So in the past several months, I have been working at a rather wonky project in my (lack of) spare time, and I'm probably going to post on here about it. It's a cosmically weird mish-mash of baseball, gaming, politics, philosophy, and a kind of self-therapy.
You're forgiven if you immediately start scrolling past based on that.
Here's the very long-winded explanation: back in late winter and early spring, I was dealing with the shock of what was happening to this country under Donald Trump and his fascista and my preparations and reactions to it. At the same time, I was waiting for the start of baseball season and was hoping for a good season for the Orioles. I also was mulling over whether to purchase the latest edition of Out of the Park Baseball, a Windows baseball sim game. And really, none of these things were, in my opinion, going well.
The political situation here in the U.S. is well-documented by now, and came on the heels of an earlier decision I made a few years ago to abandon politics as my sideline profession, owing to what I felt was an inability to stop what was coming. (I'm sorry to say I was mostly right.) Baseball was always a great escape, but lately, compared to my youth, I was recognizing and appreciating the game less and less. I didn't necessarily know all the players; I didn't like many of the newer rule changes...and as the season started, it also became clear that the Orioles weren't going to do well. (There's also an impending strike that seems inevitable.) I decided not to buy the new OOTP game because I felt it too had made changes which rendered it less playable and particularly less customizable. In short, I was feeling isolated, helpless, and powerless to change anything.
In an effort to have some creative outlet to help with these feelings, I started picturing a way of using the older, more customizable version of OOTP to create something that I could escape to. Rather like building a model train set, I began using OOTP to model not only a baseball game, but a changed world to put it in.
I rewrote practically every single data file. Starting with the "world" file, I broke states away from the U.S., staging a new 20-team league in the North American countries which seceded from or surrounded the rump. The New England and Mid-Atlantic states formed their own country, an Alliance. California is independent, as are Cascadia, Alaska, and Hawaii. (Presumably MLB still exists in the U.S. of my world, but it isn't acknowledged in game.) The rules of the game itself have been modified, rewinding things to earlier times - no pitch clocks, no phantom runners, no DHs. The physics was set to pre-Steroid Era levels, de-emphasizing the home run, making the game more strategic. The dollar was revalued, a salary cap and floor were introduced, revenue sharing was beefed up significantly, and the CBA got a minor tweak. Those were the easy parts.
Then given my lower level of familiarity with the players of 2025, and a nostalgia for early ballplayers and some of the great stories, what-ifs, and fun personalities of baseball through the years, I literally created every single ballplayer in the league.
Many were historical imports, but even then I found a serious flaw in the game's algorithm (I'd mentioned before that I'd found the game to be less playable, though it still had some great customization options), so I ended up rewriting them anyway. I researched Negro League players, looked up (or developed) formulae for translating their stats to MLB of the same time, and included many of them as well. There are Hall of Famers, stars of yesteryear, scrubs and never-weres, and just guys who had goofy names or weird stats. And many are just made up completely. Every team now has a full roster, plus minor leaguers, plus a good amount of free agents.
Right now, I'm finishing up the schedule (which again, I rewrote because the algorithm didn't do it the right way...you might be noticing a trend here) and once that happens, I'll be starting and might post some highlights here. We've already had our first big trade - I coveted the Mariners' right fielder and swung a deal. There will likely be some funny names or unexpected things to pop up. I'm considering creating a second league with a promotion and relegation system.
By the by...I'm calling it the North American Baseball Association (NABA).
If you find this stuff amusing, I'll create a list of folks here for regular updates.
#baseball #sim #simulation #uspol #therapy #project #model #OOTP #OutOfTheParkBaseball #orioles #NABA #announcement
Scooter 
I've Seen Everything
