World Baseball Classic 44- Everything Thread (IC)

[Lycrabon]

OOC: Apologies for lack of anything. Roster/permissions to come.

LSPN.com

Blue Jays start chase for 2nd title infamiliar territory

ST. CATHERINE -- The Lycrabon Blue Jays come out once again, to familiar Newmanistan, looking for their second-ever title. They've had a rough start, standing in third place after the near-midway point of the schedule. The Blue Jay faithful remember Brianna Bruce being a bear as manager during their title run. In the opening game against Hampton Island, the islanders fielded an ACTUAL bear. No, that's not a typo. It worked to an extent, as our sky blue and black lost a 10-inning heartbreaker, 6-5. Most of the group stage so far as gone according to plan. The roster remained the same as in Classic 43, but the entire roster was give a warning that a repeat would create massive turnover. More asthe tournament progresses.


PERMISSIONS
Choose my run-scorers: No
Choose my lineup: No
Follow my Pitching Rotation: Yes
Godmod scoring events: No
RP injuries to my players: Yes
Godmod injuries to my players: No
Eject my players: Yes, within reason
DH used at home: No
Godmod other events: No
Other Info:

(a) Riverside Stadium is similar to MLB's PNC Park, as the river flows directly behind the right-center field fence.
(b) My DH - when used on the road - will bat 5th.
(c) Two numbers have been retired by the LNT: 17 and 57.

Line Up: (Bats/Throws)
SS 1 Jackie Higgins (L/L) - 21 Justin Walsh (S/L)
LF 22 Pat Crosby (S/R) - 43 Christopher Mercado (all OF) (R/R)
CF 5 Lionel Franks (L/R)
2B 50 Nathan Strong (L/L) - 10 Brian Gillespie (all IF) (L/L)
DH 14 Charley Olsen (L/R)
3B 11 Allan Holland (L/L)
1B 60 "Gold" Dusty Turner (L/R)
C 34 Jonathan Sharp (L/R) - 72 Geno Freeman (S/L)
RF 9 Hank Mueller (S/R)
Pitcher Spot (with no DH)

Rotation:
99 Brant Powers (R/L)
34 Fred Dickerson (R/L)
38 Ralph Hill (S/R)
6 Willie Curtis (R/R)
Bullpen:
LR: 32 Josh Blankenship (R/R), 55 Wes Jordan (S/L), 95 Demarcus Kennedy (R/R), 28 Hunter Anderson (S/R)
MR: 58 Garry Barnett III (S/R), 2 Phillip Gilbert (S/L)
SU: 18 Gil "Grissom" England (R/L)
CL: 20 Carl Hicks (R/L)

[The Sherpa Empire]

----o-֎-o----‭

‭Mingma Al-Ali was ready to show the Eramanians once again that they were out of their league. He hoped the Sherpa batters would give him enough run support to drive the point home more emphatically than they had done in their first game. Kencana swung and missed, fouled off a couple of pitches, then hit one right into Phinjo Modi's glove. Not the cleanest most efficient out, but still an out.

‭And then things went disastrously wrong...

‭Sapura hit a line drive straight back at Ali, Ali couldn't get his glove up in time to catch it, and it ricocheted off his arm. Ali fell to the ground, clutching at his injured arm as Chawa snatched up the ball to hold Sapura at first. The medics came out to check on Ali. They helped him to his feet and walked him off the field and Khalil Tsui got the unenviable task of coming in to replace him. Tsui wasn't up to the job, and neither was Gyrume Hammad, who got brought in in the 3rd inning. Zhuang managed to stop the bleeding, but by then Eraman had 7 runs on the board, and it was no use.

----o-֎-o----‭

‭Tshering and Changjun sat together at a dumpling shop in the upper part of Namche, where traditional stone buildings dominated and the streets were too steep for cars to drive. The shop was family-owned and the owners seemed to be very familiar with Changjun. The imperial capital was a sprawling city, and there were parts of it where it was easy to get lost in the crowd, but this was a neighborhood of small quiet streets where people knew all their neighbors. Changjun and the owners' son chatted a bit when he brought out their momos. He asked how her family was doing, and she asked if he still played football. "He was the star of the football team at my school," she explained to Tshering. "I haven't seen him in a long time, though. He's older than me, and he already graduated."

‭Tshering nodded. "You're not going to school anymore anyway," he pointed out.

‭"Yeah, things have just been too crazy this year," Changjun said. "I'll probably go back in the fall."

‭They talked about this and that while they ate. The father of the family who owned the shop was watching SISN on a TV in the corner of the room. It was an old TV with a grainy picture and poor sound quality. Now and then, it made weird popping noises or the screen would randomly flicker or change colors. The Sherpa national baseball team was playing in West Phoenicia. They were up 5 to 2, but Jabralla had let a couple of runners reach base, and the sportscasters were debating how much longer he was going to stay in the game.

‭Changjun turned to look across the room at the TV. "It feels weird not being there."

‭"What? Not being at that game?" said Tshering.

‭"Yeah."

‭"You're not missing much." Tshering ran through his litany of everything that creeped him out about West Phoenicia, ending with, "...and they're so defensive about their flag. The only reason why anybody gets offended by a flag is if they've got a problem with the country that's using it. If people are getting offended by your flag, maybe you should think about what you're doing wrong that makes everyone hate your country."

‭"I don't even get what's supposed to be offensive," said Changjun. "It's just a flag."

‭She looked over at the TV again and Tshering followed her gaze. "We could teleport to the games if you want to be there at the ballpark," he said.

‭"Nah," said Changjun. Jabralla had just given up a 3rd run and Seojun was scrambling to get the ball back to the infield before a 4th could score. The sportcasters were pretty sure that Jabralla wouldn't be back to pitch the 8th inning, and they were debating whether he would get to finish the 7th.

‭"Hey, you know what you can do if you want to troll the West Phoenicians? I bet we could get Phat Karma to do a concert before their game at Chokpori. He does a rap version of the national anthem that's funny if you know what it's supposed to sound like, but as actual music, it's absolutely terrible. Their Empress won't be able to say anything bad about it because it's the national anthem, but it sounds completely awful."

‭Changjun grinned mischievously and Tshering laughed. "It's tempting, but we can't actually do it," he said.

----o-֎-o----‭

‭Meanwhile, at the Imperial Palace, Princess Yahia was watching the game on a large HD TV in an ornately furnished room with lots of carved redwood and colorful gleaming silks. She and a few noble ladies lounged around munching on elegant hors d'oeuvres and drinking imported champagne. Yahia was annoyed that the Emperor had shot down her idea of going to watch the game in person, reciprocating West Phoenician Empress ‬Cleopatra-Olympias' visit to the Sherpa Empire. She had tried to recruit some people from the Ministry of Culture and the Foreign Ministry to back her up and try to change the Emperor's mind, but they had all refused to help.

A servant woman who had worked in the Palace for many years brought in a tray of spring rolls and overheard Yahia complaining. "They know why you really want to go to that game, your highness," she said.

"Is it really so wrong that I want to see Debashish?" Yahia asked. "I love him, Dadoma!"

Dadoma laughed. "That's not the first time you've told me you were in love," she said.

"Oh, but I mean it!" said Yahia. "I have to find some way to see him..."

----o-֎-o----‭

(Note: Ali's injury means José Sherpa will be brought in to cover for him until he recovers. Probably just one of his starts.)

[West Phoenicia]

The Confederate Empire of West Phoenicia played gracious host during match day 8 when they entertained the Sherpa Empire.
All international baseball games are played at the King Glenton Gryphon-Bush II stadium. The stadium has a capacity of 50,000. It was a beautiful monolithic stadium in the heart of the Empire's capital of Melbourne-Haven.

In the lower stands the masses cheered the baseball players and the entertainment that the West Phoenician Baseball Association had organised.
Venders called out offering peanuts, hotdogs, pizza, popcorn, beer and cola.

While in the upper stands where the elite sat feasted on cavier, lobster, fresh fruit and cheese platters and imported champagne, the upper aristocracy had their private boxes where they lounged on couches encrusted with silver, gold and other precious gems waited on by Stadium staff and their own servants.

In the Emperor's box, Emperor Glenton Gryphon-Bush II sat with his three wives, Empress Angelique, Empress Alotta and Empress Cleopatra-Olympias.
The room was cool and refreshing, platters were held by finely dressed servants and guards stood watch over the door.
Any important official from the Sherpa Empire was given a similar box; luxury and opulence at their disposal for the duration of the game. Let them go back to their country and proclaim how good the people of West Phoenicia were. How elegant, colourful and beautiful.

Crowds stood to attention as Madame Jada Iceaa sang the national anthemn. She was attired in a shimmering white dress that had tiny diamonds sewn into it. She had drapped herself in the West Phoenician flag. Her hair was in a classic up sweep with pearl combs keeping the hair in place and from her ears dangled diamond droplet earring with tiny West Phoenician emeralds.
West Phoenicia in my heart forever, was the official national anthemn.
As a loyalist Madama Iceaa also sung God bless our mighty rulers. Tears steaming down her face as she sang with such passion.

The Emperor stood, followed by each of his wives waving to their adoring fans.

A statue of Goddess Fortuna, a West Phoenician goddess of good luck and good fortune was carried around the grounds, fans tossed flowers and called out for her to bless the game.




Baseball players ran onto the field as the cheerleaders on the sidelines performed their routines, flips, twists, basket tosses, cartwheels and a perfect pyramid formation.
Each of the 20 cheerleaders than grabbed a West Phoenician flag and began to wave it, sending the crowd into a frenzy. The flag had always stood for love, peace and freedom from tyranny to the people.

A chorus echoed out the players names followed by the triumphs that the Confederate team had won this season. As the game commenced this chorus kept the crowds entertained with their telling of every run a Confederate player made.

[Abanhfleft]

2025-26 FMLB Central League Regular Season Final Standings

CAPITAL DIVISION                 Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD
 1 Releinthi Statesmen [x]       174  103  71   958  855 +103
 2 Wanda Island Warlocks [y]     174   92  82   895  825  +70
 3 Riuwiee Senators              174   91  83   810  781  +29
 4 Effelenendro Islanders        174   64 110   662  817 −155

ISLAND DIVISION                  Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD
 1 Bendy Benny Hills [x]         174   99  75   889  796  +93
 2 Sarvusdalamoive Swingers [y]  174   92  82   883  898  −15
 3 San Seriffe Editors           174   91  83   618  591  +27
 4 Dorfdifving Bombers           174   71 103   785  888 −103

INTERIOR DIVISION                Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD
 1 Ja Ministers [x]              174   87  87   766  733  +33
 2 Pilken Blue Sox [y]           174   85  89   782  773   +9
 3 Porcusces Battleships         174   81  93   626  681  −55
 4 Ceneisis Volcanoes            174   80  94   818  895  −77

CONTINENTAL DIVISION             Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD
 1 Keklavik Polar Bears [x]      174   89  85   941  849  +92
 2 Wappinger Wasps [y]           174   89  85   782  770  +12
 3 Habalanbacushe Balderdash     174   86  88   701  700   +1
 4 Tentenaraya Tigers            174   80  94   963 1013  −50

*[x] = division champion
*[y] = division runner-up

2025-26 FMLB International League Regular Season Final Standings

MAINLAND DIVISION                Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD
 1 Bytuch Wyk Scallops [x]       174   95  79  1063 1009  +54
 2 Piuui Black Sox [y]           174   90  84   887  883   +4
 3 Keephall Vikings              174   85  89   963  969   −6
 4 Selid Nebulae                 174   83  91   964 1048  −84

PENINSULAR DIVISION              Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD
 1 Rosenpfelblatz Dragons [x]    174   94  80   727  695  +32
 2 Braganopolis Strike [y]       174   89  85   724  698  +26
 3 Markovsky Fighting Men        174   83  91   785  816  −31
 4 Mydeuzey Sand Lizards         174   78  96   941  970  −29

COLONIAL DIVISION                Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD
 1 Toros de Haritzaga [x]        174   98  76   975  909  +66
 2 Port Thimpodopoulos Pop! [y]  174   96  78  1129 1033  +96
 3 Trendstart Conquistadors      174   85  89   901  910   −9
 4 Verbergerkinnh Cubs           174   68 106   804  964 −160

INTERNATIONAL DIVISION           Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD
 5 Beledor Jabberwocky [x]       174   96  78   790  738  +52
 7 The Pridnestrovians [y]       174   95  79   938  894  +44
22 Copper Cuprum Miners          174   85  89   758  781  −23
23 Oontaz Sultans                174   84  90   776  822  −46

*[x] = division champion
*[y] = division runner-up

Here is the format of the 2026 Kopa ng Beisbol. This round as well as the league semifinals round will be contested by a best-of-five series, and starting from the league championships to the Kampeonato ng Beisbol itself the rounds will be contested by a best-of-seven series.

Central League playoffs
(1) Releinthi Statesmen vs. (8) Pilken Blue Sox

(4) Sarvusdalamoive Swingers vs. (5) Keklavik Polar Bears

(3) Wanda Island Warlocks vs. (6) Wappinger Wasps

(2) Bendy Benny Hills vs. (7) Ja Ministers

International League playoffs
(1) Toros de Haritzaga vs. (8) Braganopolis Strike

(4) Bytuch Wyk Scallops vs. (5) The Pridnestrovians

(3) Beledor Jabberwocky vs. (6) Rosenpfelblatz Dragons

(2) Port Thimpodopoulos Pop! vs. (7) Piuui Black Sox

[Ko-oren]

Is all of Ko-orenite baseball doing so badly?

