OOTP 17

[KevinStorm]

I have a Cubs game I started on last year's game that I imported.  It's loads of fun.  Still haven't made the World Series and I'm in 2020, but I've had a couple playoff appearances.

[Meacon Keaton]

You know how in 1997, in real life, Brad Radke won 20 games for the Twins who finished with only 68 wins? 

Well OOTP Brad Radke just won 22 games in 1996 for a 62 win Twins team, proving that even in a computerized alternate reality, that poor guy was way too good for that club.

[Maxx]

I turned the Padres into a powerhouse starting in 1994, but every year without fail I would get a big injury right around playoff time and we'd either miss out.  I go into fuck it mode, end up with adding Frank Thomas and Jim Edmonds, proceed to win 113 games and then Tony Gwynn gets hurt, Jim Edmonds gets hurt, Jeff Cirillo gets hurt and we lose in the first round to the Astros.

I departed the team in the offseason, and joined the White Sox while going into Yankees spending mode.  Added Manny Ramirez, Jeff Bagwell, Carlos Delgado and Mark McGwire. That team is knocking the absolute shit out of the ball, but I didn't feel much of an attachment, or much of a challenge, so I jumped ship at the All Star break to the 1 year old Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

They've got 21 year old Eric Chavez, 19 year old Matt Holliday and 18 year old Josh Hamilton, excited to see where I can take them.  (Assuming the game does not accurately simulate Josh Hamilton's substance abuse issues) 


Also turning on international FAs and International Amateur FAs so early might have been a mistake, its adding some absolute mutants into the game. 

[Noah]

I always wanted to get into OOTP but I get so behind in going through my games library I just don't have the time to dedicate to getting it right.

Still haven't finished Red Dead Redemption.

[Meacon Keaton]

Maxx and my games sound almost identical. Was the White Sox starting in '94. Turned them into a powerhouse but random shit would occur that caused us to always lose in the playoffs. I resigned after the '97 season to take the reigns of the expansion Diamondbacks. I got 28-year old Mike Mussina as my ace and not much else! I did get quite some great fielders in the expansion draft since there weren't really any good bats.

[Maxx]

Is your game full of mutants like a Taiwanese catcher named Min Ke, who won the AL MVP at age 21?

[The Buscher]

Not OOTP related but still baseball sim-related, I once did a game in Baseball Mogul where I started with the historically bad 1962 Mets and was basically going to re-write the history of the franchise.  Won a World Series as early as 1964, although it didn't hurt that I lucked into being able to draft Tom Seaver like in real life, and somehow I was able to sign Frank Robinson.

Might give a 1962 Mets game a go in OOTP, actually.

[The Buscher]

Started my 1962 Mets game.  Get to Opening Day and the first thing the owner says is that he expects a playoff berth.  I have the same Mets roster that went 42-120 in real life.  Okay then.

[Maxx]

Ouch.  My owner for the Devil Rays doesn't even give me goals right now, he's literally just like "Try your hardest!"

And I did try my hardest, spend a ton of money (relative to the Devil Rays payroll) on a stud first baseman from Cuba.  Had 6 home runs in his first 8 games and then boom, out for 5 months. 

Elsewhere, Barry Bonds never discovered steroids and has slowly withered away, now he platoons in the outfield in Kansas City.

[Meacon Keaton]

21 hours ago, Maxx said:

Is your game full of mutants like a Taiwanese catcher named Min Ke, who won the AL MVP at age 21?

Absolutely not. No foreigners allowed in my league.

20 minutes ago, Buscha Syndergaard said:

Started my 1962 Mets game.  Get to Opening Day and the first thing the owner says is that he expects a playoff berth.  I have the same Mets roster that went 42-120 in real life.  Okay then.

Wow, really? I have the D'Backs in their expansion year and my owner's goal was to "Not suck completely".  

