International Baseball Slam 15 [rosters/RPs/results]

by **TJUN-ia** » Tue Nov 02, 2021 6:32 am

Here in Old Blopping, Hannasea, the Battin' Cubs experiment began. Principality Ballpark would see the beginning of a new era as the U21's, 12 of TJUN-ia's most promising young players, are officially ordained as TJUN-ian players once and for all. Our 2nd WBC Final 4 appearance in 3 editions needs to be maintained and so, finally, here come some hot prospects ready to be at least somewhat competitive in their first-ever tournament as a unit. No one really knew what to expect in a tournament filled with your teams, All-Star teams and even literal schools, who knew what was about to happen in this crazy party.

Up first in this new journey was the Basian Clergy White Sox, a religious team from Schima Bas which promotes both good baseball and the word of God in whatever they decide to do. Dr Toni Ripaldi and his White Sox were clearly more in tune as a team in this game and the pitching duel between Tom Robinson and Jason McRae wasn't even close at all at first. With only 2 other pitchers at hand, McRae had to stay out there all game and he would allow 7 runs to go from his glove, including a 3-run big shot from Richard Hayes, the DH for this game. As the DH was in effect, the Cubs' 9 batters each had a chance to create some sort of magic in a game they knew they couldn't win. Anna Builler got 2 runs of her own, the first woman to ever score runs for TJUN-is in history with her homer, while both the gender-fluid Palila Kalawai’a and "experienced head" Stefan von Shültz ended up with 1 run each. The final score was 7-4 to the White Sox, but at least the Cubs managed to be competitive in some sort of way.

The Abanhfleft Revolution All-Stars are next over in Pintook and with them having their bye on the first MD, we don't really know how they will play. It will certainly be an interesting game for Missy Jembembe to deal with, no matter the final result. GO JAGS! Oh, wait...GO CUBS GO!

SCHEDULE (Walnut Group)
MD1: vs Basian Clergy White Sox (Schima Bas) - Principality Ballpark, Old Blopping L 4-7 (4th)
MD2: vs Abanhfleft Revolution All-Stars (Abanhfleft) - The Lightning Dome, Pintook
MD3: BYE
MD4: vs Alexander Petien High School (Milchama) - The Lightning Dome, Pintook
MD5: vs Central Heights High School (Chomatika) - Principality Ballpark, Old Blopping

by **Cassadaigua** » Tue Nov 02, 2021 10:26 am

Joseph blanks Brookstation,
By Caitlyn Dufresne, Concord Heights Times

The 15th edition of the International Baseball Slam got underway in Hannasea, and it has the interest of baseball scouts throughout Cassadaigua as well as a fair amount of fans, too. Nations will send different types of rosters to the competition, some using it as a U-18 or 16 tournament, others a U-21, while others send their regular roster. There are other exceptions such as high schools or even a group of eleven year olds.

As mentioned, team Cassadaigua is a U-18 team, meaning three are several draft eligible players on the team. There are not as many of them as you would think though, leaving many to believe that the fact that there are more 17 year olds on the team as a sign that next year’s draft will be much better. An executive of a team wishing to remain anonymous told me that, “You would probably be wise to trade first round picks this year for second round picks next year. I know, that will sound strange to some, but the overall depth of the draft next year far surpasses what we are dealing with this year.” Not everyone agrees with that sentiment, as another executive said, “Evaluating players of this age is difficult, but if someone is offering me a first rounder for a second rounder next year, I am going to jump on the opportunity. You can’t evaluate an entire draft based on the top five or ten players that are available in it.”

The starting rotation of the team this year features three 17 year olds, including two in the top two spots of the staff: Brittany Joseph and Chelsea Levine. The bullpen has three 18 year olds. Even the batting lineup has more “17’s” than “18’s” and the bench does not have a single 18-year old. So, it will be a good debate as we prepare for the draft in a few weeks. For now, the International Baseball Slam has scouts watching, whether it is for this year or next year’s draft. On the mound for the Fillies was Brittany Joseph, the ace of the staff that CBL teams will have to wait a year to try and draft. She would be facing a Brookstation team that is a veteran roster. Whether or not it is an “A” team or a “B” remains unknown, but you have to imagine that Brittany had never gone up against this type of team before.

And the high school junior was completely dominant. Sitting down the team known as the Crimsons one after another with her devastating curveball and deceptive fastball. Joseph retired the first eleven batters she faced before allowing a bloop single with two outs in the fourth. Nothing more would come of it, and it would be one of only three hits that the Crimsons could manage against her. Joseph went all nine innings and struck out thirteen in the effort. Of the game she said, “I was not really thinking about how old they were. Yeah, I knew they were a veteran team but in the International Baseball Slam, you have to expect that. Once I started sitting them down, I was fully confident and felt that I could have a great game.” Joseph did say that, “Brookstation we know is not a big World Baseball Classic nation, at least not yet, so it is not as like I faced the senior team of Nova Anglicana or South Newlandia, or anything.” In the 6-0 win, Steffie Foster led the way offensively, going 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and three RBI’s. Declan Hicks hit the games only home run, coming in the seventh inning, a two run shot that accounted for the final two runs of the game.

Brittany Joseph is from the Starksville area and says that she has been a fan of the Brown Birds her whole life. Outside of baseball, she greatly enjoys cheerleading and is still a part of her high school cheer squad. Since the baseball season does not interfere with the football (gridiron to some) or basketball seasons, Joseph is able to focus on that in the baseball off season. “Cheering allows me to think about other things while not obsessing about baseball all too much. I still practice it at all times, of course.” Other than that, like most seventeen year old girls, she says her interests are “boys” and “hanging out with friends.”

by **Nova Anglicana** » Tue Nov 02, 2021 12:14 pm

Recipe for Scoring 17 Runs (NO Home Runs or Errors Needed!)

Ingredients

1 opposing Starting Pitcher who has lost his control
1 opposing Middle Reliever, shaken well
1 opposing Long Reliever, ridden too long
1 opposing Manager interested in preserving her bullpen
9 walks
2 HBPs
12 singles
3 doubles
1 triple

Instructions

Begin by taking your opposing starting pitcher and really let him sit out for a while. Be sure to take plenty of pitches.
Separate six of your walks into two equal groups, one in the second inning and one in the fifth inning.
Take four your of singles and one of your doubles and mix them into each of your groups. It doesn't really matter what order they go in, just make sure each of your two groups are really clumped together. Keep them separate, you can't use the opposing manager properly if both groups just form one jumbled mess in back-to-back innings.
When your two groups are well mixed and separated from each other, after about four and two-thirds innings, take both of your HBPs and place them on top of your second group of walks and hits. Then, use your opposing manager to replace the opposing starting pitcher with your opposing middle reliever. Be sure to shake well before use.
Use your opposing manager to underline the gravity of the situation for the middle reliever. Emphasize that he's got to get this out or else they'll be completely out of it. Check again to make sure that the middle reliever is well and truly nervous. Then, mix in a bases-clearing triple to really finish off your second group.
Once you've used up the middle reliever to get one out, use the manager again to bring in the long reliever. This is very important: DO NOT take out the long reliever. It may seem like you're using too many hits and/or walks for just one pitcher, but it's crucial that she remains out there for the rest of the recipe.
Mix in your remaining eight singles, two doubles, and three walks slowly, without grouping too many of them together. It's okay if you only use one single or one walk and strand a runner in one inning; the key is to keep constantly adding small amounts of pressure, enough to produce a run or two at a time over the last four innings.
Combine it all together in one baking pan, and bake at 17 degrees Celsius for about three and a half hours, and you should have your delicious 17-run game without any home runs or errors to make you feel guilty!

by **South Newlandia** » Tue Nov 02, 2021 4:16 pm

South Newlandian League

Roster Movements, Drafts, Rosters – Part 2

SNL Central

Newport Dolphins

Offseason Movements:
The Dolphins, coming off of a playoff run cut short, were prepared to go all in for the first LPB season. They acquired some elite free agents, with top-class reliever Benoît Beaufils and Outfielder Luka Chevalier, each from the runners-up team of the last WBC, Quintessence of Dust, leading the charge; but Adam Gilchrest, their newest star pitcher from Ethane, will be a big help as well. In addition to those signings, they also shelled out for the Sun City Flames’ ace Ryan Hunter, sending their 38th pick in the redraft along with two first round amateur draft picks, the upcoming one and the one after that. With those additions and the players already there, Goodman unquestionably has one of the, if not the best, teams in the South Newlandian League to work with.

Draft: (held: 14th/38th)
With the 14th pick in the redraft, the Newport Dolphins added another top tier starting pitcher in young stud Garry Gordon, who was previously with the Chekar Tigers.
They also still had their second-round pick for the amateur draft, which they spend on D-graded reliever Sung Kim to add some depth to the bullpen. They finished out their preseason with a trade for another reliever, sending their young Ranorian Vincent Veltrone to the New Llama Wizards, along with an optional second-round swap in the upcoming draft, acquiring the services of another top reliever in Llamanean Y.P. Ying. The Super-Llamanean Tiger will be a second experienced option from the bullpen behind Beaufils.

Newport Owls

Offseason Movements:
The Owls, seeing the Dolphins signing a ton of free agents, surely weren’t going their big brother get away that easily. The smaller Newport team added lots of pieces themselves, signing a trio of fantastic national team players from Newmanistan: Paige Bell for the bullpen, Chelsea Harlow at first and Brooke Sauter in center field. As if that wasn’t enough, they also added a national team player from Eshialand: Harry Brentwood will play second for the Owls. Along those signings, the Owls also got a new home – they would be moving on from their old stadium in Soaring Wings Field, which will almost double the old capacity with 10,000 seats.

Draft: (held: 16th/40th)
The Owls chose to sign a Llamanean starting pitcher in Tina Calibri in the redraft with the 16th pick. She had previously been with the Svenssonfjord Dynamo. Later, they added Nova Anglican reliever Matt Townsend, who has an IBS under his belt and was previously on the Lexen City Rebels.
In the amateur draft, the Owls used a second-round pick from next year in order to trade up from the 16th to the 11th pick, which they used to sign B-graded starting pitcher Isabella Hart from Super-Llamaland. With their 40th pick, they added some depth to the infield, drafting C-graded second basewoman Mia Cole, quite a few picks later than most experts had predicted her to go.

Rüsselsheim Blue Sox

Offseason Movements:
The Sox were one of the teams that got themselves a new coach after a truly awful season. They managed to get Ember Marshall, who was previously managing the Kohnheadian U21-team, to try and improve on a truly awful last season, and the team was willing to sign a ton of players to make something happen. They brought in an ace in Juzo Sakaguchi and a fantastic shortstop in Jack Theriault, each from Quintessence of Dust. To the surprise of many, they will only have Sakaguchi at the 3rd spot in their rotation; that’s what can happen when you have four ace-calibre pitchers on the roster. Sakaguchi, according to Marshall, will likely move up to the first spot if he adjusts well to the new environment. The signings didn’t stop there, they also added a pair of Hannasean stars in pitcher Noah Harris (who will be at the 4-spot!) and Jason Mathis in Left Field.

Draft: (held: 4th/28th)
With the fourth pick in the redraft, the Sox selected Emil Hurley a Center Fielder previously with the Rebels, first overall pick of the previous draft. Don’t hold your breath on him just yet. Later, they selected Tom Abbott, Sanford, to play first baseman for the team, with the 28th pick.
In the amateur draft, the Sox also held the fourth overall pick. They spent in on yet another brilliant pitcher. A-graded Griffin Gonzalez from Super-Llamaland will, amazingly, be all the way down in the 5-spot in what has to be the LPB’s best pitching staff. With the 28th pick, they added the last B-graded player on the board; Jordan Frazier, reliever, also from Super-Llamaland, to strengthen their bullpen as well.
And the Blue Sox also made a deal with the Peninsulara Kingfishers. The Kingfishers offered them their next first-round selection for Emil Hurley, even throwing Right Fielder Will Rentería, national team player from Super-Llamaland, in the mix. The Blue Sox happily accepted what was likely the most one-sided trade of this year and/or decade. Or ever.

Sophie City Monarchs

Offseason Movements:
Coming off of a championship last year, the Monarchs changed the name of their stadium to Sophie City Field, and pretty much called it a day after that.

Draft: (held:24th/48th)
With the worst draft stock in the league, the Monarchs weren’t expected to do much in the offseason. They did, however, trade for the 5th pick in the redraft from the Apple Valley Vipers. Alongside, they got the Vipers’ 29th pick in the amateur draft. For the package, they send starting pitcher Emily Innis, their 24th picks in both the re- and amateur draft, and their 48th selection in the amateur draft as well. They wound up spending that 5th pick on Fiona Niemi, a top-tier Llamanean outfielder. With the 48th pick in the redraft, they added to their bullpen, choosing 33-year-old Patrick Kenyon, Super-Llamaland, previously with the Northhampton Stars.
With the 29th pick in the amateur draft, the Monarchs selected C-graded South Newlandian rookie starting pitcher Bethany Riddle.

by **South Newlandia** » Tue Nov 02, 2021 5:30 pm

Sarang Oli was trying to spend a productive bye day with his team. The highly experienced coach from The Sherpa Empire had been absolutely committed to this team for five years now, and even though the players were different now, they were still all the same – young South Newlandian boys and girls, 21 at most, basically still children.

The defeat against the team from Eshialand had been a heavy blow to the team. Nothing seemed to go right for them in this game. Garry Gordon, pulled after just 4 and two thirds, 3 earned, 4 runs allowed, six hits and four walks, striking out just two. Probably the worst game the fireballer had in recent memory. The relief pitching couldn’t clean things up, allowing five more hits along another walk.

Really, they had been lucky to hold Eshialand to five runs. Isidro Short had an abysmal game catching as well, with two passed balls, the first of which allowed Cortez to score the go-ahead run in the bottom of the first, a lead the Junior Owls would never relinquish. Oli had spoken to him after the game; “I need you to catch the ball. That’s what you’re here for. You went 0 for 4, that’s okay, you’re not here to hit, primarily. You’re here to catch the ball. You need to clean those up, we can’t have those. Sit down with Wayne Dawson tonight, you will need to get on the exact same page with the signs. Listen to me, Isidro. You were the weakest link on the team yesterday, and you need to clean it up, Tyler is there to take your spot otherwise. I expect you to be better. And I know you can be. You got a great catcher in you, you just have to put in the work. I want to you to focus, focus, focus! On the game only! Do you hear me?”; and the young catcher had told him; “Yes, coach!”, but Oli wasn’t convinced.

