Best way to create Alternate History League

Herolover12 · 05-09-2023, 09:02 AM

Somewhat new to OOTP and I want to know the best way to create an alternate historical league I read about.

The idea is that in 1921 there is a rift in MLB over the Black Sox scandal and the appointing of a commissioner. The Yankees, Red Sox, and Indians jump the AL and move to the NL where Landis reigns. In response the remaining AL teams expand into Buffalo and Baltimore, while the NL expands into Cleveland and Detroit (to stamp out the renegades).

This creates two separate leagues, AL with 8 teams and the NL with 12 teams.

1921 would be played with each leagues #1 facing the #2 team for the league championship.
1922 would see the NL divide into East and West divisions.
1923 and 1924 would then play out.
1925 would see the leagues play the World Series

I have tried a couple of ways of doing this.

I am currently thinking the best way to do this is create a fictional league and import the correct teams. I would like to create them as completely separate leagues then combine them into one in 1925.

However, I see no way of doing this. Am I correct that I have to create them as one from the beginning?

If they are combined together in one MLB the only rule difference can be the DH or am I missing something?

Also, anytime I create the playoffs it has the two leagues meeting in the World Series. For 21-24 I don't want a WS.

If they have to be combined into one can I wait till the playoffs and delete the World Series so it does not happen?

Is there a better way to do this, use historical league as example. However if i use historical league won't that turn off dynamic evolution?

thehef · 05-09-2023, 11:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Herolover12

The idea is that in 1921 there is a rift in MLB over the Black Sox scandal and the appointing of a commissioner. The Yankees, Red Sox, and Indians jump the AL and move to the NL where Landis reigns. In response the remaining AL teams expand into Buffalo and Baltimore, while the NL expands into Cleveland and Detroit (to stamp out the renegades).

This creates two separate leagues, AL with 8 teams and the NL with 12 teams.

Can you clarify which teams move to which league, and how many, etc... You mentioned three teams jumping from AL to NL, and then each league expanding by 2 teams. By my count that would leave the NL with 13 teams and the AL with 7. ??? And if Cleveland moves to the NL, then the NL would also expand into Cleveland...

thehef · 05-10-2023, 03:20 PM

I think this is doable except - best I can tell - you'd have to choose between:

a) Having each league's winners meeting in the World Series (or some other-named final series) each season, including 1920-24. This would be the easiest way to go, though it involves a significant deviation from what you want...

or

b) Having no World Series for 1920-24, but OOTP still names a champion. For example, I did a test where I added a first round for ach league, where the 1st & 2nd places teams in each league meet for each league's title. Then, after that round was completed and the two winners were scheduled for the World Series, I simply deleted all WS games from the schedule, and then advanced the game to the offseason. It worked just fine except that OOTP still named a winner, for some reason crowing the Pirates (who finished in 2nd place but beat the Cubs in the NL final) as MLB champion. IOW, in the league history for 1920 it showed that the White Sox beat Washington 4 games to 2, Pittsburgh beat the Cubs 4-3, and then Pittsburgh beat the White Sox 0 games to 0... So if you definitely don't want a WS for 1921-24 and you're ok with the league history being a little weird for your 1921 thru 1924 seasons, then this would be the easiest way to do it...

or

c) Beginning with the 1921 season, discontinuing one of the leagues, creating another one, and thus and having separate major leagues. For example, beginning in 1921, the existing major league would only include the expanded National League. And the new & separate major league would include the remaining AL teams, plus the expansion teams. So in this alternate world the AL would essentially fold after the 1920 season, with the remaining AL teams starting up a new league (which could probably also be called the American League; in my test I called it the New American League)... You could then have separate final-round series for each league from 1920-24, and no World Series. And then beginning in 1925 you could use OOTP's association feature to have each league's champion meet for the major league title...

Compared to a) and b) there are more steps to making c) work, but that would probably accomplish pretty close to exactly what you want...

