World Baseball Classic 49- Everything Thread (IC)

[Terre Septentrionale]

Terre Septentrionale wins their first series against Pripet Socialist Republic

Èntland, Pripet Socialist Republic - The Under 24 team did an impressive run and played much better than expected at the International Baseball Slam played in november and december. Now, in february, it's time for the real thing, the World Baseball Classic and 5 players from the IBS roster are on the national team, plus 5 more of them players are "extra players". Our first series is on the road in the Pripet Socialist Republic, a nation which reminds us the Union of Socialist Alpine Republics. The Nordiques won a pitching duel in game 1. Rusty Castillo threw a complete game and he only allowed one hit and a walk in 9 inning. He also struck out 10 batters. Our only point was scored in the 4th inning when Gustavo Mendoza's double sent Melanie Wojciechowski to the plate.

Game 2 was more wild. The score was 3-1 in the top 8th inning when we hitted 3 homeruns and scored 8 runs in that particular inning. Melanie Wojciechowski was the first batter of the inning and she hitted a double. Szandra Szucsanszki walked and Gustavo Mendoza hitted a 3 runs homerun. Garrett Strzelecki followed with a solo homerun. Keegan McCullough hitted a single, Stefan Boissonneault hitted an optionnal. Trevor McGarry also hitted a single. Pinch hitter Zlatan Belec was flied out, Boissonneault reached the 3rd base but McGarry stayed at 1st base. Katarina Radovnikovic followed with a double, Boissonneault scored, McGarry advanced to the 3rd base. Melanie Wojciechowski hitted a 3 runs homerun and the score was 11-1. Lucija Kikanovic came to pitch in 9th inning and allowed 2 runs. The winning pitcher was Frédérique Lafleur who allowed 4 hits, 2 walks and 1 run in 7 innings. She also struck out 6 batters.

Then, the Reprezentacja Nordycki won game three 5-2. Szandra Szucsanszki hitted a 2 runs homerun in the 1st inning. Then in the 5th inning, Trevor McGarry was the first to bat and he hitted a double. pitcher Travis O'Rear hitted a sacrififce bunt, he was out at 1st plate but McGarry advanced at 3rd base. Katarina Radovnikovic followed with a double, McGarry scored. Melanie Wojciechowski was flied out, Radovnikovic stayed at 2nd base. Szandra Szucsanszki hitted a single, Radovnikovic scored from the 2nd base and the score was 4-1. Both teams added one more run and the final score was 5-2. Travis O'Rear played 8 innings, he allowed one run, 6 hits, one walk. He also struck out 6 batters and he's the winning pitcher.

Home Stadiums and schedule

The team announced their home stadiums in their roster guide but never announced who will play where. Our first two series are on the road. Then, series 3 will be played at Park Wroblewski against Super-Llamaland. Series 4 will also be on the road. Then series 5, 6 and 7 will be at home. Series 5 against Megistos will be at Rapido Presto Park, a park sponsored by a beverage (orange juice and lemonade) producer. Series 6 against Pripet Socialist Republic in Parc Turcotte and finally series 7 against The Sherpa Empire, at Parc des Capitales. Series 8 is on the road, then the Northmen comes back at home for a series against Devonta in NordCola Sportni Park.

Series 1: at Pripet Socialist Republic
Series 2: at The Sherpa Empire
Series 3: vs Super-Llamaland at Park Wroblewski, Krzczonow, MA
Series 4: at Devonta
Series 5: vs Megistos at Rapido Presto Park, Rawdon, SH
Series 6: vs Pripet Socialist Republic at Parc Turcotte, Oujé-Bougoumou, CN
Series 7: vs The Sherpa Empire at Parc des Capitales (Capitals Park), Ville Jacques-Cartier, DC
Series 8: at Super-Llamaland
Series 9: vs Devonta at NordCola Sportni Park, Kukljica, DA
Series 10: at Megistos

Dragomir Kovacevic,
La tribune Septentrionale

[Daskel]

HORIMAT CITY
Park of the Grand Emperor - Day one

"Is it normal to feel this tired?" Thought Jossei, preparing his next pitch: A sinker. Many innings ago, he was sitting in the bench, shouting words of good luck. "Ganbare!" "Haita Haita!". It felt so long ago. While he removed a tiny bit of dirt, he looked at the scoreboard; A long row of zeros crossed his vision.

It felt so long ago, that fifth inning.

Runner on second, one out. Itara Crisui was on the mound, his eyes sharp on Tang's glove. This was the opportunity to take a better lead, as Cho stepped on the right batter box. Two strikes after, Cho connected and sent it to the right field, a double where Kishimoto could score.

"A deep hit into the right field, Kishimoto is flying and returns home! Jovannic 1 - Daskel 3! Top of the first runner on first . Cho is not a quick runner, through. We cannot count with him to steal second. Next at bat is Ben. If just Cho-san was a quick runner, isn't it, Mr Tanaka?"

"Pinch hitter" An Takashi lifted his arm, sending Eidome Yōichi to battle. Takashi knew what he was doing; The guy's batting was nuts, and had the arm and the intelligence to defend the outfield. The strategy worked, and Eidome hit the fastball deep, and went and went and....

"It's gone! Eidome connected with Crisui's curveball. I don't know if it was luck, or if he read that, or both, but Daskel is now 1-5 up! "

The next batters didn't have the same luck with Crisui's brutal curveball, and the fielders went back to defend the extended lead. Everything was happiness until the bottom of the six. One out, bases full. And as quick as the lead came... is was gone.

"Grand slam homerun from Marken and the game is tied 5-5! This game will kill me, let me tell you. Shintaro asked for a timeout and now everyone is on the mound, talking with Kojima. This does not look well for our ace pitcher"
"That's right, Mr Maeda. Kojima's pitch count is not high, but this play may take a toll on his mental preparation. Coach An may do something about this"

But An didn't do anything, and Kojima found the strength to close the inning. He was benched after that, sending Watanabe for the next innings. A couple of runs were scored, and the scoreboard came to a halt. Nine innings played, 6-6, and zeros started to appear, one by one. Watanabe was seriously tired and they send him, Nakamura Jossei. "You have the experience and the stamina to overcome this" said coach An, before calling the umpire and signaling the change.

Since that, five innings have passed. He started to move, released the ball and...

"Ping!"

He couldn't hear anything but the roar of the crowd, nor see the face of the runner. They lost, they just... lost. at the sixteenth inning.

This was pain

[Newmanistan]

THE ROCKET REPORT

INTERESTING OPPONENT AWAITS AFTER SWEEP

by Brianne Henry,

Newmanistan got off to a fast start in their opening series against Marigred, doing what everyone expected them to do. The unranked side from Marigred was hoping to impress their home fans against the Rockets, but the sky blue had no problem disposing of them 8-3, 10-5, and 8-5. It was the top performance of any team over the first three games, when considering that the run differential is higher then anyone else right now. Sometimes, you will see someone drop one of the games in a series like this, but clearly, no one is surprised by this.

There is not much to talk about with them, but the next opponent, Se Vende Skooma is a very interesting side. The Cool Boys play baseball a little differently then most nations do it. In their country, youth games take 40 innings to complete, and a single game is actually a five-day long, 120-inning affair. Interesting, isn’t it? Don’t you just want to see, for example, the Pocono City Capitals and Loudon Leopards play with that format just for the hell of it to see what happens? Perhaps that can be arranged sometime. For now, their players, as well as manager Brian Skanderbeg, must make adjustments to the format of the World Baseball Classic, which of course, plays the game that way pretty much every other nation in the world plays it. Manager Ashley Hedstrom sympathized with Skanderbeg to a point, saying, “I would have to make drastic adjustments to the way I did things if I played it the way they did it. It is not going to be easy for their team.”

One of the biggest adjustments that need to be made is how one uses their pitching staff. For Skanderbeg, he would often see his pitchers pitch fifteen or more innings, routinely, at a time. In order to this, pitchers would have to keep the velocity down on their pitches. As we saw against TJUN-ia, they had a hard time adjusting to it, and will need to start throwing harder. That said, Newmanistan has earned a reputation of having durable pitchers themselves, so I had to ask some what they thought about the Cool Dudes. WBC legend Courtney Duvall told me in response that, “Yes, you could certainly last longer if you did not throw hard on every pitch. Just like on the playground, if you are out there lobbing it to your friends, then you can go all day and it do it, 200 or 300 times without even noticing. There is so much more to pitching then speed, but if you don’t have the element of speed, then there is little that you can do to confuse a batter. They know what works in their league, but I expect that they are going to have a big problem pitching-wise, in the World Baseball Classic unless they get the velocity up. I am just an observer now, so I don’t know the details of what their team, of course.” Duvall, when asked about if she would want to play in their league, stated, “I would have to learn more about it. I don’t think I would want to play professionally in a league like that, but to do it a few times could be pretty interesting.” Former WBC pitcher Hannah Lee said similar, but also would add, “The most disappointing part about Se Vende Skooma is not their team, but the fact that they have to use such a small field. Very frustrating to see the team not get any cooperation from the bigger clubs about sharing facilities. Their fans only suffer in the long run.”

One thing we can agree on with Se Vende Skooma is that the DH should not be part of the game. However, they go to an extreme extent in outlawing it.

[Torisakia]

By Jed Merrill

Tokai Met reportedly moved 1.346cm left due to mass disappointment

12th August 2020

According to the University of Tokai Department of Geophysics and Seismology, The Tokai Met has been observed to have moved roughly 1.346 centimeters to the left from its foundation. Dr. Stephen Ott, professor of Geophysics at the University of Tokai, stated that the movement was a result of "collective mass disappointment from within the confines of the stadium". Ott clarified that the disappointment felt by fans of the Torisakia national baseball team over the three game series against Hampton Island, where the Ice Birds got swept, exerted enough physical force to move the 1.24 million square foot stadium roughly 1.346 centimeters (0.529 inches) to the left. The Department of Geophysics and Seismology at the University of Tokai were involved due to the movement being registered on the seismograph at the institution, prompting an investigation. Ott stated that the movement occurred "sometime in the top of the ninth inning in game three", which coincides with Torisakia giving up three runs to Hampton Island and giving away a 4-2 lead. This phenomenon has been observed in numerous Torisakian sports over the past 100 years, earning it the name "Sportsquake".

Past occurrences of this phenomenon has not always been the result of mass disappointment. In June 1985, seismographs at the University of Ogino recorded an earthquake roughly 800 feet from Ogino Municipal Stadium during the 73rd edition of the Megabowl when Ogino scored a go-ahead goal in game five to lift them to victory over Mushai and win their first ever TSL championship. In 1991, Alderney State Arena was moved 0.22cm after one of the most controversial calls in TFL history led to the then ASFC Criminals missing out on the Hyperbowl. The collective booing, throwing of bottles, and overall uproar caused a small earthquake that was registered on the University of Tokai's seismograph and slightly moved the stadium. The sportsquake can occur due to a number of different factors. In the Tokai Met's case, it was due to the fans being let down by the national team. Torisakia led Hampton Island 4-2 in the top of the 9th inning and looked to be heading for their only victory in the series as they had dropped the previous two games. Despite changing pitchers, playing more towards the infield, and even creating new version of pitches, the Ice Birds gave up 5 hits and 3 runs that led to Hampton Island taking a 5-4 lead going into the bottom of the 9th. Torisakia would go three up-three down and lose the last game of the series, officially making it a sweep for Hampton Island. GBN Torisakia was unable to reach head coach Kermit Woods for comment after the game.

Expectations still seem to be high after the 3-0 sweep, however. Social media has been abuzz with praise for the national team, continuing to fight even though they were losing in all three games. Many fans have also pointed out that Hampton Island is a top 10 team internationally, so to expect Torisakia to win any game in the series was a bit farfetched. The players definitely seem to be enjoying their time, as seen by the numerous dugout shenanigans and jokes with the 'law' we have seen on broadcast. It seems that the team's chemistry is coming along well, even more evidenced by the players' presence on social media and having nothing but good things to say about their teammates. While things may be good between the players, it is becoming more evident that there is extreme discord between the players and coaching staff. Particularly between the players and Woods. Woods still seems to be flip-flopping between conservative and aggressive schemes, which is throwing the players off and forcing them to adapt to changes each game. Doing so results in inconsistent performance, and thus why the team seems to be struggling at the moment. While no player has publicly discussed their relationship with Woods, evidence that we see on field suggests that things are internally headed south rather quickly. Kermit Woods may be a successful coach in the TMLB, but perhaps he just is not cut out for international competition.

[Jeckland]

WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC 30 - THE SPUDS THAT SHOCKED THE MULTIVERSE

Those eagle eyed Jeckish baseball fans amongst us will have noticed that our group draw for World Baseball Classic 49 has a notably similar flavour to one in the past.

Even those who do not follow the sport avidly, or those who were not around in years past, may well be able to tell you the significance of the draw, aside from it appearing to be one of if not the toughest group in this year's tournament. Nineteen editions ago, in World Baseball Classic 30, Jeckland also drew both Nova Anglicana and Zwangzug in their group.

Expectations then as now were low for the Spuds. Their debut in World Baseball Classic 29 had been a surprising success. Baseball was a niche sport at best in the country, with the average member of the populace unaware that the tournament was even occurring, at vast odds with the huge sporting culture of the country. Which sports are popular and are not in Jeckland does not seem to be pre-determined by anything, but in years since national team success has played a major role in bringing certain disciplines into the limelight.

