A review for FM/CM players (I've read a few Football Manager players ask questions about the game so thought I'd write a suitable review! If you're not a FM player you should probably read another review!).

I've been a long time Football Manager/Championship Manager addict (owning every version since they arrived on the Amiga, and I continue to buy it each year) and bought this on a whim, despite not really knowing anything about baseball at all. It is simply great, I can't stop playing it!

As anyone who's watched (or read) Moneyball will know, baseball is a game that lends itself well to stats. It is all about the numbers. Before you know it you'll be swimming in stats and sabermetrics; RBI, BABIP, ERA, ERA+, WHIP, WAR. Page after page after page of accroynms and numbers to pour over (and, at first; stare at blankly!). It is a revelation when it starts to all make sense!

There is no doubt that this is a deep sports simulator (with complete teams and drafts going all the way back to 1871, and you can jump in at any point you want and play out all of the "what if..." scenarios your mind can conjure up), but hiding away underneath all that is a complex mathematical puzzle. If you like maths, you'll love sabermetrics, and you'll love this game even more because it gives you the chance to act out Moneyball (in any league, in any era, anywhere in the world! Select a country, how many teams/divisions you want and the game will fill it with cities from your country. I've found playing classic MLB is the most fun, as you have the real life achievements and player stats to compare your own game against).

In many ways this game is like Championship Manager <2005, before the rock-paper-scissors approach to tactics, media interviews and player (and as extension of that; team) morale took hold. Championship Manager was once a game where you could fill a positition with a player with specific high attributes and you knew he'd "buy" you wins. Repeat that process across your team (within the confines of your budget) and you would have a succesful team; hopefully!

Without wanting to turn this post into a FM/CM bashing post; the game has moved away from what made it succesful. Without a winning tactic you will get nowhere. Even when you've found a winning tactic, you need to micromanage your team, the players, the media, the board, etc, etc. Sure, you can assign some of those tasks to staff members (who you also have to micromanage!), but there's always an underlying feeling that other things are at play aside from your 11 players v the opposition. It often seems like the game engine is constantly number crunching numbers you not only can't see, but have no control over.

FM was once described (not entirely unfairly!) as a "spreadsheet with graphics". That description is no longer accurate, so much goes on behind the scenes that it can be difficult to guage what you are doing right (or worse; what you are doing wrong!), even with the cut down "Classic" mode.

Trust me when I say I mean this as a compliment; OOTP is more of a "spreadsheet with numbers" than recent iterations of Football Manager have been! If you are losing constantly you can look through the stats and you WILL see why you are losing (if you look hard enough). You will see that your 2nd rotation pitcher is causing you to lose every game he plays, or that a player or two in the middle of your batting lineup are hitting way below average, or that a star player is picking up too many injuries, or he is a season or two beyond his prime (or even that your coach is beyond his prime; the game moves on and alters through the years. The slider tactic settings that your coach set may no longer be effective. You can override him, or sack him, or get the bench coach to set the tactics. This is just one small example of the depth of the game!). This is the same numerical conundrum that FM/CM used to be, it is just packaged up as a different sport. I'm being absolutely serious when I say that this game reminds me more of Championship Manager of old than the current version of Football Manager does! (Oh, and there's no microtransactions and/or built in game cheats!).

The game has player morale, but morale is slightly affected by the type of players you sign (there are a whole range of player personalities and interests, but you don't need to micromanage them so much as make sensible choices about who to sign in the first place!) and they are affected a LOT by their own skill level and expectation and how the team is performing. If you're performing at a reasonably high standard your star player is going to be happy with his lot (and, if you're not, maybe it's time to rebuild anyway?).

The game has depth, but it can be as "light" or as complicated as you want to make it. If you just want to act as a GM and draft players and trade players you can zoom through 100 years of game time in a few days (or as fast as your computer can handle) if you feel like it. If you want a full hands on approach you can micromanage every small detail of the team, from hiring coaches in the minor leagues, setting the scouting/coaching budgets, ticket prices, etc, etc. The attention to detail is astonishing, and if, like me, you are a football (soccer) fan, you'll be green eyed with envy that nobody ever thought to make a football game with this level of historic detail.

