Posted by Joe Hamrahi on Monday, January 25, 2010 at 4:34 pm

Last week I had the opportunity to speak with Michael Cieslinski about the development of his fascinating baseball simulation Dynasty League Baseball. Michael is well-known for designing the Pursue the Pennant board game and crafting what many consider the most realistic baseball simulation on the market today. Cieslinski was gracious enough to answer some questions about Dynasty, fielding metrics, and his love of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Joe Hamrahi (JH): Please give us a little background on your career as a game developer…dating back to Pursue the Pennant?

Michael Cieslinski (MC): I began designing Pursue the Pennant in 1981-1982 when I was at the University of Miami and was working with the Baltimore Orioles and Miami Marlins. I was just talking about this with Tim Lewis at the Cardinals Legend camp Greatest Team tournament that we had at the Palm Beach Gardens (FL) Marriott. How different things were in terms of the development tools available! This was also at the time when the Bill James Baseball Abstracts were just being published and distributed nationally. Bill James Abstracts had a big influence on the design of Pursue the Pennant and those influences carried forward to 1994 when DYNASTY League Baseball debuted.

JH: What baseball games did you play as a kid? What was your original inspiration for the development of PTP?

MC: Some of the first baseball games I played were Gil Hodges and Sports Illustrated Baseball. The inspiration really came in 1982, which was the season I attended the most games, worked for the Orioles and went to all of the ALCS and World Series games. The 1982 season was an incredibly exciting and emotional one for both Brewer and Cardinal fans alike. In a bit of a strange twist growing up in Milwaukee in the late 60’s (Milwaukee did not have a Baseball team) both the Cardinals and Brewers became my favorite teams in their respective leagues.

JH: Pursue the Pennant evolved into Dynasty Baseball. What does Dynasty do that Pursue the Pennant didn’t do?

MC: The whole board version game was streamlined to play faster and easier. The player cards for DYNASTY League Baseball had new situation color coding, baserunner advancement was on the player card and all play results were spelled out – not abbreviated. In addition, there were some changes that made the original design even more accurate and realistic. Ball Park Deep Drive results were now in feet and not as abstract as the 1-20 numerical wall numbers that Pursue the Pennant had.

JH: What would you say separates Dynasty Baseball from other games like Strat-O-Matic, Diamond Mind, APBA, etc.?

MC: DYNASTY League Baseball has been and still is the leader in realism. In terms of the Windows version and the new upcoming Online version, the realism is transparent for you to easily be able to see how your strategic decisions affect each play – it’s not a black box.

JH: Do you personally come up with all the player ratings for the game (i.e. speed, bunting, fatigue, defense)?

MC: Most player ratings are formula driven, but many are not, and I personally rate all the manual hitter ratings. Dan Treuden rates most of the manual pitcher ratings.

JH: Do you solicit the help of anyone else in providing scouting reports for your player ratings…both pitchers and hitters?

MC: In terms of adding subjective input, yes. Writers, broadcasters and scouts opinions are part of the mix that can swing a player rating in the grey area.

JH: Speaking of ratings, defensive metrics are all the rage among statheads these days. What is your take on the various tools of measurement, whether it be MGL’s UZR or John Dewan’s +/- system? Do you utilize any of these metrics to help you come up with the defensive ratings for fielders in Dynasty?

MC: Yes, range factor, UZR and +/- are all used in determining Range ratings. It is important to look at several defensive metrics, not just one, because there is no perfect defensive metric out there, and I doubt there ever will be. That’s why the Range ratings are not strictly formula based using one defensive metric.

JH: You seemed to make significant strides in the development of the computer version of Dynasty over the past few years. Can you describe the game’s enhancements and how well they translate from the board game?

MC: First off, let’s define computer version because there are two versions of DYNASTY League Baseball that run on computers. The Windows version which debuted in 1994 and the new upcoming Online version that runs in your Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari Mac browser. Both versions are transparent direct translations from the original board version.