In Classic 29, Jeckland were drawn into a relatively easier group, but still not expected to do much more than pick up two or three wins. The Spuds surpassed this, having registered five as the final day of the group stage dawned. San Jose Guayabal were the team in possession in second place and faced eliminated Estope, with a win enough to secure them the second guaranteed spot behind Vaugania. The Spuds and Premier Thomas Wilette were both 5-4 and could snatch the final spot with a win, an SJG loss and an appropriate swing in run difference. The Spuds pulled off a 4-1 win against their rivals, before waiting with bated breath as the Estope-SJG match went into additional innings. But eventually the news came through that they all wanted to hear - Jeckland were through to the knockout phase. Estope had won.

The Spuds group record made them the #14 seed in the knockouts, meaning they would not receive a bye and instead have to play Milchama to progress to the Round of 16. The Spuds were huge underdogs against what was an established baseball nation and were shut out, losing 5-0 but going home with their heads held high.

Despite their above par performance for rookies, public interest and international expectations for Jeckland going into Classic 30 were both low. This was exacerbated by the group draw, with the top two seeds in the group presenting formidable opposition. Nova Anglicana, the current champions, were then a fairly new nation on the scene, but had shown their prowess in previous editions and justified their tag as tournament contenders and their #3 ranking. Zwangzug's relaitvely lower ranking of #14 appeared to be falsely low, as the former champions pedigree in the sport made them seem a formiddable opponent. Elsewhere in the group all those years ago, a fiery matchup with Jecatria awaited, a part of modern Jeckland which had at the time recently seceded from the larger state via a frostily received referendum. Digestra were the fifth team in the group, which the Spuds were not expected to advance from.

Whilst Nova Anglicana are now Classic champions, Zwangzug are like the Spuds returning after a period away from the sport. However, it will take a lot to get anywhere near what happened in that fateful World Baseball Classic 19 years ago. The Spuds, ranked 37 going into the tournament, upset the apple cart - and arguably changed the World Baseball Classic forever...

[Tikariot]

The picture fades into to the Oceanview Park in Port Rhovanyon, the location for the second series of the World Baseball Classic against the Royal Kingdom of Quebec. Sarah Ladle and Angelo Mori are standing in the Tikariotian dug-out to welcome the viewers.

Angelo Mori: So the first series went well, with Tikariot scoring a 2-1 win over the Mathuvian Union, giving us a good start to go into series numero two against the Royal Kingdom of Quebec. Here's a quick rundown of how the first three games went.

Game 1
Kenneth Burgess: The first game against the Mathuvian Union did not quite start out as planned, with the hosts scoring a single home-run off De'Andre Stevens and it stayed a pitcher's game throughout most of the following innings, with few hits and zero runs until the fifth inning, when JJ Bernardetti struck a sacrifice fly to allow for Carlton Baines to equalize the game. Then it took two more innings before Tikariot scored again.

Foster Fleming had struck a single before Vincent Pelmore struck out. A nice double by Carlton Baines brought both players into scoring position before Steven Marangoudakis tried his best, but was caught with a fly-out, and a beautiful catch by the Mathuvian right fielder. JJ Bernardetti had a great chance for Tikariot to take the lead, but he was walked, now giving Tikariot loaded bases and William Carruthers stepped up to the plate. He fouled the first two balls, almost was hit my the third pitch, but then struck a sinker beautifully, dropping down right between the centre and left fielder, allowing for both Fleming and Baines to score, giving the Devil's Rejects a two run lead.

De'Andre Stevens and Devon Cargill continued their great pitching streak, allowing the Union only three hits in the six innings following their only run. Then came the last inning and with Hamish Shawcross, who had come on in the eighth inning for Vincent Pelmore, on second base and Steven Marangoudakis at bat. The Mathuvian pitcher was clearly a little unnerved by his own team's inability to score when he tried for a fierce fastball, which came a little close to Marangoudakis, who still swung, hitting the ball very oddly due to the trajectory, but it sailed along the foul line and across the fence in left field for a two-run homer for the designated hitter, giving Tikariot a 5-1 lead that they would not relinquish in the bottom of the ninth, handing them the first victory of the series.

Interview
Sean Callahan: Steven, that fastball in the ninth, replays showed that it would have been a ball, but you still decided to strike. Was that just a reflex to swing?

Steven Marangoudakis: Pretty much. I was more worried about getting hit, but somehow still swung and it hit my bat at about half and it actually cracked it, but that was a one in a million hit for it to actually go out.

Callahan: A first win in the Classic continues right on where you had left off at the International Baseball Slam. Is that a good omen for this tournament as well?

Marangoudakis: It was nice to kick things off with a W, but the competition here is a lot fiercer than at the Slam, and I dont want to offend anybody there, this is the big kahuna of baseball and while it's great that we are keeping the momentum, it'd be suicidal to now get the mindframe that we're just gonna cruise through this.

Callahan: So what are your expectations for the World Baseball Classic? Do you think you can go all the way like you did in Super-Llamaland?

Marangoudakis: If I knew, I'd have a lot of people put a lot of money on us right now, haha. I don't know, we don't have a whole lot of experience here, but I think we've proven that anything is possible, so we're just going to play our game and see what comes of it in the end.

Callahan: Thank you, Steven Marangoudakis.

Game 2
Burgess: Game two started better, with Mike Romanov hitting a single homer right with the first strike, but what followed after could probably have been sold as a cure for insomnia. Throughout the first eight and a half innings we saw one run and three hits between both teams, so great for the defense, but horrendously boring for the fans. They did wake up, though, after William Carruthers fumbled a catch and allowed the Mathuvian Union to equalize things. The Tikariot catcher was so upset about it that he managed to get himself ejected for some choice expletives and the officials didn't care that he had aimed them at himself. But again thanks to Hamish Shawcross, who was part of the win, when he struck a ball with such force that the third baseman could not actually catch the ball and dropped it, allowing for Yosvani Fernandez to score the decisive 2-1 run.

Game 3
Burgess: If the press had called game 2 a snoozefest, they were not prepared for game 3. The whole game yielded a whopping three hits, all of which turned into homeruns, this time giving the Mathuvian Union a 2-1 edge. Coach Graham McCrory was so infuriated by the performance of his team that in the seventh inning he brought Fletcher, Christensen, Consigliere, Allen, Hernandez and Carsullo on, so basically replacing everybody but Marangoudakis and Shawcross, with the only positive coming from it the homerun by Blair Consigliere. We tried to get the coach for an interview, but trust me, the mood he was in I believe it was better that we didn't manage.

Mori: Thank you Kenneth. So not ideal to have lost the last game, but still we got the series and the last two games were so utterly boring, it was hard to stay awake, but in the end all that counts is that we won and not how we did it.

Ladle: Exactly. Now tonight we are here in Port Rhovanyon and we are hosting the Royal Kingdom of Quebec, the 32nd ranked team in the world, so this could be a completely different beast from the Mathuvian Union, so we better hope that Graham McCrory has found the right words to shake up our team.

Mori: The Kingdom had faced The Sarian in the first series, who themselves are ranked #24, so not a nobody by any stretch of imagination, and they also took the series 2-1. So they also are coming in with confidence. Before we go, though, game three of the Ko-oren Falisiand series was THE game everybody was talking about. Falisiand ended up taking the win 7-6, but they scored at the bottom of the 17th inning, so I could see a few people in these two teams not being in their best physical shape tonight.

Ladle: That's if from us here, join us tonight for our live coverage from Port Rhovanyon and let's hope that this is going to be a gripping, but ultimately successful series for the Tikariot Thunderforge. I'm Sarah Ladle and this is Angelo Mori.

[South Newlandia]

ELEPHANT VALLEY MAIL
Sports -> Baseball
Elephants solid, but not great

South Newlandia played their first series of the World Baseball Classic at what must be one of the strangest locations of any team participating. In “Cassie’s backyard” a small field in a backyard, the South Newlandian players seemed to be slightly confused, and the fact that they had to change in a nearby house didn’t seem to help. They managed to take two wins off of Drunk People at the Local Tavern, who all seemed to be more or less intoxicated (as the name suggests), and take 2nd place of the group for now.

South Newlandia                       1 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 0  6
Drunk People at the Local Tavern      0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1  3

For the first game, Jacob Conroy took the mount. While the Drunk People’s pitcher, Abanh Fleft, wasn’t so lucky, Conroy showed us more of his strengths, shutting out the Drunk People over seven innings, and the Elephants cruised to a clear six point lead after only five innings. Already in the first inning, Fabio Ventura scored an early run, and in the top of the second, a home run by Mike Larsen with Igor White and Daryl Dunlop on the bases gave South Newlandia a 4-0 lead already. The got another run in the 4th and 5th inning, scored by Gregor Garner and Mike Larsen, and the outcome of the game seemed to be clear now. Then, Marcel Adams came into the game, and he gave up three runs in the last two innings, scored by Michael "Rocketman" Newman and Cassie the cheergirl in the eighth and Rule Theriault in the ninth. Thankfully, the end result was a win anyway, 6-3.

South Newlandia                       0 3 0 1 0 0 1 0 3  8
Drunk People at the Local Tavern      1 0 0 3 5 0 0 1 X 10

Blake Robbins pitched Game 2, and he wasn’t so lucky. On the other side, Liventia was pitching, with not much more luck. The Drunk People scored the first run after a solo homer by Nova Anglicana on the very first pitch, but a home run by Daryl Dunlop with Shawn Zimmerman and Igor White on the bases got the Elephants a 3-1 lead. Another run by Adam King in the fourth increased the lead to three runs, but that was all gone after another home run by Gregory Covello got the Drunk People three runs, equalizing the game. It went downhill in the fifth inning. Robbins allowed five runs, and South Newlandia was now down 4-9 after leading by three just two innings ago. Robbins was pulled now, and Dennis Miles came in. He allowed no runs in the two innings he pitched, but South Newlandia also only scored one after a run by David Drum. In the eighth, closer Barnaby Butt allowed another run, scored by Ko-oren, and the Elephants had a wall of five runs to climb. They managed three, scored by Daryl Dunlop, Ian Pearce and Fabio Ventura, but it wasn’t enough, and South Newlandia lost game two 8-10.

South Newlandia                       0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 6  9
Drunk People at the Local Tavern      0 0 1 0 1 2 0 0 0  4

For the last game, Ryan Hunter took the mount, while Greater Nordic pitched for the Drunks. In the third inning, action started to happen with a run by Mike Larsen, but the Drunks got it right back, scoring through Hampton. In the fifth, South Newlandia took the lead again, this time scored by Daryl Dunlop, but once again, the Drunks equalized right again. It got worse, as Hunter allowed two runs in the 6th inning, putting South Newlandia against a deficit again. They got one back in the 7th after a solo homer by Igor White, and Fabio Paul was coming in as a closer now. He allowed no more runs, but South Newlandia was still down by one. It took them until the ninth and last inning to score again. Shawn Zimmerman was at bat first, starting the team of with an early double. A single by Daryl Dunlop put runners on the corners, and after Ian Pearce got retired, Mike Larsen scored a crushing home run to put the Elephants up by two with only one out. Fabio Ventura got a double, and David Drum got another double to score Ventura. Adam King got retired, but Shawn Zimmerman, now again at bat, got two more runs with another homer. With this six-run inning, South Newlandia took the last game, as the Drunks didn’t manage another run. Against our expectations, the South Newlandian pitchers struggled a bit, but the batters made up for it, scoring 23 runs, a mark only beaten in the entire tournament by Newmanistan, who managed 26. Daskel tied the South Newlandian score, getting 23 runs as well.

All matches
Drunk People at the Local Tavern 1-2 South Newlandia (3-6, 10-8, 4-9)

The Greater Nordics 1-2 Hampton Island (1-3, 4-5, 8-6)
The favourites from Hampton Island took two wins from the Greater Nordics on the road, putting them in a great position early on.

Quebecois Acadiana 0-3 Torisakia (1-5, 1-3, 5-8)
Torisakia got a sweep on the road in the battle between the two unranked nations. They lead the table now, while the next opponent for South Newlandia started terribly.

Current standings

* Group 3                           Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
1 Torisakia                           3    3   0   0    16    7   +9     9
2 South Newlandia                     3    2   0   1    23   17   +6     6
3 Hampton Island                      3    2   0   1    14   13   +1     6
4 The Greater Nordics                 3    1   0   2    13   14   −1     3
5 Drunk People at the Local Tavern    3    1   0   2    17   23   −6     3
6 Quebecois Acadiana                  3    0   0   3     7   16   −9     0

South Newlandia will play Quebecois Acadiana in the Ratzupalfu Arena next, and they will try to get two wins at least, although three would be better in a group that clearly isn’t messing around. Conroy will pitch a game again, and Cain and Kramer will get their first starts here. We hope for the best, and we also hope that ASM can avoid another pitcher from collapsing, and also build up Robbins; he will need to pitch a game against Hampton Island very soon, and you don’t want to get eaten by a bear there, neither metaphorically nor literally.

[Zwangzug]

The Arlington Moon-Tribune
Meet the new boss...

Other nations' fans may recall the Zebras for such achievements as frequently finding themselves in third-place playoffs, or having a mixed-sex team in a tournament where all-female teams have often dominated, or even a much-deliberated but short-lived multiassociational league. Zebras fans in Spenson and the rest of Zwangzug remember bullpen implosions. So much so that, for a time, the national team only brought starting pitchers from the various pro squads and trusted them as both "openers" and relievers when necessary, which didn't work either. Wenjie Liu can now add her name to this register of disappointment, with the Zebras clawing their way back in a game the Equestrians had all but sewn up, and then contriving to blow it in ten innings.

