In other words, rmarshall, the open leagues do not appear in the Classifieds.

They are all the same salary level, the same rules. Owners of all levels of experience and success play in them.

You get into them as very well explained above.

Yep, OL's are a good way to get your head around the way the game works.

Although OL's are geared towards beginners, you will find owners of every experience level in a regular OL. Don't think that because you have already played 23 teams that you will be able to go into an OL and kick everyone's ***. It doesn't usually work that way. In fact, after playing a bunch of 255M leagues, you probably have a lot to learn about fatigue (IP's, PC's and PA's), amongst other things. On the up side, since the recent update, most owner's are still trying to get their heads around the way SIM works now, so the field is much more wide open.

Two of the nice things about OL's (and lower cap leagues) are that a lot of different strategies can be used and, although you will not have a team chock full of superstars, neither will anyone else, so your players will tend to perform closer to their RL numbers.

eastvanmungo ... I don't think there will be any *** kicking in the immediate future, for me. I'm struggling at something I hoped would be entertaining, competetive, but easier for me to grasp. With 1 .500 finish out of 23 teams and the other 22 below .500 ... I am trying hard to figure it out. I've played about 9 teams between $80 miil and $120 mill. Obviously I have a lot to learn. That's why I'm in this forum asking these questions.

I settled on $255 mill leagues because I liked being able to get all those great players with their greatest seasons, on the same team.

I am going to try $80 - $120 mill.

I love playing this game, I'm hooked. I'll keep playing asking questions.

rmarshall, I think you're making the right call on the theme leagues between $80m and $120m. With the new valuations, I'm thinking $100m might become my new favorite (previously $120m).

I love the theme leagues, trying to put players together based on the theme, etc. Not sure that I'm a real expert at all the nuances of the game, but I'll offer a couple suggestions, nonetheless.

My first recommendation would be to read through this forum a bit and look for some of the advice for newbies that has already been posted (even though you're not really one any more).

My next piece of advice would be that, in general, most newer players draft too many innings pitched and plate appearances - and that's wasting the money you've got available to you in your salary cap.

Good luck!

Do you divide the cap up a specific way ... between players & pitchers ? Starters & Relievers ?

In the few smaller cap leagues I've played .. I have the tendency to want to spend a chunk on sluggers like, Gehrig, Ruth, Mantle. Than I don't have enough to get a descent starting lineup.

In the past I feel it's always been my pitcing that has let me down. Even though I know this lower cap league will be even harder.

I see you have been in 58 Playoffs ... with 9 Champs. You obviously pick the right players & put them in correct balparks.

Please read this thread:

http://www.whatifsports.com/forums/threads.asp?ForumID=3&TopicID=368171&PagePosition=1

It answers most of the questions you ask, and provides a ton of other useful info.

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Quote: Originally Posted By rmarshall on 11/11/2009

I see you have been in 58 Playoffs ... with 9 Champs. You obviously pick the right players & put them in correct balparks.

In truth, I am barely above average. I also play within my comfort zone of $120m theme leagues. I've only once played an Open League, and I don't recall playing anything above $160m. Even within my comfort zone, it's not always milk and honey - in one ongoing league, I've entered 13 different times and have yet to win a championship. There are plenty of others who do much better than I, but I'm never afraid to join a league filled with the best of the best.

That said, I'd really suggest reading through the advice in the posts above, and elsewhere on the forums. There's a lot of advice about which stats are important to hitters and pitchers, and which are not. And, with the latest update, everybody is still trying to figure out the right balance. I'd also suggest testing ideas/teams in the "spring leagues" to see what works. Keep in mind that it's tough to learn much in a ten-game test, but if you go 8-2, you could be on to something good. Above all, always have fun!

In terms of innings pitched, I was once told (long ago) that a good starting place is to have ~900-1000IPs from your starters, ~150-200 from long relief, ~150-200 from setup men, ~50 from a closer, and then some additional arms for mopping up.

You can try mixing up the quality on your staff, too. I like to have two 'aces' among my starters, so I can match them up against opponents if I'm in a tight playoff race. My #3 (and #4 when I have four) are still top-quality starters but not necessarily an 'ace' because I find that level of quality in that position is unneccessary to reach the playoffs - and that's wasting salary that could be spent elsewhere.

Good luck!

This may seem to be over simplicated but I did the same thing. I jumped into the deep end of What if Sports and tried to play high cap. I finally started playing in O.L and was getting beat soundly. I stumbled apon the stat snapshot and started watching it very closely. I started piecing my teams together using the snapshot and it helped alot. I am still not a high leval player but my O.L. teams now are consistant and my one O.L team right now has a record of 64-20.