Competitive Balance question

[meldivar]

This is the end of the 2015 Year or Year 8.
Is this bad or good. I'm trying to figure out if I need to adjust the settings a little.

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll122/meldivar/BB2K9-14.jpg

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll122/meldivar/BB2K9-15.jpg

If this isn't good, could use some help in how to fix the settings.
If you need more info let me know.

Current Settings
League Revenue: +20%
Injury Frequency: -10%
Medical Staff Effect: -50%
Draft Predictability: -50%
Happiness effects on negotiation: -50%
Effect on perfomance: -100%
Promotions: All +30%
Contract Renewal and Length: +30%
Trade Frequency: -30%
Platooning: -100%
Stats vs. Scouting: +50%
Mimic: -100%

[actionjackson]

Those look like CatKnight's settings for Competitive Balance and if they are, you're in very good hands. Do you have equalized cities? I think as long as you use all of Cat's settings, you should be OK for competitive balance, which doesn't look completely torched i.e. there are zero 120 win or 120 loss teams after season #8. Usually if you have a problem there are multiple teams at both ends of the spectrum after season #4. I think you're doing OK, maybe you want to help Florida a little bit. It's not only wins and losses you want to look at, it's also the financials. If teams are losing a lot and bleeding red ink they might need a little bit of commissioner aid. However, Cat's settings are supposed to deal with that and they were able to over a 108 year period with zero commissioner "interference". You've only done 8, so I'd say keep on truckin'. You might want to take a look at teams in the team history window and see if teams are cresting and then coming back to earth, but that probably requires more seasons for a reasonable sample size (say a total of 20ish years or so). Keep going, you're doing fine.

[Francotau]

At least you don't have juggernaut teams winning 110+. I've had season where there's 5 or 6 100-120 win teams and 5-6 100-120 loss teams.

[meldivar]

I've now pumped some talent into Florida, the only 100 loss team the next season, and moved them to Chapel Hill, NC. Their budget increased by about 30 MM.

[filihok]

Adding to what actionjackson said

One season isn't enough to base it on

Florida, Cleveland and the White Sox all look pretty bad. If it's one season and the AI can work out of it, no problem. If these teams win 60 games on a continual basis, then something is wrong.

[CatKnight]

These are excellent results for Y8. Your league looks to be pretty stable. Great work there!

Since moving Florida helped their budget, that means you aren't using equalized cities. Fine, but we have a few more things to watch for until BM10 comes out.

Take a look at the teams with the highest payrolls (like the Yankees usually): Are they stockpiling talent? In other words, are there players that could start for other teams languishing in their minors? If so, you may need to break them up a little.

I would watch Chicago and Cleveland closely for a season or two. Part of the balance problem in BM06-09 is the tendency of weak teams to trade away their rising stars in order to get more prospects. It might be worth it to go into those teams, pick 2-3 'stars', and give them no trade clauses to slow the AI down.

In 'un'balanced leagues, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and I think Detroit are LOSING population. After 8 years it's not a big deal, but after 100 they might no longer be viable. Easiest fix here is to go into city editor mode and zero out (or give a 1% rise per year) the growth rates of those cities.

The settings should help a lot. I'm glad they seem to be working. Just keep an eagle eye on your league:

A few teams with 100+ wins/losses is higher than in real life, but not a serious issue.

ONE team with 114+ wins/losses isn't a big deal either...so long as it only happens once. If it's happening regularly, that team needs to be dealt with.

Watch the financials: If a team goes bankrupt, and they're doing poorly in the standings, give them some help. (If they're doing well, then maybe they need the reminder to get their payroll under control.) The easiest way to manipulate financial data is to change their fan loyalty rating.

Good luck!