World Baseball Classic 61 | IC thread

[The Kytler Peninsulae]

RESULTS
LEAGUE PHASE SERIES 11

South Newlandia @ Dhemixia South Newlandia 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 Paradystopia 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 South Newlandia 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 Paradystopia 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 South Newlandia 4 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 8 Paradystopia 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 1 0 5

Milchama @ The Martian Independent Republic Milchama 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 The Martian Independent Republic 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 Milchama 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 4 The Martian Independent Republic 1 1 1 1 0 2 0 3 X 9 Milchama 0 1 0 2 0 1 0 0 9 13 The Martian Independent Republic 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 3

Drawkland @ Kwrpania Drawkland 6 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 Kwrpania 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Drawkland 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 6 Kwrpania 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 5 Drawkland 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 10 13 Kwrpania 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

The Kytler Peninsulae @ Eshialand Scored by Tikariot The Kytler Peninsulae 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 5 Eshialand 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 The Kytler Peninsulae 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 2 Eshialand 0 0 2 0 0 0 5 0 X 7 The Kytler Peninsulae 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 6 Eshialand 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2

Tikariot @ TJUN-ia Tikariot 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 TJUN-ia 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Tikariot 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 4 TJUN-ia 1 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 X 5 Tikariot 1 6 0 3 0 1 0 0 2 13 TJUN-ia 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 4

Kamijiro @ Ko-oren Kamijiro 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 2 4 Ko-oren 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 Kamijiro 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 Ko-oren 1 0 0 0 2 4 1 2 X 10 Kamijiro 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 4 Ko-oren 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1

Cardenao @ Quebec and Shingoryeo Cardenao 0 3 0 1 0 1 0 1 6 12 Quebec and Shingoryeo 0 0 0 3 2 0 0 1 0 6 Cardenao 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Quebec and Shingoryeo 5 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 X 9 Cardenao 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 4 Quebec and Shingoryeo 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 5

United States of Nova Calania @ Zwangzug United States of Nova Calania 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 Zwangzug 0 0 0 1 2 1 4 0 X 8 United States of Nova Calania 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 Zwangzug 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 X 4 United States of Nova Calania 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Zwangzug 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 X 4

Dhemixia @ Banija Dhemixia 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 Banija 2 0 1 0 0 2 0 2 X 7 Dhemixia 1 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 4 Banija 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Dhemixia 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 9 0 10 Banija 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 2 0 6

Delaclava @ The Batavia Delaclava 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 The Batavia 0 0 3 0 2 0 0 0 X 5 Delaclava 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 The Batavia 0 0 0 0 2 7 0 0 X 9 Delaclava 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 1 4 The Batavia 2 0 0 2 4 0 1 0 X 9

Natkr @ Chromatika Natkr 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 Chromatika 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 1 X 5 Natkr 0 0 0 1 0 4 0 1 0 6 Chromatika 0 0 0 1 1 0 4 1 X 7 Natkr 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 5 0 8 Chromatika 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 4

Kronbia @ Terefuxe Kronbia 0 1 3 0 0 0 2 0 1 7 Terefuxe 0 0 0 0 4 1 0 0 0 5 Kronbia 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 Terefuxe 0 3 0 0 0 1 1 2 X 7 Kronbia 0 0 1 2 0 2 0 1 0 6 Terefuxe 0 2 2 0 2 0 1 0 X 7

Zenic @ Ranoria Zenic 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Ranoria 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 2 X 5 Zenic 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 3 Ranoria 0 1 1 3 2 0 2 0 X 9 Zenic 0 0 2 0 0 4 0 0 0 6 Ranoria 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2

Oriental of Rio de La Plata @ Liventia Oriental of Rio de La Plata 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Liventia 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 X 4 Oriental of Rio de La Plata 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 3 Liventia 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 X 4 Oriental of Rio de La Plata 2 0 0 1 0 1 4 1 0 9 Liventia 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3

Valentine Z @ Loyo Valentine Z 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 3 Loyo 0 0 5 0 0 1 0 1 X 7 Valentine Z 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 8 16 Loyo 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Valentine Z 0 0 0 1 0 2 1 0 0 4 Loyo 1 0 0 2 1 0 1 1 X 6

Katzeburg @ Sarzonia Katzeburg 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 6 Sarzonia 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 Katzeburg 1 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 5 Sarzonia 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 Katzeburg 5 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 9 Sarzonia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 3

Andso Mangis @ Visayas Islands Andso Mangis 1 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 7 Visayas Islands 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 4 Andso Mangis 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 3 0 6 Visayas Islands 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 3 X 7 Andso Mangis 0 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 4 Visayas Islands 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 X 6

Riandera @ Hapilopper Riandera 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 1 4 Hapilopper 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 Riandera 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 1 5 Hapilopper 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 Riandera 0 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 4 Hapilopper 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2

LEAGUE PHASE STANDINGS AFTER SERIES 11		P	W	L	RF	RA	PythR
1	Drawkland				33	26	7	214	98	0.827
2	Banija					33	25	8	197	127	0.706
3	Liventia				33	25	8	174	128	0.649
4	South Newlandia				33	24	9	192	109	0.756
5	Ranoria					33	23	10	206	126	0.728
6	Kamijiro				33	23	10	164	120	0.651
7	Quebec and Shingoryeo			33	23	10	181	135	0.643
8	Milchama				33	22	11	187	128	0.681
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9	Tikariot				33	22	11	191	131	0.680
10	Katzeburg				33	21	12	175	124	0.666
11	Zwangzug				33	21	12	172	124	0.658
12	The Kytler Peninsulae			33	19	14	154	116	0.638
13	The Batavia				33	18	15	166	146	0.564
14	TJUN-ia					33	18	15	114	137	0.409
15	Sarzonia				33	16	17	152	161	0.471
16	Kronbia					33	16	17	145	155	0.467
17	Valentine Z				33	16	17	146	167	0.433
18	Hapilopper				33	15	18	156	146	0.533
19	United States of Nova Calania		33	15	18	155	158	0.490
20	Chromatika				33	15	18	147	166	0.440
21	Terefuxe				33	15	18	142	172	0.405
22	Dhemixia				33	14	19	173	155	0.555
23	Cardenao				33	14	19	148	165	0.446
24	Ko-oren					33	14	19	149	177	0.415
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
25	Riandera				33	14	19	133	163	0.400
26	Zenic					33	14	19	127	158	0.392
27	Loyo					33	13	20	155	157	0.494
28	Paradystopia				33	13	20	150	174	0.426
29	The Martian Independent Republic	33	13	20	105	159	0.304
30	Eshialand				33	12	21	143	169	0.417
31	Visayas Islands				33	10	23	132	197	0.310
32	Oriental of Rio de La Plata		33	10	23	108	194	0.237
33	Kwrpania				33	9	24	135	209	0.294
34	Natkr					33	9	24	132	207	0.289
35	Delaclava				33	9	24	117	195	0.265
36	Andso Mangis				33	8	25	129	213	0.268

This is a reminder that the final table will use head-to-head record as the first tiebreaker, but intermediate tables - including this one - are sorting ties solely on Pythagorean ratio.

[Ko-oren]

Government picks a (graphic) lane

From the desk of the Ministry of Information, Security, and Communication: all official organisations will be unified under one visual brand - most importantly, a single list of colours - which should make local and national governments more easily recognisable and also clearly show which agencies and organisations are part of a ministry versus which are NGOs, trade organisations, and so on.

Organisations will receive their own 6-colour code à la (city) flag, with black and white as the top two colours for all official organisations, claiming the combination as the government's very own. Colours must be alternated dark-light as per the below scheme:

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The sun-dragonfly-plant logo will continue to show up where applicable. That is: where logos are preferred, such as profile pictures, the logo will be used. In documents with more horizontal space at the top, the six-colour code will be used.



6-colour codes for official and/or governmental use shall use a dark-light-dark-light-dark-light pattern, where civil uses will be limited to light-dark-light-dark-light-dark. To indicate which colour is which for a colour blind audience, every stripe will include a high-contrast symbol, as per above.

[Katzeburg]

+-----------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+
| Player          | AB | R | H | RBI | HR | BB | SO | Average |
+-----------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+
| Anthonyson (RF) | 4  | 2 | 2 | 1   | 0  | 1  | 0  | 0.500   |
| Neely (1B)      | 4  | 1 | 2 | 1   | 0  | 1  | 0  | 0.500   |
| Nye (CF)        | 4  | 1 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Lyall (C)       | 4  | 1 | 2 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.500   |
| Egger (2B)      | 4  | 1 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Smith (DH)      | 4  | 0 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 2  | 0.250   |
| Walther (LF)    | 4  | 1 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Willard (3B)    | 4  | 0 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 0  | 0.250   |
| Rice (SS)       | 4  | 0 | 0 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.000   |
+-----------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+

+----------+----+---+---+----+----+----+
| Player   | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
+----------+----+---+---+----+----+----+
| Kurzmann | 9  | 6 | 1 | 1  | 1  | 7  |
+----------+----+---+---+----+----+----+

OOC: All stats have been partly AI-Generated (Prompt is to generate stats based on the final box score).

+-----------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+
| Player          | AB | R | H | RBI | HR | BB | SO | Average |
+-----------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+
| Anthonyson (RF) | 4  | 1 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Bennet (1B)     | 4  | 0 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Nye (CF)        | 4  | 0 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Lyall (C)       | 4  | 0 | 0 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 2  | 0.000   |
| Gartner (2B)    | 4  | 0 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Smith (DH)      | 3  | 0 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.333   |
| Garland (LF)    | 3  | 1 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.333   |
| Flowers (3B)    | 3  | 0 | 0 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.000   |
| Blythe (SS)     | 3  | 0 | 0 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 2  | 0.000   |
+-----------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+

+---------+-----+---+---+----+----+----+
| Player  | IP  | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
+---------+-----+---+---+----+----+----+
| Werner  | 2.1 | 7 | 7 | 7  | 2  | 1  |
| Glazier | 4.2 | 4 | 1 | 1  | 0  | 4  |
| Wendell | 2   | 2 | 1 | 1  | 0  | 2  |
+---------+-----+---+---+----+----+----+

OOC: All stats have been partly AI-Generated (Prompt is to generate stats based on the final box score).

+--------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+
| Player       | AB | R | H | RBI | HR | BB | SO | Average |
+--------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+
| Tobias (RF)  | 4  | 1 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Bennet (1B)  | 4  | 1 | 2 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 0  | 0.500   |
| Alan (CF)    | 4  | 1 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Wallis (C)   | 4  | 1 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Egger (2B)   | 4  | 0 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Smith (DH)   | 4  | 0 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Walther (LF) | 4  | 1 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Willard (3B) | 4  | 0 | 0 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.000   |
| Rice (SS)    | 4  | 0 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
+--------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+

+----------+-----+---+---+----+----+----+
| Player   | IP  | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
+----------+-----+---+---+----+----+----+
| Sangster | 5.1 | 8 | 5 | 5  | 1  | 5  |
| Courtney | 3.2 | 3 | 2 | 2  | 0  | 3  |
+----------+-----+---+---+----+----+----+

OOC: All stats have been partly AI-Generated (Prompt is to generate stats based on the final box score).

+-----------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+
| Player          | AB | R | H | RBI | HR | BB | SO | Average |
+-----------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+
| Anthonyson (RF) | 4  | 1 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 1  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Neely (1B)      | 4  | 1 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 1  | 0  | 0.250   |
| Nye (CF)        | 5  | 1 | 2 | 2   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.400   |
| Lyall (C)       | 5  | 0 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.200   |
| Egger (2B)      | 4  | 0 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 2  | 0.250   |
| Smith (DH)      | 4  | 1 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Walther (LF)    | 4  | 1 | 1 | 1   | 1  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Willard (3B)    | 4  | 0 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 0  | 0.250   |
| Rice (SS)       | 4  | 1 | 0 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 2  | 0.000   |
+-----------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+

+--------+----+---+---+----+----+----+
| Player | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
+--------+----+---+---+----+----+----+
| Unkle  | 9  | 5 | 1 | 1  | 1  | 8  |
+--------+----+---+---+----+----+----+

OOC: All stats have been partly AI-Generated (Prompt is to generate stats based on the final box score).

+-----------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+
| Player          | AB | R | H | RBI | HR | BB | SO | Average |
+-----------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+
| Anthonyson (RF) | 4  | 2 | 2 | 0   | 0  | 1  | 1  | 0.500   |
| Bennet (1B)     | 5  | 1 | 2 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 0  | 0.400   |
| Nye (CF)        | 5  | 1 | 2 | 2   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.400   |
| Lyall (C)       | 4  | 1 | 1 | 2   | 0  | 1  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Gartner (2B)    | 5  | 0 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 2  | 0.200   |
| Smith (DH)      | 4  | 0 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Garland (LF)    | 4  | 1 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Flowers (3B)    | 4  | 0 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Blythe (SS)     | 4  | 1 | 0 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 2  | 0.000   |
+-----------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+

+----------+----+---+---+----+----+----+
| Player   | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
+----------+----+---+---+----+----+----+
| McLain   | 5  | 7 | 6 | 6  | 1  | 4  |
| Holmwood | 4  | 2 | 0 | 0  | 0  | 3  |
+----------+----+---+---+----+----+----+

OOC: All stats have been partly AI-Generated (Prompt is to generate stats based on the final box score).

+--------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+
| Player       | AB | R | H | RBI | HR | BB | SO | Average |
+--------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+
| Tobias (RF)  | 4  | 1 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Bennet (1B)  | 4  | 1 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 0  | 0.250   |
| Alan (CF)    | 4  | 0 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Wallis (C)   | 4  | 0 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Egger (2B)   | 4  | 0 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Smith (DH)   | 4  | 0 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Walther (LF) | 4  | 0 | 0 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.000   |
| Willard (3B) | 4  | 1 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Rice (SS)    | 4  | 0 | 0 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 2  | 0.000   |
+--------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+

+----------+-----+---+---+----+----+----+
| Player   | IP  | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
+----------+-----+---+---+----+----+----+
| Kurzmann | 5.2 | 8 | 5 | 5  | 1  | 5  |
| Beringer | 2.1 | 3 | 2 | 2  | 0  | 2  |
+----------+-----+---+---+----+----+----+

OOC: All stats have been partly AI-Generated (Prompt is to generate stats based on the final box score).

+-----------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+
| Player          | AB | R | H | RBI | HR | BB | SO | Average |
+-----------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+
| Anthonyson (RF) | 5  | 1 | 2 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.400   |
| Neely (1B)      | 5  | 1 | 2 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.400   |
| Nye (CF)        | 5  | 1 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.200   |
| Lyall (C)       | 5  | 0 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 2  | 0.200   |
| Egger (2B)      | 5  | 0 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 2  | 0.200   |
| Smith (DH)      | 4  | 1 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 1  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Walther (LF)    | 5  | 1 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 2  | 0.200   |
| Willard (3B)    | 4  | 1 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 1  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Rice (SS)       | 4  | 0 | 0 | 0   | 0  | 1  | 1  | 0.000   |
+-----------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+

+---------+----+---+---+----+----+----+
| Player  | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
+---------+----+---+---+----+----+----+
| Werner  | 7  | 6 | 2 | 2  | 1  | 5  |
| Glazier | 3  | 1 | 0 | 0  | 0  | 3  |
+---------+----+---+---+----+----+----+

OOC: All stats have been partly AI-Generated (Prompt is to generate stats based on the final box score).

