[Matt Arnold]

Q+A about the mode:

Q. When will the new Steam Achievements appear?
A. We will release them early next week, once the update is fully live. You can still earn normal in-game achievements if you are logged in, but the "end of season" achievement for the mode won't appear until after.

Q. Do I earn both Challenge Mode and Drive for the Pennant packs in PT?
A. You will earn from both modes, but Drive for the Pennant achievements are tracked on the same counter as other challenge mode games. If you earn a pack from playing in Challenge Mode, the same delay before the next reward will happen if you switch to playing Drive for the Pennant mode, or vice versa.

Q. Some teams have, uhh, some challenges in competing for a playoff spot. Is it still worth playing as them?
A. Sure! You never know what might happen in the season. You still earn an achievement for completing the season, whether you make the playoffs or not. Maybe you want to use it as the foundation of a new save. Or it may just be fun to see how well you can do.

Q. Can I play this as a live start?
A. Currently, no. The mode only begins in the pre-season. But that is still an option we may add in the future.

Q. Why am I never thrown into a game? Why am I constantly being forced to play out games?
A. We are obviously still aiming to balance how many times you are given the option. Some teams may naturally have more than others. Some situations (extra inning games, close games, etc...) lend themselves to more times you may get put into the decision seat.

Q. Why was I not put into a game [here]?
A. While some situations lend themselves more than others, we do still try to balance how many times you are thrown in total. The game will attempt to adjust - if you were just put in to play out the last game, you will be less likely to be given the option again in your next game. Or on the flipside, if it has been a while, you may be put into a slightly less critical situation.

Q. How do trades work?
A. There are effectively 3 ways that your team can handle trades.
First, you will be given certain trade offers from other teams as you play. They will show up on your manager home page. You may reject them (or any sim away will auto-reject the trade). Some may be essentially complete as they stand and you will only be given the option to accept or not. Others may have one or more players from your team to add in to try to complete the deal.
Second, you may use the "shop player" functionality to shop for individual players or multi-player packages. Similar to above, in these cases you are only given the option to accept or not, you cannot negotiate for more.
Third, on the trade page, you may define a specific need (ie. average Second Baseman, making less than 8.5m), and you may use the search feature on that page. That should produce multiple trade offers that you can evaluate on your manager home page. You have a limited amount of searches per day you can use, and you may get different offers for the same search. The search will generally pull from your prospect list or players on your trading block. If you would like to gear trades towards trading a certain player on your team away, you can use the trading block before running the search.