The pitching had only been the start of the problems. 5 runs allowed were bad, certainly worse than this team should be, but no neck-breaker. The worse part was the batting. Five hits, only two walks. 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position. That was what had killed the team in Brown Field. A homer by Grey, defying the conditions of the park, in the 6th, and an RBI hit by Terry Soto scoring Dave Holmes in the 8th were the lone bright spots on the day. Six different players without a single hit. Terrible. Oli didn’t know what happened, but he had worked on hitting with the team in the morning. He genuinely couldn’t understand how these players with LPB contracts just forgot to hit, seemingly.

After an intense training, the coach had tried to get the team to get their head out of the loss, to enjoy some things outside of baseball. Admittedly, the old man in his 60s from the Sherpa Empire had no real idea what the young’uns from South Newlandia were into there days. Alas, he tried the things that always helped him in these spots. When he made some tea for the team, he had gotten mixed results, with Gary calling the traditional Sherpa tea “a certainly unusual taste to say the least”, but some players, including Terry, found it delicious and soothing. The traditional music he tried next worked even less well, and right now, Oli was playing some low-stakes poker with the team. He folded his Jack-Three suited and watched as Pamela raised. With the table of the original nine reduced to six, she had taken nearly half the chips for herself. Marcus called, using nearly half of the small amount he had left.

Oli wasn’t going to talk about baseball now. He knew that the next game against Super-Llamaland would be crucial. The U17s had won their opener, and alongside the team from Eshialand, they had positioned themselves as the toughest competition for Oli’s Elephants. A loss to the U17 squad managed by Buck Fuchs would just about knock out the team. They’d really need a miracle to get through at 2-2, with losses already to the front-runners from Super-Llamaland and Eshialand. Pamela took another pot, and showed that she had been bluffing all along. “Let’s hope we get baseball things to showboat about as well”, Oli said.

by **South Newlandia** » Tue Nov 02, 2021 6:52 pm

South Newlandian League

Roster Movements, Drafts, Rosters – Part 3

SNL South

Malidridad Mariners

Offseason Movements:
The Mariners, coming off of a surprise SNL South Championship appearance, were trying to sustain momentum. They tried, but as all other teams around them got better, they only lured one free agent; at least it was a good one. Right Fielder Emily Crater, known from the national team of Ethane, would be joining the team, but that would be it.

Draft: (held: 18th/42nd)
While the other teams made trades, the Mariners were having none of those. They just calmly tried to improve on their team with the draft. It has to be added that the M’s are a very young team, and with every year, they’ll be gaining experience. Having said that, they went for another young piece in Frank Chavez with the 18th pick of the redraft. The young reliever from the Lexen City Rebels, actually the first reliever to be taken in the redraft, is a developmental piece, no day-one impact for the team. Jason Fletcher, the Llamanean starter from the Derrierton Surge, is also only 27, but the 42nd pick will likely at least partially be into a mentorship role for this team. Ownership is trying to slowly, but surely, build a team full of superstars.
In the amateur draft, the M’s went for another development project in the bullpen with B-graded Anastasia Zhu. She was the second reliever, the first of those out of Super-Llamaland, to be taken in the draft. Later, the team reached a bit for F-graded Henrietta Chang, only 19 from South Newlandia, and yet another long-term project for the pen. Whether all of those prospects work out for the Mariners remains to be seen.

St. Riecarn Saints

Offseason Movements:
The Saints were one of the big losers of the off-season period. They failed to make much of a splash in free agency, and didn’t build a good supporting cast for the few stars they did have. The only player they managed to pick up was shortstop Josh Malouf from Brookstation, but that’s hardly a big signing, especially not for a team that just drafted a shortstop in the first round last year.

Draft: (held: 10th/34th)
In the redraft, the Saints had the last top-10 pick, and they used it on Caitlin Rosario, a flexible middle infielder from Super-Llamaland. She’s been on the roster for then national team and mainly is extremely fast. She’d been with the East Llama Kings previously, but now she’s with the clergy instead. With the 34th pick, the Saints added Neil Persson, center fielder, also from Super-Llamaland, from the Svenssonfjord Dynamo. To most, it had been a surprise that Persson dropped as far as he did, so this can be considered quite the steal for the Saints.
In the amateur draft, the Saints had set their target on Pamela Sullivan, Left Field. However, with her having been only a C-graded prospect, the 10th pick was not something you’d want to spend so early. Instead, the Saints traded down. First, they got a trade going with the New Llama Cyclones. They would swap first rounders this draft, but next year, the Saints would get the Cyclones’ first for their own second. This way, they held the 19th pick, but they traded again with the New Llama Wizards, receiving the 23rd pick and Right Fielder Josh Ludwig in return. Ludwig certainly is nothing special, but he can be a mentor for some of the young players on the team. They spent the 23rd pick on Sullivan, just like they’d hoped. With the 34th pick, they were also able to get Raphael Boyer, a D-graded relief pitching project.

Sun City Flames

Offseason Movements:
The Flames did something shocking in making a smart baseball thing. They got a new stadium; their new home, Desertfire Stadium, will seat 12,275. However, the smart baseball things didn’t last long. Instead, they signed Sylestonian cricketers with cricket obligations (Talvin Mankira at pitcher and Yash Ubuni at catcher) and a Sevendian. Seriously, Flames? How is anyone supposed to take you seriously like that. They also traded face of the franchise Ryan Hunter to the Dolphins for a pair of first round picks and the 38th in the redraft.

Draft: (held: 2nd/26th)
You’d think it couldn’t get worse. It got worse. In the redraft, they held the second pick. After Tyson Long was passed up by the Renaissance as expected, the Flames drafted him. Everyone knew Long belonged on a Llamanean team. What the Flames hoped was that they’d get a good trade going. The problem was that no one was willing to do that. In the end, they traded him to the Nikcoro Suns, getting their 21st pick in the amateur draft, their first pick next year, and first baseman Alvin Jimenez, and they were lucky they even got that. With the 26th and 38th pick, the Flames took Ayo Abe and Dennis Miles, two relievers, South Newlandian and Ko-orenite respectively. There were certainly better options.
In the amateur draft, the Flames held three first-rounders now, including second-overall. They spent that on the very highly regarded S-graded first basewoman Tiffany Grey, who will no doubt be ruined by the Flames in a few years time. They took starting pitcher Zachariah Dean, B-graded, another South Newlandian, and center fielder Ella Carlson, C-graded, 14th and 21st respectively, and rounded out their draft with C-graded starter Rickie McBride 26th overall.

Walstreim Stingrays

Offseason Movements:
The Stingrays were one of the three teams to find a new home in the offseason. They moved to Seaside Park, which, at 14,000 seats, instantly become one of the biggest South Newlandian stadiums. Aside from that, they also signed plenty of free agents. Kyle McNash from Tjun-ia will be the new ace of the team, while Matoko Kagawa, also part of the same national team, will start at second. They also got a trio of Thrashers in pitcher Nolan Jefferson, famous gas station enjoyer, and Grady Elliott, famously boring catcher, and Aiden Beasley at third base. All of these free agents instantly catapulted the Stingrays to the clear front-runner in the South.

Draft: (held: 12th/36th)
The Stingrays had a fairly boring draft. Erin Guthrie for the outfield was an excellent pickup at 12th, previously with the Talahita Tigers, and Emma Loizzo is a solid middle infielder, previously on the Svenssonfjord Dynamo, despite being injury prone.
In the amateur draft, the Rays added B-graded starting pitcher Felix Correa from Super-Llamaland and C-graded Right Fielder Alejandro Rivera. Whether the refusal of the team of Diego Lowe to draft a South Newlandian means anything? Probably not.

by **Super-Llamaland** » Tue Nov 02, 2021 7:16 pm

LPB 1 PREVIEW: THE CENTRAL
"rip cosmos 1991-2056"
Alice Kim, LSN Baseball

The first season of the highly-anticipated Llamaphant Pro Baseball is set to kick off next week, as the world waits with bated breath to see what the future of Esportivan baseball will hold. However, with a whirlwind free agency period recently coming to a close, it's time to consider what the actual teams on the field will look like, as we consider each of the twelve teams on the Llamanean half of the LPB. Next up, we consider the SLL Central. The central division has been historically the best division in Llamanean baseball, and there are three big reasons why - the Cyclones, Wizards, and the Lions are absolute juggernauts who have 11 of the final 20 LBL championships between them. Kyrinson, who had lobbied to be let into the softer SLL North (and are, in fact, further north than Emerald Springs), is the odd team out here, unfortunately. But for fans of the other three clubs and neutrals, the historical rivalries and high-stakes playoff battle will make this a division to watch. Don't be surprised if both wild card teams come from the central.

Hannasean Bobby Mohs is known for his belief in youth and his reputation as a turnaround expert forged with the Pearl City Purple Sox. With an aging Cosmos team in desperate need of a youth movement, Mohs' pitching and defense-centric approach make him exactly the right man for the job. The Cosmos retooled in the draft, using their pair of #3 overall picks on young outfielder Kieran Fletcher from Tikariot and talented if injury-prone starter Madison Verdugo. They also committed absolute robberies with their #27 picks, snagging IBS-capped Zarah Yu and the under-the-radar but surprisingly studly Ian Zhuang to bolster the infield. The young core is supplanted with some experienced international hands signed in free agency - outfielder Christian Hanks of Ethane and Quodite utilityman-turned-shortstop Teijo Watanbe are both excellent all-around players. On the mound, Mohs has splashed the cash on Chromatik reliever Vette Beux and TJUN-ian second starter Davis Johnson. However, while the team's rebuilding progress is impressive, that doesn't mean this season will be smooth sailing. For all of Mohs' pitching wizardry, there hasn't been enough time to fill in the gaps in the pitching staff, and Johnson, Verdugo, and Beux will have to do a lot of heavy lifting. The offense is also based on a lot of young and/or unproven talent, and while the new faces' defensive talents will undoubtedly carry over, there may be an adjustment period to LPB pitching that could prove costly. Still, while this season may be written off in such a tough division, there's no reason to think the Cosmos' young guns won't be contenders soon.

The New Llama Cyclones have also had to retool somewhat, but after a surprising 93-60 finish last season, their rebuild is undoubtedly done, and the window opens now. Former NT bench coach Jackson Feliz has done an excellent job forming a championship core, but now it's time for him to show that he's actually a winner. The starting pitching, formerly a weakness, has been shored up with the additions of Hanai Heroes ace Jerome Delapier and Masmow's Leif Best, acquired for reliever Justin Frazier, to reinforce the dominant April Bendtner. He's also built a bullpen that won't even remember they used to have an NT setup man - closer Kennedy Schumacher, Quodite Kaspar Wahl, and redraft selection Sukemichi Kamiizumi can compete with (almost) any bullpen in this league. The offense has also been greatly improved by international free agency. The slugging Angel Enrique and the speedster Jenna Schuster, both starters on elite NT programs, have joined Ivy Werner to form a formidable outfield. At shortstop, to replace retired cult hero Dante Wen, Feliz saw a chance to grab blue-chip shortstop prospect Rene Corbin and took it, trading up nine places to get his man. And while Hapilopper's Lonnie Hayter may be an absolute dumbass, his athleticism and speed could make him the Cyclones' newest star alongside Corbin. It's an well-built, well-balanced team with more than its fair share of star power - but in this division, that may not be enough.

And here's one of two reasons why. Nikki Wang's New Llama Wizards were already defending champions - and then they went out and signed Kelsie Carmichael, Bedin Egozhevy, Jan Scherer, Joe Gregory, Vincent Veltrone, and George fucking Ducat - all either NT starters or future stars for well-regarded national teams. Wang was right to upgrade - while the Wizards did win last season, they did so with a pedestrian 89-64 record and only came alive late in the season. Now, there's absolutely no doubt that they are top-to-bottom stacked, and one of the favorites to win the Llamanean side of the bracket. The rotation is stacked, with Rockets star Carmichael, Tigers second starter Söderstrom, and young Delaclav phenom Egozhevy a formidable trio - but it might be too stacked, as dissatisfied ex-ace Cedric Wei, relegated to fourth starter duties, is reportedly on his way out. Llamanean internationals Sam Vandenberg and Courtney Mikkelson flank Quodite international Scherer in the bullpen, although there aren't many arms after them. The infield is packed with power, with TJUN-ia starting catcher Gregory anchoring for Ranorian phenom Veltrone (flipped for NT reliever Y.P. Ying), playoffs hero Devon Jimenez, and arguably Super-Llamaland's best player right now, Summer Huang. The one hole may be at third base, where first-round pick Esther Martinez is having troubles adjusting to the Llamanean leagues. The one hole might be outfield defense, especially with a pitching staff that isn't especially ground ball-heavy. Ducat is a whiz with the glove in addition to immediately becoming one of the league's most dangerous cleanup hitters. Nikko Norsholm and Jayce Duncan are both primarily corner outfielders, but one of them will have to play center. It's one of few holes in the champions' roster, though, and another playoff run seems almost inevitable...

...but not if Vargas City can say anything about it. The team, fueled by new owners OuranosTech and Banijan manager Abraham Kakay (yes, from that Kakay family), threw all their money into free agency, and have emerged from a protracted rebuild possibly the betting favorites to win the entire thing. It starts from the top of the rotation, where the Lions have by far the best 1-2-3 punch in the league. WBC52 MVP and Chromatik phenom Clara Ayonara, Llamanean ace Isaac Colón, and Newmanistan's Megan Reardon will be an utterly unstoppable combination in the postseason, with first-round pick Anna Guo expected to provide competent cover. The bullpen might be a relative weakness, but that doesn't mean they're bad by any means - Kris Headley is an NT setup man, and the team reached with their #7 pick to take South Newlandian Darlene Le in the draft. Niko Frandsen is also a former NT setup man but has been more volatile as of late, and the arms after Frandsen are even more of a question mark.