There is certainly a learning curve (especially if you know nothing of baseball!), but the game does well in introducing new players. You are first greeted with a pop-up windown, which takes you to online videos (recommended!), an instruction manual, the forums. You can start in commisioner mode (allowing you to change anything and everything on your save game. A sandbox mode by anyother name) and change things to your hearts content. The on line community is great, you'll find other players are eager to help us newbies, even the developers respond to (what must be for them) pretty basic questions to get you going, both on the Steam forums and on the OOTP forum.

I've gone a bit mad this past year game wise, taking advantage of all the Steam sales, Xbox 360 games being reduced to virtually nothing, buying an Xbox One (and Wii U!). I've played a lot of good games (and a lot of bad), this game is right up there with the best of them. It is certainly the most surprising (the amount of time I've put into it has caught me somewhat off guard! The "just one more game" element of FM is certainly in effect here), and I might even put it into the debate of the best game on any platform in the past year! (and remember; I'm a European dude who has never seen a game of baseball in his life!).

If you yearn for Championship Manager of old (i.e. CM4), you need this game in your life!

P.S. Just a tip; you may have read the game comes without real team names when starting a "live" game (all historic teams are properly named, as far as I can tell). Just click randomise 3 (maybe 4) times and all team names will be real.

Very realistic. Jays still can't make it to the postseason even in simulation.

I created a fictional league based on the MLB. I didn't want to use historical players and wanted every team to start on even ground.

I'm from Cleveland, so I played as the Indians.

My top draft pick was a bust, BOTH my solid closers got 4+ month injuries, I was constantly plagued with minor injuries to almost every player no matter how young and durable they were, and despite starting with a solid rank in the power rankings, ended up dead last and extremely frustrated with 0 room for payroll and my only good players gladly signed with another team when they became FA's.

10/10 for realism

edit: Because this is technically listed under the Helpful Reviews section, I feel like I should say a little more than just a joke.

This is a great sim, and while there are frustrating seasons, the satisfaction felt from building a great team really makes it worth it. It's daunting at first, and if you're a casual fan, there will be struggles. They don't simplify statistics for you, and just like real life, there are intangibles to consider when it comes to players you sign/draft (whether they are injury prone or durable, whether your scouts consider them quick or slow learners which is huge for development for young kids, whether or not they dog it too often on the field, and seriously, for the love of God, check their defense ratings and whether or not they have good range at their position. They all come in to play and punish you for simply drafting the highest available talent without considering anything else).
But boy do I have fun during inaugural drafts. There's just something enjoyable about filling different types of teams, trying to build teams with extreme groundball pitchers backed up by scrappy, young, high contact, low power, great fielding players to make your pitchers unstoppable but struggling to score runs yourself. Or, building a team with the most power in the league, but realizing your poor defense and speed is costing you the division.

The In-Game play could be better. It gets to the point where I have almost memorized the first lines of the play-by-play and know exactly whether I've grounded out or hit a home run. There are no 3D models or accurate displays/routes of any balls in play (I've seen the ball rocket out of the plate, but the description be "soft fly ball"). But you can still micro manage games: call for steals, hit and runs, pitch outs, bunt etc., while still being able to just simulate each game if you aren't feeling that.

I highly recommend this game.

I'm not much of a sports guy. What little interest I had in following professional baseball faded over 10 years ago. So you would reasonably assume that I wouldn't care for this game.

I'm here to tell you, that if you have a deep interest in management simulation, statistics, and strategy, then this game is a must-play, whether you know anything about baseball or not.

