Stats and AI
The Stats and AI screen is accessed from the Create New Game screen during game creation.
The Stats and AI screen includes some options that allow you finely tune OOTP's strategy and statistical engines. In general, the settings on this screen are pre-configured for enjoyable game play. We don't recommend changing these settings unless you have a specific reason to do so. Additionally, since these settings can drastically impact the statistical outcomes in your league, we recommend creating test leagues where appropriate to try out certain settings before you create your final league. This screen is divided into the following sections:
- Import Settings
- General AI Roster Settings
- General Strategic Tendencies
- Historical Modifiers & Totals Options
- League Totals and Modifiers
- Position Modifiers
Import Settings
Import Settings allow you to specify a real-world year on which to base your league. This does not mean that you will have players from the selected year. Rather, OOTP will use this value to automatically adjust a number of different settings to make the baseball experience more similar to that particular year in the real world, including:
- Financial settings (ticket prices, typical salaries, etc.)
- League strategy settings (how often players bunt, how often closers are used, etc.)
- Player creation modifiers (how likely are players to hit lots of home runs, etc.)
General AI Roster Settings
The General AI Roster Settings enable you to customize the approach the game's AI will take towards building its roster.
| Option | Description |
| Typical Starting Rotation Size | The typical number of pitchers in a starting rotation in this league. Can be set to 3, 4, 5, or 6. |
| Starting Rotation Mode | The typical way in which a manager in this league will choose his next starter. |
| Allow Starters in Relief | Whether or not managers in this league will use members of their starting rotation as relievers when needed. |
| Number of Relievers (non-DH league) | The typical number of relief pitchers carried on the roster by a team in a league where the designated hitter rule is not used. |
| Number of Position Players (non-DH league) | The typical number of non-pitchers carried on the roster by a team in a league where the designated hitter rule is not used. |
| Total players on roster (non-DH league) | The total number of players carried on the roster by a team in a league where the designated hitter rule is not used. |
| Number of Relievers (DH league) | The typical number of relief pitchers carried on the roster by a team in a league where the designated hitter rule is used. |
| Number of Position Players (DH league) | The typical number of non-pitchers carried on the roster by a team in a league where the designated hitter rule is used. |
| Total players on roster (DH league) | The total number of players carried on the roster by a team in a league where the designated hitter rule is used. |
| Allow Two-Way Players | Whether to allow humans or AI team to set players as two-way players. If disabled, the player strategy settings for two-way players will be disabled. |
General Strategic Tendencies
General Strategic Tendencies enable you to customize the 'style of baseball' that your league plays. Most options have five settings to choose from: Very Rarely, Rarely, Normal, Often, or Very Often. Exceptions are noted below.
| Option | Description |
| Use of Relievers | How frequently the computer will use relief pitchers. |
| Use of Closers | How frequently the computer will use closers. |
| Pitcher Stamina | A measure of how quickly pitchers tire in your league. Can be set to Very Low, Low, Normal, High, or Very High. |
| Hook for Starting Pitcher | A measure of how soon to relieve a starting pitcher when he runs into trouble. |
| Hook for Relief Pitcher | A measure of how soon to replace a reliever when he runs into trouble. |
| Use of Relievers | The overall frequency with which the AI will bring relief pitchers into the game. |
| Use of Openers | The frequency with which the AI will choose to use the Opener/Closer setup for its pitching rotation. |
| Pitcher Stamina | A league-wide adjustment of how quickly pitchers tend to become fatigued, allowing simulation of eras or leagues where pitcher appearances tended to last much longer or shorter than the historical norm. |
| Pinch Hit for Pitchers | How frequently the computer will pinch hit for pitchers. |
| Pinch Hit for Position Players | How frequently the computer will pinch hit for position players. |
| Defensive Substitutions | How frequently the computer will substitute players late in games to insert players who are better defensively. |
| Stealing Bases | How frequently the computer will attempt to steal bases. |
| Hit & Run | How frequently the computer will attempt a hit & run play. |
| Bunting | How frequently the computer will bunt. |
| Infield Shifts | How frequently the computer will use an infield shift. |
| Catcher Framing Impact | How much of an effect catcher framing will have on pitcher performance. Higher values will increase the effectiveness of catchers at "framing" borderline pitches so they are more likely to be called a strike by the umpire. |
General strategic tendencies affect the entire league. Similar settings are available at the player or coach level to change the tendencies for individuals one at a time.
League Totals and Modifiers
League Totals and Modifiers are the main piece in modifying your league output. While player creation modifiers affect player ratings and potential, league totals and modifiers are used to directly affect the statistical output of a league. This information is most commonly used by historical players who want overall statistical results to match a specific target. They may also be used by players who wish to match a specific era of baseball in their league, even if not playing in a historical league.