David Keanes was knocked out of the box during a five-run third, but Evan Singer-Lun, thrust into action earlier than expected, acquited himself admirably, holding the home team to one run through two and two-thirds innings. Maia Whitsun-Elm's double brought in Sharon Lubbock in the sixth, and a Frances Wake solo home run made it 6-3 Equestria in the seventh. A scoreless eighth followed, and the third seeds looked in control.

Whitsun-Elm took a third strike looking to lead off the top of the ninth. But Jeremy Burnham would double to left, and his Weegham teammate Nathaniel Skyler singled to push him in. Skyler took second on defensive indifference, and Wake made them pay with a long single to right to make it 6-5. Guohua Liu drew a walk. Oliver Crant-Bridge flew out to deep center, but Skyler had taken a short lead and beat the throw to third on a sacrifice. The daring sprint turned out not to matter, as pinch hitter Dmitri Schrieber blasted a double that easily scored Liu from first as well as Skyler. Lubbock popped to the mound, and suddenly it was the Zebras in control.

Xiaodong Jia, who hadn't been expecting a save situation (not that we really care about them, just, we'd been losing) took the mound for the bottom half, and promptly allowed a leadoff homer. With Teagan Oshe-Black hastening to get ready, Jia induced a rolling groundout to Burnham at third before walking the next Equestrian hitter. A sharply hit ball turned into a timely 4-6-3, however, and Oshe-Black would wait until the tenth.

Lincoln Small led off the top of the tenth frame by fouling out to first, and Whitsun-Elm bounced to short. The pitcher bobbled a comebacker from Burnham, but he would be stranded at first as Skyler flew out to shallow center.

Oshe-Black began her international career by hitting the first Equestrian batter, who in fairness was crowding the plate with some oddly-proportioned limbs, and Skyler attempted to give her advice, more to give himself reassurance than to give anyone time to warm up--Wenjie Liu did not look ready fo exhaust the bullpen on opening day. The pep talk was moot, however, as a blast off the left-center wall led to a trot-off for the home side.

Naomi Elsen will face the Equestrians tomorrow, and Wenjie will surely be hoping for a longer start than Keanes'.

[Free Republics]

OOC: This roster is a cycle out of date so add 1 to everybody's age. Stadium assignments are up to date however.

Free Republics National Baseball Team

Manager - Kyle Thomas
Assistant Manager - Fitz Dupont
Bench Coach - Joseph Martensson
Batting Coach - Geoffrey Amato
Pitching Coach - Aimone Cremonesi
1st Base Coach - Blaze Kaminski
3rd Base Coach - Salomon Castro
Bullpen Coach - Yuusuke Heida
Colors: Blue and White
Demonym: Republican
Trigram: FFR

Roster

League Key

ABF - Acedonian Baseball Federation (Acedonia)
ENBL - Newmanistan Baseball League (Newmanistan)
IBL - Iodara Baseball League (Free Republics)
JBL - Jolarus Baseball League (Free Republics)
NBA - Nejax Baseball Association (Free Republics)
RABL - Republic of Amolotopia Baseball League (Free Republics)
RCAA - Republican Collegiate Athletic Association (Free Republics)
SPBAA - Shostistan Professional Baseball Players Association (Free Republics)
TPB - Taiyou Pro Baseball (Noburu Taiyou)
XBL - X Baseball League (Free Republics)
YBL - Yorkoba Baseball League (Free Republics)


Rotation

Slot #   Name                  Bats Throws Age  Club Team (League)                Selected Stats
1    88  "Wild" Ralph Fiedler    R     R    24  South Charlotte Condors (ENBL)     16-9, 211 K, 88 BB*
2    16  Rhys McIntyre           R     R    24  Republica Vipers (XBL)             19-7, 2.24 ERA, 281 K, 37 BB
3    72  Taryn Russell           R     R    27  Oldston Arsonists (XBL)            21-5, 1.94 ERA, 213 K, 19 BB
4    42  Gioacchino Arcuri       R     L    28  Mortonsville Monsters (XBL)        14-17, 2.67 ERA, 255 K, 49 BB
5    47  Ming Hsing              R     R    25  Petrograd Greed (XBL)              21-3, 2.11 ERA, 308 K, 24 BB

*Age 19 season (which is the most recent season that I'm aware of)

Bullpen

Role #    Name                  Bats Throws Age  Club Team (League)                Selected Stats
CL   91   Kiyosumi Takeuchi      L     L    27   Tohoko Giants (TPB)               9-3, 64 SV, 0.94 ERA, 127 K, 87.1 IP
SU   11   Luana Cremonesi        R     R    22   Oldston Arsonists (XBL)           5-3, 48 SV, 1.39 ERA, 98 K, 72.2 IP
SU   14   Gabrielle Jobin        R     R    25   Petrograd Greed (XBL)             9-2, 27 SV, 1.23 ERA, 144 K, 112 IP
MR   21   Kacie Munro            L     L    29   Republica Vipers (XBL)            11-4, 2.87 ERA, 129 K, 98 IP
MR   34   Avdei Kazantsev        R     R    34   Latroit Ligers (YBL)              7-1, 1.66 ERA, 17 K, 38 IP
MR   74   Ecio Saucedo           R     R    30   Borotia Riflemen (IBL)            9-3, 2.58 ERA, 37 SV, 59 K, 53.2 IP
LR   31   Sheamus O'Connor       R     R    33   Reco Purple Sox (JBL)             13-10, 3.08 ERA, 224 K
LR   23   Namo Busque            R     L    35   Republica Vipers (XBL)            20-4, 3.63 ERA, 257 K
LR   19   Zac Gatehouse          R     R    31   New City Time Bombs (XBL)         17-7, 2.36 ERA, 147 K, 33 BB

Starting Lineup (listed in order)

POS  #    Name                  Bats Throws Age  Club Team (League)                Selected Stats
RF    1   Philipp Schmitz        R     R    24   Republica Vipers (XBL)            .357 AVG, 11 HR, 98 SB, 38 2B, 17 3B
2B   69   Sarah Fuerst           R     R    20   Republica Patriots (RCAA)         .559 AVG, 27 2B, 13 3B, 12 HR, 48 SB
SS   20   Honomi Kamei           R     R    27   Republica Vipers (XBL)            .418 AVG, 44 HR, 47 SB, 31 2B, 27 3B, .432 OBP, 5 K
1B   33   Oskar Bjorgum          L     L    28   Petrograd Greed (XBL)             .322 AVG, 42 HR, 4 SB, 134 K, 138 BB, 487 AB
3B    7   Hollie Rogers          S     R    23   Baseton Bullies (XBL)             .355 AVG, 34 HR, 30 SB, 61 K
DH   24   Alexander Capon        L     R    31   Republica Vipers (XBL)            .277 AVG, 49 HR, 1 SB, 148 K
C    40   Teresa Mrazova         R     R    26   New City Time Bombs (XBL)         .258 AVG, 33 HR, 9 SB, 37.7% caught stealing percentage
LF    3   Evelin Norberg         L     L    29   Petrograd Greed (XBL)             .322 AVG, 51 HR, 17 SB
CF   89   Ferrau Bergeron        R     R    29   Baseton Bullies (XBL)             .308 AVG, 3 HR, 97 SB, .422 OBP

Bench

POS  #    Name                  Bats Throws Age  Club Team (League)                Selected Stats
C    13   Brock Shield           S     R    31   Republica Vipers (XBL)            .244 AVG, 24 HR, .364 OBP, 36.6% caught stealing percentage, 188 K
C    29   Shiori Tsuchida        R     R    23   Tohoko Giants (TPB)               .303 AVG, 8 HR, 11 SB, .374 OBP, 42.7% caught stealing percentage
IF   43   Ethan Joyner           S     R    28   Mortonsville Monsters (XBL)       .276 AVG, 31 HR, 13 SB
IF   27   Harald Amundsen        R     R    23   Falkamore Blackbirds (NBA)        .355 AVG, 48 HR, 17 SB
OF   38   Ella Abbott            L     L    20   Republica Patriots (RCAA)         .403 AVG, 4 HR, 56 SB
OF   44   Amber DeRose           S     R    25   New City Time Bombs (XBL)         .304 AVG, 21 HR, 19 SB, .413 OBP, 14 assists
UT   64   Julie Brodeur          S     R    29   Petrograd Greed (XBL)             .293 AVG, 11 HR, 22 SB, 24 2B, 7 positions played
PR   77   Rene Jager             R     R    27   Republica Vipers (XBL)            72 SB, 7 CS, 94 R, 0 AB, Games of XIII Olympiad Gold Medalist in Men's 100 m Dash

Stadiums

Series 3 vs HUElavia

Stadium: Nicholls Air Park
Stadium Location: Baseton, Amolotopia
Stadium Capacity: 47,321
Distance to Walls: 329 to left, 298 to right, 404 to center
Stadium Surface: Grass

Series 5 vs Abanhfleft

Stadium: Daniel Lemelin Memorial Park
Stadium Location: Republica, Republica District
Stadium Capacity: 51,378
Distance to Walls: 330 feet to left and right, 408 to center
Stadium Surface: RepubliTurf

Series 6 vs Ranoria

Stadium: MingleDome
Stadium Location: Latroit, Yorkoba
Stadium Capacity: 73,203
Distance to Walls: 330 to left and right, 400 to center
Stadium Surface: RepuliTurf

Series 7 vs Delaclava

Stadium: General Milani Park
Stadium Location: East Point, Orlandiana
Stadium Capacity: 51,789
Distance to Walls: 325 to left, 323 to right, 380 to left-center, 377 to right-center, 407 to center
Stadium Surface: Grass

Series 9 vs Nagore

Stadium: Horn Field
Stadium Location: Goldberg, Nejax
Stadium Capacity: 84,201
Distance to Walls: 346 feet to left and right, 419 to left-center and right-center, 444 to center
Stadium Surface: Grass

Notes

After an embarrassing failure to even make the playoffs on home soil at WBC 42, the Republican National Baseball Team was completely revamped going into WBC 43. Republican National Baseball, LLC fired the entire coaching staff and carried on an extensive search to find a new manager. Eventually, they settled upon Kyle Thomas as the new manager. Thomas hired a completely new coaching staff, including former national team pitcher Aimone Cremonesi as the new pitching coach. The new coaching staff carried out an extensive scouting expedition to build a new team, eventually settling on a roster of 30, which was significantly smaller than previous Republican National Team rosters.

For the first time, the Free Republics sent a mixed-gender team to that WBC and the new women players made significant contributions to the team. The first woman selected to the team was Luana Cremonesi, the niece of the pitching coach. As a freshman, she won the closer job for the Nejax Horns, one of the elite college teams in the Free Republics and helped lead the team to a national championship by being virtually unhittable all season long. Honomi Kamei and Hollie Rogers started at shortstop and 3rd base, respectively. Kamei was the sole bright spot on a terrible Republica Vipers team, putting up numbers that would have likely won the MVP award on a better team. Hollie Rogers was the reigning RABL MVP after leading the Barkersville Titans to a surprise pennant (she has since won a second consecutive RABL MVP and led the Titans to another pennant). Teresa Mrazova's handling of the New City Time Bombs pitching staff was a major reason why the Time Bombs had won the XBL pennant, which won her a 3rd place finish in XBL Rookie of the Year voting. She served as Zac Gatehouse's personal catcher but otherwise backed up Brock Shield. Evelin Norberg and Julie Brodeur played key roles on a Petrograd Greed team that led the XBL in scoring but failed to repeat due to the implosion of their starting pitchers. Brodeur could fill in at any position in the event that a player is hurt or needs rest.

Kamei emerged as arguably the best player in the world with a dominant performance in WBC 43 and took another giant leap forward during the XBL season that saw her voted the unanimous MVP as she led a much better Republica Vipers team, including new signing Brock Shield, to a respectable 4th place finish. Kyle Thomas named Teresa Mrazova as the starting catcher for WBC 44 after she took the next step as a hitter during the XBL season, keeping the Time Bombs afloat in spite of Nicholas Fisher's down season. Taryn Russell takes Sheamus O'Connor's spot in the rotation while O'Connor remains on the roster as a long reliever in Leon Eichel's old spot. Eichel had an extremely bad season for the Oldston Arsonists at 39 and was dropped from the national team. Russell broke out for the Arsonists this year, emerging as the team's new ace. On the 5th matchday of this WBC's group stage, she will become the first female starting pitcher for the Republican National Team. The Republican rotation has been shuffled based on the results of last WBC and the recent domestic season. Namo Busque, who signed with the New City Time Bombs during the WBC, will now be the Republican National Team's ace while Gioacchino Arcuri, who was awarded the Platinum Arm award for best pitcher in the XBL, will start third because Kyle Thomas didn't want to start two lefties back-to-back. The fact that the two pitchers widely regarded as the best in the XBL would start against Liventia and Maklohi Vai, respectively, was surely just a coincidence.

After 2 WBCs of failing to return to the finals, even with the addition of pinch running specialist and Olympic 100 Meter Dash gold medalist Rene Jager during the WBC 45 playoffs, Kyle Thomas elected to retain the same roster for another WBC but shuffled the lineup a bit to reflect developments in domestic baseball. Ming Hsing replaced the aging Nemo Busque in the rotation, Kiyosumi Takeuchi replaced the aging Mario Rothschild as closer and Evelin Norberg won the starting job in left field after her breakout season for the Petrograd Greed (OOC: This resembles Christian Yelich's breakout in RL baseball last year). After several disappointing WBCs in a row, patience was running low among fans and the higher ups at Republican National Baseball, LLC. alike. Their hopes looked especially bleak when starting second baseman Ethan Joyner tore his ACL late in the group stage but Sarah Fuerst joined the team and played every bit like a younger version of Honami Kamei during their playoff run. Kyle Thomas abandoned the concept of a pitching rotation altogether during the WBC 46 playoffs, choosing to utilize openers for most games and to regularly change pitchers during games. This all paid off with a WBC title.

