Our Amazing Online Set-Up

[Gordo]

Since the OSLB folded up some time ago, my brother and I have continued playing online games on a regular basis.  We've had some real incredible series and it's become even better. We've both learned to use the classic pitching mode and it has made for some highly realistic games through the years as we have fine tuned and tweaked things even more.  We have thought of every kind of series you can imagine. We also have most every visual aid turned off except to help the outfielders, primarily in case of momentary lag (we live pretty close to each other so our connection is usually very good); therefore we keep on the ball trail and catch circle, but everything else is turned off and with classic pitching we don't have the pitch meter either.

For example, we've embarked on a new series where we chose 1 team each from the AL and NL from this past year's bottom of the barrel teams.  In short, his Rockies swept my Phillies, 1-0, 4-3 and 6-5.  I turned around and blanked out the Red Sox with Detroit, 5-1, 6-3 and 9-3.  This set up the "losers" WS, where we are 2 games in.

And here's the beauty of the game, and our set-up (fortunately, MVP has always been sensitive to attribute tweaks and game sliders, unlike some other sports games I've played over the years).  In game 1, we pitted our aces Verlander vs. De la Rosa. Verlander was dominant vs. the Red Sox and DLR blanked the Phils.  This matchup didn't disappoint.  The Tigers got to DLR in the 4th after Rajai Davis tripled on a badly played ball by Cargo in RF.  2 batters later Cabrera drove Davis home with a double.  Verlander continued to look dominant. He racked up 8 K's in 7-2/3rds, but it was that 7th inning where the Rockies made a crack in Verlander's game.  Charlie Blackmon scorched a triple to lead off the inning and Morneau pushed Blackmon in on a ground out.  The game went to the 10th  where Colorado loaded the bases and with one out, DJ LeMahieu sliced a single to RF for the walk off single. Altoghether, the game saw 289 pitches, 21 K's, 4 BB (all by the Tigers) and 18 hits inc. 3 xbh's. There was also only 1 error charged to Bruce Rondon on a wild pick off attempt.  Yes, the game doesn't calculate in the errors related to human mistakes, but it does a pretty good job. When all is said and done, it "felt" like a baseball game.

In contrast, game 2 pitted the no. 2 pitchers, Sanchez @ Kendrick.  In sum, this contest took 11 innings and felt like a typical Coors Field duke it out contest.  When the smoke cleared (pun slightly intended), the Tigers prevailed 9-8 thanks to an Anthony Gose 11th inning HR.  The battle saw 3 lead changes,  310 pitches, 31 hits, 3 HRs (including a Grand Slam by Corey Dickerson), 4 triples (2 by Romine), and 2 doubles; 5 BB (4 earned by the Rockies). Each team trotted out 8 pitchers, stressing the bullpens potentially for game 4 (we have a limit on relievers showing in 3 consecutive games must sit 1 game).

 

These were the same teams, with the same settings at the same ball park showing 2 totally different outcomes, just like the real game.  I think we truly have the best online set up you can have and if you're inclined to use classic pitching and learn it effectively, it makes for a great gaming experience.  If people are interested I can post what we use so you can do this for yourselves. We also tweak the rosters to bring down pitcher control significantly since we were seeing too much pitching domination despite the sliders we use.  Box Scores from these 2 games are attached.

ws gm 1.htm

ws gm 2.htm

[Yankee4Life]

This is above and beyond anything I have ever played in online Mvp gaming. :)

[Kccitystar]

I wonder if there is a way to reverse engineer the EA Sports Online portion of MVP...

[Gordo]

59 minutes ago, Kccitystar said:

12 hours ago, Yankee4Life said:

This is above and beyond anything I have ever played in online Mvp gaming.

 

The really cool thing is that we were able to keep the rule from our league of basically pitching any way that you want to.  I know some leagues used to invoke more of a "throw strikes" element, but we've learned to approach it like a real game; challenge who and when you want or pitch around and be more cautious.  It's really a great experience.

 

Quote

59 minutes ago, Kccitystar said:

I wonder if there is a way to reverse engineer the EA Sports Online portion of MVP...

I wonder if there is a way to reverse engineer the EA Sports Online portion of MVP...

 

I'm not really understanding what you're asking or why you're asking it here.  It's not really relevant to this thread based directly on your question. You'd need to elaborate or relate something to my original post.  Unless you're talking about approximating what I've talked about above for a good offline experience.  If that's the case, I've already set that up with the simulation pack I put together a while ago.  Check it out.

[Kccitystar]

38 minutes ago, Gordo said:

I'm not really understanding what you're asking or why you're asking it here.  It's not really relevant to this thread based directly on your question. You'd need to elaborate or relate something to my original post.  Unless you're talking about approximating what I've talked about above for a good offline experience.  If that's the case, I've already set that up with the simulation pack I put together a while ago.  Check it out.

I'm saying that it would be awesome to reverse engineer the MVP Online service that EA set up for the game when it first came out to promote online leagues/setups. I remember when I was younger I would play in a LOT of MVP leagues, even as far back as Triple Play Baseball. Those were fun times, especially when DSL was a big thing and we were fortunate enough with several team owners to have a cable connection.

