An alternate reality-the history of a fictional baseball universe

[damientheomen3]

Hey all! This is going to be an extensive and, hopefully, interesting dynasty about the history of a professional baseball league in an alternate universe. I will be writing about the first year of the American Baseball Coalition, the first professional baseball league in the universe's history, up to who knows what! This league will be purely fictional, and won't use scouts or coaches. As I know nearly nothing about old time baseball, besides the fact that some new professional leagues conflicted with the old and that some teams were removed from the league each season. I will try and create the same kind of environment, but with a modern flare, as the financials will be similar to today (no free agency but there will be 8 figure salaries and such), as will home run numbers. There will also be 162 games in every major league schedule. However, pitcher endurance is high and the use of three man rotations is on. As the league(s) develop(s) I will change the settings around.

The ABC begins as an 8 team, single division, single conference league that services the Austin Steelers, the Baltimore Colonels, the Charlotte Bulldogs, the Detroit Maroons, the Memphis Pines, the San Francisco Terror, and the Tucson War Dogs.All teams will service a 25 man roster, as well as a reserve roster that can hold up to 15 players. I will look into the first of the eight teams, the Austin Steelers, in my next post. I will also soon be rectifying an almanac, because I intend for this to be a lengthy and in depth process.

EDIT: I have started the almanac, which can be found here.

[damientheomen3]

Austin Steelers

The Austin Steelers are a pretty good team. Their best hitter, 34 year old 8th round draft pick Walt Hill is ranked by the game as the second best hitter in the league. He is a terrific offensive player (8/8/8/7/9 on a 1-10 rating scale) but is a bad fielder (2/10 in LF, 5/10 in RF) and very slow. He is also the only really good hitter on the team. 30 year old starting pitcher Andrew Kinsler is rated as the third best starting pitcher in the league, and has the15th richest contract in the league as $11,250,600. However, like with Walt Hill compared to the rest of the players, Kinsler is the only really good pitcher on the team. The team is sixth in the league in payroll and hopes to have a great season.


Baltimore Colonels

The Colonels are a similar team to the Steelers, except the Colonels have a bit of a better offense. Starting pitcher Ronald French is rated as the fourth best starting pitcher in the league, but I'd say he's better than Andrew Kinsler. Kinsler has great movement, but decent control, while French is good in both categories. Anyway, second baseman Dennis Hewlett is rated as the league's best hitter, a surefire .350 hitter with 25 home run potential and incredible fielding skills to go along with it. The team will also get solid contributions from players like 25 year old leadoff hitter and center fielder Tim Easley, who could easily put up a 20-20 season. The team is filled with veterans who can hit the cover off the ball, making this a pretty dangerous team this year.


Charlotte Bulldogs

32 year old New Jersey native left fielder Todd Hawk is a catalyst for this team. He is primed to have a .315 season with 30+ home runs, no more than 25 strikeouts, and at least 50 walks. He is also a solid fielder, making his lack of speed his only downfall. However, besides Hawk, there is nothing to be excited about with this offense. However, the team has the second best starting pitcher in the business in Raymond Nall, who is a very durable veteran arm who has pinpoint accuracy and gets solid movement on his pitches. Charlotte also has a better rotation than Baltimore and Austin overall, as it's less top heavy.


Detroit Maroons

This offense is going to be an exciting one to watch. 30 year old first baseman Columbus Perry is a terrific offensive player, with potential to hit .320 with 40+ home runs. Shortstop Nick Beeman is another terrific player, with potential to hit .350, but needs to work on his eye. He is, however, a solids fielder at one of the toughest positions on the diamond. However, the team decided that offense was first priority, and thus is severely lacking in the pitching department. Top starter Sam Pickard, at age 24, is solid and could potentially be an ace, but the other two pitchers in the rotation probably wouldn't make it in any other rotation in the whole league. This team is gonna be an interesting one to follow, that's for sure.