Where this team truly shines, though, is with a bat in their hands. Everywhere you look, there's a new NT star - the slugging 21-year-old Marius Mcneesh of Milchama slots neatly into first, Tigers right-fielder Trevor Mikkelson-Yao is one of the best hitters in the league, DH Noah Slater inexplicably fell to #7 in the redraft despite slugging thirty home runs last season, and Nicole Larkin averaged .330 with 30 home runs for over a decade with the Putnam Lake Eagles. She also idolized former Rockets/Lions star Kayla Carey growing up, making her a natural successor for Carey in the #2 spot in the order. Not to mention Edith Ponce, also just 21 years old, who led Chromatika in home runs and RBI for the Hanai Heroes before batting cleanup for the WBC champions. In short, the Lions have five legitimate threats to hit thirty home runs this season, with Mikkelson-Yao, Larkin, Slater, Ponce, and Mcneesh forming nothing short of a Murderer's Row at the top of the lineup. "Oh, so that must be all the international stars you were talking about?" Not even close. Quodite catcher Yazhu Hong offers a steady pair of hands behind the plate, Rachel Estrada is a defensive whiz for the Llamanean national team, and despite likely being the team's sixth hitter, center fielder Lucas Robinson is one of the best players in Ethane. The team is almost disgustingly stacked - and while they may need some time to adjust to all the egos, there's no reason why they shouldn't win this season.

by **Banija** » Tue Nov 02, 2021 10:48 pm

Banijan sub-cabinet meeting on Nyowani Kitara

NYK Sub-Cabinet Committee

His Majesty the Kabaka- Mwanga
His Royal Highness the Isebantu- Mutungi
The Katikkiro- Kobe Azizi
Minister of Defense- Opiyo Ogol
Director of SUB- Lt. Gen. Issa Shawel
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs- Admiral Luke Agina
Government Chief Whip/Leader of the House- Japhia Ahenda

The Kabaka was walking down to the Sub-cabinet meeting on Nyowani Kitara, and he was not in a good mood. He was starting to feel the pressure on the issue of Nyowani Kitara, after the mixed success of the recent airdrops. Media were asking relevant questions of the Monarch and the Government- what were going to happen to Banija's soldiers left behind Euran lines in Nyowani Kitara, unconfirmed rumored reports of Banijan planes for an airdrop being turned back, and of course, where Banija saw its possible path to victory on the ground.

The decisiveness of the Nepharan intervention, assisted by Eura, had changed the facts on the ground. There was no doubt among anyone in this room, and frankly, most honest international observers, about the ability of the rebel groups to bring down the KPWC-led government in Dewayo. But the facts on the ground had been changed, tremendously. It had initially been prudent of the Banijan Government to wait- to establish whether or not the KFF themselves were worthy of winning the war, and had the ability to do so, and then win the peace after as well. Implement the things in power that could ensure the long-term support of the Banijan Government.

And yet, all of a sudden, that prudence had turned out to be a tactical error. International politics ,especially civil wars, were risky business- the smallest things could turn them. And sometimes, they require bold and decisive action. Nephara brought that bold and decisive action. They, along with their allies in Bastion, took a huge risk- and so far, it was paying off. Decisive action, direct intervention on behalf of a Nafuna Akongo government that had previously been on the verge of collapse, with their country being torn apart in civil war. And then, even when Nafuna Akongo was caught with her pants, attempting and failing at a direct assassination attempt that was nearly universally condemned, they only doubled down. Tens of thousands of troops in the country, a naval blockade and a no-fly zone enforced across the country.

They were making progress against rebel troops, especially those in the south where KFF and foreign soldiers were concentrated- foreign soldiers fighting both for and against the Kitara Freedom Front. The group who initially looked most likely to sweep through the country, on the backs of political momentum and momentum from the battlefield, were now suddenly playing defense, surrounded on all sides- the Eurans at sea, the Nepharans supporting the KPWC pushing them closer towards the coast, while the DFLK suddenly sat in a much stronger position.

But there were urgent things to deal with. Troops stuck, behind enemy lines. An airlift- thwarted. And a bunch of bad mouthed men, and one women, in this room that was quickly becoming a crisis center.

"OK." Said Kabaka Mwanga when he walked into the meeting. "We all know what's going on here, and why we're here- the problem, of course, is the tightening noose that Nephara, with the assistance of Eura, are squeezing around the neck of everyday Kitarans on behalf of Nafuna Akongo and the Kitara Progressive Workers Coalition. First- let's talk about what's happening on the ground. Admiral?"

Admiral Luke Agina, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, stood up. "Well, as we all know, we sent a total of six planes to deliver supplies to the KFF on the ground. The diplomatic side was handled- everybody was forewarned this would happen, we have maintained our legal right to do so, and yet, we were stopped- not by KRF troops on the ground, but by Euran Naval forces at sea, and now, presumably, by Nepharan forces in the air. We sent a pair of planes that delivered the necessary supplies ahead, and shortly behind them, four more planes. The first two planes, the group led by Major Jajah, were able to reach their destination, subject to verbal harassment- but nothing phsyically to preven tthem from reaching their destination."

"Nothing unexpected." Said Admiral Agina. "But the next four, that came just a few hours later, were denied access. After reviewing the full report, it was Euran Naval forces that would not allow Banijan planes to pass. Their planes harassing ours in the sky, shooting right by our planes, flying right by our planes- we were even forced to drop millions worth of weaponry into the sea just to be able to turn around and make it home. Nobody was hurt, of course- but the message was very clear. We would not be supplying KFF forces."

"Son of a bitch." Isebantu Mutungi said, banging on the table. The heat was rising. The Banijan government had released a heavily biased statement after, hailing the success of the two loads of weaponry that did get delivered, saying how it showed the commitment of the Kingdom of Banija to the people of Nyowani Kitara, and now, even in the face of the Rushmoris, they would stand on behalf of the Kitaran people, against Dewayo and against the KPWC government. As the war was escalating, and foreign involvement was escalating, especially by Nephara and Eura, the question was being asked- what was the endgame?

"We all know this- we do not want a direct shooting war with Eura and Nephara." The Kabaka said. "They chose to fight a rebel group we were already arming- that is one thing. But unless we had some sort of an overwhelming show of force, this would not be a winnable war. And that is something that we are not simply capable of doing, considering the distance from the GGU to Nyowani Kitara. Not that we'd want such a war anyways- it would poison our relations not only with those two leading Rushmori nations, but possibly with all of Rushmore, maybe for generations to come. And not to mention the obvious." The obvious, of course, is that such a war, especially out in Rushmore, would probably be unwinnable. Invite war to Banija's shores.

"The temperature keeps rising." The SUB Director, Lt. Gen. Issa Shawel said. "We need to find a way to lower the temperature, and soon. Or else this could get out of control."

"Or worse." Japhia Ahenda said, who was the Government's Chief Whip. "These Rushmoris keep growing bolder. We need to bring down the temperature, but do so on our own terms. We have shown, publicly, that we are dedicated to this. We did the air drop. Can we do future airdrops? No. If we want to keep the Lukiiko on our side, we need to take deliberative steps to take this to the table, and quickly. They beat us to the ground, like it or hate it- it's true, and now with the blockade, and the recently announced no-fly zone, they beat us to the skies and the seas. This isn't a game of chess, however, where total victory is the only option. We need to sit down, quickly, and quietly, and come to some sort of an agreement."

"Well, Major Jajah and his men are still on the ground in Inhalo." Said the Minister of Defense, Opiyo Ogol. "We don't need things to escalate. We need to protect the KFF and keep ourselves in the loop on Nyowani Kitara. We can't have the KFF falling. IF the DFLK become the sole opposition group, well..." Nobody said anything, as there wasn't anyone in the room who actually liked the DFLK.

"I will write to these foreign ministers. Secret meetings, backchanneling." Said Isebantu Mutungi. "We need to look forward towards a long-term solution to the problems within Nyowani Kitara." The following letters were hand-delivered by the Ambassadors to Eura and Nephara, respectively, to the respective foreign ministers of their host nations.

TOP SECRET

To: Foreign Minister Melinda Klose of Nephara
Foreign Minister Carl Rutherford of Eura

Hello,

I am writing, of course, from Banija, on behalf of my Father's Government. Our three nations obviously have our very distinct and public differences in regards to Nyowani Kitara, and what movements and leaders are better for the country's future. After deep talks with my own staff at the Foreign Ministry, and discussions with the rest of the cabinet, we believe that there are more possibilities for talks between the Kingdom, Nephara, and Eura than immediately meet the public eye.

We all want stability in a country that is quickly unraveling. We all support the human rights of those on the ground. While we greatly differ in how to make this happen, and which leaders on the ground are in the best position to make that happen, it is clear to me that the urgent lines of communication need to be opened and maintained. And, of course, we have Banijans who are on the ground in Inhalo, unable to fly home thanks to the no-fly zone and the Naval blockade.

I propose that we need to work together and start discussing immediate issues- like allowance of Banijan pilots, already on the ground in Southern Nyowani Kitara, to leave and fly out of the country, unmolested by the KPWC's no fly zone, undoubtedly enforced by your nations. That, of course, will lead to the present end of Banijan efforts to fly across Nepharan and Euran occupied Kitaran air space without coordination with your two nations, including on what would be flown over.

If we can succeed quickly here, we can continue working on issues of mutual interest in Nyowani Kitara.

From,

Isebantu Mutungi
Waziri of Banija

by **Eshialand** » Tue Nov 02, 2021 11:19 pm

Surprise?
Eshialand U21s 5-2 South Newlandia U21s

"Hello and welcome back to ENN Tournament Report, I'm your host Josh Seametzle!"
"I'm your host Karsten Rhodes!"
"What are you talking about Karsten, I'm the only host."
"Says who?"
"Says ENN upper management, I'm the one with the facts and stats and stuff, while you're the comedic talent. That doesn't make you the host, that makes you a special guest."
"Comedic talent is talent Josh!"
"I'll ask upper management if they agree then!"
"They will!"

"Okay, where were we... oh right! So did you hear about the first results in the International Baseball Slam?"
"Bite me."
"Ha ha ha, I'll convert you into a baseball fan yet... anyway, the Owlets won!"
"Against..."
"The team from South Newlandia!"
"Are you on drugs?"
"It was 5-2, a truly dominant, wire-to-wire performance!"
"Can I get your dealer's number?"
"I'm being serious, blame their catcher! Two passed balls in an IBS game, how did they let that slide..."
"What's a passed ball?"
"You've gotta be kidding me Karsten... anyway, either their team was garbage or ours was actually good."
"The former's probably likelier."
"Are you so sure about that? The Owlets made micemeat of the South Newlandian pitching!"
"But you just said that the Junior Elephants' catcher committed two 'passed balls', isn't that a sign that they were just bad?"
"So their catcher couldn't catch a ball that was pitched straight to him, that doesn't mean anything for the Owlets' hitting game, and that was amazing!"
"Wait, their catcher couldn't catch? Isn't that... in the name?"
"It's insignificant, don't worry about it!"

"Anyway, so a win against the team from Super-Llamaland, yes or no?"
"How did they do in Game 1?"
"They won 6-2, but that was against the Indiana Controlled Floridians, so does it really matter?"
"A win is a win Josh."
"But yet you've spoken so dismissively about Eshialand's win? That's a double standard."
"Fine, show me some stats so we can end the broadcast."
"You realize I don't have statistics for every broadcast, right?"
"Then what do you have?"
"I was just gonna end the--"
"I know that smile, you have a boring fact coming."
"No..."
"Yes Josh."
"Fine, you coaxed it out of me. Nova Anglicana beat Banija 17-1."
"Oof."
"Anyway, that about wraps it up for this edition of Tournament Report, I've been Josh Seametzle, he's been Karsten Rhodes, and we wish you a good night."
"Ah, so you admit that we're co-equal partners in the wishing of a good night!"
"I did not imply that."

by **United Adaikes** » Wed Nov 03, 2021 12:37 am

"That took you a while," Allyn Vargas started when Lily answered her call. She saw Lily drying her hair with a towel.

"Practice just finished?" Allyn asked. Lily sighed before answering. "I just had to shower again, even though I showered already in the lockers of the practice ballpark they gave us. Coach Marma was hard on us earlier. Though I definitely saw some players actually slacking off, their body language was asking why they need to practice."

"Our coaches just want us to be sharp and excellent when game time starts," Allyn said, remembering their practices in preparation for VWE 15.

Allyn continued to ask, "Are you starting in the IBS?"

Lily let out another sigh. "Harmon got it. Maybe they didn't choose me when I flinched before catching one of Mikey's fastballs."

"Oh, there might be other reasons," Allyn replied, "don't be hard on yourself. You're Thrapoy's best catcher. That's the reason they called you to be there. When they call you to play, just give your best."

"Oh, I just remembered," Lily interjected, "Palmer is retiring completely from volleyball? I thought they were just to announce about retiring from international competition only?"

"Well, Palmer had a different thing in mind when they agreed to make a public announcement. Francis and Rory were just as shocked, too, when she announced that."

"What do you think are her plans after retirement?" asked Lily.

"I heard she will be an assistant coach for one of the UAAUA schools. I don't know. The details are not quite developed yet, and you know how rumors spread fast like wildfire."

"She was an excellent teacher, too."

"Oh, I just remembered," Allyn replied, "you were that baseball varsity who took Basic Volleyball!"

Lily laughed. "After all these years that we're friends, and you just thought of that now?"

Allyn shook her head, "Oh, I remember now! Palmer was there as a substitute teacher, and I was there as a varsity student assistant. Standard protocol for substitutes teaching major sports classes. But, you? You were a baseball varsity, you only took the subject as a free elective, but you participated in class like a volleyball varsity player. You even swept your classmates in those one-on-one drills!"

The two reminisced their time as Bachelor of Sports Science students of Golden Sierra University. Allyn graduated late because of the residency rules for volleyball varsity players, with some subjects taken late than a regular student. Their conversation transitioned from college to domestic volleyball.

"Rory's staying with the Ravens," Allyn started, "But Francis is going overseas, along with Angel and Bronto."

"Frank and Bron left A1?! Why?" Lily asked, "Oh, A1 won't get their revenge in the Grand Prix. Where are they going?"

"Coach belatedly said there were scouts from QOVO.1 watching our games in VWE."

"QOVO.1?! Q & S?!" Lily could not believe what she was hearing. Adaikesians will be playing at the top domestic league in the world? In her opinion, QOVO.1 is the best domestic league any volleyball player can be playing in.

"I'm just so happy for them," Allyn shared, "at least, they can show how Adaikesian can play with the top players of the world."

Lily cut her again, watching Sports News. "Remember Jamie Giffard?"

"Who?"

"Jamie Giffard, from the Sports Management class?"

"The one who's always asleep? But still got flat-1 in that class?" (Flat-1 is a term for achieving perfect marks as a grade in a course/class)

"Yes! The one and only! I heard she's managing Aaron Deering."

"Oh, you got to be kidding me?!" Allyn shouted, "How and why?!"

"I don't know!" Lily laughed. "After IBS, I'll ask for Aaron's number."

Allyn laughed as well. "Oh, you wish! Like she'll give it to you."

works? · by **Abanhfleft** » Wed Nov 03, 2021 1:39 am

MUSINGS OF AN ARMORED DINNER JACKET
Official blog of Ibrahim Ahmadinejad, former Right Fielder of the Verbergerkinnh Cubs and the Abanhfleft Revolution

LET'S GET IT STARTED

WRITING FROM PINTOOK, HANNASEA - It's that time of the year again, the time when the Samahang Beysbol ng Abanhfleft takes some of its old stars out of our well-deserved retirements in order to take another shot at one of the two titles that have always eluded us ever since we became a member of the World Baseball Council. Yes, my friends, it is indeed time for the International Baseball Slam once again, and once again yours truly, your friendly neighborhood Armored Dinner Jacket, is back in action. Seems like I can just never catch a break, can I?

