some suggestions

[thehef]

Not sure if these are coming in too late for consideration, but what the heck...

GAME-PLAY / BOXSCORE ISSUES
I know there are larger issues having to do with replacing injured players (OOTP requires immediate replacement, which isn't always necessary in real baseball). At any rate, I'm not addressing that specifically. Just a couple of other issues that may be somewhat minor, though related:

1. When replacing an injured baserunner who was declared out on the play, but the half of the inning isn't over, as stated above OOTP makes you replace the player immediately, as opposed to waiting until the team takes the field on defense. Setting aside the issue of immediate replacement, another problem is that when you replace the player, even though he is not on the basebaths (he was called out), the boxscore will list him as a pinch-runner (and then will list the position you chose for him. example: "Lacy, PR-2B"). Seems like it wouldn't be too much to code to determine if the player is being replaced is on the bases ("PR"), at the plate ("PH"), not on the field (in which case whatever position is chosen would show in the boxscore).

2. Related to the above, unless you change an outgoing player's position to "-" (no position), the boxscore will show that an incoming player "played" a position that they didn't actually play. For example, if I want to make a double-switch to bring in Charlie Hough to pitch and put him in the #2 spot in place of Bill Buckner, and at the same time put Manny Mota in the #9 spot in place of Don Sutton and in leftfield, unless I first change the positions of Buckner and Sutton to "-" and then insert Hough and Mota, the boxscore will show something like...

Lopes, 2B
Buckner, LF
a - Hough, LF-P
Wynn, CF
... etc.
Yeager, C
Sutton, P
a - Mota, P-LF

This should be fixable by the game not "writing" changes to the boxscore until the gamer has gone back to game-play mode (by clicking on Broadcast or Webcast). Granted, there is the workaround described above, but why should the gamer have to remember to do this to have legitimate boxscores?

Other suggestions...

CONTROL OF TEAM / UNTIL RISP
During gameplay, when I have substitution control of a team, if I pinch-hit for a pitcher, once the inning is over the game will of course alert me that I have an incomplete lineup. No problem. However, I think the game should also stop and alert me when, if I'm using "Until RISP" mode, one of my players gets injured or ejected. It should give me the opportunity to select the replacement instead of having AI make the replacement.

TOGGLE STATS DURING GAME
During the early stages of the playoffs, the stats that show on the offensive teams' lineup during the game are often pretty meaningless. For example, in the first inning all players are going to show as having a stats line of .000 Avg, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB. Even after the game is complete most players will have very simple lines of .000... or .200 or .333, etc. Once you get deeper into the playoffs these stats would of course become more-meaningful. At any rate, it would be nice to be able to toggle between regular-season and postseason stats. A simple button - to toggle back and forth - on the same line as "Boston Lineup" would do nicely.

COMPLETE GAMES VISIBILITY
In general, complete games lack appropriate visibility on stat reports, etc. Obviously, CG's are a near-insignificant stat in today's game, but in previous eras CG's were common and part of the measure of ace pitchers. Gamers shouldn't have to choose the "Pitchings Stats 2" view in order to see CG's. Instead, they should be on "Pitching Stats 1" view, right next to Games Started.

MANAGER NAMES
When playing a historical game, in actual gameplay, the options for Team Controls will show the actual managers names. For awhile. Until at some point the names change to "Computer AI." This appears to be just a cosmetic thing, but it would be cool if the manager names changed as they did in history.

END OF SEASON STARTING PITCHERS
This has come up before, and Marcus has assured that there IS logic to prevent top pitchers from starting meaningless games at the end of the season, thus keeping them from being available to start playoff games. However, it appears the logic only prevents an ace from starting if there are other starters available. In real life a manager will do whatever is possible to keep Koufax or Gibson or Hershiser or Clemens from starting a meaningless final game of the regular season (assuming the team is headed to the playoffs). OOTP needs to do the same... I can clearly do this when controlling a team, and I can override stupid AI for computer teams, but I shouldn't have to go through that hassle.

[rpriske]

The first point - the immediate replacement one - really needs to be fixed.


There is also an annoying one where a player is injured in the field, on the third out, and is due up first. The AI will replace the player 'for me' even when everything is set up for me having full control.

It doesn't happen often, but it DOES happen. (And since the AI is generally bad at substitutions it generally turns out badly.)

[Fyrestorm3]

Originally Posted by thehef

TOGGLE STATS DURING GAME
During the early stages of the playoffs, the stats that show on the offensive teams' lineup during the game are often pretty meaningless. For example, in the first inning all players are going to show as having a stats line of .000 Avg, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB. Even after the game is complete most players will have very simple lines of .000... or .200 or .333, etc. Once you get deeper into the playoffs these stats would of course become more-meaningful. At any rate, it would be nice to be able to toggle between regular-season and postseason stats. A simple button - to toggle back and forth - on the same line as "Boston Lineup" would do nicely.

I really like this idea, and it could be expanded further. A drop-down box where you can select "This Year", "Last Year", "Career", and in the playoffs, "Playoffs". Would be pretty useful.