Short answer: No.
Long answer: Noooo.

While it's true that the 12 professional teams are going through a slump as a whole, if we look at each team individually, we can see that a lot of these teams are important - sometimes even necessary - within their own communities. It is also true that a lot of baseball towns are pretty small, which doesn't really allow for huge membership numbers, and it's also true that the sport is pretty much only played in southeastern Ko-oren. The southwest is cricket territory, and anything north of Willowbourne gets too cold for standing outside for very long outside of summer.

We can roughly divide our 12 teams in four categories: Katashi teams, small town Yoshima teams, Finisterre teams, and rest of the country teams. This is entirely a geographic division, but you'll see just how useful these categories are if we look by membership figures, or by revenue, and inversely proportionate to their importance within local communities.

First, the Katashi teams. Katashi is the largest city in the prefecture of Yoshima, which makes up all (four) of the southeastern islands. The city is also the richest city of the prefecture, and so many big national companies have their eastern offices in Katashi, that the city dominates prefectural news and business. This is reflected by their teams, the Giants and the Generals. While these teams are always expected to do well (given the bias of the media, which is based in... you guessed it, Katashi), they actually both qualified for the semi-finals in second and third place. The Generals have the largest following, of any baseball team, but most important to them is that they're bigger than the Giants. The Giants, meanwhile, have a bit of a cult following but are still the third-largest baseball team by membership overall.

Our second category is the small town Yoshima teams. This category has six teams - half the entire league - and is fully made up of teams that have a massive following within their town, but move one island over, or to the mainland, and you'll find close to zero fans there. These six teams are hugely important to shaping their cities and communities, the best players are the stars of the town, but fail to grow their fanbase. While they have some of the larger attendance percentages, that's usually due to having small grounds. While the Quarry, Challengers, Knights, Silvers, Dynamo and Dragons are the most 'romantic' teams, they are most threatened by big money moves elsewhere - case in point, the Aviansola Admirals, which you'll now find in category 4.

But first, category three: Finisterre teams. They are just above average in membership, attendance, and grow rates but this is pretty much due to having just two teams to a population half the size of Yoshima's. Ok, that's a hard to parse sentence. Try this. Yoshima has twice the population of Finisterre, but Yoshima has eight teams and Finisterre has just two. Even in times of trouble (Santa Teresa Stars finished 12 out of 12, Ferrovente Whales finished 11 out of 12), these teams aren't doing so bad, revenue-wise. That said, lower league baseball is pretty big in Finisterre, so it's not that the Stars and Whales dominate the state.

Lastly, it's the Western Wanderers and the Intermare Admirals. The latter moved from Aviansola (in Yoshima) to Intermare - for the record, that's a province north of Willowbourne, so not always a great place to play on an autumn night - and the former have always been in the 'west'. These teams are not very popular, but have a large passive following. The Wanderers are especially despised in the east, and they're always trying to 'steal' their game. Aviansola, or rather, Intermare, are a pretty weird construct in and of itself.

Category	Membership	Local popularity	Revenue
Katashi	1st	3rd	1st
Yoshima	4th	1st	4th
Finisterre	2nd	2nd	3rd
Western	3rd	4th	2nd

In some ways, baseball is actually moving forward at an unprecedented pace, but more about that later. It also has to do with the Admirals moving. To quote one of the greatest minds in sports: "Eleven teams play baseball, but in case of the Admirals, baseball sort of just happens to them".

[Free Republics]

The visit to the Taxachusetts Charter Society had not sat well with the Republican National Baseball Team. During their visit, a group of players led by superstar shortstop Honomi Kamei, had decided to take a look around the city of Lambridge after their victory over Liventia on matchday 6 of the WBC. During this late night stroll, they were stopped by a police officer.

Police Officer - Ladies and gentlemen, is there a reason why you are out on the streets at this late hour?

Honomi Kamei responded

Honomi Kamei - I wasn't aware that we needed a reason to walk around the streets at night.

Nicholas Fisher sought to defuse the situation.

Nicholas Fisher - Officer, we're in town to play baseball and we thought we'd take a look around the city.

Police Officer - Move along then. I apologize for mistaking you for a group of warehouse associates roaming the city after curfew.

Honomi Kamei - Why would there be a curfew for warehouse workers?

Police Officer - Ma'am, Safari considers it very important that our warehouse associates get a good night's sleep so that they can do their job and not break your future stuff. If I may give all of you a word of advice, I recommend dressing more professionally when you're on the streets of our cities so we don't confuse you with the riff-raff.

Taryn Russell - Thank you officer. Its a shame that we have to go to Saint Agnesia tomorrow because running around this city in a nice dress teasing all of the guys sounds like alot of fun!

Honomi Kamei - Taryn, doesn't it bother you that they treat their workers so badly?

Taryn Russell - Why should that bother me? Safari is the easiest way to buy stuff! All I have to do is click once and they ship whatever I want to my parents house.

Hollie Rogers - Taryn, why are you shipping stuff to your parents? Shouldn't you have a mansion somewhere in Oldston?

Taryn Russell - I do! But I'm away from home so much due to my job and I don't have a husband to receive my packages.

Hollie Rogers - That's why you need to hire a butler. You make at least 10 times what I'm making and I have a butler. He's hot, does anything I ask of him and he's great in bed too!

Honomi Kamei - But is it really right that some people live in luxury while others live in poverty? Is it really right that a Charter Society founded on the idea of equality has such extreme inequality?

Taryn Russell - Honomi, you're rich. If you feel guilty about it, just donate some money to charity or something.

Ethan Joyner - I get where both of you are coming from. I don't agree with the way Safari is treating these people but its not like they don't have the choice to quit their jobs and pursue other employment.

Honomi Kamei - Actually, that isn't an option since Safari has pretty much run every other employer in this Charter Society out of business.

Ethan Joyner - Can't they just leave the Charter Society then?

Honomi Kamei - No. That's not how these things work. Only the privileged few are permitted to leave the Charter Society. The rest stay here where they are serfs of Safari.

Ethan Joyner - That's fucked up but I don't want to pick a fight with every Charter Society. The Malifornians are still pissed about the Stand Up to Sexism stuff.

Honomi Kamei - I guess we shouldn't do anything here but it still bothers me. I don't understand why Consul Nicholls allows extremist groups to oppress people without being bound by the Constitution or basic human decency.

Nicholas Fisher - Honomi, the Charter Societies are the lesser of 2 evils. If we didn't have them, we'd have a much larger constituency voting for the next Kulseth or O'Reilly to come along.

Honomi Kamei - If that's the case, why does Trudeau have a real shot of winning the election?

Nicholas Fisher - Trudeau would probably be a lock to win if the Charter Societies didn't exist. Plus we'd still have the Progressives running around saying inflammatory shit and driving support to the craziest crackpots.

Honomi Kamei - Why must our political system be so fucked up?

Kacie Munro - Don't worry about it, Honomi. I believe Scarlett's going to win and we're going to end sexism. Besides, Safari is committed to gender equality and to promoting women.

Honomi Kamei - Its great that they're not sexists but shouldn't we expect companies to treat workers decently?

Taryn Russell - Have you ever had a job, Honomi? I flipped burgers as a teenager and they treated me like shit. That's just what life is like for the lower class. We should just enjoy being rich. It isn't worth picking fights with companies that might sponsor our team.

Honomi Kamei - I guess but something just doesn't feel right to me. Shouldn't a country as rich as we are share the wealth and treat each other with dignity?

Nicholas Fisher - Girl, you're so naive! Its great that you're so idealistic but the world doesn't work that way. Life is a game and we're winners at the game. Those who have to work these shitty jobs where they're treated like shit are losers of the game and their lives have to suck so that we can enjoy our lives. Besides, we get the opportunity to win baseball games and make their shitty lives just a little bit more bearable.

Honomi Kamei - I guess we should try to win the WBC for them as much as for ourselves.

Nicholas Fisher - That's right. As Taryn recommended earlier, if the inequality bothers you so much, you should donate some of your money to charity and maybe you should look into doing some volunteer work this offseason to help those less fortunate.

Honomi Kamei - That sounds great to me but I'm not going to accept that things have to be this way. Can't billionaires treat the people who make them rich like human beings instead of treating them worse than farmers treat animals?

Kacie Munro - I agree with you, Honomi. There has to be another way.

---

A few days later in Fungsland, Zac Gatehouse would take a no hitter into the 9th inning before surrendering a home run to their shortstop. Ecio Saucedo would come in, surrender a walk and force a game-ending 6-4-3 double play that gave the Free Republics their 4th consecutive victory while Maklohi Vai managed 3 consecutive losses that sent the Free Republics to first place and Liventia to second. Through 9 games, the Free Republics were averaging around 7 runs a game and had a +28 run differential to go with their 7-2 record. While it was a long season, the Republicans looked every bit like the team that had reached the WBC 43 finals...

[Nova Anglicana]

Nova Anglicana WBC 44 Roster

Nickname: Lions
Acronym: NOV

Stadium


Stadium: Archbishop Stadium
Stadium Location: Londinium (capital), Newfoundland and Labrador
Stadium Capacity: 35,000
Distance to Walls: 315 to right with a high wall, 421 to right-center, 408 to straightaway center, 385 to left-center, 336 to left
Stadium Surface: Natural grass
Park Factor: 82, Archbishop Stadium is quite the pitcher's park

Archbishop Stadium is the home stadium of the Londinium Capitols as well as the Nova Anglican national team. It is big and it plays big, with a serious nighttime marine layer, an enormous right-center gap known as "Triples Alley" and an imposing right field wall. It's not as hard on right-handed hitters, but is a fly ball pitcher's paradise. Many people are seen in the bay outside of the stadium attempting to catch home runs hit into the water or simply cruising the bay while enjoying the sound of the game on the radio.

Starting Rotation (order as given)
RHP #44 Damon Singleton, 32 - fastball at 92-96, peaks at 98; very good slider out-pitch; change-up is okay, good control
LHP #20 Darren Lawson, 31 - primary pitch is a cutter at 92-93, also has a big curve, a sweet changeup, and a decent slider; good control and strikeout numbers
RHP #36 Ben Clayton, 29 - combines 96 MPH fastball with 81 MPH hammer curveball, developed a decent change and slider, strikes out a ton and walks a ton
LHP #19 Nate McLaughlin, 29 - fastball 90-92, with sharp curve and sweeping slider, tricky changeup as well
RHP #56 Damian Ryan, 29 - plus fastball at 93-95 with a good curveball, decent changeup and fringy slider; definite punch-out ability, but needs to get motion and walks under control; tall, slim frame

Bullpen
LHP #57 Thomas Wagner, 32 - tall and solidly built at 6'5, 220 pounds; 91 MPH fastball is only average, but has a good curveball and screwball, changeup and cutter are league average as well
LHP #48 Clay Wilkerson, 24 - three-pitch guy, 93-95 MPH fastball, 86 MPH changeup, 80 MPH 12-6 curve
LHP #46 Ricky Bass, 25 - lefty specialist with a submarine release, sweeping slurve is his best pitch
RHP #38 Charlie Bowers, 24 - fastball/curveball guy, can really pump it in there, averages 98 and can reach back for 101
RHP #16 Wyatt Templeton, 24 - starter will be unleashed in short stints for the NT, Murray wants to use him as an Andrew Miller/Josh Hader type, 97 with run on the fastball as a reliever, changeup and curveball with slider as the kill pitch
RHP #11 Matthew Drake, 31 - combines 95 MPH fastball with 80 MPH changeup, decent curve,
RHP #30 Lee Bradley, 31 - fastball 87-88 with a good amount of run, sharp slurve at 82 plus a decent changeup; submarine arm angle gets him a lot of outs, but stuff is legit
RHP #43 Casey Burke, 32 - former 9th round draft pick has burst on to the scene for Newfield, 150/48 K/BB ratio in 118 innings over past two years, fastball at 94-96, great changeup at 82, pretty decent hook as well
RHP #23 Nick Christensen, 30 - failed starter, but posted otherworldly 1.13 ERA last year as a reliever, combines 98 MPH fastball with 88 MPH slider


C #51 Max Pope, 28, (S/R) - whiz defensively behind the plate, upped his power in the past couple of seasons and has a great eye
C #18 Chris Floyd, 31, (R/R), - great bat for a catcher but still struggles with taking walks and avoiding strikeouts; good arm behind the plate but not very mobile, game-calling skills better now
C #60 Trevor Goodwin, 22, (L/R) - strong arm and mobile behind the plate, could be a 15/15 guy and hit .280