+-----------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+
| Player          | AB | R | H | RBI | HR | BB | SO | Average |
+-----------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+
| Anthonyson (RF) | 4  | 1 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 1  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Bennet (1B)     | 4  | 1 | 2 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.500   |
| Nye (CF)        | 4  | 1 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Lyall (C)       | 4  | 0 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Gartner (2B)    | 4  | 0 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Smith (DH)      | 4  | 0 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Garland (LF)    | 4  | 1 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Flowers (3B)    | 4  | 1 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 0  | 0.250   |
| Blythe (SS)     | 4  | 0 | 0 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.000   |
+-----------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+

+----------+-----+---+---+----+----+----+
| Player   | IP  | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
+----------+-----+---+---+----+----+----+
| Sangster | 8.1 | 7 | 2 | 2  | 0  | 7  |
| Wendell  | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0  | 0  | 1  |
+----------+-----+---+---+----+----+----+

OOC: All stats have been partly AI-Generated (Prompt is to generate stats based on the final box score).

+--------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+
| Player       | AB | R | H | RBI | HR | BB | SO | Average |
+--------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+
| Tobias (RF)  | 5  | 2 | 2 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.400   |
| Bennet (1B)  | 5  | 1 | 2 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.400   |
| Alan (CF)    | 5  | 1 | 2 | 2   | 1  | 0  | 1  | 0.400   |
| Wallis (C)   | 4  | 1 | 2 | 2   | 0  | 1  | 1  | 0.500   |
| Egger (2B)   | 5  | 1 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.200   |
| Smith (DH)   | 4  | 0 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 1  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Walther (LF) | 4  | 1 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Willard (3B) | 4  | 1 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Rice (SS)    | 4  | 1 | 0 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 2  | 0.000   |
+--------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+

+--------+----+---+---+----+----+----+
| Player | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
+--------+----+---+---+----+----+----+
| Unkle  | 9  | 7 | 3 | 3  | 0  | 8  |
+--------+----+---+---+----+----+----+

OOC: All stats have been partly AI-Generated (Prompt is to generate stats based on the final box score).

+-----------------+-----+----+----+-----+----+----+----+---------+
| Player          | AB  | R  | H  | RBI | HR | BB | SO | Average |
+-----------------+-----+----+----+-----+----+----+----+---------+
| Bennet (1B)     | 92  | 21 | 35 | 7   | 1  | 1  | 15 | 0.380   |
| Anthonyson (RF) | 95  | 24 | 34 | 7   | 0  | 7  | 18 | 0.358   |
| Nye (CF)        | 93  | 17 | 33 | 33  | 4  | 5  | 16 | 0.355   |
| Tobias (RF)     | 48  | 11 | 17 | 5   | 0  | 2  | 10 | 0.354   |
| Alan (CF)       | 50  | 5  | 15 | 14  | 3  | 0  | 10 | 0.300   |
| Neely (1B)      | 49  | 9  | 14 | 5   | 0  | 4  | 9  | 0.286   |
| Lyall (C)       | 95  | 9  | 26 | 24  | 1  | 3  | 27 | 0.274   |
| Wallis (C)      | 45  | 6  | 12 | 9   | 0  | 4  | 13 | 0.267   |
| Garland (LF)    | 42  | 9  | 11 | 6   | 0  | 1  | 11 | 0.262   |
| Smith (DH)      | 103 | 10 | 24 | 13  | 1  | 4  | 30 | 0.233   |
| Egger (2B)      | 89  | 8  | 20 | 10  | 0  | 2  | 28 | 0.225   |
| Walther (LF)    | 83  | 16 | 18 | 12  | 2  | 5  | 20 | 0.217   |
| Gartner (2B)    | 48  | 2  | 9  | 6   | 1  | 1  | 15 | 0.188   |
| Flowers (3B)    | 41  | 5  | 7  | 4   | 0  | 3  | 9  | 0.171   |
| Willard (3B)    | 81  | 8  | 13 | 8   | 0  | 4  | 16 | 0.160   |
| Werner (P)      | 7   | 1  | 1  | 1   | 0  | 0  | 2  | 0.143   |
| Blythe (SS)     | 40  | 4  | 3  | 2   | 0  | 1  | 17 | 0.075   |
| Rice (SS)       | 81  | 8  | 5  | 4   | 0  | 3  | 30 | 0.062   |
| Sangster (P)    | 7   | 0  | 0  | 0   | 0  | 0  | 2  | 0.000   |
| Unkle (P)       | 5   | 1  | 0  | 0   | 0  | 0  | 3  | 0.000   |
| Kurzmann (P)    | 4   | 1  | 0  | 0   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.000   |
+-----------------+-----+----+----+-----+----+----+----+---------+

+----------+------+----+----+----+----+----+
| Player   | IP   | H  | R  | ER | BB | SO |
+----------+------+----+----+----+----+----+
| Sangster | 51.2 | 45 | 19 | 19 | 6  | 48 |
| Werner   | 50.1 | 43 | 20 | 20 | 6  | 43 |
| Unkle    | 46.2 | 44 | 22 | 22 | 5  | 40 |
| Kurzmann | 41.2 | 42 | 19 | 19 | 5  | 36 |
| McLain   | 39.2 | 39 | 23 | 23 | 6  | 36 |
| Courtney | 17   | 11 | 3  | 3  | 1  | 15 |
| Holmwood | 16   | 14 | 7  | 7  | 2  | 13 |
| Glazier  | 14.1 | 9  | 1  | 1  | 0  | 13 |
| Beringer | 12.1 | 11 | 7  | 7  | 2  | 12 |
| Wendell  | 10.2 | 7  | 3  | 3  | 0  | 11 |
+----------+------+----+----+----+----+----+

OOC: All stats have been partly AI-Generated (Prompt is to generate stats based on the final box score).

Before the Katzeburgian Revolution, Katzeburg had a long and often unproud tradition of Kaisers. A figurehead at the top of the proverbial food chain (or literally, in the case of Kaiser Douglas the Rather Big-Boned), the Katzeburgian Kaiser would rule over the many states of the nation of Katzeburg - sometimes with an iron fist, sometimes in a kind and gentle manner, and more often than not, rather incompetently.

For the last decade, boffins at the University of Waldstein history department have been diving into the history of feudal Katzeburg, aiming to stretch the royal line back as far as they possibly can. During their research, they have uncovered numerous tales of rulers who were history making for better or for worse. These are their stories.

Kaiser Christian the Screams-at-Birds - BK110 - BK87

In the final 150 years leading up to the Revolution, it was clear that the role of the modern monarchy had changed significantly from what it had been 300, 500, or 1000 years earlier. No longer the final say in a society which had been slowly but surely fracturing as Lords across Katzeburg continued to tear themselves and their ruling lands apart. More and more ridiculous rules were enacted by those who thought they knew better than the many people under them, leading to anyone travelling between differing lands needed to have an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the laws and customs of each individual land. This was as a result of the Kaiser often taking a step back from day-to-day management of the country in the final centuries of rule - following the death of Kaiser Adam the Strict in BK271, many succeeding rulers opted to be a lot more lax in the running of the law, slowly sliding the country back into where they had been centuries prior.

While the core tenants of succession and rule still were fiercely protected, by the time Kaiser Christian took the throne in BK110, many Lords simply went about their business with reckless abandon, doing what they want and irritating almost everyone under their thumb. But like most changes brought about in Katzeburgian history, it would all change with a simple death. Lord Arnold Scheisspants, one of the largest land owners in North Katzeburg, would be the death which would ultimately kick off the gradual decline and collapse of the system upon which more than 1000 years of Katzeburg was built. In his history of Katzestadt pub The Nervous Kitten, Leon Fletcher recounted the tale of the evening of Lord Schiesspants' death and alleged murder at the pub, but the impact this death would have on the gradual decline of the royal line and the rule of Kaiser Christian itself was rather untold in the immediate aftermath of the death.

Lord Schiesspants had no living heir, meaning the traditional route of succession - to pass the land onto the eldest living son, then eldest living bastard, and finally, eldest living relative - was pointless and in one swift motion, most of North Katzeburg had now become open season for anyone daring enough to take a shot. While the early years of Christian's rule had been relatively peaceful, spending much of his time indulging in his hobby of standing in the courtyard of Katzestadt Castle and screaming at nearby pigeons and robins which would populate the trees to get off his property, the death of Lord Schiesspants threw things into the fire. Lord Leo Walder, the ruler of Waldstein, was the first to make a real move for the land, marching his forces north of Mount Mercer and towards Inverhaven in an attempt to swallow up the land between Waldstein and Wolfenholm. His attempt would be met by Lord Louis Borthmost of Axmund, who quickly engaged his troops to move west and claim the plains on which Refeld was based, leading to the two forces quickly meeting on the battlefield.

While all this was occurring of course, many other lords had seen the news about the dubious circumstances of Lord Schiesspants' death and descended on Katzestadt to petition the Kaiser in person with a distinct worry that if the general population could do something like kill a prat like Schiesspants, they could do the same to them - general lords who were also a bit dickish. Threats of a potential uprising finally snapped Christian into action, working to calm the lords by suggesting diplomatically that the best route forward may be bringing a bit of law into the country. At this time a general constitution had yet to be developed for Katzeburg laying out basic things like individual rights or general laws by which the Kaiser could rule, and Christian saw this as a token gesture which could alleviate a number of concerns the growing rebellion against the throne could have.

He therefore opted to commission the creation of the first ever Katzeburgian Constitution. A short three page document, the first constitution has been widely regarded as not even worth the paper it was hastily written on - instead being a document which for the most part aimed to quell the worries of the Lords who had been pushing for some sort of legal protection from the general public. With rules such as ‘thou of the working masses shall not kill lords, unless they absolutely, definitely, deserve it’, and 'thou of the working masses shall only engage in conversation with lords about how good those lords are indeed are', the constitution failed to enshrine many rights at all, and testing the legal strength of these laws would be seemingly done on the basis of vibes alone.

Rather hilariously, the constitution would be tested right off the bat, with Lord Quackenburg of Harmouth would be found dead the next day. Being one of the few lords who didn't make the trip over to Katzestadt to petition the Kaiser, many thought that his death was retribution to those who had made the trip over and demanded a constitution put in place, while one of the nations few lawyers at the time, John Chandler from Chandler Umbridge Norton & Triggs filed a suit against the crown over the validity of the constitution itself, arguing that the document 'failed to be legally binding and was in fact nothing more than a public relations exercise orchestrated by the crown and written in old-timey language to give off the impression it was historically valid.'

At the time, the nation's highest court in the legal system - itself something which often felt like it was held up by tape and quickly dissolving concrete - was the Katzestadt Court of Jesters, and the suit from Chandler would be heard over three days in BK103 in a landmark case for the nation's legal system. Ultimately, the court would find in favour of Chandler in his challenge of the constitution, ruling the majority of it as 'practically useless' and declaring it 'a joke' on which there was no valid legal basis to implement many of these rules - if the crown wanted to do so, it would need to designate a proper legal process in which to do so. The ruling stoked the flames of a quickly building fire following the death of Schiesspants and Quackenburg, with many lords now reaching fever pitch that the populace was going to turn against them. However, this would rather narrowly be averted when the investigating police ruled Quackenburg's death accidental, stemming from a tough bout of tripping and falling out of a third story window.

With the ruling pinning no blame on anyone or any specific class, Kaiser Christian moved quickly to proclaim that the nation's lords were willing to listen to the population and work towards a better future. But while these empty words were in fact, empty - the movement behind the scenes which would lead to the end of Katzeburgian royalty were already in motion. A group of workers from Refeld bandied together in the aftermath of Schiesspants death to form the Formal Union for the Challenging of Katzeburgian Royalty (FUCKR) - campaigning for a democratic system and the dismantling of the ruling class once and for all. This group would over the coming decades grow in size and influence, eventually leading to the final push which would spark the Revolution some 100 years later.

But for Kaiser Christian, the entire affair would somewhat overshadow his reign, as following the creation of the constitution and its almost immediate legal dismantling, he would retreat back into the grounds of Katzestadt Castle to spend the rest of his days shouting at the birds once more, something which drew considerable ire from both the working class and lords alike. Once again, the Kaiser had descended down from on high only to cause additional chaos and not really make anything better - but whereas in previous centuries this would have been chalked up to a rather ineffective ruler, this time Lords were starting to see the importance of the Kaiser as one which was actively blocking progress, and with challenging groups like FUCKR working to get rid of the royalty, the final century of Katzeburg prior to the Revolution opened with the view that the days of a ruler were finally numbered.

Kaiser Christian would eventually pass of old age in BK87 at the age of 72, having ruled for 23 years. He would be replaced by his son, Kaiser Robert the Logger, who would only continue the trajectory of disastrous Katzeburgian rulers as the throne hurtled towards total collapse for the final time.

[United States of Nova Calania]

Zwangzug sweeps the series

Spenson, Zwangzug - Series 11 was played at the Worm Hole in Zwangzug, a mythic baseball stadium where every national team players wants to play at least once in their life! Starting game 31 for Nova Calania was Vladimir Bonilla Gonzalez Jr.and I believe Kenji Ikebana was the starting pitcher for Zebra's game 31. Esperanza Juarez Galarraga hitted a triple to start the match. Batting next was Katherine Zebrowski who struck out. Léo-Paul Couillard follows with a single in center right field, Juarez Galarraga scores and Nova Calania took a 1-0 lead. Marianne Gailloux was batting 1st in the top 2nd inning and she hits a single. François-Xavier Couillard walks. Angel Espinoza Bolivar hits an optionnal. Gailloux is out trying to reach 3rd base and Couillard is safe at 2nd base. Vladimir Bonilla Gonzalez Jr.is out on an infield fly, both runners stays put. With two outs, Esperanza Juarez Galarraga hits a double, Couillard scores and Espinoza Bolivar reaches 3rd base. Katherine Zebrowski hits a single in left field, Espinoza Bolivar scores, Juarez Galarraga runs past the 3rd base and tries to reach the plate but she doesn't beat the throw and she's out. 3-0 after top 2nd inning. Jesus Rodriguez Castro hits a solo homerun in top 3rd inning to put the score at 4-0 Nova Calania. Then, the Tapirs collapsed and lost the match 8-4.

Games 32 and 33 wasn't better, Nova Calania lost both games by the same score: 4-1. And Zwangzug swept the series. Nova Calania are in mid table with 15 wins and 18 losses in 33 games. The 12th and final series will be at home against Liventia who are actually 3rd in the standings. Juan Diego Salazar Valenzuela, Vladimir Bonilla Gonzalez Jr. - and Leighton McCloskey will be the starting pitchers for the Tapirs.

Océane Desruisseaux

[Zenic]

"This is it. The moment of truth. The moment to see if you are as good as you believe you are."

It was roughly 3 hours before the first game of the final series of the 61st World Baseball Classic group stage. The Diamond Survivors of Zenic were playing host to the Dragonflies of Ko-oren with opportunities to make the playoffs in West Pavola on the line. Zenic had managed to upset Ranoria and take the final game against them 6-2 in order to keep their hopes alive. Meanwhile, Ko-oren took one game from Kamijiro to do the same. Unfortunately, for Zenic at least, Ko-oren's run totals and Pythagorean Ratios helped elevate them into the final playoff spot at 24th while Zenic looked on from 26 with the same record.

"You know the situation, I know the situation, the fans knows the situation, Ko-oren know the situation." Manager Alamilla slowly paced back and forth in front of the team as they were gathered in the home locker room. "Get the sweep? We're guaranteed a trip up North. Win the series? We're most likely in and it would take the wildest of results in other games to keep us out. Win only one? We'd have to rely on the generosity and talent of others to get the right results to put us through. Get swept? Suffer embarrassment as the team that started and ended the group stage with getting swept."

"Which would you prefer?" He looked around the room as murmurs spread throughout. Wenceslao shot straight up and answered, "I want to win them all, coach." Mladenka Franić stood up as well. "Me too. I have no ill will with Ko-oren but if it's between us and them, I'm choosing us all the time." Matis Marius Évrard joined them. "It's win or go home. I guess it's time to win." Everyone slowly began to stand up and join in on the moment, hyping up everyone even more. "Exactly. You can't win if you don't think like winners even in the face of adversity. We've had our struggles this tournament but this is the moment we've been building up to. The moment where you go from just playing ball to true BALL PLAYERS! I know you can do. I chose you all because you could do it together. It's time to show them," Alamilla said, pointing to the door, "all of them out there, that you can do it."

