Your league, your way

[majesty95]

The Idea
I want to create a historical league and have the forum help guide the team and the league. YOUR LEAGUE, YOUR WAY.

I will post polls asking for input on everything from the team we will guide to the setup of the league.

Co-General Managers
We will be co-General Managers and have heavy influence with the commissioner. What we decide will go a LONG way in influencing the path our league follows (including but not limited to: the DH, salary cap, revenue sharing, the draft, expansion, realignment and the playoffs, among others)

As co-GM's, we will generate an organizational focus and map out how we will go from expansion team to World Series champion. That means you will have input on the expansion draft, amatuer draft, trades and free agent signings.

I will document our team and the league here in the forum as well as on my dynasty page (this is what it looked like before I accidentally deleted my last dynasty. I will follow the same format.)

Team Progress
I will try to progress fairly quickly so you will have to follow closely if you want your voice heard

I will update the progress of the team after every OOTP week in the forum and the dynasty page after every OOTP month.

I will attempt to simulate one week every 2-3 days. That could go up or down depending on the interaction of the followers and my personal schedule.

Synopsis
So, that is my vision. I will post the first few polls regarding the team we will manage and the setup of the league shortly. I hope you guys like the idea and will follow along and provide your opinion and feedback.

I look forward to a lot of FUN with you guys in this process!

----------

The League
We are starting out in 1968 and will sim the '68 season to get to the expansion draft. Our in game character will be Cedric Tallis. Tallis was part of the Angels' organization in 1961 when they were an expansion team. Hired by the Kansas City Royals in real life, the owner of our eventual team was smart enough to snag us away from Ewing Kaufman.

The Major Leagues will start out with 10 teams in each division, just like the 1968 season did. I have set up three levels of minor leagues to support each team's future prospects. The database being used is Spritze's so players will debut in the season they made their pro debut. This is good because it allows us to have near full minors due to all of the extra players added to that database. It will also provide an interesting twist as players that normally debut ready for the majors will have to work their way up through the minors.

The Minors
The minor league level has been broken down to A, AA and AAA. Each level has 24 teams (one for each team after expansion) and is broken down into three, eight-team leagues (AAA-American Association, International League, Pacific Coast League; AA-Eastern League, Southern League, Texas League; A-California League, Carolina League, Florida State League).

I tried to keep the minor league teams as close to real life as possible. However, I did make some changes to mascots (if it was changed within a few years to a more recognizable one) and some teams (in favor of more recognized teams from another league or that debuted within the next few years).

All of the leagues are set up as one division and have an end of the year playoffs (except the American Association). The AA, from what I could find, declared the team that finished the regular season with the best record the champion in '69. I thought it would be cool to have a one-off like that in the league so the AA has no playoffs. Also, four of the leagues (All A and the Southern League) play split-seasons, meaning the champions from each half of the season will play for the league crown at the end of the season.

The Settings
I am playing the historic Major League schedule in the majors and playing a 140 game, balanced schedule in the minors (due to there being a schedule already in the OOTP DB and that being the simplest). The MLB schedule will usually start on/or around Monday the first week of April. Each of the minor leagues should start the following Thursday.

All standard MLB rules and financials are in effect and the owner will control our budget.

I am using a 5-year recalc with current year doubled and preventing potential from being recalculated (I'm doing this to provide some variety as a five-year recalc isn't as predicatble as a shorter one. Also, preventing potential from being recalc'd will provide some surprises and leave room for busts and breakouts players, at leats in the sense of how they are scouted).

Stats are neutralized and fielding ratings and stamina are based on career (This is to prevent players from being unable to play positions they did later in thier career and to allow pitchers who started as relievers to be starters. I know the drawbacks for pitchers but it is an imperfect system and I don't want to limit some starters to just being relievers).

I am using a complete scouting and coaching system (although I don't know that the coaches will have much of an effect). Injury frequency is low and fatigue is average (not sure if there need to go up or down. I am also not sure about development/coaches so am open to feedback).

I'm using a 1-10 ratings scale and 1-5 potential with stars (I want as much unpredictability as possible. The goal is to re-create history, not follow it exact). Overall is based on pure ratings and on all players, not positions.

The AI lineups are traditional and the player eval is: 20% ratings, 40% current, 25% previous and 15% 2-years ago. Trading frequency is low and difficulty is hard/favor prospects.

----------

Input

Obviously, I cannot ask everyone's opinion on everything so I had to make decisons based on the boards and my personal experience when setting up the league. However, I am always open to suggestions if a reasonable case can be made to change something and it is supported by the other co-GMs.

[majesty95]

Everything has been decided except for the team we will be running. I have started to lean towards the Pilots since that is the truest "what if" scenario. I also know me, if I play as a team that is currently in existence, I will tend to want to draft their players. The Pilots only had one year of history so I think it would be more fun for everyone to replay them witout having any preconceived ties to certain players. However, I'm down with whatever the polls decide.

EDIT: OK, I've closed the poll and posted the final results below. We will be in control of (drum roll please)....

The Seattle Pilots

Here are the final results:

• Seattle Pilots (1969) - 10
• Montreal Expos (1969) - 8
• Kansas City Royals (1969) - 4
• Seattle Mariners (1977) - 1

[majesty95]

Here is the most recent poll for the dynasty. Your input will go a long way in the direction this Seattle Pilots franchise takes!

