretty much the best balance between various factors that the game has seen. I've seen it mentioned in several places, including Bill James's stuff. I'm biased towards the 1980s anyway because it's what I was familiar with as a kid getting into the game.

[PotatoPeeler]

Originally Posted by ctorg

I'm biased towards the 1980s anyway because it's what I was familiar with as a kid getting into the game.

That's the exact same reason I'm biased as well. Heh.

[Curtis]

I'm looking for an era when the team batting averages are around .250, homer totals 120 (or .75 per game) and stolen bases not too far from 150-170 (or one per game). Would the 60s or early to mid 70s be about right?

[ctorg]

Originally Posted by Curtis

I'm looking for an era when the team batting averages are around .250, homer totals 120 (or .75 per game) and stolen bases not too far from 150-170 (or one per game). Would the 60s or early to mid 70s be about right?

You can actually just type whatever league totals you want into erastats. They don't have to be from a specific year. You can adjust the hits until they would produce a .250 average. For homeruns, I guess you would want to divide the total by the number of teams in a given year. So if you want 120 homers and you're working with a number of AB from a year where there were 16 teams, you'd want around 1920 homers total.

In terms of years, though, 1969 might be the year for you.