Joe Lemire on Strat-O-Matic

Baseball Mogul quickly becomes too easy if you play on your computer, but BBMO online is actually quite challenging because the formula for success is simple enough that an attentive/experienced person can almost always field a winning team. I don't know how many times I won 110 games in premier BBMO leagues and got bounced in the Series by someone smarter who won 125. The downside to that is many would-be good owners got discouraged by always posting a losing team and ended up quitting. I quit BBMO when they sold/temporarily shut down the online game a few years back, just because it was taking too much of my attention and time. It wasn't particularly realistic, but it was challenging, and the community was small enough when I played that you really got to know who you were playing against.

I never played OOTP online, but I've been playing the free-download version of OOTP 8 (it's still out there, although it's much harder to search-index now) for a couple years now and the amazing attention to statistical detail really appeals to me. My main beef with OOTP is how quick players decline...seems like even the best players are already in serious decline once they pass 30, or often sooner.

 

I played a ton of strat from age 11 to 17ish. I went to a couple tourneys. A huge ballroom of people playing 20 games in a day.

I'm such a geek that one summer I sat alone in my room for weeks and replayed the entire 1985 Mariners season by myself. They went 81-81 with me. Thats seven more wins than Chuck Cottier could get out of that team

Now Im proud to say I'm a little part of the game because I'm one of their consultants for the ratings.

 

I had a no-hitter by the 1984 version of John Denny in Pursue The Pennant.

I still have the full, original set.

 

I have mentioned this before, but I know a guy who played the entire 1981 season - every game - on Strat-O-Matic. it took him 11 years and the Expos won it all.

My brothers and I played a lot of Statis-Pro baseball and Paydirt football.

 

I've been playing Dynasty League Baseball (the former Pursue the Pennat) for about 15 years. Best sports game out there.
I really miss Avalon Hill, who made the Statis-Pro games. You can find recent cards for the basketball and football games if you look hard enough online. I'm not around a lot of fellow players, but I've designed solitaire systems and used others I've seen in print or online.
Hockey was really the only Strat game I've played much.

 

Strat is awesome. My uncle got the board version of the hockey game & the baseball game in the mid-1980s, and I was fascinated with it. I would spend hours and hours replaying the entire playoffs, Stanley Cup Finals, et al.

I've played in some play-by-mail board hockey leagues and some online leagues in the past. One league I was once in, had to get out of because of lack of time at that point in my life, and the waiting list to get back in is gigantic, so I've joined a league using the new ActionPC sim. It's a bit less expensive, has a bit different game engine, but I really enjoy the simple interface and the design (and realism over the long haul) of Strat.

 

Very cool