The Unofficial SDMB Out of the Park Baseball League currently has an openings for two new owners.
For those of you who don’t know, OOTP is a baseball simulation game that puts you in the owner’s/General Manager’s seat. In short, you have a twenty-five man Major League roster, as well as three levels of minor leagues (AAA, AA and A). You draft and develop players, sign free agents, offer and negotiate trades, manage your team’s finances, set the lineup and pitching rotation, etc. You have to watch out for injuries to players, declining superstars and highly rated prospects that sometimes go bust.
Our league is a steady league that has been ongoing for over a decade (real-time) and is about to start its 22nd season. We’re at the start of Spring Training now and this would be an ideal time for you to take over a team and steer it towards success.
The team currently available is the Barstow Lizards.
The Barstow Lizards are a strong team with some recent successes. They have been in the playoffs for the last seven seasons running and finished in second place in their division last year with 92 victories. In addition, of the four members of the league Hall of Fame, two of them spent most or all of their careers with this franchise (when it was located in Saskatoon).
The Lizards are headed by slugging CF Rufus Murray. Murray hit .303 last season with 32 HR, 117 RBI and .907 OPS. He has driven in 100+ runs each of the last six seasons and also has 255 career stolen bases.
Another veteran on the roster is 1B Gregorio Marzano. Marzano has always been a solid hitter, posting averages of .300 or better for ten consecutive seasons. Last year, however, his average dropped to .288. He’s 34 years old and in the last year of his contract. Do you trade him? Let him walk? Sign him to an extension?
The rotation is anchored by 27-year old Emilio Romero. Romero is coming off a 19-10 season with 260 strikeouts (led the league) and a 3.57 ERA. He’s earning the league minimum salary now, but he’s probably going to be eligible for arbitration next year.
The bullpen is headed by closer Gregg Fiala. Only 26 years old, Fiala has been a closer for a long time. He’s saved 50 and 34 games over the last two seasons.
The Lizards also have some talented youngsters in the lineup, including CF Luis Ramon (25 years old, .287, 17 HR, 93 RBI).
All we ask is that you actively participate. We sim games once a week. So, every week you’ll download the latest game updates, make any changes to your roster that you feel are necessary and upload those changes to the game server (all done via the game interface).
Since we’re in the off-season, you’ll have the opportunity to relocate/rename your franchise before the start of the season.
There is no fee to join the league, although you do need to own the latest version (13) of Out of the Park baseball. You can purchase the game directly from the publisher.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. I (or one of the other league members) will be happy to answer any questions you have. In addition, feel free to check out our league blog.
Zev Steinhardt