Kansas City Mastodons

Probably the best team in the league. They have some terrific young hitters, and while they have no real ace, they have, easily, the most balanced rotation in the league. Centerfielder Alan Gibbons, the first overall draft pick, is just 23 and yet he could hit .315 with 30+ home runs, but he's slow and a bad fielder. 23 year old catcher Bob Dean is a very hard worker, and a solid offensive player. He could easily hit .330, and would probably hit 10-15 home runs in a season. He isn't a great fielder though. 25 year shortstop Harry Steele will contend for the batting title, and just might win it, but he's slow and a below average fielder. The rotation consists of durable veterans Adam Johnson, Rich Smithey and Randy Turner. This is going to be one hell of a team if they can get past their shortcoming, which is easily defense.


Memphis Pirates

Talk about cashing in! The Pirates decided to draft a lot of the veterans that other teams stayed away from because of their age and now have a terrific offense and a great defensive team as well! Third baseman Danny Hearne is a good fielder, and will definitely be at least a .300 hitter with at least 20 homers. Not bad for a 26 year old. First baseman Geoffrey Fahey is really the only bad fielder, but he is also an offensive catalyst, as he will be slated to hit .330 with 25+ dingers. The pitching rotation consists of two solid veterans in Bob Cobb and Bobby Button, but third starting pitcher Edwin Swain is downright terrible.


San Francisco Terror

They aren't going to be the flashiest team in the league, but this team embodies baseball to the fullest, with its solid contact hitters, great defense and hardnose pitching staff. First round draft pick John Mobley, 23, will be the best hitter on the team this year no doubt. 28 year old Earl McCafferty is, according to the reports, the best pitcher in the league, although in my mind he's the third or fourth best. He has decent movement and control, but doesn't really do anything really, really well. This team is going to be all about fundamentals, but will it be possible for them to compete with all of these flashy offensive teams? Only time will tell.


Tuscon War Dogs

Last but not least, we have the War Dogs. One thing that I like a lot about this team is that there isn't a star player, just a lot of good players who fit together to make a solid team. This team's obvious offensive strategy will be to get on base and make things happen from there, with Darin Bennett and Eric Irvin leading the way. Pitching-wise, their top pitcher, Everett 'zoom zoom' Baker, is a clean shaven 30 year old gentleman. He's a leader, works hard, and won't ever be the guy on the receiving end of that big scandal. Youngsters Cole Jefferson and Brian Doyle finish off the rotation.

Okay, that was a preview of all of the teams in the league! Next post, we will have an update from midseason!

[damientheomen3]

Ah, July 1st has come upon us and all teams have played 80-82 games. The results were not really to my liking, with just two starting pitchers posting sub-4.00 ERAs. I really should have tested this first, but I decided to change the stuff creation modifier back to 1.000 to counteract this. It'd seem odd for players to stop hitting home runs for a while, as it would for a huge automatic change, so I'm going to do it that way instead to set up a gradual change. Anyway, let's get to the midseason report!

 
STANDINGS
 
team                            wins     losses      win %      GB
Austin Steelers                  47        34        .580       -
Baltimore Colonels               47        34        .580       -
Detroit Maroons                  44        38        .537      3½
Tucson War Dogs                  41        39        .512      5½
Memphis Pirates                  40        40        .500      6½
Kansas City Mastodons            39        43        .476      8½
San Francisco Terror             35        44        .443      11
Charlotte Bulldogs               30        51        .370      18

It was an interesting first half, with some surprise teams surging and some other teams faltering when they were early favorites. It's usually quite the oddity when the league leader in batting average has that number be higher than the lowest winning percentage among all of the teams in the league, but that is exactly the case here. Let's look in on the teams in these first few months. Odd enough, 5th and 6th place teams Memphis and Kansas City had the best Aprils, both posting 14-11 records in the month. Memphis is 26-29 since then while Kansas City is 25-32. Austin and Baltimore have had very similar starts, with the Steelers going 13-12 in April and Baltimore going 14-12. May was a terrific month for both teams, as Austin went 20-9 and Baltimore went 20-7. The Colonels stumbled through June, however, with a 13-15 record, while the Steelers went 14-12 to tie for first at the halfway point. The only team to post an April record worse than 2 games under .500 is Tucson, at 9-16, but they have since gone 32-23 to jump up over .500 again. Charlotte wasn't terrible in their first month, going 12-13, but an 8-20 May that featured 4 losing streaks of at least 3 games, and a 10-18 June that featured a season-long 8 game losing streak has them in last by a lot of games.