Well, here it is, the fifteenth edition of the International Baseball Slam. As had been the case for many a Slam since its resurrection a fair few years ago, a lot of countries see the Slam as an opportunity to blood in their younger players before letting them experience the rigors of true full international baseball. As far as I can remember, I’ve seen lots of under-21 teams take part here. I’ve also seen some under-18 teams, a handful of under-15 teams, and even the occasional under-13 or even under-11 team. And then you look at Abanhfleft, who have decided to go the complete opposite direction and send out a team of golden oldies (or more often just oldies) to play in the Slam. Clearly, the SBA’s game plan here is to let experience triumph over youth every day. But of course, that doesn’t take into account that the experienced elders don’t exactly have the bodies of spring chickens anymore. Reflexes are dulled, joints aren’t as flexible anymore, that pitcher’s elbow is going to hurt more and for longer as well. Age really is the great equalizer sometimes.

But that’s enough about previewing the Abanhfleft Revolution All-Stars. Let’s turn our attention to the other teams whom we’ll have to play against before we can even think about winning the Slam itself. Our first opponent, whom we play after our opening day bye, is the TJUN-ia Under-21 Batting Cubs. Now, with TJUN-ia’s rise throughout the multiverse as a sporting power, we’ve all gotten used to hearing the nickname of Jaguars used for all of TJUN-ia’s teams so far, but the 15th IBS is going to buck the trend. Yes, for the first time, TJUN-ia have decided to call one of their teams something else, and that something else is “Batting Cubs”. Sure, it’s not that far off from Jaguars because I’m pretty sure a young jaguar is called a cub, which still fits with the country’s overall jaguar theme. And if I have to type “jaguar” once again, I might just scream. I guess I’ll just have to hold in my tongue for a little bit more. Anyway, getting beyond the name change, this TJUN-ia team aims to build upon the success of their earlier IBS campaigns and gun for a second straight playoff appearance, hence why they’ve brought in reinforcements into this team that they’ve sent to the Hannasean Federation. They said so themselves. Imagine going up against these folks as your first ever IBS game in a year! Oh, wait. That’s exactly what I’m about to do!

Our next opponents are another young team. Well, they’re definitely a younger team than the Batting Cubs. That’s because they’re the Alexandre Petion High School Freedom Fighters. Yes, we’re going to play a high school baseball team. Again. At least I’m pretty sure that we’re about to play another high school team again. This has been the general trend of recent Slams so I’m pretty sure I’ve already played against at least one high school team before. I’ll have to go back into my archives to make sure of this, but I think that that is indeed the case. But you never know. My memory has failed me before, and as I grow older, I’m pretty sure that it’ll fail me again...

Our third game this IBS is yet another school team, this time the Central Heights High School Undead. Yes, that’s right. Their team is called the Undead. As far as I can tell though, none of their players are zombies or vampires or ghouls or any other supernatural creatures of the night. But what they do have is a pitcher named Andrew Beckett-Carlson who has been tasked with starting against us oldies. Oh, excuse me, I meant to say Revolution All-Stars. Anyway, according to his profile, Beckett-Carlson is supposed to be an all-rounder with a repertoire of at least four different pitches but not really specializing in any one specific pitch. On one hand, it certainly sets him apart as someone to watch out for because this means that Beckett-Carlson can keep the offense guessing at every pitch he throws while he’s on the mound. On the other hand, the fact that he doesn’t have a particularly specialized pitch means that maybe his fastballs won’t be as fast, his changeups are faster out of his hand, his curveballs won’t fly as far down as expected… well, you know what I mean. But of course, you never know. Beckett-Carlson might finally find his specialty by the time he has to play us. He’s a young gun, after all. He’s got all the time in the world to do what he wants to do.

And last, but most definitely not the least, is the Basian Clergy White Sox. Now this here team is much different from the others we’ve faced because they’re neither a high school team nor a team of under-21s. No, what sets the White Sox apart from all the others in our group is the fact that they are composed of… you guessed it! Clergy! Yes, clergymen and clergywomen apparently make up the entirety of this particular team. At first glance, it might seem surprising for the clergy to be so heavily involved and invested in a single baseball club, but a cursory look at the history of Schima Bas show that Christian churches used baseball as a way to spread their teachings deep into the country, which seems like an alright way to spread their religion, I guess. I may be a Muslim but I don’t really have any quarrels with them, so long as they understand their limits and mine. They worship God, I worship Allah, and as long as nobody gets angry at that then live and let live. I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t do some proselytizing on the side though, but that also depends on what denomination of the Christian church they are. Some denominations proselytize more than others, I’ve learned from personal experience.

And that does it for my preview of the Walnut Group of the 15th International Baseball Slam. In other Slams, our group would just simply be called Group D, but for some reason, the Hannasean authorities decided that it would be better and more fun to assign nut-related names to the Slam groups this tournament. Not that I don’t mind. I actually quite like it. You know what else I also like? Cars. Especially cars going fast. Ever since Abanhfleft finally decided to enter the motorsports scene, in particular NSSCRA and WGPC, life as a Fleftic motorsports fan has never been better. And it also seems like a nice time to mention the fact that Jaguar Racing (from, you guessed it, TJUN-ia) look like they’re definitely playoff contenders this season. I mean, Michael Stefan just took the dub at the Tundra Falls 500! And their other entries, Mercado and MRJ, could have and probably would have done better were it not for a puncture on Mercado’s part and the fact that MRJ was a Multiversal Cup Series rookie, I think. What I’m saying is that if you’re a fan of NSSCRA like me, then Jaguar Racing is definitely one of the teams to look out for as playoff contenders alongside the usual suspects like GFR [Glorious Free Republic Motorsports from Saint Kanye], Team Blue [from Hapilopper], Vilita & Turori Motorsports, and of course our very own Urotovsky-Gatutin Motorsports Division. Well, that’s enough car talk from me on the inaugural blog post for the 15th International Baseball Slam. This is the Armored Dinner Jacket saying ciao, peace. Catch you in my next post.

by **Hannasea** » Wed Nov 03, 2021 4:11 am

MD2 cutoff

RP challenge for next cutoff: make an RP about how baseball relates to popular culture in your nation (e.g. a popular TV show about baseball, a song, an urban legend or folk hero)

Peanut Group
Cassadaigua U18s 1–0 Behetij Beach Lions
Kohnhead U21 Pandas 0–2 Brookstation Crimsons

  Peanut Group                              Pld   W  L   RF  RA  RD 
1 Cassadaigua U18s                            2   2  0    7   0  +7
2 Behetij Beach Lions                         2   1  1   10   7  +3
3 Brookstation Crimsons                       2   1  1    2   6  −4
4 Kohnhead U21 Pandas                         1   0  1    0   2  −2
5 Redemption Joshuyo                          1   0  1    6  10  −4

Almond Group
Frozen Forest Lynx 0–4 Banija Joint Service Academy All-Stars
San Fukuoka Jets 3–2 StrayaRoos Emus

  Almond Group                              Pld   W  L   RF  RA  RD 
1 Nova Anglicana Lions                        1   1  0   17   1 +16
2 San Fukuoka Jets                            1   1  0    3   2  +1
3 StrayaRoos Emus                             2   1  1    5   4  +1
4 Banija Joint Service Academy All-Stars      2   1  1    5  17 −12
5 Frozen Forest Lynx                          2   0  2    1   7  −6

Cashew Group
Super-Llamaland U17s 6–0 Eshialand U21s
United Adaikes Hawks 5–0 ICF Crocodiles

  Cashew Group                              Pld   W  L   RF  RA  RD 
1 Super-Llamaland U17s                        2   2  0   12   2 +10
2 United Adaikes Hawks                        1   1  0    5   0  +5
3 Eshialand U21s                              2   1  1    5   8  −3
4 South Newlandia U21s                        1   0  1    2   5  −3
5 ICF Crocodiles                              2   0  2    2  11  −9

Walnut Group
Basian Clergy White Sox 1–3 Alexandre Pétion High School
Abanhfleft Revolution All-Stars 4–0 TJUN-ia U21 Batting Cubs

  Walnut Group                              Pld   W  L   RF  RA  RD 
1 Central Heights High School                 1   1  0    5   2  +3
2 Alexandre Pétion High School                2   1  1    5   6  −1
3 Abanhfleft Revolution All-Stars             1   1  0    4   0  +4
4 Basian Clergy White Sox                     2   1  1    8   7  +1
5 TJUN-ia U21 Batting Cubs                    2   0  2    4  11  −7

by **Caleonia** » Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:46 am

Hannasea wrote:MD2 cutoff

RP challenge for next cutoff: make an RP about how baseball relates to popular culture in your nation (e.g. a popular TV show about baseball, a song, an urban legend or folk hero)

I mean considering the league was one of the few things that both the Western Bloc and Eastern Bloc supported I feel like baseball has pretty close ties across Caleon and Europe as a whole. Anyway.

Jets @ Emus, Game 1

A CPB team had never been enlisted to play in an international competition like this. The closest thing to it was the triennial Caleonian International Championship games played in New York City, and coming straight off of a [REDACTED] performance against the Amsterdam Lions in the 2034 CIC, the Jets were hungrier than ever to start the season off strong. Because of their appearance in IBS XV, the 2035 CPB season was pushed back by a month, so the Jets did have some time to rest after this tournament concluded. The only thing on their minds was their opponent, the Emus, and the potential loss of teammates to the four expansion teams set to begin play in 2035.

The starting core all had contracts sealed up but were still under threat of being taken by either the Hornets, Kingsmen, Sharks, or the new division rival Suns in their respective expansion drafts. This set a worry within the team that seemed to loom over as they traveled to Hannasea. Regardless, Jessica reminded her team that this is a test of the CPB’s strength, not a test of whether or not they will stay on the team.

Toledo rolled off with a hot start, pitching 5 innings without a single hit allowed, striking out 8, and walking 2, which led to double plays ending the second and fourth innings respectively. However, the Jets offense also failed to get going, only rallying three hits in those 5 innings, no runs scored. At this point, both teams knew this was going to be a game of attrition.

The Jets struck gold first, with Leah Nakken hitting a solo home run in the top of the 6th. That was the only action of the inning as Williams, Blanchard, and An all popped out after her. Then, the Emus came right back, scoring a solo home run of their own with (they haven’t told if I can decide their score runners yet so this is blank), tying the score 1-1. Once again, the defenses held strong, neither allowing a hit in the 7th, and Toledo was finished for the night afterwards.

Top of the 8th, and Jack Tyler was up to the plate. There were two outs with Pizarek on 2nd base and Kuntz on first. Varga had popped out to Right Field, Pizarek hit a ground rule double due to the CodeTek Tree, Kuntz hit a ground ball single, and Luther had struck out. Tyler vs. Kuy, and Kuy looked exhausted.
Pitch 1… Ball.
Pitch 2… Foul.
Pitch 3… Ball.
Pitch 4… Ball. 3-1.
Pitch 5…
CRACK!

Tyler hit a bomb that landed in the corner of right center field, hitting the back wall. With a great stroke of luck, Wallson missed the catch opportunity completely and hit the wall, allowing for a wonderful RBI Double putting the Jets up 3-1 in the top of the 8th. Luther would allow a lead off home run in the top of the 8th but afterwards closed the save opportunity without allowing another hit on the night.

The Jets defeat the Emus 3-2 and push themselves to second in the Almond Group standings. They know it’ll be a tough challenge to catch up to the Lions +16 run differential but they are up to the challenge. Jets Mafia was present in earnest but did not have as big of an impact as they hoped.

by **Super-Llamaland** » Wed Nov 03, 2021 4:43 pm

LPB 1 PREVIEW: THE SOUTH
"can anyone stop the suns?"
Alice Kim, LSN Baseball

The first season of the highly-anticipated Llamaphant Pro Baseball is set to kick off next week, as the world waits with bated breath to see what the future of Esportivan baseball will hold. However, with a whirlwind free agency period recently coming to a close, it's time to consider what the actual teams on the field will look like, as we consider each of the twelve teams on the Llamanean half of the LPB. Before switching over to the South Newlandian side of things, we consider the final four of the SLL half's twelve teams, the SLL South. While the North is sort of universally mediocre, and the Central has three possible 100-game winners, the South is the most "normal" of the divisions in the league, with a clear frontrunner, two teams scrapping for a wild card spot, and Peninsulara.

The first of our teams is also the best, as star manager Michael Shelby's second act came within two games of winning it all in the LBL's final season. While they're by no means juggernaut like their central counterparts, Shelby has still developed a strong young core and smartly supplemented it with solid foreign pieces, ensuring that this team should be a contender for years to come. GM Marcia Persson started strong, flipping postseason hero Alvin Jimenez and picks for slugging outfielder Tyson Long, who the Flames were a little too willing to give up. They also drafted a few solid complementary pieces in South Newlandian starter Ahmed Mendez and Ko-orenite outfielder Nalivalu Amakusa. But this team is still one of the most Llamanean teams in the league, making very few splashes in free agency. Instead, their rotation is built around the one-two punch of NT starter Edward Zhuang and former IBS starter Danielle Nørregaard, and their best position players are mostly Llamanean as well - Long and the cannon arm of Liam Desjardins in the outfield, and Tigers utilityman Ian Hart nominally playing second base but taking on a more Zobrist-y role (named after Enrico Jefferson-Zobrist, a Llamanean infielder in the 1980s). There is one exception - the literally ageless Momoko Komura, a living legend from the earliest days of the WBC, is inexplicably in playing condition and ready to bat second and play shortstop. Overall, Shelby's team has strong starting pitching, excellent defense, and a surprisingly solid attack. If there's one weakness, it's the same one that flared up in the playoffs last year, and that Shelby has done shockingly little to solve - the bullpen.

