The Beginning of Baseball
 

I'm doing a league with the history of Baseball starting with the 1871 National Association of Professional Base Ball Players. I'm using actual schedules, rosters (until draft/FA starts), and league format. I'm also trying to replicate different historical events to make it more interesting. I plan on running all of 1871 today.

March 17th, 1871
The first professional baseball league has been created. Nine teams, representing nine northeastern American cities, have agreed to form a loose association for the first ever major league championship. The first game will be the Forest Citys of Cleveland at the Kekiongas of Fort Wayne on May 4th.
Also coming out of this meeting was the ineligibility of Scott Hastings, star player of Forest City of Rockford. Scott Hastings played spring professional baseball for another club and is therefor deemed ineligible for the opening 60 days of the season. During this period Hastings will remain manager and will still practice with the team.

May 4th, 1871
The first ever game of professional organized baseball is in the books. The Forest Citys of Cleveland went into the Kekiongas stadium and took the first ever game 11-4. The Forest Citys took a 10-0 after the 6th inning thanks to player of the game, 1st baseman Jim Carleton (5 AB, 3 3 H, 2 3B).

Here's the box score for the first game.

More Bad News for Forest Citys of Rockford
 

May 6th, 1871
The Forest Citys of Rockford have more bad news after the suspension of their star player, Scott Hastings, for the first 60 games of their season. The team pitcher Cherokee Fisher was injured in their first game and will be out for the rest of the season. Early signs point to Denny Mack as the replacement as pitcher. Mack is currently the starting first baseman but is the only other player with pitching experience.

May in Review
 

June 1st, 1871
The first month of professional baseball is in the books. The Athletics are the only undefeated team, although they've only played one game. Early front runners are the White Stockings (5-1) and Washington Olympics (7-3). Batter of the month was Ezra Sutton. The Forest City of Cleveland third baseman has 17 hits in 42 at-bats to go with his lead leading 5 doubles. Pitcher of the Month Al Spalding led the Red Stockings to a 4-4 record with 71.1 innings pitched and leading the league with 7 strike outs.

June in Review
 

July 1st, 1871
The Red Stockings are on a run. They've won 7 straight games to take the league lead with a 9-4 record. The Pitcher of the Month was George Zettlein of the White Stockings who in 6 games (all complete games) was tied at the top of the league with 11 strike outs. Levi Meyerle earned Batter of the Month after a league high 12 RBIs and a batting average of .364.

First 5 hit game
 

July 4th, 1871
Charlie Hodes of the White Stockings has recorded the first ever 5 hit game. The 5-5 performance happened in a 25-12 drubbing of the 2-12 Forest Citys of Rockford.

July in Review
 

August 1st, 1871
July was the month of the batters. It seemed as almost every pitcher struggled. Four total 5 hit games took place this month. Multiple teams had over 20 runs and there was even a 32 run game. Meyerle earned Batter of the Month for the second straight month with 15 hits in only 28 at bats and 11 RBIs. Rynie Wolters of the New York Mutuals maintained a 1.58 ERA and pitched a shutout (only the 2nd of the season) earning him Pitcher of the Month.

The end of the Kekiongas
 

August 29th, 1871
The Kekiongas of Fort Wayne have disbanded and will no longer play professional baseball as a member of the NABBP. Too many Kekionga players have abandoned the team, many of them to Baltimore. The Eckfords of Brooklyn are set to take over next season in the place of Kekionga.
All time leaders:
Hits:
Wally Goldsmith 26
Doubles:
Jim Foran 5
Triples:
Frank Sellman 6
Home Runs:
Jimmy Hallinan 1
Frank Sellman 1
RBIs:
Frank Sellman 25
Wins:
Bobby Matthews 10
Complete Games:
Bobby Matthews 18
Innings Pitched:
Bobby Matthews 167
ERA:
Bobby Matthews 3.66

August in Review
 

September 1st, 1871
Who will win? That's the question everyone is asking heading into the last two months of the season. Six different teams are within two games of the lead and there is no clear front runner. John Bass wins Batter of the Month for the Forest Citys of Cleveland leading the league in hits, doubles, triples, and RBIs in 31 at-bats. Asa Brainard of the Olympics wins Pitcher of the Month going 4-1 with 5 strike outs.

Home Stretch Games
 

September 26th, 1871
The first ever championship of the NABBP may be awarded soon but the question is to whom. Current leaders the Red Stockings are 1/2 a game up of Forest Citys of Cleveland. This is significant because tomorrow those two teams meet in Cleveland. Here's a look at the remaining key games of the season:
BOS @ CLE Sep. 27th
NYU @ BOS Oct. 4th
TRO @ BOS Oct. 7th
The top 4 teams in the standings are the only teams with a mathematical chance to win the championship.

September in Review
 

October 1st, 1871
Two teams start the month on top of the standings. After the Forest Citys victory over the Red Stockings, they are looking for some luck as their season is over. The Red Stockings and Mutuals have 2 games left while the Haymakers still have 4 games to play this season. Pitcher of the Month was once again Wolters after a ridiculously low 0.88 ERA in 6 starts this month. Lip Pike has helped the Haymakers into championship contention with 2 home runs and 11 RBIs in 6 games. The month also featured a 6 hit game by Cal McVey of the Red Stockings.

Game of the Year?
 

October 4th, 1871
Bottom of the 9th; down by 1; bases loaded; two outs. That was the position the Red Stockings found themselves against the Mutuals. And who else to be up to bat but manager-player Harry Wright. On the first pitch, however, it was a ground out and Mutuals won 3-2 in one of the lowest scoring games of the year. Neither pitcher allowed a single earned run or extra-base hit.

Tragedy in Chicago
 

October 12th, 1871
Over the past few days there has been a tragic fire in Chicago destroying much of the Chicago's infrastructure and killing hundreds. The baseball ramifications of this incident are the White Stockings will play the rest of their games on the road and their entry in the 2nd season of the NABBP is in jeopardy.

OT and 1 to go
 

October 22nd, 1871
The Haymakers have hung on to their chance at the championship by beating the White Stockings 11-10 in the tenth inning with an RBI double by Mike McGeary. The 17-11 Haymakers need to win 1 more game against the White Stockings to tie the league leading 18-11 record by the Forest Citys. All other teams do not have a shot at the championship.

Cleveland Champions
 

October 24th, 1871
The Forest Citys of Cleveland are champions of the first year of the NABBP. The Haymakers lost to the White Stockings 8-9 eliminating them from championship contention. The final game of the season will be nothing but a formality between the White Stockings and Athletics.

Season in Review
 

The first season is in the books and Cleveland is champion. The Batting Champion (highest BA) is Lip Pike with a .350 average. The Pitching Champion (lowest ERA) is Rynie Wolters with a 1.48 ERA.

How are you setting this up and running? :D

New to the forum so you should be a little more specific because I don't really know what the usual questions are. I'm running real rosters and coaches and the exact schedule. Injuries are very low (because there are no free agents and if a pitcher goes down it's devastating, see Rockford) and suspensions are very low. I'm importing the new rookies as free agents and I'll put them on the correct rosters manually because Major League free agency does not happen until the 70s I believe. The base ratings are real stats but they don't recalculate each year. Base roles/positions on AI evaluation.