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Baseball League Crowns Its First Champion
Bay League Declared a Success By Founders
Outpost News Service

The first Outpost-wide sports league finished its opening season yesterday, with the Lorris Greens named the champions of baseball's Bay League by virtue of their top record in 70 games played. The Greens outlasted seven other competitors thanks to excellent play in the final month of the season coupled with the struggles of their closest rivals, the Deepvale Ferrymen. "Any time you play the game, of course you want to win," said Lorris field manager Jerry Lee. "If you're not playing to win, what's the point of taking the field? We had a great run this year, thanks to guys like Tega Smith and Cliff Rock, and of course Dennis Phillips and Mark Boykin pitched terrific too." Lorris fans greeted their champions as they returned home from their final game in Gentry Hills, filling Lorris City Park for a welcome home reception. Lorris star Tega Smith and owner Patrick Murphy addressed the crowd and thanked them for their support. "None of us have a lot of time to be wasting as we try and build the Outposts into a home, so we're very grateful that you came out to watch us play a game," said Smith. "While you can play without fans, you can't enjoy it nearly as much." Greens left fielder Cliff Rock was notably absent from the celebration, and owner Patrick Murphy said later that Rock had been given permission to go straight home to Silver Beach after the final game.

At the outset, many questioned the need for an organized sports league like the Bay League, which took men from their homes and required them to travel from town to town for several months of the year. But it was clear that there was a market for this sort of entertainment, as fans went out to the eight ballparks around the Outposts to spend some deserved leisure time cheering on their adopted heroes. Still, some have wondered about the long-term viability of the Bay League. "Do we have room to improve? You can always improve, even on the best of ventures," said Bay League founder John Baxter. "Travel plans were often disorganized, we occasionally had trouble getting equipment to the proper destinations, some players decided in the middle of the season that the baseball life wasn't for them and left their teams short of players. But make no mistake, the people of the Outposts want to see baseball played and played well. The Bay League is giving that to them, and we consider our first season a definite success." When asked about changes for next season, Baxter said that the founding owners of the eight teams would meet soon to discuss plans going forth. Under consideration, he said, are a longer schedule and perhaps additional teams.

The Bay League has already announced plans to open its second season next year toward the end of the fourth month of the year and tickets for next season's games will be available soon at team offices around the league.