My First Project using 23

[David Watts]

Not sure how long this will last, but I've been itching to do this for some time now and figure with the Cleveland name change it's the perfect time to give it a go.

Started a historical league in 1901.
Upon creation, I deleted 4 teams. Cleveland Blues, Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Beaneaters and New York Giants.

The Giants went simply because I didn't want 3 teams from NY out of 12 teams total.

American League
Baltimore Orioles
Boston Americans
Chicago White Sox
Detroit Tigers
Milwaukee Brewers
Washington Senators

National League
Brooklyn Superbas
Chicago Cubs(Orphans logo always comes up Sox and it drives me nuts)
Cincinnati Reds
Philadelphia Phillies
Pittsburgh Pirates
St. Louis Cardinals

Plan on keeping Baltimore in the league next year. That means Milwaukee will become the New York Higlanders.

Getting rid of the 4 teams allowed me to use injuries. So far I am really liking the short and long injury settings.

Expansion will come once rosters start getting on the large side.
AL expansion will probably be Cleveland and Kansas City(or Minnesota). For the Cleveland expansion franchise, I will use the Guardians for the nickname.

NL expansion will likely be New York(either Giants or Mets, haven't decided) and more than likely Milwaukee(Brewers or Braves).

Right now I'm using a 160 game schedule.

I held a free agent draft prior to the start of the season so the teams could scoop up the players that were on the deleted teams. The Pirates, already strong, got even stronger. They scooped up Christy Mathewson and Nap Lajoie. Can you imagine facing Rube Waddell, Jesse Tannehill and Christy Mathewson in the first 3 games of a 4 game series?

[italyprof]

So youbjept players on their original teams, butvthen held a free agent draft with the 4 teams' players? Interesting.

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by italyprof

So youbjept players on their original teams, butvthen held a free agent draft with the 4 teams' players? Interesting.

I thought about blowing things up completely and would have done so for sure if I could erase all history, but since that's not really doable, I decided to just do a free agent draft. That way it looks like the 4 deleted teams folded and their players had to end up somewhere.

[David Watts]

Oh the humanity!!! Vic Willis tossed 17 innings last night in a start for the Tigers. Threw 220+ pitches in the game. Came away without a decision as the Tigers lost in 19.

[italyprof]

220 pitches ! Yikes. I think pitch counts are overused, but 220 is crazy, even for Wilbur Wood !

[Reed]

Are you using in game strategy setting (pitching rotation mode, number of starters in ratation, stamina setting, etc.) or are you using your own settings?

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by Reed

Are you using in game strategy setting (pitching rotation mode, number of starters in ratation, stamina setting, etc.) or are you using your own settings?

The games. I did, edit roster size to 20. 14 position players, 4 starters and 2 relievers. Using default settings, so it's on start the highest rested.

[Reed]

I am thinking about starting another historical league starting in 1901 just using all the default settings. That would give me a better feel for how the game was actually played, I think.

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by Reed

I am thinking about starting another historical league starting in 1901 just using all the default settings. That would give me a better feel for how the game was actually played, I think.

Going to try something when I get home. Going to change the rotation size to 5 and eliminate bullpens all together. Right now the thing that bugs me the most about this setup is the guys in the bullpen making so many relief appearances.

[David Watts]

Okay, I actually think going with a 5 man rotation, always start the highest rested and no bullpen, may be the closest you can get to how this period played in real life. Last night I gave that a try. I lowered roster size down to just 17 players, 5 pitchers and 12 position players. Starting pitchers were pretty much in for the duration, just as they were in real life. Thing is, it's really hard to watch at times due to the fact that I'm preconditioned to expect the AI to put in a relief pitcher late in the game when a starter gets in trouble. Prior to making this change, I was clearly not getting historically accurate pitcher usage at all. For example, in my sim the Tigers Joe Yeager had 24 relief appearances already and it was only mid July. The real life Tigers of 1901 had 20 total relief appearances over the entire season. The Washington Senators used 5 pitchers period for the entire 1901 season.

I just don't know if this period of baseball is my cup of tea. Kind of why I enjoy random debut so much. I can have the players from this period, but have them play in a way that I'm more in tune with. This is why I love OOTP so much. So many ways to play and I don't have to spend a fortune to move on to a new project.