So, here I am, painfully counting the seconds until spring training starts again. No baseball, not even fantasy baseball (does anyone have the stats from the exhibition series in Japan?).
I was curious about what the response would be to starting an online OOTP league.
For those who don’t know, OOTP stands for Out of the Park. It is a baseball simulation game that puts you in the general manager’s seat. Their website is here. In short, you have your 25 man roster, plus three levels of minor leagues (AAA, AA, A). You draft and develop players, sign free agents, offer and negotiate trades, set promotion dates, manage your team’s finances, etc. The game is available through the website.
If there is enough of a demand, I’d like to start a league using the following parameters:
[ul]
[li]Modern-style play[/li][li]Fictional players (to avoid prejudice toward names we already recognize)[/li][li]No DH[/li][li]A small league (6-8 teams at first, so we don’t have to remember 2000 players!)[/li][li]No salary cap[/li][li]All market sizes set to Average to start[/li][/ul]
So, is anyone interested? If you have any questions, I’d be more than happy to answer them.
OOTP (sold in stores as Season Ticket Baseball) is a simulation. I’ve played an earlier version but all the detail was too much for me, I prefer Baseball Mogul. BBM isn’t suitable for a fictional league just yet but that should change with the next version.
As others have pointed out already, it’s not technically a fantasy league. Each week or so, I’ll sim about a month’s worth of games and post the results (with player stats, league news, upcoming schedule, etc.) on a website. Players will download the league file, make roster changes, change their lineups/pitching rotations, etc. and upload via FTP (don’t worry, the game makes this really easy) your file to the league site.
Trades, of course, will be negotiated privately among yourselves.
I’d like to start during the offseason, but continue during the real season as well (although maybe with a slower schedule).
You will need to own a copy of the game. I don’t know the price off the top of my head, but it’s somewhere around the $20-$25 range.
JC, I’m not very familar with Pursue the Pennant but I’d say OOTP & BBM are in a similar vein. Both allow the user to take the reins of a team for an indefinate number of subsequent seasons. Diamond Mind Baseball is just about as close as one can get to the dice game but costs as much as the other two combined and doesn’t even include the current season for that price. Of course, I’ll buy just about any computer baseball simulation that hits the market.
I’d step up to the plate but as I said, OOTP isn’t my bag. All that detail doesn’t hit a home run for me. It makes my head hurt instead, much like how Rodney McCray must have felt after crashing through that wall. However, in the field of running a league as zev intends, Baseball Mogul is still a bit lacking, unless the league is done through their website. I’d still like to pitch getting both games. BBM2K4 is expected to have improvements for those who want to run an independent league and an option for fictional rosters but probably won’t be on stands…err…shelves until opening day.
I’ll join up. As long as it isn’t a killer on the cost I enjoy this sort of sim. Though I’d suggest breaking the season into fairly short intervals.
And Diamond Mind is a descendant of Pursue the Pennant, directly. Man, that was a great game. I’d love to play PTP with really knowledgeable people again.
I am very interested, but have never played, and would be at quite the disadvantage.
Would there be the possibility to watch a season or two unfold before jumping in?
Better yet, you mention minor leagues. Could a separate newbie minor league be done? Attach a newbie to someone knowledgeable, and let them play as that persons minor league team manager? Sounds like a great chance to learn, and would hopefully add an element of realism. If such is the case, I would offer myself in some role to help administer the game also.
You could watch for a season or two, but you probably won’t learn much about the game mechanics from doing that. You’re best bet is to just jump right in. If you have any questions, either I or some other members of the league would be more than happy to help you out.
What’s the worst that could happen? So you make a couple of mistakes and end up in the second division for the first season or two…