My knowledge of baseball statistics was severely lacking when I started playing OOTP15. However, I put in a small amount of research time (an hour's worth of google-fu) and then jumped headfirst into the game. The first thing I noticed was the nearly overwhelming amount of complete statistics for every single player, and not just those in the majors - from the lowest of Rookie Leagues through every level of the minors. Your scouting director can give you a report about any player and summarize their playing ability (and, just like in real life, sometimes the scouts are wrong!) You have the option of managing your team with as much or as little control as possible. You can play as the commissioner and simply watch the teams develop around you. You can play as a GM who lets his staff make all the decisions about lineups and strategy. Or you can micromanage every single game in the season! Don't want to play with actual players and actual teams? You can create a fictional league, with fictional players. Don't want to play alone? There are many different leagues running online that you can join, which opens up trading to be much more interesting than it is when playing against the AI. The level of control and customization you have in this game is nearly absurd - and I mean that in the best possible way.

It has to be emphasized at some point in the review that this isn't a game where you play the player - there is no point where you are at bat or pitching. Rather, you're the manager - you can give some limited orders (bunt, pitch around, etc.) but it's up to your autonomous players to win the game. If you're expecting to watch 3D rendered baseball games, you won't get that either - if you watch a game, you're given a text play-by-play, with some limited graphical representation about where the ball gets hit and which player is standing where. The quality of the game doesn't come from its graphics, of course. It comes from the depth of the simulation - down to where and how each individual pitch was thrown.

In conclusion - give this game a chance. I'm not a baseball junkie - I can't even name 10 current MLB players off the top of my head, yet I'm in love with OOTP. I think that speaks pretty highly of how good this gem really is.

Before I even begin, those who are not familiar with the game manager, or GM, aspect of baseball, should back out immediately and forget about buying this game. Out of the Park Baseball, OPB, is a very complex game that focuses on team management and coaching, not, playing the game of baseball itself like regular sports games; such games include: MLB the Show and/or MLB2K. If you find any game mode confusing in any, or both, of these series, you will be wasting your money on OPB; it's pratically learning a new language and is meant for, only the most, hardcore baseball fans with adequate knowledge of the game.

If still reading, then you believe you have the patience and knowledge to play this game.

So what is OPB? It is a simulation/strategy game that places you in the shoes of, as stated earlier, a baseball GM. It is up to you to manage every single player and coach on your roster, whether regarding saleries or team roles. Do not be deceived, it's not as easy as it sounds, like a standard franchise mode; OPB is very detailed, and displayed, as if you are a real GM. There is no simple functions and auto help, everything is manual and requires a lot of thought in order to be successful. For example, if you half-a** your roster, just to speed up the season, you will be punished in the long run. Hours could be spent fiddling through the many functions; examples include, but not limited to: emails, news, waivers, bids, contracts, happiness, player development, team morale, etc. The gameplay layout is pratically identical to a GM's computer; though fake, it feels as if you are literally sitting in an office and deciding a fate of a professional baseball team.

If you are still interested, after reading thus far, I respect your taste.

The hard part, discussing the most complex part of the game, is finally over; I will now move on to the other features.

On the menu, you will download the rosters of, almost, every professional baseball league; this includes many asian, such as Japan and Korea, teams as well; not limited to just the USA's baseball league, MLB. Now you can pick any of these, hundreds, of teams and become the GM; from here you will manage REAL players and coaches from these different leagues. OPB does an excellant job of updating on a timely basis as well, so you will never fall behind when real life transactions are made, such as trades and signings. If you prefer a more creative approach, then you can customize a league of your own. You can determine age group, from high school to professional, and create a fantasy league. Let's say you played some high school ball in a small town, twenty years ago, and recall all the player and team names; you can use this information and reconstruct the past. The ability to create such a league, using realistic baseball templates, from scratch is a rare feature; truely captivating.

