If you want to play in a tried-and-true format and create your team right now, standard leagues (Classic and SSG) are open to the public 24/7. But if you want to try something different, Custom Leagues – created by customers – are there in abundance..

There are franchise leagues, progression leagues, captains leagues, high and low salary cap leagues, “rags to riches” leagues, alphabet leagues, place of birth leagues … the possibilities are limited only by your imagination.

Diamond Mind Online would not be the same if the Community did not include some of the most clever and prolific creators of Custom Leagues. We’ll be featuring one of these in this space each month.

This month we’re visiting with Todd (trotr1) Rotroff:

Tell us something about yourself: age, occupation, marital status, where you live, and interests (apart from DMO, of course).

Hello everyone! My name is Todd Rotroff (better known as Trader Todd to many of you) writing to you from the Wind River mountains in Western Wyoming. Born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1965, I spent my first 45 years in Illinois working as an IT specialist for the University of Illinois … well at least the last 25 years I was there. Spent a lot of time in the 80’s and 90’s as a Civil War re-enactor with the 7th Illinois Cavalry, which was a lot like playing war as a child, but much more expensive! The cost was worth it though, as at a re-enactment I met my wife, who I married in 1985 at the ripe old age of 20. Still going strong we will celebrate 40th anniversary next year. Diagnosed with an eye disease called Choroideremia in my teens, my vision in my 40’s got to the point where I had to retire from IT work and reinvent my life. So in 2013 we decided to purchase a small ranch about two hours southeast of Yellowstone (the National Park not the TV show) and have been raising horses, cows, chickens, goats and pugs … although I am pretty sure the pugs are reporting on me back to China.

When did you start playing DMO and how did it first come to your attention?

I started playing simulated baseball in the late 70’s when I discovered Statis Pro Baseball by the now defunct Avalon Hill Game Company. I spent hours simulating games with my favorite team, the St. Louis Cardinals, and manually keeping track of stats and scoring … so much paper! The paperwork was alleviated after Diamond Mind’s PC baseball game came out in the 90’s, but still I was mostly playing with myself (that sounds bad but just means I was playing a computer opponent). Then hallelujah in 2006 when IS and DMB merged I was introduced to human opponents and the online baseball experience.

You’re heavily into “progression” leagues. Tell us something about the format and why it appeals to you?

I started IS in the standard leagues but quickly transitioned to the Single Season Game when it was introduced. Now I currently run three progression/keeper leagues and participate in 7 or 8 others. The premise of the keeper/progression league is that you progress year by year in order from whatever starting year the league determines. After every season you can declare some players as keepers so you start the next season with a core group from the prior year’s team. So this aspect affects how you draft, and how you plan for the future. Gone are the strategies of just drafting the best players; you might have to put up with a player’s early years of ineffectiveness in order to benefit from his productive years. So it incorporates the duties of a General Manager into the game, whereby you have to plan a few years down the road as well as building a competitive team for the current season. These leagues are where I got my sim nickname of “Trader Todd”, because in progression leagues trading players during the offseason is particularly active and I am known for both the frequency of my trades as well as the fact that I will trade anybody, anytime!

Can you offer a few tips for success for those inexperienced with progression leagues?

The best advice I can give is to pay attention to how successful owners play the game. Watch the play-by-play to pick up clues as to how they set their team instructions. Have a plan for the season as to what positions or pitchers you will upgrade. Remember if you make the playoffs, PTL on splits is turned off, so take advantage of your players with extreme splits; the team that gets you to the playoffs might not be the one that wins it all! But the best advice I can give is to just enjoy yourself; you may lose more than you win (with me a lot more) but take advantage of the community of owners at IS, they are great people and well worth spending time around. Host a zoom meeting for your league to get to know everybody better and PLAY BALL!