I’m getting antsy already.

That the offseason makes me a bit stir crazy is well documented. Here we are in December, the calendar is ready to flip to 2015, and we are fast approaching the Baseball Solstice–the midpoint between the end of the World Series and Opening Day–on January 16th. I don’t know about you, but I’m jonesing for some baseball.

Then I was asked to write a review of Out Of The Park Baseball 15 (or OOTP for short) for PC and Mac. I had read Eric’s review of the iPad version back in May, so I was at least moderately familiar with the concept of the game (even though, like him, I never strayed too far into video game baseball). Then, about a week ago, a friend of mine started talking to me about the progress he’d made with his fictional 2017 Twins team on iOOTP. I figured it would be a worthy article idea. I had no idea that it would (at least partially) satisfy my appetite for baseball while simultaneously consuming massive amounts of my time–with only moderate regrets.

First, a word on what OOTP is. OOTP is a baseball simulation game where the player takes control of a franchise–existing or invented, more on that later. You can also decide how much control you have over your team. This is great for those fantasy baseball players who love considering ways to improve their rosters, make trades with other players, and figure out the best way to deploy their players. OOTP takes it one step further, allowing you to determine strategies and batting orders as well. You can get even further into the game by controlling individual games from the manager’s chair. Of course, if that’s a bit too much (and it can be overwhelming) you can also take a macro view and just control team finances and player development and transactions while having the computer take control of the rest of the team. Of course you also have to consider the temperaments of your players on the major league roster. One of the biggest things I learned from this game is just how demanding the job of an actual General Manager really is.

One of the greatest strengths of the full version of game is how much you can customize your leagues. In the 2015 version, you can play the most recent MLB season or any season from the past; you can play in foreign leagues from Japan to Holland; you can invent your own leagues or re-write MLB history (e.g, the 2012 Rockies). The possibilities–while a bit overwhelming–are endless and make for a fun challenge.

Re-Writing the 2014 Season

It sounds overwhelming and I felt the same way getting started. How was I supposed to manage all of this? Thankfully, OOTP provides great manuals and tutorials on their website to help you get started. However, it was still a bit too much for me to consider. I decided, in order to learn the game, I would replay the 2014 MLB season. I didn’t want to get too emotionally involved on this first go around, so I opted rather to control a different team and keep a close eye on the Rockies. I found a tip that it’s more enjoyable to take over a decent contending team for your first try so I figured I’d see what I could do with the Washington Nationals.

I explored the features little by little, fiddling with things like news updates (the Baseball News Network in the game generates stories and articles ranging from suspensions and injuries to game and career achievements) and general roster construction. The game allows you to Auto-Simulate to certain dates or events, like the First Year Player Draft. I opted to sim about a week or so at a time. There was a stretch in May when I took the reins of the in game manager to get a feel for those features and they are exquisite, allowing you to manage game situations, bullpens, even individual plate appearances or baserunners. This was really fun to do, as it appeared just like a regular baseball game, complete with line-by-line text commentary like it was coming from a radio announcer. As fun as this feature is, I can’t really imagine trying to do a full season’s worth of games.

On to my season. Like I said, I wanted to see what might happen were the simulation to run for the Rockies while I managed my own team from the outside. You can run a report that gives you preseason predictions. They placed the Nationals at 95 wins behind “Projected Top 10 Pitchers” Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, and Gio Gonzalez. They also placed 3 Rockies in the “Top 10 Hitters”: Tulo at number 1, Justin Morneau at number 3 and Carlos Gonzalez at number 5. And–wait, what?–the Rockies were projected to win the NL West at 89 wins.

This was surprising to say the least. I mean, there was a non-zero population of Rockies fans advocating that with a little luck they could surprise people, but not win the division. Computers can be silly sometimes, right?

One of the first things I did was accept a trade for 1B/DH Victor Martinez from the Tigers for some bench bats. The allure of reality V-Mart’s 2014 was too strong, even though I already had a similar slugger in Adam LaRoche. My faith paid off, though: Martinez went on to win the National League batting title. But I had to move LaRoche. You can set the level of difficulty for trades from “Easy” to “Very Hard.” Even on Average it was difficult to find someone willing to take on LaRoche and his contract. However, this tends to be the most engrossing aspect of the game as you try to find the right trade package for the right trade partners. I ended up getting OF Cody Ross from the Diamondbacks for LaRoche near the trade deadline.

Injuries play a key role in this game. I received notifications regularly that star players were going down. Injuries to SS Ian Desmond and CF Denard Span (3 times) crippled my lineup for a few months, leaving the Nationals struggling to stick around .500. This provides issues that you have to figure out how to solve. Promote that Triple-A stud or try to acquire help? These are the challenges real GMs face, but also what makes the game so enjoyable.