Finally, let's talk about the in-game simulator; here is where you MANAGE, not play, baseball games. To simplify the experience, just visualize watching a baseball game on the computer, not live, but as a play-by-play cartoon display that updates every several seconds. Your job is to manage the game itself, as in giving signs. This is rather easy to understand to most, but can be confusing, if you are unfamilar with certain plays such as a "hit-and-run." It's all strategy and selections; mainly reading a list of plays, and a summary of the play(s) called. Example: "B-1 Swings. Grounder to second base. 4-3. One out." (The batter hits into a ground out to second base; 4 stands for the second baseman, and 3 is the first baseman)

Overall, this game is phenomenal and deserves a 9.25/10. I am a huge baseball fanatic and egghead; the main reason why I admire the beauty of OPB. Those not like-minded will downgrade this game and all its aspects; it is for this reason, that I, STRESSED the importance of baseball knowledge and dedication at the beginning. To buy this, and then complain about its complexity, is not only disgracing OPB, but the game of baseball aswell.

I call it fantasy baseball on crack. It really makes all other types of fantasy baseball seem dull and extremely simple, like so easy that a caveman could do it. Playing single player is fun, but joining an online league is highly recommended. Winning never feels as good as it does when you best other human minds. Of course, I wouldn't know that, I've never won any online league, but even losing against humans is better than winning against the AI.

If you love baseball and statistics and managing, it doesn't get any better than the OOTP series.

If you know what statistics like WAR. VORP, and UZR mean, If you dream of running a baseball team if your way, then OOTP is about as good as it gets. The sheer amount of data available can be overwhelming and its presentation doesn't really capture what is romantic about baseball, but as a front office management sim this is as good as it gets.

Let me be frank: if sorting through pages and pages of statistics and micromanaging a budget isn't your idea of fun, OOTP isn't your game. If you squint it looks more like chartered accountancy than a game.
However, if you're the kind of weirdo who likes that stuff, this game is extremely satisfying. I've been a Bill James fan nearly as long as I've been a baseball fan, and building a team using WAR and FIP and having awards conferred according to ability rather than popularity is deeply gratifying on some embarrassing math nerd level.

The game isn't perfect. The interface isn't very intuitive and it takes too many clicks to get to some screens. The strength overview report takes nearly five minutes to generate, and has to regenerate every time I click the back button, so I avoid it entirely. The stat pages also have an annoying habit of forgetting your sorting parameters when you click back.

And what's with the impossibility of being a female manager/GM? I know there aren't any, but women have been assistant GMs and Kim Ng has been a candidate for GM jobs with several teams. So it could happen! It's a bit irksome to get emails addressed to Mr. Sarah. Come on, OOTP developers, it's a fantasy game, let a girl have her nerdy fantasy.

So I discovered OOTP 14 this past december, and bought it on a whim to occupy me while I was sick. A hundred or so hours later (aka later that month), I was beyond satisfied... OOTP 14 had been everything I had ever desired from a sports sim and more.

So earlier this week, I decided to drop $30 on OOTP 15, for the updated rosters and features. I've already spent ~30 hours on it, and I plan to spend hundreds more. OOTP 15 is just the company building on top of an already perfect product... it has the sort of depth that games like The Show or MLB 2K can only dream of having.

A lot of people are turned off by the fact that it's a sports sim game, but it doesn't even seem to matter. I've become more attached to the characters I've controlled through this game, as your version of "control" is very similar to that of an MLB GM: you can only pray that the players and coaches you recruit will pan out. And it may take dozens or hundreds of hours to finally get that fresh recruit, you drafted as as 16-year old straight from the slums of Nicaragua, to the big leagues at the age of 24 as a 4-star starting shortstop, but the hours in-between are absolute bliss.

If you like sports sim games, or even if you just enjoy baseball, then this game is for you. If you're turned off from the sim aspects that the franchise modes of Madden or MLB 2K showcase, without actually "playing" the games, then turn away quickly. But if you're into managing an MLB franchise from the top-down... sprint towards OOTP.

