2.4 Manager and Coaching Staff
If you have a professional baseball team, chances are you have a manager. The manager is equivalent to the head coach in some other sports: they organize team training, make strategic decisions for the team on gameday, and serve as a liaison between their team and the umpire crew. Some teams in the past employed a player-manager, who both played on the field and made tactical decisions, but this no longer happens at the professional level.
For your roster, it's best to identify a manager for your team, even if it's just a name. The manager is the one that sets the lineup and makes hitting or pitching substitution decisions during the game, so if your opponent RPs about those kinds of things, it's good to have a specific person to mention.
Some users will ask other nations if they have established managers with experience in previous cycles to manage their team. If you're just a beginner, your best bet is to come up with a manager from your own nation. Other users may be hesitant to lend one of their notable managers to a newly-established team that may not be around for very long. Staying domestic with your manager choice is always a solid choice, and can easily stick with making your own managers long-term.
If you want to add some detail beyond a name for your manager, try to come up with some history for them. Do they currently manage one of your nation's domestic league teams, or is the national team their only active job? Are they a grizzled veteran who's seen it all, or a young strategic guru on the cutting edge trying to prove themselves? Nowadays there's a big dichotomy between more old-school managers who make decisions based on vibes or instinct, and more new-age managers who rely almost entirely on statistical data to inform their choices. Coming up with this sort of information about your manager (or "skipper" as they're sometimes referred to) can say a lot about your team's overall style.
Managers don't work alone, though. They're assisted by a coaching staff of more specialized instructors, who help organize practice and keep players focused during games. If you have the time and inclination, you can define a whole coaching staff for your team, though you probably don't need to go super in-depth with these coaches as much as you would your manager. Here's what an average baseball coaching staff looks like, and a quick description of each one. These are listed in order of relevance, so if you don't want to do the full set of coaches, you can start trimming from the bottom.
Bench Coach: Second-in-command and advisor to the manager. Usually takes over manager responsibilities if the actual manager is ejected mid-game or fired mid-season.
Hitting Coach: Works to improve and maintain the batting form of the players. Oversees batting practice and provides feedback during practices and in between at-bats during games.
Pitching Coach: Trains and mentors the pitching staff. Helps with body mechanics and pitch selection to improve player performance. Advises the manager on the condition of the team's pitchers, and gives feedback to the current pitcher in between innings. The pitching coach will also visit the pitcher on the mound in the middle of the inning to give advice if they seem to be struggling.
Bullpen Coach: Second-in-command to the pitching coach. Works almost exclusively with the relief pitchers, and sits with them in the bullpen during games. Offers advice and relays instructions from the dugout to the bullpen.
3rd Base Coach: Stands in the coaching box next to 3rd base while the team is batting. Usually relays signals and instructions to left-handed batters at the plate. When the ball is in play, the 3rd base coach takes stock of the defensive situation, and signals to a runner whether they should stop at 2nd or 3rd base, or continue running to try and score. Both base coaches are often defensive instructors during practices, having expertise in infield or outfield play.
1st Base Coach: Stands in the coaching box next to 1st base while the team is batting. Usually relays signals and instructions to right-handed batters at the plate. When a batter puts the ball in play, the 1st base coach will tell them if they should stay at first base or continue running for extra bases. Both base coaches are often defensive instructors during practices, having expertise in infield or outfield play.
Athletic Trainer: Certified healthcare provider with a specialty in sports medicine. Evaluates and provides first aid to players when they're injured during practices or games. Helps the player and manager decide if a minorly-injured player should consider playing. Assists in rehab programs for players with long-term injuries.
Strength and Conditioning (S&C) Coach: Helps develop training and workout plans for the team. Works individually with players to ensure they're developing adequately. Encourages behavior and mechanics that prevent future injuries. Tries to maximize the athletic performance of everybody on the roster.
Some teams employ even more specialized coaches. Additional hitting coaches, defensive specialists, or pitching experts. Some teams will even hire former coaches or mentors of their better players, hoping to maximize the production of their stars. The coaches listed above are the ones that have some tangible impact during games, so any more than that is extraneous. Most users don't specify a detailed coaching staff like this on their rosters, and that's perfectly fine.
2.5 Stadium and Miscellaneous Info
This section will go over a few miscellaneous items that are found on most baseball rosters, but don't have to do with the players themselves. This stuff is great to help pad out a roster and give your team an identity beyond a list of players and coaches.
In most World Baseball Classics, the group stage of the tournament consists of home and away games for each team. In this situation, your nation is expected to host your home games somewhere. This isn't required for a roster, but it's good detail to have. If you want to add a home stadium (or ballpark, as it's often called for baseball) in your roster, it's a good idea to include the stadium name, seating capacity, and city in which the park is located.
If you want to include more than just the basic name/capacity/city, there's a few things to consider. The cool thing about baseball parks is that there's a lot of room for unique sizes and shapes. The infield dimensions are standard, but the distance between home plate and the outfield walls have a lot of room for individuality. Technically MLB requires that the distance from home plate to the foul poles on the outfield wall should be at least 325 feet, and the distance from home plate to center field at least 400 feet. That said, there have been plenty of parks constructed after that rule (and several grandfathered in) which are shorter in some spots. Think of Fenway park with the Green Monster!