The Detroit Maroons, predictably, lead the league in many offensive categories. They are first in batting average, hits, and OPS, tied for first in slugging percentage and doubles, second in runs scored, third in walks, and tied for fourth in home runs. Kansas City leads the league with an even 100 home runs, while Charlotte ranks second. Baltimore leads the league in runs scored, walks and OBP, while ranking second in batting average. The Austin Steelers are the only team in the league with a team ERA below 5, at 4.53, are the only team to hold other teams below a .300 batting average, have allowed the least runs, and have issued the third least walks. Kansas City has the highest team ERA, the highest opponents average, and the least complete games pitched, as well as the most home runs allowed.

Things are looking pretty good so far in Austin. 33rd round draft pick and surprise Outstanding Pitcher Award candidate Ralph Perry leads the league with a 3.75 ERA, along with an 11-5 record. Shortstop Ralph Wetherall ranks third in the league with a .409 batting average, while veterans Walt Hill and John Stevens lead the team with 16 home runs. Stephens also leads the team with 76 RBI. The rotation has performed terrifically, with all three starters posting sub-5.00 ERAs. The team has a hell of a first half behind them and looks to continue this success through the next three months.

As good as things are looking for Austin, they are looking even better for Baltimore. Second baseman Dennis Hewlett leads the entire top row of the league's statistics page (batting average, OBP, slugging %, OPS, runs created/27 outs and VORP). He has posted a line of .433/.522/.672/1.214. while hitting 13 home runs and pacing for over 130 RBI. As terrific as he's been, his teammate Dan Harper has come pretty damn close to mimicking such success, with a .375 batting average, a 1.000 flat OPS, 14 home runs, and 70 RBI. Harper also leads the league with 76 runs scored and is on pace for 80 walks. Starting pitcher Ronald French leads the league with 16 wins, and his 4.60 ERA is 6th in the league. The rest of the Baltimore rotation has been terrible, but the great offense will continue to pace this team unless a major injury occurs.

Well, if there is any silver lining for Charlotte, it's the fact that they rank second in the league in home runs. They are the only team in the league to hit below .300 collectively, and besides Todd Hawk's .290/.391/.579 season, with 18 home runs, the offense has been pretty bad. As bad as the offense has been, the pitching has been even worse. Every single starer in the rotation has an ERA over 7.00, but to be fair, ace Raymond Nall hasn't pitched in over 2 months, and won't pitch for at least another two months. He was 4-2 with a 3.08 ERA when he went down, and since he went down the team has gone 19-43, so their success (an 11-8 record before his loss) has to be linked to him. In fact, the team lost four consecutive games directly following his injury!

Detroit has plenty to look forward to. Their team is 3½ games back, but they look like they have a real shot at winning the league this year. They have the most explosive offense in the league, and they have gotten solid contributions from ace Sam Pickard, who won pitcher of the month in May. Overall, he's 13-5 with a 5.17 ERA. There really isn't much else to mention pitching-wise. However, there is plenty to talk about when it comes to hitting. First baseman Columbus Perry leads the league with 23 home runs, the only player in the league with over 20, while hitting .358. He also leads the league with 87 RBI. Outfielder Brendan Nixson, one of the league's few black players, is second in the league with a .423 batting average. He also has 9 home runs and 74 RBI, while shortstop Nick Beeman is fourth in the league in batting average at .383. Austin and Baltimore better watch their backs, because Detroit has improved in every month so far, and is looking to do even better than their 16-11 month of June.

Kansas City is freefalling. They started 14-11 in April, tied for first in the league, but since then they have gone 25-32, and their terrible pitching staff has to be the reason. Really, it's a decent staff, but the rotation is performing terribly, and the 'pen isn't much better. All three starters have ERAs over 6.50. Starting ceterfielder and leadoff hitter Pat Wieland is having a surprisingly strong season, as he's tied for 10th in batting average at .358, has hit 12 home runs, is on pace for over 100 RBI, and leads the league with 23 steals. Not bad from a 13th round draft pick, huh? Outfielder Alan Gibbons leads the team with 18 homers, and has hit .353 as well, with 53 walks. Jon Brownell completes the terrific outfield, and has hit 13 homers this season, along with a .345 average. If this team had even slightly decent pitching right now, they'd be contenders.

