Baseball Mogul 2004 Review

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(More customer reviews)I've been playing Baseball Mogul since it first came out a few years ago.I typically play a 100-season marathon (which takes several weeks), and I've done this for each issue of the game, so the following thoughts are based on several hundred seasons of play.
This is a very original and addictive game.You are the general manager of a major-league baseball team, and you control the team's future, handling minor-league development, free-agent signings, trades, and so on--even the lineup and pitching rotation.(The only things you don't control are the managerial decisions on the field.)The prospect of controlling your team for several decades is genuinely exciting, and this game provides that fantasy opportunity like no other.
However, there are some persistent problems with this game, all of which are known to the programmers, and so much time has gone by since the original release that by now they should have fixed the flaws.For me, that reduces what would have been a five-star game in 1998 to a four-star game in 2004.
Within the space allowed for this review, I can't get into everything, so I'll just give an overview:
1.The computer often makes mistakes when awarding wins and losses to pitchers, as you can readily determine by reading the box scores.There's really no excuse for that.For that matter, box scores are annoying, because the statistics are not presented in the standard form that any baseball fan knows (AB-R-H-RBI).
2.Players' careers are too consistent in one sense, and not consistent enough in another sense.On the one hand, a player's career is quite predictable: it's very unlikely that a first-rate player is going to drop off the radar screen all of a sudden--something that really does happen to baseball players (just think of Chuck Knoblauch).So it's too easy to determine which young pitchers are likely to end up in the Hall of Fame.However, you can't predict at all HOW they are going to get there, because their year-to-year performance appears to be almost completely random.You'll find one guy hit .330 in one year, then .258 in the next, and so on.That happens too often in this game.Also, pitchers in this game are substantially more consistent than hitters, but in reality the opposite is true.
3.Batting averages are too low and ERA's are too high.In a given season, this is only a slight problem, but it becomes clearer when you look at career perfomance: you will almost never find a player retire with a .300 batting average or ERA under 3.30.Even with today's scoring inflation, there are still pitchers like Pedro Martinez who can be counted on to have ERA's well below 3.30 year in and year out.And you'll NEVER find a player Tony Gwynn or Wade Boggs, with moderate power but a batting average over .300 year after year.They just don't appear.That's not realistic.
4.There are too many power pitchers who retire with 4000+ strikeouts (and an incommensurate 3.90 ERA).And another oddity: stolen bases are too rare, and the success rate is much too low.I've seen players with 25 SB and 40 CS in one season!You'd think the manager would have told that fellow to stop running in May.
5.The awards voting is not realistic either.Too many shortstops win the MVP and Rookie-of-the-Year awards (and too often you'll find a rookie with a .195 batting average winning the award).Closers NEVER make the Hall of Fame, which is absurd: I've had closers with over 500 saves who didn't get in.
6.Some of the realities of dealing with players need to be worked into the game.The no-trade clause, for example--in this game, you can just ship out an old star anytime you'd like.You can't do that in real life.Signing free agents is too simple, and there is nothing like arbitration.
7.This new version allows you to build your own stadium (a nice improvement) but the mechanism is unrealistic and absurd: you have to pay for your stadium in one lump-sum payment, so you have to save up for many seasons before you can afford it, and for some reason if your ready cash exceeds a certain threshold (around $300 million, I've noticed), your revenue inexplicably starts to suffer.There has to be a way to pay for your stadium by taking a mortgage.
8.This version also allows you to start playing at any year from 1900--but if you start at 1900, there is a bug in the program that will cause pitchers to have ERA's around 10.00 (and Elmer Flick will win the Gold Glove at every position).The makers know about this.Why haven't they fixed it?

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Product Description:
Baseball Mogul 2004 puts you in charge of the roster of your favorite team, and challenges you to turn them into world-renowned baseball champions!Start your own baseball dynasty in three different eras -2003, 1953, or 1903 Full-screen multi-window interface for easier gameplay and team management

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