When I was younger, my brothers and I loved to play video games. We took a liking to games of all kinds, but especially enjoyed playing baseball games together. Typically we wouldn’t “play” many of the games, we would simulate them. This allowed us to get in a number of seasons in a short amount of time. We would sit for hours in front of the television, hanging on every game in the careers of imaginary players on a screen. It sounds ridiculous, but video games gave us a hope that these players could be us one day.

Each of us would usually take a liking to a specific guy. This guy would play a similar style to our game and we would take them from draft day to the Hall of Fame…in a few weeks time. We would imagine ourselves in his shoes, getting called on draft day, debuting in the big leagues, becoming an All Star and a hero for his team. It was wash, dry, fold, repeat. Every year a new game would come out and we would get our hands on it, spending hours trying to perfect our players and our squad into World Series champions.

This has been a way for us to bond as siblings. We still try to play against each other remotely. Over the past few years we have played an online game called Strat-O-Matic Baseball. It was perfect for us because we could play in the same league and the entire game was based on simulation. Recently I stumbled upon a game called Out of the Park Baseball. It too is a game based entirely on simulation, but unlike Strat-O-Matic, it is a comprehensive package.

OOTP 14 recently came out and I was given the chance to preview it. If you enjoy Twins Daily’s Prospect and GM Handbooks, you will enjoy this game. While you can sit and imagine what you would do if given the chance to run an organization, this game gives you that opportunity. You control every team to every detail with personalized options available for each player. You control contracts, call-ups and team strategy.

The new game added the new rosters for 2013. Free agents can now come from a number of different places-the draft, international signings, independent ball, etc. A new interface makes navigating the game much easier and a new player development tracking system allows you to get a better grip on your farm teams.

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I thought everyone here at Twins Daily would enjoy it. If you do decide to get the game, be prepared for a possible addiction. I spent a number of hours playing the game right when I got it.

I shared this game with my older brother and he immediately began playing. It is a fun way to feel connected to your hometown team and it can also be great way to get to know more guys in the system.

If you are interested you can check the game out here: https://store2.esellerate.net/store/checkout/CustomLayout.aspx?s=STR6838997456&pc=&page=OnePageCatalog.htm

Follow AJ on Twitter @APettersen1 or email him at AJPettersen1@gmail.com

I've played OOTP enough to love it, and eventually come to critique aspects of it that are too easy to exploit. One can put the setting to higher difficulty, of course, but that seems to make it unrealistic in a different extreme. Still, as an inveterate tinkerer, I found the game very very addictive for days at a time.

I've played Strat-O-Matic only as the dice-game version, starting way back in the 70's or so, and again when my sons were old enough to enjoy it. (Never got my daughter into it - or my wife for that matter - go figure.)

Before we discovered SOM, by brother and I devised our own randomized game based on our baseball cards' stats. Much cruder than the commercial products that we didn't know about yet, but for kids around 10 or 12 years old it wasn't bad.

All this is basically to say: welcome to the crowd.