Memphis is the 'other' 14-11 team of April, and just like Kansas City, the fallout has been pretty severe from there. Starting pitcher Bobby Button is the other of the two starters in the league with a sub-4.00 ERA, his at 3.97. He also has an 11-7 record. Closer John Peters has 19 saves to go with a 0.63 ERA. Third baseman Danny Hearne has the team triple crown this far, with a .364 batting average, 14 home runs and 53 RBI. Jim Kiley also has 14 home runs. Centerfielder Dan Southerland has a .398 batting average (doesn't have enough PAs to count for the team lead in batting average apparently), and 9 homers. The team is pretty good, but the rest of the rotation needs to step it up for the Pirates to become a factor.

The Terror have been pretty terrifying to watch, but there were a few bright spots for this team. Young first baseman John Mobley leads the team in batting average with a .352 average, while centerfielder Shane Labbe leads the team in homers (13) and RBI (63), while hitting .341. 24 year old Johnny Anderson has hit .346 with 11 homers and 47 RBI, so he has also played well. Pitching-wise, it hasn't been a very pretty sight. All three starters have ERAs over 5.80, and ace Earl McCafferty has been inconsistent. The Terror had a terrible may, when they went 7-19, but can they build on a 15-12 June?

Lastly, we have Tucson. The team started terribly, but has really rebounded well in the last two months to place fourth at midseason. Starting pitcher Everett Baker won pitcher of the month in June, and is 15-9 with a 4.22 ERA overall. However, the inability of the rest of the rotation to pitch well has caused the team to be on the outside looking in right now. Third baseman Darin Bennett leads the team with a .358 batting average, and is a perfect 10 for 10 in steal attempts, while first baseman George Price leads the team with 13 home runs and 58 RBI. As you can see, this team has the offense necessary to win the league, but will the pitching follow suit?

I forgot to mention in my earlier posts, if you want me to create a player for you, PM me the player's name, facial type, and other info, including position, and I will PM you back giving you his ratings and give updates on him in my posts.

[damientheomen3]

It's October 1st and all teams have played 161 games. It's been a hell of a ride, and quite the unpredictable one too. Wasn't Kansas City the best team in the league? Wasn't Charlotte supposed to be better than Austin and Baltimore? Well, none of that happened, but hey, parity is good for the league, right? It's been a tight race most of the way, with Austin and Baltimore flip flopping for the lead, Detroit moving in on top for a little bit and even San Fran leading it all for a couple of days. Here are how the standings look now that each team has completed 161 games.

 
STANDINGS
 
team                            wins     losses      win %      GB
Baltimore Colonels               92        69        .571       -
Austin Steelers                  91        70        .565       1
Detroit Maroons                  90        71        .559       2
San Francisco Terror             88        73        .547       4
Memphis Pirates                  78        83        .484       14
Kansas City Mastodons            75        86        .466       17
Tucson War Dogs                  71        90        .441       21
Charlotte Bulldogs               59        102       .366       33

Five players were hitting over .400 at the midway point, but only Dennis Hewlett of Baltimore could maintain it, and he even missed 6 weeks with a leg injury. He was, however, able to hit .412, and maintain his lead in all of those top row categories that he led in besides slugging percentage. He finished .016 lower than Columbus Perry in that category. Speaking of Perry, he kept on his pace of leading the league in homers and RBI, hitting 49 over the wall and driving in 174. If Baltimore can win their season closer today, Hewlett will definitely win the OBA (outstanding batter award). But if they don't, who knows what'll happen?

Ralph Perry was not able to keep up his big first half, in which he led the league with a 3.75 ERA. He is currently 22-12 with a 4.40 ERA, but he hasn't lost in a month, while his teammate, Lawrence Burns, led the league with a 4.33 ERA. Ronald French leads the league in wins by a mile with 29, and will start Baltimore's final game of the season to attempt to win his 30th. How amazing would it be for him to become the first player to win 30 games, and for him to win the pennant clinching game for his team, all in the same game? Anyway, Jim Fogg of San Francisco led the league with 43 saves, while Snoopy Joseph of Austin had 42.

