The MLB postseason is upon us, even if the Chicago Cubs have already left us.
There's no better time of year. In the spirit of baseball at its peak, we launched a major update to our nine-year-old baseball simulation game on WhatIfSports.com, Hardball Dynasty.
Who's the type of person that should care about such news? Great question!
You should be interested if...
You ever played "MicroLeague Baseball" or "Tony LaRussa Baseball" on your PC in your youth. Hours of entertainment and "what if" scenarios could be played out between episodes of "Wonder Years" and "Growing Pains." What if Kevin Maas played a full season in 1990? What if Kal Daniels played an entire season in 1986, and what if he was catcher instead of the leftfielder?
You enjoyed stick figure baseball on your Atari 2600 or RBI Baseball and "Bases Loaded" on your NES. Or if the maddest you've ever been in your entire life was when your older sister didn't hold the reset button when turning the Nintendo off and all your saved teams and stats in "SNK Baseball Stars" were lost.
You ever collected baseball cards and sorted the cards every way possible. By chronological number in the set, by team, by league, by position, by jersey number, by home state, etc.
You play fantasy baseball. Better yet, you used to track your league's stats by hand using tick marks in a notebook using the weekly Sporting News as your source.
Micro League Baseball nostalgia
You ever played "Strat-o-matic Baseball", "SimLeague Baseball" or any dice baseball game where stats, probability and creativity yield endless excitement and possibilities.
You like all the recent console baseball games where "franchise mode" was introduced such as "Triple Play", "All-Star Baseball" or "MLB "The Show".
You've ever devoured the latest copy of Baseball America. Or you lose yourself taking in Baseball Prospectus or Baseball-reference or MLBTradeRumors.
Your favorite baseball writers are the first source of news you turn(ed) to each day. Rob Neyer, Ken Rosenthal, Peter Gammons, Buster Olney, etc. Or you looked forward to the annual publications by Bill James or Ron Shandler.
Watching "This Week In Baseball" was a weekly can't miss or catching up on all the day's highlights was a night-time ritual.
You enjoy devouring books such as "Dollar Sign on the Muscle", "MoneyBall", "Ball Four", "Scout's Honor", "Glory of Their Times", or one of Andrew Zimbalist's baseball economics books.
You know it's "Rule 5 Draft" and not the "Rule V Draft".
You know what "SABR" means.
Jusssst a bit outside.
You can recite lines from "Major League" and "Bull Durham" and "The Sandlot".
You enjoy following your favorite team and listening to sports talk radio. Analyzing your team's moves, debating with friends, etc. Why would a small market team like the Cincinnati Reds sign a closer like Francisco Cordero to a multi-year, big money deal when the rest of the team stunk? Why would the Reds keep signing retreads to play leftfield when it should be the easiest spot on the diamond to fill? Why do some teams consistently draft well and others do not?
You think you could do a better job as a manager or a general manager of your favorite team.
You actually want to see the Chicago Cubs win the World Series in your lifetime.
Hardball Dynasty is only the best online baseball simulation game with the most devout, intelligent, competitive baseball community.
Pick a city and ballpark, name your franchise and jump into a "world" with 31 other baseball fans. Then run your franchise season to season in the hopes of building a dynasty.
As general manager, you set budgets (training, high school scouting, etc.), sign talent from rookie ball to the big leagues and set the rosters. Trades, free-agency, arbitration, waivers, amateur draft, international prospects, contracts, etc. If it's in real baseball, it's in Hardball Dynasty.
Great baseball analytic literature.
As manager, you set lineups, pitching roles, pitch counts, pinch-hit hierarchies and more. Pour over every stat imaginable, monitor player development, award voting, and, most importantly, the standings with three games simulated daily. Reach the playoffs and earn prizes.
While you do many of these activities on your own, many aspects involve interacting with your competition. World chat and trade chat yield friendships, rivalries, debates and more. Compete with others for prized free-agents or swing a trade deadline deal.
The recent update introduced a new user interface that makes the game enjoyable on all devices. Sign free-agents on your desktop, set lineups on your tablet and check scores on your phone.
Hardball Dynasty was developed by a team that loves baseball from its stats to its rules to its romanticism. We love baseball so much, the game never stops. When one season of the game ends, the next season begins so you can enjoy baseball year round.
There may be openings in some Hardball Dynasty worlds right now. Go ahead, check it out! Find out why HBD is the best online baseball simulation game, where every decision makes a difference.
