Squeeze Play: Baseball Manager

Squeeze Play is a baseball manager career sim. You start as a bench coach, take your first job with a farm club and keep it only as long as the front office trusts you. Every situation shows its odds before you choose, and the odds you see are the odds the game rolls.

■ From the coach's chair to the dugout

Your first season is spent as a bench coach. Hit the target, or finish two seasons, and up to three clubs call with a two-year deal. In a North American organization your first job is in Single-A; in Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Latin America it is with the second team. Results take you up to the first team and the big leagues.

■ Five kinds of manager

Developer, Long Ball and Small Ball are free; Pitching Mind and Analyst come with the manager type pack. Each type builds a different set of manager skills, and the style you pick sets two strengths and one weakness.

■ The front office and the hot seat

Every season the front office sets a target in the standings. Trust moves month by month; let it fall to 10 and you are fired on the spot. The manager's office shows the target, your current place, trust and the line below which you get fired. Fired, you wait for offers on the job market; win, and other clubs come calling first.

■ The calls before the big series

Mid-season you play your rival in a four-game series, and October brings the postseason. Before each, make the call: full strength (+12 points of win chance, front office trust −5 if beaten), scouting (+5 points for 20% of a year's salary), or as usual. One October call carries through every round.

■ The season and October

162 games in the big leagues, shorter seasons on the farm, one tap a month or on auto. Postseason formats follow each league. When the season ends, the fan board reacts to what was expected and what happened.

■ Growth cards

In preseason, pick 1 of 3 cards that shape how your manager develops.

■ As the owner

Gold earned in play builds club facilities and prestige, raises your owner level and enters you in the weekly leaderboard.

■ Retirement and the shelf

You can retire from 55; the default retirement age is 65. Retirement scores the career's legacy and gives it a title, and your top 10 careers stay on the shelf (50 with the supporter pack).

■ What you pay for

Free to play. Optional: Remove ads, the manager type pack, the supporter pack, gold, and roll tickets for re-rolling a new manager's starting stats. You get 5 free rolls; a rewarded ad or one ticket adds 10, and the roll odds are on the creation screen. Ads: a bottom banner, and a full-screen ad every sixth season after your first career. 13 languages.

Looking for a baseball GM or manager game? Squeeze Play is one manager's career, from the coach's chair to retirement.

All leagues, clubs, players and managers are fictional.