The biggest dominance of one team over another this season was Baltimore's 18-5 record versus Charlotte. Baltimore finished at or above .500 against every team besides Austin, against whom they went 11-12. Austin also went .500 or better against all teams besides Detroit, who drubbed Austin for a 16-7 record. Since Detroit was the only team that could figure out Austin's pitching staff, does that make them the best team in the league? Well, maybe if they didn't struggle against lower tier teams (they went 11-12 against Kansas City and 12-12 against Tucson) they'd be in a position to win the league right now. But this isn't a time for 'what ifs' and 'maybe ifs', this is a time to reflect on what did actually happen.

Baltimore led the league in most all hitting categories, including batting average and runs scored. They did, however finish 7th in home runs. They were also run-of-the-mill pitching-wise, causing them to be in the position they're in now. Austin remains the only team in the league with a sub- 5.00 team ERA, as well as the only team to allow opponents to hit at a rate below .300. If they weren't so run-of-the-mill hitting-wise, they wouldn't be in the position they're in now either. Anyway, let's get on to the reports for each team before we detail the (potentially) last day of the season.

Austin Steelers
first half record- 47-34
first half position- 1st (t)
record since- 44-36
current position- 2nd (1 GB)

Well, Austin didn't really do anything wrong, they're just up against a consistent Baltimore team. Eric Childress leads the team in homers with 32, but he only got playing time because of a lot of injuries to outfielders (none of the current starting OFs have 500+ ABs). John Wetherall leads the team with a .369 batting average, while John Stevens leads the team with 123 RBI. Walt Hill had a spectacular season, hitting .345 with 30 homers and 118 RBI, in just 490 at bats. The pitching remained as solid as it's been, as Lawrence Burns leads the league with a 4.33 ERA, but a 13-16 record shouldn't get his hopes too high for the OPA. Ralph Perry is 22-12 with a 4.40 ERA, 3rd in the league, while Andrew Kinsler is one of two players in the league with 20 wins AND 20 losses. 36 year old reliever Marlin Nelson leads all relievers with 10 wins as well. Austin enters their season closer, at Memphis, with Ralph Perry on the mound. He hasn't lost since September 1st, but can he keep that going when his team desperately needs him to?

Baltimore Colonels
first half record- 47-34
first half position- 1st (t)
record since- 45-35
current position- 1st

Ah, the Colonels. They play a gritty, tough game of baseball and are now in prime position to win the league because they do it so well. They lead the league in runs despite ranking second to last in home runs, thanks to a high team batting average and a high team OBP. Dennis Hewlett leads the team (and the league) with a .412 batting average, while ranking second on the team in homers with 23, and RBI with 123. Right fielder Dan Harper is second on the team (and in the league) with a .390 batting average, while leading the team in homers (29) and ribbies (138). Less known players Chris Dorton and Henry Ballentine also drove in over 100 runs each. Ace Ronald French leads the league with 29 wins, and will try for his thirtieth today, against Kansas City. Rick McGinnis went 22-17, and led the league in innings pitched with 377.2, as well as complete games, with 18. All eyes will be on this team tonight, as a win will win them the league pennant.

Charlotte Bulldogs
first half record- 30-51
first half position- 8th (18 GB)
record since- 29-51
current position- 8th (33 GB)

Well, at least they were able to stay consistent. The Bulldogs finish the season with 3 starting fielders, a backup, and a reliever on the DL, and those on the DL include star Todd Hawk and shortstop John Labbe. Gary Stewart was able to turn in a good season, hitting .341 with 16 homers and 96 RBI, while Jack Miliner led the team in homers with 28, and tied for the team lead for RBIs with exactly 100. While the rotation was overall abysmal, ace Raymond Nall was able to pitch phenomenally when he could pitch. In 18 starts, he went 10-4 with a 3.16 ERA. Imagine what could have been had he never missed four months with shoulder inflammation...