1B #21 Jake Bryan, 26, (L/L) - Bryan is a polished player who consistently challenges for MVP, great eye, superb defender, natural hitter with good power, speed and arm are below-average
3B #50 Seth Armstrong, 34, (R/R), - Armstrong has light-tower power and a strong arm, defense is only average, improved his average
SS #11 Brendan Wood, 33, (R/R) - hit tool is good, with both moderate power and good average, takes his fair share of walks as well, defense has really improved
2B #6 John Carr, 33, (R/R) - this guy is a human highlight reel, with amazing ball flips, over-the-shoulder catches, diving stops, and sweet double plays, can take a walk and hit some doubles, moderate speed as well, hitting for average has improved to get him this spot
3B #26 Marc Dufors, 22, (L/R) - can really pick it at the hot corner with a strong arm, streaky hitter who needs to develop his in-game power
MI #25 Tommy Moran, 23, (R/R), - slick fielder who can handle any infield position besides 1B, hits for average, takes walks, and steals bases, not much power to speak of, but a valuable player

OF #27 Ryan Glover, 30, (R/R) - 6-4, 225 pound frame, collects doubles in bunches with decent homers; strikeouts and walks galore; excellent defender and great arm
OF #35 Michael Holt, 33, (R/R) - only below-average tool is arm strength; has above-average speed and power; walks well and has cut down on strikeouts; defense has gotten a lot better
OF #29 Moses Deng, 30, (S/R) - speed is 80 on the 20-80 scale, arm is above-average, hit tool is average, fielding is above-average, power is below average,
OF #24 Matthew Gilbert, 21, (S/L) - ROY combines blazing speed with good range, a power bat, and a strong arm, still needs to boost his average and take a few more walks
OF #40 Chris Townsend, 32, (L/L) - defense is above-average with average arm; speed is a tick above average; a player who can play any outfield position; he can hit for average, defend, and take a walk, massive leap forward to get this job

Orlando Murray #55 (Manager)

Aubrey Bell #1 (Hitting Coach)

Greg Richardson #47 (Pitching Coach)

Dale Garner #9 (1st Base Coach)

Casey Cain #8 (3rd Base Coach)

Marcellus Maloney #15 (Bench Coach)

Rhett Upshaw #52 (Bullpen Coach)

Starting Lineup w/o DH
CF Moses Deng
LF Michael Holt
1B Jake Bryan
3B Seth Armstrong
RF Ryan Glover
SS Brendan Wood
2B John Carr
C Max Pope
P Pitcher's Spot

Starting Lineup w/DH
CF Moses Deng
LF Michael Holt
DH Seth Armstrong
1B Jake Bryan
RF Ryan Glover
3B Karl Austin
SS Brendan Wood
2B John Carr
C Max Pope


My opponent, if they RP first, may do the following:
Choose my runscorers: Yes
Choose my lineup: No
Follow my pitching rotation: Yes
Godmod scoring events: No
RP injuries to my players: Yes, but not serious ones. Back stiffness, jammed fingers, bruises, etc. Nothing that would keep them out of the lineup for more than 1 game. Reciprocity is expected.
Godmod injuries to my players: No
Eject my players: No, but manager is fair game
Godmod other events: No
Use DH at home: No
Style Modifier: +1

[Tierra de Castro]

El Presidente took his cigar away from his lips and exhaled. The latest batch were fantastic, that was for sure. He was reading his daily reports and newspapers after finishing his breakfast and as he did so he always – without fail – smoked a cigar. This one was of excellent quality – as they usually were – it was something he was extremely proud of, the Castrollano cigar industry made only the finest quality products and anything less than the best would be disposed of and therefore the reputation of Castrollano cigars continued unblemished.

Something else had caught his eye in his morning reports in particular, a report from the Minister for Sport. He was a large man and probably wouldn’t actually be fit to compete in any sport at all, but that wasn’t really why he had the job, expertise wasn’t necessarily a prerequisite to top government positions in Tierra de Castro. Being a good member of the Party and benefitting from the patronage system were far more important and the Minister for Sport had quite clearly taken advantage of this. His inability to negotiate a flight of stairs had not hindered him.

The Tierra de Castro baseball team were apparently doing reasonably well in their opening nine fixtures, holding a 5-4 record and only being a game back from a play-off spot. This was notable for a few reasons but the primary one was one that even El Presidente – who wasn’t particularly a great lover of the sport – knew about, namely: it was Tierra de Castro’s first ever World Baseball Classic.

El Presidente preferred the sports that were a little less tainted by money globally, such as athletics and boxing. All Castrollano sportspeople were technically amateurs but would receive government help if they were especially talented. The problem he had with baseball was the sports leagues overseas that paid the players millions – something he couldn’t really reconcile with the socialist ideals that the country was built on following the revolution. It was also a potential reason for defection and that was the major issue he had had with giving assent to the team even entering the Classic.

However, it was the most popular sport in Tierra de Castro and that meant that any success was morale boosting for the people, undoubtedly a good thing. Dissent could spread over the slightest thing, maybe the universal basic income payments hadn’t gone through on-time or agricultural production was down so there was less food in the stores. Tierra de Castro wasn’t exactly noted for efficiency and organisation, despite the Party trying to make it out as if everything was running smoothly. The team winning was valuable PR if nothing else. We’ll have to take advantage of that, El Presidente mused. As long as they kept doing okay, anyway.

He read a few more lines of the report, the team were in quite a tough group, competing against two of the top ten in the world. Nova Anglicana were the 6th best team in the world and Tierra de Castro had managed a very impressive 6-4 away victory. The Minister for Sport singled out Adan Carita for special commendation due to his excellent performance in that game and in the Classic thus far. El Presidente smiled to himself, perhaps he could become a baseball fan after all. It could prove to be invaluable, a way of boosting public morale when times were hard and whitewashing some of the more unpalatable things the regime got up to. If the people had a good baseball team to celebrate perhaps they’d turn a blind eye to the political prisoners.

El Presidente picked up the telephone on his desk and jabbed his finger into the button connecting him instantly to his Secretary, Maria. It rang a couple of times before the line crackled as she picked up at the other end.

“Hello Presidente, what can I do for you?” She asked. She was a lovely girl, a daughter of one of the leading Generals in the Army who happened to be a good friend of El Presidente. Patronage truly was a wonderful thing at times, it allowed him to really help out some of his better friends from his childhood and formative years. He had come a long way since then.

“Can you organise a meeting with the Minister for Sport please?” El Presidente asked. “I need to discuss the baseball team with him following the memo he sent me this morning.”

“I will contact him right away,” Maria replied. “Is there anything you want me to say in particular?”

“Tell him that I’m pleased with how the team are doing and that I feel we need to try and use this success politically.” He instructed. “Say that I feel we can use it as an invaluable PR opportunity, we could perhaps organise a meeting with the team with the press there and all the cameras and thank them for being such a fantastic example of our socialist ideals against the bourgeois capitalists pigdogs from other countries, that sort of thing.”

“I’ll get right to it Presidente.”

“Thanks Maria, goodbye.” He said, putting the phone down slowly as he resumed smoking his cigar. He looked out the window at the sun-bleached gardens below his room outside the Presidential Palace. Palm trees were slowly swaying in the breeze and Tocororos flew across the garden, almost playing games with one another. He could see the beach from his room, though it was far away and could vaguely make out the waves rolling across the sand. People, no more than stick figures, were walking around. It was an idyllic scene. Tierra de Castro could truly be beautiful sometimes.

It would be even more beautiful if they could use the baseball team’s success to paint a picture of a successful country to the general populace. They could use victories to spin bad stories: you should forget about that problem – we just won another game!

They used to say religion was the opium of the people, but perhaps sport could be too?

[Vangaziland]

Vangaziland Faces Equestrian States

The Vangaziland Royals started the latest three game stretch with an embarrasing, humiliating loss to Gor Kebab. Chuck Endo's RBI double scored Vangaziland's only run in the 2-1 loss. Khris Olaf gave up a home run in the 8th to give Gor Kebab the go ahead run.

"We need to brush this game aside", said second baseman Pete Kelderssen. "These sorts of games will happen throughout any given season."

Vangaziland faced Melbergia on Matchday 8. This game came down to the wire. It was another match where Vangaziland would have liked to establish a lead over lower ranked teams.

Going into the 9th inning, the score was 4-4. Chuck Endo had hit a homerun before the end of the bottom of the 8th to tie the game. Daniel Cortez pitched the top of the ninth, giving up 2 runs. It looked like all was lost. Vangazlland was now down by 2.

Pete Kelderssen hit a bomb of a 3 run home run to win the game. It was a monster shot which couldn't have had better timing. "I may have driven the runs home", the second baseman said postgame. "It took a lot of consistent hitting to get enough batters on base. This was clutch baseball at its finest."

The score would have baseball fans double checking the score card in disbelief. The question became how would Vangaziland perform against a tougher team in Equestrian States?

The Ponies would challenge the Royals right out the gate. After Nate Henli gave up 1 run in the top of the first, Jacob Sren drove Pete Keldersen home with a hit that rolled between the 2B and SS. The score stayed 1-1 until the bottom of the fourth. It was here that Vangaziland really started to get a handle on Equestrian pitching.

Vangaziland's fourth and fifth innings were drawn out affairs, where the Royals scored 2 runs each. Evenson and Okogan had RBI singles. Tom Davison brought home 2 runs with an RBI double. The Royals looked fast on the base against the Equestrian arms.

Vangaziland would round out its scoring in the sixth inning. Henli had to leave in the top of the same inning because he gave up 3 runs. Vangaziland answered with 3 runs of their own in the bottom of the inning. Carlos Hernandez hit an RBI single. On the next at bat, 3B Pat Evenson brought them both home with a 2 run homer.

The score was 8-4. Honors for the last score of the game went to EQS. The Ponies stole 1 more run from closer Manny Mathissen. Manny held out to give Vangaziland the win, 8-5.

"I'm really pleased with how our season is going", said Mathissen. "My role is pivotal. I may have let 1 game slip by. We're looking really strong as a team though. We need to take things step by step."

Vangaziland will hope to finally pull a game from Cassadaigua when the teams meet next. "It'll be easier said than done", Coach Haverly said about beating Cassadaigua. "But if we play Vannish baseball, anything is possible."

[Newmanistan]

Matchday 10:

Group 1
Knessniet                1 1 0 1 0 0 1 2 0  6
Scootalove City          0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0  2

Notoria                  1 3 0 0 1 0 0 1 0  6
The Greater Nordics      0 0 0 0 1 1 1 2 2  7

Drawkland                0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0  2
Hicaña                   1 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 X  4


  Group 1                 Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Scootalove City          10    7   3    47   32  +15    21
2 Drawkland                10    6   4    54   45   +9    18
3 Knessniet                10    5   5    48   36  +12    15
4 Hicaña                   10    5   5    35   43   −8    15
5 The Greater Nordics      10    4   6    35   45  −10    12
6 Notoria                  10    3   7    37   55  −18     9

Group 2
Melbergia                0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0  2
Equestrian States        0 1 1 0 2 0 1 0 X  5

Vangaziland              0 1 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  6
Suryak                   0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0  5

Gor Kebab                0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0  1
Cassadaigua              0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 X  4


  Group 2                 Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Cassadaigua              10    9   1    57   24  +33    27
2 Equestrian States        10    6   4    50   41   +9    18
3 Vangaziland              10    6   4    39   40   −1    18
4 Suryak                   10    4   6    42   47   −5    12
5 Gor Kebab                10    3   7    34   49  −15     9
6 Melbergia                10    2   8    35   56  −21     6

Group 3
South Covello            0 1 0 2 0 2 0 0 0  5
West Phoenicia           0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0  2

Eraman                   4 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0  7
Tenburg                  1 0 1 0 3 0 0 1 0  6

The Sherpa Empire        0 0 1 0 1 3 0 2 0  7
Shayla                   0 0 1 0 3 1 0 0 0  5


  Group 3                 Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 West Phoenicia           10    7   3    66   43  +23    21
2 The Sherpa Empire        10    6   4    44   51   −7    18
3 Eraman                   10    5   5    51   47   +4    15
4 South Covello            10    5   5    55   52   +3    15
5 Tenburg                  10    4   6    66   58   +8    12
6 Shayla                   10    3   7    39   70  −31     9

Group 4
Tjorl                        0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  1
Newmanistan                  1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 X  2

Northwest Kalactin           3 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0  5
Dharoka                      1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  2

Ethane                       0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 1  4
Lisander                     0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0  3


  Group 4                     Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Newmanistan                  10    9   1    68   29  +39    27
2 Ethane                       10    7   3    49   30  +19    21
3 Tjorl                        10    5   5    30   35   −5    15
4 Dharoka                      10    4   6    50   58   −8    12
5 Northwest Kalactin           10    3   7    25   51  −26     9
6 Lisander                     10    2   8    28   47  −19     6

Group 5
Royal Kingdom of Quebec      2 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 0  6
Beepee                       0 0 2 3 0 0 0 1 1  7

Alpine Union                 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0
Nova Anglicana               0 2 1 0 2 0 0 0 X  5

Loshos                       2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  2
Tierra de Castro             0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0  1


  Group 5                     Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Nova Anglicana               10    7   3    48   35  +13    21
2 Alpine Union                 10    6   4    60   41  +19    18
3 Royal Kingdom of Quebec      10    6   4    46   43   +3    18
4 Tierra de Castro             10    5   5    50   40  +10    15
5 Beepee                       10    5   5    42   54  −12    15
6 Loshos                       10    1   9    25   58  −33     3

Group 6
Titaniumland                 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0  3
Free Republics               3 3 0 0 0 2 0 0 X  8

Fungsland                    0 3 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0  6
Liventia                     0 2 2 0 0 1 0 1 0 1  7

