Jontler

It definitely takes some dedication. We sim 4 times a week during the season, and then daily in the offseason. Get through about 4 seasons in a real-life year. It's a solid pace, but it's not usually necessary to send an update with every sim.

I've only ever seriously played online. Several times I've tried offline leagues and they are unfathomably boring to me. I ask you - how are you supposed to ****-talk the AI?

Who would like to be the General Manager of their own major league franchise? Trick question, I know it’s all of you. You, in the corner, the one who was screaming about calling Buxton up last year and is screaming to send him down this year; don’t give me that innocent look! I know you all have opinions and for those looking to scratch that itch, I encourage you to take a look at Out of the Park Baseball. Twins Daily will be soon giving away multiple copies of Out Of The Ballpark 18 as a “Thank You” to our community. To introduce you to this remarkable game, I reached out to our own Jontler, who has been a devoted player for over 10 years, to share his experiences. You can learn even more using this link. - John Bonnes I have spent an absurd amount of the last ten years playing Out of the Park Baseball. I play in an online league with 29 other human owners and a dedicated human commissioner. Just how much does it dominate my world? I have five tabs pinned in Chrome so that they always come up with the browser; two of them are associated with OOTP. My wife knows the league’s simulation schedule. Three of the five guys in my wedding party are fellow GMs, one of whom I originally met through the league. Download attachment: tabs.jpg Gmail, twitter, slack dedicated to online baseball league, slack for work, online baseball league reports. You know, just like everyone’s tabs. My point here is that OOTP has become a part of my life, much in the same way Twins baseball is part of my life - except OOTP is year round. OOTP carries me through every October winter when there aren’t any Twins games to watch. On those occasional years when the Twins aren’t competitive, at least I’ve got my Spectres to pull me through. Download attachment: Standings.jpg Ok so this season is a bad example. Don’t you have a Twins bullpen to complain about? Let me tell you a little about the Rising Star League, the online league I’m in. Play began in 1990, with the first 18 seasons being fully simulated. The commissioner wanted to build a rich history before messy humans joined the party, and humans took over the two conference, four division 20-team league in 2008. The league has expanded twice since then: once in 2014, reacting to pressure from league owners to add another round of playoffs and wild cards, and once again in 2045 when the European, Japanese, and Cuban leagues were all disbanded and folded into the RSL. In between all of this, divisions have been eliminated and then re-added, the DH was incorporated (the league was originally fully no-DH), and playoff structure shifted heavily against the wild cards. (First round for wild card teams is 3-1-3 - I suggest you win your division, sports fans). This is all to say that there are very few limitations on what you can do in OOTP. Want to build your own private baseball ant-farm and watch everyone scurry around? Go for it. In 2041, Samantha Valentine became the first woman ever drafted in the RSL. The fleet-footed centerfielder made her RSL debut a year later; she became the first million dollar woman in 2044, and the first multi-million dollar woman in 2049. That’s some world-building flexibility. Download attachment: Samantha.jpg Samantha Valentine is earning every penny of that contract this season. Want to jump into an online league and compete against other humans at being the best GM? Want to play GM offline against the computer? Want to simulate a specific season in MLB history, or start from a specific year’s rosters and see what changes? Want to manage every pitch of every game, in addition to all of a GM’s responsibilities? It’s all available. You can decide how much or how little you want to deal with. For example, in the RSL we have scouting and coaching personnel turned off, and each team has three minor league levels to work with (A, AA, and AAA). However, you can easily turn all of those things on, and mimic the major leagues with a full complement of minor league levels - or even add more. Whether it be online or offline, managing every single pitch or simulating entire decades at a time, OOTP is an excellent baseball simulator. Anyone who thinks they’re up to the challenge of being a major league GM should check it out and see how they stand up to the test. And hey, if you find yourself looking to elevate the challenge, give me a shout. Maybe we’ll have an opening for you in the Rising Star League. If you would like to learn more about OOTP18, please check it out using this link. If you would like to try it, you can also download it for 10% off the regular price using the code TWINS18. Click here to view the article