i played with 100% accuracy and the defaults mostly.. tried to focus on learning a few things at a time.
when i first bought it, i tried to customize everything and got frustrated. set it down and didn't play again for months. kept it simple the next go around and had much better results.. then, once i had a better baseline i could costumize with at least some idea of what the exact effect would be.
historical play is a bit different... you'll have a few more choices to understand. the recalc of players and whether or not to let it run wild with random changes based on engine and not history etc etc etc...
most of it is what you expect based on verbage and common perceptions, but sometimes not so much. don't be afraid to experiement and if not picky you'll enjoy it right away.. if picky like me, it may take a bit of comfort and the right set of rules and statistical environment
i can't see a game taking 2 hours unless you want it to. you can speed up some of that stuff to your preference as far as the visuals and text print out. how long it takes to play a game is all a matter of how much you delay moving to next pitch/decision etc, if you want it to move quicker.
if you like simulation baseball games, you'll most likely feel you did not waste your money once you get comfortable with it. it is robust and deep. you have a lot of control or you can delegate what you find boring. it can be as simple or complicated as you want it.