Through the BNN I also got wind when Tyler Chatwood, sporting a 3.32 ERA for the Rockies, went down in May for the rest of the season. Carlos Gonzalez went down in early June for about 6 weeks, but he was having a pretty “meh” year at the time, hitting .236 with 5 HR and 25 RBI. It seemed that the Rockies injury curse was extending into the simulation.

2014 Colorado Rockies – NL West Division Champions*

I didn’t check the standings for 2 months–there’s just too much fluctuation to put too much stock in it. But then I heard Josh Rutledge went down with a minor injury. He was batting .355 with 55 hits, 3 HR, and a .388 OBP. A few weeks later, on July 28, Wilin Rosario went out with a fractured foot, taking his 27 HR and .274 average with him. What was going on?! Two of the biggest disappointments on the Real Rockies were producing? It was past time to check things out.

The All-Star Break was here. The Nationals managed to get pitchers Stephen Strasburg and Gio Gonzalez into the All-Star Game. Meanwhile, Troy Tulowitzki, Morneau, and Corey Dickerson all earned selections. Here’s what the standings looked like (click to zoom-in):

This was astounding. By August 1st the Rockies had the best record in baseball. They were the first team to 70 wins, the second team to 80 wins and 90 wins, and they were the first team to clinch their division. These Rockies had the best home record in baseball (54-27) and had a record above .500 on the road (42-39). They finished tied with the Tampa Bay Rays for the best record in baseball at 96-66, though the Rays won and the Rockies lost on the last day of the regular season to get there. They finished 10 games ahead of my Nationals, who won the NL East with 86 wins–good for the 6th best record in the National League. How did they do it?

Maybe it was Rex Brothers leading the league with 42 saves with a 13.1 K/9 rate. Or perhaps it was Juan Nicasio leading the staff with a 16-4 record and a 3.01 ERA in 33 starts. Certainly that midseason acquisition of Josh Stinson, who turned his 7.85 ERA with Baltimore into a 3.38 ERA with the Rockies over 20 starts, helped things a bit. Really, the amazing thing is that the Rockies only used 7 starting pitchers the whole season: Nicasio (33), De La Rosa (32), Chacin (30), Stinson (24), Franklin Morales (20–at a 60 ERA+ no less), Brett Anderson (12), and Jordan Lyles (3). Anderson was traded in May to the Texas Rangers for Leonys Martin to be a bench bat. While the pitching staff was overall mediocre, there is little doubt that not having to dip into their 14th starting pitcher made a big difference in the success of the season. But that offense was none too shabby.

The Rockies led the league in every offensive category except OBP–which they finished 3rd. Corey Dickerson ended up breaking out in the simulation, much as he did in real life. He was granted the starting centerfield job over Charlie Blackmon (who finished a medicore year with a OPS+ of 95 as a 4th outfielder) out of Spring Training and never looked back, finishing with a .294/.337/.522 line with 24 HR, 10 triples, 31 doubles, and 89 RBI, good for a 142 OPS+. Justin Morneau (.278/.348/.486, 28 HR), Wilin Rosario (.268/.305/.520, 35 HR), and Nolan Arenado (.275/.324/.415, 51 XBH) all had great years as well. Meanwhile Michael Cuddyer (.261/.333/.375, 113 games started, 102 OPS+) didn’t exactly do enough to warrant a qualifying offer at the end of the season. But we all know who the Rockies rise and fall on: Troy Tulowitzki.

With performances like these, the Rockies were sure to be good. But Tulo would dictate the stratospheres to which they would climb. He led the team in every offensive category except for doubles, triples, strikeouts (all 2nd), and stolen bases (tied for 5th with 3). He finished 1st in the National League in Runs, Home Runs (tied with Yasiel Puig), extra-base hits, RBI, Slugging Percentage, and OPS+. His final line looked like this (I set it next to his Reality 2014 numbers just for comparison):

2014 Troy Tulowitzki League G PA R H HR XBH RBI BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS+ WAR* OOTP 155 701 106 182 40 78 107 75 123 .294 .371 .557 161 5.8 Reality 91 375 71 107 21 40 52 50 57 .340 .385 .603 171 5.5

*Used Baseball-Reference WAR, since OOTP statistics are powered by Baseball Prospectus/Baseball Reference

I’m not sure which line is more incredible from a performance standpoint. Considering reality Tulo almost matched OOTP Tulo in WAR–I’m inclined to go with Reality Tulo. Either way, it makes me sad to think that 2014 Tulo was taken from us on that cold July night in Pittsburgh. Fiends.Next stop: playoffs.