"YEAH!," the players yelled in unison as they headed out to the field for their final practice before the first game of this do-or-die series. Alamilla stood there for a bit before looking around at the staff that had remained in the locker room with him. All of them also were looking around at each other before this vital series. They were all thinking the same thing: while their national team careers may not be officially on the line, their pride was. They all knew that even with 2 wins, there was a non-zero possibility of Zenic missing the playoffs if circumstances go against them. The only true guarantee was a sweep against the 9th best team in the Baseball world. Possible? Yes. Probable? No. But they had no other choice but to try with all their might and if this is how they did it, by trying to withhold even a tiny bit of the truth to get every player playing with 100% effort, then that's what needed to be done.

They all nodded at each other before heading out to join their players. If they were going to survive this series, everyone would need to be on at the top of their game.

[Paradystopia]

There was a certain swagger to the Paradystopi squad as they came to the field for their second match against current number 1 ranked team; South Newlandia.

The typist paused, and re-read their opening sentence. The words conveyed a team filled with assuredness, and likely thick overtones of cocksure arrogance. Granted, Paradystopia had claimed a monumental victory in scraping a lucky 3-2 victory at home to South Newlandia, but to say they 'swaggered' onto the field didn't truly represent the home team's emergence on to the goose-ridden grass of The Nub.

There was a certain swagger stagger to the Paradystopi squad as they came to the field for their second match against current number 1 ranked team; South Newlandia.

Much better.

The Paradystopi had obviously celebrated their initial victory to truly bacchanalian levels, though in fairness you could question whether something could truly be called 'bacchanalian' if Bacchus himself would've likely had trouble keeping up with the unrelenting chaos of the Paradystopi baseball team unleashed upon Gooston the previous evening. The revelry continued through the night and probably would've still continued throughout this day, were it not for the small matter of another baseball match.

From the opening pitch, the Elephants looked to avenge themselves for the previous day's hiccough, and wasted no time getting players on the bases. Meanwhile, the Paradystopi did little to attempt to gain initiative ...

This was worded very favourably for Paradystopia. 'Error-strewn' would've been a more apt descriptor of the initial innings of the game. What should've been a simple out from a flyball saw Quinn Bartholomew take a rapidly descended ball to the forehead resulting in a early switch with Zachary Wallis, Tarquin Buckley-Greaves was scarely a 'catcher'; more a 'dropper', and Horatio Blackewood on more than one occasion tripped over his base when fielding ground balls struck in his direction. Many in the crowd questioned whether Paradystopia had actually beaten anyone given their current display, as the theory of a mass collective hallucination was much more plausible.

Quickly, the South Newlandian squad put a 4-0 lead on the board ...

Maybe it was sportsmanship, or maybe the Elephants felt guilty in piling on the runs against a team for who many members kept asking the umpires for the occasional 'vomit-break' but for whatever reason, South Newlandia were rather restrained in their eventual victory. Having dominated the first innings, they added another run in the second, and then simply protected their lead as the Paradystopi squad fumbled their way through the remaining innings of play.

[Kamijiro]

Diamond IX, Vol. III, Part VII: Sunset Plaza
[OOC: This is only semi-canon but I wanted to write a different kind of episode before the playoffs. This is somewhat based on a recurring lucid dream I've been having.]

Sunset Plaza was once the beacon of economic growth in Miraisaki. A "mall of the future" which featured an indoor water park, four floors of shopping, a fully-fledged apartment complex next door and a food court that rivalled any in the country. It was opened after the Economic Miracle of Kamijiro about forty years ago but fell into hard times once the economy faltered and the internet became more wide-spread. What was once the pinnacle of excess from the decade of excess now sits closed and slowly falling apart in the heart of an area that lost its charm long ago when gentrification ripped down the arts district nearby.

Some claim it's haunted, others claim the muzak still plays in empty corridors. Most don't bother trying to go into the tomb of consumer culture in Miraisaki, a city that pivoted from excess to dearth to vice in the span of just over three decades, nowhere near enough time to adjust. But most people aren't Maou Ashiya. During the day, he's a bartender and known associate of the Night Roses. But by night? He likes to take pictures. More specifically, pictures of urban decay. Before he turned to the life of crime, he was actually an aspiring artist. Coincidentally, that was how he met Atsuji - Maou was cutting class to take photos of an apartment building that had fallen into disrepair, the very same apartment building that Atsuji had been running contraband out of. Atsuji, of course, was immediately suspicious of Maou. What was a sixteen-year-old kid doing taking photos of an apartment building that had been considered nearly uninhabitable by its own residents?

Luckily, Maou was able to talk his way out of that situation and then was given the grand tour of what was at the time known as West Meadows Housing Complex. The elevators? Skip-stop disasters that stop every other floor... if they even work at all. You live on an even numbered floor? You're shit out of luck, take the stairs. The stairwells reeked of urine, the walls were coated in graffiti that essentially said "abandon all hope." The government had promised subsidized housing during the time of the first Emperor and then promptly cut the funding to it when Parliament realized they wanted to fund other things. Mold ran rampant in the hallways, about half the rooms were abandoned or condemned for one reason or another... and the worst of it all? The residents that were left were mostly families that had too many mouths to feed and couldn't afford to leave even if they wanted to.

Maou's photography that day ended up winning a prize for photographic journalism. It should've springboarded him into a career photographing the rapid decay of the urban society of inner Miraisaki, but instead he was left to fend for himself when his high school expelled him for truancy. His parents disowned him for being a high school dropout. And then he was homeless. With nowhere left to turn, he went back to West Meadows and found Atsuji again. Atsuji took him under his wing and turned his eye for artistic detail into an eye for espionage, then his honed speed from escaping the police (from years of avoiding trespassing charges) into speed that... well, it didn't change much. Still escaping the police, but now being caught meant a felony instead of a little slap on the wrist.

Either way, tonight was his big night. Sunset Plaza. The camera he'd bought with his most recent paycheck from the Red Wolf in hand, the husk of a dead mall in front of him and the buzz of neon surrounding him as he takes in the daunting task that is even getting into the damn place. The chain-link fence around it is easy enough. Just up and over. But the doors on the first floor are all locked. And all the doors that connect to the parking garage on all four floors are locked too, armed with security in case of a break-in. Theoretically, this is still private property, even if nature is slowly reclaiming it. But Maou hadn't come all this way for nothing. No, he was getting in there.

After a while of casing the place out, he found his opening. A second story window in the back of the mall near the manager's section of one of the old anchor stores was left slightly ajar. With a little bit of scaling (and a nearly dropped thousand-Jiro camera), he squeezed inside. And... the first thing that hits him is the stench of mildew. The window had been left open for... probably years? Rain had seeped in over time and made the carpet in this particular office reek of the stuff. No matter. The first photo is taken - a long-outdated computer still sitting on its desk, waiting for its old user to return. The power had been disconnected years ago, but here it sits. The emergency lights are still on in the main office area even years later and there's still a few personal belongings scattered about. A handbag on a desk. A family photo pinned to a cubicle wall. All of this stuff is prime urbex photography material. The shutter goes off over and over as Maou finds his element once more - the kid with the camera and the dreams of showing the world the underside of rapid expansion followed by rapid decay.

Maou finally finds the exit from the office to the anchor store's second floor. The styles of yesteryear are what jump out at him - the tie-dye shirts that had ruled their day back in Miraisaki's heyday as the center of economic growth are still on the racks, even if the racks are overturned and askew. He lines up photo after photo of what used to be the premier mall of Kamijiro in disarray, much like the city it called home. Eventually, he found himself smack dab in the middle of the mall where the skylight used to shine down on the fountain installation that looked like a waterfall from heaven itself when the light hit it right. The fountain's empty now. The water evaporated ages ago. But as he turns to head down the long straightaway towards the food court, something catches his ear. Not footsteps, not the tell-tale keys jingling that would scream "security guard."

Music. Smooth, slow jazz. Coming from the end of the straightaway at the food court.

Maou's nickname is the Devil King. He's tough. He's seen enough shit to know how to handle most situations. But not this. The rumors that the mall had slowly taken on a life of its own had swirled for years. People reporting people walking in and vanishing, music playing at odd hours, the lights occasionally coming on. Typical urban legends... stuff that is supposed to be a scary story for a campfire at worst. Now that he's here and the music is playing? Well, shit. He backs away slowly at first. Then the lights start coming on from that same direction and the music gets a little louder. Instantly, he pivots and hauls ass back the way he came. The camera catches a few photos as he inadvertantly presses the photo button as he runs. The camera catches none of what he's seeing. No lights, nothing. Just a dead mall. He tears back through the anchor store and into the office, then jumps out of the window, not bothering to close it behind him as he escapes into the Miraisaki night.

He looks up at where he had jumped from - a solid ten to twelve feet up. The window slides shut. Sunset Plaza never truly rests.

[Dhemixia]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Columbus Dominion(Est.1873)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What just happened

Schedule:

Series 1: @ Ranoria L 1-2
Series 2: vs. Chromatika L 1-2
Series 3: vs. Ko-oren L 0-3
Series 4: @ Hapilopper W 2-1
Series 5: vs. Riandera L 1-2
Series 6: @ Terefuxe L 1-2
Series 7: vs. Natkr W 2-1
Series 8: @ Kamijiro L 1-2
Series 9: @ Andso Mangis W 2-1
Series 10: vs. South Newlandia L 1-2
Series 11: @ Banija W 2-1
Series 12: vs. Loyo

We are witnessing absolutely obscene levels of narrativeball from Margaret this tournament. For some unknown reason, whenever something seemingly makes no sense as to how it happened, Margaret feels the need to make another thing happen for even less sense. First, it was the Jack Guzman grand slam in game one of the Hapilopper series to set the tone for the Serpents' first series win of the tournament, then it was the story of Alexandra Graham being an innings eater as a closer against Riandera and Terefuxe and then somehow recording an immaculate inning and an expelliarmus against Natkr in game one, then it was somehow regressing to the mean against Andso Mangis and South Newlandia with all the momentum on their side, and now this? By all means, the Dhemixians were DOA entering the final three series of the group stage, seeing as how they would find themselves against the reigning runner-up and the reigning champion back to back, all while trying to hold on to the final spot above the cut line. That's just unsustainable, and everyone knew it. They purely just did not expect to win a game the entirety of both series and accepted their fate of crashing out right at the finish line. Sure enough, they lose the series against South Newlandia and miraculously don't get swept, before losing game one against Banija.

If you're going to lose a game one, you absolutely DO NOT want to lose it against the reigning champions. Similarly, if you're on the outside looking in with the only thing left to cling to being your Pythagorean ratio, you CANNOT afford to lose a game one with 6 to go. The Serpents fall under both of these categories and at this point are probably doomed to experience the same fate as every other Dhemixian NT since the beginning of time. The nation as a whole just cannot seem to escape group stages for the life of them, and when they do, they are almost as bad as Drawkland at winning games that matter. Seriously, the entire nation across all sports has just ONE knockout win. It didn't even come in a major either! It took college kids four appearances and an alcoholic but still very chill QB to finally do it. The soccer team's 0/4, the Serpents couldn't get it done against Milchama in WBC 59 even with tiebreaker spaghetti, and don't ask about college basketball because that doesn't exist. Now, contrast this idea with the Dhemixians being on the ropes against Banija for their qualification lives, all while they mald about Pythagorean ratio without even knowing if that guy's even real, and still not being able to win games. Pretty unlikely for them to succeed, right?

Well, apparently Margaret's a sucker for a good deus ex machina now and again, and hands a lifeline to the Serpents mid-series against the defending champs. Suddenly, after getting beyond smoked in game one, the Dhemixians ride a Cael Robertson masterclass of a CG to a win in game two, and seem to actually be making a run for once. Then, the predictable happens, Hayden Young gets shelled and chased in the sixth, and the Dhemixian bullpen has to mop up the loss that's all but guaranteed for Young. Until it isn't. The only other time in recent memory (at least for the Dhemixians) that a team has dropped a nine-spot in the final two innings of a game happened to be a certain game five from the WBC41 round of sixteen involving Drawkland and Scootalove City. I'll spare you the details because I've already clip farmed Drawkian haters enough this tournament, but the Serpents would manage to add a second memory to that list. Down by three, in the top of the eighth, against the #4 in the multiverse Banijan side, they drop a backbreaking 9-spot. For context, 9 runs is more than the Dhemixians scored in the entire Milchama series back in WBC 59, two more in one inning than the Serpents of yesteryear could muster in 36 innings. If that's not an act of Margaret, I don't know what is, and I think it's a sign to stop malding about a mismatch in Pythagorean vs. actual record. No clue if Pythagoras is even a real guy, but just know, if the Dhemixians find a way into the knockouts after the Loyo series, it's because of him.

[Chromatika]

Natkr @ Chromatika	
Natkr	 	0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2  2
Chromatika	0 0 0 0 0 2 2 1 X  5
	
Natkr	 	0 0 0 1 0 4 0 1 0  6
Chromatika	0 0 0 1 1 0 4 1 X  7
	
Natkr	 	1 1 0 0 0 1 0 5 0  8
Chromatika	0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0  4

Up until the eighth inning of the final game against Natkr, it looked like the Outliers would finally have their first sweep. The win would put them at 16-18 heading into the League Phase finale against Milchama, and place them in a good spot for the playoffs.

Then, a seven-hit eighth inning blown by the bullpen happened, and Chromatika ended up losing the series finale. They fall to 15-18, only a game ahead of those that are from 22nd to 26th. What this means is that they'll need to win at least one game against one of the best teams in the multiverse, and perhaps even two to clinch their first playoffs berth in their return to international baseball.

"We blew a huge chance there," lamented Mayamoto, "Sixteen wins would see us all the way up to fifteenth in the standings, but we dropped the ball. The road ahead of us won't be easy, but there is no way pass except through."

The Outliers are conceding five runs a game while scoring just over four - a very small margin. They will need to absolutely lock in if they are to take down Milchama, but there is hope given that they took two of three against another top team, Quebec and Shingoryeo, during this League Phase.

Chromatik fans will be lamenting the fact that they went 4-8 against unranked sides. The Outliers have actually achieved a 11-10 record against ranked teams.

Will Chromatika's return to international baseball end here, or will they shock the world by making the Round of Twenty-Four?

At least they've made a good go at it. Is it enough to sway the Chromatik Sporting Council if they don't qualify for the playoffs?

Would be best to just not leave it to chance. They couldn't do it the easy way, so they'll try to do it the hard way.

[TJUN-ia]

Tikariot 2-1 TJUN-ia
Tikariot 4-5 TJUN-ia
Tikariot 13-4 TJUN-ia

Yeah. Our final series at home this WBC, the swansong for The Diamond in The Gardens of New Washington, did not go well at all.
We knew that #10 Tikariot would provide a stern test for everyone on our side, but this series shot down our hopes of Top 8 in a blaze of glory.
- Missy Jembembe took on Sebastian Forsberg in Game 1 and for a while, we led 1-0 thanks to Julian Mertz, but the dagger would come in the Freja Nyström in the 7th, securing a 2-1 win for the visitors.
- Yolande Sirapui vs Gabriella Reyes in Game 2 started off with a 3-run bomb from Marcus Lindström, but we would fight back with 5 runs across the opening 5 innings. That would end up sealing this game 5-4, setting up a decider for our final home game of the League Stage.
- JoJo McAlbo vs Noah Eriksson started 2-1 to us...and then the Owls scored 6 in the 2nd and the game, and the series, ran away from us from there. 13-4 it would finish, and that would be that.