The hardest part, aside from facing team owners with a 56K connection was keeping track of statistics over the course of a season and entering them on the site's database, and since we couldn't really export any of the stats into a readable spreadsheet, it was all about screenshots with alt+printscreen or FRAPS at the time.

I still think an MVP league would be awesome in this day and age....maybe if I ran a server for that, similar to how other games can have their own hosted servers...I'll think about it after work. The gears are spinning up here *points to head*

[Gordo]

Ok, that wasn't clear from your statement.  Actually, from what I've heard the game does work on TUNNGLE, so there may not be a need to do that.  But the other major hurdle is getting players first off.  Then making sure everyone is synced with the same files.  We did try MVP 15 and it wasn't consistent.  We ended up using MVP 08 and it works great.  We also use the grass changer to "dumb down" the stadium files, but can use the full compliment of cyberfaces so far.  Go figure.

[Yankee4Life]

2 hours ago, Gordo said:

 

The really cool thing is that we were able to keep the rule from our league of basically pitching any way that you want to.  I know some leagues used to invoke more of a "throw strikes" element, but we've learned to approach it like a real game; challenge who and when you want or pitch around and be more cautious.  It's really a great experience.

 

The way I look at it that is how you should play the game. For example if I am using the Yankees and you are using the Angels why would I want to throw all my pitches in the strike zone to someone like Mike Trout? Eventually you are going to time one and it's going to be in the left field bleachers. He's someone I would always pitch around.

[sabugo]

1 hour ago, Yankee4Life said:

 

The way I look at it that is how you should play the game. For example if I am using the Yankees and you are using the Angels why would I want to throw all my pitches in the strike zone to someone like Mike Trout? Eventually you are going to time one and it's going to be in the left field bleachers. He's someone I would always pitch around.

Is there any chance CC Sabathia reads this? I think it would help him a lot.

[Gordo]

Just a quick update and again to show the variability and how sensitive the game is to settings and attributes, games 3 and 4 were highly different contests as well. 

Game 3 really exposed the weak pitching for both teams past the first 2 pitchers on each squad, pitting Chris Rusin vs Alfredo Simon.  Each pitcher gave up a host of runs in the first 2 innings, though Rusin was especially roughed up.  Once it was clear that the Rockies were not going to recover from this one, Colorado left Rusin in to take his lumps, giving up 16 earned runs on 19 hits, including 7 home runs.  Simon settled down after the 2nd inning, but after taking liner to his body in the 4th, he was forced to retire early and will miss his next start, potentially game 7. With both squads pitching staff's stretched, both managers agreed to return to a 3 man pitching rotation, setting up a possible battle of the aces for a series deciding contest.  Once the smoke cleared in game 3, the Tigers finished the rout over the Rockies, 19-6.

In game 4, with the clubs forced to going back to a 3 man rotation, the series found itself pitting each club's number 1 starting in a rematch from the stellar game 1, where neither pitcher gained a decision.  The first 3 innings provided a continuation with both Verlander and De La Rosa looking practically untouchable.  Then, in the 4th, the Rockies bats came alive, ringing up 5 runs on Verlander, featuring 5 back to back singles.  Justin Morneau struck the larger blow with a bases clearing double.  Colorado threatened again in the 6th to do more damage, but were held off the board despite loading the bases.  The teams traded zeroes in each inning again until the 7th, when the Tigers bats finally woke up. De La Rosa left the bases loaded for his reliever who was rudely greeted by Anthony Gose who ripped the first pitch he saw for a bases clearing triple to tighten the score.  Gose then scored on a Davis ground out, making the score 5-4.    In the 9th, with the same score, Jose Iglesias just missed a hanging curve ball, driving it deep to left which would have tied the contest.  However, the Rockies and John Axford hung on to knot the series at 2 games each.

ws gm 3.htm

ws gm 4.htm

[Gordo]

Well, in short, the Tigers took care of the Rockies in 6 games.  So, we started a new melee involving all of this past season's playoff teams.  This is a new format for us involving getting points for a victory along with essentially taking away a life of the losing team.  The higher  teams (Royals & Mets) only have 1 life each,while the Astros, Rangers, Cards and Dodgers have 3 lives each.  Cubbies and BJ's have 2 lives each.  If you score a victory, you get the number of points corresponding to the seed of the team you defeated, plus you handed them a loss, taking away a life.  So, for example, if the Mets beat the Dodgers, they get 3 points, but the Dodgers would still have 2 lives remaining.  You can use any team you want, but pitchers for a given team have to follow a rotation.  Also, any player injured is out for the entire melee tournament. We have a standing rule that any pitcher who pitches 3 full inning or more must sit for 2 games. (We also upped the OF speed a notch as we were seeing too many triples.)

