ThisIsFine wrote:

Neat screenshots!

Thanks! One of the things I like about OOTP is the ability to add your own logos. For whatever reason it's much harder to do in Franchise Hockey Manager, made by the same people, but it can still be done.

RoughRiders9 wrote:

Sorry for being out of action for a few days! I’m just getting around to this! Here’s some of my comments…
 
Kings – They look just fine. No big changes!

Carp – They’re one of my favorite looks in the league as I love the light blue and orange! That A is amazing. I’m not sure if I’m a fan of the pattern on the back? I think it’s fine for one or two years before they change it if they need to. Kinda like the Diamondbacks with the gradient stuff recently.

Crescent City – That color is GOREGOUS! I know the teal wasn’t a thing in that time period but I think it WORKS. I actually had a similar color scheme for another team of mine in another league that I worked on a long ago. I just may bring that scheme back someday 😊

Heroes – Wow. That is a HOCKEY jersey on a baseball jersey! And being on a pullover… it works! The color scheme looks great. I’ve always hated or struggled with red, yellow, and black but you managed to pull it off!

Steamers – lol Texas Rangers. All good! I really like the blue on this, as it’s not the typical royal blue that we see on so many teams. The powder blues are fantastic.

Sol Orions – I’m beating myself up right now for not thinking of the Orions name in my Solar League! It’s a great set. Probably one of my favorites in the new looks so far.
 
Great job! Keep it up!
 
And yes, lol. I also upload my designs to OOTP but I don’t always try to keep it 1:1 because of the limitations the game have. Oh well.

Thank you so much! I think the general consensus about Aorin's new look is that aside from the carp pattern it's pretty good, so I think the general feel will stay around a while. I'm glad you like Crescent City, the teal actually comes from the California Golden Seals of the NHL, who adopted the color in 1974, so it's not too far off. I'd love to see your take on the scheme! Hayakawa has the feeling of "none of that should work, but it all does" to me, I'm really proud of it. Yeah, the Steamers are the Rangers haha. I thought with a nice spin on red/blue it could stand out. I'm glad you like Sol as well! And don't worry, if you want to use Orions I won't stop you! I think I remember being introduced to OOTP on your CCSLC thread when you posted a picture of the UI, I think I asked what you used to simulate and you sent me down this path!

Everyone thank you so much for the comments! I'm quite proud of this expansion class, and they should fare much better than the Grizzlies and T-Birds did at first, haha.

1971 RIBF Season:



Yep, that's right, the Grizzlies and T-Birds made the playoffs for the first time! They made it before either the Carp or Emeralds did, despite some great seasons from Aorin and Vertlac. But let's go division by division and summarize the season.

RBL North:
Yosemite reigned almost all season despite a strong showing from Vertlac. Both played great baseball all season, but the Grizzlies just had a slightly better year. This is Vertlac's 3rd year in a row finishing 2nd in their division, just missing out on the playoffs each year. The Orions and Robins tied in the record, but Sol took the tiebreaker and became the first expansion team to not finish in last in their first year. Shinkyo has fallen a long ways from their 4-peat and this year proves it. Sol had a good year by their standards while Shinkyo had the opposite. 

RBL South:
San Moriuchi comes out on top yet again, beating out strong challengers in San Juan and Queenston to seal the deal. The Kings remain the best team in the RBL, looking to get their third championship in a row while their former hometown looks to stop them. Crescent City had a poor year, but that's to be expected from an expansion team. The fans didn't mind, showing up to support the team, exceeding expectations and hopefully proving the viability of professional sports in Crescent City and Luna Island as a whole.

SBL North:
This was by far the weakest division and Hokkyo took advantage, finishing at .500 and beating the Tigers for their first division title. In fact, the division came down to the last game of the season, with the T-Birds defeating Toramoto 7-6 in extra innings to seal the deal. Joestar slightly improved from last season, hopefully their boneheaded front office has decided that they actually want to keep their jobs and are making smart baseball moves. The Heroes had a solid first season, finishing only 10 games out of the postseason with a decent roster.