One more series left, in Valentine Z against a fellow Top 24 side, before we head to West Pavola for Playoff Baseball.
BRING IT ON!
GO BATTIN' JAGS!

---

SCHEDULE
S1: vs South Newlandia (1) - Rounders Field, Portside L 0-3 (35th)
S2: @Kamijiro (11) L 1-2 (34th)
S3: @United States of Nova Calania (18) - Tiger-Dolphin Stadium, Burnham-on-Stove W 3-0 (22nd)
S4: vs Riandera (UR) - Rounders Field, Portside W 3-0 (14th)
S5: vs Chromatika (UR) - Rounders Field, Portside L 1-2 (14th)
S6: @Zwangzug (6) - Worm Hole, Spenson W 2-1 (12th)
S7: @Kwrpania (UR) L 1-2 (16th)
S8: vs Loyo (22) - The Diamond in The Gardens, New Washington W 2-1 (14th)
S9: @Visayas Islands (35) W 2-1 (14th)
S10: vs Natkr (30) - The Diamond in The Gardens, New Washington W 2-1 (13th)
S11: vs Tikariot (10) - The Diamond in The Gardens, New Washington L 1-2 (14th)
S12: @Valentine Z (UR) - Genesis Stadium, Shinjuku

[Banija]

Banijans arrive in the Kytler Peninsulae on a downswing- getting cold at the wrong time?

ZUBE, KYTLER PENINSULAE- 9 games ago, the Banijans were high-flyign at a pace that they had never before seen. Winning 19 in a row, and 23 of your first 24, will do that to you in a competition like this- all smiles when you're 23-1. But since then, we've been hard hit with a dose of reality. We're just 2-7 since then, getting swept in Drawkland, and then having both Drawkland and Dhemexia take 2 games out of 3 against us. We're still a top team, but we're a top team on a major downswing- and while finishing in the top 4 is likely(and the top 8 is all but guaranteed), we're not playing as we wish we were at this moment. With our final league stage series taking place in the host nation, against the host nation, we'll be here before everybody else- and maybe that'll be important. Some time to find ourselves.

"The sky isn't falling." Our manager, Kingston Jassey, told reporters before the first game of this three game set. "Obviously, these have not been our best 9 games- but what matters is that we're both in the playoffs, and we're about to clinch a first round bye. Give us some time to take a few days, relax here in the Peninsulae, and get ready for the postseason. But first things first- a series against the hosts will give us the exact type of high intensity series needed to adequately and properly prepare for the postseason. They want to put on a good show for the home fans, so they come out in great numbers next round- so it is our responsibility, as a team, to ensure that we can get going early, and often."

Sadiiq Xoosh told reporters that while the team has been sliding, it is not time for them to panic. "This is an experienced, veteran team- we've seen it all in our careers, between the LPB and the Classic." He told reporters. "Baseball's a sport where you're going to go on runs, and where you are going to have slides. What's nice is, form doesn't really matter once you're in the playoffs- there's basically a mental reset when you are in the postseason. Of course, there are things we want to fix against the Kytlerians. When things go wrong, they can't go chaotically- that 8th inning from hell in our final game against Dhemexia was a terrible way to end the home slate in Banija. We've got to learn to be able to take a punch- because in the WBC, people will land haymakers. It's not about avoiding them- it's about getting up once they've landed."

Banija got hit with a haymaker from hell by Dhemexia in their final home game of the Classic. Up 4-1 in the 8th, trying to get a nice sendoff in Mukeruzi, he left Mulowa Kantu, his starting pitcher, on the mound for one inning too long. It was a nightmare. The entire batting order scored for Dhemexia. Banija used 5 different pitchers in the inning. We couldn't throw a strike to save our lives, we couldn't get anybody out. And the home crowd, that wanted to see us off, ended up leaving the stadium in stunned silence. "It should've been a sendoff party, our goodbye as we reach the Kytler Peninsulae- but instead, leaving felt like a damn funeral." Said Banijan 1B Gouta Rehana. "It's a sick taste I've got in my mouth- that loss bothers me more than any other. Blowing leads is always tough, but that spectacularly? It just pisses me off. This series is a turning point- we need to turn it around the Kytlerians, show this tournament that we're still Banija."

The show, of course, must go on. Can they get a boost into the KO stages by earning a series victory over the host nation? We'll find out, very, very soon.

[Liventia]

Is Liventian baseball back… or was it ever here in the first place?
OREAN— Don't refresh the page, yes, you are reading that correctly. Liventia's best, the Red-and-Gold, sit third in the World Baseball Classic standings with a 25–8 record and a guaranteed bye to the last 16 with just one series remaining.

Which has led some diehards, and at least one Drawkian commentator, to ask: "Is Liventian baseball back?" But perhaps the question is "Was Liventian baseball ever here in the first place?"

Baseball is deeply popular in Liventia and has long roots in the country. And yet, despite that, Liventia has not cracked the top three at the World Baseball Classic in modern history. That feels odd, given how intrinsically linked Liventia feels with the World Baseball Classic.

Perhaps a lot of that feeling comes from the country hosting the sixth World Baseball Classic. Or maybe that comes from the history of the country competing in nearly every WBC until the nation's first international isolation.

Time for a quick pop quiz. How many nations competing in WBC 61 competed in the inaugural Classic? The answer is three and Liventia — alongside fellow stalwarts Zwangzug and Milchama — is one of them.

And yet, for all that length, for all that history, Liventian baseball has never quite been "here" enough to be "back" this time. There hasn't been a single semi-final appearance on the books in all that time, with the last eight the furthest Liventia has made it. (Another 'fun' fact: during WBC6 hosted by Liventia, rugby sevens-style "Plate" and "Bowl" tournaments were held for teams eliminated before the semi-finals. Liventia finished runner up in the Plate tournament, officially [and aptly] placing sixth.)

So, any bystanders watching this remarkable Red-and-Gold streak out to a record that is challenging for the top seed in the last 16 would be more than forgiven for wondering just where on earth this has come from.

Much has been made of Baseball Association of Liventia's change to its selection rules. But realistically, that made little to no difference to how this team was picked this year. One only needs to look at how the 'B' team is doing at the Olympics, where the Red-and-Gold have struggled to a 2–2 group-stage record which barely sees them through to the next round, to wonder if, really, Liventian baseball is "back" at all — or if this is simply, yes, just a hot streak.

Baseball is, by nature, a game of streaks. The Red-and-Gold are no stranger to streaks. They've just never had one last deep enough into a tournament to count.

This year might be a good time to start. Maybe then we'll be asking, "Is Liventian baseball actually here to stay?"

[Zwangzug]

The Kerlagrad Courier

Sports fans in Spenson and the wider reason were momentarily startled to discover that their local baseball stadium is, by international standards, a venerable pilgrimage site. Writing in Le Courrier de Saint-Jean-Jacques-Sur-Mer, Océane Desruisseaux described the Worm Hole as "a mythic baseball stadium where every national team players wants to play at least once in their life!"

"There are myths about this place?" said the incredulous Tiffany Donohue. "Like, do people have it confused with the kind of wormhole that could hypothetically take you to interstellar space?"

Gilbert Daley-Berd was similarly dubious. "I mean, the Zebras participate in a lot of tournaments, so lots of countries do in fact get the opportunity to play here. Surely there would be more room for legends and FOMO about the home stadiums of some flash-in-the-pan nations."

Meanwhile, the press in Orean has pointed out that Zwangzug, along with Milchama and Liventia, participated in the inaugural WBC as well as this one. "Obviously, places like Milchama and Liventia are allowed to be famous and admired, because they predate us," said Vanessa Lowe-Schubert. "But our country will never be old enough for other fans to hold our stadiums in high esteem. I'm pretty sure that's how that works."

Joshua Erasmus, the only Worms player on this iteration of the Zebras, was somewhat more proud of his home field. "I grew up wanting to be a baseball player, make it to the majors, and maybe even play for the Zebras someday. Lots of people do that--I'm lucky that I'm the one it actually happened to! It doesn't surprise me that fans around the world who've seen earlier generations of our team might hope to play in the WBC someday, too." When asked if he could name another park with such an illustrious heritage, Erasmus mulled it over. "The Tundra Falls Proving Grounds? I think? Although I heard someone describe it as trying to play baseball at a car racing site which seems like a really stupid idea."

The Zebras are done with the Worm Hole for this WBC; they finish off the pool stage with a three-game set against Kamijiro, and will then travel to The Kytler Peninsulae or Tikariot for the playoffs. "I'm sure they have some famous stadiums there, too, but I don't know of any," admitted Niels Bergheimer. "That's not because their histories are too short, it's just that I don't really pay attention to anywhere that isn't here."

[Tikariot]

Live on TSTV

[Opening Studio Segment]
Camera pans across the TSTV Sports Desk studio. Theme music fades out. On screen sit anchors Caitlyn McNamara and Cameron Sandley, both smiling, with the WBC61 logo glowing in the background.

Caitlyn: “Hello Tikariot! It is crunch time!”
Cameron: “Indeed it is. We are one series away from the end of the group stage and Tikariot is sitting in ninth position, just outside of a direct ticket to the Round of 16.”
Caitlyn: “However, what makes this series so interesting is the fact that we will be playing Quebec and Shingoryeo, who currently are in seventh, just one game ahead of us.”
Cameron: "So, a 2-1 split series win would almost certainly qualify Tikariot for the Round of 16, saving themselves from the dreaded repechage series. However, Q&S are ranked third in the multiverse, so it will not be as easy as it may seem."
Caitlyn: "Walter is ready in Alcassar, we hope, with coach Jonathan Villiers."

---

[Cut to the Alcassar Sports Complex, Walter indeed is there, together with Villiers.]
Walter (to camera): “Thank you, Caitlyn and Camperroom! The final series of the group stage against Quebec and Shingoryeo-- Wait, why are we playing against two teams?”
Jonathan (groans): "Walter, it's one nation, it just has a long name."
Walter: "Oh, okay, that makes sense. So, how are you going to approach the series?
Jonathan: "It'll be a tough one, they've consistently been of the best teams in the WBC and are not ranked third for no reason. But we'll just bring our game, do what we do best and hope that in the end it'll be enough to eek out that series win."
Walter: "So, what's your secret tactic to win?"
Jonathan: "If I told you, it wouldn't be all that secret anymore, now would it?"
Walter: "Uh, well, yes, but you can still tell me, I promise I won't tell anyone."
Jonathan: "Walter, you see this thing here? It's called a camera. It's broadcasting."
Walter: "I know, but you can just tell me."
Jonathan (rolling his eyes): "Okay, okay, you drive a hard bargain. My secret tactic is to score more runs than Quebec."
Walter: "Oooh, fascinating! Fascinating! Groundbreaking stuff! How do you think you'll achieve that?"
Jonathan: "Well, we have a working theory that it will involve throwing, running and batting."
Walter: "That sounds-- wait a minute, you're pulling my arm here!"
Jonathan: "Leg, Walter, your leg."
Walter: "What? You can't just do that!"
Jonathan (to the camera): "Back to the studio."

---

[Cutaway to Tikariotian baseball fans]
Fan 1: “I'm hoping that we'll beat them. Our ratio is better than three teams ahead of us, we got this!”
Fan 2: “And then immediately crash out in the Round of 16. Tradition, you know?”

Fan 3: "We're gonna get swept by those Quebecers, then get someone else underachieving in the repechage and home we go."
Fan 4: "Hey, we have to build a hype train here! We're going deep this year! Wooo!

---

[Closing Studio Segment]
Cameron: “As you can see, the Tikariotian fanbase is as coherent in their prediction as are Walter's navigational skills.”
Caitlyn: “I'll go out on a limb and say we make the Round of 16 without the repechage.”
Cameron: “And after that?”
Caitlyn: “Maggie only knows...”

[South Newlandia]

Llamaphant Pro Baseball Season 9 - Recaps

LPB STANDINGS -  20 / 160 games played

  SNL NORTH                     SNL CENTRAL                   SNL SOUTH
           W-L     GB  WCGB              W-L     GB  WCGB              W-L     GB  WCGB
  RUDA   14-6     --   --       RÜBS   14-6     --   --       BUTR   11-9     --   --
  JADR   11-9      3   --       NEOW   13-7      1   --       STRS   10-10     1    1
  EVSB    8-12     6    3       NEDO   11-9      3   --       WAST   10-10     1    1
  EVHO    5-15     9    6       SCMO    3-17    11    8       RARH    8-12     3    3

Everything is always a bit of a mess in the early season, but you can definitely already identify some trends. Looking at the North first, the Dachshunds have come out of the gate hot, and currently have the largest division lead in the South Newlandian League, having been very consistent in all areas of the game as the Tanya Ericsson hiring already seems to be bearing fruit, with the team clearly feeling the jolt. The Drawks haven’t quite lived up to their preseason hype yet, while the Homers have started terribly. Unlike some teams, the squad of Nikki Wang just cannot tread water, as everyone outside of Len Pijpenbroek has been in a terrible hitting slump so far, with the Homers ranking second-to-last in Team OPS+. Meanwhile, Snow Bear rookie Tia Shinde started excellently into her big league career, holding opposing hitters to an ERA under 2.5 as the Bears won three of her four starts.

In the Central, the Blue Sox and Owls have, as predicted, taken the lead. The Owls trail for now, but their pitching core has shown out so far, while the Blue Sox will have to see if they continue their pace. That’s because they’ll be without the reigning MVP, Benjamin Ígorsson, likely for the entire season after he suffered a knee injury during a home plate collision early in the season, tearing a massive hole into the Blue Sox roster they’ll struggle to deal with. The Dolphins are currently in playoff position, largely thanks to their pitching carrying to wins so far, with Lisa Salix hitting immediately as a new addition. Also, the Monarchs are really, really bad.

Is Sündstrom season on? Too Soon To Tell. The South is a mess, with all four teams within spitting distance of each other. The Triceratops are still finding themselves, and have also lost South Newlandian Elephant Charles Morgan for a few months, targeting a return around the All-Star break. The Stingrays are staying afloat for now, while the Rhinos have started quite poorly into their championship defense. The Saints are clearly the most interesting team of the bunch so far, but have also been dealing with a ton of injuries. Crucially, their star catcher Will Gutierrez has suffered a season-ending injury, requiring surgery and lengthy rehab. Their backup, Markus Wren, is also out of commission, so the Saints have been scrambling to find a trade partner to return to serviceable catching.
The pitcher of the month is, perhaps surprisingly, TJUN-ian ace Yolande Sirapui, who is 4-0 with an ERA around 2.5. As for the fielder of the month? Don’t overthink it, Julian Breit is pacing the league with 11 home runs.


The RTC Trophy also started off again, the premier South Newlandian in-season cup tournament that people definitely care about. The Saints had little trouble winning in Sophie City, thanks to Wolodymyr King and Howard Ellis pitching strong starts. Ellis allowed three runs in the first, but St. Riecarn had scored that same number in the top of the inning and continued to pile on, while Ellis was nearly flawless from there. Including a multi-homer game from Sündstrom and despite a solid Khris Kirchenbaum start, the Saints advance, 5-1 and 12-3. They’ll host the Newport Owls next.

Ruditown similarly was successful in dispatching a squad that hasn’t looked good this season. Yolande Sirapui added to his hot start with seven shutout innings in game one, as team in yellow cruised to an easy home win. Game two was a closer affair, with Joseph McAlbo and Homers’ Serena Wu locked into a close battle. The Homers had been ahead 4-2 behind a strong Wu and three hits by Pijpenbroek, but the Dachshunds turned the tide in the eighth. Martina Andrade de Souza clubbed a two-run home run to tie it, before Damba Mukalo scored after doubling and being driven in by Angela Bengtsson. TJUN-ian closer Trinity Shelby-Dowora locked down the save as the Dachshunds advance with wins of 6-1 and 5-4, and are now headed to Rüsselsheim.