Triumph and Heartbreak

The Rockies had the number 1 seed and faced the Wild Card playoff winner Diamondbacks, who finished 2nd in baseball in runs and 4th in runs allowed. The game of the series was definitely Game 2, Nicasio versus Josh Collmenter. The Rockies built up a 5-1 lead, which was cut to 6-4 after 6. Nicasio gave way to the bullpen who gave up 6 runs in the 7th, putting the Rockies in a 10-6 hole. Down 11-8 in the bottom of the 8th, Tulo came up with 1 on and 1 out and hit a 2-run shot to left field off reliever JJ Putz. Next batter up, Nolan Arenado, hits a game tying 433ft BOMB to left field. They were tied until the 10th inning. Tulo hit a 1-out double to left center before Nolan Arenado hit the game winning single through the hole on the right side as Tulo beat the throw home to take a 2-0 series lead back to Phoenix.

And, to answer your question: Yes, this game provides THAT much detail in the box scores and game logs.

The Dbacks won both home games to force it back to Denver, where they were clobbered 16-2 by the Rockies off home runs from Morneau, Arenado, Rosario and Dickerson. Of course, all was not well. Game 2 hero Troy Tulowitzki injured his arm in the top of the 2nd inning, sidelining him for the next 2 weeks. See–even the simulation knows we can’t have nice things!

The Rockies would go on to face (my) Washington Nationals and their 4-headed monster of Strasburg, Zimmermann, Gonzalez, and Doug Fister, who spent the first part of the year on the DL. The Rockies took a 3 games to 1 lead with Jhoulys Chacin on the mound in the potenial Game 5 clincher opposite Strasburg. Unfortunately, the injury bug (which already took down Jorge De La Rosa in Game 3) forced Chacin out of the game after 1 1/3 innings pitched. The Nationals got runs off Jordan Lyles and Wilton Lopez (yep–finished with a 131 ERA+, too) but the Rockies were unable to do anything off the Nats fireballing righty. Then, in the 8th with Strasburg out of the game, the Rockies sent 8 men to the plate, scoring 3 runs to take the lead. Rex Brothers came to the mound in the bottom of the 9th to finish out the series. With one out and two on, he gave up a game-tying single to Nats SS Ian Desmond–on a 3-2 pitch. Two batters later, OF Bryce Harper laced a 1-1 pitch down the left field line to walk-off a winner.

The Rockies never recovered. With their starting shortstop and half their playoff rotation sidelined, they lost their next two games 7 to 4 and 6 to 5. The Nationals were going to the World Series for the first time in franchise history–which they went on to win over the AL Champion Rays in 5 games–and the Rockies season was over.

Justin Morneau and Nolan Arenado would win “Great Glove Awards” at their positions, while Troy Tulowitzki edged out Yasiel Puig (.292/..358/.530 with 40 HR) of the 4th place Dodgers for NL Hitter of the Year award. Elsewhere, Miguel Cabrera finished .001 behind Prince Fielder in batting average, otherwise he would have won his second consecutive Triple Crown. Stephen Strasburg (16-9, 3.00 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 10.86 K/9 in 228 innings; 2-1, 1.82 ERA, 46 K in 34 IP in the postseason) won the NL Pitcher of the Year Award.

Conclusion

I mentioned before that the greatest strengths of OOTP 15 is the level of detail. All of the stats and plays mentioned happened in the context of the game. Had I wanted to, I could have chosen to sim through these games one-by-one, taking the role of game manager and dictating strategy for every play. Instead I took a slightly more hands off approach, taking control of the guiding strategy, as well as lineup and roster decisions. The result of all this was a realistic simulation*. I say that without irony; the 2014 Rockies had enough talent to convince themselves it was worth “going for it,” but they didn’t have the depth to compete once the Injury Dragons hit. Since their depth was mostly untested, they managed to put together a standout campaign. In the end, it was the realism–from the results to the news reports, the injuries to the box scores–that won me over and led me to really enjoy this game.

*Except even I can’t explain Juan Nicasio. How in the heck did he do that?

This game is perfect for fantasy hounds, armchair GMs, and baseball fans who think the offseason is going just a little too slowly. As a bonus, OOTP 15 is currently on sale for $19.99, making it impossible NOT to give it as a gift to your favorite baseball fan (even if that’s yourself).

If you’re looking for a great way to spend your offseason, other than looking out the window and waiting for spring, I highly recommend Out of the Park 15, a game video game novices and obsessive armchair GMs alike will thoroughly enjoy.