Draft Message to OOTP Developers

interpcepter · 09-19-2025, 10:06 PM

Hello OOTP Development Team,

I’ve been running a large custom league with 48 teams, split into 2 leagues, each with 4 divisions of 6 teams. Overall, the experience has been great, but I’ve run into some frustrating limitations regarding the playoff structure.

Because each division has 6 teams, the league size is quite large, and I want to ensure the regular season results are properly rewarded. My ideal setup would be:

Each division winner gets a bye in the first round.

The remaining division 2nd place teams plus 4 wildcards would then be seeded by winning percentage to determine matchups.

Unfortunately, OOTP doesn’t currently allow this. The result is:

Under the current % win seed system, sometimes a division winner is treated essentially like a wildcard, which feels unfair.

Under the current position-locked system, I’m forced to manually fix wildcards, which creates very unbalanced matchups (e.g., one division always faces the #1 wildcard, another always faces the #4, regardless of record).

I think a hybrid system (division winners guaranteed a spot/bye, then the rest seeded by winning percentage) would be a huge improvement and much more realistic for larger leagues.

Additionally, a side note:

I never intended to expand to 48 teams originally, but with odd-numbered leagues the schedule breaks down badly.

Even when I check the interleague option, it doesn’t seem to work properly in the schedule. (Honestly, I wonder why the interleague checkbox exists if it doesn’t apply to custom schedules.)

As a result, I’m always forced to keep the team count even, which feels restrictive.

Do you have any plans to improve support for:

More flexible playoff seeding (hybrid of position + winning %)

Odd-numbered team leagues and functional interleague scheduling

This would make OOTP much more versatile for large custom universes like mine.

Thank you for your time and for continuing to improve this amazing game.

09-19-2025, 10:06 PM	#1
interpcepter Bat Boy Join Date: May 2025 Posts: 5	Draft Message to OOTP Developers Hello OOTP Development Team, I’ve been running a large custom league with 48 teams, split into 2 leagues, each with 4 divisions of 6 teams. Overall, the experience has been great, but I’ve run into some frustrating limitations regarding the playoff structure. Because each division has 6 teams, the league size is quite large, and I want to ensure the regular season results are properly rewarded. My ideal setup would be: Each division winner gets a bye in the first round. The remaining division 2nd place teams plus 4 wildcards would then be seeded by winning percentage to determine matchups. Unfortunately, OOTP doesn’t currently allow this. The result is: Under the current % win seed system, sometimes a division winner is treated essentially like a wildcard, which feels unfair. Under the current position-locked system, I’m forced to manually fix wildcards, which creates very unbalanced matchups (e.g., one division always faces the #1 wildcard, another always faces the #4, regardless of record). I think a hybrid system (division winners guaranteed a spot/bye, then the rest seeded by winning percentage) would be a huge improvement and much more realistic for larger leagues. Additionally, a side note: I never intended to expand to 48 teams originally, but with odd-numbered leagues the schedule breaks down badly. Even when I check the interleague option, it doesn’t seem to work properly in the schedule. (Honestly, I wonder why the interleague checkbox exists if it doesn’t apply to custom schedules.) As a result, I’m always forced to keep the team count even, which feels restrictive. Do you have any plans to improve support for: More flexible playoff seeding (hybrid of position + winning %) Odd-numbered team leagues and functional interleague scheduling This would make OOTP much more versatile for large custom universes like mine. Thank you for your time and for continuing to improve this amazing game.