2022 Season / Simming Schedule

[Cardinals]

We're all anxiously awaiting the projection disc which is about a month overdue from when we normally receive it. Once I have it, I'll do my best to turn it around to everybody with our IBC rosters loaded ASAP.

Over the past decade (?) we've been simming 3-4 games at a time until we are caught up, which has usually been early May.

This year, we are going to sim one week at a time to accelerate how quickly we are caught up. Every day, we will sim Sunday-Saturday.

For the IL process, I will farm all players who are hurt per Shawn's injury post. You may activate if he were activated during the previous week, provided he spent a minimum of 10 days on the IL.

There's no ideal scenario, but catching up to the MLB schedule to simplify how we handle injuries for the rest of the year is the best case.

[Mariners]

I inquired, they replied.

Thank you for your interest in Diamond Mind Baseball. Unfortunately, our work on the projections database has been unexpectedly delayed. I am sorry to say that I am not able to provide a specific date at this time but due to the delay it is looking like the release of the projections database has been pushed to the end of May this year. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience.

Gordon
Diamond Mind Support Team

[Cardinals]

Yeah, they sent me a follow-up today as well:

Due to the unexpected delay, I am sorry to say that I am not able to provide a specific date at this time. However, I anticipate the updated release date to be during the week of May 30 - June 3rd. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience.

[Cubs]

So maybe we’ll have an alternative, wish there was an alternative. Anybody remember when Bren was gonna make his own projections?

[Cardinals]

So maybe we’ll have an alternative, wish there was an alternative. Anybody remember when Bren was gonna make his own projections?

Realistically, the only alternative is OOTP.

[Mets]

OOTP is also based off of ZiPS.

I know Dan has been done with the data for a while - so not sure what is the holdup unless DMB is actually working on a new release, which we have seen zero evidence of.

Remember when the projection disc used to be released in March? Those were such wild times back then.

[Guardians]

So maybe we’ll have an alternative, wish there was an alternative. Anybody remember when Bren was gonna make his own projections?

This made me laugh...oh, Bren

[Cardinals]

OOTP is also based off of ZiPS.

I know Dan has been done with the data for a while - so not sure what is the holdup unless DMB is actually working on a new release, which we have seen zero evidence of.

Remember when the projection disc used to be released in March? Those were such wild times back then.

Yeah, and they had a new release of the product a couple years ago out of the blue already.

We'll have to seriously consider switching software next year. I don't think anybody is thrilled with starting in late April, let alone early June.

[Brewers]

I’m ready to take my business elsewhere. Does anyone have any experience with OOTP?

[Guardians]

I’m ready to take my business elsewhere. Does anyone have any experience with OOTP?

I do. It's a very fun software visually. And I don't know if it was just the league I was in (others in IBC are in the CBA), but there were wildly inaccurate box scores a lot of the time, it seemed. There are settings that create injuries (we would disable) that generated crazy injuries/timeframes. I think in a more managed setting like IBC (real injuries, smaller rosters), it may be workable. There are a lot more roster control options, which is fun to play with, like shifts, RP for the 7th, 8th, 9th individually, and some settings everyone would be familiar with (steal more/bunt less, etc).

When I used it, there were ratings on the 0-80 scale vs. the VG/120 type settings of DMB. That would take a little getting used to and could skew some valuations on trades, etc. We would also have to disable computer generated players who come out of nowhere with 80 grade settings. I think we could do it, but it would take some work and full league participation. The other factor is there's a new version every year and it costs $40, so that's also a big change. IBC has been great in that it's been free (thank you JP) for members.

[Twins]

I play OOTP quite a bit, and Pat hit the two biggest issues. We could turn injury settings off and use our own injury system, so that won't be a big deal. The new software version might be a problem for some here.

The other main issue with OOTP is that even though it comes out mid-April every year, it takes a few patches to get a really stable version, and then they send out patches almost every other week during the season (or so it seems), at least until the AS break. If we get everyone in the league on OOTP, it would also be crucial to have everyone using the latest patch.

Another thing to remember with OOTP is that the game engine is designed to evolve the league. Players improve and develop, and also get worse as they age/get injured. It's not necessarily designed to be a replay league (which, even though we use a "projections" disk, DMB is essentially a replay software). We would have to find some way to curb that throughout the season, at least a little (year-to-year wouldn't be as difficult, as we would just accept the ratings reset with each new version).