Maklohi Vai                  4 0 0 3 1 2 0 0 0 10
Saint Agnesia                3 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 2  9


  Group 6                     Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Free Republics               10    8   2    70   37  +33    24
2 Liventia                     10    7   3    55   44  +11    21
3 Maklohi Vai                  10    6   4    55   45  +10    18
4 Fungsland                    10    4   6    39   52  −13    12
5 Titaniumland                 10    3   7    43   65  −22     9
6 Saint Agnesia                10    2   8    40   59  −19     6

Group 7
Wuriya                      3 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0  5
Oscioru                     0 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  6

Hampton Island              1 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 1  6
Super-Llamaland             0 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 3  7

New Sportland               0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  1
Lycrabon                    0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2  3


  Group 7                    Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Super-Llamaland             10    8   2    57   38  +19    24
2 Hampton Island              10    8   2    56   37  +19    24
3 Lycrabon                    10    5   5    38   35   +3    15
4 Wuriya                      10    4   6    55   54   +1    12
5 Oscioru                     10    4   6    35   45  −10    12
6 New Sportland               10    1   9    28   60  −32     3

Group 8
People Who Have Issues      1 0 3 0 0 0 1 0 0  5
Ranoria                     3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  3

Anthor                      0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0  3
Schiltzberg                 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 X  4

Ko-oren                     3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  3
St Saratoga                 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0  2


  Group 8                    Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Schiltzberg                 10    7   3    49   37  +12    21
2 People Who Have Issues      10    7   3    53   43  +10    21
3 St Saratoga                 10    5   5    51   39  +12    15
4 Ko-oren                     10    5   5    39   56  −17    15
5 Anthor                      10    3   7    45   50   −5     9
6 Ranoria                     10    3   7    42   54  −12     9

Group 9
Cosumar                     1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  1
Filindostan                 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 X  3

Abanhfleft                  0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0  2
Aureumterra                 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 X  4

Banija                      0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0  2
Saintland                   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0


  Group 9                    Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Banija                      10    8   2    44   25  +19    24
2 Cosumar                     10    6   4    51   31  +20    18
3 Abanhfleft                  10    5   5    50   31  +19    15
4 Saintland                   10    4   6    27   41  −14    12
5 Filindostan                 10    4   6    30   47  −17    12
6 Aureumterra                 10    3   7    30   57  −27     9

Matchday 11:

Group 1
Drawkland                2 0 3 2 0 1 0 0 2 10
Knessniet                0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 1  4

Notoria                  0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0  1
Hicaña                   0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 X  2

Scootalove City          0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0  2
The Greater Nordics      0 0 0 2 1 0 3 0 X  6


  Group 1                 Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Drawkland                11    7   4    64   49  +15    21
2 Scootalove City          11    7   4    49   38  +11    21
3 Hicaña                   11    6   5    37   44   −7    18
4 Knessniet                11    5   6    52   46   +6    15
5 The Greater Nordics      11    5   6    41   47   −6    15
6 Notoria                  11    3   8    38   57  −19     9

Group 2
Gor Kebab                1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0  2
Melbergia                0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  1

Vangaziland              0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  1
Cassadaigua              0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  2

Equestrian States        0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 1  4
Suryak                   2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  3


  Group 2                 Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Cassadaigua              11   10   1    59   25  +34    30
2 Equestrian States        11    7   4    54   44  +10    21
3 Vangaziland              11    6   5    40   42   −2    18
4 Suryak                   11    4   7    45   51   −6    12
5 Gor Kebab                11    4   7    36   50  −14    12
6 Melbergia                11    2   9    36   58  −22     6

Group 3
The Sherpa Empire        2 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0  4
South Covello            0 0 0 1 2 1 1 3 X  8

Eraman                   0 0 3 0 1 2 0 0 0  6
Shayla                   0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0  3

West Phoenicia           0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 1  5
Tenburg                  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2  4


  Group 3                 Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 West Phoenicia           11    8   3    71   47  +24    24
2 South Covello            11    6   5    63   56   +7    18
3 Eraman                   11    6   5    57   50   +7    18
4 The Sherpa Empire        11    6   5    48   59  −11    18
5 Tenburg                  11    4   7    70   63   +7    12
6 Shayla                   11    3   8    42   76  −34     9

Group 4
Ethane                       0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0  2
Tjorl                        0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0  1

Northwest Kalactin           0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0  2
Lisander                     0 0 3 0 0 0 0 3 X  6

Newmanistan                  0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0  3
Dharoka                      0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0


  Group 4                     Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Newmanistan                  11   10   1    71   29  +42    30
2 Ethane                       11    8   3    51   31  +20    24
3 Tjorl                        11    5   6    31   37   −6    15
4 Dharoka                      11    4   7    50   61  −11    12
5 Lisander                     11    3   8    34   49  −15     9
6 Northwest Kalactin           11    3   8    27   57  −30     9

Group 5
Loshos                       0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  1
Royal Kingdom of Quebec      0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 X  3

Alpine Union                 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0  1
Tierra de Castro             2 3 0 0 1 0 1 0 X  7

Beepee                       1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1  4
Nova Anglicana               0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  3


  Group 5                     Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Nova Anglicana               11    7   4    51   39  +12    21
2 Royal Kingdom of Quebec      11    7   4    49   44   +5    21
3 Tierra de Castro             11    6   5    57   41  +16    18
4 Alpine Union                 11    6   5    61   48  +13    18
5 Beepee                       11    6   5    46   57  −11    18
6 Loshos                       11    1  10    26   61  −35     3

Group 6
Maklohi Vai                  0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0  1
Titaniumland                 4 2 1 1 0 0 0 2 X 10

Fungsland                    0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0  3
Saint Agnesia                3 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 X  5

Free Republics               1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0  3
Liventia                     0 2 0 1 0 0 0 2 X  5


  Group 6                     Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Free Republics               11    8   3    73   42  +31    24
2 Liventia                     11    8   3    60   47  +13    24
3 Maklohi Vai                  11    6   5    56   55   +1    18
4 Titaniumland                 11    4   7    53   66  −13    12
5 Fungsland                    11    4   7    42   57  −15    12
6 Saint Agnesia                11    3   8    45   62  −17     9

Group 7
New Sportland               0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0
Wuriya                      0 2 3 1 0 0 0 0 X  6

Hampton Island              0 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 0  4
Lycrabon                    3 4 0 0 0 1 0 0 X  8

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


  Group 7                    Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Super-Llamaland             11    9   2    62   42  +20    27
2 Hampton Island              11    8   3    60   45  +15    24
3 Lycrabon                    11    6   5    46   39   +7    18
4 Wuriya                      11    5   6    61   54   +7    15
5 Oscioru                     11    4   7    39   50  −11    12
6 New Sportland               11    1  10    28   66  −38     3

Group 8
Ko-oren                     0 3 1 1 0 0 0 1 0  6
People Who Have Issues      0 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 1  5

Anthor                      0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0  4
St Saratoga                 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 X  5

Ranoria                     1 0 0 0 2 0 1 1 1  6
Schiltzberg                 0 6 0 1 0 1 1 0 X  9


  Group 8                    Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Schiltzberg                 11    8   3    58   43  +15    24
2 People Who Have Issues      11    7   4    58   49   +9    21
3 St Saratoga                 11    6   5    56   43  +13    18
4 Ko-oren                     11    6   5    45   61  −16    18
5 Anthor                      11    3   8    49   55   −6     9
6 Ranoria                     11    3   8    48   63  −15     9

Group 9
Banija                      0 0 0 2 1 0 3 1 3 10
Cosumar                     0 2 0 4 1 1 0 0 0  8

Abanhfleft                  0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0  2
Saintland                   0 0 1 0 0 0 1 4 X  6

Filindostan                 0 4 0 0 1 0 0 2 0  7
Aureumterra                 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1  3


  Group 9                    Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Banija                      11    9   2    54   33  +21    27
2 Cosumar                     11    6   5    59   41  +18    18
3 Abanhfleft                  11    5   6    52   37  +15    15
4 Saintland                   11    5   6    33   43  −10    15
5 Filindostan                 11    5   6    37   50  −13    15
6 Aureumterra                 11    3   8    33   64  −31     9

Matchday 12:

Group 1
Knessniet                0 0 0 1 1 0 2 0 0  4
The Greater Nordics      0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3  3

Hicaña                   0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0  1
Scootalove City          0 2 6 0 1 3 0 0 X 12

Drawkland                0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0  3
Notoria                  0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0  2


  Group 1                 Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Scootalove City          12    8   4    61   39  +22    24
2 Drawkland                12    8   4    67   51  +16    24
3 Knessniet                12    6   6    56   49   +7    18
4 Hicaña                   12    6   6    38   56  −18    18
5 The Greater Nordics      12    5   7    44   51   −7    15
6 Notoria                  12    3   9    40   60  −20     9

Group 2
Melbergia                0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 1  4
Suryak                   0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0  3

Cassadaigua              3 2 1 1 3 0 2 0 2 14
Equestrian States        0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1  4

Gor Kebab                1 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0  5
Vangaziland              2 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 X  6


  Group 2                 Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Cassadaigua              12   11   1    73   29  +44    33
2 Equestrian States        12    7   5    58   58    0    21
3 Vangaziland              12    7   5    46   47   −1    21
4 Suryak                   12    4   8    48   55   −7    12
5 Gor Kebab                12    4   8    41   56  −15    12
6 Melbergia                12    3   9    40   61  −21     9

Group 3
South Covello            1 0 0 0 1 1 0 2 4  9
Tenburg                  0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 0  4

Shayla                   1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0  3
West Phoenicia           0 0 4 4 0 2 0 0 X 10

The Sherpa Empire        0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0  3
Eraman                   0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0  1


  Group 3                 Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 West Phoenicia           12    9   3    81   50  +31    27
2 South Covello            12    7   5    72   60  +12    21
3 The Sherpa Empire        12    7   5    51   60   −9    21
4 Eraman                   12    6   6    58   53   +5    18
5 Tenburg                  12    4   8    74   72   +2    12
6 Shayla                   12    3   9    45   86  −41     9

Group 4
Tjorl                        0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4  5
Dharoka                      0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0  3

Lisander                     0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0  3
Newmanistan                  1 0 5 0 0 0 0 1 X  7

Ethane                       0 1 0 0 3 2 1 0 1  8
Northwest Kalactin           0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0  2


  Group 4                     Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Newmanistan                  12   11   1    78   32  +46    33
2 Ethane                       12    9   3    59   33  +26    27
3 Tjorl                        12    6   6    36   40   −4    18
4 Dharoka                      12    4   8    53   66  −13    12
5 Lisander                     12    3   9    37   56  −19     9
6 Northwest Kalactin           12    3   9    29   65  −36     9

Group 5
Royal Kingdom of Quebec      0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0
Nova Anglicana               0 0 2 0 1 2 0 1 X  6

Tierra de Castro             0 0 4 1 0 0 0 0 0  5
Beepee                       0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0  1

Loshos                       0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0  3
Alpine Union                 0 1 0 6 1 1 0 0 X  9


  Group 5                     Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Nova Anglicana               12    8   4    57   39  +18    24
2 Tierra de Castro             12    7   5    62   42  +20    21
3 Alpine Union                 12    7   5    70   51  +19    21
4 Royal Kingdom of Quebec      12    7   5    49   50   −1    21
5 Beepee                       12    6   6    47   62  −15    18
6 Loshos                       12    1  11    29   70  −41     3

Group 6
Titaniumland                 0 1 0 2 0 1 1 1 0  6
Liventia                     0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0  1

Saint Agnesia                0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0  2
Free Republics               0 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 X  4

Maklohi Vai                  1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 2  6
Fungsland                    0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4  4


  Group 6                     Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Free Republics               12    9   3    77   44  +33    27
2 Liventia                     12    8   4    61   53   +8    24
3 Maklohi Vai                  12    7   5    62   59   +3    21
4 Titaniumland                 12    5   7    59   67   −8    15
5 Fungsland                    12    4   8    46   63  −17    12
6 Saint Agnesia                12    3   9    47   66  −19     9

Group 7
Wuriya                      0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0  2
Super-Llamaland             0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0

Lycrabon                    0 0 1 0 0 1 1 2 0  5
Oscioru                     4 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 X  8

New Sportland               0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0
Hampton Island              0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 X  2


  Group 7                    Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Super-Llamaland             12    9   3    62   44  +18    27
2 Hampton Island              12    9   3    62   45  +17    27
3 Wuriya                      12    6   6    63   54   +9    18
4 Lycrabon                    12    6   6    51   47   +4    18
5 Oscioru                     12    5   7    47   55   −8    15
6 New Sportland               12    1  11    28   68  −40     3

Group 8
People Who Have Issues      1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0  3
Schiltzberg                 1 3 0 0 3 0 2 0 X  9

St Saratoga                 0 1 0 2 0 0 1 1 0  5
Ranoria                     0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0  2

Ko-oren                     1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1  4
Anthor                      0 1 0 0 0 3 2 0 X  6


  Group 8                    Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Schiltzberg                 12    9   3    67   46  +21    27
2 St Saratoga                 12    7   5    61   45  +16    21
3 People Who Have Issues      12    7   5    61   58   +3    21
4 Ko-oren                     12    6   6    49   67  −18    18
5 Anthor                      12    4   8    55   59   −4    12
6 Ranoria                     12    3   9    50   68  −18     9

Group 9
Cosumar                     2 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 0  6
Aureumterra                 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  3

Saintland                   0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 0  4
Filindostan                 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1  2

Banija                      1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1  3
Abanhfleft                  0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 2  4


  Group 9                    Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Banija                      12    9   3    57   37  +20    27
2 Cosumar                     12    7   5    65   44  +21    21
3 Abanhfleft                  12    6   6    56   40  +16    18
4 Saintland                   12    6   6    37   45   −8    18
5 Filindostan                 12    5   7    39   54  −15    15
6 Aureumterra                 12    3   9    36   70  −34     9

[Beepee]

The secret diary of Homer Unn, aged 50 and three quarters

3rd October 2018.