I don't know your level of understanding as far as monkeying around with this stuff (league structure and so forth), but I know you said that you're somewhat new to OOTP. So if you'd like, let me know which option above you prefer and I can provide some basic steps & instructions...

I'll note that it's a pretty cool alternate-world concept you've come up with. Once you get it going I'd encourage you to post about it in the Dynasties forum or the Historical & Fictional Simulations forum

05-09-2023, 09:02 AM	#1
Herolover12 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Oct 2019 Posts: 86	Best way to create Alternate History League Somewhat new to OOTP and I want to know the best way to create an alternate historical league I read about. The idea is that in 1921 there is a rift in MLB over the Black Sox scandal and the appointing of a commissioner. The Yankees, Red Sox, and Indians jump the AL and move to the NL where Landis reigns. In response the remaining AL teams expand into Buffalo and Baltimore, while the NL expands into Cleveland and Detroit (to stamp out the renegades). This creates two separate leagues, AL with 8 teams and the NL with 12 teams. 1921 would be played with each leagues #1 facing the #2 team for the league championship. 1922 would see the NL divide into East and West divisions. 1923 and 1924 would then play out. 1925 would see the leagues play the World Series I have tried a couple of ways of doing this. I am currently thinking the best way to do this is create a fictional league and import the correct teams. I would like to create them as completely separate leagues then combine them into one in 1925. However, I see no way of doing this. Am I correct that I have to create them as one from the beginning? If they are combined together in one MLB the only rule difference can be the DH or am I missing something? Also, anytime I create the playoffs it has the two leagues meeting in the World Series. For 21-24 I don't want a WS. If they have to be combined into one can I wait till the playoffs and delete the World Series so it does not happen? Is there a better way to do this, use historical league as example. However if i use historical league won't that turn off dynamic evolution? Last edited by Herolover12; 05-09-2023 at 09:03 AM.

05-10-2023, 03:20 PM	#3
thehef Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 5,345	I think this is doable except - best I can tell - you'd have to choose between: a) Having each league's winners meeting in the World Series (or some other-named final series) each season, including 1920-24. This would be the easiest way to go, though it involves a significant deviation from what you want... or b) Having no World Series for 1920-24, but OOTP still names a champion. For example, I did a test where I added a first round for ach league, where the 1st & 2nd places teams in each league meet for each league's title. Then, after that round was completed and the two winners were scheduled for the World Series, I simply deleted all WS games from the schedule, and then advanced the game to the offseason. It worked just fine except that OOTP still named a winner, for some reason crowing the Pirates (who finished in 2nd place but beat the Cubs in the NL final) as MLB champion. IOW, in the league history for 1920 it showed that the White Sox beat Washington 4 games to 2, Pittsburgh beat the Cubs 4-3, and then Pittsburgh beat the White Sox 0 games to 0... So if you definitely don't want a WS for 1921-24 and you're ok with the league history being a little weird for your 1921 thru 1924 seasons, then this would be the easiest way to do it... or c) Beginning with the 1921 season, discontinuing one of the leagues, creating another one, and thus and having separate major leagues. For example, beginning in 1921, the existing major league would only include the expanded National League. And the new & separate major league would include the remaining AL teams, plus the expansion teams. So in this alternate world the AL would essentially fold after the 1920 season, with the remaining AL teams starting up a new league (which could probably also be called the American League; in my test I called it the New American League)... You could then have separate final-round series for each league from 1920-24, and no World Series. And then beginning in 1925 you could use OOTP's association feature to have each league's champion meet for the major league title... Compared to a) and b) there are more steps to making c) work, but that would probably accomplish pretty close to exactly what you want... I don't know your level of understanding as far as monkeying around with this stuff (league structure and so forth), but I know you said that you're somewhat new to OOTP. So if you'd like, let me know which option above you prefer and I can provide some basic steps & instructions... I'll note that it's a pretty cool alternate-world concept you've come up with. Once you get it going I'd encourage you to post about it in the Dynasties forum or the Historical & Fictional Simulations forum