Detroit Maroons
first half record- 44-38
first half position- 2nd (3½ GB)
record since- 46-33
current position- 3rd (2 GB)

A terrific second half goes to waste as Detroit finishes the season empty handed. The Maroons' hitters played as well as expected, the only problem is that the pitching also did as bad as expected. Shortstop Nick Beeman and left fielder Brendan Hixson finished third and fourth in the league in batting average, respectively, while first baseman Columbus Perry led the league in homers with 49, and RBI with 179. It's not often that the team that has the player with the most homers in the league finishes third to last in total team homers, but that's what happened here. Ace Sam Pickard is only 25, and looked it, with his inconsistency. He won pitcher of the month back in May, but has not had a good month since. He is currently 24-12 with a 5.13 ERA. Ethan Porter went 15-16 with a 5.77 ERA while Randy Hagood went 18-12 with a 5.34 ERA. If the team could have had a consistent ace, they could be in Baltimore's situation right now!

Kansas City Mastodons
first half record- 39-43
first half position- 6th (8½ GB)
record since- 36-43
current position- 6th (17 GB)

It has been a tough season for the Elephants. Two of the teams' top 3 in starts are currently on the DL, with the one who isn't being the worst one. Their current #3 starter, Michael Johnson, should enjoy his time in the bigs, because I'm pretty sure a 2-12 record and a 9.51 ERA won't land him a job anywhere else. The team has been terrific offensively, ranking top 3 in every offensive category, but they also rank dead last in about 90% of all pitching categories. 26 year old shortstop Harry Steele led the team with a .377 batting average, while Alan Gibbons hit .363, led the team in homers with 35 (also good for second in the league), and he led the team in RBI with 142 (also second league-wide). He also walked over 110 times, the only player in the league to walk a triple digit amount of times, and led the league in runs scored. Plenty of other players deserve mention, but I've spent enough time on this team. Next!

Memphis Pirates
first half record- 40-40
first half position- 5th (6½ GB)
record since- 38-43
current position- 5th (14 GB)

Ace Bobby Button has had a terrific season, going 23-17 with a 4.36 ERA, second in the league. Too bad he's the only starter on the team that had an even remotely good season. The team was top 3 in most pitching categories, but most of them are driven up by Button and closer Jason Peters, who posted 31 saves and a 2.49 ERA. Just like the pitching, there isn't much mentioning on offense after the team's 2 best hitters. Third baseman Danny Hearne led the team in batting average (.369), homers (29), and RBI (113), while Dan Southerland hit .365 with 21 home runs. Memphis is a good team, all they need is better fielding and a few upgrades on offense to be legit contenders.

San Francisco Terror
first half record- 35-44
first half position- 7th (11 GB)
record since- 43-29
current position- 4th (4 GB)

Well, when a 7th place team at the midway point can become the top team in the league standings at the start of September, you know you have yourself either a weak league, or a damn competitive one. San Fran WAS able to build on the 15-12 June, going 21-6 in July, 16-11 in August and 16-12 in September. Chalk this one up as 'too little, too late', because this team was really the only team that played like a champion throughout the stretch. Little known third baseman Ben Little led the team in batting average, hitting .371, and RBI with 120, while hitting 26 homers. Shane Labbe ranked fourth on the team with a .329 batting average, while leading the team in homers with 29 and ranking second in RBI with 117. The rotation has remained amazingly healthy, with all 3 starters logging at least 40 starts. Earl McCafferty led the way with a 23-18 record and a 4.97 ERA, while Cecil Street went 22-12 with a 5.05 ERA. If only the team could start as strong as they finished...

Tucson War Dogs
first half record- 41-39
first half position- 4th (5½ GB)
record since- 30-51
current position- 7th (21 GB)

Well, for every San Francisco, there's a Tucson. The team looked so promising, but a pair of 8 win months couldn't be reprimanded with a 14-14 September. This team didn't look like a veteran team, it looked like an old team, and that's a problem for such a young offense. Everett Baker was the other pitcher in the league, besides Andrew Kinsler, to win 20 and lose 20, going 22-20 with a 4.68 ERA. Raw 25 year old first baseman George Price led the team in home runs and RBI, with 28 and 120 respectively. Shortstop Dustin Van led the team with a .346 batting average, while hitting 13 homers and driving in 87 runs. Star youngster Darin Bennett hit .341 overall, with 24 steals.