Youth or Veterans?
 Youth, build for the future
 Veterans, try to be competitive now
 A Balanced Mix

Poll starter: majesty95   See Results







Offensive Philosophy
 Moneyball (High OBP and HR; low SB, bunts and hit-n-run)
 Whiteyball (Low HR; high SB, gap hitters, sacrifices and hit-n-run)
 Balanced (some power, some speed)

Poll starter: majesty95   See Results







Pitching/Defense
 Power Pitchers (Big arms, avg control; average defense)
 Finesse Pitchers (Great defense; pitch to contact, high IP)
 Balanced (At least one of each in rotation and bullpen)

Poll starter: majesty95   See Results

[PITFan48]

I like the idea. Personally I chose the Seattle Pilots because I always wondered what would've happened if MLB had decided to keep them there. Hopefully we dont stink too bad and we can keep the team in Seattle for more than a single season lol

[majesty95]

I personally like the Expos since they never won anything but neither did the Pilots/Brewers so I'm intrigued by that option as well.

By the way, if anyone is good with GIMP or Photoshop, we may need some new logos and uni's. I have the original logo and unis but wouldn't mind an update if anyone can do that.

[majesty95]

The Expos and Pilots are off to an early lead.

I'm glad the simplified minors is popular. It is going to take a bit to get set up since I want to use actual affiliations and teams.

[majesty95]

The Pilots have pulled back even with the Expos and people seem to be favoring just getting going and dealing with rule changes and financials later...

With that being the case, I am going to begin setting up the league. Hopefully, I can get most of or all of it done today. I am a little ambitious in setting up my leagues so I want to use actual Minor League affiliations, logos and uni's (I already have them downloaded, just need to do the data entry). I also like to have actual managers and many of the real coaches but I have all that data collected so it should ot take too, too long.

We will be using FaceGen so any pics posted in the updates will show them playing for the team they are in the game.

Will be fun! Can't wait to get started!

HAPPY EASTER!

[majesty95]

Thanks for all the votes/input! Working on setting up the league. The team is still TBD but will probably be decided tomorrow. Vote now if you haven't already!

[majesty95]

As promised, the league is created. I saved a quick start for anyone that wants to try it on their own. I will release it once this game gets started and we get some momentum going.

Tomorrow I will work on the managers and some of the coaches. I'm a stickler for the little things like that. Hopefully it won't take me more than a few hours and we can see the 1968 season being simmed and preparing for the expansion draft in a day or so...

Remember, there is still time to vote for the team you want to help me manage. The voting for that will end at some point tomorrow so vote now!

[majesty95]

OK, I just finished adjusting market sizes for all 20 team in '68 and updating the owners to the actual RL owner. I had some family issues so I didn't get as much done as had hoped.

I will look to update the General Managers, Managers and some coaches next. I also want to update Fan INterest and Fan Loyalty before getting underway.

I have some things I need to do tomorrow so I am shooting to have this done and ready for kick off on Wednesday. At least I'll try to get to that point and sim the '68 season and we can plot our strategy for the expansion draft.

I'm getting excited!

EDIT: Just finished fan interst and fan loyalty. Going to see if I can knock GM's out before I call it a night...

[majesty95]

OK, finished the GM's and Scouting Directors. I'll try and tackle the managers and at least the biggest name coaches tomorrow and Wednesday. Should be on track to get to the expansion draft on Wed.

BTW, I think the Pilots will be our team. I haven't closed the voting just yet but they are in the lead and I have kind of embraced the idea so that gives you guys some kind of idea of what is to come. If anyone wants to help out with possible future logos and uniforms that would be great. Also, I will need a new banner (100x1000) for the website once I get that going. Thanks for following!

[No Pepper]

I voted, so that gives me the right to chime in, because it is my league, my way! Actually, just a question...

How are you adjusting market sizes and fan interest/loyalty? I'm a couple of versions behind the current (v11) and haven't played around too much with these so forgive me if I'm not understanding how these changes affect gameplay. I've always thought that these were given random assignments unless an inaugural draft was held, which then each was based on the talent level of the team.

[majesty95]

I don't remember how OOTP 8 and 9 were, but market sizes and fan interest and loyalty are now editable. I think that helps to make a more realistic experience.

For market size, the biggest impact is that of the media contract they can attract. Obviously, New York will get more than Minnesota. Usually the changes I make are subtle but there is an excel mod called GMExcel or MarketCalc that makes it a little more realistic. So, market size affects the team's cash flow and I think it has an effect on some free agents.

Fan interest and fan loyalty are generally way off base in my opinion. Most fan interest starts off between 60-80 at game start. However, teams coming off a bad season and those that had poor attendance during the season I am simming get lowered. I just don't want a team that averaged 8,000 fans per game in RL drawing 16,000.

Loyalty plays a role in stability. The more loyal the less fluctuation in attendance during down years. Teams like the Cubs, Red Sox and Cardinals always get high loyalty from me while Atlanta, Detroit, Cleveland and others get lowered a bit (usually). Again, it is all in an attempt to replicate real life as much as possible. I think if a team draws twice as many fans in the game as it did in real life or has a bigger market share, they improve quicker than they should throwing off the replay somewhat...

Glad you are following. Looking forward to getting this underway!

[majesty95]

I've got 5 of the 20 MLB teams' coaching staffs done. Should be able to knock out the rest tomorrow...

[majesty95]

While I am finishing the coaching staffs, I would like to begin developing our organizational strategy. I am actually very much in need of assistance since A. I am a child of the 80's and this is the first time EVER I am doing a pre 1980 replay and B. I have played less than 10 seasons on OOTP 11 so don't have a tried and true formula yet.

So, please vote in the poll in post #3

[majesty95]

Need some feedback on the organizational dirction we should take. Working on finishing up the coaching staffs.

[majesty95]

I moved the poll to post #3. I will keep all fo the future polls there for easy reference.

The coaching staffs are taking longer than expected and I had some stuff pop up. I'm about 1/2 way done and am sitting down now to bang the rest of them out.

[majesty95]

The coaching staffs are done! I'll sim to the expansion draft later tonight or tomorrow. Get your vote in now if you want input into the direction fo the club pre-draft!