Why do stadium dimensions matter? The biggest reason is the most obvious - the shorter and closer the outfield walls are, the easier it is for players to hit home runs. It's technically fair, because both your team and your opponent play on the same field and receive the same advantage. On the other hand, a deeper outfield can benefit pitchers and make it harder to score home runs. However, a bigger outfield means your outfielders have to cover more ground while fielding. Including a full list of dimensions (for instance: distances to Left field pole, Left-center, Center field, Right-center, and Right field pole) is probably overkill and won't come up super often. Even so, having a little tidbit about whether your stadium favors hitters (more runs scored) or pitchers (fewer runs scored) can go a long way in making more interesting RP with your team. The most common scorinators don't currently factor ballpark style into the scores, but it helps from a roleplay perspective.
Stadium capacity is another minor detail that can provide a lot of context for your home field. If your nation has a robust and popular domestic baseball league, you theoretically have a variety of large stadiums. Most permanent MLB ballparks have a capacity between 30,000 and 50,000 with the average hovering in the low 40s, so landing in that range will be seen as realistic. The largest MLB park is Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles with a capacity of 56,000. Having something larger than that may be seen as unrealistic, so you may want to explain your reasoning if you have a larger capacity. For smaller nations or ones where baseball isn't a major sport, you might want to look at minor league or college baseball stadiums for inspiration. These usually have a capacity under 15,000 and many don't even feature seats beyond the outfield walls.
I won't go into great detail here, but consider these other tidbits when thinking about detailing your home field(s). These aren't necessary details, but they go a long way in making your ballpark feel like more than just a name. What is the weather like? Does it rain often? As a general rule, the ball flies further in warmer climates, leading to better offense. Where is the stadium located? Is it downtown, out in the suburbs, near a famous landmark? Is it in the capital, the largest city, or some other place, and why? Is the stadium open-air, or does it have a roof (retractable or otherwise)? Note that stadiums with roofs often have an artificial turf surface instead of real grass, which can affect gameplay. Who uses the stadium during the regular season (or was it purpose-built for your national team)? At what elevation is the stadium? This seems trivial, but elevation is actually a huge factor in baseball. At higher elevations, the thinner air allows the ball to travel further, favoring hitters (vice versa for ballparks near sea level).
Here's a few more miscellaneous items you can add to your roster to flesh it out. Again, none of these things are required to get a good bonus or have a helpful roster. If you want to go above and beyond, these are things to think about including.
- Nickname: Pretty much every baseball team has a nickname or mascot. Beyond giving your team a sense of identity, it also makes it slightly easier to RP about your team. Having to type "the Examplestan national team" a bunch of times can get a little old. It isn't a requirement, especially for a national team, but it's definitely fun. Consider using national symbols (your national animal or colors, perhaps) or something that relates to the team itself. Old baseball team names developed naturally from their usage in newspapers, or from particular players or events that marked a significant moment in the franchise's history. Don't worry if you can't think of something good right off the bat or decide to change it later. Change is perfectly fine!
- Uniforms: Having specific uniforms for your team can be fun. There are occasionally NS Sports people who are talented graphic artists that may be willing to make a uniform graphic for you, but don't count on this. Plenty of people will make minor modifications to the simple Wikipedia article style uniform graphics. Having an actual picture isn't super important, though. Adding a simple blurb like "Home Uniforms: Red hats, white jerseys, white pants / Away Uniforms: White hats, red jerseys, white pants" will perfectly suffice. Note that MLB teams wear white uniforms at home, colored uniforms on the road, and often have an alternate or two in case of color clashes. This isn't a requirement, but it's a helpful baseline.
- National baseball presence: Not all nations are created equal in baseball performance. Some have large, competitive leagues with lots of great players (like the USA or Japan). Others have smaller leagues with some good talent (like South Korea or Mexico). Others don't have a big league but have good players that play in other nations (like the Dominican Republic or Venezuela). Your national team could be a collection of elite all-stars across the board, or maybe it's more like a couple stars carrying a roster of mediocre guys. Maybe baseball is a niche sport in your nation, and your national team consists of amateurs. Adding this info helps other RPers understand your team, and can provide a good narrative angle to RP about. Note that due to the nature of NSS, your team will (usually) be less successful to begin, then start winning more games as you play more seasons and build up a rank. Keep that in mind when you're defining the type of players that make up your roster (a team of all-stars might be frustrated at not winning many games their first few go-rounds, while a team of amateurs might be confused why they're starting to win against great teams after a few years).
- Gender: NS Sports does not discriminate based on gender (except in the Olympic Games). While baseball in real life is played exclusively by men at the professional level, there is no such restriction for NSS. You're free to keep your team all-male, mixed, or even all-female if that's your preference. There's no bonus or penalty in any direction, so you're welcome to build the team roster as you please.