Game day 10
Royal Kingdom of Quebec l. Beepee 6 - 7

Game day 11
Beepee d. Nova Anglicana 4 - 3

Game Day 12
Tierra de Castro d. Beepee 5 - 1

My dogs are so wonderful. Batter and Pitcher seem so suited to each other. Last night they slept at the end of my bed. I love my new puppies very much. When I told mother she did not approved told me to leave them outside my bedroom tomorrow.

My spot has reached epic proportions. Luckily we played Tierra de Castro today, although we lost I was able to ask el profesor about his skin regime. Apparently, its cleanse, tone and moisturise. The Tierra we Castro side is very good they gave us a right spanking. I was very upset At my players and shouted at them after the game.

The WBC has become very stressful and close, although we sit second bottom in the table. There are only 6 points between us and first place Nova Anglica, who we managed to beat today. Our group is very competitive, I hope we can catch up with the other teams.

[Schiltzberg]

Schiltzberg Invests in Some Large Låmps


The låmps are so bright that the stadium's roof appears to be partially translucent.

An anonymous Schiltzbergian patriot from of old, fondly remembered as "Stinky Harry," is renowned for his statement, "Give me liberty or give me death." However, upon further research, historians discovered that this same patriot once uttered, "I have but one låmp by which my feet are guided." Hence, he perished.

In conjunction with said event, Schiltzberg has adopted a new strategy for winning the World Baseball Classic: låmps. A scientific study recently revealed that the addition of even one låmp to the workplace can increase productivity by 57%. With the installation of 1052 låmps at Royal Dome, Schiltzberg expects to lose no more games until the end of the season.

"Schiltzberg has found the way, bröther," said Imdad Rivas, PhD. "Imagine how faster they will run. Imagine how much farther they will hit. Imagine how much quicker they will throw... with the motivation of låmps."

Since the installation three days ago, Schiltzberg has not lost. After being tied for first place with People Who Have Issues, Schiltzberg has gained a two game lead, following their embracing of the låmps and their power. This is noted to be the strongest superstitious craze in Schiltzberg since the Rubber Ducky Incident.

[West Phoenicia]

Confederate Baseball manager Trevor Rushworth has announced that he will be retiring after the World Baseball Classic 44.

Trevor Rushworth was originally selected to manage the Confederates after serving as Vice-president of the West Phoenician Baseball League Association. Where he made a name for himself by being tough and having a passion to succeed.

Prior to that he formerly was a pitcher for the Deception Bay Sharks where he played for the team for 6 seasons before moving up the ranks of the West Phoenician National Baseball Association.

He was selected to lead the Confederates when they made their first debut at the World Baseball Classic. After a shaky season or two that did not see the team progress passed the initial stage that slowly changed with hard work and year round practise sessions.
A hard drive and intelligence to select the best players from the national league, he was able to select a great coach who moulded the team.
While the Confederates have greatly improved, Trevor Rushworth's biggest disappointment is not acheiving a World Baseball Classic finals win. A Win this season would be a great feather in his cap and his legacy which has included a first place win at the Aeropag Sumner Olympic Games.

Players have reported to be deeply upset. Trevor Rushworth while tough during the baseball season was a great manager who cared and loved his team. The Confederate team never went without the best equipment and the team were always booked into the best and most exclusive hotels when they played away games.

Trevor Rushworth plans to retire and spend more time fishing and with his family.

There has been no annocements yet as to who will replace him as manager.

[The Sherpa Empire]

----o-֎-o----‭

‭After the Sherpa national baseball team lost to South Covello again and Rajinder Singh went 0 for 4, he concluded that his bat was developing a tolerance to caffeine. Black tea was no longer strong enough to wake the spirit that lived in it, not after Luochong Zhuang lulled it to sleep by blathering for hours at a time about the evolutionary adaptations of Arctic caterpillars. He would have to try dousing the bat with energy drinks.

‭"Have you tried cocaine?" Usha Chawa suggested rather unhelpfully.

‭"Enough!" their coach, Sarang Oli, interjected. "It's one thing having a pre-game ritual or a few superstitions, but this is getting ridiculous!"

‭"I can stop talking about caterpillars if that's distracting," Zhuang offered. "The other day, I read this really interesting article about sea sponges..."

‭"I don't think we need to hear about sea sponges," Oli said.

‭"But they're really interesting!" Zhuang insisted. There was no shutting him up.

‭Meanwhile, the team manager, Dinesh Mohn, was having a serious talk with Tsheri Pham about how badly he was getting smacked around by the South Covellans. He asked if Pham was feeling okay or if there was some minor injury or personal issue that was throwing him off his game. Pham said he felt like he was in good shape and he didn't know why he was having such trouble.

‭"I know you're a good pitcher, but they've just got your number," Mohn said. "If Mingma is ready to come back for our next game against South Covello, I'd like to have him start that game, and you'll pitch against Eraman in the 3rd game of our homestand. You'll have an extra day of rest, and facing different batters should give you a chance to sort of clear your head and find your groove."

‭"I just don't know why I can't get those guys out," Pham lamented.

‭"Well, you can go over the video with Finjhok and try to figure it out," said Mohn. "But mostly we just need you to bounce back and pitch a good game against Eraman. Don't let the South Covellans get under your skin. Look ahead and think about what you need to do so you can come back stronger."

----o-֎-o----‭

‭In Lukla, the People's Court, the national legislature of the Sherpa Empire, was voting on a resolution to authorize the military occupation of Kabul.

----o-֎-o----‭

José Sherpa was pleasantly surprised when he was asked to go to Daulapura and pitch for the national baseball team, and he took full advantage of the opportunity to show what he could do and boost his value on the free agent market, pitching 8 innings and giving up only one run. His contract with the Lhasa Lamas had expired at the end of the season, and he had not yet signed a new one. He wasn't sure if he wanted to stay in Lhasa. He was tired of the controversies, protests, and occasional riots that periodically rocked the city. Things had been relatively quiet this year, but that didn't necessarily mean it would stay quiet.

‭

----o-֎-o----

[People Who Have Issues]

A new issue confronts @@NAME@@

---

Lighting the Way to Victory

VOL. 32 NO. 6091

The Issue

Although the @@DEMONYM@@ national baseball team was 1st in their group following game 8 of the World Baseball Classic, they have now fallen to 3rd place, and some believe that the new lighting system at Royal Dome is to blame.

The Debate

1.

"I couldn't see anything in that glare!" complains right fielder Emmeline de Gouges. "It's not fair if you rely on dirty tricks like blinding your opponents with hundreds of låmps. We demand that the World Baseball Classic do a better job of regulating ballparks to make sure they have proper facilities and reasonable lighting."

2.

"I've got a better idea!" starting pitcher Sunflower Earthchild Starbeam says brightly. "Let's beat Schiltzberg at their own game and put in our own låmps at @@CAPITAL@@ Stadium. Then @@NAME@@ will really shine!"

3.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine! You make me happy when skies are grey," Dorothy Terwilliger sings drowsily from her seat behind the home team dugout. "Hew, sorry, just trying to keep myself awake through the break between innings. It's hard staying up so late to watch these night games." She pauses to yawn. "You should play day games and then you won't have to worry about the lighting."

4.

"For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction," says engineering professor Higgs Boughson. "If we keep our lights low, the Schiltzbergers won't be able to see what they're doing because they're used to playing with all those låmps."

[Abanhfleft]

EDIT: The proper series report is now live here.

[Free Republics]

Background

New City, Orlandiana

With the Republican election campaign in full swing, the Lucchese family was on vacation in New City so that they could vote in the election. Residents of Charter Societies were not supposed to vote in Republican elections but Republican electoral law granted the right to vote in elections to anybody over the age of 13 who was physically present in the territory of the Free Republics, excluding Charter Societies. Elio Lucchese had managed to talk his parents into permitting his girlfriend Sarah Fuerst to go along with them. The Luccheses were major officials within the Salvation Circle while Fuerst was the daughter of a single mother. While the two young lovers outwardly appeared to be devout followers of the Salvation Circle, both were secretly rebelling against the Church of Saintland front group and both of them had already been accepted into Plymouth Republic University in Petrograd, starting the following fall.

Elio and Sarah had visited Cassadaigua for World Baseball Classic 43 under the guise of a mission trip to spread the teachings of the "Salvation Circle". While they had originally gotten together over a WBC game in Malifornia, the WBC was now banned from television in Malifornia due to the National Baseball Team's ongoing Stand Up to Sexism campaign. Ironically the Stand Up to Sexism campaign had actually been inspired by Sarah Fuerst telling her story to Honomi Kamei. Even though they'd managed to make the highlight reels, they had somehow managed to evade detection because Elio's parents had stopped paying attention to the WBC altogether and the officials who reviewed the tape did not realize that Sarah and Elio were Malifornians on a mission trip. Nonetheless, they should have been detected due to the financial records but nobody in the Salvation Circle bothered to look at financial records for Salvation Circle credit cards. Officials within the True Church, including its Salvation Circle branch, routinely misused Church funds, everybody knew about it and they had no interest in stopping it because the Church was so well-funded that the losses due to embezzlement were not even noticed. Besides, being able to use Church funds to buy whatever you wanted was understood to be one of the privileges of being within the inner circle that ran the Church.

Both Elio and Sarah were high school seniors at El Fierro's Fierro del Infernus High School but while they were in New City to "do their civic duty and help Trudeau get elected", they were excused from all schoolwork. Fortunately for both of them, Republican elections utilize the secret ballot so they were able to vote for Scarlett Nicholls in the first round and cancel out the votes of Elio's parents for Trudeau. They planned on doing exactly the same in Rounds 2 and 3.

While the Luccheses had tickets for 4 to the World Cup 81 Final at the new CoCoCo Stadium, with seats in the 11th row in a section that was right at midfield, there was no hope whatsoever that Elio's parents would permit the two of them to attend the World Baseball Classic game at RepublicSoft against Saint Agnesia. However, Mr. and Mrs. Lucchese had made reservations for 2 at the most expensive restaurant in New City so the two of them would be free to roam around the city at that time. Earlier in the day, when they had a moment of privacy, they discussed their plans.

Sarah Fuerst - Hey Elio, what do you think about watching tonight's game at a sports bar?

Elio Lucchese - I've never been to a bar before and the only alcohol I've ever had is communion wine.

Sarah Fuerst - I used to go to bars all the time before the Circle took over. They're lots of fun!

Elio Lucchese - But won't there be other men trying to take advantage of you in there?

Sarah Fuerst - Of course, but I have you to protect me, right?

Elio Lucchese - Of course you do, babe.

Sarah Fuerst - Besides, its not like that many guys are going to hit on me when I'm wearing a Salvation Circle head covering.

Elio Lucchese - You mean you're not going to take it off?

Sarah Fuerst - I'll leave it on. We should go as husband and wife. That way we don't have to worry about any unwanted attention.

That now, the two of them found a local Freedom Sports bar and walked inside and saw the WBC game starting. "Wild" Ralph Fiedler had just struck out Saint Agnesia's leadoff hitter. After walking their second hitter and beaning their 3rd hitter, he forced their cleanup hitter to ground into a double play. This first inning was typical of Fiedler for the day as he pitched 7 innings, requiring 148 pitches and somehow conceding just 2 runs on 3 hits, 7 walks and 3 hit batters.

Elio Lucchese - Honomi's up now.

Sarah Fuerst - Come on, we need to get something going here!

Honomi Kamei lifted the bat off of her shoulder and knocked a ball that was thrown high and outside into deep right field. Saint Agnesia's right fielder chased after it but could not make the catch and Kamei ended up at 3rd base with a triple. Oskar Bjorgum stepped up to the plate moments later and sent the first pitch, inexplicably a fastball right down the middle, all of the way out of RepublicSoft Stadium and onto the streets of New City where the ball was caught by former consul and O'Reilly Organization chairman Caleb O'Reilly's son Derrick O'Reilly. The TV cameras somehow caught this live.

Sarah Fuerst - Isn't that Caleb O'Reilly's son? I remember him being all over television back in the day.

Elio Lucchese - Yeah, that sure looks like him. How did he end up being in the right place at the right time to catch a WBC home run ball?

Sarah Fuerst - Coincidence, I guess.

Elio Lucchese - Hey bartender, how about another Dixon Light for each of us?

Bartender - Coming right up!

As the night went on, the two of them became increasingly inebriated. Although the Free Republics would score 2 additional runs and would never trail in the game, they did not see Kiyosumi Takeuchi strike out the side in the 8th or Mario Rothschild load the bases in the 9th before forcing a game-winning triple play. After the game ended, the two of them attempted to leave the bar and the bartender stopped them.

