More Baseball Sims

Piggy-backing a bit on Chris’s last post…

Lately, I’ve been using All Star Baseball 2004 as my main baseball simulator. That’s right, I’m using a console baseball game as a sim. The incredible depth and realism of the Franchise mode, combined with the ability to manage-only, and a very “watchable” game of baseball on the screen, make ASB 2004 a pretty good choice for those that don’t want to rely on hand-eye coordination to build a winning team. There are a few minor bugs to slog through, like the dreaded “roster analysis” screen that forces your hand on some moves due to position distribution, and some graphical glitches, but for me, these are fairly easily overlooked. It’s a fair trade-off for a game that includes salary arbitration, the June Amateur Draft, 40-man rosters, options, and many more items that are “by the book” in Major League Baseball. Never has any game – PC or console – more accurately simulated what it’s like in the GM’s chair from a baseball operations standpoint, in my opinion.

I’ve decided to take control of the Pirates, circa 2003 (ASB 2004 was actually released in the Spring of 2003), and see if I can build a winner with their feeble budget. Surprisingly, at that point in time, I really feel like the Pirates had a competitive roster for the NL Central. Too bad they traded all of that talent away…

Why the Pirates, you ask? I just absolutely love PNC Park, and I can’t think of a better place to “manage” half of my games… Plus, I kind of get tired of picking my hometeam Indians all of the time.

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