OOTP Developments Forums - Blessed in the West

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Blessed in the West - Single Year Simulation

Blessed in the West - A Pacific West League Story
http://i.imgur.com/e4I3hAy.jpg
[NOTE: the following is a brief story to compliment the league, and all reports will be written in past tense]

New Year's Eve. Benjamin François - a French immigrant with his mother and father in 1994 - was living the high life. Benjamin had just recently turned 19, two weeks prior, and had become a permanent United States citizen after residing in Astoria, Oregon for five years. The Northwest is a beauty. Certainly more so than back home in Sadroc - a small French village. He hated it there during his childhood - no entertainment, little friends, and plains...everywhere. But, he did miss home. The local baseball team, the Sadroc Boys, were left to play with just 8 after the departure of long time 1st Basemen, Marin Leroy, and after Benjamin - who played Right - went, the Boys were down to 7. He did wonder, every once in a while, how his buddies back home are doing.
His father had received a call the night before, December 30th, 1999. Brasil Orléans - Manager of the Sadroc Boys, and long time friend of the François' family. The true inspiration for Benjamin's love for baseball, had called to schedule a visit to the U.S next month.
...
January 23. Benjamin's father greeted Brasil at the Portland International Airport, and drove him back to Astoria. However, Brasil's visit to the U.S wasn't fun and games. The now-67 year old had gotten lung cancer in 1995, shortly after Benjamin's exit from the country. Just one year to live...The news came as an absolute shock to the François' - Brasil was a wonderfully, energetic and kind old man just a few years back. But, his visit wasn't just to spread the bad news, as he had brought a gift - a Babe Ruth signed baseball card. How he had obtained such item is unknown, but he claimed to have gotten it from his father, who served in the First Great War (most likely from a fellow army-men). Brasil does not have any children, so had decided to make the special trip to the U.S to say goodbye, and pass down the card. He asks of one thing from Benjamin in return - to bring the joy of baseball to the residents of Astoria. Yes, it was true. Astoria lacked any baseball program in Junior-High, High-School, College, and even Little League. Of course, this sort of problem to Brasil was like a public health crisis.
"Let the west be blessed with baseball, Ben!"

The final words Benjamin were to ever hear from his longtime coach.

February 1st. Brasil had flown back home to spend his final months with the comfort of his family in Sadroc. And Benjamin did not take his upcoming death lightly - he knew very well that he had to follow up on Brasil's wishes in order to honor him. So with the help of his father, Benjamin, an aspiring 19 year old, took to the Oregon State Administrative Office in request of licenses to start a baseball league of sort. Of course, this would not be an easy task, as the response he received was something along the lines of "Money, or nothing". Thankfully, the François' were quite a wealthy household, but a requirement of 100 different public contributions had been placed on the license, furthering the task. The following days were spent in recruiting patrons for the league funding - the deadline being Valentine's.

Valentine's Day. He had done it. With nearly 120 contributions, and upwards of $15,000 in cash, Benjamin took back to the OSAO. Permission was granted, but the true task had yet to come. Construct a league of at least 8 teams by March 1st. Jesus ****ing Christ. 8 teams? This would not be as simple as the patrons, as Benjamin knew damn well that he wasn't going to find 8 local Astorian clubs. He had always hated the octet-rule. An all-Oregon league? Possible. An Oregon-Washington league? Also possible. How about a Pacific West league? Oregon-Washington-Idaho-California-Nevada. The dream was still far from forming.

March 1st. Over the course of two weeks, Benjamin took the streets of the entire West Coast, in search of eight teams to play in the league. On February 29th, the league had been filled with a single team from each Pacific West state, but falling three teams short, he had his father hit up some colleagues in Arizona, Montana, and Utah to complete the octet. Thank god it was a leap year. The OSAO once again approved the final process of the league creation process, and left the rules, details and finances of the league up to newly-promoted Commissioner, Benjamin François. His love for baseball and the West Coast had finally prevailed.

Teams:
http://i.imgur.com/tE4kJl1.jpg
Northwest Division
Boise Bombers
Montana Bears
Oregon Trailers
Seattle Pilots
Southwest Division
California Claim Jumpers
Nevada Sierras
Phoenix Venoms
Salt Lake City Alpines

Rules
Roster Size: 26
Reserve Roster Size: 50
DH: No
Schedule Length: 84 Games
Balanced Schedule: No
Inter-league: Yes
Season Start Date: March 15
Trading Deadline: April 30
Amateur Draft: October 1 (5R6G)
HoF:
Waiting Period - 3y; On Ballot - 5y; Min. Service - 5y, Induction - 80%, Drop - 20%

Financials
(as a C-Student in school, Benjamin had the respective owners decide this)
Ticket Price Baseline: $10.00
Gate Share: 20%
Min. Days of Service for 1 Service Year: 100
Posting System: No
Years Required for Arbitration: 2
http://i.imgur.com/lxBBbYr.png

March 2nd. Players from around the nation scrambled to register for the Pacific West League tryouts, estimated to be about Low A ~ Double A skill level.

Oregon Trailers
http://i.imgur.com/28oDImE.jpg

California Claim Jumpers
http://i.imgur.com/bGV9eNO.jpg

Salt Lake City Alpines
http://i.imgur.com/UiPQR79.jpg

Love those graphics. Can't wait for the season to start!