In the only series requiring a third game, the Dolphins narrowly took down the Snow Bears. That’s despite a game one Snow Bear win with Jorge Billing dominating on the mound, as Zebra and new Dolphin Liza Salix returned the favour, duplicating the exact same line of 7 IP, 1 ER, 4 H as the Dolphins tied the series. Game three, the Dolphins jumped on Valentina Rodon with multiple runs in the second (Keenan Cooley two-run double) and the fourth (Batya Jones solo home run and Britt Ashton sac fly). The Snow Bears trailed 1-5 in the seventh, before Justin Derrick hit a towering grand slam to tie the game and damn near blow the roof off of Southern Valley Arena. Alas, the Dolphins took the lead back with Gulnoi-Kedren homering in the eighth, before the Fins added an insurance run in the ninth. Ellen Poiger-Snast locked it down as the Dolphins prevailed, 1-4, 5-1 and 7-5. Newport will host the Rhinos in the Second Round.

Lastly, another divisional matchup between Stingrays and Triceratops, which saw the latter win to take on Jaffro at home – a rare SNL matchup without any SNL in it.

[Drawkland]

"The Invitational Tournament"

The beginning of the spring semester was not a great time for Brooklyn. Her suspension for antagonizing a referee in the football playoff semis meant she couldn’t participate in team activities for three weeks. The sentence was served immediately, which meant Brooklyn got to watch from her couch as Reed Harper and the floundering Skyhawks got spanked in the Bronze Bowl. Sadeg State had to settle for fourth place in college football. Even though it was higher than they’d ever finished in Brooklyn’s tenure, it was a disappointment.

Brooklyn could remember just over five years prior when she’d committed to Sadeg State. It felt like so long ago, now. The decision to pick Sadeg State over the maligned Cavsar was much harder than she’d ever thought it would be. When she finally inked the scholarship offer from Sadeg State, her childhood visions of winning championships with the Skyhawks like her parents returned to her mind. This football run felt like the best chance for it to happen, and now it was gone. There was her final NSCF tournament coming at the end of the semester, but the more Brooklyn thought about it, the less confident she felt.

And that was if she even played for Sadeg State. Cavsar coach Scott Linhart seemed to float the idea of her transferring to Cavsar only for the NSCF season at the previous year’s awards banquet. Brooklyn wasn’t sure if that theoretical offer was still on the table – or if the table was even there at all. She knew the table existed five years ago, but was Linhart really being serious? Jaxtyn Mynatt had been viciously mediocre for the Gladiators that previous DOCA season. The fans didn’t care since they were still in the NSCF championship afterglow, but Cavsar limped to a conference championship loss and a bowl game win. Not exactly a terrible season by some standards, but it was clear that this performance was close to Mynatt’s ceiling. They weren’t going to be competing with him in the pocket. Maybe Linhart didn’t want to waste the senior year of Julian Gallagher and the solid Gladiator defense. Brooklyn could see herself fitting in that offense.

Those thoughts crossed her mind a few times in the short offseason. Baseball season was rapidly approaching, and though her suspension from a football game illogically followed her to the baseball diamond and prevented her from participating in team activities, it didn’t mean she couldn’t stay in shape on her own time. Brooklyn spent her days on the final projects and studies of her senior spring semester and evenings alone in the batting cage. The cages were always there for her to get her mind off things. With her potential drafting in the PBL coming later that year, she spent some solo cage time trying out a few wooden bats and trying to get the hang of it. The smaller sweet spot made it more difficult for Brooklyn to barrel the ball, but the first few times she did felt incredible. She chased that feeling.

Differing class schedules and being unable to work out with the baseball team meant that Brooklyn hardly saw anything of her roommate, Grace Robbins. Her longtime baseball teammate since high school was out whenever Brooklyn was in, and vice versa, except in the late hours when either of them were trying to sleep or studying alone. It wasn’t on purpose, it’s just how things worked out. Brooklyn could start to feel a tinge of loneliness, but her busy senior schedule did enough to keep her from getting too bummed out.

After a few weeks of this, Brooklyn got lucky when one of her classes was cancelled due to a professor’s illness. It was the first time Brooklyn had an afternoon off when she knew Grace didn’t have class. She halfway considered asking Grace if she wanted to go out for food or do something social with the free time, but she wasn’t entirely surprised when she arrived back at the apartment and saw no signs of life. Grace was off somewhere else. It wasn’t a big deal, plans hadn’t been made, but it still felt like a missed opportunity. Brooklyn sighed and turned on the TV, wondering if any games were on. She hadn’t had a true break in awhile, so she wasn’t gonna waste a chance to be just a little lazy. She wasn’t behind on anything, at least.

Any thought of loafing for a few hours evaporated soon after she flipped the channel to DNSN, though. To Brooklyn’s surprise, the Base Corps was playing games, despite the fact that it was the WBC offseason. That drew her in, after she’d taken a minute to look up what the hell the Eight Nations Shield was. An invitational tournament just for a few top baseball nations, and DRAWKLAND was invited? Madness. She remembered watching the Base Corps as a kid (when her dad wasn’t monopolizing the TV). She wasn’t born in the time of absolute pain around WBC 41, but soon after Lane Kavana entered the scene and started the slow, arduous process of turning the Base Corps into a real team. Her first vivid memories came in WBC 55, watching the Corps bullpen absolutely disintegrate in the Round of 16 against Quebec and Shingoryeo. Still, the team had fight. Brooklyn believed it when Kavana said stuff about one day turning the team into a contender.

Imagine Brooklyn’s shock when, midway through the eighth inning, none other than Grace Robbins came to the plate as a pinch hitter. Grace Robbins, her roommate. Grace Robbins, her longtime teammate. Grace Robbins, apparently a member of Drawkland’s actual national baseball team. Grace Robbins, who didn’t even have the courtesy to tell Brooklyn about any of this!

Brooklyn watched in a stupor as Grace came out and played an inning of third base to finish a Drawkland win against Ko-oren. During the commercial break, Brooklyn looked online and found a short article about a couple of Sadeg State baseball student-athletes getting a call-up to the national team. She couldn’t believe this happened without her knowledge. Brooklyn waited for about an hour until she figured the team was out of the stadium and on their way back to the hotel, or wherever they were staying. Grace’s number was predialed on Brooklyn’s phone the entire time. She was going to get a talking-to, no doubt about it.

The phone rang for a couple seconds too many. Grace almost always picked up Brooklyn’s call before this point. Brooklyn knew there were only two options: Grace was still busy with a team obligation and couldn’t answer the phone, or she was staring at the phone wondering if she could somehow bullshit her way out of the situation. Finally, the ringing was interrupted. Brooklyn heard noise on the other line.

“Hey Brook,” Grace said immediately after she picked up, in the most casual tone she could manage. “What’s up?”

“Oh, nothing much.” Brooklyn narrowed her eyes. She wanted to see how far Grace would take this. “I actually got out of IntCom today because the professor was sick. Are you busy this evening? I got some work done in the meantime so my evening is now free.”

“Cool! Ummm,” Grace hesitated. The pause made the noise in the background, clearly some voices, more audible. “I don’t think I can. I’m with the team.”

“The team,” Brooklyn repeated, trying to keep herself from laughing. That was a pretty good dodge. “Gotcha. That’s weird though, because practice should be over by now, right?”

“Yeah, duh.” Grace replied quickly. “Some of us decided to go out to eat afterwards.”

“Where’s my invite?” Brooklyn said with an obviously joking tone. She didn’t want to be passive-aggressive, but she did have to keep poking.

“Well, y’know, the suspension and all.” Grace said shortly.

“That doesn’t mean I can’t hang out with people who happen to be my teammates after hours!” Brooklyn insisted. She was technically right, but that wasn’t really her goal.

“It wasn’t personal,” Grace said. “Uh, y’know, we just decided to go out on impulse. We weren’t-”

“It’s fine, Grace.” Brooklyn said with an honest tone. “Really. Who are you with, anyway? Oh, let me guess … Lydia and Rick?” She namedropped the two other Skyhawks who’d reportedly been invited to the Base Corps. It wouldn’t exactly be abnormal for Grace to hang out with them in the circumstances she’d presented, but those three weren’t exactly in the same clique.

“Ummm.” Grace sucked on her lip. She knew it was over. “You didn’t happen to watch any ballgames today, did you?”

“I might have.” Brooklyn cranked the sarcasm up. “You know, I heard the Base Corps is playing this spring. Some little invitational in South Newlandia. Seems pretty neat, have you heard anything about that?”

“Okay …” Grace relented, giving up the act. “I’m sorry Brook, I should’ve said something. But this whole thing happened so fast, I barely had time to pack! And you know the weird thing about the suspension. I’m sure somebody would’ve mentioned it if not for that.”

“No shit!” Brooklyn replied. She tried in vain to keep the exasperation out of her voice, but a little bit crept in. “How did you guys get invited to that, though? How does that even happen?”

“It was a whole thing.” Grace prayed the explanation would be enough to keep Brooklyn from being mad. “Basically this tournament happened on such short notice, the real Base Corps couldn’t get people here. Only a few of the core members. But most of the pros are getting into spring training now, so non-Corps people didn’t want to drop everything on a dime. So they got creative with recruiting. And you know Claire Kirkland does that minicamp with our pitchers, she knows Coach Denton pretty well. She called him up and asked if he could spare anyone, some pitchers and maybe an infielder. Lydia and Rick got the call and he picked me. I couldn’t just pass that opportunity up.”

“I don’t blame you for that. I’m jealous!” Brooklyn said, trying to not be venomous. “I’m just wondering why I didn’t get a call. It’s not like I have anything better going on!”

“You know Coach can’t call you,” Grace reminded. “Because of the-”

“Yes, yes, the suspension, I know.” Brooklyn groaned. “But this isn’t an official team activity! It’s not like I can’t talk to the guy at all.”

“Trust me, we could use your help.” Grace admitted. “It’s so bad we’re starting Aaron freaking Frost in center. Not like he’s bad out there or anything but our outfield has basically no depth.”

“What?!” Now Brooklyn was a little annoyed. Why did Grace hold out on her? She knew the answer the moment her mind thought up the question. For Grace it was already awkward enough with Brooklyn being held off the team. Getting selected for an honor like this (as strange as it was) without Brooklyn would just make things worse. “Okay, now I am a little annoyed. Like I said, I got nothing! I’ve even been experimenting with wood bats the last couple weeks, remember?”

“Yeah …” Grace said in an odd voice. “Hold on, B. I’ll be back in a second.”

Brooklyn heard the phone come away from Grace’s face. There were still some voices in the background; Brooklyn assumed they were members of the Base Corps. It’s not like Grace had any friends in South Newlandia she could be hanging out with. She thought she picked up a few faint words in Grace’s voice, but she couldn’t make out specifics, and couldn’t tell who was responding.

“Still there?” Grace said, voice suddenly sharp in the phone again.

“Yup.”

“Okay, um, I’m gonna text you a phone number. If you’re free for the next week and a half I’d consider calling it. Preferably in the next hour or so.”

“Really?” Brooklyn said, heart skipping a beat.

“Yeah, really.” Grace said, a smile evident in her voice. “Um, I actually have to go now, sorry. We’re getting to the hotel now.”

“Okay!” Brooklyn didn’t know what else to say, besides “thanks!”

“See ya, Brook.”

“Bye, G.”

About a half hour of pacing and frenzied calendar-checking later, Brooklyn stared at her phone’s dial screen again. This time it was a number she didn’t know. She didn’t know what to expect, either. Was this about to be an interview? An interrogation? A simple yes/no?

She took a deep breath, then tapped the call button. Her phone played the dial tone a couple times before the other end crackled to life.

“Hello?” It was an older voice. Brooklyn didn’t want to immediately assume it was Base Corps manager Glenn Sutton, but she had a great suspicion.

“Hi. This is Brooklyn Beck speaking. I was told to call this number regarding the Eight Nations Shield?”

“Ah, right.” The man responded. He cleared his throat. “You’re another one from Sadeg State, correct?”

“Yes, sir.” Brooklyn replied coolly. “Corner outfielder, mostly. But I’ll do whatever.”

“I see.” There was a sound of paper shuffling. “How old are you? Senior?”

“Graduating this spring. I’m in this year’s draft class.” Brooklyn tried to spin herself up.

“Right, right.” The man paused for a moment, long enough for Brooklyn to wonder if she was supposed to say something else. “Well, I have a spot for you. What I don’t have is anything left in the transportation budget.”

“I can fly myself out,” Brooklyn said quickly. “No problem with that. I just want to play.”

“I don’t hear that every day.” Another pause. There seemed to be a hint of amusement in that response. “I’ll talk to the equipment manager. He should be able to send you the tournament information.”

“Thank you so much, mister ..?” Brooklyn trailed off, asking for the man’s name.

“Sutton. But for the next two weeks, I’m your coach.” Glenn Sutton replied. “I have to go now, but I presume I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Thanks again, sir,” Brooklyn got in before the call ended. She let out a deep exhale, then pumped her fist excitedly. Was this real? Was Brooklyn going to get to play on the Base Corps, as strange as the circumstances were? The elation was quickly replaced by a huge pang of stress. “Wait, tomorrow?!” She said aloud to the empty living room.

The next hour was spent furiously putting together a travel bag and searching for flights out of Sadeg eventually getting to Elephant Valley. Brooklyn didn’t care that it was a redeye, or that she’d need to speed to the airport and run through the concourse to make it in time. If nothing else, it was a great way to kill the two weeks she wasn’t able to play with the Skyhawk baseball team. Who knows? Maybe she’d even get a couple hits along the way.

[The Kytler Peninsulae]

RESULTS
LEAGUE PHASE SERIES 12

The IC information that has been edited into the second post of this thread was counted as RP for The Kytler Peninsulae for this window. Tikariot's IC information was factored into his RP grade for this window too, even though his ballpark information was shared with but not posted by Kytler at the time of cutoff.

