Baseball Geek Group: Jimm Hendren – ‘Out of the Park Baseball 15’ review

If your baseball team didn't make the playoffs this year, you may be grumbling that, if only they’d signed this player or not signed that player, or had used different tactics, then all would be different.

In short, things would be better if only you were in charge of the team.

Well now you can see for yourself if that's true.

“Out of the Park Baseball 15” (OOTP 15) is an incredibly detailed baseball simulation that abandons the glitzy graphics and immediate accessibility of other games like Sony’s “MLB 14: The Show,” released earlier this year for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, instead offering an incredibly detailed management simulation designed to cater primarily to the hardcore baseball fan.

The key feature of the OOTP series is that you don’t actually play the baseball games as a player. Acting as coach and/or general manager, you buy and trade players, work out your lineup, bring rookies through your youth system and give instructions to your men during the game who go and (hopefully) do your bidding.

In the games, you choose when to bring in your reliever or closer, tell your batters whether to bat normally, bunt or swing for the stands. You’ll tell your runners whether to stay where they are or make a dive to another base, move your fielders out or in, and tell your pitcher whether to go for the strike-out, to pitch around, or even just to throw one right at the batter and shake him up a little bit.

The graphics and sound are where "OOTP 15" is at its weakest. Most of the game takes the form of spreadsheets and tables full of statistics from which you can make your decisions.  The actual games aren’t much better. While 3D environments are new to this year’s version, there are no moving crowds or batters running around bases. Instead a stationary layout with text boxes and pictures representing the players replaces the immersive environments found in other baseball games. There are some crowd noises, but they are gratingly repetitive and will force most gamers to turn them off in no time.

It’s also a game, that at first glance, seems overwhelming. If you are a baseball junkie comfortable with ERA’s, SLGs, OBPs and how to flip players between your 25-man and 40-man rosters, then you may be able to catch on quickly, but if you are only a casual fan, expect a lot of learning to figure out what you are supposed to do. You can also expect to make a lot of mistakes.

However, the game creators are smart in allowing you to customize exactly how involved you want to be. So, if you just want to deal with trades and purchases and leave lineups and managing games to the computer, you can. Or if you want to go all in and change everything, that option is also available too.

As a casual fan myself, in my first few hours I really was pining for the pick-up-and-play glitz and glamor of "MLB 14: The Show." Yet as I played more, frequently researching things online and moving very carefully, things started to click and "OOTP 15" hooked me in.

"OOTP 15" is a much slower game, requiring you to think things through, plan strategy and mull carefully over your picks. Even when I was away from my computer I found that I would still be thinking about my Yankees, whether the trade proposed by the Red Sox for my third baseman would be worth it, if I had enough coverage on my roster, whether I needed a better reliever or if I should put my faith in the rookie I brought in.

It also made the victories in games more satisfying because they all felt like my victories that I had won by employing a smarter strategy, and using players that I had agonized over bringing into the team.

Another of OOTP’s great strengths is its depth in terms of options. Not only can you play in any of the minor leagues, you can also manage teams in international leagues too, such as the Japanese leagues. Finally, the game opens the rosters up back to 1871. Want to see if Babe Ruth’s Yankees would be better under your management or go back in time and manage the Philadelphia Athletics? Those options are all available to you amid the host of customization options on offer.

Yet the audience for "OOTP 15" is ultimately a particular one. "OOTP 15" is not a game for a quick fix, or a fast experience. If you are a casual gamer, it’s hard not to recommend “MLB 14: The Show” over the slow churn of "Out of the Park Baseball 15." But if you are a baseball fanatic or a statistician looking for a game to really sink your teeth into, perhaps as something to play with the nightly baseball game on in the background, then look past the bland spreadsheets. "OOTP 15" might just be the dream ticket.

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Baseball Geek Group: Jimm Hendren - My Review of "The Major League Baseball Hateability Index"

Today, the Wall Street Journal published "The Major League Baseball Hateability Index", which is a purportedly scientific study about who the most hateable team in the 2014 Major League Baseball playoffs is. Apparently last year the title was won by the Los Angeles Dodgers and this year’s was won by the St. Louis Cardinals. Hey, the Cardinals! I know them!

Anyway, Deadspin later picked up a story about it, which added to the bona fides of the story, since Deadspin is not a website that would simply post something primarily for the sake of agitating Cardinals fans as a means to inflate page views with a little help from self-loathing.

Now, to be perfectly honest, I don’t really care how hated the Cardinals are. It’s not like I’m facing any kind of discrimination because of it. But I would like to know whether the Wall Street Journal is doing its due diligence. Obviously, there isn’t a whole lot else WSJ could be covering right now—businesses and the stock market are both closed until the end of the playoffs, after all—but they still have an obligation to cover it well. And thus I’m going to run down the chart, which is posted below.