Bartender - Are you two sure you're sober enough to go home? Do you, at least, have a designated driver?

Sarah Fuerst - We don't need no designated drivers. We're just gonna walk home.

Elio Lucchese - Let's go Sarah.

The two of them stumbled out of the bar then started walking around the streets seemingly at random until they tripped on the sidewalk. As they got up, Honomi Kamei just so happened to pull up and find them on her way back to the hotel. Recognizing the two drunks as the Malifornian kids she'd met last year, she stopped her car, got out and offered the two of them a ride. They accepted the offer.

Honomi Kamei - The last thing I ever expected was to find the two of you shitfaced drunk after a game...

Elio Lucchese - We're sober enough. Honomi, what do you say we have ourselves a threesome tonight?

Sarah slapped her boyfriend.

Honomi Kamei - Please settle down. Elio, I know you're drunk right now but I'm not going to sleep with you.

Sarah Fuerst - Yeah, the two of us are waiting until marriage. Please don't tell his parents what we've been up to.

Honomi Kamei - I'm not going to do that. I'll drop the two of you off but I'm not going to stick around. Your parents would probably be more upset that you're associating with me than they are that you're out drinking.

Elio Lucchese - Sorry. I was just joking.

Honomi Kamei - Please lay off the alcohol in the future. The two of you need to just stay out of trouble until you free yourselves from your parents and nothing good's going to happen if you're getting drunk. Sarah, if either of you fuck this up, you could very well end up spending the rest of your life in Malifornia.

Sarah Fuerst - I know. I don't know what we were thinking tonight.

Elio Lucchese - I just remember that we wanted to watch some baseball game together and couldn't get tickets so we decided a bar was the next best thing.

Honomi Kamei - Just drink less next time. Its dangerous to get yourselves this drunk... OK, I believe this is the hotel you're staying in. Enjoy your stay in New City and make sure not to make any other stupid decisions.

The two Malifornians headed back into the hotel. Fortunately, Elio's parents weren't home yet enabling the two of them to pass out drunk on their beds...

[Ko-oren]

6-6 after 12, hopefully we start winning more than we lose now

Ko-oren                     0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0  2
People Who Have Issues      0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 X  3

Ko-oren                     0 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 1 2  7
Anthor                      2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0  5

Ranoria                     0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1  2
Ko-oren                     4 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 X  6

Ko-oren                     1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0  2
Schiltzberg                 0 9 0 0 1 0 0 0 X 10

St Saratoga                 0 3 0 0 4 0 0 0 2  9
Ko-oren                     0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0  1

People Who Have Issues      1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 10
Ko-oren                     0 5 0 2 0 1 3 0 X 11

Anthor                      0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0  1
Ko-oren                     0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 X  3

Ko-oren                     0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0  1
Ranoria                     0 0 0 4 1 0 0 1 X  6

Schiltzberg                 0 1 2 0 5 0 0 0 0  8
Ko-oren                     0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0  3

Ko-oren                     3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  3
St Saratoga                 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0  2

Ko-oren                     0 3 1 1 0 0 0 1 0  6
People Who Have Issues      0 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 1  5

Ko-oren                     1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1  4
Anthor                      0 1 0 0 0 3 2 0 X  6

The World Baseball Classic - with all the marketing and hype surrounding the T20 Cricket World Cup, hosted in Ko-oren, you'd almost forget about it. And it's a shame that we can't bring the WBC up without mentioning that other popular summer sport. Anyway. The Ko-orenite national team is doing a decent job in Group 8 of the WBC, but at about 40% of qualification done, we're in no position to say that we'll qualify for the main tournament.

The gradual decline of baseball - if we go by membership numbers, and only of the professional 12 teams, at least - in Ko-oren has been an issue lately. Still, the national team is doing the opposite. The Greenblues have been gradually working their way up back to that 4th place we once had and never again came close to. WBC 44 is another such opportunity, but we're not wholly convinced yet.

Looking at our first 12 games, here's what we can say:
- Extra innings haven't really been necessary. That's great, because a team that plays an extra inning per three games, will have played a full game more than a team that hasn't played any extra innings. It might not seem much, but in the wear and tear of the players, and most importantly, the relief and closing pitchers, it could be vital down the stretch. Thankfully the one extra innings we needed, was a success with the Greenblues scoring two runs to zero, back on MD2.

- Opening pitchers have been more than stellar. That's amazing! So far, our opponents have had huge trouble breaking down our starting pitchers. All five of them have done their job very well. In the first three innings of each game, we've conceded 24 runs, 2 per game - but nine of those were in one single inning against Schiltzberg. Taking away that one game brings us to 15 runs conceded in 11 games, and that's pretty solid. Now, you might ask: if our starters aren't giving away runs, then who is? And that unfortunately brings us to the next point.

- Our middle relief has been dreadful. In four of our six losses, we conceded the bulk of the runs around the 4th to 6th inning. Games that were perfectly fine up to the fifth inning were then given away at the first pitching change. There's been a lot of hits in the middle innings, and it's a miracle the rest of the defence pulls through without giving up more runs, given the number of games we've won by a single run (3).

- The closers have been very quiet. Which is a good thing as a closer. Only one game was jeopardised late in the game, and that was the second game against the People Who Have Issues - Ko-oren leading 11-2 in the 8th inning... and eventually winning 11-10. Every other game has either been won late in the game or wasn't even close, so no trouble here.

- Hitting has been solid, a lot better than expected even. Greenblues are known for low scoring games, and players are primarily selected for defensive prowess, but we haven't been shutout so far, so that's a very pleasant surprise. In some cases, hitting has even won us games!

[Ethane]

ENTV

---

Explosive Sports News
Football - World Baseball Classic 44

[Home] [Cricket][Baseball][Basketball][Tennis][Other Sports]

Protests Disrupting Play
by Andrew Davis

Green Party protests in relation to the appointment of Graham Steadhall, and other issues they have with the EBA, are disrupting the World Baseball Classic games being held at the McTidley Arena in Ethane.

After the appointment of Graham Steadhall to the role of manager of the Ethanian national baseball team in time for the 44th World Baseball Classic build-up, Green Party activists vowed to protest and disrupt WBC games held in Ethane. Their reasoning was the rumoured sexual assault accusations against him were enough to warrant him being looked past for the job, and combined with their view that the EBA covers up a lot of abuse scandals within the institution, they decided that the best way forward was to show their opposition to the institution by protesting at the large international events to bring attention to the matter.

So far, they seem to have been fairly successful at disrupting the events, ruining them for fans who have come from all over the multiverse to see their team play baseball at a well-known international stadium. Their main methods of protesting include blocking the parking lot and the entrance gates to the stadium, as well as chanting and marching around the stadium.

Their protests have been very disruptive so far, with both home games in the past series of matches having been postponed for an hour and a half to allow for the disruption to the journey time of fans into the stadium because of the protests. Despite this, 1000s of fans still couldn't make it into the stadium because of the protests - some willingly but many because they couldn't get into the parking spaces or because their path was blocked by Green party activists and they weren't sure where to go from there.

The Green Party activists have somewhat been subverting the law in that regard because while legally you are allowed to protest to disrupt, you cannot while protesting intimidate people or prevent them from reaching their destination. The police are following up on the matter to try to prevent further cases of intimidation.

There are a number of contingency plans in place for the upcoming matches which are being played in the McTidley arena, but as always please keep an eye out on social media and other communication platforms for up-to-date news on the events.

- The match start time and the time at which the stadium opens are being shifted earlier by 2 hours to allow more time for disruption.
- More park and ride spaces will be made available, with a high police presence, to prevent disruption to those services. More shuttle buses will also be available from the city centre and the various train stations near the stadium, with recommendations if possible to travel to the stadium by public transport more strongly affirmed.
- Everyone who has a ticket but cannot make it to the event due to disruption because of the protests may come to the ticket office outside the stadium any time in the week after the match, or apply online, for a refund for your ticket.

Further disruption and protests are expected at the team's upcoming games so you will need to plan wisely and leave plenty of time to get to the stadium - more than you usually would for an event like this.

''The EBA apologises for any disruption to your travel plans to the event, and we are trying to do everything we can to prevent further disruption to our events. The Green Party will likely continue to try to disrupt our events but we will endeavour to put our events on and get as many of you in as possible. That's why we've asked for a greater police presence at our events from the local police department, as well as bringing in some of our own security.''

''The Green Party apologises for disruption to your experience. However, we believe our protests are justified as the EBA is a sexist institution that upholds male privilege. There are cases we are aware of where the EBA has covered up sexual assault by some of their top managers and players, all to protect their and the player's reputations. This behaviour cannot stand, and the appointment of Graham Steadhall is the final straw which drove us to act.''.

---

Samuel Mann, Extract from Diary Entry

The manager seems like a nice fellow. He's a very forceful character, but he seems to understand us, and we seem particularly close which will hopefully boost my chances of ascending in the team.

He's come from a background with lots of experience of managing, and not only that but experience of winning - a thing which we want to get back to again. With him coming into the team, I think we can do that.

Some of the boys seem to have taken a disliking to him though. I don't know why they dislike him, but I suspect it's because they've got on to the wrong side of him somehow. You don't want to be on the wrong side of him, but if you show him your best and you perform for him, then he will act with kindness and respect back.

And it's not like you need to work that hard for him. He may be tough on training and discipline, but I seem to be able to get away with slacking off a bit here and there. I'm not sure why, but I don't mind it. I think he likes me as a player, because he likes to chat to me about my game after the team meetings. We seem to be becoming good friends. It's helpful, I think, that he is slightly older, because he has experience.

The feeling in the team is very different to the feeling in the nation though. It's unfortunate that The Green Party are protesting the appointment of Graham, because he seems like a genuinely decent guy, and I can't imagine him doing anything like what they say he has been accused of doing. There's no evidence to suggest he's that kinda guy. I couldn't see him doing something like that to a guy at all. He's just too genuine and decent. They just seem to be radical and trying to score political points off anything, even if it isn't true.

We're quite optimistic about the WBC, and so far we've been performing quite well. But at home the coverage is all about the manager and the protests against him by The Green Party. It's actually quite upsetting as people then miss out on the performances by the team and the excitement that baseball brings. This will bring damage to the sport, sadly. But hopefully The Green Party will come worse out of it, as they deserve to.

[Nova Anglicana]

Scandal Rocks Blackwood Government

Maria McLaughlin, Londinium Courier

Panic gripped the nation's capital today, as revelations emerged that the Domestic Security Agency, located within the Interior Ministry, had been wiretapping and surveilling key members of the Nova Anglican National Party.

The National Party, which arose after party leader King Voss lost the leadership election for the People's Party, has been making gains on the backs of populist rhetoric, especially anti-immigration rhetoric. The party now holds seven seats in Parliament, several seats in most of the provincial parliaments, and various local offices as well.

Voss, when asked about the allegations, said, "This is a very serious situation. The government knows they can't stop our ideas from reaching the nation and defeating them in an election, so they decided to cheat and spy on us to get an unfair advantage. This is an unconscionable violation of our civil liberties. We have done nothing wrong. I call on Prime Minister Blackwood and his entire Cabinet to resign in light of this disgraceful action and I furthermore call on them not to stand for re-election. People who would stoop this low don't deserve to be public servants. We will pursue a full Parliamentary investigation of this matter and a criminal investigation as well."

Other members of the opposition took the opportunity to make statements as well. Michael Ramsey, People's Party leader, said that his party was eager to join a Parliamentary investigation as well and called the allegations "further evidence that Prime Minister Blackwood and the PJP cannot be trusted to make the right decisions for Nova Anglicana." Libertarian leader William Dawson called for an end to surveillance in general. "Whatever government does, it can be trusted to do poorly. Except when it comes to violating our civil liberties; government is excellent at that. We will be introducing a bill to eliminate the surveillance functions of the Domestic Security Agency and to set our country back on the path of respecting the rights of its people."

Both Prime Minister Blackwood and Interior Minister Warren Berry could not be reached for comment. We will have updates for you as soon as possible.

[Tierra de Castro]

“Move that camera out of the fucking way!” A man shouted, Alessandra didn’t recognise him, but he was clearly one of the members of the production team that were beaming what looked like it would be Tierra de Castro’s seventh victory of the World Baseball Classic into homes all over the nation. The live coverage of games had been a little sporadic due to the television network, Castrovisión’s, poor equipment and technology. They had gotten through this particular game, against Beepee without having to resort to purely audio commentary, though, so things were looking up at least a little bit.

Alessandra Guillén had been with Castrovisión for a couple of years, working with the network’s sports reporters. She was a graduate of the prestigious Universidad Nacional, she had studied Politics there and she had tried to work in a few political roles within the country’s labyrinthine government but had quickly become disillusioned. To get anywhere you had to be a loyal Party member and just parrot the same old line about how everything that the government was doing was to help achieve a socialist utopia and blah de blah de blah. Alessandra had tired of it, fast.

