Baseball Mogul 2007

At its core baseball is all about the stats. They figure into everything that has to do with a player’s ability on the field and the probability of the outcome of a certain situation.

Joe Shortstop comes to the plate. He is batting .271 against right-handed pitchers, .233 against lefties, but has an on-base percentage of .483, and tends to hit .302 with runners in scoring position. Meanwhile, Stan Pitcher has an ERA of 3.03, but that bloomed from his April earned-run average of .216, and he has given up four long balls in successive outings with runners on base during May.

Now, start to calculate all that together and you have … a math professor … or a baseball game where stats truly are the star, and not the graphics.

Baseball Mogul 2007 is the fifth iteration of the Sports Mogul series, this time published by Enlight Software for the PC. The release date for the game is yet to be announced, but if you are a baseball fanatic and your favorite bedtime reading material is The Baseball Encyclopedia (it’s a stat book that is the thickness of loaf of bread and covers the games and player’s stats from the first days of pro baseball), then this is the game for you.

The year is 1984 – April to be exact. Willie McGee roams center field for the St. Louis Cardinals, with the Wizard of Oz (Ozzie Smith) at shortstop, Tom Herr at second, Darrell Porter behind the plate, George Hendrick at first, and Ken Oberkfell at third. Lonnie Smith and Andy Van Slyke head up the pitching staff.

Can you smell the memories yet? Or at the very least, the hotdogs at Busch Stadium?

The Cards open up with a game on the 4^th against the Braves. Ozzie gets to lead off and … who’s that pitching for the Braves? Yikes, it’s Nolan Ryan. After a scoreless first, the Braves put a run on the board in the top of the second and then once again in the fifth. Meanwhile, the Ryan Express is mowing them down. St. Louis …. A chance when Dane Iorg singles, and after a failed bunt attempt by the Card pitcher, Smith walks to put two on with 1 out. Up steps Herr; the coach calls for the hit and run. Herr singles up the middle, plating Iorg. McGee steps up and the order is to swing away. He doubles down the right field line and the Cards take the lead, 3-2 going into the seventh. An error by left fielder Steve Braun puts Ryan on base in the top of the 7^th, but it goes for naught. Then Braun leads off the bottom of the inning with a single, Oberfell catches the infield in an awkward shift, and lays down a bunt single. Two on, and no one out. But then Ryan settles down and gets the next three.

A slim one-run lead and Danny Cox is called in from the Cards’ pen. The rightie puts a man on and then gives up a two-run shot over the left field fence. Aaargh! That’s your ball game. And all without a single avatar showing up on the screen.

Baseball Mogul is played with an interface that is mostly stats and little animation. Without a manual, it was unclear how to pinch-hit during the game, though the interface for changing out a pitcher was easy to find and use. However, this was a preview build, so allowances must be made.

The game incorporates the Sean Lahman Baseball Database, which basically means that every player from 1901 until the present is in there. In the final code, players will be able to customize rosters, putting together dynasties through shrewd trades, or drafting talent. You can manage on the field, or create your lineups and then let the game simulate out the action. The accompanying PR says it is possible to simulate an entire season in 30 seconds.

Players will be able to create ballparks, manage prices and sign broadcast contracts. There is negotiating with players, and journeying through time to watch some of the truly greats grace the user interface. Call up players, or send them down to the minors, it is all up to the player. What trades should your team make this year? Now is your chance to find out. And the AI is smart enough to not let you get away with making silly trades with over-stacked odds – like two minor league players of little renown for an Albert Pujols.

Recreate the Mantle-Maris home run contest of 1962, or see if either sets the record at all.

The game was not without some problems, but again, this is a preview build. Juggling the lineup was seemingly not an option, and clicking the help file only led to an error message. Also, toggling between various control modes produced some inconsistencies. If you pick coach (one of the six modes of control, which also includes spectator, general manager, manager, and two player modes – in the later you can, as a batter, try to guess the pitch and location, or as a pitcher pick the pitch and location; the coaching mode is a click and probability outcome-based result), you had to repack it to go from offensive to defensive decisions.

When it comes to batting, as the coach you have a lot of decisions you can choose from, whether it is the swing away, sacrifice bunt, bunt for hit, hit and run, or run and hit. Pitching/defensive options are more about defensive alignments.

There is an inning recap that, at this time, was not scrollable, and the pitching meter has some work remaining.

Forget scoring this on a graphics or audio level, just absorb this ambitious title  and bring your true fantasy teams to life. Baseball Mogul 2007, though, is a true baseball fans delight. It’s all there, the stats, the excitement and the legends.