This general guide is for beginners and applies to all OOTP series.

[The basic]
*The configuration

At first, the star rates each player, but the number is easy to verify, so you should change.

*Specify game

Instead, the star or number shows the player’s ability, but they are not accurate. The scout’s ability and scouting budget determined the accurate spec, but the CPU detected lies.

*Choose the teams

The team’s popularity shows its importance and correlates with its budget. Therefore, the rich team, like Dodgers, is easier to win than the poor one, such as Marlines.

*After, the game starts

You must get rid of the bad debt player, and setting the scouting budgets as about 24M$. Similarly, the player resources development fixes about 36M$. These settings will decrease the difficulty of the game to some extent.

*Recruit the good coach

Replace the inadequate coaches and recruit the skilled ones. The best team trainer is crucial for injury prevention.

*Choose the pitcher and batter

Replace the inadequate players by trading or fire. With pitcher, you must consider the ERA+ which index less than 100, it means that the player shows poorer performance than average league and WAR which index less than 2; it means that the player shows poorer performance than the bench one. In the same way, with batter, you must consider the OPS+ which index less than 100, it means that the player shows poorer performance than average league and WAR.

*Release the unpleasant personality player

If there is a “disruptive” personality player on your team, you must release it as soon as possible. This personality negatively affects the team’s performance, leaving no room for positivity. The personality, “selfish”, doesn’t matter, so you should leave unless something happens.

[Coach, manager, and other staff]

It is very vague how their abilities and relationship with players affect growth or game. However, it is better to hire staffs with high skills and sometimes you can see the results, especially in minor leagues. Besides, they grow their ability like players on the team but the speed is very slow, so it is practical to ignore the growth. It is also possible to recruit other team staff so if you find the good one; it is worth trying. However, if you hire the old, they would resign because of their ages so you should pay attention to it enough.

[Rule5 Draft]

If your team does not have enough budgets, you must use this system in the offseason. Because of the rule, the player must put on the active roster for next year, so you get only one unless you rebuild the team. This game does not reflect the real MLB enough, and it means that you could get the lower prospect. I recommend the player with a pleasant personality, especially the captain.

[How to manage the FA player]

Like the real FA player, most of them do not work enough, so you should contract a short term for about 5 years. The expensive bonus such as MVP and increased basic salary make the player compromise to some extent. The other international FA player is also facing the same situation, but many of them lack skill and are no longer at their best, so you should ignore them unless they have exceptional talent.

[Personality/Character]
The “green” personality is nothing bad, but the orange one is the opposite. Especially if your players have “orange“ work ethic or intelligence, it is better to trade them because these have characteristics to grow poorly. However, the other oranges do not affect to the growth, so you could leave them until some problems happen. Similarly, as mentioned above, the character, “disruptive“, is caused by multiple unpleasant personality, and affected the team solely. Therefore, it is recommended to get rid of the player as soon as possible.

[How to manage the unnecessary players]
Basically, to get compensations, it is better to trade unwanted players. If there are only bad ones, the chances may be there. For example, if there are the players who have shorter contracts than the unnecessary, it would mean that you have the possibility to save money. In the same way, the clause of team option is also good because it certainly denies extending the contract.However, if there is no other way out, the only thing you could do is DFA. Owing to this regulation, you could fire any players unless you pay the money.

[Development Lab]
The system is implemented in OOTP 25, and as the name shows, it is like a driveline baseball. There are many programs, but ironically, the high capability players only could take the benefit, and it could be said that the poor performances could not grow at all even if they success the difficult training. Thus, it is wise to develop the players’ strengths, but with pitchers, it may be good to take the injury prevention program because the steady pitching staff would easily affect the team's performance.