These best baseball simulator on PC hands down. If you like franchise mode/GM mode in other baseball games (2k/The Show), you will love this game. From sabermetics to full front office control to international teams/minor league/rule5draft/arbitartion and more, there is so much depth and customization that I am still learning new stuff about the game after 200 hrs.

In the year 2029 of my league. The commissioner decided to expand the league by 2 teams, the Jacksonville Airhogs and Austin Thunderbolts. I wasn't even aware this was possible, but is so cool and adds a new dynamic to the game. They had to hold and expansion draft and I had to put some players on a protection list. The 2 new teams could draft any player in the league not on a protection list.

Little changes like that can happen every couple of years like a few years earlier they removed the DH for the American League which is really awesome becuase it keeps the league fresh and interesting.

If you love baseball and always wanted to be a manager or general manager of any baseball team than this is the game you have always been looking for.

If you love baseball this is the game for you. If you love baseball management and always wished you could be a GM, ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ this game is for you. Embrace your inner angry fan that know's it can do a better job than your teams front office. Seriously, act out those fantasies of winning the World Series with the Cubs, trading for Giancarlo Stanton, and making the Padres relevant.

A dedicated community supplies all the logos you'll ever need, and usually ones you want made. Create a completely fictional league, have it start in 1840, make your own history. Or just play actual baseball history, but change it up. What if Babe Ruth stayed with the Sox? What if Lou Gherig never got sick? How would the stars of the Negro Leagues stats ranked if they played their whole career in MLB?

All of those and much much more can be answered and explored in OOTP!

Don't play it unless you want all your friends to hate you because you suddenly think you have what it takes to be a MLB GM.

Best baseball simulation ever!

A fantastic game for sports players and simulation junkies. Although you may be overwhelmed at first by all of the options, soon you will be studying the spreadsheets like crazy in order to build a playoff contender. Does a great job of capturing the difficulty of building, maintaining, and nourishing a contender. Can't recommend highly enough. It's the Civ 5 of sports games.

Far and away the best sports sim on the market.

Do you like baseball? Do you think you can really run a team better than your favorite teams Owner/GM/Manager? Go ahead and take that challenge on, to any degree of difficulty that suits you.

Just want to fiddle with in-game strategies and lineups? You can do JUST that, if that's all you want to do. Want to meddle with roster construction (trades, Free Agnet signings, promotion/demotions)? You can do that too. Want to control EVERYTHING? Yeah, you can do that too. Tired of modern day baseball players? Play with any players, from any season you can think of. Tired of real-life baseball players altogether? You can create an entire universe of fictional players (and even teams, if you so desire) to have your fun in.

It is an entirely customizable baseball experience that you really cannot afford to miss.

extremely detailed and encompassing game, allows me to understand and appreciate aspects of baseball that I didn't even know existed. When I first got this, I knew I wanted to run some kind of simulator, and I also wanted to run a Sports game and since baseball is such a stats heavy sport, this is a great game to bridge the two together. I'm a fan of football, basketball, hockey, getting into baseball thanks to this game. I'm learning a lot and some supplementary reading on the side goes a long way. Great Game

OOTP Baseball is - at it's core - a very deep simulation title. If you love incredibly deep simulations, then this is the game for you. If you don't like hardcore simulations, you won't like it.

Now, if you like Baseball AND you like simulations ... well, you're going to think you died and went to heaven. Honestly, I can't think of a simulation that is more true to the subject matter than OOTP Baseball. When you're stressing out about what Pitching coach to hire for you rookie league (as I was when I started), you know it's a deep simulation.

If you like a great 'arcade' experience, this game is not for you. This game is about running a team the way you want to run it. You want to do a historical league with real players -- you can do that. I prefer a totally fictional league so that I'm not burdened with allegiances towards any teams or players.

All things considered, this game is engrossing ... it's immersive .... it's the best baseball game I've ever played -- and I've tried them all.

This game is so fun i think i am addicted

ONE OF THE BEST SPORTS SIMULATORS EVER!!! 10/10 A++++++++++++