Last year, Thomas has once again elected to keep the same team to defend their title at home but he has made a number of changes to the lineup to reflect developments in Republican domestic baseball. It has been a really eventful season in the X Baseball League as the Republica Vipers ran away with the league title after buying several national team stars during the off season. They broke the league record for wins in a campaign even after failing to convince Sarah Fuerst, who lives rent-free in Kamei's house, to drop out of the University of Republica. Instead, Fuerst led the Patriots to an RCAA title while maintaining a perfect 4.0 grade point average in her computer science program. That campaign ended with a quarterfinals loss to Cassadaigua.

This year, the team has been revamped as several aging players have been left off the roster as Kyle Thomas has elected to give several new breakout stars a spot on the roster. The Vipers once again won the XBL but it was nowhere near as easy this year. The biggest surprise of the season was the New City Time Bombs, who remained in contention until fading down the stretch in large part due to the resurgence of Teresa Mrazova and the emergence of Amber DeRose. The emergence of Gabriel Jobin as a relief ace and the development of Ming Hsing helped the Petrograd Greed overcome the regression of Oskar Bjorgum to finish just 3 games back of the Vipers. Meanwhile, the University of Republica Patriots won the RCAA title again despite an injury to Fuerst during the RCAA tournament. That was in large part due to RCAA Tournament MVP Ella Abbott who went 4 for 4 in the final against University of Malifornia - Los Martires, scoring the winning run with a daring steal of home in the bottom of the 9th.

Alexander Capon, who replaced former cleanup hitter Nicholas Fisher as the starting DH last year, is capable of playing the field and will sometimes play first base to give Oskar Bjorgum a day off from playing the field.

All of the players on the bench are likely to see playing time over the course of the WBC and Kyle Thomas will not hesitate to pull a pitcher who is obviously tired. Strategic substitutions and defensive shifts should be expected at appropriate times. Thomas has also been known to use openers in the past but got away from that strategy last year.

The various leagues in which these players compete domestically vary greatly in terms of caliber of play. The ENBL in Newmanistan is obviously vastly superior to any of the domestic leagues in the FFR but among those domestic leagues the XBL and the TPB are the best leagues with the RABL and SPBAA on a slightly lower tier. The RCAA is college baseball and therefore plays only a 60 game regular season with a much lower level of play.

RP Permissions

My opponent, if they RP first, may do the following:
Choose my runscorers: Yes (but don't do anything that would be impossible under the rules of the sport)
Choose my lineup: Yes (please read the notes section first)
Follow my pitching rotation: Yes (if the team is using an opener, I'll mention it in my RP)
Godmod scoring events: Yes
RP injuries to my players: Yes
Godmod injuries to my players: Yes
Eject my players: Yes (unlimited)
Godmod other events: Yes
Use DH at home: Yes

[Falisiand]

The Falisiand Bison put up a hard fight against the #4 team in the multiverse, but still lost 2 games to 1. Let's recap those games and see how our team did.

In the first game, Xerxes Anscom was on the mound after his incredible performance in IBS, but he let 2 runs score early, he pitched 6.0 innings with 2 BB's and 9 Ks, our only run was by FBA MVP front runner Ciaran Krueger, but the bullpen allowed 2 more runs allowing Ko-oren to win 4-1 in the first game.

Ko-oren                               0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0  4
Falisiand                             0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0  1

Kyron Burnett was on the mound in this game where he pitched 7 innings with 3 walks and 11 K's, Falisiand struck first with a home run by Richard Mcbride in the 3rd inning, but the one run Kyron Burnett allowed was in the 7th, then Ko-oren scored a late run in the 9th and took off with a 2-1 win in this close matchup.

Ko-oren                               0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1  2
Falisiand                             0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  1

The 3rd game had Austin Wilkerson on the mound where he pitched 6.1 innings and had 6 stikeouts and 3 walks. Ko-oren took the early lead but Falisiand came back with two 2 run homers by Kodey Kenton and Ciaran Krueger, getting them a 4-1 lead, thenKo-oren hit a grand slam and a scored a run to have them a 6-4 lead, but Kodey Kenton came up clutch by hitting a game tying home run in the 8th for a 6-6 game, then no one scored in the 9th having the game go to extra innings, after 8 more extra innings Richard Mcbride hit the walk off homer in the 17th to close out the series and prevent Falisiand to be swept by the 4th ranked team ,Ko-oren.

Ko-oren                               0 1 0 0 0 0 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  6
Falisiand                             0 0 0 0 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  7

The next series will be against the rosterless The Sarian who are ranked 24th in the multiverse, history has shown that rosterless teams tend to lose against teams with rosters, but the WBC can be unpredictable.

[Delaclava]

DSGN.com Baseball

Little-regarded Delaclava team shows fast progress, takes top-10 win

The Delaclava national team, consisting entirely of Dillobourne (Hess) locals, got off to an unexpectedly strong start, winning one of three games in ninth-ranked Abanhfleft and improving with every game.

The Phoenixes lost 7-1 in their opener, before drawing closer with a 4-3 loss that was only decided with a walk-off double in the ninth inning. Then the floodgates opened in the series finale, a 12-2 victory with a home run and four RBIs by Josip Oller and a strong complete game performance from young starter Rhys Hackett.

Hackett's performance, including 11 strikeouts, was particularly notable, as the Delaclava Olympic Committee is looking at this performance as a measure of the viability of a future Delaclav baseball program. Players like Hackett, 22, Oller, 24, and 23-year-old Owen Clark, who went 8-for-14 in the series, are possibly proving themselves as worthy to take part in a fully recruited and carefully selected national team going forward.

The Phoenixes next come home to Khalil Dennis Stadium at the National Athletic Complex in Catherina to take on #7 Free Republics, the top seed in Group 6. With a respectable performance in their first three games, the upstart Dillobourne squad may be seeing a large and enthusiastic crowd in support of their next top-10 challenge.

[The Royal Kingdom of Quebec]

Royal Kingdom of Quebec National Baseball Team

Nickname: Grim Reapers
Acronym: QUE
Denonym: Quebecois (Preferred), Quebecer (that's fine)

Home Colours: Blue, White and Yellow
Away Colours:Red, Black and White
Official Supporters Group: The Bubonic Plague
IBS Season : December 2044-February 2045
Stadium: Parc Jamsil, Quebec City, Capitale-Nationale (Park Factor: 65)
Style Mod: -1

Coaching Staff
Head Coach: Kim Seung-Bong, 61 - M - Quebec Bears
Pitching Coach: Dana Hussul, 46 - F - Winnipeg Rangers
Fielding Coach: Seo Sang-Mi, 55 - F - Chicoutimi Lions
Hitting Coach: Hector Rosenbloom-Kirsanoff, 58 - M - Kingston Tigers
Bench Coach: Gabriel-Henri Matsumoto, 48 - M - Sherbrooke Raiders
Battery Coach: Katie McLelland-Gong, 44 - F - Moncton Dinos
Bullpen Coach: Choe Bong-Hak, 39 - M - Chicoutimi Lions


Pitching rotation (5)
#29 - FIRST - LHP - Jo Seung-Geon - M - Levis Wyverns
#13 - SECOND - LHP - Karine Bessette, 26 - F - Montreal Twins
#17 - THIRD - RHP - Nadine Seo, 28 - F - Halifax Giants - SIDEARM
#99 - FOURTH - LHP - Keith Bankosky, 35 - M - California City Dodgers
#28 - FIFTH - RHP - Kevin Buchanan, 21 - M - Kingston Blue Jays

Bullpen (8)
Long Relief : #15 - RHP - Alexis Mwanga, 33 - F - Winnipeg Rangers - UNDERHANDED
Long Relief : #61 - LHP - Kim Gi-Joong, 22 - M - Ottawa Eagles
One-out-specialist : #28 - LHP - Janice Grametbauer, - F - Prince Eric Athletics
Middle Relief : #47 - LHP - Kim Soo-Hwa, 25 - F - Chicoutimi Lions
Middle Relief : #20 - RHP - Jang Hyo-Seung, 24 - M - Sherbrooke Raiders
Short Relief : #19 - RHP - So Eung-Ran, 27 - F - Montreal Expos
Setup Man : #15 - LHP - Hector Macintosh, 31 - M - Montreal Twins
Setup Man : #21 - RHP - Margo Nam-Bowen, 34 - F - Kingston Tigers
Closer : #18 - RHP - Alexandre Farias, 22 - M - Levis Wyverns - SIDEARM

Catchers (3) - Throws/Bats
#22 - R/R - C - Pierre L. Martin, 34 - M - Chicoutimi Lions
#25 - R/S - C - Kelsey Altherr, 23 - F - Moncton Dinos
#47 - R/R - C - Horace Choo, 25 - M - Halifax Giants

Infielders (7) - Throws/Bats
*#8 - R/S - 2B - Levinson Webster, 28 - M - California City Dodgers
#5 - R/L - 1B - Kang Ye-Rim, 20 - F - Attawapiskat Wiz
#6 - L/L - 1B - Alexanne Langford, 26 - F - Chicoutimi Lions
*#7 - R/R - SS - Gregory Reynolds-Walusimbi, 22 - M - Kingston Tigers
*#10 - R/R - 3B - Heo Myeong-Shin, 23 - M - Kingston Tigers
#14 - R/R - SS/2B - Hwang Joon-Beom, 34 - M - Southport Tigers (Newmanistan)
#25 - R/S - UTILITY - Christiane Jo-Gagnon, 25 - F - Quebec Bears

Outfielders (5) - Throws/Bats
#4 - R/L - LF/RF - Pierre Gong-Auclair, 25 - M - Chicoutimi Lions
*#11 - R/S - CF - Samuel Carlini-Mwambutsya, 22 - M - Kingston Blue Jays
#16 - L/L - CF - Dana Batoș, 28 - F - Levis Wyverns
#31 - L/L - RF - Hwang Gyu-Seong, 26 - M - Moncton Dinos
#50 - R/R - LF - Hannah Choe, 21 - F - Quebec Bears

Notes on our Grim Reapers

Traditionally, the Grim Reapers have taken the pitcher use with great dose of liberalism. Assuming the pitcher has a solid game, the pitching count is loosely observed, and it's absolutely in sight for the starter to go well into seventh or even eighth inning. That said, it is just as likely for the starting pitcher to get yanked within first three innings if one allows too many runs early into the game, which of course have happened before. In those cases, expect at three to five pitchers to be used for remainder of the game.

The Grim Reapers, as with their equivalents in other sports, are very aggressive- it's in their playing colours and will stay like that forever. While they do lack fast players, most of the outfielders and some infielders do have very good sense in stealing bases or making right decisions when taking risks, so while an occasional whoopsie-daisie with early outs do happen, it's not be all end all. Of course, we also have to remember that this is counted into the selection criteria, which means that both the infielders and outfielders are expected to be proficient in defence and even prepare for multiple positions. This is more the case with infielders than outfielders, but both have seen flexible use of such players before anyway.

Of course, there is a bit of complicated situation with the Quebecois history and geographic realities. Traditionally, baseball has been a fairly racially and regionally ubiquitous sport in Quebec, though there are strong regional and ethnic elements that are noticeable to it. Traditionally, there is strong sense of regional pride that derives from many of the iconic QBO franchises that have defined its history, as six regions traditionally dominate in both high school and pro baseball output, which reflects well into the first round of QBO Drafts. There is somewhat divide between those of Central Quebec (Montreal Twins vs. Quebec Bears), Southwest (Kingston Tigers vs. Kingston Blue Jays), Manitoba (California City Dodgers), Southeast (Halifax Giants), Northwest (Attawapiskat Wiz) and Northeast (Ottawa Eagles). There are minor stylistic differences between the regions and how their players' play, but those don't factor as much as how they used to be. Ethnically, the sport does have more Korean-Quebecois players in general rule of thumb, though that means little in this day and age where most Quebecois, whether Indigenous, Caucasian, Korean or of other Commonwealth origins, are fairly mixed-raced. Still, Korean is the lingua franca of the baseball diamond and that continues to be a defining feature of the Quebecois baseball scene as whole.

Starting Lineup (Position, Bats)
1: S. Carlini-Mwambutsya (CF, S)
2: 8: G.S. Hwang (RF, L)
3: A. Langford (1B, L)
4: M.S. Heo (3B, R)
5: Y.R. Kang (DH, L)
7: H. Choe (LF, L)
7: L. Webster (2B, S)
8: H. Choo (C, R)
9: J.B. Hwang (SS, R)
If the DH is not being used on away venue of concern, Y.R. Kang will alternate with either G.S. Hwang on RF or A. Langford on 1B.

My opponent, if they RP first, may do the following:
Choose my runscorers: Yes
Choose my lineup: Sure
Follow my pitching rotation: Yes
Godmod scoring events: Yes
RP injuries to my players: No
Godmod injuries to my players: No!
Eject my players: Go ahead
Godmod other events: TG me in advance
Use DH at home: Hellyeah!

