A spreadsheet disguised as a game

Out of the Park Baseball is not graphically impressive or arcade fun. It is basically a spreadsheet pretending to be a video game, letting you play entire seasons in just a few hours.

“It is basically a spreadsheet pretending to be a video game.”

Terrence O'Brien's obsession

Terrence O'Brien, The Verge's weekend editor, has spent roughly two thousand three hundred hours playing various editions of Out of the Park Baseball according to Steam.

Where the fun really is

The game shines when you sit in the general manager's chair and make suggestions about lineup and bullpen structure. Playing individual games becomes tedious and is not where the game is most fun.

Staggering depth of detail

The UI is complicated and dense, with ninety percent of time spent looking at rows of stats and scouting reports. OOTP includes current and historical MLB players, all minor league teams, Korea's KBO League, and the entire World Baseball Classic.

Building a fantasy Mets dynasty

In O'Brien's game, Brandon Nimmo is a superstar, Kodai Senga has won three Cy Young Awards, and he signed Juan Soto and traded for Ronald Acuña Jr., making the playoffs four years in a row and winning a World Series.

“Look, as a Mets fan, I need this fantasy world, don't harsh my vibe.”

Play however you want

OOTP Baseball is deeply customizable. You can manually play every game or speed-simulate entire seasons in hours. Turn off injuries, play in commissioner mode, or leave it running in the background to dip in when you have spare minutes.

For a particular sports nerd

OOTP Baseball is a cozy sim for people who love fantasy baseball and wish they could play it year-round without friends arguing about bid timing, or who want a cozy game with a Sabermetric bent.

Available now on Steam

The current version, OOTP Baseball twenty-seven, is available now on Steam or directly from the developer Out of the Park Developments.