[luckymann]

As much as I like how recalc works, this is too speculative an exercise to be overly bothered about historical verisimilitude. Plus there is the issue of NeL stat accuracy and how they are treated in-game.

And so, after much deliberation, I decided to set this up as a fictional league with dev on and set to 0.9 with ageing at 0.75 to lengthen careers a bit. I've also put TCR at 160 to spice things up, make some of the lesser-known players "pop" but hopefully not too much at the expense of others.

AI eval is at 25/50/20/5.

Because I will merely be observing rather than participating in how clubs and players are managed, scouting is set at 100% with full ratings on.

Coaching / owner goals are ON for a bit of fun but personalities are OFF because they are just too arbitrary. Morale is also OFF.

To begin with, injuries are at EXTREMELY LOW. Once the pool has grown sufficiently this will be ticked up to LOW. Position player fatigue is AVERAGE, pitcher stamina HIGH. Suspensions are ON but LOW.

Trading is at one notch below HARD and about halfway toward FAVOR PROSPECTS.

A 162-game interleague schedule will be used.

DH will start OFF but enabled a few years down the track.

Financials are ON and set to 1968, then will roll along with the timeline. Service Days are set to 90 to avoid manipulation. 5 years for FA / 3 for Arb. When the AAA league begins, MiLB FA will be introduced along with option years etc. 2017 CBA rules for lost FAs with max 1 QA.

3-week ST with an ASG.

Playoffs will involve just the 4 Association winners in a 7-game series with the WS also best-of-seven.

No min batter faced / kinky XI rules thanks very much.

Active rosters at 26 throughout. 6 relievers / 16 position players. Reserve Roster in place until the minors kick off, then 40-man. 10-day IL for all players.

Trading ON and set to HIGH. 10/5 Rule ON and Draft Picks can be traded.

Rookie Draft in December every year, 5 Rounds. Rule 5 will start after the MiLB level comes in.


One of the major challenges with such a small playing group and manual import being used is ensuring adequate coverage around the field. Catcher ad SP are the most problematic, and for these I have had to make a couple compromises.

Any player who played even just a small number of innings at C will be given a rating there, albeit a low one. This will at least give clubs some depth there should a rash of injuries or poor AI decisions occur. I have also imported players with position ratings based on their entire career.

Some pitchers who would under different circumstances be designated as straight-up relievers have had their stamina pumped up a tad to enable them to spot start if needed.

To help make sure the rotations work smoothly and not allow pitchers to amass ridiculous amounts of IP, they will initially be set to 4-man strict order / occasionally highest rested with reliever usage at NORMAL and closers SOMETIMES.

The historical LTMs will be used for each season until they run out, at which point I'll start selecting appropriate historical ones from season to season. This save starting in the pitcher-dominant 1968 season will hopefully keep the hinky offensive output you often see at the start of a new game to a minimum.

OK, that's all that, then. Next some historical context on the teams being used, to which I'll then add the game-specific details of players / lineups etc to familiarise y'all with who is playing for whom.