[Newmanistan]

Series 2, Game 1

Group 1
Chromatika                            0 1 0 0 2 0 0 5 0  8
Marigred                              2 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0  5

Se Vende Skooma                       0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0
Newmanistan                           0 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 X  4

South Covello                         0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3  4
TJUN-ia                               1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2  3

Series 2, Game 2

Group 1
Chromatika                            0 3 0 1 0 0 0 2 0  6
Marigred                              0 0 2 1 0 0 1 0 0  4

Se Vende Skooma                       0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0  1
Newmanistan                           0 1 0 2 0 0 1 0 X  4

South Covello                         0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2  3
TJUN-ia                               0 1 1 1 3 0 0 2 X  8

Series 2, Game 3

Group 1
Chromatika                            1 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 3  7
Marigred                              4 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0  5

Se Vende Skooma                       0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0  1
Newmanistan                           0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 X  3

South Covello                         0 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0  4
TJUN-ia                               0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2  2

*                         Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
1 Newmanistan             6    6   0   0    37   15  +22    18
2 South Covello           6    4   0   2    23   19   +4    12
3 Chromatika              6    4   0   2    27   26   +1    12
4 TJUN-ia                 6    3   0   3    27   20   +7     9
5 Se Vende Skooma         6    1   0   5    11   25  −14     3
6 Marigred                6    0   0   6    27   47  −20     0

Series 2, Game 1

Group 2
Liventia                              0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 2  5
The Jovannic                          1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1  4

Banija                                2 0 0 4 2 0 0 0 0  8
Daskel                                0 0 4 1 0 0 0 0 0  5

Kohnhead                              0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0  4
Sarzonia                              0 0 4 2 1 2 0 0 X  9

Series 2, Game 2

Group 2
Liventia                              1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1  3
The Jovannic                          0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0  1

Banija                                0 0 0 0 0 2 1 3 0  6
Daskel                                0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0  2

Kohnhead                              0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 0  4
Sarzonia                              0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  1

Series 2, Game 3

Group 2
Liventia                              0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0  2
The Jovannic                          0 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 X  4

Banija                                1 4 0 2 0 0 0 1 1  9
Daskel                                0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0  1

Kohnhead                              1 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 0  5
Sarzonia                              0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1  4

*                         Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
1 Liventia                6    5   0   1    21   13   +8    15
2 Banija                  6    4   0   2    35   23  +12    12
3 Sarzonia                6    3   0   3    29   25   +4     9
4 The Jovannic            6    2   0   4    28   33   −5     6
5 Kohnhead                6    2   0   4    17   25   −8     6
6 Daskel                  6    2   0   4    31   42  −11     6

Series 2, Game 1

Group 3
The Greater Nordics                   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 0 0  5
Drunk People at the Local Tavern      3 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  6

Quebecois Acadiana                    3 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0  6
South Newlandia                       0 3 3 0 0 1 1 0 X  8

Hampton Island                        0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 3  5
Torisakia                             0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0  2

Series 2, Game 2

Group 3
The Greater Nordics                   1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  1
Drunk People at the Local Tavern      0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0

Quebecois Acadiana                    0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 1  4
South Newlandia                       2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3  5

Hampton Island                        0 3 1 0 0 0 0 4 0  8
Torisakia                             0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0  1

Series 2, Game 3

Group 3
The Greater Nordics                   2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0  3
Drunk People at the Local Tavern      0 0 0 2 1 3 0 2 X  8

Quebecois Acadiana                    2 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 1  6
South Newlandia                       0 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 3  8

Hampton Island                        1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 3  5
Torisakia                             0 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 0  4

*                                     Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
1 Hampton Island                      6    5   0   1    32   20  +12    15
2 South Newlandia                     6    5   0   1    44   33  +11    15
3 Drunk People at the Local Tavern    6    3   0   3    31   32   −1     9
4 Torisakia                           6    3   0   3    23   25   −2     9
5 The Greater Nordics                 6    2   0   4    22   28   −6     6
6 Quebecois Acadiana                  6    0   0   6    23   37  −14     0

Series 2, Game 1

Group 4
Cassadaigua                           0 1 0 4 0 2 0 1 1  9
Drawkland                             0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0  2

The Fair Republic                     0 2 0 0 0 0 1 2 2 0 0  7
Ethane                                1 0 0 0 2 3 1 0 0 0 3 10

Northwest Kalactin                    0 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0  4
Lovisa                                0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0  2

Series 2, Game 2

Group 4
Cassadaigua                           6 0 0 4 0 0 1 0 0 11
Drawkland                             0 0 0 3 0 2 0 0 1  6

The Fair Republic                     0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1  4
Ethane                                0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0  3

Northwest Kalactin                    1 3 0 0 2 3 0 0 1 10
Lovisa                                1 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 1  6

Series 2, Game 3

Group 4
Cassadaigua                           0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  3
Drawkland                             0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0  2

The Fair Republic                     0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2  3
Ethane                                0 2 0 1 0 5 0 0 X  8

Northwest Kalactin                    0 2 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 2  7
Lovisa                                0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 1 0  5

*                         Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
1 Cassadaigua             6    6   0   0    38   20  +18    18
2 Ethane                  6    4   0   2    33   24   +9    12
3 Northwest Kalactin      6    3   0   3    31   28   +3     9
4 Lovisa                  6    3   0   3    30   30    0     9
5 The Fair Republic       6    1   0   5    23   38  −15     3
6 Drawkland               6    1   0   5    20   35  −15     3

Series 2, Group 1

Group 5
Nova Anglicana                        2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0  3
Equestrian States                     0 4 1 1 1 0 0 0 X  7

Jeckland                              0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1  2
Zwangzug                              0 2 1 0 0 3 0 3 X  9

Ihilthracna                           2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0  3
Hapilopper                            0 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 X  4

Series 2, Game 2

Group 5
Nova Anglicana                        0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0  3
Equestrian States                     0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0

Jeckland                              1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0  3
Zwangzug                              0 0 4 1 0 0 0 0 X  5

Ihilthracna                           1 0 3 0 0 1 0 0 0  5
Hapilopper                            0 1 0 3 0 2 0 0 X  6

Series 2, Game 3

Group 5
Nova Anglicana                        1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1  4
Equestrian States                     0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0  3

Jeckland                              0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0  4
Zwangzug                              1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  1

Ihilthracna                           1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0  2
Hapilopper                            1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 X  3

*                         Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
1 Nova Anglicana          6    5   0   1    23   16   +7    15
2 Hapilopper              6    5   0   1    24   18   +6    15
3 Zwangzug                6    3   0   3    28   23   +5     9
4 Equestrian States       6    3   0   3    24   23   +1     9
5 Jeckland                6    2   0   4    17   26   −9     6
6 Ihilthracna             6    0   0   6    16   26  −10     0

Series 2, Game 1

Group 6
Ranoria                               0 0 2 0 1 0 2 1 0  6
Nagore                                2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0  4

Abanhfleft                            0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0  3
HUElavia                              0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2  4

Free Republics                        2 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0  4
Delaclava                             0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0  2

Series 2, Game 2

Group 6
Ranoria                               1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0  3
Nagore                                1 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 X  4

Abanhfleft                            0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0  3
HUElavia                              0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 X  4

Free Republics                        2 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 1  6
Delaclava                             1 1 2 2 0 0 1 1 X  8

Series 2, Game 3

Group 6
Ranoria                               0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0  2
Nagore                                3 1 0 0 3 0 0 1 X  8

Abanhfleft                            0 0 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 1  5
HUElavia                              0 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 0 0  4

Free Republics                        2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  4
Delaclava                             0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0  3

*                         Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
1 Nagore                  6    4   0   2    26   19   +7    12
2 Free Republics          6    4   0   2    32   28   +4    12
3 HUElavia                6    3   0   3    20   21   −1     9
4 Abanhfleft              6    3   0   3    24   28   −4     9
5 Delaclava               6    2   0   4    29   27   +2     6
6 Ranoria                 6    2   0   4    26   34   −8     6

Series 2, Game 1

Group 7
The Sarian                            2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  2
Falisiand                             1 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 X  4

Mathuvan Union                        0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 0  4
Ko-oren                               1 2 3 2 3 5 1 0 X 17

Royal Kingdom of Quebec               0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  2
Tikariot                              1 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 X  6

Series 2, Game 2

Group 7
The Sarian                            2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  2
Falisiand                             1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 X  4

Mathuvan Union                        0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0  2
Ko-oren                               0 0 1 0 0 2 0 1 X  4

Royal Kingdom of Quebec               0 1 1 0 0 0 7 0 0  9
Tikariot                              0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0

Series 2, Game 3

Group 7
The Sarian                            0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  1
Falisiand                             0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 X  3

Mathuvan Union                        0 0 0 1 0 2 2 0 2  7
Ko-oren                               0 0 2 0 0 0 0 3 3  8

Royal Kingdom of Quebec               4 3 2 0 1 1 0 0 2 13
Tikariot                              1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 3  7

*                            Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
1 Ko-oren                    6    5   0   1    41   22  +19    15
2 Royal Kingdom of Quebec    6    4   0   2    41   28  +13    12
3 Falisiand                  6    4   0   2    20   17   +3    12
4 Tikariot                   6    3   0   3    21   28   −7     9
5 The Sarian                 6    1   0   5    20   28   −8     3
6 Mathuvan Union             6    1   0   5    17   37  −20     3

Series 2, Game 1

Group 8
Pripet Socialist Republic             0 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 1  5
Devonta                               0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  4

Megistos                              0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0  3
Super-Llamaland                       0 0 1 0 0 2 0 2 X  5

Terre Septentrionale                  0 0 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0  4
The Sherpa Empire                     1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 3  7

Series 2, Game 2

Group 8
Pripet Socialist Republic             0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0  2
Devonta                               0 0 1 0 0 0 1 2 X  4

Megistos                              1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  1
Super-Llamaland                       0 0 1 1 3 1 0 4 X 10

Terre Septentrionale                  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 1  4
The Sherpa Empire                     0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0  3

Series 2, Game 3

Group 8
Pripet Socialist Republic             0 0 1 1 0 0 1 3 0  6
Devonta                               0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0  3

Megistos                              1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1  4
Super-Llamaland                       0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 2  5

Terre Septentrionale                  0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0  3
The Sherpa Empire                     0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 2  5

*                              Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
1 Terre Septentrionale         6    4   0   2    28   20   +8    12
2 Super-Llamaland              6    4   0   2    34   27   +7    12
3 The Sherpa Empire            6    4   0   2    30   29   +1    12
4 Devonta                      6    3   0   3    30   27   +3     9
5 Pripet Socialist Republic    6    2   0   4    18   28  −10     6
6 Megistos                     6    1   0   5    26   35   −9     3

[Hapilopper]

Capital Stadium, Hapilopper City
World Baseball Classic 49 Series 2: Hapilopper v. Ihilthracna
Over the course of three games, the Hapilopper National Baseball Team probably did more to restore the public’s confidence in their national team, their favorite ballplayers, than anything could have. In front of 63,000 rabid fans every night, the Haps delivered on the expectation that this team wasn’t screwing around this time. The team wasn’t the kind of team that were relying on stupidity and egos like it had in years past. This was a team that more resembled the team from the 46th Classic, a team that made the playoffs in its first year out.

Sure, the team from Ihilthracna pulled out to an early lead in the first two games. But the Hapilopper National Baseball Team was a team hell-bent on turning that around. In the first game, shrewd pitching (and the right substances) from starting pitcher Vic Foster kept that lead to just 2-0. There had been some controversy over his use of foreign substances to doctor the ball, but Vic wasn’t having anything of it, and at the end of the first inning, went from fat shortening to a peanut butter and petroleum jelly cocktail, and as a result, his pitches spun the way he wanted them to, and dropped exactly where he was hoping.

The change of substances bought the Haps plenty of time. Sure, they were getting runners on base, but they weren’t able to plate any of them. That changed in the fourth inning, when Dayton Rowe pulled off a ballsy move in the bottom of the fourth when Leroy Hunnisett was up with two outs. It was foreshadowed when Dayton, taking a lead off third base, started screaming at the pitcher, daring him to pick him off.

The screaming was so intense, Leroy looked back towards third base to see Dayton hollering obscenities at the Ilthracnelik pitcher. Realizing what he was doing, Leroy nodded his head and set in for what he thought would be a pitch. It was a pitch that never came. The Ilthracnelik pitcher called Dayton’s bluff and started to pick him off. Unfortunately, Dayton was halfway to home plate by then, and the Ilthracnelik pitcher threw to his battery mate, but it was too late. Dayton had slid into home, and Hapilopper was on the board.

Dayton, strutting back to the home dugout, started shouting at his teammates, daring them to top that performance. There was more than a little bit of enthusiasm in the Hapiloppian dugout, as well all over Capital Stadium, and that enthusiasm stretched to the next inning, when Vic Foster – the pitcher! – got the pitch he wanted from the Ilthracnelik pitcher, and sent it into the first deck in left field.

The Hapiloppian fans were delirious. The fans out in the outfield seats threw their cups of beer and soda into the air, and streamers flew like crazy onto the field. But it was quite unexpected. Many Hapiloppians had taken bets on who would be the first to homer in Capital Stadium during the World Baseball Classic. Popular bets had been for Jerome Hayden, Leroy Hunnisett, Levi Berry and Terry Blanchard, but very few – if any – had picked a pitcher.

The Haps won that game 4-3, the other run coming from a towering third deck shot from Jerome Hayden – a blast that Jerome looked up at, stopped, flashed a massive smile, and flipped his bat before going on his home run trot. It only set the scene for a magnificent three-game series that saw the Haps grow even wilder and rowdier, and their fans louder and louder.

In the second game, another rally got going from a ballsy Hapiloppian play. It happened when Terry Blanchard blasted past the stop sign from third base coach Chad Walter and roared straight at the Ilthracnelik catcher. Some fans swore they heard Terry screaming at the catcher en route to trucking him at home plate. The ball flew out of the catcher’s hands, and Terry was safe.