The only other option would be Baseball Mogul, but I haven't played that for over a decade, and I'm not sure how it compares to either DMB or OOTP.

[Marlins]

Perhaps we just give it another year? If we all can message something to DMB along the lines of "is this going to be the new norm? if so, we're going to stop buying your software" they may work harder next year to get it out sooner to keep themselves in business.

I dont think changing up the simming software after over 20+ years of using DMB is something we should take lightly. I'm still salty over the change from their projections to Zips...

[Orioles]

I agree it's worth giving another year. I don't want to learn some damn new unpredictable software! Get off my lawn!

[Nationals]

My two cents: I don't particularly care which software we use - there is randomness and nuance to each. My question is whether we think we'll be using DMB in 5 years (or some other arbitrary time period beyond just next year). I don't think it's clear if complaining about the delay will do anything, but I do think it's clear that the problem has been getting worse for years, even before my time in this league. Even if they make an effort to deliver earlier next year, 1) Are they successful? 2) Is it still after opening day? 3) Will they continue to hit that delivery timeline in 2024, 2025, etc?

If we think that in the next few years, we're going to have this same debate, we should just move to another solution ahead of next season and rip the band-aid off.

[Brewers]

My two cents: I don't particularly care which software we use - there is randomness and nuance to each. My question is whether we think we'll be using DMB in 5 years (or some other arbitrary time period beyond just next year). I don't think it's clear if complaining about the delay will do anything, but I do think it's clear that the problem has been getting worse for years, even before my time in this league. Even if they make an effort to deliver earlier next year, 1) Are they successful? 2) Is it still after opening day? 3) Will they continue to hit that delivery timeline in 2024, 2025, etc?

If we think that in the next few years, we're going to have this same debate, we should just move to another solution ahead of next season and rip the band-aid off.

This is kind of how I feel. I don't WANT to leave DMB but we're watching the long slow death of this software/company. They aren't going to all of a sudden get their shit together.

[DBacks]

My question is - "unexpectedly delayed" by WHAT? There's no evidence that they're doing anything else.

I certainly prefer DMB/ZIPS, and found OOTP not to sim very accurately (though maybe it's no worse than DMB and I was just suspicious of it), but I have to agree....sure seems like a once great company is slowly going down the drain. How long before they simply don't release a projection disk at all?

Would it be possible to propose some sort of crowdsourcing where people can help enter the raw data or something? The projections are already there, so it would seem to be a matter of filling in some other relevant data, however they figure out the R/L splits, and translating the fielding rating in ZIPS to DMB ratings.

[Marlins]

Did Dan Sz mention anywhere when he provided all the Zips data to DMB?

[Reds]

DMB mentioned receiving the information in late April and that it typically takes 10-14 days to get it turned around. This latest delay makes it clear that they don’t really care that much about the leagues that use the projections. It might be time to move on.

[Braves]

Doesn't look like all of these would be options to replicate what DMB does/how this league operates, but a quick google search provided this list (which includes DMB):

https://www.liveabout.com/top-baseball- ... ors-321141

[Tigers]

You guys are welcome to do what you want, but while I personally hate this, I don't care for OOTP or Mogul for a league like this. I am not paying for OOTP or Mogul every year.

[Athletics]

If people aren't playing H2H, which it seems like only a half dozen owners do (mostly NL, I haven't had an AL sim in over two years), what uniqueness does DMB provide? OOTP while flawed does similar projection based simulation with more features(whether they work as expected can be discussed). I don't care either way, especially if we would be turning off most of the OOTP features that allow for customization.

[Reds]

Switching doesn’t seem practical. It would be nice if we could get some assurance that future databases will come out sooner. The DMB post mentions playing along with the season, which is hard to do when the release doesn’t happen until June.

[Cardinals]

We are absolutely not switching for the 2022 season.

Ideally, we continue playing with DMB in 2023 and beyond as well. But we need to get the disc in April or even early May.

[DBacks]

We are absolutely not switching for the 2022 season.

Ideally, we continue playing with DMB in 2023 and beyond as well. But we need to get the disc in April or even early May.

Can we push back on them and tell them we want to use their software/disc but it is unacceptable to wait until Memorial Day to start our league? We can even offer to do some data entry if that is what is needed. (I'd be willing to do a couple of hours at any rate.)

[Marlins]

I bet we get the season disk today. I am sure the DMB team was hard at work over the holiday we.... bwahahahahahaha who are we kidding? Lets hope we get the disk by mid June.