In contrast, while beleaguered GM Sebastian Weiss genuinely seems to believe that he's built a contender, the Kingfishers are an absolute mess - and even worse, they're a mess that don't own their first-round pick next year, meaning that Rüsselsheim could be very lucky next season. The Blue Sox, of course, flipped star center-fielder Emil Hurley to the Kingfishers for the marginally worse Will Rentería and a first-round pick, probably one of the worst deals of the offseason. But if South Newlandian Daniel Nuñez can whip his team into shape, maybe the trade won't be so costly. That's not to say the team is completely devoid of talent - in addition to Hurley, Nuñez has slugging corner infielder Alana Gonzalez and sprightly center-fielder Harry Bond, who the team reached to take fifteenth in the draft. Third baseman Terry Myers and outfielder Oliver Landry, plucked out of South Newlandia in the redraft, are also solid. After that? Well, the rotation is anchored by Oscar Calderón, who is admittedly pretty good but who has never managed to pitch 100 innings in a season due to injuries, and Angela Tu, she of the career 4.63 ERA. And their only free-agent pickups were a pair of national teamers from Montaña Verde, the distinctly average reliever-turned-LPB closer Facundo Saavedra Calderón and second baseman Oscar Villacrés Chaote. It could be a very long season in the white cliffs of Los-Juantos - but maybe Nuñez can turn it around? If not, at least they'll have a great pick next seas-fuck, never mind.

With his previous team being squeezed out of the SNL half of the league, Erick Iglesías, ex-Suns manager and former Shortlist To Manage The SLL NT member has returned to the south. He inherits a distinctly average team, far from the consistent semifinalists of Michael Shelby's team a few years ago. Gone are the days of Summer Huang, who has since signed a megadeal with the Wizards - although Iglesías has picked up former child prodigy Miles Villeneuve to replace her at shortstop. Gone also is ace April Bendtner, who has also headed to New Llama City. In her place, South Bryant has drafted young fireballers Jarred Li and Adam Freeman, in addition to signing veteran Quodite and de facto ace Haakon Kalberg. The rest of the roster is one clearly in transition between older, better stopgaps and a young, developing future core. Iglesías has signed a pair of Ethanians, Daniel Peterson and Edward Jordans, to lead a surprisingly solid bullpen, while the infield contains of Villeneuve, middling draft pick Alec Christopher, Quodite reserve Kaori Yutani, and young Bollonichian catcher Roland Harlow. Meanwhile, the outfield corners are occupied by young redraftee Yousuf Conway and Drawkian NT star Victoria Irving, with a fairly massive hole in center-field until raw prospect Damien Chun can develop. Overall, it's a fine team, but they may need to rebuild for a few more years before they can truly contend.

Are the Renaissance...good again? While GM/coach Jason Wu never got a chance to finish his rebuild, his replacement, Zwangzug's Jacinta MacRaun, has Xingcheng at least in position to compete for a wild card spot after nine seasons out of the playoffs. We don't know how she got results at the Weegham Rainmakers, since most of her justifications for her actions were complete nonsense, but she has at least shown the ability to take these kinds of teams to the first round, and that's all Xingcheng are asking for. Still, some of her personnel choices have been odd. For instance, the Renaissance held the first overall pick in both the redraft and the amateur draft last season, and she demanded to have control over these picks if the Renaissance were to hire her. With the first redraft pick, she wanted South Newlandian IBS star Nicolas Perez to play first - a perfectly reasonable choice, Perez being a consensus top-3 pick. With the first amateur pick, she wanted...outfielder Schuyler Duffy, who was mocked in the 10-15 range? (MacRaun's reasoning for drafting Duffy: "they'll be the first non-binary player on the Renaissance, which means they have main character energy." We don't fucking know either.) The front office was at least able to trade down to #8 to pick Duffy and get promising third baseman Yousuf Conway out of it, but Conway immediately tore his ACL for the season.

In terms of the rest of the team, it's pretty well-balanced but with few standout options. The rotation, with TJUN-ian ace Chris Harris, young fireballer and NT starter Solveig Jørgensen, and Drawkian starter Syd Masterson, is very good at the top but weaker in terms of depth. The relief corps are fine, with free-agent signing Urkyen Bharadhwaj a former Sherpa star whose stock has fallen since a suspension for doping, closing in front of NT reliever Eliza Guo and young gun Martiño Siqueiros. Ethanian backup catcher Ben Wilden, Perez, Conway, and 20-year-old Newlandian shortstop Billy Kemp form a well-rounded infield, but Perez is the only real star. Finally, Duffy's company in the outfield is Chromatik reserve outfielder Dane Gilbert and left fielder-turned-DH Annie Wladecki, taken after MacRaun demanded the team buy the forty-fourth pick in the draft. Overall, the Renaissance are Fine. Expect them to finish at .500, give or take a few games - and if it's give, maybe they'll even snag that second wild card spot.

by **Chromatika** » Wed Nov 03, 2021 10:26 pm

Alexandre Pétition High School 2-5 Central Heights High School

Nalrina Anoyara pitched eight strong innings - only conceding two runs on a home run to center field in a five-hit affair - while Martin Granderson strutted his stuff by driving in three runs as the Undead triumphed over Alexandre Pétition 5-2 to open IBS play.

Park Kyu-Ri will take the mound in the second game after the Undead's bye day. The Basian Clergy White Sox did lose to Alexandre Pétition High School in the second matchday, so there is definitely a chance for the Undead to prevail.

Frenei Chromatik Baseball League Season 5 Preview - Part 2

Teams are divided into Title Contenders, Playoffs Teams, Almost There, and Participants, and then alphabetized per category. Let us meet the Almost Theres and the Participants.

Almost There
CHROMIA DIAMONDS
Reason to Watch: The Diamonds actually had a positive run differential while losing twelve more games than they won last season - an astonishing feat that really speaks to just how bad they were in close matches. They are perhaps the most likely to break into the playoff picture this coming season, especially if the Vipers, Corsairs, or Scorpions falter.
Players to Watch: RHP Jeremiah DETTMER (Starting Pitcher), 2B HAN Go-Min, RF Pierre MICHALS
Jeremiah Dettmer has been on the watch list of the Outliers for years, with a nice control over a fastball and a changeup and the capacity to win twenty games a season for his squad. If this team is to make the playoffs, it will be because of him. Han Go-Min is the team's big bat, while Pierre Michals is the master of the small hit, knowing how to work a count deep.

KNETYOHAI DYNAMO
Reason to Watch: The Dynamo are a very frustrating team, with the capacity to beat anyone or lose to anyone. They have the weirdest batters that all either play well or play horribly at the same time, with the most wins by more than five runs and the most losses by more than five runs in the previous season. Their fans are almost used to it by now, but every game is like flipping a coin.
Players to Watch: C Kyoko DAHA, SS Mizaya KARUKI, LHP Kana ANTWAR (Reliever)
Kyoko Daha is this team's big bat, but she is also prone to striking out at least three times a game. Mizaya Karuki is the most consistent bat of the squad, often times being the only one to get one in one of their blowout losses. In the handful of one-run victories, it's Kana Antwar that comes through in the clutch.

LANAR RANGERS
Reason to Watch: The Rangers were good once, but... The floor has fallen from under them due to the rash of injuries and retirements. This is a team on the rebuild, but one that is definitely worth watching due to the bumper crop of young recruits.
Players to Watch: LHP KANG Jun-Ho (Starting Pitcher), LF MENG Junyi, 1B Latya DOREANEV
Kang is a nineteen year-old phenom who's determined to become the next best thing, and the Rangers' best shot at a breakout star. Meng's skills tracking the deep ball is unparalleled, and Latya Doreanev knows how to cover fielding pretty well. They are the best of the ten or so players of under twenty-three years of age that the Rangers have, and if this team makes the playoffs, it will mean that the days of Lanar becoming the factory of baseball talent has returned.

URRHEDDIAO KNIGHTS
Reason to Watch: They made the playoffs and and made Hanai Heroes sweat to seven games, right? The Knights were really one blowout loss away from causing one of the biggest upsets of the history of Chromatik domestic baseball. Can they return there, though, after making the Heroes go to extra innings three times and taking them to the seventh game?
Players to Watch: RHP Kanji RANA (Starting Pitcher), 3B Vanya JOSEPH, RF Han JIKARI
Kanji Rana may be twenty-nine, but he's only getting better. After shutting out the Heroes in Game 6 that forced Game 7, Rana's ability to work the pitch count and use the slider to get out of jams has him on the radar for sure. Vanya Joseph is the best at infield doubles, and Han Jikari does strike out more often than most, but he is good for at least fifteen homers a year.

Participants
EYRODS PILOTS
Reason to Watch: The Pilots are good for two things: Watching how they blow leads and the bonehead plays of their infielders. Manager Laria Jokova is new and hoping to make a bit of noise, but has a monumental job ahead of her. They do have one of the most rabid fanbases out there, but those fans will likely not much to cheer for.
Players to Watch: SS Lidia LISOWSKA, C Élisée BARTHÉLEMY, 2B Raitis RANTA
Notice there being no pitchers here? Yeah, none of them are very good. Lidia Lisowska is in the last year of her contract and looking for a way out, while Barthélemy is only twenty-one and okay with flaying under the radar; Raitis Ranta remains a decent contributor despite being thirty-four.

LARHAI LEGENDS
Reason to Watch: Ah, the Legends. They're horrible. What do they do well? They can't hit, they give up way too many runs, and they don't have anyone who's really worth anything. After the initial batch of bad, though, this team does have a bit of a ceiling. There's a core of three, some peripheries, and there's a chance. Perhaps one day soon, they will be worth of their moniker.
Players to Watch: RHP Svyatoslav VOLOSHYN (Starting Pitcher), RF Kseniya ANDRIJCHUK, 1B Marc PANZER
Marc Panzer is a promising rookie who can hit from both sides, and will be looking to make a splash in his first season. Svyatoslav Voloshyn had a down year last season after a promising first season, but there's a chance he'll bounce back. For Kseniya Andrijchuk, a good season might mean getting recognized by one of the better teams and a move up.

MYANA MERFOLK
Reason to Watch: Honestly, they need to change their mascot. Merfolk, really? Meh. Myana have never made the playoffs, and keep falling down, having scored five less wins last season than the one before. There's multiple sports that Myana specializes in, and there's talk that maybe this team should move to a different, better city.
Players to Watch: 2B Josi FREUND, RHP Jillian KALAVER (Reliever), CF SOP Chi-Yong
The only reason there's three players worth mentioning is because the rest of the team is that much worse. The best of them is Sop Chi-Yong, who may be the only one to bat better than .350 this season for the Merfolk.

Z'AI'AI LOGGERS
Reason to Watch: It can't be any worse than last season, right? They gave up the most runs of any team in the competition, and scored the least. How did they not have the worst record of anyone else? The Loggers know how to win ugly.
Players to Watch: SS Roger PAUL, 3B Javier RHODES, LF Osman PIERRE
Roger Paul can take over games, Javier Rhodes does well in the baserunning department, and Osman Pierre can be a surprising bat.

by **Nova Anglicana** » Thu Nov 04, 2021 6:13 am

New Blopping, Hannasea

"So Dylan," said manager Rick McDonald, toying with his pen, "I know we said that we were going to try to rotate guys in and out of the DH spot, but you were so good there against the Banijan All-Stars. How do you feel about DHing again?"

"Nuh-uh, skip, no way," said Dylan Avery, his eyes widening.

"But you had three hits and a walk," pleaded McDonald. "You've got talent with the bat, son. It could help you get to the bigs if you show it off."

Avery shook his head. "I can't do it, skip. I'm not a DH, I'm, I'm - I'm morally opposed to it."

"Morally opposed to it?" McDonald thundered. "How in the hell can you be morally opposed to playing at DH?"

"Well, skip, uh," stammered Avery, "You know how some people are morally opposed to eating meat or serving in war or nuclear weapons? That's me with the DH. I think it's immoral and a perversion of the game, and DHing in one game is bad enough without becoming the face of the DH for this team. I won't do it."

"Immoral...perversion of the game?" McDonald huffed and puffed. "Listen, son, you've got to take the world as it is, not like you wish it would be. Hell, I wish I was a big league manager at this point in my career, but I don't complain about it. I spend my days polishing up little turds like you..." He stopped suddenly. "I'm sorry. That was rude of me. My personal problems have nothing to do with you. If you really feel that strongly about not DHing, you don't have to. But if we lose, you're right back out there at DH. You understand me?"

"Yes, skip."

"Okay, now get out of here and get me Lou."

Avery exited the office and Lou Sharp walked in a few moments later. "Hey Rick. Seems it didn't go well with Avery?"

"Nope," snorted McDonald. "Says he's morally opposed to the DH. Compared it to vegetarianism or conscientious objection. A little over the top, but whatever. We've still got talent."

"A lot over the top, if you ask me," said Sharp. "Back in my day, we wouldn't have dared backtalk the manager. We would have been benched for a week for that."

McDonald smiled. "Yup, but you can't handle players like that these days. So who can we DH here against Frozen Forest?"

"You want my opinion?" asked Sharp. "It doesn't f***ing matter who we DH against these guys."

McDonald raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"The way I see it," said Sharp, "We're set up to win anyhow tomorrow. Frozen Forest has lost both of their games so far, scoring only one run. A team with a weak offense going up against our boys? We're likely to shut them out. Even more in a park like this one that favors pitchers. And finally, we don't know a thing about Frozen Forest. There weren't any names on their uniforms, they used a collection of guys with bog-standard offerings on the mound, and they haven't even named a starter for tomorrow, so we don't know if we should DH a righty or a lefty. There's literally no benefit to strategising about this unless you want to get some other guys playing time. My suggestion? Pick a name out of a hat."

"That's not a half bad idea," chuckled McDonald. He pulled a copy of the roster over to him, closed his eyes, and poked randomly. He opened his eyes and said, "Looks like it's Brumfeld's lucky day. He's been dying to play shortstop. BLACKMON! Get in here, I got something to tell you!"

by **South Newlandia** » Thu Nov 04, 2021 5:45 pm

Disclaimers:
- Players are South Newlandian unless otherwise stated.
- The Evan Masorka is the LPB version of the Cy Young.
- Scoring rates are lower in the LPB, with roughly 10% fewer runs than in the MLB (because our ball isn’t juiced). Keep this in mind when reading about stats.
- If you’re interested in seeing the entire list of results for your team, I do have that. Just dm me and I’ll send you a copy, but across the LPB, it’s 1920 total regular season games, which I thought to be a little much to feature here in its entirety.
- This entire project could not possibly have been run without Llama. I produced the words and the graphics on your screen right now, but Llama was helping me lay the background foundation to make this possible at all. Please do grade my works accordingly.