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Game 1 pitted my Cubs against my brother's Cardinals: Arrieta vs. Lynn.  The Cards got to Arrieta right out of the gate with a Grichuk lead off single and 2 batters later, Holliday doubling to the RF wall, scoring Grichuk.  Lynn looked almost invincible early, but was then touched by a Montero HR to LCF which knotted it in the 3rd.  In the 5th, Molina led of the frame with a double, who was driven in by Grichuk with a double of his own.  Grichuk then scored again, thanks to Holliday's hot bat (3/3; 2 BB), putting the Cards up 3-1.  In the 7th, Fowler got to Lynn and deposited the Cubs second HR over the LCF wall as well.  Lynn was then forced to leave the game (and the tournament) in the 8th on his 97th pitch.  He exited with 7 K's and 1 walk.  His counterpart, Arrieta, could only muster 2 K's on the day and gave up 3 ERs.  The Cards added an insurance run in the 8th when Motte threw a wild pitch allowing Holliday to score from third. The Cubs vied to make things interesting in the 6th on 3 consecutive singles, however, Rizzo missed a sign and upon retreating to 3rd base instead of continuing home, was called out.  The Cards and Lynn did not allow the Cubs to plate any runs that inning.  St. Louis earned 2 points by beating the #2 seeded Cubs as well as forcing the Cubs to win or go home. 

(and with the OF speed tweak, we only saw 1 legitimate triple by Bryant.  Arrieta is listed as getting a triple,though it was actually a 3B human error by the RF, Grichuk.)

gm 01 melee.htm

[Gordo]

Game 2 of the tourney saw (my) the Rangers and Cole Hamels drubbing the Dodgers, 8-2.  Zack Greinke took the mound for LA and looked untouchable for the first 3 innings.  The Dodgers started off quickly when Yasiel Puig took Hamels yard on the game's first pitch.  In the 4th, the Texan bats roughed up Greinke for 3 runs, including an Elvis Andrus push bunt to LA 2nd baseman Howie Kendrick who wildly threw to 1st base, allowing Josh Hamilton, who doubled behind Andrus, to cross the plate.  Adrian Beltre also scored on the play from third.  Beltre was the big bat for Texas on the day, going 4/5 with 2 HRs and a double, knocking in 3 and scoring 4 runs of his own.  Puig's HR helped him go 3/5 in the contest.  Hamels gained 7 K's in as many innings.  Greinke caught 8 Rangers swinging, though he only lasted 4 and a third after being charged with 5 ERs.  The Rangers gained 3 points in the victory.

(note: Hamilton's triple was incorrectly scored as he officially had a single and a 2 base error on the play)

gm 02 melee.htm

[Gordo]

In the 3rd melee game, (my) Mets and Matt Harvey went up again the Blue Jays and David Price.  For 4 innings, it was as expected with each pitcher allowing a few scattered base runners. Then in the 5th with 2 outs, Toronto lit up Harvey thanks to back to back singles by Josh Donaldson and, of all players, Price himself.  Ben Revere did what he does best and rocked a triple, bringing home 2.  Then, unexpectedly, Ezequiel Carrerra took Harvey yard, sticking the Mets' ace in a 4 run hole.  The BJ's added another in the 6th.  New York got to back in the bottom of the same frame thanks to back to back doubles by David Wright and Lucas Duda, but the Mets stranded 2 and the damage was minmized.  In the 9th, the Mets bid for a minor miracle, touching Toronto's closer, Roberto Osuna, with a lead off single by Daniel Murphy who scored on Travis d'Arnaud's double.  d'Arnaud scored on a Michael Conforto sac fly.  Juan Lagares took a questionable strike three on the outside corner to end the contest, 5-4.  The victory sends the Mets packing, as they only had 1 life for this tourney and knotted the points at 3-3 between the two contestants.

gm 03 melee.htm

[Gordo]

Keuchel, Astros silence Royals, 3-0

Dallas Keuchel stymied the Kansas City Royals, allowing only 2 hits over 8 full innings.  The Royals were poised to take the contest in regulation when Mike Moustakas doubled to lead off the 9th inn, and was promptly subbed with the speedy Raul Mondesi.  Jarrod Dyson batted for Alex Rios, and was pitched around with 1st base open and no outs by Astros reliever, Will Harris.  With Alcides Escobar at the plate, Astros SS, Carlos Correa cheated to the middle which is exactly where Escobar lined the ball. Mondesi was caught too far off 2nd and was quickly tagged by Correa to kill the Royals threat.  Then, in the top of the 10th, the Royals inexplicably left Luke Hochevar on the mound.  Houston took advantage.  After a Carlos Gomez single, Jed Lowrie gapped a double to LCF, scoring Gomez.  Correa then put the icing on the cake when he sliced a shot up the middle off reliever Wade Davis which was misplayed by KC CF Lorenzo Cain.  Seeing the ball trickle to the wall, Correa took full advantage and scored a 2 run, inside the park HR.  Tony Sipp, handled the bottom of the 10th, striking out 2.  Although the win went to Will Harris, Keuchel was brilliant striking out 7 and walking none.  Royals starter Johnny Cueto was excellent as well, scatterin 6 hits in 7-2/3, striking out 6.

The contest eliminated the Royals for the tourney (and gave me a 4-3 edge in points for the series).