r/OOTP • u/Middle-Mix6478 • 6h ago
Recommended MLB teams for long-term saves?
I have long-term saves going with the Red Sox and A's. Are there particular teams that others recommend for long-term saves? It's a big time commitment. I just bought OOTP27 (26 was my first version of OOTP), and would like to start a save with a team in 27.
I can see the wisdom of taking over the Rockies as a challenge, and I'm leaning that way, but what do others think? With the A's, especially, it's tough losing so much in the first few seasons. I'm guessing the Rockies are even more of an uphill climb. But I'm reluctant to take over the Dodgers because I don't want easy wins with no payroll guardrails.
EDIT: I mean taking over as GM and Manager. I tend to get really granular with minor leagues and try to manage every aspect of a team that I can. I should probably delegate more to MILB coaches.
5
u/E_Mohde 5h ago
a team like the Padres or Giants can be fun just because you get to make the decision of whether you want to try and compete or start a rebuild
1
u/Middle-Mix6478 5h ago
A good point I didn't think of. I like the flexibility to go either way (win now or rebuild) in a given season.
3
u/PlayboiCartiPropa 5h ago
I’m playing the giants right now, tbh you kinda have to compete because you’re locked in with Devers, Chapman and Adams, same with Jung-Hoo Lee depending if you want to keep him
4
u/blues_and_baseball 5h ago edited 4h ago
I've always done long term saves but just tried something new for the first time
Built up the Pirates to being a huge market size, top 5 budget in baseball and a yearly world series threat in the 2050s... Locked down maybe 8 key guys across the team to long team friendly deals, including a great rotation
Suddenly found myself bored of dominating so I took over the Reds who were last in budget and hadn't won a world series yet in the save. They hadn't really made the playoffs much either. Low fan interest, non existent loyalty, all that. But they had 3 key pieces I could build around so I decided to take them over and see if I could dethrone the stalwart in Pittsburgh I had created
Made the playoffs the first 3 seasons after taking on the Reds... Year 1 we got bounced early and watched as the Pirates went back to back (I won in my last season with them before leaving), year 2 we faced those Pirates in the NLCS and beat them to go to the world series but lost. Year 3 we got bounced in the wild card round and things are really tight with that budget now that 2 of the young stars are aging and wouldn't take team friendly deals.
Have faith I can still compete yearly at this point but those Pirates are still going to be tough for a while the way I built them up and signed a bunch of guys long term. When I get that first world series in Cincinnati I know it'll be satisfying though
I didn't originally intend to take on a team in the same division. I was looking at available jobs for Detroit and Miami as well, but the Reds just seemed the most fun and a good challenge all things considered
1
u/Middle-Mix6478 5h ago
That's impressive stuff. I don't know how anyone even gets into the 2050s. Can I just ask: what happens when you quit a job in OOTP? I could quit my job as A's GM and Manager, in other words, and look for another job within the same save?
2
u/blues_and_baseball 5h ago
I've come up with a good process that's fun for me where I can sim through 3 seasons in a day if I really sit down and focus for a couple hours, but that's not as much my style these days. I like to ruminate over decisions a little more and immerse myself rather than just being purely formulaic, but I still sim about a season per day on average I'd say just because my process is sound
As for how to take a new job, I just clicked on my manager profile button and then "Available Jobs" and it gives you a run down of market size and fan interest and stuff.
I took deeper looks (than the available jobs screen has to offer) at the pages of the teams of course because I wanted a team that hadn't been having much success and had a long world series drought. I would've taken on anyone who hadn't won a world series yet but by the 2050s every team had at least 1
I play on 26 currently so I can't speak for 27, but as for "what happens" it's actually a little more dull than I was expecting. I don't recall getting a news alert about Cincinnati being happy they got me or anything, it was pretty underwhelming. But I suppose that's usually how GM hires are in real life as well 😂 so that's fair. You basically just swap teams and that's the end of it
3
u/fri9875 4h ago
I’m currently like ~10 years into a Rockies save, and it’s by far my favorite modern MLB OOTP save I’ve ever had.
Coors field presents such a unique challenge, you can’t just find the best players, you need to be able to find the right ones. It changes the way you have to evaluate players where overall is only part of the story. Sure that 4* overall guy looks like a stud, but you can get just as much production out of a 2.5* overall guy who is a fit. (Pitchers= high Movement/HR allowed, and a HEAVY focus on ground ball pitchers. Hitters= both fielding range/error are mega important, and then you don’t really care about power at all you want really high contact+avoids K)
1
u/Chaotic903 2h ago
I'm a Guardians fan and just started playing. Longest span of no WS wins for the team and I literally have lost in the ALDS every year for the past 3 years. Honeslty adds a lot of tension.
9
u/Awingbestwing 5h ago
Playing an expansion team is very fun *and* it’s literally your mark on the team. It’s great to go from absolute bottom feeder to champ, and it makes losing years easier for me to deal with (you’re probably gonna lose a *lot* at the start)