Opening day is tomorrow

…. For the online, Out of the Park 21 baseball season, which will be monitored and recorded here. OOTP 21 offers a Challenge Mode, which the game says is in order to “streamline gameplay” and to “collect achievements and awards” which is a great new feature for players that want to participate in the Major League Baseball (or whatever league they choose to play), rather than adjust it to meet their whims. Many OOTP players will likely embrace this new version, as they will get their kudos for willingly taking on these challenges.

I’m not going to be using the Challenge Mode, simply because this will be a simulated season, that I will not be interacting with much at all, save for reporting on the events that unfold. There are 16 different leagues and competitions, from the Major Leagues, to Independent Leagues, to Honkball Hoofdklasse in the Netherlands.

I selected all the leagues, just in case, perhaps, there is a fictional scenario that Max Kepler recruits players from the Baseball Bundesliga.

For the baseball enthusiast, the rules of MLB, and the new rosters have all been folded into the new game. Not only will the Twins have their new players, but they will also have a 26th man on the roster. I would highly recommend OOTP 21 for anyone who is missing baseball during this extended quarantine.

I’m not stepping in at all for this simulation, just like I would be unable to for the Twins if they were playing for real. Now, with the final day of the fictional offseason upon us, I thought I would touch on some of the last few roster moves, and break down the opening day roster.

3/10 – San Diego trades old friend Brian Dozier to Texas for reliever Rafael Montero and a minor leaguer. Dozier gives the Rangers some infield depth in case they have some questions about Rougned Odor. Another old friend, Brian Duensing, was signed by the Rangers a few days later.

3/18 – In a curious move, the Phillies traded Jay Bruce and a minor leaguer to St. Louis for starting pitcher Kwang-hyun Kim, who was just signed in the offseason from South Korea.

3/20 – In one of the most talked about potential moves of the offseason, the Twins opted to send Jake Cave to Rochester and bring Willians Astudillo north. They also signed Jim Adduci for 1b depth.

Randy Dobnak also had the inside track on the fifth spot in the rotation, and claimed it. For some reason, the other big surprise was that Ehire Adrianza won the starting shortstop role over Jorge Polanco. That’s strange.

But you know what? It’s baseball. And the fictional season starts tomorrow.