Zwangzug @ Kamijiro Zwangzug 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 Kamijiro 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 Zwangzug 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 1 4 Kamijiro 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 Zwangzug 0 0 2 0 3 0 1 0 2 8 Kamijiro 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

Banija @ The Kytler Peninsulae Scored by Tikariot Banija 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 The Kytler Peninsulae 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 X 1 Banija 0 0 1 0 4 1 0 2 1 9 The Kytler Peninsulae 0 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 1 6 Banija 0 0 0 2 5 0 0 1 0 8 The Kytler Peninsulae 0 3 2 0 0 0 0 1 3 9

MQuebec and Shingoryeo @ Tikariot Quebec and Shingoryeo 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 Tikariot 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 Quebec and Shingoryeo 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 5 Tikariot 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 3 Quebec and Shingoryeo 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 Tikariot 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Eshialand @ Oriental of Rio de La Plata Eshialand 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 0 4 Oriental of Rio de La Plata 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 Eshialand 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 Oriental of Rio de La Plata 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 Eshialand 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 6 Oriental of Rio de La Plata 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 2

TJUN-ia @ Valentine Z TJUN-ia 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 5 Valentine Z 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 4 TJUN-ia 1 0 0 1 1 0 4 0 0 7 Valentine Z 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 4 TJUN-ia 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Valentine Z 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 X 5

Ko-oren @ Zenic Ko-oren 0 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 4 Zenic 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 1 X 6 Ko-oren 0 0 0 1 2 0 1 2 0 6 Zenic 1 0 0 0 1 7 1 0 X 10 Ko-oren 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 Zenic 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Liventia @ United States of Nova Calania Liventia 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 3 United States of Nova Calania 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 Liventia 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 4 7 United States of Nova Calania 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 Liventia 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 3 United States of Nova Calania 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 4

Loyo @ Dhemixia Loyo 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Dhemixia 5 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 X 9 Loyo 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Dhemixia 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Loyo 0 1 0 1 0 0 2 2 0 6 Dhemixia 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1

Ranoria @ Cardenao Ranoria 0 1 1 0 0 3 0 0 4 9 Cardenao 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 2 0 5 Ranoria 0 2 1 0 0 4 1 0 0 8 Cardenao 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 3 Ranoria 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 Cardenao 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 5

Sarzonia @ Natkr Sarzonia 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 4 Natkr 0 1 0 4 0 0 4 2 X 11 Sarzonia 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 6 Natkr 2 0 0 5 0 0 1 0 X 8 Sarzonia 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 3 Natkr 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 X 4

Visayas Islands @ Kronbia Visayas Islands 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 Kronbia 0 2 0 1 1 0 0 2 X 6 Visayas Islands 0 1 5 0 0 0 2 0 0 8 Kronbia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Visayas Islands 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 Kronbia 0 0 3 2 0 0 0 1 X 6

Hapilopper @ Delaclava Hapilopper 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 4 Delaclava 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 2 X 5 Hapilopper 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Delaclava 0 0 4 4 0 0 0 0 X 8 Hapilopper 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 5 Delaclava 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 4

Terefuxe @ Drawkland Terefuxe 0 3 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 6 Drawkland 0 2 0 5 3 0 0 0 X 10 Terefuxe 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Drawkland 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 X 2 Terefuxe 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Drawkland 0 3 2 0 0 1 0 0 X 6

The Batavia @ South Newlandia The Batavia 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 South Newlandia 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 The Batavia 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 4 South Newlandia 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 The Batavia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 South Newlandia 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 X 3

Chromatika @ Milchama Chromatika 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 Milchama 3 1 0 0 1 0 0 3 X 8 Chromatika 0 0 2 0 0 0 3 1 0 6 Milchama 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 Chromatika 0 0 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 4 Milchama 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 2

Paradystopia @ Andso Mangis Paradystopia 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 2 5 Andso Mangis 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 Paradystopia 0 0 0 0 1 1 4 0 0 6 Andso Mangis 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 Paradystopia 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 Andso Mangis 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 X 3

The Martian Independent Republic @ Riandera The Martian Independent Republic 0 1 3 0 0 1 0 0 0 5 Riandera 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 3 The Martian Independent Republic 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 Riandera 0 2 1 1 1 0 2 0 X 7 The Martian Independent Republic 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Riandera 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 1 X 5

Kwrpania @ Katzeburg Kwrpania 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 5 Katzeburg 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 4 Kwrpania 3 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 6 Katzeburg 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 Kwrpania 0 0 0 2 0 0 3 4 0 0 0 0 9 Katzeburg 0 1 0 3 1 0 1 1 2 0 0 1 10

FINAL LEAGUE PHASE STANDINGS			P	W	L	RF	RA	PythR
1	Drawkland				36	29	7	232	105	0.830
2	Quebec and Shingoryeo			36	26	10	192	140	0.653
3	Liventia				36	26	10	187	137	0.651
4	South Newlandia				36	26	10	201	115	0.753
5	Banija					36	26	10	214	143	0.691
6	Ranoria					36	25	11	226	139	0.726
7	Zwangzug				36	24	12	186	127	0.682
8	Kamijiro				36	23	13	167	134	0.608
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9	Milchama				36	23	13	199	140	0.669
10	Tikariot				36	22	14	196	142	0.656
11	Katzeburg				36	22	14	190	144	0.635
12	The Kytler Peninsulae			36	21	15	170	133	0.620
13	TJUN-ia					36	20	16	128	150	0.421
14	The Batavia				36	19	17	172	155	0.552
15	Kronbia					36	18	18	157	165	0.475
16	United States of Nova Calania		36	17	19	164	171	0.479
17	Valentine Z				36	17	19	159	181	0.436
18	Chromatika				36	17	19	159	178	0.444
19	Zenic					36	16	20	143	170	0.414
20	Riandera				36	16	20	148	171	0.428
21	Hapilopper				36	16	20	167	163	0.512
22	Sarzonia				36	16	20	165	184	0.446
23	Eshialand				36	15	21	157	174	0.449
24	Terefuxe				36	15	21	149	190	0.381
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
25	Cardenao				36	15	21	161	185	0.431
26	Ko-oren					36	15	21	161	193	0.410
27	Paradystopia				36	15	21	163	182	0.445
28	Loyo					36	15	21	164	168	0.488
29	Dhemixia				36	15	21	184	164	0.557
30	The Martian Independent Republic	36	14	22	113	174	0.297
31	Natkr					36	12	24	155	220	0.332
32	Kwrpania				36	11	25	155	224	0.324
33	Visayas Islands				36	11	25	142	209	0.316
34	Delaclava				36	11	25	134	206	0.297
35	Oriental of Rio de La Plata		36	10	26	113	208	0.228
36	Andso Mangis				36	9	27	137	226	0.269

FULL LIST OF TIEBREAKERS

26-10 (2nd-5th):
Series between these teams were: Liventia over South Newlandia 2-1 (S2); Quebec and Shingoryeo over South Newlandia 2-1 (S9); Liventia over Banija 2-1 (S10).
Therefore South Newlandia must be placed below Quebec and Shingoryeo, and both South Newlandia and Banija must be placed below Liventia.
Quebec and Shingoryeo are placed above Liventia as they have the same H2H win percentage as and a better Pythagorean ratio than Liventia, whom they did not play.
South Newlandia are placed above Banija as they have the same H2H win percentage as and a better win ratio than Banija, whom they did not play.

23-13 (8th-9th):
Kamijiro holds H2H over Milchama 2-1 (S6).

22-14 (10th-11th):
No H2H between these teams, so Pythagorean ratio used.

17-19 (16th-18th):
Series between these teams were: Valentine Z over Chromatika 2-1 (S4); Nova Calania over Chromatika 2-1 (S6).
Valentine Z and Nova Calania both hold tiebreakers over, and are hence placed above, Chromatika; as they did not play each other, they are then sorted by Pythagorean ratio.

16-20 (19th-22nd):
Series between these teams: Zenic over Riandera 2-1 (S10); Riandera over Hapilopper 3-0 (S11)
Zenic must be above Riandera, who must be above Hapilopper; Hapilopper hold Pythagorean tiebreak over Sarzonia, whom they did not play.

15-21 (23rd-29th):
Series between these teams were: Terefuxe over Cardenao 2-1 (S2); Eshialand over Cardenao 2-1 (S3); Ko-oren over Dhemixia 3-0 (S3); Terefuxe over Ko-oren 2-1 (S5); Terefuxe over Dhemixia 2-1 (S6); Ko-oren over Paradystopia 3-0 (S7); Paradystopia over Loyo 2-1 (S9); Loyo over Dhemixia 2-1 (S12)
Terefuxe must be ranked above Cardenao, Ko-oren, and Dhemixia; Ko-oren must also be above Paradystopia, who in turn must be above Loyo, and therefore all five teams must be below Terefuxe.
Covering tiebreakers between the remaining teams, Ko-oren and Loyo must both be above Dhemixia and have Paradystopia between them; therefore their order can only be Ko-oren > Paradystopia > Loyo > Dhemixia. Cardenao are placed above all four of these teams as they do not have a H2H record with any of them and hold a better Pythagorean ratio than Ko-oren; however, Eshialand must be placed above Cardenao on H2H and have no other tiebreaker matches, so they are compared to (and placed above) Terefuxe on Pythagorean ratio.

11-25 (32nd-34th):
Tie left to be broken by Pythagorean ratio because all three of these teams are out anyway.

---

REPECHAGE SERIES
All series are best-of-three and to be scorinated as one window. The higher-seeded team will be treated as the home one in Game 1 and, if necessary, Game 3.
Teams who receive a bye to the Octofinal Series will be given credit for the Repechage Series window equal to their best non-roster window of the League Phase, and any RP submissions during this window will be graded as part of the first Octofinal Series window.

#9 Milchama vs. #24 Terefuxe @ The Ballpark at Starnwood Racecourse, Starnwood: winner to play #8 Kamijiro
#16 United States of Nova Calania vs. #17 Valentine Z @ Donaldson Olympic Diamond, Zube: winner to play #1 Drawkland
#13 TJUN-ia vs. #20 Riandera @ Angel of Liberation Park, Alaer: winner to play #4 South Newlandia
#12 The Kytler Peninsulae vs. #21 Hapilopper @ Parque del Mar, Santa Mordana; winner to play #5 Banija
#15 Kronbia vs. #18 Chromatika @ Alcassar Plains Stadium, Alcassar; winner to play #2 Quebec and Shingoryeo
#10 Tikariot vs. #23 Eshialand @ Dockyard Park, Pyathora; winner to play #7 Zwangzug
#14 The Batavia vs. #19 Zenic @ South Central Park, Kytler Bay City; winner to play #3 Liventia
#11 Katzeburg vs. #22 Sarzonia @ Juniper Park, Carroll Lewiston; winner to play #6 Ranoria

[Valentine Z]

Part 4 – More matchups where we got utterly destroyed. Displaced: An Alternative is Death.

Qr'aft Ariuk Z Safwa'tik el-Ut'kayaxe: Some would say that we have had our blunders, but that would be rather unfair to say both for myself and especially for the rest of the team. They have put in the effort, after all. And there’s the thing about the other teams being much more tougher to work against. And there were the ones that you thought that were going to give you a difficult time, but it turned out to be a little better. For us, it’s a mix of these two, but mostly that we don’t know what these teams were like. Basically, it’s unfamiliar territory once again. Now, The Batavia is a name that we have been familiar with. We have not had any innings and sports competition between us, it was more that the two nations knew each other from- I might have to ask, actually. I believe our leaders have interacted but it was literally decades ago. It was also before I came to Valentine Z. Either way, the baseball team, called the Dragons, have hunted the Hunters, as one could say. To say that we got utterly destroyed was an understatement. A 0-12 and a 0-6, only for us to end with a 7-6 in our favor. Perhaps that was seen a little bit as mercy.

Tried as I might, it just didn’t work, there wasn’t much to say for that. What I found interesting in particular, however, was one existence of Sjoerd Valentijn. A really good player, a relief pitcher as he entered. It was two-fold that I noticed him amongst the rest. For one, it was his performance. Second, it’s his name. Valentijn, like our very own’s Valkyrie Valentijn Samantha Constantine. Well, granted – we also do have a lot of Valentijns in Valentine Z and it is not that she has the only rights. It was just something of note and- well, something to talk about other than that we got destroyed. Maybe I might approach him one day and talk to him about baseball and something else along the way. Hell, I might even hit up that story- I am not sure if he will be a fan of something much more fantasy or horror themed, but I can always find out. For now, however, let’s not creep him out. I only wish him and his team well.

With my rifle aimed at the door, I was expecting for the worse. It’s no stranger that the others would have caught with me, but it was a matter of whether or not they were friendlies. The door slammed once again, and that time it was accompanied by a voice, one that again the language I didn’t recognize. So it’s a person, it must have been those men that I have shared a drink with. Still did not explain this place quickly deteriorating, but maybe I did not notice it somehow? Either way, I got out of the bed slowly, the rifle put back on safe and me about to ask what was going on. Just as I approached the doorknob, the voice called once again, which made me froze in place. It was somewhat human, but not really. As in, the voice resembled that of a human but it felt rather… consistent. For instance, consider a person crying and sobbing, the sniffles and their breath uncontrollable. Or a repeated phase such as “Hey, open the door!”. Now, consider that these are very, VERY consistent. It was exactly like a recording, except in my world for that time, there was no such thing, at least not to that clarity. Something was absolutely amiss.

I flipped my rifle out of safe as soon as I heard a chuckle, again one that did not sound like it came from a human. I was wondering slowly as to what I was dealing with but I was not ready to leave anytime soon. With movements that I already made in my room, whatever was outside clearly heard me. With no other options, I slowly and quietly moved behind the bed, the space just enough for me to fit in. With the rifle propped up on the bedframe, I aimed at the door, ready to fire as fast as I could. The footfalls were slowly but purposeful, as if it was trying to mimic what a human was supposed to be, but didn’t know too well about the subtleties of being a person. The door opened up with such force that it was ripped out of its failing hinges. I saw… I saw a human – at first. Standard build, looked like a soldier from Faransoye. A little haggard, but nothing out of place. At first. The eyes, however, were very, very sinister. I didn’t mean like his eyes were black beads, white without an iris, or anything. It was the pair of eyes of something that relied solely on instinct. And by instinct he did, lurching towards me with a scream that was very not human. I managed to fire 3 shots at the thing before it pushed the bedframe with its rather unholy strength, threatening to crush me. I fired at his head some more, which would typically kill something but not that thing this time.

Running out of ammo in my rifle and with no time to reload, I used the bayonet to stab the thing, turned out to be quite a mistake. It recoiled in pain and anger, lashed back at me with its impossibly sharp hands and claws, ripping a large lesion on my right shoulder, my blood staining my uniform. Then it dropped dead – at least, I think so. It stopped moving and it was not coming back for seconds, so yeah, did. That was when I noticed another detail about the thing: when I shot it, I was expecting some blood to pour out of it. I was extremely sure that I made some wounds on it. However, it simply plopped down and died, no blood and any other liquids out of it. “Okay,” I thought to myself, right before I started becoming dizzy and my head spinning. I was bleeding out, after all. Rummaging through my bag, I managed to apply a tourniquet on my arm; very awkward placement but it helped a little bit. As soon as I was done with that, along with slowly reloading my rifle, I decided that I was not going to be in the same room as that bastard, so I made my way out to the lobby and to another room. And then the worst happened – I fainted.

<< RWD | FF >>

[Milchama]

Milchama blow it. More at 11

[Katzeburg]

+-----------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+
| Player          | AB | R | H | RBI | HR | BB | SO | Average |
+-----------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+
| Anthonyson (RF) | 5  | 1 | 2 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.400   |
| Neely (1B)      | 5  | 1 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 2  | 0.200   |
| Nye (CF)        | 4  | 1 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 1  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Lyall (C)       | 5  | 0 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.200   |
| Egger (2B)      | 5  | 0 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 2  | 0.200   |
| Smith (DH)      | 4  | 0 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 1  | 0  | 0.250   |
| Walther (LF)    | 5  | 1 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.200   |
| Willard (3B)    | 4  | 0 | 0 | 0   | 0  | 1  | 1  | 0.000   |
| Rice (SS)       | 4  | 0 | 0 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 2  | 0.000   |
+-----------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+

+----------+----+---+---+----+----+----+
| Player   | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
+----------+----+---+---+----+----+----+
| McLain   | 6  | 7 | 4 | 4  | 2  | 5  |
| Courtney | 4  | 3 | 0 | 0  | 1  | 3  |
| Wendell  | 1  | 1 | 1 | 1  | 0  | 1  |
+----------+----+---+---+----+----+----+

OOC: All stats have been partly AI-Generated (Prompt is to generate stats based on the final box score).

+-----------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+
| Player          | AB | R | H | RBI | HR | BB | SO | Average |
+-----------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+
| Anthonyson (RF) | 4  | 0 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Bennet (1B)     | 4  | 0 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Nye (CF)        | 4  | 0 | 0 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 2  | 0.000   |
| Lyall (C)       | 4  | 0 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.250   |
| Gartner (2B)    | 3  | 1 | 1 | 1   | 1  | 0  | 1  | 0.333   |
| Smith (DH)      | 3  | 0 | 0 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.000   |
| Garland (LF)    | 3  | 0 | 0 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.000   |
| Flowers (3B)    | 3  | 0 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 0  | 0.333   |
| Blythe (SS)     | 3  | 0 | 0 | 0   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.000   |
+-----------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+

+----------+-----+---+---+----+----+----+
| Player   | IP  | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
+----------+-----+---+---+----+----+----+
| Kurzmann | 4.1 | 7 | 5 | 5  | 2  | 3  |
| Holmwood | 4.2 | 4 | 1 | 1  | 0  | 4  |
+----------+-----+---+---+----+----+----+

OOC: All stats have been partly AI-Generated (Prompt is to generate stats based on the final box score).