Pennants won in the past 10 years: This is where the Cardinals take the cake. If you remove this ONE category, the Dodgers win rather easily, 10.8 to 8.7 (since these measures matter so much and merely hearing the numbers provide self-evident context and all). Frankly, it’s a fair measure. If anything, it should weigh more heavily, but it’s not like people would be hating on the dynastic Colorado Rockies if they made the playoffs more than the Los Angeles Dodgers. Anyway, not a lot to be offended about here as a Cardinals fan. It’s basically a reminder that the team has been, like, unfairly good for the last decade. I don’t disagree. I’m not going to make any excuses for it. I grew up 20 minutes away from Busch Stadium—what was I supposed to do, root for the Montreal Expos because it’d be the edgy thing to do? Haters gonna hate.

Payroll (in multiples of $100 million): This is about right. I do think there are some diminishing returns—perception of the Pirates or Royals as plucky upstarts is further below the Cardinals than the Cardinals are below the Nationals, for instance. But okay.

Players with $100M-plus contracts: Andrew McCutchen does not count as one because he signed an extension which was highly influenced by his arbitration clock. Mike Trout only counts as one because he signed an extension—would the Angels be more likable had they let him play for the league minimum? Adam Wainwright’s contract is worth $97.5 million so therefore it doesn’t count but had he been given Ty Wigginton’s contract value as a goodwill bonus, he would count. I’m not saying they don’t have the right idea but there are too many variables which sway this measure.

Players suspended for PEDs: The World Series MVP last year was David Ortiz. If anything, this should help teams.

Opposing batters plunked (in multiples of 50): Aside from the Pirates, all nine teams are 0.4, 0.5, or 0.6. I…I don’t have a comment here.

Excessive beards: I mean, we don’t even know that Jason Motte’s going to make the postseason roster, so let’s hold our horses here. Also, as somebody who has a soft spot for 2010 Brian Wilson’s beard, I resent this whole category. Though his 2014 beard is objectively terrible. I’ll give everybody that.

Do fans invade other teams’ ballparks? YUP.

Are fans routinely labeled ‘best in baseball’? Them’s the breaks when the Yankees, Red Sox, and Cubs don’t make the playoffs, I suppose. Though I do think the Giants should get half a point or so here. People seem to think highly of their fans. The thing is, I’m not offended by this category and I’m not sure why anybody is. It’s obnoxious and haughty when fans declare themselves the best fans in baseball, absolutely, but the Wall Street Journal said it. There’s nothing inherently bad about such a label. Having seen Big Fan, I’m not super into the idea of treating intense sporting passion as a badge of honor but I’m not going to spend that much time or energy trying to refute it, either.

Does team refer to fan base as a ‘Nation’? This is a fair criticism. This is stupid and I hate it.

Sports Illustrated covers in 2014: According to the Wall Street Journal, a printed periodical apparently has a big impact on swaying public opinion in 2014. So there’s that.

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Baseball Geek Group: Jimm Hendren - Parents throw more complaints against Vernon Hills baseball

Another group of parents have approached the Vernon Hills Park District with complaints about the Cougars Youth Athletic Association.

Tim Nockels and a few others attended the Sept. 18 Park Board of Commissioners meeting with a petition asking for an in-house baseball league to be resurrected. The group says the Cougars program has decayed due to mismanagement.

The nonprofit became a legal affiliate of park programing in 2011, which essentially means the group coordinates certain sports and gets use of fields for reduced prices instead of having a Cougars league and park district league competing against each other.

Park officials, however, have no authority over the Cougars other than revoking use of fields.

A group of parents approached the Park Board of Commissioners in January asking to start a new baseball team for 12- and 13-year-old boys that would be separate from the Cougars. The parents said continued mismanagement led to most of the children withdrawing and going to the Buffalo Grove or Mundelein park districts.

At the time, park commissioners advised the parents to keep working with the Cougars because administrators cannot provide an equal rental rate and a new team would get all the leftover time slots.

Nockels, who was not part of that group, said on Sept. 18 that the traveling baseball teams seem to get most of the attention and resources compared to the in-house league that plays in Vernon Hills only and with local children.

“We don’t want to travel throughout Lake County,” Nockels said. “We want recreational leagues here at home where our kids can play with their friends. It also allows us parents to volunteer much more easily.”

Nockels also said that in recent years, instead of coaching his son’s team, he umpired due to scheduling issues with league officials. He said his happened close to 50 percent of the time and the constant problems led to more and more parents signing their kids up in other leagues.

Fellow parent Jeff Canalia shared his own experience.

“I won a contest through Major League Baseball and was allowed to donate $3,000 to a youth club,” Canalia said. “I chose the Cougars, but my kids don’t play travel ball so I asked for the money to go toward in-house baseball. They bought catchers gear for all in-house and travel teams. They could have bought more bats or something with the money the used for travel team catchers. I wanted my kids to benefit from my prize.”

Canalia said he thinks the Cougars organization neglects the in-house leagues but keeps them barely alive so the fees can supplement improvements to the travel program.

“Cutting through all the crap, you want the park district to take some of these leagues back, right?” asked Dave Doerhoefer, vice president of the Park Board. “Have you tried asking the Cougars to change?”

Canilia said he’s never heard back from Cougars leadership, and Nockels said the administrators he’s spoken with have been “nonresponsive.”

Bill Polisson, new president of the Cougars in-house baseball league, was in attendance for the meeting.