First Three Rounds of Inaugural Draft
http://i.imgur.com/DlvvHpK.png

March 5th. Benjamin took to Portland to watch his hometown Oregon Trailers, managed by his father's colleague, Kyle Schmall, in training camp.

March 19th. Spring training came to a close. The Claim Jumpers were most victorious, finishing 9-3, where as the Alpines did the poorest at 3-9. Benjamin's Trailers hit an even .500 at 6-6. Tomorrow is the big day, Opening day. Of course, Benjamin and his father would be in the front rows of Oregon's home - Sacagawea Field - to cheer on his boys against Boise. He does remind himself, however, to not take biases into account as commissioner in order to ensure a successful league.

Opening Game, Bombers at Trailers

Benjamin and the 1600+ fans at Sacagawea Field were treated well, as they witnessed a spectacular 2-0 shutout to kickstart the Pacific West Baseball League.
http://i.imgur.com/GXxz8Vi.png

The season will be reported through weekly updates, which includes screenshots of the standings, and power rankings, along side some interesting boxscores.

Week 1 Standings
http://i.imgur.com/CrZLhpl.png
Power Rankings
http://i.imgur.com/m5vrApY.png
HEADLINES:
Sierras Undefeated, Venoms Winless
The Nevada Sierras have rolled through the first week of the inaugural PWL season. After a 7-5 spring training, the Sierras have picked up a pair of sweeps on the road against the Alpines and Venoms to start off the campaign. There were some bumps on road, however, as it took 10 innings to defeat the Alpines 4-3 both on opening day, and the following day.
http://i.imgur.com/E5IMq0t.png
http://i.imgur.com/nBahr3M.png
On the other hand, the Phoenix Venoms have found themselves in a particularly difficult situation, beginning the year 0-7. Pitching surely appeared to be a problem for them in spring training, and certainly has shown throughout the first week, as the Venoms have surrendered 40 runs to this point - by far the most in the league. Thus far, they have been handed sweeps by the hands of California, and Nevada.
Teams still have plenty of time to rebound, with nearly 14 weeks remaining in the year.

Week 2 Standings
http://i.imgur.com/eefjjUJ.png
Power Rankings
http://i.imgur.com/hGEmZhb.png
HEADLINES:
Sierras Take Commanding Lead, Northwest Remains Tight
The Sierras' hot start continue to baffle Southwestern teams, as Nevada has taken a 5 game lead on the division just two weeks into the year. Their first loss didn't come until March 31st, when the (5-4) Claim Jumpers handed them a 6-1 loss, ending the Sierras winning streak at 9.
As for the Venoms, both hitting and pitching remain an issue. With an abysmal .236 team average, and just 37 runs scored, the Venoms are last in nearly every offensive category. Starting pitching has improved slightly in the past seven days, but Phoenix still remain last in runs against at 62.

Week 3 Standings
http://i.imgur.com/iiJTzob.png
Power Rankings
http://i.imgur.com/6MEjNP0.png
HEADLINES:
Pilots Fly into Deadlock with Bombers
The Seattle Pilots have surged into a 1st-place tie with the Boise Bombers. Early in the week, the Pilots had an impressing showing, sweeping the league leaders off the board, igniting a storm of victories. The Pilots swept the Claim Jumpers later in the week, marking an eight-game win streak, which was only cut short by a 12-5 loss to Salt Lake City.
http://i.imgur.com/9qWr5Fz.png
On the other end, the Sierras continue to run the table, and the string of losses to Seattle seem to be a small dent in their record, as they now hold an 8 game lead over California and Salt Lake.
In spite of that, the most intriguing matchup of the week would have to be the inner-league series featuring Phoenix @ Boise. The Venoms appeared to finally be on track, with an explosive 9-2 win on Tuesday, but the Bombers struck back dropping a giant 12-run 5th in the 17-1 victory Wednesday. The rubber-match was a rather low scoring affair, with Boise taking the 4-1 prize.
http://i.imgur.com/YlOx7pB.png

PICTURE DAY

Benjamin François
http://i.imgur.com/HZGepBW.jpg
Boise Bombers
http://i.imgur.com/AAJP5BI.png
California Claim Jumpers
http://i.imgur.com/7aR5GHZ.png
Montana Bears
http://i.imgur.com/WK2mPzn.png
Nevada Sierras
http://i.imgur.com/GmoWapm.png
Oregon Trailers
http://i.imgur.com/qmFpil4.png
Phoenix Venoms
http://i.imgur.com/cUZ54Hn.png
Salt Lake City Alpines
http://i.imgur.com/cDaJkjT.png
Seattle Pilots
http://i.imgur.com/HlMXg9S.png

Week 4 Standings
http://i.imgur.com/8UW9XYo.png
Power Rankings
http://i.imgur.com/4cAQTKY.png
HEADLINES:
Pilots Take Northwest Lead, Sierras Hit 9 Straight
During the short week, the Boise Bombers greatly suffered a setback, losing 6 straight ballgames, and falling out of 1st place. The Bears also had a tough time, dropping 8 in a row. The Pilots took advantage of the situation, pulling out 2.5 game lead on the Northwest division. The Sierras surely contributed to the Bombers' losing streak, shutting them down by scores of 4-3, 12-1, and 12-3.
http://i.imgur.com/wvFP1mf.png
http://i.imgur.com/vE3Q6P3.png
The bad, pacific weather appears to have taken effect lately, with three games being postponed during the week week. On a brighter note, the All-Star game fan voting began, and the rosters will be announced in just under three weeks.