+--------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+
| Player       | AB | R | H | RBI | HR | BB | SO | Average |
+--------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+
| Tobias (RF)  | 6  | 2 | 3 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.500   |
| Bennet (1B)  | 6  | 1 | 2 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.333   |
| Alan (CF)    | 5  | 2 | 3 | 3   | 1  | 1  | 0  | 0.600   |
| Wallis (C)   | 5  | 1 | 2 | 2   | 0  | 1  | 1  | 0.400   |
| Egger (2B)   | 6  | 0 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 2  | 0.167   |
| Smith (DH)   | 5  | 1 | 1 | 0   | 0  | 1  | 2  | 0.200   |
| Walther (LF) | 5  | 1 | 2 | 1   | 0  | 1  | 1  | 0.400   |
| Willard (3B) | 6  | 1 | 1 | 1   | 0  | 0  | 2  | 0.167   |
| Rice (SS)    | 5  | 1 | 0 | 0   | 0  | 1  | 2  | 0.000   |
+--------------+----+---+---+-----+----+----+----+---------+

+----------+----+---+---+----+----+----+
| Player   | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
+----------+----+---+---+----+----+----+
| Werner   | 6  | 5 | 2 | 2  | 1  | 5  |
| Beringer | 2  | 6 | 5 | 5  | 0  | 1  |
| Glazier  | 3  | 3 | 2 | 2  | 0  | 3  |
| Wendell  | 1  | 0 | 0 | 0  | 0  | 1  |
+----------+----+---+---+----+----+----+

OOC: All stats have been partly AI-Generated (Prompt is to generate stats based on the final box score).

+-----------------+-----+----+----+-----+----+----+----+---------+
| Player          | AB  | R  | H  | RBI | HR | BB | SO | Average |
+-----------------+-----+----+----+-----+----+----+----+---------+
| Bennet (1B)     | 102 | 22 | 38 | 8   | 1  | 1  | 17 | 0.373   |
| Tobias (RF)     | 54  | 13 | 20 | 6   | 0  | 2  | 11 | 0.370   |
| Anthonyson (RF) | 104 | 25 | 37 | 8   | 0  | 7  | 20 | 0.356   |
| Nye (CF)        | 101 | 18 | 34 | 34  | 4  | 6  | 19 | 0.337   |
| Alan (CF)       | 55  | 7  | 18 | 17  | 4  | 1  | 10 | 0.327   |
| Wallis (C)      | 50  | 7  | 14 | 11  | 0  | 5  | 14 | 0.280   |
| Neely (1B)      | 54  | 10 | 15 | 5   | 0  | 4  | 11 | 0.278   |
| Lyall (C)       | 104 | 9  | 28 | 25  | 1  | 3  | 29 | 0.269   |
| Garland (LF)    | 45  | 9  | 11 | 6   | 0  | 1  | 12 | 0.244   |
| Smith (DH)      | 115 | 11 | 26 | 13  | 1  | 6  | 33 | 0.226   |
| Walther (LF)    | 93  | 18 | 21 | 13  | 2  | 6  | 22 | 0.226   |
| Egger (2B)      | 100 | 8  | 22 | 12  | 0  | 2  | 32 | 0.220   |
| Gartner (2B)    | 51  | 3  | 10 | 7   | 2  | 1  | 16 | 0.196   |
| Flowers (3B)    | 44  | 5  | 8  | 4   | 0  | 3  | 9  | 0.182   |
| Willard (3B)    | 91  | 9  | 14 | 9   | 0  | 5  | 19 | 0.154   |
| Werner (P)      | 7   | 1  | 1  | 1   | 0  | 0  | 2  | 0.143   |
| Blythe (SS)     | 43  | 4  | 3  | 2   | 0  | 1  | 18 | 0.070   |
| Rice (SS)       | 90  | 9  | 5  | 4   | 0  | 4  | 34 | 0.056   |
| Sangster (P)    | 7   | 0  | 0  | 0   | 0  | 0  | 2  | 0.000   |
| Unkle (P)       | 5   | 1  | 0  | 0   | 0  | 0  | 3  | 0.000   |
| Kurzmann (P)    | 4   | 1  | 0  | 0   | 0  | 0  | 1  | 0.000   |
+-----------------+-----+----+----+-----+----+----+----+---------+

+----------+------+----+----+----+----+----+
| Player   | IP   | H  | R  | ER | BB | SO |
+----------+------+----+----+----+----+----+
| Werner   | 56.1 | 48 | 22 | 22 | 7  | 48 |
| Sangster | 51.2 | 45 | 19 | 19 | 6  | 48 |
| Unkle    | 46.2 | 44 | 22 | 22 | 5  | 40 |
| Kurzmann | 46   | 49 | 24 | 24 | 7  | 39 |
| McLain   | 45.2 | 46 | 27 | 27 | 8  | 41 |
| Courtney | 21   | 14 | 3  | 3  | 2  | 18 |
| Holmwood | 20.2 | 18 | 8  | 8  | 2  | 17 |
| Glazier  | 17.1 | 12 | 3  | 3  | 0  | 16 |
| Beringer | 14.1 | 17 | 12 | 12 | 2  | 13 |
| Wendell  | 12.2 | 8  | 4  | 4  | 0  | 13 |
+----------+------+----+----+----+----+----+

OOC: All stats have been partly AI-Generated (Prompt is to generate stats based on the final box score).

Before the Katzeburgian Revolution, Katzeburg had a long and often unproud tradition of Kaisers. A figurehead at the top of the proverbial food chain (or literally, in the case of Kaiser Douglas the Rather Big-Boned), the Katzeburgian Kaiser would rule over the many states of the nation of Katzeburg - sometimes with an iron fist, sometimes in a kind and gentle manner, and more often than not, rather incompetently.

For the last decade, boffins at the University of Waldstein history department have been diving into the history of feudal Katzeburg, aiming to stretch the royal line back as far as they possibly can. During their research, they have uncovered numerous tales of rulers who were history making for better or for worse. These are their stories.

Kaiser Mattias the Illiterate - BK352 - BK328

Literacy has long been something of a privilege in Katzeburg, with only vast educational reforms in the aftermath of the Revolution allowing access to literacy for all, rapidly seeing the nation advance as many more people learnt to read and write, leading to a significant increase in Katzeburgian literary culture, namely the amount of fanfictions written on popular Katzeburgian website Ship'O'Rific which exploded following the Revolution (As of today, the most popular characters on the site include former Katzeburgian television host Jason Reilly and Blue Cats forward Drake Wruck). But reading and writing was often a requirement for Kaisers in pre-revolution Katzeburg, with many learning from a young age by the best teachers in the land (or at least the best a few shiny barins could buy). But this wasn't always the case, and in fact one of the most significant catalysts for this quasi-mandation was the rule of one Kaiser who was so annoyed by his failure to read and write, he sought to destroy the very concept of Katzeburgian literature.

The War for the Throne following the death of Kaiser Wilhelm the Rather Incompetent and the swift removal of Kaiser Mark the Placeholder in the BK380's intensified in the decades leading up to Mattias taking the throne, with the ruling family often engaged in travelling from coast to coast battling against rebelling Lords and ambitious challengers. Mattias' father, Kaiser Lukas the Broad-Shouldered, was to his credit, an incredible fighter - one of the very best to swing a sword in the history of Katzeburg and someone who through his tactical prowess alone led to him reclaiming significant lands back in the hands of the crown which had just years prior to his ascension been lost to powerful competing Lords.

But time spent on the battlefield was the name of the game for young Mattias, being shuttled alongside his father and family across Katzeburg, leaving him very minimal time in his youth to actually gain a proper education for when he would take to the throne. Instead, he learnt the practical skills which would instead keep him on the throne - how to swing a sword, fire an arrow, push large rocks downhill so they would run into people on the flats below, for example. So when the throne finally came for Mattias in BK352 following the death of Lukas in the Battle of Penntop Forest, he was able to quickly do what his father could not in shutting down the rebelling forces of East Katzeburg, leading a small strike force into the heart of Axmund - at the time the base of rebellion leader Lord Oscar Menzies - and assassinate the leader and several members of his senior council, collapsing the rebellion in one swift movement.

Upon his return to Katzestadt and the assumption of his seat upon the throne, Mattias settled into a Katzeburg which had a tense level of peace about it. But quickly he found himself unable to adequately manage the day to day ruling of the nation. Despite constantly being at each other's throats for most of the last few centuries, Katzeburgian culture had advanced a little bit with many upperclassmen knowing how to read and write as well as conduct the majority of their business or proposals through the written letter. But Mattias, due to the nature of his upbringing, never learnt to read or write, meaning his input at council meetings would be heavily reduced as he could ultimately only go on what was being spoken to him by his advisors. This of course, would create chaos as ambitious schemers would worm their way into the council and pass things by the Kaiser verbally but enshrine something else in writing entirely.

One infamous example of this is the transfer of lands south of Bauerburg to the lord of Fischbucht and away from the lord of Braunburg in BK336 - a massive transfer of power in South-East Katzeburg which immediately put the lords at each others throats. This was orchestrated by the lord of Hundsend, Lord Jaysi Wellton, who was looking to stake his own claim on the region and decided the best way to do so would be by wiping out the forces of his two nearest competitors. Wellton sold the proposal to the Kaiser verbally as a 'reaffirmation of the sovereignty of the lands of Braunburg' but in writing put down a very clear declaration that the lands would be going to Fischbucht instead - with no other lords on the council protesting (because many of them were also pulling the same trick to secure stronger positions in their own seats of power) - the Kaiser gave the tick to the suggestion and indirectly kicked South-East Katzeburg into another period of war.

This scheme wouldn't be revealed for decades after Mattias took to the throne, with an almost unwritten rule that anyone moving onto the council would have this power but only if they too kept the secret running. But this would, as all things do, come to an end, with Mattias finding out about the decades of scheming in BK330 following the appointment of Dragoonspiel's Lord Rhys the Truthful to the council. Rhys would quickly see the decisions being made as being against the interest of the crown and quietly spoke to Mattias about the deception, launching the Kaiser into a massive furore.

Mattias was not pleased in the slightest that he had been mislaid for decades at this point and placed the blame not on the scheming lords who had committed such acts, but the fact that they could read and write to begin with, believing the written word to be the work of the negative parts of the cosmos. He would quickly act - executing all those within Katzestadt Castle who were able to read and write before issuing a decree across Katzeburg (ironically in writing, after he had to eventually track down someone in Katzestadt who was able to write because he had executed everyone in the castle before this) that all written word was now outlawed on penalty of death.

Couriers were dispatched across the country, where upon reaching their intended target were executed on the spot for carrying written words. But Mattias was still not done with his war on literacy.

Blackmouth was a bastion of literary culture in feudal Katzeburg, with the nationally-famous Blackmouth Library being hailed as one of the wonders of the nation thanks to its rich stores of books and records tracing Katzeburgian history back centuries, with some reports from the time suggesting it even contained information more than 3000 years old within its grand halls. As a beacon of literature in Katzeburg, Mattias viewed the library as the source of the written word, and thus it had to be removed from existence entirely. Taking a 2,000 strong force west, Mattias marched on the town of Blackmouth in early BK329 and demanded the destruction of the library. Thankfully, in the weeks it took for the military to reach the town, the senior members of the library and the sitting lord worked day and night to remove much of the historic documentation and texts from the building and transport them across to Dragoonspiel for safe-keeping. Upon Mattias' arrival, the attack on the library was swift; the force set fire to the library which would quickly spread to the oldest part of the building which also happened to hold much of the most ancient documentation. While the group removing books had saved a lot of material, they were unable to get it all - leaving Mattias to stand watching and laughing at the destruction of the eastern wing of the library and documents stretching back thousands of years.

But his attempt to destroy the entire library wouldn't succeed, as almost by fate of the cosmos a massive rainstorm swelled in and covered the town in a blanket of thick, unseasonal rain - putting out the fire with relative ease. Mattias simply dusted his hands and declared his job done; heading back to Katzestadt. However, this put a huge target on his back, with many of the more established lords furious at the attempt of destroying both Katzeburgian history and the written word. An attempt to unseat the Kaiser would quickly form, and much like the force that Mattias lead decades earlier to end the rising eastern rebellion, a force of a similar size would sneak into Katzestadt Castle in BK328 and put an end to the Kaiser's rule.

It has often been alleged by historians that on the night in question, the Kaiser was only caught unguarded after he took a wrong turn from his normal route through the castle after he noticed a large sign hung up at the end of a hallway. Walking up to it, he apparently examined the sign and before being quickly killed, he allegedly understood the two large words which were emblazoned on the sign - the only two words he would ever be able to read.

You're Dead.

Mattias would be succeeded by his son Kaiser Tomas the Able-To-Read, who would atone for the sins of his father by actively encouraging and fostering literacy amongst the ruling class - viewing his father's actions against the written word as being a petty disagreement which ultimately saw him removed by force from the throne. The documents which were removed from Blackmouth Library in the lead-up to its partial destruction have never been fully recovered, with some sources suggesting they were either lost in the Katzeburgian Sea after a ship sunk during a storm or smuggled out of Katzeburg entirely, with ships heading west towards the rest of Esportiva. Blackmouth Library would never fully recover from the attack on it, with the building eventually condemned a few years later and left to decay over the following centuries - only being fully destroyed in BK46 to allow for the construction of a new branch of Katzeburgian supermarket chain Lebensmarkt.

[United States of Nova Calania]

Ligue Majeure Néo-Calanienne de Baseball (LMNCB) - Nova Calanian Major Baseball League (NCMBL)
2028-29 season preview

Past champions

Note: Seasons with an asterisk were played before the creation of Nova Calania

Season           Champions                          Runner Up
2022-2023*       Indiens de Breteuil                Saints de Saint-Jean-Jacques
2023-2024*       Indiens de Breteuil                Flushing Blue Wahoos
2024-2025*       Indiens de Breteuil                Downtown Tigers
2025-2026        Flushing Blue Wahoos               Downtown Tigers
2026-2027        Indiens de Breteuil-Chamouille     Downtown Tigers
2027-2028        Downtown Tigers                    Indiens de Breteuil-Chamouille 

2028-29 teams

Indiens de Breteuil-Chamouille
Location: Breteuil district (with the Chamouille district on the other side of the street), Saint-Jean-Jacques-sur-Mer
Stadium: Parc Galipeau
Head Coach: Jean-Paul Couillard
Team colors: Navy blue, red and white

Chichihualtepec RiverDogs
Location: Chichihualtepec, Nova Calanian Aztec Confederacy
Stadium: Moctezuma XIX Ballpark
Head Coach: Marie-Michèle Beaudreault
Team colors: Navy blue, gold, white and grey

Pélicans de Côte-des-Palmiers
Location: Côte-des-Palmiers district, Saint-Jean-Jacques-sur-Mer
Stadium: Parc des Pélicans
Head Coach: Jean-Frédéric Robinette
Team colors: Light blue, yellow, navy blue and white

Downtown Tigers
Location: Downtown district, Burnham-on-Stove
Stadium: Dolphin-Tiger Stadium
Head Coach: Jill Wallach-Gough
Team colors: Navy blue, orange and white

Flushing Blue Wahoos
Location: Flushing Hills district, Burnham-on-Stove
Stadium: Admiral William R. Burnham Field
Head Coach: William McBride
Team colors: Royal blue, Navy, pink and white

Krzyszczynka Blue Crabs
Location: Krzyszczynka, Odlegla Ziemia
Stadium: Park Orzechowski
Head Coach: Wlodzimierz Zebrowski
Team colors: Light blue, navy blue, red, tan and white

Stal Ostrow Krolewski
Location: Ostrow Krolewski, Odlegla Ziemia
Stadium: Stadion Wlodzimierz Kowalewicz
Head Coach: Urszula Rodowicz
Team colors: Blue, yellow and white

Expos de Saint-Jean-Jacques
Location: Centre-Ville (Downtown) district, Saint-Jean-Jacques-sur-Mer
Stadium: Parc Gailloux
Head Coach: Anne-Marie McEwen
Team colors: Light blue, white and red

Saints de Saint-Jean-Jacques
Location: Centre-Ville (Downtown) district, Saint-Jean-Jacques-sur-Mer
Stadium: Stade Marcotte
Head Coach: Bruno-Pierre Bourbonnais
Team colors: Blue, white and yellow

Shanzhou AquaSox
Location: Yuzhong District, Shanzhou
Stadium: Shanzhou Memorial Stadium
Head Coach: Vladimir Bonilla Rodriguez Sr.
Team colors: Navy, aqua, light green, orange and white

Shanzhou SeaWolves
Location: Yuzhong District, Shanzhou
Stadium: Wu Jia Li Stadium
Head Coach: Yuchen He
Team colors: Black, red,gold, grey, white

Wloszakowice Pirates
Location: Wloszakowice, Odlegla Ziemia
Stadium: Stadion Banku Odleglanskiego
Head Coach: Geneviève Vaillancourt
Team colors: Black, yellow and white

Saint-Jean-Jacques-sur-Mer, Nova Calania - Winter baseball season is coming! Last season, 4 times champions, Indiens de Breteuil-Chamouille lost the Nova Calanian Series against a team who was runner up three times and never won the series: Downtown Tigers. The Downtown Tigers are the current defending champions and will look to win their 2nd title against, most notably, the Indiens de Breteuil-Chamouille, the Flushing Blue Wahoos and the Shanzhou AquaSox.