South Newlandian League

Result Recap – Part 4

SNL North

P                           Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD    Win % 
 1 Elephant Valley Homers   160   90  70   713  624  +89    0.562
 2 Masmow Dragons           160   88  72   779  662 +117    0.550
 3 Ruditown Dachshunds      160   87  73   717  628  +89    0.544
 4 Elephant Valley United   160   85  75   700  644  +56    0.531

Elephant Valley Homers

Last seasons:

Season 2: 49-23, 1st in NW, lost in conference round (2-4 Dragons)
Season 3: 48-24, 1st in NW, lost in divisional round (2-3 Dachshunds)
Season 4: 38-34, 3rd in NW, missed playoffs
Season 5: 38-34, 3rd in NW, missed playoffs

Roster:

Coach: Tanya Ericsson, 59, Super-Llamaland
SP: Darien Rodriguez, 31, Drawkland
SP: Jack Beard, 23
SP: Myron Pacheco, 22 (Rookie)
RP: Bert Hoosier, 24
RP: Kyle Fang, 30, Super-Llamaland
C: Horace Choo, 32, Quebec and Shingoryeo
1B: Adam King, 28
2B: Val Thornton, 22 (Rookie)
SS: Alisen Moyamoto, 28, Chromatika
3B: Albert Vaughn, 26, Super-Llamaland
LF: Michael Kennedy, 21, Super-Llamaland (Rookie)
CF: Shawn Zimmerman, 24
RF: Fabio Ventura, 30

Expectations
Coming off of two good seasons without a playoff appearance and with the third coach in as many seasons, the Homers were tired of waiting. They knew their window around Ventura and King was slowly closing, and they were going to do just about everything to win the North in this season. Everyone expected the pitching staff to be slightly shaky around Rodriguez, but the bullpen had two lockdown elite players, and the batting was going to be among the best in the league.
Recap: Overview
The Homers won 90 games and won the North. It was an extremely close race – the entire division was within five games, it was everyone’s game heading into the final stretch, but the Homers had been in the lead for a while. Since game 137, they had been in the lead of the SNL North, but they’d been good across the year. They stood 45-35 at the All-Star break, tied for first with the Dragons at the time, but they managed to keep their pace and win out the extremely difficult and competitive division. They were by far the last division winner to clinch their playoff spot, taking until game 157, but a win there at home against the Walstreim Stingrays (6-5) propelled them to their first playoff appearance since their first-round exit against the Dachshunds three seasons ago.
Recap: Pitchers
The expectation of pretty much everyone was that the Homers would beat opposing teams with their awesome batting. That was not the case. The Homers only allowed 624 runs across the season, a mark only beaten by two teams. Darien Rodriguez had a career year, finishing with an ERA of 2.46 with a 19-6 record, starting in 32 games. He also collected 10.3 strikeouts per game. Jack Beard also contributed a sub-3 ERA, while second-round rookie Myron Pacheco kept an ERA under 4. In addition to that, the bullpen played very well. Bert Hoosier finished with 31 saves across 36 opportunities, and Kyle Fang finished with an ERA of 2.28 on the season. Despite lacking contributions from the rest of the pen, this 1-2 punch allowed the Homers to win lots of close games. According to run differential, the Homers should have had a 91-69 record.
Recap: Fielders
The extremely good batting was quite as good as expected, but still produced 713 total runs, 10th across the LPB, but worst among division winners. To be fair, they had to face some of the toughest competition out there. Horace Choo had a mediocre year with the bat, Adam King only managed 28 Home Runs, Alisen Moyamoto had a relatively decent year with the bat as well, slashing .276/.560/.876; which was the one of the best marks for shortstops this season. Additionally, Moyamoto led the league in D-War, accumulating 3.4, which brought her to the top total WAR mark across the SNL. Moyamoto is one of the reasons why the pitching staff looked so good all season. Nearly all the pitchers had a higher FIP than ERA, because Moyamoto led the league in putouts and turned double plays. Shawn Zimmerman and Fabio Ventura were the two other big contributors, as expected, but the clearly best player on the team was Moyamoto. The efforts of rookie Val Thornton are also not to be underestimated; she slashed an above-league average .240/.366/.634 along with playing very well with Moyamoto defensively.
Awards
There was no shortage of awards for the Homers this season. Darien Rodriguez and Alisen Moyamoto were the only two all-stars for them, but after heating up in the second half, Rodriguez finished top-10 in Evan Masorka voting, while Thornton was up in the top 5 of Rookie of the Year voting. More importantly, Zimmerman won a silver slugger, while Alisen Moyamoto cleaned house with the silver slugger, golden glove, and SNL Most Valuable Player awards – well deserved honors for the WBC champion, who, according to WAR, brought the Homers from last to first in the North.
The future
Short term, the Homers have made the SNLDS, and will play their first playoff games in three years. Long term, this team can continue to compete for a while. While the core of King, Ventura, Rodriguez, and Moyamoto is all above 28, they surely still have a few good years in them.

Masmow Dragons

Last seasons:

Season 2: 48-24, 1st in NE; lost in SNBL Final Series (2-5 Rhinos)
Season 3: 45-27; 1st in NE; lost in Divisional round (2-3 United)
Season 4: 47-25, 1st in NE; won SNBL Final Series (5-0 Blue Sox)
Season 5: 46-26, 1st in NE; lost in SNBL Final Series (3-5 Monarchs)

Roster:

Coach: Jack Kingsman, 62
SP: Jay Kramer, 25
SP: Julia Donaldson, 27, Newmanistan
SP: Nico Cagliari, 21, Super-Llamaland (Rookie)
RP: Barnaby Butt, 28
RP: Justin Frazier, 30, Super-Llamaland
RP: Kerry Mercer, 32, Nova Anglicana
C: Bradley Jenkins, 28, Drawkland
1B: Gabriel Acosta, 29, Super-Llamaland
1B: Bucky Jiminez, 26, Super-Llamaland
2B: Len Pijpenbroek, 27, Ko-oren
SS: Jason Valbuena, 28, Super-Llamaland
LF: Daryl Dunlop, 29
CF: Marcia McMahon, 29, Super-Llamaland
RF: Denis Caamano, 28, Ko-oren
DH: George Webber, 33

Expectations
The Dragons are used to the playoffs. They’ve made three SNBL Finals in the last four years, including a championship, despite residing in a difficult division. Now, it got even harder, as they were shoved into what was basically the SNL Northwest, with three regular playoff teams already there. Nevertheless, the team of Kingsman was confident. The pitching was going to be led by the South Newlandian ace Kramer, with Julia Donaldson from Newmanistan the new star; the bullpen featured Frazier, setup man for the Tigers, and Butt, closer for the Elephants; and the lineup features stars all around, including but not limited to Acosta, Dunlop, Caamano and, of course, Lexi Burrows. The bookmakers had the Dragons as the third team overall and top of the SNL North for good reason.
Recap: Overview
After a good start to the season, standing 45-35 at the break, the Dragons slowed down a bit, being only 42-38 in the second half of the season. Finishing with 87 wins was good for the first wildcard in the SNL, but the season was dangerously close to spiralling out of control. They dropped to 62-52 at one point, getting caught up to by the Dachshunds due to a six-game losing streak including series against Xingcheng and at United and the Vipers. They immediately picked it back up, winning their next eight straight, including series against the Greens and at the Owls, Cosmos and Homers. Nevertheless, they struggled toward the end. With two games to play, they were tied for the second wildcard spot; but a series win at the Homers including a 14-3 demolition pushed them back up to the first wildcard spot.
Recap: Pitchers
The Dragons surrendered 662 runs across the season, good for 10th in the LPB, but also worst across the SNL North. Kramer had a mediocre year with an ERA of 3.04, despite a 2.45 ERA in the first half of the season. He was one of the players, especially South Newlandian ones, who seemed to struggle with the increased workload. Julia Donaldson was better, getting an ERA of 2.83, but the entire rest of the pitchers were mediocre at best. Barnaby Butt led the league in blown saves, and Justin Frazier missed about 40 games with various small injuries in his throwing arm. Even when he played, his effectiveness was inconsistent. This led to the Dragons losing winnable games – they finished with five fewer wins than they were expected to have by their run differential, the most in the SNL.
Recap: Fielders
The batting was awesome, however. 779 total runs, despite facing some of the best competition in the league, stood as the 6th-best mark across the LPB. Of course, Acosta was a key contributor again, slashing .309/.559/.912 with 37 Homers, the most in the SNL; while Lexi Burrows managed to nearly reach all of those numbers at third base. Denis Caamano also eclipsed a .300 average, and his defensive contributions have to be mentioned as well.
Awards
The Dragons had a couple of All-Stars, including Lexi Burrows and Denis Caamano, with Daryl Dunlop being the second Left Fielder. Despite getting no pitchers near the top of the awards, Denis Caamano won a Gold Glove, while Burrows won both the Silver Slugger and Gold Glove; the only player beside MVP Moyamoto to pull this off. Acosta, meanwhile, missed out on awards at the extremely competitive first base.
The future
The Dragons will get to host the wildcard game. At home, they have decent chances to win it, but the path to a Championship seems to be an unlikely one.
Nevertheless, the Dragons can hope to compete in the future. All key contributors are still under 30, and they remain a very good team that will be able to improve further in the off-season.

Ruditown Dachshunds

Last seasons:

Season 2: 29-43, 3rd in NW, missed playoffs
Season 3: 41-31, 3rd in NW, lost in conference round (2-4 United)
Season 4: 40-32, 2nd in NW, lost in conference round (2-4 Dragons)
Season 5: 46-26, 1st in NW, lost in conference round (2-4 Dragons)

Roster:

Coach: Lee Bradley, 48, Nova Anglicana
SP: Brianna Fitch, 27, Newmanistan
SP: Gene Almac, 29, TJUN-ia
SP: Blake Robbins, 31
SP: Phil Dunn, 22
RP: Tori Fuller, 32, Newmanistan
RP: Erik McGuire, 30, Nova Anglicana
RP: Mario Small, 24
RP: Mark Robertson, 31, Nova Anglicana
C: Jean-Jacques Duplante, 32, Nova Anglicana
1B: Fred Hodgson, 25, Bollonich
2B: Samuel Winter, 30, Ethane
SS: Hannah Mitchell, 25, Newmanistan
SS: Alfredo Swanson, 31, Bollonich
3B: Angela Bengtsson, 22, Super-Llamaland (Rookie)
LF: Mason Bennett, 30, Ko-oren
CF: Rufus Salas, 22
RF: Pedro Moires, 32, TJUN-ia
RF: Payton Arias, 26, Bollonich
DH: Alain Gosselin, 31, Nova Anglicana

Expectations
After their new coach, Lee Bradley, turned the Dachshunds into a competitive playoff team, they even won their old division for the first time in the most recent season. Despite this, they never represented the North in the Final Series, falling short at the final hurdle three consecutive times. Many experts believed that this could be the team that finally breaks the barrier; this is one of the most complete teams in the league. The pitching features two international stars in Fitch and Almac, the bullpen is spearheaded by Fuller, and the lineup features great players along the lines of Winter, Mitchell, Bennett and Moires; along with having some of the best depth of any LPB team.
Recap: Overview
Everything started out well for the Dachshunds. They were 37-22 early in the season, with a solid lead over the North. Then came a backbreaking stretch of eleven consecutive losses for the Dachshunds. They were against tough competition, sure, but when they met the same schedule again in the second half, they at least went 5-6 against the same teams. They dropped to third in the division, and they struggled to get back on their feet. 42-38 at the break, and they just barely got back to 15 more wins than losses at the end of the season. Nevertheless, they seemed to have at least recovered the playoff spot late in the season. With two to play, they were in sole control of the first wildcard spot, but losing a series at Elephant Valley United, they ended up only tied for the second spot. Neither of the losses at United were close – they were shut out in the game entirely – and would have to play the very first 161st game in LPB history to decide whether they would make the playoffs.
Recap: Pitchers
The Dachshunds conceded only 628 runs all season. Only three teams in the entire league managed to outdo this. For the entire season, the pitching had been borderline untouchable, with Fitch, Almac and Robbins all managing an ERA under 3; the best pitching trio in the North. Fitch led the trio with an ERA of 2.33, the best in the SNL North. She also struck out 12.3 batters per game. The bullpen, meanwhile, was just about average. Fuller played a decent season at a 2.78 ERA, but McGuire, Small and Robertson all hovered around league average.
Recap: Fielders
717 runs scored are good, but not comparable to the pitching; finishing 9th in the LPB. Still, a few players had exceptional seasons; Winter was great, Mitchell had elite stats for a shortstop as well. Along this, they were both very solid defensively; helping the pitching staff be as good as it was. Angela Bengtsson also had an extremely good rookie season, easily outpacing the average for third baseman with the bat. The outfield also shined; Bennett, Salas and Moires combined for more than 60 homers. Only at DH, the Dachshunds struggled.
Awards
Strangely, the Dachshunds hardly got any awards. Almac joined Fitch in the top ten of Evan Masorka voting, while Bengtsson was top five in Rookie of the Year voting. However, Bennett was the only gold glover on the team; and he was joined by Winter, Moires and Gosselin in the second team of the All-Star selection.
The future
The Dachshunds will host game 161 due to their Head-to-Head record, but even if they win, a tough wildcard game in Masmow would follow; and even then, it would be a tough path in the playoffs.
With Robbins, Fuller, Winter, Bennett, Moires and Gosselin all above 30, the window may be slowly closing on the Dachshunds. The next generation around players like Bengtsson is only just growing, so if they don’t manage a deep run soon, it will only get more difficult in the future.

