The Wonderful World Of Baseball Mogul Sim Leagues

[Poldi 4]

Hello baseball fans & fans of sports simulation games! This post is for you.

I come to you from a community of guys & gals (well, just one gal) who all come together to play a baseball simulation game called Baseball Mogul. We are a small community with approximately 50 of us spread out between 6 active leagues. Some of us are in multiple leagues and some only one. I've been competing in baseball mogul league on and off for nearly 10 years and I can tell you first hand that playing in a baseball mogul league with other real people that you actually talk to and negotiate trades with isn't like anything else I've ever done online including fantasy sports. I admit, I first started 'sim leagues' about 15 years ago and it was a basketball sim league using the game Fast Break Basketball 2001. It was fun for a while but once I found baseball sim leagues I was hooked. The size of the roster compared to basketball is double the size plus you have 3 to 4 levels of minor league teams to manage as well. It's an intricate game and a real challenge to master especially when you're playing against 15 to 30 other 'general managers' that have been playing for years. Fortunately it's a very open community and there are plenty of knowledgeable GMs (General Managers) who you can ask any questions you have about the game, strategy, rules, trades, ect. and they will give you a honest and informative answer.

At almost all times of the day you can find a GM online at one of the 6 leagues via the XAT box which is basically a chat box that all of the 5 leagues use to communicate although some use it more than others. XAT is ran on adobe flash so you will have to 'allow' adobe flash on our websites in order to efficiently interact with other GMs.

The basic premise of a baseball mogul league just like in real baseball is to build a team that can make the playoffs in order to have a shot at winning the world series. There are many different theories on what is the best way to accomplish that and most GMs develop their own strategy over time and repetition. Most leagues simulate 14 or 15 days in the game (For example, April 1st through April 15th) and they sim 3 to 4 times a week, depending on the league. Each and every GM who is in a league must have a copy of the game on their computer in order to submit a line-up. What happens is the league commissioner or admin will simulate the games, upload the 'league file' which everyone will download to view stats, injuries, & update their line-up, then you export your line-up using the game and you upload it to the forum for the 'simmer' to download in between each sim. Once you've done it once or twice it's pretty easy to get the hang of.

There are many different versions of Baseball Mogul but all in all there isn't really a big difference between them since the release of BM11 (Baseball Mogul 2011). Most general managers 'in the know' consider BM11 to be the best version of the series and best of all it's completely free of cost. Of the 6 leagues currently active two of them running on BM11, two on BM14, one on BM17, and one on Baseball Mogul Diamond which is a version that was released in between BM16 and BM17. Visit whichever league you're interested in joining and ask them on XAT or via PM (Private Messaging) about getting the correlating game for their league and I'm sure they will point you in the right direction.

Here is a list of the 6 leagues that are currently active as well as a little bit of information about each of them. If you decide to join one of the leagues tell them Poldi sent you!

http://www.gbamogul.com
Global Baseball Association (GBA) is a new league which I help run along with two other trustworthy folks. We use fictional players and we have fictional teams, each of which has their own custom logo & many have multiple alternate logos to choose from. We're a 24-team league and we just completed out inaugural season which means now is the perfect time to join. We have a competitive yet jovial atmosphere over at GBA and we welcome any newcomers to our league with open arms. Feel free to stop by and chat us up, ask any questions you have about the game or just stop by and start a conversation about sports, TV, politics, whatever's on your mind. We're all good people and most of us are easy to get along with.

http://www.firstclassmogul.com
First Class Mogul (FCM) is the longest running league in mogul. They started in 2010 and have made it to the 2075 season, an impressive feat. This league has been running 7 years real time and has a real nice community feel to it but it's the hardest to get into because the league is usually full. FCM is a 30 team league with real life team names and fictional players, although they started with real players but they are all long gone by now.

http://bigleaguemogul.jcink.net
Big League Mogul (BLM) is on it's 11th season with 26 teams and has a rapid pace compared to all the other leagues in mogul. They simulated games 4 times a week compared to the usual 3 which is used by at least 3 of the other mogul leagues. They started will all real life players and real life teams but have contracted and expanded over there 11 year run, some teams have even changed to fictional names. They have an active community, a light-hearted atmosphere, and an incredibly charismatic Chicago White Sox GM (That's me!).

http://journeythroughtimemogul.jcink.net/
Journey Through Time (JTT) is the newest league in mogul using the newest version of mogul, Baseball Mogul 17. JTT is unique and different from most other leagues because it's a 16-team historical league beginning in 1987. The commissioner of this league in a real swell guy and has experience running and participating in many other leagues over the years so If you're looking for an interesting challenge but also a good place to learn ins and outs of the game, I highly suggest giving JTT a shot.

http://newagemogul.b1.jcink.com
New Age Mogul (NAM) is a 16-team league with all fictional teams and fictional players. They are 2nd longest running mogul league and they're nearing the end to an impressive 30th season of play. NAM is a low-key, slower style league but it's just as competitive as any league going right now. NAM is usually full but you can always stop by and hop on the waiting list.

http://sandasyianniosml.proboards.com/
Old School Mogul League (OSML) is 22-team historical league with real life teams and real life players. They started in 1967 and are currently in 1986. They have a forum and a XAT like everyone else but they largely run their league using an e-mail/newsletter type system. I think it's more of a low-key slow place type of league but this is the only mogul league of the 5 that I have not been in so I don't have a good idea of what you can expect.