Teams like Expos de Saint-Jean-Jacques, Saints de Saint-Jean-Jacques, Pélicans de Côte-des-Palmiers and Wloszakowice Pirates are long shots but still can do it. The bottom four, who have no chance at all, and will fight for the 1st overall pick, are Krzyszczynka Blue Crabs, Stal Ostrow Krolewski, Shanzhou Sea Wolves and Chichihualtepec RiverDogs.

Downtown Tigers

The pitching staff is led by the McCloskeys. Leighton and Carson are starting pitchers 1 and 2. The closer is another McCloskey, Jackson. The batting and fielding is led by the Goughs. Riley at 1st base and Ryder and Raelynn in the outfield. Another notable player is Alejandra Wendell Guzman who plays center field. The Tigers are expected to finish 1st and win the Nova Calanian series again.

Indiens de Breteuil-Chamouille

Juan Diego Salazar Valenzuela is the number 1 starting pitcher and he's supported by Sarah-Jeanne Guirguis, tagged as SP #2. She's the sister of gridiron players François-Pierre Guirguis and Anne-Élisabeth Guirguis. The bullpen is led by the Goneaus, Kayla and Maya who are the closer and set up. The Couillards, Léo-Paul and Sarah-Maude (both in the outfield) are leading the batting and fielding, along with the Bibeaus, Tristan (SS), Xavier (3B) and Rose (2B). Someone who hear about Nova Calania for the first time may think we're a consanguineous nation! The Indiens are expected to take the 2nd place and be the runner up.

Flushing Blue Wahoos

The Blue Wahoos starting rotation is led by the Wu-Kwiatkowski siblings, Tyler and Madison. Phoebe Boggs and Stéphanie McDermott will fight for the closer role. Batting and fielding leaders are the Swaggertys: Kaiden (SS), Kyler (3B) and Piper (2B) and Zane Kozlowski (LF). The Blue Wahoos are expected to take the 3rd place.

Shanzhou AquaSox

The AquaSox have three reliable starting pitchers in Vladimir Bonilla Gonzalez Jr., Victoria Rochette-Gingras and John James McNally. John James has a sister, Mary Margaret, who plays center midfielder for Club National in the Premier League. However, their bullpen is relatively weak. Batting and fielding leaders are Esperanza Juarez Galarraga (2B), Jesus Rodriguez Castro (1B), who is one of the three Rodriguez Castro siblings, Jessica Gaudin-Rougeau (SS) and Félix Rochette-Gingras (C). The AquaSox are expected to be 4th in the standings.

Gilles Bourdeau

[Chromatika]

By taking two of three from Milchama - improving their record to 4-2 against top seeded teams in the competition - Chromatika finished their league phase at 17-19, the record that they were hoping for. Of course, going 4-8 against Unranked teams wasn't part of the equation, but the Outliers proved that they belong in the competition by playing better against the best of the best.

As promised, the Chromatik Sporting Council has promised support regarding the return of professional baseball in Chromatika. Chromatika has sold out its allotment of tickets in the Repechage Series against Kronbia in a matter of minutes as fans flock to Tikariot. Win this series, and they'd move on to face Quebec and Shingoryeo in the Round of Sixteen.

Kronbia finished one game ahead of Chromatika at a record of 18-18. Sporting a -8 Run Differential, the Kronbians have proven that they know how to win close; Chromatika's Run Differential being -19 shows that they share a similar problem. It's going to be an even matchup to see how the teams will match up in this Best-of-Three series; with Eddard Friend having pitched in the series finale against Milchama, the pitchers will be Ashleigh Witters, Marceaux Justinian, and Ling Xe if necessary (hopefully it won't be).

It's been a bit of a roller coaster to see this team back on the world stage, but there have been three standouts. First, the play of Miles Sturdevantt has been better than expected. Known as a slugger for the Z'ai'ai Originals, the Third Baseman led the teams in both RBIs and Home Runs during the League Phase, while maintaining solid fielding on defense.

Catcher Béa Arcierge has grown into her position, being an excellent caller even while dealing with pitchers who have been a bit limited in their control. She's done decently behind the plate, but it's her defensive skills that has lifted her play and the play of those around her.

Finally, the best pitcher in the bullpen has been Marie Voxx. The twenty-five year old has cemented her status as the best high-pressure reliever in the staff, thriving despite the fact that she's usually brought in when the team is in a jam. Even-keeled with great control on her pitches and the ability to step in no matter what's going on, her play has been needed.

With the team having reached its initial goal of just reaching the Round of Twenty-Four, anything else that they achieve will just be icing on the cake. Chromatik baseball has succeeded in reestablishing itself in the world stage even if they crash out 0-2 in the next series.

How much further will this team be able to continue their journey? To expect a good result against Kronbia sounds rather possible; more than that would be surprising.

Good job, Outliers - you've secured your careers, you've lifted a country, and you've reintroduced your sport back to the minds and eyes of the Chromatik people. Enjoy your playoffs and see just how far you can go!

[Zenic]

"Wow. Sabas Andréia Arriola Park is big but this is on another level."

The Diamond Survivors were doing a walkthrough of South Central Park, the site of their Repechage series against fellow unranked nation, The Batavia. This was the first time many of them had ever walked on a professional baseball field so everyone was focused on different things. The outfielders were checking the height of the wall and the uniformity of the grass. The infielders were ogling the paradoxical firmness and softness of the bases. The pitchers were huddle around the mound, taking turns getting a feel for it. Most of the staff were walking the dugouts, trying out the seats and benches and whatever else they could. While Zenic, as a whole, had visited Kytler Bay City on several occasions, this was the first time a Zenician Baseball team had ever stepped foot in this city or nation.

"Man, these seats are COMFY," stated bench coach Schwenke. "Can you hear me, Colombo?," asked Alamilla through the dugout phone. "Crystal clear. Somehow, it even sounds more professional," replied the bullpen coach. The staff hoped this little trip, alongside their practices, would help get them familiarized with the field before they played their first ever knockout round games in the World Baseball Classic. Luckily, they managed to get a reasonable opponent in The Batavia. Batavia finished 5 places above Zenic at 14th with a 19-17 record compared to Zenic's 16-20 that somehow got them 19th place and well into the playoff spots.

And for a while, many on and around the team thought that they had bite off more than they could chew, especially after they went down 4-0 after five innings in the opening game of the series against Ko-oren while they were playing in Zenic. But something changed in this team in the sixth inning as they rallied to pull the game within one run. Suddenly, they had flipped the script and now THEY were the ones leading by one an inning after that. A safety run in the 8th put the onus on the Dragonflies lineup to keep them alive in the top of the 9th. Wenceslao politely said 'No, thank you' and earned another save.

Zenic continued to flip the script as they jumped out to an early 1-0 lead that they held before losing it in 4th.That lead to a competitive exchange of runs for the next 4 innings that was divided by a MASSIVE 6th inning where the Diamond Survivors put up 7 RUNS. Ko-oren was able to whittle it down to a 4 run lead but ultimately was too much to overcome as Zenic was guaranteed a series win against a top ten nation. The Anaians would have the last laugh over the Rushmoris as they blanked them 2-0 in the final game to prevent Zenic from reaching a 17-19 record and potentially one or two spots higher.

Regardless of where they finished, it was always going to be an uphill battle as most teams above them had either positive run differentials or significantly better negative run differentials, including Batavia. Fortunately, The Batavia are in the same boat as Zenic with being newcomers to the knockout rounds and opening up a potential pathway for Zenic to reach as far as the Octofinals against fellow Rushmoris, Liventia.

But, for now, Zenic were going to enjoy this tour as much as they possibly could.

[Tikariot]

[Pyathora, Dockyard Park]
The Owls exit the bus that brought them down from Alcassar, dropping them outside of Dockyard Park.

Freja Nyström: Welcome to the Pyathoran theorem.
Viktor Blomqvist: You mean Pythagorean?
Freja: No. Pyathoran. As in Pyathora. As in the city we're standing in.
Viktor: Oh.

Jonathan Villiers: "So, Owls vs Owls part 2, electric boogaloo."
Liam Andersson: "You sound tired, Coach."
Villiers: "Yeah. Tired of Maggie sucker-punching us every time. If we had just one game against Quebec, we might have gotten Terefuxe instead. But no, of course we're back for more bird-on-bird violence. Eshialand have seriously underperformed in this WBC and that worries me. Especially coupled with our wonderful playoff record."
Sebastian Forsberg: "Are you giving up?"
Villiers: "Fuck, no! And that's why I have plans."
Sebastian: "Plans?"

Villiers smiles evilly. "Oh yeah. Plans."

The gates to Dockyard Park open.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's showtime."

The team colletively groans at the sight of seven young women standing there.

-----

The setup on the training diamond next to the park is like nothing the Owls had ever seen. As the Owls walk in, they are already looking skeptical. Enter Wiołeta Motyka, Tikariot's beloved Chaos Incarnate, wearing mirrored aviator sunglasses, a whistle, a bright orange traffic cone on her head.

Wiołeta (yelling): “Baseball is angles, reflexes, reactions! Football teaches this! You want sharper instincts? Today, you train Valkyrie-style!”

The baseballers, understandably, exchange worried glances. They look at coach Jonathan Villiers sitting next to the diamond, but he only motions for them to just submit.


Andarra Belfrage’s “Chaos Tag”:
The Owls must field grounders while Andarra darts around with a pool noodle, trying to whack their knees.
“Keeps you aware of blind spots!” she insists.
Riley Thompson, diving for a grounder, yelps: “It’s working! It’s working too well!”

Léonie-Alexandra Dufour-Vandenberghe’s Balance Test:
Players stand on one leg on a medicine ball while swinging a bat.
Léonie shouts instructions in rapid French.
Viktor Blomqvist topples into a heap.
“Core stability!” Léonie beams.

Solfrid Frøya Fiskerstrand-Kyvåg’s Long Throw Gauntlet:
Outfielders throw long toss—while Valkyries charge at them waving flags.
Solfrid: “If you can throw straight under Viking siege, you can throw in ninth inning!”

Cassiopeia Hawthorne’s “Distraction Drill”:
She reads poetry loudly—gothic, dramatic, and very distracting—as pitchers try to hit the strike zone.
“The darkness swallows all… except this curveball!” she intones.
Surprisingly, pitchers report improved focus.

Callope Vespera’s Night Reaction Game:
She dims the lights and rolls tennis balls at random intervals.
Players must react quickly, scooping them up before they bounce twice.
“Improves reflexes!” she says.
Walter Bismuth, inexplicably, joins in and does worse than everyone.

Geneviève de Verronneault’s Tactical Lecture:
She sets up a chalkboard with a football formation and explains how Owls can “press the diamond.”
Nobody understands, but everyone nods respectfully.
Later, Lars Edgren mutters: “I think she just reinvented the shift.”

At the end of the day, the Owls collapse on the grass.

Chloe Bennett: "Was this training, bootcamp or an attempt to kill us?"

Solfroy: "Yes."

The Valkyries stand around thm, hands on hips like conquering generals.

Wiołeta: “Tomorrow, you will thank us when you hit five home runs.”
Forsberg: “Or if we survive the night.”

[Milchama]

"Well we blew it"

"Pretty badly"

"Insanely badly"

"Horrifically badly"

"So badly I don't want to talk about it"

"Me neither"

"I'm glad that we agree"

"Ok, anyways, this sucks"

"It really does because now we're going to lose to Terefuxe who isn't even a real country"

"According to Drawkland they've won like 8 World Bowls"

"Ok but they're not a real baseball country"

"True, they haven't done anything in baseball"

"Has Wartsickle been fired yet?"

"No but the MBA said that if the Warriors don't make the semifinals, 'serious changes will need to be made'"

"So he's basically fired unless we get to the semis"

"Yep, especially with this collapse. I mean we were in the Top 8 for the entire tournament until these last 3 games, it's Astros-esque"

"I'd argue it's more Tigers-esque"

"Wait who are you talking about?"

"Who are you talking about?"

"Let's not worry about it"

"Ok we'll just lampshade it and move on"

"That sounds good"

"What would be the most Tigers-esque thing to do?"

"Get swept by Terefuxe"

"Which is what's going to happen"

"Yep, pretty much"

"And then it's on Banija to explain the rest of the MBL season"

"Ugh that would suck"

"It would especially because we were supposed to RP the trade deadline but couldn't and now things are all messed up"

"Yeah instead of a fun MBL RP we have this crap RP instead"

"It really sucks for KP because he could have read something better but instead is stuck with this"

"Horrible effort all around"

"Terrible"

"Well maybe when we're done with this we can get started on telling the story and that would be better"

"Oh that's a good idea"

"Yeah that is a good idea and then we can at least tell a bit more and then after we're eliminated Banija can take it from there"

"It's just awful all around"

"Terrible"

"God why do we suck?"

"No idea but we really are shit"

"Just a terrible baseball team"

"Awful team"

"We deserve to lose"

"Very badly"

"Very very badly"

"Should we call on Margaret?"

"I guess we kinda have to or else we're really royally screwed instead of mostly clearly screwed which we already are"

"Ok, fine"

"Do what I do and say what I say"

"Ringa pakia!''
''Uma tiraha!''
''Turi whatia!''
''Hope whai ake!''
''Waewae takahia kia kino!''
''Ka mate, ka mate''
''Ka ora, ka ora''
''Ka mate, ka mate''
''Ka ora, ka ora''
''Tēnei te tangata pūhuruhuru''
''Nāna nei i tiki mai whakawhiti te rā''
''Ā upane, ka upane''
''Whiti te rā, hī!''

"Now repeat after me!"

"Forini! Forini!"
"Finidi! Finidi!"
"George! George!"
"Oh Brother! Oh brother!"

*They strip and run around for 18 minutes*

"We pray the Margaret of SnubNose 38 and Random Number God that you may deliver us victory over all infidels that we face in international play"

"Sacrifice the Rubber Chicken!"

*Swoosh of an axe and the chicken is dead*

"Margaret we pray that you take this sacrifice of a rubber chicken in good faith and that by your deliverance Milchama does well in all international competitions"

"Come on You Warriors!"

"Let's Go Milchama!"