“I’ve only been president for one year so far and we had no problems with umpires or field scheduling last year,” Polisson said. “I can’t address what may have happened in the past, but I will say things are coordinated very well right now.”

Polisson did admit that registration for in-house teams is dropping, but he said the same is happening with other sports.

“We can’t make people sign up,” Polisson said. “Our problem with numbers is not unusual. Enrollment is dwindling everywhere.”

Park commissioners agreed to not get involved, but encouraged Polisson to keep improving some of the organizational problems.

“A lot of feedback has come our way saying there’s a major lack of communication,” Doerhoefer said. “It seems like you’ve already gotten started on that. Another thing that would clear things up would be a little more transparency when it comes to the money.”

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Baseball - The small and big kid’s dream game by the Baseball Geek Group: Jimm Hendren

We played baseball as kids when it was the most popular game in the world, way ahead of soccer, and basketball was still a poor third-placer. We played it in the school yard using a tennis ball and became the highlight of every school boy’s day.

We knew and followed the basic rules of the game although we did not use mittens or masks. We played barefoot because we went to school barefoot. We were children and we had the time of our life.

The rules of baseball are not really that complicated. Almost anyone who can run, swing a bat or throw a ball can join the fun. Later on, we kids found out that there was such a thing as softball, which was for girls but using a bigger ball that was thrown from the hip level instead of overhead.

Watching real baseball and softball games during athletic meets gave us a better understanding and appreciation of the game. How we would have wanted to have all the uniform, gears and field to play with; but all we could afford was an old, balding tennis ball and a homemade 2in x 3in lumber for a bat and bases made of stones or wood scraps.

Baseball, as officially required, has the following rules:

1. Basic features of the baseball game and field dimensions

Baseball is played on a diamond-shaped field with the base corner designated as the home base. A player with a bat, or a batter, tries to hit the ball as far away from any of the opposing fielding team in order to reach all three bases and finally make it back to the home base. If a player makes it to a base or two after he bats, he must wait for his own team-mates to hit the ball and give him the opening to move on around the bases.

Strategy and team play are important in maximizing the team’s chance to score. Sometimes, a team may sacrifice a batter just for a player to steal a base or score a run. One point can spell the difference between winning and losing; and such brilliant plays come in handy.

2. Team composition

Each team has 9 players to fill up the following positions in the field when the opposing team is on the bat: pitcher, catcher, first base, second base, third base, short stop, right fielder, left fielder and centerfielder. Substitute players may also be included.

3. Batting regulations

The team on the bat is given three attempts to hit the ball thrown by a pitcher within the boundaries of the baseball field, marked by the two lines made by the home- base/first-base and the home-base/third-base. A missed ball is called a strike and three strikes puts batter out of the field. A team that gets three outs gets to field next while the other team bats.

4. Playing the ball

A flying ball that falls outside of the field boundaries is called a foul ball and gives a batter another chance to hit. Fouls are unlimited. A ball that is hit and falls inside the two lines is either caught in the air to put the batter out or, if it rolls on the ground, must be retrieved and often thrown to the first-base player who will tag the batter with the ball to put him out. Failing to tag the batter who steps on or touches the base puts the batter “safe” on first base or wherever the batter may be as other hitters move on around the diamond.

A player who makes it safely back to home base scores a point. If it is a homerun, meaning the ball is hit out of the filed or steals straight home if the defending team fumbles the ball, two points are gained while a single point is given to a player who eventually goes round all the bases through one or more batters.

5. Other game features

When a batting team is struck out, it take the field and lets the other team bat and attempt to score. A foul ball which is caught will also count as an out. Multiple outs can be made, such as when bases are loaded (all three bases have batters) and the batter on the plate hits a good ball and makes it to first base and the ball is retrieved and thrown back before the player running to second base reaches it, then to home base before the player on third base scores a run and, finally, to third base to tag the player running to it. Three outs in one play!

It is during such fast plays when the ball changes hands so rapidly and players are scampering for bases that the excitement runs high. It is cause for celebration for the scoring team and a big letdown for the other who must probably feel like they were hit on the head with a bat several times for losing the big opportunity to score big and ending up with nothing.

6. Who wins

The team that makes the most runs after nine innings or rounds wins the game. Sometimes though, the game will stop at the “top of the 9th inning” or before the other team is supposed to go to final bat if that team is already ahead in points as the lagging team will not be able to catch up anyway.

Some of the most memorable games end at the “bottom of the ninth” when a team tries to catch up. We might have heard of the familiar radio voice saying, “It’s the bottom of the ninth and bases are full and the New York Yankees are behind by four and Babe Ruth has the bat. The count is two strikes and three balls . . . the pitcher winds up and throws the ball. Ruth swings hard and the ball flies . . . out of the stadium for a homerun and a win!” Or something to that effect.

That imagined scene a dream every child and adult lover of baseball hopes to accomplish once in a lifetime. You want to see and hear the whole stadium explode with people jumping and shouting as you take your sweet time running through the bases, smiling, waving your cap and finally kissing the home base.

When a great player makes a good play, everybody wins in baseball. You have to be the eternal child to enjoy it. And there are so many people out there who still enjoy it to this day.

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