Two more runs were plated in that inning, on the strength of a two-run home run from Levi Berry, bringing Campbell Braxton home. The Haps won that game 6-5, with the other two runs coming from a Dayton Rowe triple, that were it not for shrewd fielding from the left fielder (and Dayton running past Chad Walter’s stop sign at third base), would have been an inside-the-park home run.

Game three was different. There wasn’t much in the way of ballsy baserunning and beautiful hitting. What the Hapiloppians got to see, however, was one of the best performances from Charlton Forest in some time. On a night where many of the 63,000 on hand at Capital Stadium were enjoying some of his own beer from Fastball Brews in Kingsland, Charlton had a gem of a night, allowing just two runs while ringing up sixteen strikeouts in a complete game win, a 3-2 victory.

The Hapiloppians were in ecstasy. Their national team had swept their opponents from Ihilthracna and were very easily in second place, behind the all-powerful team from Nova Anglicana, with only run differential being the difference between the two. More importantly, the team felt like they had momentum. They felt they were firing on all cylinders, and whatever issues that had been going on between certain players appeared to be behind them.

That sense of unity, that sense of comradery was needed now more than ever, for a very tall order awaited them in the form of the Lions from Nova Anglicana. The Haps were going to have to be on the top of their game if they were going to take down the Lions, and in Archbishop Stadium, where the Haps expected to be filled with 35,000 Nova Anglicans cheering on their favorites.

But if anyone could take the Nova Anglicans down, it had to be the Haps. This was the best the HNBT had been in a very long time.

[The Jovannic]

At a local tavern in Jovannica

So, another 2-1 series loss?

Yes, quite unfortunately. We played well. Hi Leng Chua definitely has improved his game.

Do you think that we can reach the knockout rounds once again?

That's for sure. We inflicted Liventia's first loss! With this kind of form, we will be formidable.

That's if the curse of the one place below doesn't hit us again.

Hm.

The two men take another chug at their beers. The tavern had fewer customers than before, but it was still busy.

Who are we against next again?

Banija. They beat Daskel real good. They are no.2 in the world, but they lost their first series 2-1.

They have weaknesses?

Yes. If Ho Leng Chua and the lads can exploit these, I wouldn't count out a straight 3-0 win.

A man approaches the conversation Oh really? Want to bet?

Uhhhh 5 Jovs for a straight victory either side?

Deal. See u tommorow!

Better keep your end.

Nani? Why you do that?

For fun.

[The Sherpa Empire]

Daki Chuan hadn't been to Kolkata for a couple of years -- not since the Lady Tigers, the women's counterpart to the Bengal Tigers, got their own stadium in Guwahati. When SIBA first introduced the women's teams, they shared stadia with existing SIBA franchises; but over the next few years they moved the women's teams to other cities that didn't have a local men's team. The new stadia for the women's teams were smaller, but it was easier to fill the seats when they were the only team in town. Chuan's team, the Plum Blossoms, had moved from Nanjing to Suzhou; and the Lady Tigers had moved from Kolkata to Guwahati. The only women's team that had a larger market than their male counterparts were the Peppers, who had moved from Chengdu to Chongqing. Consequently, the Chongqing Peppers were by far the richest women's baseball team in the Sherpa Empire, and they had obnoxious entitled fans who expected to win pretty much every game.

When the Plum Blossoms and the Lady Tigers played at Eden Gardens before the move to Guwahati, the seats were mostly empty. Women's baseball didn't draw as many people as the men's games, and the stadium was much too large for the number of fans.

Playing at Eden Gardens again was a nice trip down memory lane for Daki Chuan, but seeing the stadium full was a totally new experience. She'd never been there when it was full. It was kind of overwhelming to see that many people in the stands, and it was loud. Tsheri Pham put away the side in the top of the 1st, and Ojha scored on a Qiao double in the bottom of the inning to give the Sherpas a 1-0 lead. It was shaping up to be a fun game. The Septentrionaux came back in the 3rd with a 3 run homer by Wojciechowski, but there was still time for the Sherpas to mount a comeback of their own. The batters looked like they still had some fight left in them. Qureshi led off the bottom of the inning with a single, narrowly beating out the throw to first. Ojha drew a walk, Qu struck out, Qiao hit a foul ball into the 3rd baseman's glove, and Wangchu Namkha Qiang (no relation to any other famous Sherpalanders with the surname Qiang) hit a line drive into right field, which brought Qureshi in to score. The Sherpas were still trailing, but they were only down by 1 now.

Daki Chuan was watching from the bullpen. She didn't really expect to get brought in, so she was mostly just enjoying the game as a spectator, cheering the team on. Kami Akunjee was sitting next to her on one side, apparently trying to sneak a peak down her jersey or something, and Luochong Zhuang was sitting next to her on the other side. Now and then one of them would say something about the game, or about the WBC more generally. Akunjee said he liked having a woman on the team, but it was obvious that he liked it for all the wrong reasons. Chuan wouldn't have minded Akunjee being attracted to her if he expressed it in words instead of just drooling over her like a dog with a piece of meat -- but the way he ogled her was really gross.

And then for some reason Zhuang was explaining the chemical mechanism that SARS used to hack into cells. Chuan couldn't quite remember how the conversation had turned to SARS. They had been talking about baseball, and then they were talking about the games that the Nanjing Mandarins had played in Hangzhou because Nanjing was under quarantine, and then somehow it turned into a biology lecture about spike proteins and angiotensin-converting enzyme. Chuan was only half listening and she was sure none of the stuff Zhuang said would stick in her long term memory, but it was nice that he was talking to her like just another teammate. Zhuang babbled and Chuan listened until Kami Akunjee got bored and went down to the other end of the bench to talk to someone else. Chuan let out a sigh of relief, thankful that Akunjee had turned his attention elsewhere. Zhuang showed no sign of slowing down. He had now moved on to explaining how scientists had analyzed SARS-2 and determined that it was a naturally-occurring virus and not a genetically-engineered version of SARS-1. Chuan hadn't asked how scientists knew SARS-2 was not a genetically engineered version of SARS-1, but Zhuang was explaining it anyway.

"Holy Mother, are you a virologist in your spare time or something?" Chuan asked as the Sherpa fielders took their positions at the start of the 7th inning. Zhuang had been talking about SARS since the 4th inning.

Zhuang looked embarrassed. "No, I just like to read," he said sheepishly, "and science is interesting. I don't know why other people think it's boring."

"I mean, it's interesting if you're a virologist, but, like, I'm a pitcher on a women's baseball team. I'm not going to remember all that. If you walked into a virology lab and started talking about how to pitch to different batters on the Hangzhou Brewers, everyone's eyes would glaze over too."

"Okay, but don't you think it's interesting?" said Zhuang, and soon he had picked up where he left off talking about SARS.

The game was tied 4-4 at the end of 9 innings, but Zhiku Tsongba Sherpa broke the tie with a 3 run homer in the bottom of the 10th. Loud cheers broke out as he rounded the bases, and the players poured out of the dugout to give him high-fives and celebratory hugs when he crossed the plate.

---

---

The second game of the series did not have such a happy ending. Akunjee pitched 7 scoreless innings, giving up only two hits -- and since he was busy pitching he could not annoy Daki Chuan by leering at her. Bharadhwaj, who pitched the 8th, was also in top form, and the offense was hitting some. The Sherpas lead 3-0 after 8 innings. But then Jamil Roshan, who was supposed to be the team's hot new closer, blew the save and sent the game into extra innings. Murthy gave up a run in the top of the 11th, and the Sherpas could not answer it in the bottom of the inning. They went down in order, and the game ended with a mighty whiff from Geli Ananthan as he swung for the fences and missed the ball -- his 3rd strike for that at bat.

Zhuang spent a good chunk of that game telling Daki Chuan about ice fish, until the pitching coach cut him off and said Chuan needed to get warmed up in case the game somehow went to a 12th inning. If it did, she might be needed.

---

---

The third game, Zhuang shut up and pitched, and he did not even bore the manager or the pitching coach with any of his scientific curiosities. He was embarrassed about how badly he botched his start against Megistos, and he was focused on redeeming himself. Going into the bottom of the 9th, the score was tied 3-3 and it looked like they might be headed for yet another extra innings game, but then Jayant Zia came through with a 2 run walk-off homer.

[TJUN-ia]

YOU ARE ENTERING THE JUNGLE
FAIR PLAY SHALL BE OBSERVED HERE AT ALL TIMES
IF NOT, THE CROWD SHALL EAT YOU ALIVE

The Jaguars were back in the Jungle of Rounders Field in Portside for the first time in WBC49. After winning their first series 2-1, TJUN-ia expected a dog fight with 2nd best team in Group 1 - 22nd ranked South Covello. Despite being one of our biggest opponents, we had nothing on these guys heading into the series - not even a team sheet!

---

Game 1
South Covello 4-3 TJUN-ia, SCO leads series 1-0
Before the 9th inning, this game was a tight low-scoring affair. 1 run to us in the bottom of the first, 1 run to the away side in the top of the 5th. Both their starting pitch and Jose Almas were having a good day on the mound. But then the 9th arrived. SoCo scored 3, TJUN-ia tried to replay with the same but to no avail. 4-3 final, the Jaguars could have won that.

Game 2
South Covello 3-8 TJUN-ia, Series tied 1-1
The anger of how yesterday went was used on this game. SoCo was held scoreless until the 8th as Kyle McNash and the batters made this game a blowout. It was a bit iffy towards the end when closer Carlos Buena was brought into the game, but that didn't matter in the end. The series was tied and now needed Game 3 to be the decider.

Game 3
South Covello 4-2 TJUN-ia, SCO wins series 2-1
SoCo decided that this game would be theirs from the off, and held TJUN-ia scoreless until the 9th. TJUN-ia scored 2, but that wasn't enough at all. SoCo wins the series and TJUN-ia needs to improve.

TJUN-ia leave Portside at .500 - 3 wins, 3 loses, 9 points. Heading to a 2-series road stretch, the Battin' Jags need to find something if the want to have any chance of making it to the last 16. The first of these 2 games is in Chromatica, who are currently a game ahead of us. If we want to fight, this series needs to be won. GO JAGS!

---

SCHEDULE (Group 1)
S1 (G1/G2/G3): @Se Vende Skooma (UR) - SublimeBurger Park W 2-1 (3rd)
S2 (G4/G5/G6): vs South Covello (22) - Rounders Field, Portside L 1-2 (4th)
S3 (G7/G8/G9): @Chromatika (26)
S4 (G10/G11/G12): @Newmanistan (5) - The Jungle, Loudon
S5 (G13/G14/G15): vs Marigred (UR) - The Diamond in The Gardens, New Washington
---------------------------MIDWAY BREAK---------------------------
S6 (G16/G17/G18): vs Se Vende Skooma (UR) - Rounders Field, Portside
S7 (G19/G20/G21):@South Covello (22)
S8 (G22/G23/G24): vs Chromatika (26) - The Diamond in The Gardens, New Washington
S9 (G25/G26/G27): vs Newmanistan (5) - Rounders Field, Portside
S10 (G28/G29/G30): @Marigred (UR)

[Ranoria]

Ranorian National Team Struggling Against Big Time Competition

This team hasn't played well...but that isn't so they've been underperforming, based on expectations

As hopeful as we were about this upcoming season, Ranoria's international debut in the sport of baseball, the team has thus far been a laughingstock.

Ranoria has gone 1-2 in both of its competitions thus far this season, with Leonardo Harrison and Nicholas Lux being the catalysts for the victories, but that wasn't unexpected. Our biggest issue thus far? Batting. Despite scoring 6 or more runs in three of six contests thus far, the team seems to simply be swinging for the fences, with Tim von Kuhn himself having notched 3 home runs already, but he has only been able to so much as make contact with the ball three times. In other words: blind luck mixed with raw power.

But with a roster made up of rejects and just a few domestic stars, Ranoria's team simply isn't up to par. Harrison and Lux could likely play, and star, anywhere they wanted, but the rest of this team is above average in a league where top talent flees to other countries. Banija, for one, has sapped a few of the most exciting Ranorian prospects in the last few years.

Look, there is still plenty of time for a turnaround. Leonardo Harrison is hell-bent on making baseball into a truly popular sport in Ranoria, for his own self interest and for the diversity of his fellow Ranorian athletes. The Free Republics were the 7th ranked team coming in, and we still have Abahnhfleft, ranked 9, to dance with. Ranoria was never going to have a chance against that caliber of competition, and that's okay. The fact that we managed a win against Free Republics was a miracle in and of itself. And there is reason for hope.

Ranoria's best pitcher, Tommy Verona, has thrown 99 mp/h. That's his personal best, a record. He I usually more of a 95-97 guy. The teams we're being put up against have plenty of pitchers who can hit 100 mp/h without any issue whatsoever. They have a wider variety of pitches they can throw, whereas in the Federation a simple fastball is the only effective pitch that anyone knows how to toss. Because of that, our players are going to have to take some time to watch film, adjust their timing, and their swings, in order to tee off on these other teams' pitchers.

For the team's pair of stars, this won't be an issue. The two are absolutely obsessive about improving their craft, and they will adjust quickly. Expect their currently sub-par batting averages to skyrocket here in the next few series. The von Kuhn brothers could also see improvements. Being as old, and wise, as they are it may be difficult for the brothers to adjust, but they will no less give it a shot. The rest of the squad...

Well, let's just hope for the best. Fingers crossed, go Ranoria!

Editor's Note: The Ranorian National Team, sponsored by the Federation of Ranorian Baseball, is currently undergoing a process of being given a name, we should have an update on the situation in the next issue.

[Hampton Island]

(Scenario: Stadium CEO and wildlife expert Richard Miller, same guy as in last classic, converse)

CEO: Rich, thank you for joining me today.

