New for 2015: OOTP

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know how I appreciate having regular series. I benefit from a schedule and like to map out 3 or 4 articles a couple of weeks in advance that basically give me an outline to stick to. This allows me to keep churning out material when the team isn't giving me a lot to write about.

So, I fall back on series like Random Ex-Brave, Random Prospect Sunday (soon to return), and Favorites Braves List and others to help keep me on a path toward a certain quota of articles to keep this blog fresh. I'm adding another series this week, which will fit in nicely every Saturday. Using the recently released (to pre-orders like me) Out of the Park 16, I will sim the 2015 season week-by-week to match up with the results by the real squad. I love OOTP and have been playing it for years so I naturally am wondering how the real results will look compared to the computer sim.

A little on OOTP...I can control literally everything if I want, but I find that too boring. I will simply take over as the GM and make decisions appropriate to John Hart's vision for the Braves. I will let Fredi Gonzalez manage uninterrupted while giving him a roster mimicking the opening day roster the Braves arrive on. From there, while I will attempt to make moves as if I was Hart, I will not follow day-to-day moves the real team does. For instance, if Chris Johnson is hurt and the Braves call up Philip Gosselin in real life, that might not be what the OOTP team is dealing with. Subsequently, if Hart trades for a player on the Red Sox, the OOTP Red Sox might not be willing to make that deal.

Each week, I will sim from the previous Saturday-to-Friday and we'll compare the results. It might take a few editions to really find my stride in how I want to present the information, but hopefully, you the reader will find some interest.

Finally, for more on OOTP, please visit their home page. If you enjoy text simulators, give it a try. Down the road, I am also looking at doing a league kind of like this Astros blog. But we'll start simple first.