So... you are in the running to win your division in Hardcore1. You are 3 games up with about 15 games to go. Then it happens.

Randy Johnson is traded to your closest opponent for Rickey Henderson and a 1st round rookie pick. He goes 13-2 in the final 15 and beats you out for the playoff spot.

(what you didn't know is that in the other hardcore2 league the same trading partners make a reciprocal trade to boost the other player's team).

Do you sit back and say:

1) Boy, this is a hardcore league. He really got
me.

2) How in the hell did that trade happen? (i.e. you are angry)

There are several reason why it works in your offline league and why it WON'T work in PB.

1) There is ONLY ONE league in your offline case. You can't make trades such as the above across several different leagues (such as in hardcore1 and hardcore2).

2) You KNOW everyone - peer pressure. None of your buddies are going to make obviously bad/lopsided trades just because of the dirty looks they are going to get from everyone else. Not the same here.

3) The constant flux of the managers - If someone is planning to leave the game they might trade their superstars to some one they liked before leaving. This isn't going to happen in your league

Now... if you are about to answer that "Mike" will have to step in on these trades because there is obviously something wrong with them - then you've just blown your concept of a "hardcore" league out the window and reintroduced Mike to the same job as before.