Miller: This should be interesting.

CEO: So tell me about the cubs, are there any that are close to being able to be trained to play professional baseball?

Miller: Well, as you know we are just getting to the point now where we can isolate the cubs from their mothers for a little bit. They are still not even two years old, so still very reliant on their mothers.

CEO: Altogether, there are 32 of them right now, correct?

Miller: 33, actually. All of different ages between a couple months and 18 months. We still must be very careful in approaching them.

CEO: The paid actor, Jack still working on this? Get him to do it. Time for season two of our reality show.

Miller: Jack is still active with what is going on. We still look for new mates occasionally, but the focus for us now is to see what these cubs might be doing and if Midnight is passing down his very unique genes.

CEO: What is your first impression? Could it be happening?

Miller: There are four cubs right now that we have an eye on as being interesting. They range from ten months old to fifteen months old. Some of the younger ones it is too soon to tell.

CEO: What makes them interesting to you?

Miller: For starters, they do not have any signs of birth defects, and look very healthy. They are more friendly around humans then normal. That can be a bad thing, too, so we have to be careful with that. We put a baseball in one of their confined areas while a couple humans played catch outside of it, to see if the cub would show an interest in doing something with the baseball. In the case of these four cubs, they responded to the baseball and either picked it up and tossed it, or kicked it towards their mother. That does not necessarily mean anything, but it is something to keep an eye on. Generally, they showed an interest in activities using the ball. The other cubs did not show any interest in it whatsoever.

CEO: That is about all we can ask for right now, isn’t it?

Miller: We are going to focus on these four cubs, starting with the fifteen month old, which is a male. We will isolate him from his mother and see if he shows an interest in using the baseball with a human.

CEO: Is it time to sell the other cubs then?

Miller: We can start looking into it, but only the older ones that show no interest in baseball. I’m not sure if there is an interest in buying one but you seem convinced that there will be.

CEO: Of course there will be. They are bred by Midnight, that alone makes them special. Maybe even another baseball country makes a lucrative offer. We can have auctions.

Miller: I mean, it is worth a shot. But buying a bear is not something people do.

CEO: We can make them like bred racehorses. There will be people interested, trust me.

[Daskel]

| BASEBALL | ICE HOCKEY | BLOCKBALL | OTHER SPORTS

---

WBC 49: Not a chance
By Nakamura Go (@GomuraOfficial)

DAITO METRO -- After a good performance by team Daskel in Horimat City, the team lost 3-0 against Banija, number 2 on the WBC rankings. We expected this first series against them to be really hard, but even our expectation did not come close to the massive power of Team Banija. After this crushing defeat, Daskies went down from the top 2 to the very bottom of the table, a painful 6th place. We talked with Ten Takaichi, starter pitcher of game one.

Series 2, Game 1

Banija                                2 0 0 4 2 0 0 0 0  8
Daskel                                0 0 4 1 0 0 0 0 0  5

Nakamura (N): Mr Ten, I'm so sorry for the last series. I get Banija can be overwhelming, right?
Ten (T): Right! We thought we could win the first one, you know? For our fans, in our stadium, but we lost that battle
N: Daskel had the lead on the trid inning...
T: We did! 4 runs scored with Daskelian style small ball, but we lost that lead right away. Fourth inning was catastrophic, and Banija scored two after the tie. We just couldn't recover well, and I assume the fault of this loss.
N: We admire you, Mr Ten, believe me. None of us is angry with you
T: That's a relief to hear, Mr Nakamura. Sillah made us suffer that game, he was big part of Banija's victory that night

Series 2, Game 2

Banija                                0 0 0 0 0 2 1 3 0  6
Daskel                                0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0  2

N: Let's talk about game 2...
T: When destruction started...
N: ...right. Daskel put two early runs in the scoreboard, through
T: It's a shame we couldn't protect them as we should. Suwada played really good, everyone was in good spirits. Rokukawa just couldn't find his way
N: Rokugawa is very young. Maybe he was not the best option to relieve in this tough situation against this very opponent
T: An also thought about that, but he was the most qualified at the moment. Games against The Jovannic, game one specially, left a toll on the bullpen, and Watanabe was not in his prime condition to pitch for us. It's a shame, but Rokugawa gave his best. We hope to count with him for the Kohnhead series.

Series 2, Game 3

Banija                                1 4 0 2 0 0 0 1 1  9
Daskel                                0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0  1

N: Now, game 3 was one of the toughest games in Daskel's short history on the WBC. Banija's batters Sillah, Kah, Jassey and Kandeh made us suffer through the entire game. It wasn't the best game for Kojima, as well.
T: Kojima is a really good player under pressure, but even with that trait, our deep need to give the nation a reason to smile backfired. Out batting was bad, there's no way to say it in soft words. Shintaro was mad at himself. Look, we, as a team, have this oath to never put the guilt on the other. The guilt is personally ours, and ours only.

N: Changing the air! Next series is against Kohnhead
T: Yes. We're actually pretty excited about this series against The Pandas. Their team is also young, so it might be a enriching experience for both teams. Real Kohnhead Dressing Park looks like a nice place to play
N: But the Daikyū dirt
T: That dirt is sacred, man! No matter how nice and technological are other stadiums, we LOVE that dirt. It's deep in our roots
N: I hope the next home series can give Daskelian fans so much joy at the "Field of Dreams"
T: We will give everything! Now, one series at a time. Let's talk again after Kohnhead's series

Standings

*                         Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
1 Liventia                6    5   0   1    21   13   +8    15
2 Banija                  6    4   0   2    35   23  +12    12
3 Sarzonia                6    3   0   3    29   25   +4     9
4 The Jovannic            6    2   0   4    28   33   −5     6
5 Kohnhead                6    2   0   4    17   25   −8     6
6 Daskel                  6    2   0   4    31   42  −11     6

Schedule
Friday, 7/17: Series 1- The Jovannic 1 - 2 Daskel (2nd)
Saturday, 7/18: Series 2- Daskel 0 - 3 Banija (6th)

---

Sunday, 7/19: Series 3- Kohnhead v Daskel
Monday, 7/20: Series 4- Daskel v Sarzonia
Tuesday, 7/21: Series 5- Liventia v Daskel
7/22- Midway break
Thursday, 7/23: Series 6- Daskel v The Jovannic
Friday, 7/24: Series 7- Banija v Daskel
Saturday, 7/25: Series 8- Daskel v Kohnhead
Sunday, 7/26: Series 9- Sarzonia v Daskel
Monday, 7/27: Series 10- Daskel v Liventia

[Super-Llamaland]

II. The Museum

May 16, 3131
“The New Llama Wizards History Museum”
New Llama City, Super-Llamaland?

Alex froze, desperately trying to look back at the unknown assailant without moving his neck. “I-I was just looking around,” he choked out.

Sarcasm dripped from the man’s answer. “You were looking around...an abandoned baseball stadium?”

Sensing that “It wasn’t abandoned in the twenty-first century, which is where I’m from” wouldn’t work as an excuse, Alex weakly replied with “Tyler Rocke, uh, meant a lot to me. Back when it was...un-abandoned.” To his surprise, the blade dropped from his neck. Now free to move, he turned to face his assailant.

The man he faced was the exact opposite of the polished blade that he held. While his commanding height and bulk hinted at a former playing career, everything else about him, from his rounded frame to his scruffy grey beard and spectacles, suggested that if he had played, he had hung up his cleats decades ago. “Sorry about that, this place just means a lot to me, and I’m sure you know things have been pretty rough lately. I’m Max,” he said, extending his hand, which Alex (slightly reluctantly) took. “What brings you to Tyler Rocke?”

Alex hesitated for a second, which was apparently enough time for Max to start talking again. “Ah, well, are you familiar with the history of the New Llama Wizards? Absolutely magical, really - you could spend centuries of your life on just a decade of Wizards history.”

“Sorry, did you say centuries? How old-”

“What parts of Wizards history are you familiar with?” Max cut Alex off.

“Uhhhh...anything before the early twenty-first century?”

“Really - the second and third millenia!” Max’s face lit up in pleasant surprise as he slapped Alex on the back. “That’s the one era I’m not familiar with, I’m afraid. Just the big names - Han Herleksson, Jason Romero, Alex Kirk (of course). I would love to hear what you’ve read about the 2031 championship. But first, for my fellow lover of Wizards history, a tour of my Wizards museum! After me,” Max says, and disappeared behind a wall. Alex still had hundreds of stunned questions, ranging from “do you have water” to “how is the LBL completely unchanged, it’s the 3000s”. But in the face of such enthusiasm, he could only follow, turn the corner, and be awestruck by what this man has built laying before him.

In front of him was a 2,500 square-foot love letter to baseball. The bright white, temple-esque walls were piled high with memorabilia from every year of the New Llama Wizards’ apparently long, storied history. Everything was neatly labelled, indexed, and organized by here, from “Jason Romero’s first HR ball (July 1975)” to “Glove used by Tira Gon’çalves for her sixth no-hitter (May 2662)”. Glass cases containing especially valuable artifacts dotted the space, along with towering portraits of Wizards players, managers, and owners. In the middle of it all lay a pristine silver trophy, which Alex recognized as the President’s Cup, flanked by three massive golden cups.

“Those statues around the President’s Cup,” Alex asked, once he’d regained speech. “What are those?”

“Those are the three runners-up trophies the Wizards have won since their last championship in 2031.”

“They’re massive.” Indeed they were - while the Cup itself was a foot and a half tall, the statuesque cups around them were taller than Alex himself, and almost blindingly bright.
“Well, I suppose. Real bitch to move, too - gold is real heavy. I guess it’s a good thing they haven’t won the real President’s Cup.”

“Wait, so we haven’t won the LBL in how long?”

“Roughly a millennium - sorry, have you really not followed any baseball in the last thousand years?”

“Uh...it’s complicated?”

“Well, I suppose I shouldn’t pry too much. It’s good to have someone interested in that period of history, though. A lot of pre-2100s records have been destroyed, so it’s good that we have more people looking into what happened then. That Cup and a few old Internet articles are the only thing we have left.”

“Well, I guess I like the older game more,” Alex testily replied, desperately trying to avoid revealing anything else about himself for the moment. “But I guess I was interested in following things next season. Speaking of-”

His next question was cut off by Max’s strained laugh. “Good one.”

“Sorry, what?”

Max looked over, incredulous. “Do you really not know…?” Seeing Alex’s reaction, he continued grimly. “There’s no baseball left. The LBA shut down all baseball-related activities in 3130. Even this museum - which I had just spent fifty goddamn years of my life building - was supposed to be taken down.” Seeing Alex open his mouth again, he quickly responded to the natural follow-up: “No, we don’t know why. Only that the government is strictly enforcing it. That’s why this museum was so well-hidden.”

“I just don’t get it. Even if they’re killing baseball, why would they come after you?” Max turned around again; his eyes cold. Alex felt the faint tingle of fear in his heart.

“They’re not trying to kill baseball. They’re trying to erase it.”

As if on cue, someone begun to pound on the door.

“Oh shit,” Max said, and ran for where the cash register would’ve been if the museum were still a gift shop. Alex anxiously started after him, finding him underneath the counter. “We dug an escape chute when we were building this place. Slide down the chute, take the first left, and there’ll be a flight of stairs about a mile down. That should get you out of their way.”

“...Out of whose way? What’s happening?” Max didn’t respond, instead throwing a backpack into Alex’s arms. “That’s the LBA. I’ll try my hardest to hold them off, but it sounds like there’s a lot of them.”

“Maximin Polanco,” boomed a voice from outside. The voice was very nearly human, but something about the cadence seemed slightly off. “You have ten seconds to open the door and surrender yourself, or we will be forced to take action.”

“Wait, can’t you just come with me then? They’re going to destroy the museum either way. Just save yourself.” Max waved off the suggestion. “This museum is my life’s work. Without it-”

He never finished the sentence. At once, the door burst open, and the beings on the other side of it begin to open fire. Alex was shoved down the escape chute, and barely managed to grasp the backpack before he was sent tumbling into the abyss. After a second of free-fall, he landed face-first into a pile of something soft. Above him, he heard Max briefly cry out before being muffled, some inhuman response, and the faint flicker of flames and shattering of glass.

Megistos                              0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0  3
Super-Llamaland                       0 0 1 0 0 2 0 2 X  5

MVP: Gabriel Acosta (2-4, 2B, 2 RBI)
A solid start to the Tigers' first home series after the disappointment of their first series against Devonta. Isaac Colón's much-anticipated WBC debut was dominant, as the young righty struck out ten and scattered three hits over six-plus innings. The one blemish on his record was his final inning, where three walks and a double off the bat of Johathan Tresty erased the lead that Liam Desjardins's two-run single had given the Tigers just a half-inning prior. Luckily, Calisto Gutierrez was dominant over her two innings of relief, seriously bailing Colón out of even more earned runs, and in the bottom of the eighth, after singles from Scutaro and Huang, cleanup hitter Gabriel Acosta smashed a go-ahead double down the right-field line.

Megistos                              1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  1
Super-Llamaland                       0 0 1 1 3 1 0 4 X 10

MVP: Savanna Wladecki (7 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 6 K/0 BB)
While the final 10-1 scoreline may flatter the Tigers a little, it was still a dominant performance. After third baseman Oliver Button's home run in the first inning, Savanna Wladecki was absolutely transcendent, giving up just one more baserunner over her seven innings of one-run ball. Meanwhile, while the Tigers got off to a slow start offensively, Summer Huang's bases-clearing triple in the bottom of the fifth off of a Youkomovic hanging slider blew the game wide open, and a four-run rally off of beleaguered relievers Tykes and Retterbit, punctuated by a solo shot off the bat of Tyson Long, functionally ended the game.

