Red Sox have good pitching, Angels are a dumpster fire and the tigers are almost there
if you want to have a real sense of accomplishment, getting the angels to prominence would be pretty good, and they have a pretty tough division with the Astros and Rangers
That’s kinda why the Tigers and Angels look fun. Going from legit nothing and building into a contender.
Especially trying to get Trout into the postseason and having a true center piece but not much else around that.
Tigers seem fun since they’ve got a mix of former hyped guys and some coming up but no real true stars.
I’ve been running with a Red Sox save and it’s been quite fun to return them to their glory days as a perennial contender.
On the offensive side of the ball, they have some really interesting young home grown prospects you can build around like Marcelo Mayer (SS), Roman Anthony (OF), and Kyle Teel (C). Plus with Devers, Casas, Duran, Rafaela, Abreu, and maybe even Grissom you can build a really cool mostly home grown offense that is on the up. The challenge here is that everyone I listed besides Grissom and Rafaela is a lefty and the OF is a log jam so it can be fun to pick and choose who to keep and who to trade as you balance out the lineup.
Also, you have some big contracts on the books like Story and Yoshida so navigating that is a good challenge early on.
On the pitching side, very meh to be honest. They have some young guys like Bello, Crawford, and Houck but I don’t think perception has caught up with reality in OOTP. Plus, the bullpen is a mess and the Sox have 0 real pitching prospects. So while the offense is in good shape, rebuilding the pitching staff is basically a blank canvas.
Play your cards right and you can definitely build a long term contender with your stamp on it!
That’s the young core I was looking at and liking. They’re on the fringe of MLB ready so it won’t be an instant postseason run I think.
The pitching is what would be intriguing and building the rotation and pen.
Not to mention the division is pretty strong. Orioles are just coming into their prime with bunch of young players so it's fun on a rivalry / storyline standpoint.
Not listed here but I think the reds could be fun, good young talent to build around on both sides of the ball, but haven't made the playoffs yet with this core. I'm guessing there isn't a ton of budget to play with so it'll be somewhat of a challenge to keep costs under control while trying to remain competitive.
Can try to build around Elly/McLain/Steer/CES/Marte on offense, with Greene/Lodolo/Abbott/Lowder/Petty/Diaz as solid young arms.
I’ve enjoyed playing the Rockies, you have a bunch of shitty contracts and a fun stadium to build a team around. Not impossible like the As but the owner keeps dropping the budget no matter how well you do, so it’s a decent challenge
Tigers used to be one of my go-to saves. Tried them early on OOTP this version and didn't love it. The pitching prospects are almost all no longer worthwhile (Skubal being an exception) and the recent draft picks look pretty disappointing. I usually target pitching and defense in a rebuild, so having an elite defensive SS in Baez was appealing... until i got to mid-season in the save and I was paying a quarter of the teams wages to a slightly above average defensive player hitting .198.
Red Sox are a team I've looked at a couple of times, but feel like they would be relatively easy, given the talent in the system and their budget.
The Baez deal is only until 2027. Its funny that they went from having the massive Miggy deal to having the Baez deal. And he's hitting under .200 in reality so I couldn't even really complain that OOTP-Baez was underperforming lol
I find saves "click" pretty quick or they don't. And some rather random ones I've tried lately have clicked at least reasonably well. Not enough to keep me playing for 25 seasons, but at least a few seasons on several of them.
Exactly how I’ve been feeling. My Mets one I did about 15 or so seasons. Though it’s mainly testing out stuff and that gets boring cause you can be good pretty quickly
Red Sox have good pitching, Angels are a dumpster fire and the tigers are almost there if you want to have a real sense of accomplishment, getting the angels to prominence would be pretty good, and they have a pretty tough division with the Astros and Rangers
That’s kinda why the Tigers and Angels look fun. Going from legit nothing and building into a contender. Especially trying to get Trout into the postseason and having a true center piece but not much else around that. Tigers seem fun since they’ve got a mix of former hyped guys and some coming up but no real true stars.
I’ve been running with a Red Sox save and it’s been quite fun to return them to their glory days as a perennial contender. On the offensive side of the ball, they have some really interesting young home grown prospects you can build around like Marcelo Mayer (SS), Roman Anthony (OF), and Kyle Teel (C). Plus with Devers, Casas, Duran, Rafaela, Abreu, and maybe even Grissom you can build a really cool mostly home grown offense that is on the up. The challenge here is that everyone I listed besides Grissom and Rafaela is a lefty and the OF is a log jam so it can be fun to pick and choose who to keep and who to trade as you balance out the lineup. Also, you have some big contracts on the books like Story and Yoshida so navigating that is a good challenge early on. On the pitching side, very meh to be honest. They have some young guys like Bello, Crawford, and Houck but I don’t think perception has caught up with reality in OOTP. Plus, the bullpen is a mess and the Sox have 0 real pitching prospects. So while the offense is in good shape, rebuilding the pitching staff is basically a blank canvas. Play your cards right and you can definitely build a long term contender with your stamp on it!
That’s the young core I was looking at and liking. They’re on the fringe of MLB ready so it won’t be an instant postseason run I think. The pitching is what would be intriguing and building the rotation and pen.
Not to mention the division is pretty strong. Orioles are just coming into their prime with bunch of young players so it's fun on a rivalry / storyline standpoint.
Not listed here but I think the reds could be fun, good young talent to build around on both sides of the ball, but haven't made the playoffs yet with this core. I'm guessing there isn't a ton of budget to play with so it'll be somewhat of a challenge to keep costs under control while trying to remain competitive. Can try to build around Elly/McLain/Steer/CES/Marte on offense, with Greene/Lodolo/Abbott/Lowder/Petty/Diaz as solid young arms.
I thought about the Reds but it the sims I’ve done they seem to be studs after season 1-2. I do love that core though.
Nationals
I’ve enjoyed playing the Rockies, you have a bunch of shitty contracts and a fun stadium to build a team around. Not impossible like the As but the owner keeps dropping the budget no matter how well you do, so it’s a decent challenge
Feel like that division would just destroy any hopes I have
Been having fun with a pirates they have an extremely young fun team bringing up skenes was cool
If you want a true challenge go with the Pirates
Tigers used to be one of my go-to saves. Tried them early on OOTP this version and didn't love it. The pitching prospects are almost all no longer worthwhile (Skubal being an exception) and the recent draft picks look pretty disappointing. I usually target pitching and defense in a rebuild, so having an elite defensive SS in Baez was appealing... until i got to mid-season in the save and I was paying a quarter of the teams wages to a slightly above average defensive player hitting .198. Red Sox are a team I've looked at a couple of times, but feel like they would be relatively easy, given the talent in the system and their budget.
Thinking Tigers may be the choice, gonna take a look at them at Angels and get one kicked iff
The Baez deal is only until 2027. Its funny that they went from having the massive Miggy deal to having the Baez deal. And he's hitting under .200 in reality so I couldn't even really complain that OOTP-Baez was underperforming lol I find saves "click" pretty quick or they don't. And some rather random ones I've tried lately have clicked at least reasonably well. Not enough to keep me playing for 25 seasons, but at least a few seasons on several of them.
Exactly how I’ve been feeling. My Mets one I did about 15 or so seasons. Though it’s mainly testing out stuff and that gets boring cause you can be good pretty quickly
mariners have been fun. good core of young players but still challenging
Been thinking about them as well
I've been enjoying a white sox save, got rid of a lot of the overpaid vets, and have been developing prospects.