Well it's (possibly) the last day of the season and there are two matchups that everyone will keep their eye on: Austin at Memphis and Kansas City at Baltimore. If Austin loses, Baltimore clinches the league pennant (although they wouldn't know since all games are at 7:05 PM). If Austin wins and Baltimore loses, then a tiebreaker game will be played, and Baltimore ace Ronald French will be tired, since he'll be pitching today against Kansas City. Without further adieu, let October 1st begin!

The first game to sim is San Francisco at Detroit. Detroit was able to score 2 in the 8th to force a 4-4 tie into extras, where Nick Beeman drove in the game winning run in the 12th to give Detroit a 5-4 win. Austin at Memphis is the second game, but to increase the suspense, I'll sim Charlotte at Tucson first. Well, who knew that the two worst teams duking it out could be interesting? Charlotte jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first and never looked back, winning 11-4. Mark Payton, who leads the league with 32 losses, won his 13th game. Now, Austin at Memphis.

Ralph Perry was starting for Austin in a suspenseful game that was a do or die situation. Perry is not only a solid pitcher, but a good hitter too, having hit .293 with 7 RBI. He went 1 for 4 in the game and drove in a run. Austin was able to string a bunch of hits together to score 3 runs in the top of the 2nd, only to see Memphis respond with 2 in the bottom half of the inning. Austin then scored 4 in the 4th, taking a commanding 7-2 lead. They made the lead 8-2 in the top of the 6th, until Memphis scored 3 in the bottom of the inning to close the gap. Austin scored 2 in the 7th to take a comfortable 10-5 lead. In the bottom of the 8th, two quick outs were gotten before a single and a walk put a guy in scoring position. Another single gave Memphis a run, and a double scores another run for the Pirates before a flyout. After 8, the score is Austin 10, Memphis 7. The top of the 9th featured just 10 pitches, as the Steelers were made to look foolish. Snoopy Joseph was in to try and shut the game down in the bottom of the 9th. His first pitch was a single for Jim Kiley. Four pitches later, an RBI double for Bill Mertens. Next pitch, a single to Danny Hearne, advancing Mertins to third. Luckily, Samuel Barber grounded into a double play, but the run scored, leaving Austin with just a 1 run lead and 1 out to go. Chris Harkey made sure to be patient, and was awarded with a walk. Bill Alderete was up to bat, with hit .386 batting average in close, late games. Snoopy kept his cool and got him to ground out to the second baseman and secure a 10-9 victory for Austin! Meanwhile...

Kansas City at Baltimore. Kansas City scored off of Ronald French in the first inning, but the Colonels responded with a run of their own. KC scored again in the top of the 2nd, but Baltimore scored 3 in the bottom of the second to take a 4-2 lead. The Mastodons slimmed the lead to 4-3 after 3, and tied the game at 4 halfway through the fourth, but the Colonels scored 4 in the bottom of the 4th to take an 8-4 lead. That would be short lived, as Kansas City scored 7(!) runs in the top of the 5th to take an 11-8 lead! Baltimore scored 2 in the bottom of the inning, and both teams scored one in the 6th. KC didn't score in the 7th, while their counterparts scored one to tie it at 12 through 7. No one scored in the 8th, and KC was shut down in the 9th by Jimmy Hixson. The bottom of the 9th started with two quick outs before Carson Dorton singled. Henry Ballentine was up to bat now, with one more chance to keep this game from going into extras. Because of the runs scored, this was the longest game of the day, and thus, Austin gets to look on in. Anyway, Ballentine swung and missed, then looked at a strike. He would then foul off four of the next 6 pitches he saw, and then he saw a 2-2 fastball right up the alley, and his eyes lit up. He swung as hard as he could, and sent it flying, back, back, back... GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Henry Ballentine just walked off the season with a two run homer and Baltimore wins the league pennant!!!!! Incredible!!! Unbelievable!!! Unimaginable!!! WOW!!!!!

(I know it sucks, but I only have access to GIMP now)

[damientheomen3]

Just a little heads up. I will very rarely be posting anything on weekdays, as I have a lot more time on the weekends. Also, sorry for such a long delay between posts, school is actually getting somewhat difficult now and I never really got around to this. That being said, let's get into the offseason!