OOTP generates a league total for each category, noted in the left column. The league total acts as the basis for the calculation engine. In historical leagues, these are the real league totals from the imported year. In fictional leagues it's the major league totals from the most recently completed season. The league totals do NOT directly equate to how many of these events you will see in your league! They are simply a basis for calculation, which ensures the ratios of these events remain accurate compared to real life. In a perfectly balanced league, with perfectly balanced other modifiers, you can expect the totals to approach those values.
As a more intuitive alternative, the right column contains modifiers, with a default setting of 1.000 for most values. These modifiers can be used to adjust the statistical output of your league. For example, if you want 10% more home runs, instead of adjusting the home run totals, just change the home runs modifier to 1.100.
One important point to understand about the league totals and modifiers is that, unlike player creation modifiers, league totals directly affect the statistical output of the game engine. They have no impact at all on player ratings, potential, or player development. Even if you reduce your home run league total modifier to 0.150, your slugger with a 100 Power rating would still have 100 Power, and he would still hit more home runs than other players. But the numbers of home runs across the league overall would be drastically reduced.
It is generally recommended to set the league totals to the desired outputs you wish to see in your league (or select from a pre-set), and then use the other options available depending on how strict you wish to get to those totals.
In Historical Leagues, you may wish to select the Lock League Total Stats checkbox, if you wish the league totals to not update as you advance through seasons. Thus, if you wish to create a league that will always maintain 1980 stat levels, you may select 1980 in the dropdown and then lock the totals.
Prior Version Functionality
Prior to OOTP 25, adjusting league totals worked counter-intuitively. The results in your league are inversely related to the league totals. In other words, if you increase the triples total from 1,000 to 2,000, it would actually result in FEWER triples in your league! The league totals indicated what an average player was expected to hit, and so when a value was increased, that was equivalent to changing what an average player did. We do not recommend adjusting your league totals directly unless you're just messing around, or you are experienced in working with our league totals!
Accuracy Settings
Accuracy Settings give you further flexibility in controlling the statistical output of your league. There are multiple options available, depending on which level of accuracy you wish to maintain. Each option is described further in-game, when hovering the mouse over the option as well.
Use Auto-Calc of Modifiers: For the highest fidelity towards the league totals, this box may be selected. In this instance, the league will be simmed on opening day, and the league modifiers will be adjusted to ensure that the overall league totals should come out accurately. This will ensure the highest level of accuracy to the totals, but it will also hide outliers. For example, if the league has an influx of power hitters, the auto-calc may aggressively lower the HR modifier to ensure the league totals come out accurately. This functionality may also be run manually with the Auto-Calc Modifiers button, which appears above the league totals section. If you are not using the automatic auto-calc, you may wish to periodically run the option manually to at least ensure your league totals don't deviate too much.
Use Pre-Calculated Modifiers: This setting will load in modifiers that have been calculated for each historical season. These may help give some slight adjustments to the general totals based on certain characteristics of the year. Generally speaking, this may not necessarily increase the overall accuracy beyond simply leaving the modifiers at the default, but in some cases it may help.
Automatically Control In-Game Engine: This option is recommended most for minor leagues, or for leagues with extreme player talent levels. In this setup, the modifiers themselves are not used to control the statistical output, but player ratings themselves are adjusted to balance out the league totals. This should generally moderate extreme outlier scenarios (for example, in very low level leagues, the talent needed for someone to otherwise appear Ruthian may not be that extreme). It is also recommended for minors or feeder leagues as they tend to change talent levels. If the league gets an in-flux of talent mid-season, controlling the in-game engine will more readily react to that, while the auto-calc is not run mid-season and will not adjust to the changes.
Which option, if any, to use will depend on your level of fidelity to the totals you wish. If you want the most accurate league totals, using either auto-calc or controlling the engine will generally give the most accurate totals. But both will adjust the league output fairly aggressively to those totals, and thus you will lose some variation. The default modern game engine does not select any options, as the statistical output is calibrated to avoid "runaway" totals. In some scenarios, though, the player creation and player development engines may cause the overall league talent levels to change drastically over time. In those scenarios, it can be valuable to periodically "reset" the league totals or modifiers with an auto-calc run (or adjusting manually) to maintain balance.
Other Statistical Modifiers
These options give more control over other game engine situations, along with the high-level league totals. Some of these values will change when the auto-calc is selected. Most options are described further when you mouse over the option. Do note that the default value for many of these options is not necessarily 1.000. They will vary slightly depending on how the game engine is calibrated.
Position Modifiers
Position Modifiers affect the defensive aspect of the game. By adjusting these modifiers, you can alter the impact of different positions on your league, defensively. Each position has a range and error component. Increasing the Range modifier will increase the range of players at that position, putting them in a position to make more plays. Increasing the Error component increases the number of errors at that position, causing a decrease in fielding percentage. As usual, all values are relative to modern day professional baseball.