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LeeD · 01-08-2026, 12:07 AM

Speaking as someone who's running A LOT of teams through various past license purchases...

Team numbers overstate the number of actual, involved players. This is especially obvious if you look at the ghost teams in Iron leagues. Many, many, many teams are sitting on the bottom with zero missions completed and thoroughly outdated rosters. Like, five thousand of them, or about one-third of all teams. Many of the other two-thirds are owned and operated by core players with multiple teams, which again gives a false impression of active player numbers. A better gauge of player participation is Twitch and Discord activity, which is heathy if not overwhelming.

So...

It's not like OOTP and Perfect Team are setting the world on fire. There are ways that this could be improved, but there's also some largely unknown cap based on interest in this game specifically and baseball in general. It ain't Minecraft. It's not even The Show, which is still basically a console game that mimics TV baseball without paying a lot of attention to realism (unless your definition of realism is eye candy that resembles a Fox Sports broadcast).

The dev team has done a good job with base game. The improvements made since OOTP19 are phenomenal, and 19 was a major jump from 18.

Despite my frequent criticisms, they do a pretty good job with Perfect Team. What gets them in trouble are unintended consequences, things like the introduction of Combinators last year, which required a mid-cycle correction.

This is why I'm hesitant to support structural changes to PT. We don't know what kind of effect this proposal would have on Card Shop valuations or mission completion in the latter stages of the yearly cycle...and neither do the devs, although they probably have a better idea than we do.

Look at it this way. There's bound to be a drop-off in player interest after the Series wraps. People will gravitate toward winter sports sims. Four months Opening Day to All-Star Game. Four more to the Series. Four more until new release. Throughout, PT is gradually shedding active players. The devs have to decide whether this new, self-restricted play style will rekindle enough interest from midseason onward to warrant their time and effort, while also taking into account the inevitable drop-off during the IRL offseason.

Worth it? I don't know, but I'm skeptical. This could be something that's better handled through something like the theme team clubs and friend-only leagues.

01-08-2026, 12:07 AM	#19
LeeD All Star Reserve Join Date: Jan 2022 Posts: 891	Speaking as someone who's running A LOT of teams through various past license purchases... Team numbers overstate the number of actual, involved players. This is especially obvious if you look at the ghost teams in Iron leagues. Many, many, many teams are sitting on the bottom with zero missions completed and thoroughly outdated rosters. Like, five thousand of them, or about one-third of all teams. Many of the other two-thirds are owned and operated by core players with multiple teams, which again gives a false impression of active player numbers. A better gauge of player participation is Twitch and Discord activity, which is heathy if not overwhelming. So... It's not like OOTP and Perfect Team are setting the world on fire. There are ways that this could be improved, but there's also some largely unknown cap based on interest in this game specifically and baseball in general. It ain't Minecraft. It's not even The Show, which is still basically a console game that mimics TV baseball without paying a lot of attention to realism (unless your definition of realism is eye candy that resembles a Fox Sports broadcast). The dev team has done a good job with base game. The improvements made since OOTP19 are phenomenal, and 19 was a major jump from 18. Despite my frequent criticisms, they do a pretty good job with Perfect Team. What gets them in trouble are unintended consequences, things like the introduction of Combinators last year, which required a mid-cycle correction. This is why I'm hesitant to support structural changes to PT. We don't know what kind of effect this proposal would have on Card Shop valuations or mission completion in the latter stages of the yearly cycle...and neither do the devs, although they probably have a better idea than we do. Look at it this way. There's bound to be a drop-off in player interest after the Series wraps. People will gravitate toward winter sports sims. Four months Opening Day to All-Star Game. Four more to the Series. Four more until new release. Throughout, PT is gradually shedding active players. The devs have to decide whether this new, self-restricted play style will rekindle enough interest from midseason onward to warrant their time and effort, while also taking into account the inevitable drop-off during the IRL offseason. Worth it? I don't know, but I'm skeptical. This could be something that's better handled through something like the theme team clubs and friend-only leagues.