Baseball Liventia has, once again, selected its World Baseball Classic team on the back of the latest Liventian Baseball Championship season. The Championship consists of 24 teams in two conferences – the National League (NBL) and Challenger League (CBL) – with two divisions of six in the NBL and three divisions of four in the CBL. There also exists a Division Two of 24 teams, with six divisions of four.
In the top tier, six teams from each conference make it into the playoffs, with the top two seeds in each league receiving a first-round bye. In the Challenger League the three division winners and next three best teams make the postseason, while in the National League the top two teams from each division plus the next two qualify. Each team plays 144 regular-season games, with the bottom team in each conference being relegated to Division Two. The big-league playoffs go: Challenge Round (wildcard, BO3); Division Series (BO5); League Championship (BO7); Grand Final (BO9).
Meanwhile, the Division Two system sees a ladder format, with only the division winners and one wildcard per conference qualifying for the playoffs. The higher seed in the first round begins the series with a two-game advantage.
As the standard of Division Two continues to grow – where last year 17 qualifying hitters surpassed .500 over a 164-game season, this year only one did – three men hit more than 100 home runs. Last year's two relegated teams, Weston East Misfits (141-23) and the Port Cartfort Saboteurs (148-16), won promotion back to the top flight, although some other teams – notable the Weston West Rams (145-19) – are beginning to make themselves known.
Impressively, Port Cartfort Saboteurs won Division Two without the services of long-term national team captain Dermot Rowntree. The Saboteurs were relegated from the LBC last season as Rowntree spent the entire season out with a torn shoulder labrum, but as Baseball Liventia does not select players from Division Two, Rowntree agreed a season-long move to the Orean Capital Tiger-Cats. More on him later.
In the top flight, both promoted teams survived – Lox Land Talons going 58–86 and Schimpol Redbirds 59–85. In the NBL, it was Bede Swordfish (51–93) who saw their four-year stay in the LBC come to an end, with national team hitter David Stelfox failing to save the team from relegation. He hit just .260 leading off, down from .317, and his national career appears to be over.
The Redbirds, meanwhile, had a last-day escape. Heading into their game against the Dover South Outer Bills (then 93–50), they needed a specific set of results – including a win against the league-leading Bills – to go their way. They shut out the Bills, 4-0, while the Colver Steamrollers fell to the Jesner Spin Doctors. That put the Steamrollers level with the Redbirds at 59–85, with Colver being relegated on head-to-head, the first time that team has been relegated.
For the second year in a row, all four teams in the CBL's Echo Division qualified for the playoffs, with the fourth-placed Salfast Manatees taking the third and last wildcard spot despite sporting a 70–74 record. They would go on to cause a big stir in the playoffs, sweeping the Challenge Round 2–0 against Pardbo Bisons, the Division Series 3–0 against the Spin Doctors, and the League Championship 4–0 against the Bills.
In the NBL, league-leading Wakeford Capitols (91–53) beat the Talbott South Hilltops 3–1 in the Division Series and swept the Talbott North Sting Rays 4–0 in the League Championship. Perhaps what they were not expecting, though, was to get taken the full distance – 9 games – in the Grand Final by the upstart Manatees. The Capitols did eventually triumph, with a 3–0 shutout in Game 9, to win the team's first LBC title.
Now, what of Rowntree? Well, in his one season with the Tiger-Cats, he led the NBL – yes, he shifted leagues from the CBL to NBL – in homers, proving that his previous power wasn't all down to playing at Port Cartfort Park, which will once again host Liventia's WBC games. He hit an LBC-high 56 home runs and drove in 126 RBI, another LBC standard for the season, in slashing .283/.336/.659. He also swiped a career-high 39 bags for his first Player of the Year season in five years. His return to Port Cartfort next season will be keenly watched to see if he can help the Saboteurs stay in the top flight.
Speaking of swiping bags, one-time national team member Kane Roskilly was one of two players to steal 100 bases this season, with the City Centre Keys centre-fielder grabbing an incredible 102 steals to his name. In the CBL, Sean Millchamp of the Bisons set a new LBC record of tallying a hit in 41 consecutive games, stretching back to last season with the Desert Counts. The previous record had been 33.
Pitching-wise, the national team's fifth starter Ashley Lutley staked his claim to be the ace as he compiled a 17–4 (2.03 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, both of which led the NBL) season for his second Pitcher of the Year accolade.
But who will the national team selectors choose? The same restrictions have stayed in place – no one on a Division Two team, no position player 33 or older (having turned 33 at any point during the season, although anyone who turned 33 after the playoffs began is eligible), and no foreign-based players.
Find out soon.
(OOC: Roster to follow soon.)