Elephant Valley United

Last seasons:

Season 2: 37-35, 2nd in NW, lost in divisional round (2-3 Homers)
Season 3: 43-29, 2nd in NW, won SNBL Final Series (5-3 Flames)
Season 4: 41-31, 1st in NW, lost in divisional series (1-3 Dachshunds)
Season 5: 40-32, 2nd in NW, missed playoffs

Roster:

Coach: Raymond McFadden, 50, Tikariot
SP: Hillary Angelou, 29, Chromatika
SP: Jacob Conroy, 29
SP: Mollie Lloyd, 21 (Rookie)
RP: Jang Hyo-Seung, 31, Quebec and Shingoryeo
RP: Marcel Adams, 31
RP: Connor Harris, 31, Brookstation
C: Hansel Eriksen, 19, Super-Llamaland (Rookie)
1B: Bronson Ghirardello, 28, Tikariot
2B: Igor White, 32
SS: Carlton Baines, 29, Tikariot
LF: Mac Jefferson, 24
CF: Harper Yumizuka, 25, Diarcesia
RF: Julian Breit, 20, Ranoria

Expectations
Elephant Valley United has been one of the better teams in South Newlandia ever since Raymond McFadden came to town. Despite good play and results, they only made it out of the first round of the playoffs once, and missed them entirely in the most recent season despite playing very well. Everyone expected the SNL North to be a tough division, and bookmakers had United as, by a small margin, worst team in the division. Nevertheless, Hillary Angelou is probably the best pitcher in the league, they got Conroy back, they had a solid bullpen, first overall pick Eriksen, along with Ghirardello, Baines, and Breit in the lineup.
Recap: Overview
United played a solid, above .500 season. Despite this, they were barely above .500 at the break, dropped below it for a decent amount of time, and were only brought up to 85 wins by a late-season surge when they were all but out of the playoffs. They struggled against the rest of their division, going .500 against them, but many of those were hard-fought wins that ultimately cost them in the games against weaker opponents. There were simply only so many play-off spots, and United lacked the overall productions and depth to get one.
Recap: Pitchers
Hillary Angelou was the best pitcher in the SNL. With an ERA of 1.95, she led the league by a decent margin, striking out 12.6 batters a game. Hillary also had the lowest WHIP of qualified pitchers. Conroy had a good season too, finishing with an ERA of 2.45. The bullpen was average; Jang Hyo-Seung wasn’t the elite closer other teams had, but he was decent enough. Harris notably had the closest-to-average ERA of qualified pitchers (4.12). In total, United finished with 644 runs allowed, good for 5th in the LPB.
Recap: Fielders
Eriksen, the first-overall pick United made, was playing extremely well in his rookie season. Not only proved he to have a great connection with Angelou and Conroy, but he also picked up skills with the bat quickly, slashing .229/.402/.672 in his rookie season. Aside from that, the 700 total runs (12th in the LPB) United scored were mostly contributed to by Bronson Ghirardello and Carlton Baines; while the rest of the lineup largely struggled. White had a bad year, and young stud Breit was the only other notably good hitter.
Awards
Hillary Angelou took home the Evan Masorka this season, with a sizable lead. She was joined in the top 10 by Jacob Conroy. In addition to this, Hansel Eriksen won the vote for Rookie of the Year with a slim lead. Angelou was the only all-star of the Elephant Valley United, although quite a few players fell just short.
The future
United will have to decide what they want. The two top pitchers are 29, the bullpen is getting up there, the best hitters are also slowly starting to age. They will have to decide whether they want to fight for a championship soon or decide to start a rebuild around their young stars in Breit in Eriksen.

by **Cassadaigua** » Thu Nov 04, 2021 7:39 pm

Another shutout!
By Caitlyn Dufresne, Concord Heights Times

After shutting out Brookstation in the opening game of group play, Team Cassadaigua once again blanked their opponent in game two, topping Behetij by the score of 1-0. That opponent did not make their roster known to the general topic, so we cannot say with certainty that it was another case of a teenager shutting out adults, and we can only guess how old they are. That can be hard to do, because you know, does Laborious Hawk look 790 or whatever it was? What we do know is that a 17-year old tossed a gem again, with hard throwing Chelsea Levine making sure she was not outdone by Brittany Joseph. Chelsea tossed a complete game shutout, scattering four hits and striking out thirteen. It is correct then that manager Taylor Bryant has yet to make a pitching change in a game. As a matter of fact, she has not even had a mound visit!

Levine’s performance provides more strength to the thoughts that the CBL draft next year will be far better than the one we are seeing soon after this tournament is over. CBL clubs have to wait a year to draft Chelsea, who is from White Mountain. Levine had to be good, because the bats were that efficient in this game. They got hits, getting at least two runners on base in four different innings, but they struggled to get clutch hits to finish off a big inning. The young Fillies only run in the third on a Preston Becker single, scoring Natalie McMahon. In the sixth, Anna McCallum ran through a stop sign by the third base coach on a Steffie Foster single, and was thrown out at the plate on a very close play. Manager Bryant said of the play that, “Anna has a lot of confidence in her ability, that is why she is playing and starting on this team as a 16-year old. Sometimes, you have to learn the hard way, and we talked about it. You don’t treat these kids like adults that should know better when they are still kids.” It was the only negative about the game in hindsight, other than the runners left on base. In the end, all the talk was about Chelsea Levine. “Just complete command of her fastball, both the four seam and the two seam, and she mixed in the changeup really well,” Bryant said, “Her curveball is getting better too, and once she is able to master that than we are talking about someone who can be elite in our league for a long time to come.”

Of her performance, Chelsea said, “Yeah, you know I really wanted to have a great game here especially right after Brittany did. I mean it is such an honor to wear this jersey and to represent Cassadaigua. That is better than anything that I have ever did, just being in this jersey. I am thrilled of course with the results.” As for comparing herself with Brittany Joseph, Levine stated, “Before this tournament I only really heard about her, so it was cool just to meet her and talk about pitching with her. But not just pitching, but life in general. That’s what really makes this team so great!”

The Juvenile Fillies meet the Aji No Moto based “Redemption Joshuyo”, and they were the same team that nation brought to the Olympics last year. Our team is not going to worry about that and will hope to continue the great run that they are on!

by **Brookstation** » Fri Nov 05, 2021 12:41 am

BASEBALL IN POPULAR CULTURE IN BROOKSTATION

by Trent Crimm

Although baseball isnt that popular a sport in Brookstation, it is quite popular among colleges and universities. In fact, most of the baseball players play for their respective colleges or universities as Brookstation doesn't have a domestic baseball league as of now. Thus, baseball doesn't have much of an influence on the popular culture of Brookstation. However, there are two shows based on baseball which if not the most popular, is quite popular.

1. 41+

The first show is a sitcom called 41+ . The sitcom is very popular among the teenagers of the country. It outlines the journey of two players, Rory Cronin and Shota Kitade who share one common goal- to beat star baseball player of Brookstation, Sergey Matveev's (Evgeny Bitiev in the show) national record of 41 home runs. The show starts with these two boys meeting each other at their high school baseball team selections. Then both of them speak about their interests and become best friends in a very short period of time. Both love rock music and live in adjacent apartments. The show does not focus completely on the aspect of baseball but focuses at length on the personal lives of the two boys as they are on their journey throughout high school and college. Apart from Rory and Shota, the other main characters in the show are Catherine Lamb who is the neighbour of Rory and supposedly Rory falls in love with her but is unable to actually go and cofess to her until the latter part of the show, Coach Fraser Turner, the coach of their high school baseball team who is almost like a father to Rory and Shota who always extends his support to the two boys and helps them in their difficult times throughout the course of their journey , he is also one of the most loved character of the show. Apart from Catherine and Fraser, there are other characters like Eric Piffero , one of the members of their baseball team who is more of a 'bully' and shares a strong rivalry with the two boys. They often get into comical fights. He is one of the funniest character of the show and finally, we have Luca Fabiani who is a friend of both the boys who often hangs out with them to matches and helps them with statistics. One needs to stay tuned till the 11th season to find out whether they had been able to succeed or not.

The show has won the Lammy Awards (Yearly Brook award for shows and sitcoms) and John Ferrari and Atsushi Inagaki (the actors of Rory and Shota) have both won the Lammy Awards as well. The show has gained a rating of 7.9 and is a must watch for all teenagers.

2. Strike!

This animated show was made with the aim of making baseball popular among the children of Brookstation. This is a show completely made for kids. This animated show follows the journey of Scharl Marx, a retired high school baseball coach who tries to build a team of poor gangsters. He goes and speaks to certain members of petty criminal gangs and makes them understand why they are in the wrong path and they should change ways and play baseball under him. He is able to build a team after a number of negotiations with such petty criminals and starts training them. The show stresses on the disturbed background of each of the team members and discusses why they had to take such a path. It also talks about Scharl Marx, himself whose parents had passed away while working for the military. This show brings a mix of emotions with it. There are really funny scenes as well as sad scenes. This show conveys a strong moral to the children on why anyone shouldn't take the wrong path whatever maybe the reason and how there is always and alternate way of living. The show has received some criticism regarding Scharl Marx, as certain people believe he is used as a character to spread communist propaganda among children but these criticisms have been turned down. The show failed to become much successful and more importantly in its aim of making baseball popular in the country but is still watched by many in Brookstation. The show has five seasons having 12 episodes in each season.

If Brookstation is able to perform well in this baseball slam, the sport will be able to gain a lot of popularity in the country. I, personally enjoy the sport a lot and I strongly hope with all of my fellow Brooks that Brookstation is able to have to a successful tournament.

works? · by **Abanhfleft** » Fri Nov 05, 2021 12:50 am

MUSINGS OF AN ARMORED DINNER JACKET
Official blog of Ibrahim Ahmadinejad, former Right Fielder of the Verbergerkinnh Cubs and the Abanhfleft Revolution

A SOLEMN REMINDER OF WHAT HAPPENS WHEN FANS TAKE THINGS TOO FAR

WRITING FROM PINTOOK, HANNASEA - It was not going to be called a classic match for decades to come, but the Abanhfleft Revolution All-Stars made sure that the team got the right result. Abanhfleft started off its campaign in the 15th International Baseball Slam against the Batting Cubs of TJUN-ia, aka their under-21s. There was nothing much to report about this particular game. Yours truly got an RBI double and helped Curt Weedon score Abanhfleft’s first run of the game at the bottom of the first inning after he got a double of his own. There were a few times when we loaded the bases, but nothing really came of it, sadly enough. In the fifth inning, Terence Ebert got walked into scoring our second run after the TJUN-ian pitcher made three consecutive walks (Terry had gotten a double, which is why it took only three walks for him to make his way around the diamond). Then at the bottom of the seventh Trent Petrella scored Abanhfleft’s first home run, which also happened to be a double homer since Brooks Kogut was already on first base thanks to a mistake by the TJUN-ian center fielder. So, like I said, nothing much interesting happened in our first game back in the Slam. I wish I had more to report but there just isn’t anything else.

So let’s take this moment to cast the memory net back to 22 years ago, to a day which will live on in baseball infamy. Yes, I am indeed talking about the suicide bombings at the Riuwiee National Stadium at the end of the group stage of the 35th World Baseball Classic. The attacks, for which the notorious terrorist group “The Real Fans of Abanhfleft” have claimed responsibility, were the culmination of the group’s perceived grievances against the national baseball team, which they see as having betrayed the nation due to being, well, shit. For those of you who don’t know, the “Real Fans of Abanhfleft” was a group that originally started off as just a bunch of Internet folks who got together in chatrooms and talked about how the rest of the world was conspiring against Abanhfleft to deny us of any sporting championships. Of course, this started off as just your regular conspiracy theory nonsense, but then a number of people formed their own secret chatrooms and began plotting on how they could expose this “conspiracy”. One thing led to another, and soon you had this group of masked people threatening death to each and every team who beat Abanhfleft, no matter which sport. But in their early days, the “Real Fans” paid particular attention to baseball, because it was all the rage at the time this group sprung up.

Baseball was one of the first sports that Abanhfleft participated in once it had opened its doors to the greater multiverse. And after the Revolution almost won their inaugural International Baseball Slam before being defeated by the Gregoryisgodistan Bat Slaves in the final, everyone just wanted to play and watch baseball. Everyone supported the team, full stop. Everyone expected us to replicate our success in the Slam in the World Baseball Classic, which is the baseball equivalent of the NS World Cup or the World Bowl or the International Basketball Championships. What I’m saying is that the nations taking part in the World Baseball Classic are the cream of the cream, the absolute best that the multiverse has to offer. Along with some other teams that only played one Classic before fading right back into obscurity. Abanhfleft was not one of those teams, mind you. We went into the Classic determined to prove that our good form was not only in the Slam, and that we deserved to be counted among the best baseball nations in the multiverse. But instead we got our asses kicked, time and time again, and as time went on the nations kicking our asses were no longer the established big boys of baseball but other new arrivals whom we really should have beaten more times than they actually beat us. Now I’m not saying that I believe this malarkey about a massive conspiracy against us (I don’t, and never will) but I do feel like I’ve come to understand why things might look that way from a fan’s perspective. The amount of bottling that the Revolution did in that period of time could have supplied enough bottled water to the people of Myleikaf Province during the 2003-04 droughts. It got to the point where “playing baseball” has become an idiom for repeatedly failing a given task, no matter how simple or complicated it was.

This was what was going on leading up to the attack in the Riuwiee National Stadium. The “Real Fans” had decided that all this failure and bottling couldn’t be purely due to poor form and incompetence on the part of the Revolution; no, it had to be because the Revolution itself was complicit in the plot to continually deny Abanhfleft any sporting success at all. And after the Revolution looked like they were about to be swept by the Ferrets of Ferret Civilization (which, full disclosure, were actually anthropomorphic ferrets), the “Real Fans” decided that it was time to enact their plan. At the end of Game 3 of our final series against the Ferrets, two “Real Fans” climbed over the ad boards and ran onto the field, chased by stewards and stadium security. One of the men ran up to the Revolution’s manager at the time, Quentin Keppler, and embraced him, only to shout “Death to traitors!” and blow himself up, taking Keppler with him. The other fan on the field turned around to face the security team and shouted the same thing before blowing himself apart as well. Once those two bombers had done their job, two more men hopped onto the diamond and started shooting at the Revolution’s dugout. They were shooting their own team! That was how crazy the “Real Fans” had become!

I don’t know why I did what I did that day. All I knew was that someone had to stop those gunmen from killing even more people, and I still had my bat in my hand. I just ran up to one of the gunmen shooting at our dugout and clocked him right in the head. Of course that meant that the other gunman now had a clear shot at me, but before the gunman could do anything, yet another man got onto the field and shot the gunman. I would later learn that my savior was Detective Zachary Tyler of the Releinthi Police Department. If it weren’t for Detective Tyler, I probably wouldn’t be here typing this blog post right at this moment. And I wouldn’t have been there to help prevent a second similar attack against the women’s softball team. Well, I say I helped prevent the attack, but all I really did was tell my friends on the team that something might happen to them. The FNP (Fleftic National Police) and the RBI (Republican Bureau of Investigation) did the real thwarting of the attack by taking down the cell of “Real Fans” planning it in the first place. The “Real Fans” sure had gone quiet after that, but there still persists rumors and whispers that the “Real Fans” are still out there, biding their time, waiting for the next moment to expose the massive conspiracy against Abanhfleft. Well, good luck to them proving that now that we’ve won championships in many other sports since then. Nope, actually, I take it back. I hope that the quote-unquote “Real Fans of Abanhfleft” never come out of the rathole they’ve been hiding in since the failed attack on the women’s softball team!