[Maxx]

Anyone who has played before, do you have tips on developing young pitchers in your farm system?  I don't really have a problem with hitters, but I cannot ever seem to get pitchers to reach their potential, or even get close.  I've got good coaches at all levels and my development budget is higher than average.  I just drafted Cliff Lee and I'm worried I'll destroy his potential before he ever makes it out of AA ball, like I did with Kerry Wood, who is now 22 years old and has a half star rating to match his half star potential.

[DYSI]

On 04/07/2016 at 12:01, Maxx said:

I also assisted @thatshortguy in getting it.  And would be happy to similarly assist others.

This still a thing? I wouldn't mind trying to ruin the Yankees dynasty before it ever got off the ground. Either that or build a team around the great cornerstones of Shane Spencer and Ricky Ledee.

[Maxx]

I don't think anything has upset me as much as coming across Quincy Carter as a 4 star rated player with 5 star potential.

He's played for 3 seasons in the majors, has yet to hit over .189  


This reminded me of Chad Hutchinson's existence, ugh.  He is appropriate rated 1/2 star 1/2 star.

[Meacon Keaton]

Don't forget Drew Henson!

[The Buscher]

The Mets lose their first game in franchise history but bounce back by winning the next two on great pitching performances by luminaries Roger Craig and Bob Miller.

And with a 2-1 record, I've already accomplished something the real 1962 Mets never did:  get over .500.    Guess I should retire, my work here is done.

[DYSI]

Anyone else have trouble downloading OOTP 17 for Windows? I tried for the fourth time and it keeps failing right at the end for some reason.

 

Nevermind, Firefox sucks.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Lenny DYSItra

[The Buscher]

Well...the 1962 Mets are 32-50 at the All Star Break and in 8th place, somehow slightly ahead of the Cardinals who have Stan Musial, Bob Gibson, Curt Flood, and Kent Boyer and well ahead of the cellar-dwelling Colt .45s.  Considering how team the dismal the team was in real life this is actually an improvement.  Also impressive considering that the old-schooler Stengel insists on using a 5-man rotation despite me only have 4 starting pitchers in my organization.  I've needed to trade away a few veteran players who were miffed about being relegated to the bench as Stengel almost never changes his lineup and continues to play young guys like ROTY candidate Jim Hickman. 

Best of all though the owner has come to his senses and backed off of the "playoff expectations" talk.  Going to be loading up on pitching during the draft.

[Maxx]

I've realized its inevitable that I'm going to start a random debut game in the late 1800s.  Really hoping Jose Canseco is around from the start.

Also in my Devil Rays game, I'm still ruining every rookie pitcher I come across if they are only one star rated from the start.  Mark Prior was thankfully the exception, came in at 4 star rated right from the get go and immediately had a 21-8 season.  Now I just draft pitchers and trade them away.

[The Buscher]

Without the game in front of me I believe I won around 76 game with the '62 Mets, 7th place and way better than my expansion buddies in the 105 loss Astros.  But I still got a manager score of 1. 

Still I was kept on for 1963 and told to play around .500 ball.  I was 6 or 7 games below .500 when the owner basically told me I sucked during my midseason eval, but since then they've worked back to a game over .500 in mid-August.  Hope I can hang on.

Helps that I've brought in good young pitching.  My first draft pick was Mickey Lolich and he made the All Star team and would be threatening for a Triple Crown in a world where Sandy Koufax didn't put all stats out of reach.  My third round pick was Tommy John who has pitched remarkably well as a 19-year old, and who hopefully will never need to have UCL reconstruction surgery named after him.

[The Buscher]

Met my goal of playing .500 ball, getting my 81st win with 9 games left on the schedule   Of course the team completely folded it up at that point and I ended on a 9 game losing streak to finish exactly .500 but it was enough to avoid being fired!  Owner is demanding I go out and get a Cy Young winner and make the playoffs next year so I don't think I'll last much longer.

Wish I had the "drive" to do a proper diary on this beyond just random thoughts in this thread but I'm probably gonna spend most of my free time playing MLB The Show starting tonight.