Getting out of that job was difficult, mostly because she had had to explain why she wanted to try something else. Saying that she had realised that Tierra de Castro’s entire political system was bullshit would not go down well, that was for certain. For a while it had looked like she would be stuck forever as she struggled to find a viable excuse to change to something new, until a cousin of hers – a cameraman with Castrovisión – had said that they were looking for young graduates to cover sports, particularly as it looked like the Party were going to agree to allow Castrollano sportspeople and teams to compete on the international stage for the very first time.

So she had concocted a story about how she had been an avid sports fan from an early age and that she had not missed an Urracas game in years. They bought the fabrication and she was able to change career after the requisite forms were signed and stamped and really, she had never looked back since. It was actually a really fun job and it had become even more fun now that she was actually travelling with the baseball team around the globe, to watch them compete against other nations in the World Baseball Classic. When she had been a young girl she never even dreamed that she would be able to visit other countries, yet here she was.

Sure, it was a little off-putting having the government’s minders following them everywhere, but the team had the same issue and the players appreciated it. Juan Esteban Capmany had made a joke off camera about trying to escape them sometime, before quickly reassuring them that it was a joke and not a serious plan.

Alessandra was the reporter responsible for post-game interviews and such and that meant she often met the players when they were at their most ecstatic or at a considerable low-point. The loss against Loshos had been the lowest she had seen any of the players, pitcher Snoopy Martinez was clearly devastated having pitched so excellently except for the very first inning when they had allowed the two runs that brought them the defeat. Sure, the hitters weren’t great, but he felt responsible. Loshos hadn’t managed another win in the entire Classic up until that point, so the players were clearly annoyed losing a game that they were sure they should have won.

They took the rough with the smooth though, the very next game against Alpine Union they were back at home and a raucous crowd was there to witness a stunning victory against one of the best teams in baseball. El Profesor had kept faith in Snoopy and he pitched beautifully, being brought out of the game in the 7th after not allowing a single run. This time, the hitters backed him up and the team defeated Alpine Union 7-1 in a stunning upset. The interview with the pitcher was a little different from the one he had given following the Loshos defeat.

Alessandra was fast realising that this Tierra de Castro team – despite being unranked – were something to be reckoned with. They may be a little inconsistent, something that she put down as being symptomatic of not having played the sort of talent that inhabited the rosters of these top-rank nations, but they could sure put up a fight and make it difficult for opponents. They were holding their own against some of the best baseball-playing nations in the multiverse.

This game had been characterised by solid enough pitching once again, this time from Gustavo Quesada, the quietest of Tierra de Castro’s starting rotation. The Tortugas pitcher could often be difficult to draw a decent interview from, but he always assured her that it was just his nature – he wasn’t great at talking, he was just good at pitching, he said – but it was frustrating each time all the same. She would have to brace herself for another tough time following this game as they were in the top of the 9th and barring a miracle from Beepee, it looked like it would be another win.

Capmany had batted in Munoz and Secada in the third inning as he hit a massive home run, the youngster showing his enormous potential. He was only about five years younger than Alessandra, but his personality often seemed larger than life and could sometimes make him seem older when she was conducting interviews. He was going to be a real star, though, his hitting ability was unquestionable. Some had been shocked that he hadn’t been named in the starting line-up, but El Profesor had said he didn’t want to put undue pressure on the kid and people respected that. He was a Doctor of Psychology, after all. They couldn’t really argue too much, as he was doing a fine job as a designated hitter anyway.

“Alessandra!” A shout game, it was Julio, her cameraman. She smiled as he trotted over, camera on held loosely at his side. “Who are we going to interview first?”

“I’m thinking Capmany maybe, although it could be interesting to get one with Secada or someone like that, it isn’t too often that he gets on-base!” She laughed, Secada had only recorded a couple of base hits in the entire Classic. He was valued for his defensive play, but he wasn’t much of a hitter. Some of the players were dealing well with the step-up in level of pitching ability from domestic baseball, Secada was one of the ones who was finding it a little more difficult.

“Secada would be really interesting.” Julio agreed, before shaking his head as a grin spread across his face. “Juan Esteban always gives a good interview though.” He laughed.

“He does, he’s played well too.” Alessandra replied, before pointing at the camera that Julio was still holding rather precariously. “Be careful with that or we won’t be able to actually film anything, we’ve been on a roll today, no black-outs yet!” She laughed.

“I’m always being careful Alessandra, even when it looks like I’m not being!” Julio grinned.

“Whatever, come on, we should start getting ready so we can get them just as they’re coming off the field.”

[Newmanistan]

Matchday 13:

Group 1
Notoria                  0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0  3
Knessniet                0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0  2

Scootalove City          4 0 0 2 3 1 0 1 1 12
Drawkland                2 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0  4

The Greater Nordics      0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0  1
Hicaña                   0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 X  2


  Group 1                 Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Scootalove City          13    9   4    73   43  +30    27
2 Drawkland                13    8   5    71   63   +8    24
3 Hicaña                   13    7   6    40   57  −17    21
4 Knessniet                13    6   7    58   52   +6    18
5 The Greater Nordics      13    5   8    45   53   −8    15
6 Notoria                  13    4   9    43   62  −19    12

Group 2
Vangaziland              1 1 0 0 0 6 1 2 0 11
Melbergia                0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0  2

Equestrian States        0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0  1
Gor Kebab                0 3 0 1 0 3 0 0 X  7

Suryak                   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0
Cassadaigua              0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 X  3


  Group 2                 Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Cassadaigua              13   12   1    76   29  +47    36
2 Vangaziland              13    8   5    57   49   +8    24
3 Equestrian States        13    7   6    59   65   −6    21
4 Gor Kebab                13    5   8    48   57   −9    15
5 Suryak                   13    4   9    48   58  −10    12
6 Melbergia                13    3  10    42   72  −30     9

Group 3
Eraman                   0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0  4
South Covello            0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1  5

West Phoenicia           0 0 1 0 0 3 0 0 3  7
The Sherpa Empire        0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0  2

Tenburg                  0 1 0 1 1 0 0 2 0  5
Shayla                   0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0  1


  Group 3                 Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 West Phoenicia           13   10   3    88   52  +36    30
2 South Covello            13    8   5    77   64  +13    24
3 The Sherpa Empire        13    7   6    53   67  −14    21
4 Eraman                   13    6   7    62   58   +4    18
5 Tenburg                  13    5   8    79   73   +6    15
6 Shayla                   13    3  10    46   91  −45     9

Group 4
Northwest Kalactin           1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1  3
Tjorl                        1 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 X  4

Newmanistan                  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0
Ethane                       3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 X  3

Dharoka                      0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0  1
Lisander                     1 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 X  5


  Group 4                     Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Newmanistan                  13   11   2    78   35  +43    33
2 Ethane                       13   10   3    62   33  +29    30
3 Tjorl                        13    7   6    40   43   −3    21
4 Lisander                     13    4   9    42   57  −15    12
5 Dharoka                      13    4   9    54   71  −17    12
6 Northwest Kalactin           13    3  10    32   69  −37     9

Group 5
Alpine Union                 0 4 0 0 1 1 0 0 0  6
Royal Kingdom of Quebec      0 2 0 1 0 2 0 0 0  5

Beepee                       1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  1
Loshos                       0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 X  2

Nova Anglicana               0 0 2 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 2  7
Tierra de Castro             1 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0  5


  Group 5                     Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Nova Anglicana               13    9   4    64   44  +20    27
2 Alpine Union                 13    8   5    76   56  +20    24
3 Tierra de Castro             13    7   6    67   49  +18    21
4 Royal Kingdom of Quebec      13    7   6    54   56   −2    21
5 Beepee                       13    6   7    48   64  −16    18
6 Loshos                       13    2  11    31   71  −40     6

Group 6
Fungsland                    0 0 0 4 0 2 0 1 0  7
Titaniumland                 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 0  6

Free Republics               0 2 0 2 1 0 1 0 0  6
Maklohi Vai                  0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0  3

Liventia                     0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0  2
Saint Agnesia                0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 X  4


  Group 6                     Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Free Republics               13   10   3    83   47  +36    30
2 Liventia                     13    8   5    63   57   +6    24
3 Maklohi Vai                  13    7   6    65   65    0    21
4 Titaniumland                 13    5   8    65   74   −9    15
5 Fungsland                    13    5   8    53   69  −16    15
6 Saint Agnesia                13    4   9    51   68  −17    12

Group 7
Hampton Island              0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1  2
Wuriya                      0 0 0 3 0 0 3 0 X  6

Oscioru                     2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 4  8
New Sportland               0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 1  5

Super-Llamaland             0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1  4
Lycrabon                    2 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 X  5


  Group 7                    Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Super-Llamaland             13    9   4    66   49  +17    27
2 Hampton Island              13    9   4    64   51  +13    27
3 Wuriya                      13    7   6    69   56  +13    21
4 Lycrabon                    13    7   6    56   51   +5    21
5 Oscioru                     13    6   7    55   60   −5    18
6 New Sportland               13    1  12    33   76  −43     3

Group 8
Anthor                      2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3  6
People Who Have Issues      1 0 1 0 0 4 1 1 X  8

Ranoria                     0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1  2
Ko-oren                     0 0 2 0 0 1 1 0 X  4

Schiltzberg                 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 2  5
St Saratoga                 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  3


  Group 8                    Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Schiltzberg                 13   10   3    72   49  +23    30
2 People Who Have Issues      13    8   5    69   64   +5    24
3 St Saratoga                 13    7   6    64   50  +14    21
4 Ko-oren                     13    7   6    53   69  −16    21
5 Anthor                      13    4   9    61   67   −6    12
6 Ranoria                     13    3  10    52   72  −20     9

Group 9
Abanhfleft                  0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  2
Cosumar                     1 1 0 0 1 0 2 0 X  5

Filindostan                 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0  4
Banija                      1 3 0 0 3 0 3 0 X 10

Aureumterra                 3 0 1 0 2 1 0 0 1  8
Saintland                   0 0 0 0 0 3 4 0 0  7


  Group 9                    Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Banija                      13   10   3    67   41  +26    30
2 Cosumar                     13    8   5    70   46  +24    24
3 Abanhfleft                  13    6   7    58   45  +13    18
4 Saintland                   13    6   7    44   53   −9    18
5 Filindostan                 13    5   8    43   64  −21    15
6 Aureumterra                 13    4   9    44   77  −33    12

Matchday 14:

Group 1
Knessniet                0 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0  4
Hicaña                   0 1 2 0 2 0 4 0 X  9

Drawkland                0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0  3
The Greater Nordics      0 1 0 3 0 1 0 0 X  5

Notoria                  0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0  1
Scootalove City          0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 X  2


  Group 1                 Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Scootalove City          14   10   4    75   44  +31    30
2 Drawkland                14    8   6    74   68   +6    24
3 Hicaña                   14    8   6    49   61  −12    24
4 Knessniet                14    6   8    62   61   +1    18
5 The Greater Nordics      14    6   8    50   56   −6    18
6 Notoria                  14    4  10    44   64  −20    12

Group 2
Melbergia                0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  3
Cassadaigua              0 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 X  5

Gor Kebab                0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0  2
Suryak                   1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 X  3

Vangaziland              0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0
Equestrian States        1 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 X  4


  Group 2                 Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Cassadaigua              14   13   1    81   32  +49    39
2 Vangaziland              14    8   6    57   53   +4    24
3 Equestrian States        14    8   6    63   65   −2    24
4 Suryak                   14    5   9    51   60   −9    15
5 Gor Kebab                14    5   9    50   60  −10    15
6 Melbergia                14    3  11    45   77  −32     9

Group 3
South Covello            0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0  2
Shayla                   0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0  1

The Sherpa Empire        0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 2  4
Tenburg                  1 0 0 1 1 0 1 2 X  6

Eraman                   0 2 0 1 0 2 1 0 0  6
West Phoenicia           2 0 2 5 0 1 2 3 X 15


  Group 3                 Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 West Phoenicia           14   11   3   103   58  +45    33
2 South Covello            14    9   5    79   65  +14    27
3 The Sherpa Empire        14    7   7    57   73  −16    21
4 Tenburg                  14    6   8    85   77   +8    18
5 Eraman                   14    6   8    68   73   −5    18
6 Shayla                   14    3  11    47   93  −46     9

Group 4
Tjorl                        2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 4  8
Lisander                     1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0  2

Ethane                       4 0 2 0 1 2 0 0 2 11
Dharoka                      1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1  3

Northwest Kalactin           0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 1  4
Newmanistan                  0 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 1  5


  Group 4                     Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Newmanistan                  14   12   2    83   39  +44    36
2 Ethane                       14   11   3    73   36  +37    33
3 Tjorl                        14    8   6    48   45   +3    24
4 Lisander                     14    4  10    44   65  −21    12
5 Dharoka                      14    4  10    57   82  −25    12
6 Northwest Kalactin           14    3  11    36   74  −38     9

Group 5
Royal Kingdom of Quebec      0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0  2
Tierra de Castro             2 1 0 5 1 1 0 3 X 13

Loshos                       0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0  2
Nova Anglicana               0 0 1 0 0 0 0 4 X  5

Alpine Union                 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 2  5
Beepee                       1 1 0 1 1 0 2 0 X  6


  Group 5                     Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Nova Anglicana               14   10   4    69   46  +23    30
2 Tierra de Castro             14    8   6    80   51  +29    24
3 Alpine Union                 14    8   6    81   62  +19    24
4 Royal Kingdom of Quebec      14    7   7    56   69  −13    21
5 Beepee                       14    7   7    54   69  −15    21
6 Loshos                       14    2  12    33   76  −43     6