The excitement has mounted around the league, and all that really stands for the offseason are the award announcements, and looking in on trades. It will be a long process for the fans to deal with, but once the six months pass and their favorite teams are back into action, it is sure to have a much greater beginning than it had last season. Anyway, we shall get on to announcing award winners!

The first awards being announced are the gold glove awards. Many factors go in to selecting the best fielders at each position, and there are always a couple of players who find themselves feeling snubbed of deserved hardware. Anyway, the pitcher who won the gold glove was Cole Jefferson of Tucson, who committed 3 errors and had a range factor just below three (to be honest I have no clue what range factor is). Bob Dean of Kansas City won the gold glove at catcher, throwing out 51.2% of runners and committing 8 errors in 145 starts at the diamond's roughest position. The gold glover at first base was San Francisco youngster John Mobley, who fielded .990 and was part of 159 double plays. The second base gold glove went to another member of the Terror, this time Chris Miller. He committed 11 errors, fielded .990 and had a range factor of 7.17. Third base gold glover was yet another San Francisco player, 35 year old Ben Little. He started a game at 5 different positions, and was really pretty bad fielding third base, making his winning the award quite a surprise. He committed 22 errors in 125 games at 3B, fielding .955 with a range factor of 4.02. Nick Beeman won the gold glove at shortstop after a terrific campaign in which he had just 9 errors and a range factor of 5.79 (again, I have no clue what significance this stat has, or what a 'good' mark is). Brendan Hixson, Dan Southerland, and Alan Gibbons won the three outfield gold gloves, with Southerland having just 1 error in the entire regular season.

The best rookie award will be skipped this season, as it was the first year of the league, and I won't ever post the manager of the year award winners.

There was much speculation when it came to the best pitcher award. Does it go to Ronald French, the gritty young starter who led the league in wins, and was the ace of the league's champion? Or does it go to another player, such as Ralph Perry, who won 23 games and posted the third lowest ERA in the league on an Austin team that nearly won the championship? Will veteran Everett Baker get any love for his solid 22 win, 4.68 ERA performance, seeing as how he pitched on the second worst team in the league? It turns out that the voters decided to give the award to Ronald French after all. He won 29 games, many more than any other player in the league, and finished 6th in the league in ERA.

The race for the best hitter award has, really, only three players with realistic shots at winning the award, and even then, it's still pretty obvious who the frontrunner is. Dennis Hewlett dominated the leagues' leaderboards, leading the league with a .412 batting average, having the highest OBP, the highest OPS, and the highest VORP.He went deep 23 times, drove in 125 runs, and scored 118 times as well. His team also won the league championship, earning him some huge bonus points. However, Detroit star slugger Columbus Perry hopes that his leading the league in homers, RBI, and slugging percentage can get voters to look his way. He hit 49 home runs, 14 more than the second most in the league, along with 174 RBI, 31 more than the second place guy. He slugged .665. The third MVP candidate is Alan Gibbons. The Kansas City star hit 35 homers and drove in 143 runs, while hitting .364 and posting a 1.081 OPS. He also drew 113 walks, the most in the league. However, besides that and leading the league in runs with 153, he finished middle of the pack in the league in most statistics. The voters had a tough time deciding, but the player who looked to be the leading contender for the award won it, as Dennis Hewlett took the award home.

And thus, the awards are done. All that's left for this offseason are the trades that are to happen, but they are definitely going to be scarce. However, there will be some interesting deals happening. The first one occurred on November 20th, when Memphis shipped center fielder Dave Lee to Detroit for starting pitcher Ethan Porter. Porter went 15-16 with a 5.77 ERA, but lacks stamina to be a part of a contenders rotation. Dave Lee is 27 years old, a great fielder at all three outfield positions, a speedy player, and can post a solid batting average. Surprisingly, he only took one at bat for Memphis this past season. The second trade was announced on January 12th, with Charlotte shipping shortstop Ray Bullen to San Francisco for reliever Fletcher Loring. Bullen isn't a great offensive player, but can field all around the diamond solidly, making him a solid addition for San Fran as they push for the title. The deal wasn't a great one for Charlotte, but they did address a need by fortifying their bullpen.

Well, the offseason is now officially over and the new season is set to begin. Get ready for some great action in the American Baseball Coalition!