SBL South:
This was the division of death, as the two top SBL teams were placed together and forced to duke it out for division supremacy. In the end it was the Stars who topped the Senators, beating them out by one game. For the first time ever, a 90-win season wasn't enough to make the playoffs as Shinkyo falls just short. The Carp struggled, but not as much as the Steamers who were the worst team in the league. They weren't as bad as the Grizzlies and T-Birds were in their first season, but Shinsakai doesn't have much to look forward to.

So it'll be San Moriuchi and Yosemite duking it out in the RBL and Shinosaka and Hokkyo facing each other in the SBL! For the first time Yosemite will have a chance to get revenge on the Kings in the playoffs, although the series was 13-8 in favor of San Moriuchi in the regular season. On the other side of the Grays, Hokkyo and Shinosaka split their series 9-9. One freaky coincidence is that both Yosemite and Hokkyo were 7th and 1st in runs scored and runs against, respectively, in their leagues, while San Moriuchi and Shinosaka were 1st and 2nd, respectively. In general there's more offense in the RBL, but these series will put the offense vs. defense matchup to the test!

NEXT: 1971 RIBF Playoffs

@Sevsdast - here's your sig!

1971 RIBF Playoffs:


With the two '59 expansion teams in the playoffs for the first time going up against two of the best teams ever, it was almost a foregone conclusion that it would be Kings-Stars 3 in the RICS. Both teams would defy expectations as they surpassed the established teams to advance.

SBL League Championship Series:
The juggernaut Stars looked to the lowly 71-71 Thunderbirds as nothing more than a victory lap before the real challenge, and boy were they upset. Hokkyo's pitching completely stifled Shinosaka's lineup and the offense roared to life, only allowing a 6-1 Stars victory in game 2. HOK 4-1

RBL League Championship Series:
Yosemite faced a much tougher path to the RICS, but it started with a shutout against the Kings in San Moriuchi. They were shut out the next game, but they took the next two with a chance to win it at home. San Moriuchi rallied and won the next two, but at home against their rivals they couldn't do anything and gave it up to the Grizzlies. YOS 4-3

1971 RICS:


In the RICS, the two teams faced each other for the first time ever. One of the two would become the first expansion team to win it all and both teams wanted it for themselves.

Game 1 - YOS 5, HOK 2 - With home-field advantage, the Grizzlies took charge and stormed to a 5-2 victory over the Raicho. YOS 1-0

Game 2 - HOK 3, YOS 1 - The T-Birds stole a game on the road, with excellent pitching not allowing a run until the 8th, when it was too late. TIE 1-1

Game 3 - HOK 5, YOS 4 - As the series headed to snowy Hokkyo, the Grizzlies wanted revenge for game 2 and put up a fierce struggle. The game went to the 11th inning tied 4-4 before the Thunderbirds were able to drive in a single run to win the game. HOK 2-1

Game 4 - HOK 4, YOS 0 - Seemingly broken by the extra inning loss, the Grizzlies couldn't put up a fight as Hokkyo just dominated. HOK 3-1

Game 5 - HOK 1, YOS 0 - In what might be fitting for the #1 defensive team in the Federation, the T-Birds won their first championship in a 1-0 pitcher's duel. Hokkyo starter Mike Braun was great, only allowing 2 hits and one walk en route to a victory. HOK 4-1

Thunderbirds SP Toichiro Horimoto was named the series MVP, pitching 9 innings in the series with one win, 6 strikeouts, only 4 hits and 3 walks, and an ERA of 0. I believe this is the first time a pitcher has won the RICS MVP award, but it is well-deserved as this pitching core was incredible. Clearly defense was the best offense and the .500 Thunderbirds won it all!

YOUR 1971 RICS CHAMPIONS ARE: THE HOKKYO THUNDERBIRDS!

sportsfan7 wrote:

The SBL South seems to be making the case for another playoff expansion

True, but the .500 T-Birds winning the RICS also happens to make a great case against playoff expansion.

NEXT: 1972 Offseason

LETS GO RAICHOU!! Fear the thunder!

I like the new look for the Senators, the bolder logo looks good and I love the matching number8.5.1

Really good job with the Steamers and Senators updates!  Definitely liking where these teams' designs are going!