Sorry that that took a bit of a dark turn. I just needed to clear up all this emotion I’ve built up, especially since it is now the 22nd anniversary of said attack. I would say that the attack, and the events leading up to it, have made their way into the Fleftic consciousness. It’s a stark reminder and a cautionary tale of how fandom can slowly devolve into fanaticism and what happens when a set of people take things too far and too seriously. This is the Armored Dinner Jacket saying ciao, peace. Catch you in my next post.

by **Eshialand** » Fri Nov 05, 2021 1:14 am

Not a Surprise
Super-Llamaland U17s 6-0 Eshialand U21s

"Hello and welcome back to ENN Tournament Report! I'm Josh Seametzle..."
"...and I'm Karsten Rhodes..."
"...and he was right for a change."
"What, right about who I am?"
"No, right about the International Baseball Slam."
"I don't recall making any predictions on that..."
"Sure you did, you predicted that the Llamanean team would lamb-baste the Owlets!"
"...and?"
"Eshialand lost."
"...and?"
...it was 6-0."
"What? Come on man, I called that exact scoreline when I was talking to my buddies at Eddie's Bar last night!"
"...and you were right. The Eshian pitching was bad, the fielding was bad, and the Llamaneans were good."
"So now what? Who do we get to lose to next?"
"United Adaikes is who."
"Am I allowed to predict what the score will be again?"
"Go right a--"
"Hawks 4, Owlets 2."
"That's... generous? For you, at least."
"Please, it's gonna be a wash all the same."
"A wash? You realize that if we win, we could go to the quarterfinals, ri--"
"HAHAHAHA!"
"Why do you find that--"
"As I told you during the Cup of Harmony, Eshian teams can't win. They just can't! And do you remember what happened then?"
"There's no need to be a jerk about it..."
"We went 0-1-4 and became laughing stocks is what happened."
"But they have a real shot, especially after beating the South Newlandians!"
"Do they?"
"Hey Richard, I'm gonna need a break for some 'technical difficulties' while I remind this man..."
"Please don't!"

"And we're back!"
"Mmmphl!"
"Don't mind Karsten, he's just a little... tied up... at the moment.
"Mmmphmm!"
"I'll take the duct tape off of your mouth when you stop infecting my broadcast with your doomer takes, you..."

"Anyway, so the IBS is certainly heating up, and our own Eshian U21 team is going to have to fight their hardest against the Hawks of United Adaikes in order to stay alive in the fight for the quarterfinals. Until we find out the results of that matchup, I've been Josh Seametzle, the man learning what duct tape tastes like has been Karsten Rhodes, and this has been ENN Tournament Report. Good night and have a happy Friday!"
"MmphMMMLLPH!!!"

by **United Adaikes** » Fri Nov 05, 2021 2:44 am

Venue: Brown Field
Game Duration: 2:29

Teams			1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9   R H E
ICF Crocodiles		0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   0 3 2
United Adaikes Hawks	0 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 X   5 4 0
WP: Laurelle Jephson (1-0) - LP: ICF SP # 2 (0-1)

It’s the second match day for the Cashew Group of the 15th edition of the International Baseball Slam. Playing at the Brown Field, it’s the second game for the ICF Crocodiles, losing their first match against the U17 team of Super-Llamaland, 6-2. But it’s the first game of another newcomer in international baseball, the United Adaikes. They will look to start strong in their campaign here in the IBS by trying to take a win and give another loss to the Crocodiles.

The first inning started with Laurelle Jephson, a female pitcher for the Hawks. Her first pitch in an international game was a called strike off a 95mph fastball. Six pitches after, the batter hit the ball, flying towards short left field, caught by SS Sunshine Newton, getting Jephson’s first out in an international game. On Laurelle’s 13th pitch, the second batter got a grounder to the center-field through Newton and 2B Maegan Tash, getting a single. The third ICF batter struck out swinging in three straight pitches, while the fourth batter grounded out, forcing them out at the second base.

The Crocodiles had an excellent opportunity to score at the top of the 2nd inning. Their 5th batter made a good hit off Laurelle’s 7th pitch of the inning towards the left line but got caught by LF Tiara Appleby. ICF’s 6th batter flew out with a catch from CF Pastor Parks. Their 7th batter got a triple with a fly ball to deep right field, causing Laurelle to give an intentional walk to the 8th batter. The 9th batter was ICF’s pitcher. Laurelle pitched a sinker, but the ICF pitcher got a grounder off it. However, it was towards the direction of Laurelle. She caught it and threw to 1B Xaviera Burton to get a groundout, ending the Crocodile’s offense for that inning.

At the top of the fourth, ICF’s 5th batter got a single off a grounder to center field. The 6th batter struck out swinging. The 7th batter got a nice line drive in the right field but was caught by RF Lane Wortham. The 5th batter, already going to the home plate, failed to return to the first base before Burton caught the ball from Wortham’s throw, thus ending in a double play.

At the bottom of the 6th inning, the Hawks found an opportunity to get the game on their side. Newton was the first to bat in that inning for the Adaikesian side. However, she got a groundout. C Harmon Frank was next. Receiving his 2nd pitch for the inning, he hit the ball for a line drive to short left-center field, getting a single. Now at her 2nd at-bat, Laurelle prepared for the ICF pitcher’s ball. However, it was a wild pitch, causing Frank to pick off from the first base, safely getting to the second base on ICF’s error. The fifth pitch to Laurelle on that inning was a balk, moving Frank to third base. Laurelle knew what to do then. She prepared for a bunt, got a grounder off the bunt, running to first base. ICF’s pitcher got the ball but threw it to first base, letting Frank get the first run for the Hawks (1-0). Parks returned for his 3rd at-bat but was given a free walk to first base after getting another ball from the ICF’s pitcher on a full count. Tash was up again for her 3rd at-bat but got a flyout in the first base.

Continuing at the bottom of the 7th, Burton is up for her 3rd at-bat. Receiving her 8th pitch on that inning, she flew out off a pop fly in the short center field caught by ICF’s 2B. Wortham stepped up next for her 3rd at-bat and got a single off a grounder to second base. Tony Plank replaced Wortham to pinch run for her. However, flyballs from Appleby and 3B Dyson Ellisson ended the inning.

Before the start of the top of the 8th, Plank replaced Wortham as RF for the Hawks. The Adaikesian side is ahead 1-0. ICF’s 8th hitter grounded out off of Laurelle’s 4th pitch for that inning. ICF also chose to have a pinch hitter instead of the pitcher batting. However, they got a lineout in the left field. Their inning ended with a groundout.

The Crocodiles replaced their starting pitcher before the start of the bottom of the 8th. Their starting pitcher has thrown 95 pitches today. Starting their inning, Newton got a base on balls. A passed ball from a pitch to Frank got Newton moving to the second base. On the second pitch, Frank got a single off a line drive to the short left field, getting Newton to score (2-0). Returning for her 2nd at-bat, Laurelle got a grounder off a bunt but sacrificed herself out for Frank to move to second base. Parks returned for his 3rd at-bat. ICF’s relief pitcher balked their 1st pitch for Parks, moving Frank to third base. Three straight balls from the relief pitcher got Parks to first base. Tash, on her 4th at-bat, tying Appleby with the most at-bats for this game, got a 2-run double from a line drive to the center-right field (4-0). Burton got an intentional walk. Plank got Tash to score from second base after getting a grounder. However, ICF got him forced out when he pushed for a double (5-0). A flyball to the right-field from Appleby ended United Adaikes’ best inning of the game.

Before the top of the 9th, Josefa Rojo replaced Parks as CF for the Hawks. Nothing exciting happened in that inning. With the Crocodiles failing to capitalize, the United Adaikes Hawks get their first win in the IBS.

Batting			AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	PA	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pit	Str	PO	A	Details
Pastor Parks CF		2	1	0	0	2	0	4	0.333	0.5	0.833	1.333	16	6	2	2	
   Josefa Rojo CF	0	0	0	0	0	0	0							0	0	
Maegan Tash 2B		4	1	1	2	0	0	4	0.125	0.125	0.25	0.375	15	10	2	3	2B
Xaviera Burton 1B	3	0	0	0	1	2	4	0	0.125	0	0.125	22	11	3	0	IW
Lane Wortham RF		3	0	1	0	0	0	3	0.2	0.333	0.2	0.533	6	4	0	2	
   Tony Plank PR-RF	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	3	2	0	0	
Tiara Appleby LF	4	0	0	0	0	2	4	0	0	0	0	16	11	9	0	
Dyson Ellisson 3B	3	0	0	0	0	1	3	0	0	0	0	9	6	1	1	
Sunshine Newton SS	2	1	0	0	1	1	3	0	0.167	0	0.167	16	8	4	0	
Harmon Frank C		3	2	2	1	0	0	3	0.5	0.5	0.5	1	9	6	6	0	
Laurelle Jephson P	1	0	0	1	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	12	9	0	2	2·SH
Team Totals		26	5	4	4	4	6	32	0.154	0.267	0.192	0.459	124	73	27	10

Pitching			IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA	BF	Pit	Str	Ctct	StS	StL	GB	FB	LD	Unk	GSc
Laurelle Jephson, W (1-0)	9	3	0	0	2	6	0	0	32	111	73	44	11	18	12	11	3	0	85
Team Totals			9	3	0	0	2	6	0	0	32	111	73	44	11	18	12	11	3	0	85

by **Hannasea** » Fri Nov 05, 2021 4:20 am

MD3 cutoff

RP challenge for next cutoff: make an RP that reflects on the popularity of baseball in your nation, whether geographical, demographic, or historical!

Peanut Group
Behetij Beach Lions 9–5 Kohnhead U21 Pandas
Redemption Joshuyo 0–1 Cassadaigua U18s

  Peanut Group                              Pld   W  L   RF  RA  RD 
1 Cassadaigua U18s                            3   3  0    8   0  +8
2 Behetij Beach Lions                         3   2  1   19  12  +7
3 Brookstation Crimsons                       2   1  1    2   6  −4
4 Redemption Joshuyo                          2   0  2    6  11  −5
5 Kohnhead U21 Pandas                         2   0  2    5  11  −6

Almond Group
Banija Joint Service Academy All-Stars 0–4 San Fukuoka Jets
Nova Anglicana Lions 5–3 Frozen Forest Lynx

  Almond Group                              Pld   W  L   RF  RA  RD 
1 Nova Anglicana Lions                        2   2  0   22   4 +18
2 San Fukuoka Jets                            2   2  0    7   2  +5
3 StrayaRoos Emus                             2   1  1    5   4  +1
4 Banija Joint Service Academy All-Stars      3   1  2    5  21 −16
5 Frozen Forest Lynx                          3   0  3    4  12  −8

Cashew Group
Eshialand U21s 2–1 United Adaikes Hawks
South Newlandia U21s 6–4 Super-Llamaland U17s

  Cashew Group                              Pld   W  L   RF  RA  RD 
1 Super-Llamaland U17s                        3   2  1   16   8  +8
2 Eshialand U21s                              3   2  1    7   9  −2
3 United Adaikes Hawks                        2   1  1    6   2  +4
4 South Newlandia U21s                        2   1  1    8   9  −1
5 ICF Crocodiles                              2   0  2    2  11  −9

Walnut Group
Alexandre Pétion High School 1–15 Abanhfleft Revolution All-Stars
Central Heights High School 5–2 Basian Clergy White Sox

  Walnut Group                              Pld   W  L   RF  RA  RD 
1 Abanhfleft Revolution All-Stars             2   2  0   19   1 +18
2 Central Heights High School                 2   2  0   10   4  +6
3 Alexandre Pétion High School                3   1  2    6  21 −15
4 Basian Clergy White Sox                     3   1  2   10  12  −2
5 TJUN-ia U21 Batting Cubs                    2   0  2    4  11  −7

by **TJUN-ia** » Fri Nov 05, 2021 5:28 am

After a close loss to the Basian Clergy White Sox kicked off the Battin' Cubs era, everyone in the TJUN-ian baseball circles felt that this team did alright in their first-ever game as a unit. Sure, losing 7-4 isn't too good, but the White Sox have been at this game for a long game and to only be 3 runs behind against them was surely a good sign...right? With that in mind, The Lightning Dome in Pintook played host to our 2nd game against the Abanhfleft Revolution All-Stars, consisting of retired players from the main squad. The faces of Abanhfleft's baseball past were about to face the faces of TJUN-ia's baseball future...funny how that works, eh?

This game would see Tim Moyers (who's 55) face off against the youngest of our pitchers in the form of 17-year-old Maddison "Missy" Jembembe. While the more-experienced Moyers produced a shutout because yes, he's good, the fact that Jembembe managed to concede only 4 runs to this All-Star lineup should be considered a success on her part, the first time ever a female pitcher has started for TJUN-ia in a game. Both teams had clauses that stated that we "followed the other team" in terms of DH and because of that, we both decided to default in using it. The RBI was used to full effect by the Rebs with Ibrahim Ahmadinejad (writer of the "Musings Of An Armoured Dinner Jacket" blog) sending Curt Weedon to home plate before Terence Ebert got walked to the 2nd run as Missy struggled to find consistency in her pitching. She only conceded 2 more runs after that, coming off a homer from Trent Petrella.

Missy conceding a 4-0 shutout in a game the batting couldn't do much in wasn't great but considering the Rebs just beat our next opponents, Alexandre Pétion High School, 15-1, I guess it was a miracle from Missy that we only conceded the 4. Our game in Old Blopping against the school from Milchama will be very important as even though we are the only team in this group yet to win, our fate hasn't been sealed just yet. There is a scenario in which we can advance and that must begin next time: we need to win and we need the All-Stars to win. That is all. GO CUBS GO!

SCHEDULE (Walnut Group)
MD1: vs Basian Clergy White Sox (Schima Bas) - Principality Ballpark, Old Blopping L 4-7 (4th)
MD2: vs Abanhfleft Revolution All-Stars (Abanhfleft) - The Lightning Dome, Pintook L 0-4 (5th)
MD3: BYE (5th)
MD4: vs Alexander Petien High School (Milchama) - The Lightning Dome, Pintook
MD5: vs Central Heights High School (Chomatika) - Principality Ballpark, Old Blopping

by **Caleonia** » Fri Nov 05, 2021 6:09 am

All-Stars @ Jets, Game 2

Feeling quite rejuvenated after their close victory against the Emus, the Jets fly once again to pounce on an unsuspecting All-Stars team. Caleb Johnson proved his worth by pitching a near perfect game, only allowing a walk and a ground ball error from the All-Stars, pitching 9 innings at his request. On a day’s rest, the entire Jets starting lineup was back in action as they made mincemeat of Rao and Chiemeka’s bullpen, scoring 14 hits, 4 runs, and only allowing 3 strikeouts on the game.

Next up are the Nova Anglicana Lions, sure to be an exciting matchup between two undefeated teams. Whoever wins this matchup is likely to win the Almond Group as the Jets hold the tiebreaker on the Emus, both hold the tiebreaker over the All-Stars, and the Lynx are already eliminated from contention. More on this competition at 7.

International Baseball Slam 15 [rosters/RPs/results]

Batter Up!: Not Bad Result In Battin' Cubs Debut

Batter Up!: We Can Win A Game...Right?

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