All the new development is happening with the Online version, and the feature set will revolutionize league and tournament play. Leagues will no longer have to import and export stat and organization files. Scores, stats and standings are updated in real time. How cool is that? A draft room will show all the teams rosters and slots to be filled, players that are on the draft list and those that remain undrafted, budget available to spend and updated dollars remaining. The draft room will allow for live auction drafts, and within minutes of completing the draft, you’ll be ready to start playing your season games.

The live game play is really easy as you found out Joe. One click on the join game button and you immediately are outside the ball park (an image of the outside of each park is displayed) and ready to click enter and play at which point you can change your 25 man roster and then select your starting pitcher and lineup. Each player has his own game screen (you are not sharing the same game screen) and there is no hassle with firewalls or ip addresses – the connection and play is seamless right inside your browser.

The Greatest Teams tournaments are live face to face bracket style tournaments similar to NCAA tournaments. Think Sweet sixteen, Elite eight and Final four with a field of 66 of the Greatest Teams to choose from. There will also be a unique managerial level rating system that will challenge you to advance to a higher ranking. You can also play the Greatest Team bracket tournaments solitaire.

JH: What feature are you most proud of in the latest version of Dynasty Baseball?

MC: Well, the new interface for DYNASTY League Baseball Online is both gorgeous and very user friendly. Jamie Hall has done a phenomenal job with the software development. For first time players, the tool tips are really neat in that you can mouse over any rating and see an explanation and the player cards. I also really like the ball park images, the home and road visitor uniforms for each team, and the HR flashing target that shows you where in the ball park a HR was hit.

JH: We got to play the fantastic online version of Dynasty Baseball a few weeks back. How excited are you about the release of this version? What should readers and gamers know about this latest update that makes it a “must buy?”

MC: It is the most revolutionary and influential Baseball simulation release since the Pursue the Pennant board game debuted with a whole new level of realism. Excited? Thrilled? I am not even sure there is a word for it. All I can say is that it is just so incredibly cool!

JH: Do you envision any other major enhancements for future releases of either the board or computer game? A computer manager possibly?

MC: The computer manager in DYNASTY League Baseball Online is having more depth added to it right now. The board version has had so few changes to it just because it really was done perfectly right from the outset. It’s Pursue the Pennant perfected.

JH: Being a student of the game, what studies about today’s game of baseball intrigue you the most?

MC: Maybe not in the category of studies, but in new research by Retrosheet are all the new vs. LH and vs. RH batting and pitching splits that are now available. I can’t tell you what a project it was in the past getting a hold of this information. I felt like Indiana Jones on an archaeological dig.

JH: Are there any specific baseball publications you read on a regular basis? Specific writers? Why?

MC: In terms of annual publications the one I miss is The Scouting Notebook. I tend to read quite a few different baseball publications including both national and local newspaper beat writers and columnists. I am not sure I am a regular reader of one or a couple publications or writers like I was with The Sporting News and Baseball America for example in the pre-internet era. I like to get Mike Bauman’s take on Baseball news at MLB.com perspectives, and I read a lot of Derrick Goold’s St. Louis Post Dispatch columns following the Cardinals. Bill James captivates me, and I like to read Rob Neyer and Jim Caple at ESPN.com.

JH: As many people know, you’re a big Cardinals fan. What’s your take on the signing of Matt Holliday this off-season and how do you think it will affect the next contract of Albert Pujols? MC: The Cardinals almost had to re-sign Holliday after emptying their farm system and the impact he had once he was acquired. Holliday was the catalyst for the Cardinals offense in the second half of the season. I don’t think it affects Pujols other than providing a baseline for what Pujols will be signed to by the Cardinals. I’m sure the next Pujols contract will lock him in for the rest of his career as a Cardinal.

JH: How does Michael Cieslinski get ready for the baseball season? How ready are you for spring training???

 MC: I’ll start prepping for our upcoming DYNASTY League Baseball SNBL draft by looking at all the player cards. The last two weeks of February when the players report and before the Spring Training games start is by far the best part of Spring Training…where you can go back to the practice fields and get an up close look at what Spring Training is all about. Ready? I think after last week’s Cardinal Legends camp, Baseball seems much closer.

To order Dynasty Baseball, head over to Design Depot today!