[Tiger Fan]

BRINGING BASEBALL TO KANSAS CITY: An Amereican Circuit Online League Dynasty

I have done dynasty reports about my OOTP leagues and teams going all the way back to OOTP2. For most of those 20 years the dynasty's I have written focused on solo projects but over the past 2 years I have suddenly become hooked on playing in an online league. It started with a league called Figment Baseball and I am one of several league GM's who have team dynasty reports going on this board. What I love about that league other than the fact it presents a unique challenge in being stats only with no visible ratings, is the great backstory and universe history created by it's founder.

I have recently been admitted to another league which, while it has some key differences from Figment, it shares what for me is the key element to get my interest in participating in an online league. That element is an outstanding backstory and league history. The league called The American Circuit is a great adventure in story telling with a rich history. Up until joining Figment I had little interest in online league play but it's story and the history that is being shaped as we play has me hooked so when the opportunity to add the American Circuit to my online play came up I jumped at it.

Unlike Figment which is where my Brooklyn Kings dynasty comes from, the American Circuit is not stats only, ratings are visible and there are no scouts or coaches in this league. There is also no minor leagues, only the big league teams and a reserve roster. So it will certainly take some adjusting for me as even in leagues I play with ratings visible, Figment had prompted me to completely ignore the ratings and focus on the stats but I will need to readjust somewhat for this one.

The second challenge I have here with The American Circuit is, unlike in Figment when I got in on the ground floor so to speak and was a GM in the first online league season after 50 odd years of pre-history were played out, I will be walking into a league that has a decade of online play plus many years of pre-online league simmed history already under it's belt. It will take some time to familiarize myself with the league as while in historical leagues you can jump in any time and have a pretty good idea about the players, joining a fictional league mid-stream is a whole new ballgame.

Fortunately I have that time as I will be taking over an expansion team as the American Circuit prepares to expand from it's current 20 to 24 teams by adding 2 clubs next season and 2 more the following year. What that means is my team will not start play until the 1955 season and the league has currently just completed opening day 1954. This will give me an entire season (couple of months real time) to follow the league from a slight distance as I learn who the top teams and players are as well as look back at the rich history.

I have found dynasty writing really helps me 'discover' things about my leagues and familiarize myself with them so the plan is to do a semi-regular dynasty here to help flesh out the plan for my expansion Kansas City franchise. As I wait for the expansion draft I will initially just write about some of the interesting players and stories I see in the league history - which traces back to 1876 - to help me get up to speed. I will intersperse comments and plans for my Kansas City club as they come up and once we reach the off-season the focus will shift to being primarily team based. I hope you find it interesting and feel free to chime in with any comments or suggestions to help me run my club.