Group 6
Titaniumland                 2 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 2  8
Saint Agnesia                4 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0  5

Maklohi Vai                  0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0  2
Liventia                     0 0 1 2 0 2 0 0 X  5

Fungsland                    0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0
Free Republics               0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 X  3


  Group 6                     Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Free Republics               14   11   3    86   47  +39    33
2 Liventia                     14    9   5    68   59   +9    27
3 Maklohi Vai                  14    7   7    67   70   −3    21
4 Titaniumland                 14    6   8    73   79   −6    18
5 Fungsland                    14    5   9    53   72  −19    15
6 Saint Agnesia                14    4  10    56   76  −20    12

Group 7
Wuriya                      0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0  1
Lycrabon                    0 0 0 1 0 0 2 3 X  6

New Sportland               0 0 2 3 0 0 0 0 0  5
Super-Llamaland             0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 1  4

Hampton Island              1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0  3
Oscioru                     0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0  1


  Group 7                    Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Hampton Island              14   10   4    67   52  +15    30
2 Super-Llamaland             14    9   5    70   54  +16    27
3 Lycrabon                    14    8   6    62   52  +10    24
4 Wuriya                      14    7   7    70   62   +8    21
5 Oscioru                     14    6   8    56   63   −7    18
6 New Sportland               14    2  12    38   80  −42     6

Group 8
People Who Have Issues      1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1  4
St Saratoga                 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0  3

Ko-oren                     0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  3
Schiltzberg                 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0  1

Anthor                      0 0 1 2 0 0 3 0 0  6
Ranoria                     0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0  1


  Group 8                    Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Schiltzberg                 14   10   4    73   52  +21    30
2 People Who Have Issues      14    9   5    73   67   +6    27
3 Ko-oren                     14    8   6    56   70  −14    24
4 St Saratoga                 14    7   7    67   54  +13    21
5 Anthor                      14    5   9    67   68   −1    15
6 Ranoria                     14    3  11    53   78  −25     9

Group 9
Cosumar                     0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0  3
Saintland                   0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0  2

Banija                      0 2 1 0 0 0 0 5 1  9
Aureumterra                 1 2 0 1 0 0 1 1 0  6

Abanhfleft                  1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1  6
Filindostan                 0 0 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 0  5


  Group 9                    Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Banija                      14   11   3    76   47  +29    33
2 Cosumar                     14    9   5    73   48  +25    27
3 Abanhfleft                  14    7   7    64   50  +14    21
4 Saintland                   14    6   8    46   56  −10    18
5 Filindostan                 14    5   9    48   70  −22    15
6 Aureumterra                 14    4  10    50   86  −36    12

Matchday 15:

Group 1
Scootalove City          0 0 0 1 1 2 0 0 1  5
Knessniet                0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0  3

The Greater Nordics      0 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0  4
Notoria                  0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1  3

Hicaña                   0 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 0  4
Drawkland                0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0  2


  Group 1                 Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Scootalove City          15   11   4    80   47  +33    33
2 Hicaña                   15    9   6    53   63  −10    27
3 Drawkland                15    8   7    76   72   +4    24
4 The Greater Nordics      15    7   8    54   59   −5    21
5 Knessniet                15    6   9    65   66   −1    18
6 Notoria                  15    4  11    47   68  −21    12

Group 2
Equestrian States        1 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 0  5
Melbergia                0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0  3

Suryak                   0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0  1
Vangaziland              0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 X  3

Cassadaigua              0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 5  9
Gor Kebab                1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  3


  Group 2                 Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Cassadaigua              15   14   1    90   35  +55    42
2 Vangaziland              15    9   6    60   54   +6    27
3 Equestrian States        15    9   6    68   68    0    27
4 Suryak                   15    5  10    52   63  −11    15
5 Gor Kebab                15    5  10    53   69  −16    15
6 Melbergia                15    3  12    48   82  −34     9

Group 3
West Phoenicia           0 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 4 0 0 5 13
South Covello            2 2 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0  8

Tenburg                  2 0 1 1 0 0 2 0 1 0 3 10
Eraman                   0 4 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 2  9

Shayla                   0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0  1
The Sherpa Empire        2 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 X  5


  Group 3                 Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 West Phoenicia           15   12   3   116   66  +50    36
2 South Covello            15    9   6    87   78   +9    27
3 The Sherpa Empire        15    8   7    62   74  −12    24
4 Tenburg                  15    7   8    95   86   +9    21
5 Eraman                   15    6   9    77   83   −6    18
6 Shayla                   15    3  12    48   98  −50     9

Group 4
Newmanistan                  0 1 0 3 2 7 2 0 0 15
Tjorl                        0 0 0 1 0 0 1 3 0  5

Dharoka                      0 0 3 0 0 0 1 0 0  4
Northwest Kalactin           0 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 3  7

Lisander                     0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0  1
Ethane                       0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  2


  Group 4                     Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Newmanistan                  15   13   2    98   44  +54    39
2 Ethane                       15   12   3    75   37  +38    36
3 Tjorl                        15    8   7    53   60   −7    24
4 Lisander                     15    4  11    45   67  −22    12
5 Dharoka                      15    4  11    61   89  −28    12
6 Northwest Kalactin           15    4  11    43   78  −35    12

Group 5
Beepee                       0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0  6
Royal Kingdom of Quebec      0 1 1 0 0 3 2 0 X  7

Nova Anglicana               0 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 1  5
Alpine Union                 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 X  6

Tierra de Castro             0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0  3
Loshos                       0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0  2


  Group 5                     Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Nova Anglicana               15   10   5    74   52  +22    30
2 Tierra de Castro             15    9   6    83   53  +30    27
3 Alpine Union                 15    9   6    87   67  +20    27
4 Royal Kingdom of Quebec      15    8   7    63   75  −12    24
5 Beepee                       15    7   8    60   76  −16    21
6 Loshos                       15    2  13    35   79  −44     6

Group 6
Free Republics               1 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 1  5
Titaniumland                 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  1

Liventia                     0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0  3
Fungsland                    0 1 3 0 0 0 1 0 X  5

Saint Agnesia                3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0  4
Maklohi Vai                  2 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 X  5


  Group 6                     Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Free Republics               15   12   3    91   48  +43    36
2 Liventia                     15    9   6    71   64   +7    27
3 Maklohi Vai                  15    8   7    72   74   −2    24
4 Titaniumland                 15    6   9    74   84  −10    18
5 Fungsland                    15    6   9    58   75  −17    18
6 Saint Agnesia                15    4  11    60   81  −21    12

Group 7
Oscioru                     0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0  1
Wuriya                      0 6 0 1 5 0 0 0 X 12

Super-Llamaland             0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1  3
Hampton Island              0 2 0 1 0 1 1 0 X  5

Lycrabon                    0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0  3
New Sportland               0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1  4


  Group 7                    Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Hampton Island              15   11   4    72   55  +17    33
2 Super-Llamaland             15    9   6    73   59  +14    27
3 Wuriya                      15    8   7    82   63  +19    24
4 Lycrabon                    15    8   7    65   56   +9    24
5 Oscioru                     15    6   9    57   75  −18    18
6 New Sportland               15    3  12    42   83  −41     9

Group 8
Ranoria                     1 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 1  8
People Who Have Issues      0 4 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0  7

Schiltzberg                 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0  4
Anthor                      0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0  1

St Saratoga                 0 2 0 0 2 0 2 1 0  7
Ko-oren                     0 0 0 1 2 4 0 0 1  8


  Group 8                    Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Schiltzberg                 15   11   4    77   53  +24    33
2 People Who Have Issues      15    9   6    80   75   +5    27
3 Ko-oren                     15    9   6    64   77  −13    27
4 St Saratoga                 15    7   8    74   62  +12    21
5 Anthor                      15    5  10    68   72   −4    15
6 Ranoria                     15    4  11    61   85  −24    12

Group 9
Filindostan                 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  3
Cosumar                     1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0  2

Aureumterra                 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0  1
Abanhfleft                  0 3 0 0 1 0 0 2 X  6

Saintland                   1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0  3
Banija                      0 1 3 0 1 0 1 1 X  7


  Group 9                    Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Banija                      15   12   3    83   50  +33    36
2 Cosumar                     15    9   6    75   51  +24    27
3 Abanhfleft                  15    8   7    70   51  +19    24
4 Saintland                   15    6   9    49   63  −14    18
5 Filindostan                 15    6   9    51   72  −21    18
6 Aureumterra                 15    4  11    51   92  −41    12

[People Who Have Issues]

A new issue confronts @@NAME@@

---

It Just Doesn't Add Up

VOL. 32 NO. 4667

The Issue

Mathematically-challenged People Who Have Issues, unable to understand that @@NAME@@ can only rise in the standings if Schiltzberg loses, are demanding to know why @@NAME@@ is not leading their group in the World Baseball Classic.

The Debate

1.

"It's obvious that Catherine Gratwick is incompetent!" asserts diminutive sexagenarian Dick ‘Big Richard’ @@RANDOMLASTNAME@@. "Get her off my lawn -- I mean the field -- and get a real manager, by which I mean a man!"

2.

"It's obvious that Schiltzberg is cheating!" screeches national baseball team manager Cathering Gratwick. "Nobody could be better than us if they weren't cheating! I bet they're all hopped on drugs! And their pitchers are using pine tar! I wouldn't even put it past them to ask their heathen gods for divine intervention... We should demand the WBC Council investigate them!"

3.

"It's obvious that the umpires are biased against us!" rages a red-faced Sgt. Burkz. "That balk call last night was total bullshit! Let me on the field and I'll put them in their place! With a fist in their face! And I better get a goddamn refund if anybody makes me leave the park afterward!"

4.

"Isn't it obvious?" says closer Inga Matthews. "The Ranorians are the ones who are cheating. They were the ones who scored that run off me in the 10th inning of last night's game. They must have tampered with our balls. It can't possibly have anything to do with the fact that I hit a batter with a pitch, had a balk, and walked in a run!"

[Schiltzberg]

Schiltzberg Loses to Ko-oren after Låmp Gets Defiled

Schiltzberg's streak was intact following the installation of låmps in Royal Dome. However, on the field before the game against Ko-oren, a låmp was found on the field maimed and defiled, much to the discomfort of the Schiltzbergian players.

"When I saw the låmp all defiled, I thought, 'Perhaps I will perish,' bröther," said Randy Duffler, Schiltzbergian superfan and noted låmp believer. "We were lucky to get away with our lives."

Others were not quite so fortunate, as it is noted that two fans perished in the parking lot in a car accident.

"It is no coincidence that they perished tonight," said noted låmp philosopher Jeremy Hefflinger. "It was due to the will of the låmp."

The question remains: Who maimed the låmp? There is lots of speculation that a fan from People Who Have Issues maimed the låmp, because their nation has been taken the most aback by the Schiltzbergian strategy.

Their nation seems jealous of the fact that the people of Schiltzberg actually wrote an issue, and this is no doubt why they maimed the låmp.

Needless to say, the incident has caused much havoc for the Schiltzbergers, causing them to be thrown off to the extent of losing their streak, but they have since rebounded and are apparently over their grief of the löst låmp, as they came across with a win last night against Anthor.

Stay tuned for more updates on the saga of the låmp.

[West Phoenicia]

The Confederate's have started the 44th season of the World Baseball Classic with a bang. Over the last few seasons they start off on a high only to crash and burn once they breeze passed the round of 16. The Confederate's are hoping and praying this will not be the case this time around.
They currently sit on 12 wins and 3 losses. (2 losses to The Sherpa Empire and 1 to South Covello).
With 15 games remaining before playoffs they are in a great position to progress to the playoffs.

With Team manager Trevor Rushworth retiring after this season, there is a new fire and passion to win this season for their manager.

Team Captain Jacob Texas said they want their manager who has fought so hard for them to go out on a high. "It would be fantastic for him to leave knowing we have secured a world series title.


Meanwhile The Confederate's scored their first victory against the Sherpa Empire on the Sherpa Empire's home turf where the fan support was 5 to 1.

With a terrific final score of 7-2, Jacob Texas scoring two of those runs.

Empress Cleopatra-Olympias Gryphon-Bush was on hand with her large contingent to support the Confederate's. She has admitted she has been a huge fan of baseball and she loves coming out to support them in all their games.
Cleopatra-Olympias was in her own private box surrounded by her security and ladies in waiting. Unlike other members of the royal household that she has married into her, she forgoed the caviar and champagne for a can of diet cola and a hot dog ladden with onions, cheese, mustard and tomato sauce.

Many in West Phoenicia have already dubbed her the people's Empress, as she has shown compassion and a connection to see all classes as equal as opposed to Empress Angelique and Empress Alotta her sister-wives who live in a world of luxury and segregation from common riff raff.

Many fans were also shocked that after the game a number of Sherpa Empire children walked up to talk to her. In which she shook hands with the fans. Staunch West Phoenicians who support the Segregation Party's and Aristocratic Party's ideal that the poor be segregated away from the rich uttered disgust that she would lower herself to do such a gesture, that as an Empress she was divine and godlike in West Phoenicia's eyes and she not be associating with commoners from an unenlightened empire like Sherpa.