Baseball What If's

The what-if's of baseball. Wouldn't you like to manage your own Major League team? With computer simulation games, you can! Computer simulation games are different than Fantasy or Rotisserie League games. Computer sims are usually based on the previous season's performances, while the other types are based on the numbers from the current year. In the computer sims, you actually play the games, making all the managerial decisions. I used to always wonder why Felipe Alou would bat Barry Bonds 4th. My philosophy was, always have your best hitter bat in the first inning of every game - ie, I would have hit him 3rd. With a computer simulation game, like Dynasty League, featured at The Baseball Mall, you can play the Giants for the season with Bonds batting third.

Maybe managing the ins and outs of all games is not your thing, maybe you want to be the next Billy Beane or Theo Epstein. Well, computer simulations offer that as well. As a matter of fact, there are hundreds of computer simulation baseball leagues that allow you to run all aspects of your team - drafting, trading, managing the games, you name it!

My first venture into simulations was way back when, with cards and dice. I spent many an hour growing up with a pair of dice in my hand, playing Strat-O-Matic, SherCo, APBA, Sports Illustrated and Statis Pro. Mostly baseball, but basketball, football and hockey eventually caught my eye as well. Then, almost 25 years ago, a full color baseball card game came out, featuring a diamond that fit inside the box, with one grass field layout and one artificial turf one as well. It had wall charts with replicas of all the Major League stadiums and the homeruns were determined by the real life park possibilities. It even featured the wind blowing in or out at places like Wrigley Field. It was easy to see a routine pop-fly in the Astrodome, being carried over the Ivy in Chicago. Now this was baseball, or the closest thing to it for me at the time. That game was called Pursue the Pennant. Interestingly, the Dynasty League game featured on The Baseball Mall, was created by Mike Cieslenski, the same creator of Pursue the Pennant.

I have enjoyed playing baseball through the mail, (early on), then via e-mail and now, two players from anywhere in the world can link together over the internet to play head to head. If you love baseball and figure you'll never have $500 million to buy a team, or wouldn't even if you had the money, a computer simulation is for you.

Please check them out at The Baseball Mall.