Customer Reviews

Baseball Mogul 2004

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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?

If you're a fantasy baseball junkie, you'll love this game. I looked at the version from last year and didn't pick it up but based upon things I'd heard about this year's game I decided to give it a try, and I'm glad I did!
The ability to draft your own team and not just start with the rosters of each team is great. Face it fantasy baseball junkies, half the fun is drafting. You'll get your draft fix with this game and then the fun is only beginning.
From there it's your job to keep your team winning while also attempting to improve your team by trades, free agent signings, and bringing up kids from the farm. On top of that you also have to keep your owner happy by keeping his team in the black making money. You also have the option to eventually build a new stadium and move your team into it.
The only real drawback to the game is the lack of a disabled list. It would be nice to put a guy on the DL when he's going to be out for more than 2 weeks rather than waste a bench spot on him. I've also noticed that many of the injuries are repetitive, stress fractures seem to be the most popular by far and foot stress fractures hit almost everybody eventually which is weird.

As a Red Sox fan, I constantly question the moves made by the front office of my beloved team. Do I think I can do better? Of course! I love the challenge of acquiring and trading players, building a championship team without a hefty payroll, developing minor leaguers, and crafting the perfect batting order and rotation. I have played Baseball Mogul for hours on end, playing several seasons in one sitting to see if my moves pay off. And you can do just about anything in this game: set ticket prices, determine length of pitcher's starts, even trash Fenway and build a new stadium. I have been entertained by this game for countless hours!

In today's world of having everything occur instantly, Baseball Mogul delivers. The game is easy enough that you can be playing the role of George Stienbrenner in less than 5 minutes. It has an easy to use Windows interface that allows you to jump to different features within 1 or 2 clicks of your mouse.

With the new historical database added to Baseball Mogul 2004, you can replay any year in history. See the Red Sox crowned champions in 1986! What would have happened if there was no strike in 1981? The scenerios and possibilities are unlimited. Keep in mind this game is for the person looking to control a team from the front office. Make trades, sign free agents, allot more money to your farm system, raise or lower ticket prices, and develop prospects. You can simulate 1 day or the entire season. It is very feasible to simulate several seasons in less than an hour. For less than $..., this game is priced right. I'd recommend trying the demo distributed by the company to see if Baseball Mogul 2004 is right for you.

This game is the #1 selling baseball game on Amazon.com with good reason. It's the best Baseball Mogul yet, and Baseball Mogul is the best baseball game ever.

Two biggest features for this year:

1) Full screen interface. No more hurting eyes!

2) New sortable lists let you see some or all the players in the league and sort by any stat, and show any stat. Career Innings Pitched Per Game? Minor League On-Base Plus Slugging? Year-To-Date Quality Start Percentage? You name it, they got it!

3) 100 years of stats! I loved kicking ... with the 1953 Dodgers and taking them into the 60s. Still working to outdo Tommy Lasorda's record.

And of course the whole game has been improved. A capstone accomplishment!

While Baseball Mogul is not perfect, I have logged dozens of hours as a general manager. In fact, I am in the 75% through a campaign to win the World Series with every team in the league and (in homage to Wowbanger the Infinitely Prolonged from Hitchhiker's Guide) in alphabetical order. The fun I have had with this game is particularly suprising since I haven't followed baseball since the strike.

In Baseball Mogul you do not play baseball, you do not coach baseball, you play the general manager. Each season runs by in as little as a minute or two, then you make trades and grab free agents and dump overpaid "stars" to keep you budget in line. This game turns Moneyball into reality: your job is to send the best team you can afford out onto the field.

The interface can seem clunky in some places until you get used to it, and the game is certainly not perfect. However, at this price you will certainly get your money's worth from the game.

Hint - every year grab a bunch of younger relievers, sign them for two years at about 700k-1.2m, and trade them for cash or players the following year. You can trade 3-4 of them for a top notch player, or far more cash than you paid them, and heck, they did pitch for you for a year. Also, never scrimp on scouting, always be first in spending or very nearly first if you cannot afford to outspend every other team.

Highly recommended.

UPATE - I see this is still being sold, and for the original price, if not more! Check the designer's website, I think you can get a later version of the game, free. BTW the 2009 version is great as well.

OK, if you're looking for an exact historical simulation game, this isn't for you. It's not perfect, has some errors, and typos. But the ultimate test for a game is if it's fun, and this game is a blast-it's addicting. Once you start, you can't stop! I play the fantasy draft option, rather than replaying real seasons, as it is a real trip. You enter an alternate universe where some real players never existed, and some fictional ones pop up each season. It takes a while to learn all of the ins and outs of the game, but it is a lot of fun. There ARE a few things the makers could do to improve it: make free Agency competitive, go into the Awards/All-Stars areas more (the All-Star Game especially)as well as refine existing features, but overall i love this game!

In my view, the game is great. While it is not a huge improvement over past versions it is still better than anything prior. There was enough done to the game for me to buy the 2004 version.

I would have liked to see an Amateur draft included, but I realize how difficult of a change this would be, however I do look forward to it being included in a future version.

In the end I must say that for the price I definitely get much more than my money's worth with this game. I will keep me thoroughly entertained for many months.

Great stats based baseball simulator with very realistic results for hitting and pitching. The computer AI has come along way since the original Baseball Mogul, and I love the new charts. Highley recommmend!

I'm old enough to remember the old strat-o-matic baseball games, as well as the first fantasy league baseball games, as a kid, and I have always been disappointed by baseball video games more concentrated on graphics, instead of variable and situational realism. Baseball Mogul is an attempt to mitigate some of those shortfalls. It is by no stretch perfect, and if you're simply looking for a software game that gives you enhanced graphics, you're better off with X-Box. Nevertheless, it is a first class game from the perspective of a GM/Owner, in which you can operate your own team, set your lineups, pitching staff, conduct trades, etc., based on real MLB teams, historically, as well as recent ones. It even allows for a draft, although it waits until after the season (even though MLB's draft occurs during the season).

The 2004 version allows for improvement in minor league players, ones you historically know would never be that good in the bigs, simply by spending the most money and resources on minor league player development. You know something is wrong when Joe Oliver can develop into a 50-homerun per year hitter. However, the recent versions of this game, which are not contained on amazon.com, particularly the 2006 version, and its 8.50 patch, correct many of these flaws. It even takes into account year-to-year fence setting changes in ballparks, which the 2004 version does not. Overall, I was extremely pleased and impressed, but again this is a game for those that look to the strategic aspects of baseball over aesthetics.