Megistos                              1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1  4
Super-Llamaland                       0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 2  5

MVP: Lily Scutaro (4-7, R, 3 RBI, 2 3B)
Super-Llamaland completed the sweep in an absolute stunner of a final game, which featured the Tigers rallying from their last three outs no less than three times over a sixteen-inning marathon of an affair. Nominal ace Genevieve Strauss was competent over six innings, but Jeffery Frost one-upped his Llamanean counterpart with eight sparkling innings of one-run ball. Unfortunately, when manager Rob Wright turned to his closer, Aresty Mest just couldn't get the job done, walking pinch-hitter Noah Slater before Lily Scutaro roped a triple into Tyler Rocke's spacious right-center. Long relievers Lone and Oliveri were the stars of the next few innings, but when Megistos scored in the fifteenth and sixteenth innings, the Tigers looked to be on the verge of a deeply disappointing defeat. Tyson Long and Lily Scutaro had other plans, though, both singling in runs to first tie and then win the game a hair after 2 AM local time.

[Falisiand]

The Unranked Falisiand Bisons swept the 24th ranked The Sarian, let's recap on how that happened.


Keaton Holman was on the mound in the first game where he allowed 2 runs in the first inning against The Sarian but managed to close it out pitching 7.2 innings with 0 walks and 9 strikeouts. Falisiand closed that 2-0 gap in the bottom of the first with a Amaan Pruitt home run making it 2-1, then in the 4th inning, Richard Mcbride hit a 2 run home run to make it 3-2, then IBS star Ryan Grantham hit a rare home in the 5th to make it 4-2. 4-2 was the final score.

The Sarian                            2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  2
Falisiand                             1 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 X  4

Rufus Hammond was on the mound in the second game. In the first inning he Rufus allowed 2 runs to score, but Falisiand's Kodey Kenton hit a home run this time to make it 2-1, Then in the 2nd inning, Richard Mcbride hit a 3-run home run to make it 4-2. Rufus pitched 6 more innings finishing the game with 7.0 innings, 3 walks, and 11 strikeouts and Marvin Gill closed the game and got the save, having Falisiand win 4-2 again.

The Sarian                            2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  2
Falisiand                             1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 X  4

Xerxes Anscom started the third game and had his second start in the WBC. Falisiand scored the first runs with an Anita Goodman home run in the 3rd and a Amaan Pruitt home run in the 4th inning then Richard Mcbride hit a home run in the 8th to make it 3-0. Meanwhile, Xerxes Anscom was pitching a complete game shutout until the 9th where he allowed The Sarian to score one run, but still managed to get the complete game. Xerxes pitched 9.0 innings, with 2 walks and 15 strikeouts, helping Falisiand win 3-1.

The Sarian                            0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  1
Falisiand                             0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 X  3

Falisiand's next opponent will be against the rosterless Mathuvan Union, who we played before in the IBS and and who are struggling in the WBC, but we beat them in 4 out of the 6 games against them in the IBS, but Mathuvan got past us in our group, but you can never know the outcome in the WBC.

[Zwangzug]

The Arlington Moon-Tribune

Thanks to our colleagues in the Jeckland press for pointing out that this group stage sees a couple rematches from that of WBC 30. In the second game of that tournament, the Spuds beat the Zebras 7-6 at the Worm Hole, and won the rematch 3-1. By that standard, Zwangzug have already improved on their previous showing by beating Jeckland in two out of three games in Spenson.

The third game saw David Keanes return to the mound after being knocked out in the opener against the Equestrian States, and the extra rest seemed to do him good; he limited the visitors to three hits over six innings. Unfortunately, Zwangzug was nearly as anemic; though Greg Callan-Milton's double in the first inning scored Maia Whitsun-Elm, they would be shut out the rest of the way.

Wenjie Liu went to Nadia Cerenkov to open the seventh, and she induced a harmless pop-up from youngster Braxton Hilliam. Beau Nigel would answer that, however, with a home run to left that may have been attractive to the visiting fans, but somewhat uglier to the rest of the crowd. Quinton Oliverson walked, and Cerenkov hastily made way for Teagan Oshe-Black. Sylvan Corwin's single put runners at the corners, and pinch hitter Des Nicholson pushed both of them in with a double to right. Collin Allison grounded to third, but Stace Heyward would push in Nicholson with a fly ball that Sharon Lubbock appeared to lose in the white ceiling of the domed stadium. Ernie Hammond, on in relief of Julyan Gabriels, was able to hold Zwangzug the rest of the way, despite Callan-Milton working the count to get stranded in the nigth.

That WBC30 stage saw Hubert Lehrer take over as manager and return Zwangzug to a standard rotation/bullpen system; they have played sporadically enough since then that no one talks about having a twelve-person "just come in whenever" staff now. In light of Darmen's unconventional seven-arm roster, there could be clamors to return to such a strategy. Or the long group stages could just temper our expectations to regress towards the mean.

[South Newlandia]

ELEPHANT VALLEY MAIL
Sports -> Youth Baseball
South Newlandia wins three thrilling matches

The Elephants got to play their first home series against Quebecois Acadiana in the “Jungle Arena” of Ratzupalfu. The seats weren’t entirely filled, some fans from Ratzupalfu thought they deserved better than some unranked team no one had heard of, but they would soon change their mind. All three matches saw close games, and two of them were real nail biters. Even better, all games saw South Newlandia get the win in the end, getting them an early 5-1 start and improving their WBC home record to 15-3.

Quebecois Acadiana                    3 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0  6
South Newlandia                       0 3 3 0 0 1 1 0 X  8

Larry Cain took the mount for game one. It was the first time he would pitch an international game, as he wasn’t selected for the WBC48 Roster. Cain didn’t exactly get a good start, giving up three runs in the first inning, including one home run. It certainly wasn’t the start that the fans in the Ratzupalfu Arena had hoped for. South Newlandia was fighting back in the 2nd inning, getting three runs for themselves after Daryl Dunlop had homered with Shawn Zimmerman and Gregor Garner already on the bases, equalizing the game. They went ahead one inning later with another three-run inning, this time thanks to runs scored by Fabio Ventura, Adam King and Shawn Zimmerman. After that, nothing happened for a while, but Cain slipped in the sixth inning, allowing yet another three-run inning. He even gave up another home run, and after the end of the sixth inning, he was replaced by Barnaby Butt, who ended the game without further runs given up. One run in each of the 6th and 7th inning, scored by Igor White and Mike Larsen, gave South Newlandia a 8-6 win. If you thought this was a dramatic game, brace yourself for the other two, as there was enough drama for multiple series.

Quebecois Acadiana                    0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 1  4
South Newlandia                       2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3  5

For the second game, Jay Kramer took the mount. The 19-year-old talent had been performing great in the International Baseball Slam, and he would get a chance to play his first international game with the senior team. South Newlandia went ahead first, scoring two runs in the very first inning thanks to Fabio Ventura and David Drum. After that, the batters seemed to be blanking while the South Newlandian lead melted quickly. Kramer gave up three runs between the 4th and 5th inning, and South Newlandia found themselves being behind. After the seventh inning, Fabio Paul came in to close, but he gave up another run after a solo homer in the ninth. South Newlandians batters, having not scored for seven consecutive innings, now needed to score two runs on demand to at least get into extra innings. After Ian Pearce got retired, there were only two outs left to do that. Mike Larsen drew a walk next, and a nice double by Fabio Ventura gave the Elephants runners on second and third. David Drum’s fly ball was out, and everything depended on Adam King now. On a 2-1 pitch, he managed to hit the ball deep down the left field for a double, scoring both Larsen and Ventura. Extra innings were now secured, but the Elephants even had a chance to win the game outright. Shawn Zimmerman used this chance, hitting another double to get the Elephants another win by 5 runs to four.

Quebecois Acadiana                    2 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 1  6
South Newlandia                       0 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 3  8

The last game was pitched by Jacob Conroy. He already pitched in the last series against the Drunk People, and it showed. He gave up no fewer than five runs in the first four innings, but Damian Bolton trusted in him anyway. The reason why this game wasn’t lost already was the third inning. Mike Larsen started with a single, and Fabio Ventura got a home run right after that. With no one out yet, David Drum got another single, and after Adam King got retired, Shawn Zimmerman got a double. Zimmerman, only 18 years old, had a fantastic day, and he was part of the reason why South Newlandia won all three games here. Anyways, after Gregor Garner was struck out, Igor White got the second homer of the inning to score three more runs. After four innings, the score was already tied at five. We skip straight to the ninth inning, as nothing really happened in between. Marcel Adams had pitched as the closer since the seventh, and he gave up a run now, in the top of the ninth. Once again, South Newlandia was behind heading into the last three outs, once again after multiple scoreless innings, but once again, the team pulled through thanks to yet another home run by Fabio Ventura, scoring Ian Pearce and Mike Larsen to take a 8-6 victory.


The South Newlandian analyst Fred Kartoffer is pleased to announce his creation of, what he calls, “estimated WBC rankings”. As the name suggests, it is supposed to predict the rankings after the World Baseball Classic based on the results so far. He would like to stress that these rankings are very much unofficial, and he might have committed some critical errors in the making. What he wants to say is that Kartoffer isn’t taking any responsibility should these rankings be wrong. If you want to take a look anyway, they are available under this link.

All matches

South Newlandia 3-0 Quebecois Acadiana (8-6, 5-4, 8-6)

Drunk People at the Local Tavern 2-1 The Greater Nordics (6-5, 0-1, 8-3)
The Greater Nordics will not be pleased to have given up two games, the first of which going over 14 innings.

Torisakia 0-3 Hampton Island (2-5, 1-8, 4-5)
The Golden Bears also got a sweep against an unranked opponent, and momentarily take the lead in the standings now.

Current Standings

*                                    Pld   W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
1 Hampton Island                      6    5   0   1    32   20  +12    15
2 South Newlandia                     6    5   0   1    44   33  +11    15
3 Drunk People at the Local Tavern    6    3   0   3    31   32   −1     9
4 Torisakia                           6    3   0   3    23   25   −2     9
5 The Greater Nordics                 6    2   0   4    22   28   −6     6
6 Quebecois Acadiana                  6    0   0   6    23   37  −14     0

The next series will see South Newlandia travel to Hampton Island, where the two frontrunners of the table will face off. The starting pitchers will be Hunter, Robbins, who collapsed at the Tavern, and Larry Cain, pitching on shorter rest. They will play against Midnight, the actual bear, and his human teammates. From what we have heard, all three will take an approach first attempted by Hapilopper in the last Classic; intentionally walking the bear every time. This has the downside that the bear dislikes that a lot, and annoying a bear really isn’t something you want to do. We will see how the South Newlandian national team will play in this battle in National Stadium.

[Kohnhead]

Kohnhead win 2 of 3 against Sarzonia



After getting swept on the road against Liventia in which the offense failed to show up, Kohnhead would again go on the road against a different team this time the 28th ranked Sarzonia Stars.

Kohnhead                              0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0  4
Sarzonia                              0 0 4 2 1 2 0 0 X  9

This game was not pretty as Sienna Redmond was hit around a lot in the early parts of the game. The offense scored all of their runs through the first four innings but couldn't come up in the second half of the game. This loss would push Kohnhead down to 0-4, and they needed something.

Kohnhead                              0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 0  4
Sarzonia                              0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  1

In this one, it took the offense until the 8th inning to show up but Murray Marshall looked on fire pitching 7.2 scoreless innings. Closing pitcher Melissa Berger was asked to handle duties in the 9th inning and she did allow a solo home run to Luke Brinkley. A three run eighth inning was what The Pandas needed to notch their first win. Dickerson scored on a double from Craft who scored on a two run homer from Wagstaff. Good to see the bottom of the lineup coming up clutch.

Kohnhead                              1 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 0  5
Sarzonia                              0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1  4

In game 1, Kohnhead would get hot early with the bats clicking to score 4 runs in 3 innings including a two run shot by Vlad Burch in the third. Gene Fowler our worst pitcher actually pitched well for the first five innings only allowing 1 run to Jose Garcia in the second inning. In the sixth inning he allowed her second run and it probably should have been more if not for the great defense of the infield. While the bLullpen would allow two runs in three innings, a Lucca Hahn run in the top of the 6th would give The Pandas a 5-4 win, and the series win.

1 Liventia                6    5   0   1    21   13   +8    15
2 Banija                  6    4   0   2    35   23  +12    12
3 Sarzonia                6    3   0   3    29   25   +4     9
4 The Jovannic            6    2   0   4    28   33   −5     6
5 Kohnhead                6    2   0   4    17   25   −8     6
6 Daskel                  6    2   0   4    31   42  −11     6

As expected Banjia, and Liventia are in the top two spots although Banjia the number two in the World one would think would be in first but never the less those are the two expected top finishers of the group. We sit in fifth ahead of Daskel on run difference but behind The Jovannic. In our next series we will have our home opener at Real Kohnhead Dressing Park (buy your tickets now) against last place and 42nd ranked Daskel. If we get the sweep we advance to 5-4 which would be huge. The pitchers will be our primary three, Bloggs, Crouch, and Mclellan. The batting order will be the original one except for one change. Mohamed will go in for Mata.

1. CF Lucca Hahn
2. SS Jessie Cherry
3. 1B Monica Ratliff
4. DH Vlad Burch
5. 3B Cecilia Dickerson
6. LF Stuart Dorsey
7. C Sandra Craft
8. 2B Artur Wagstaff
9. RF Esme Mohamed