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A NEW DAY DAWNS IN BROOKLYN
D.C. Daly took the job as General Manager of the Brooklyn Brownstones during the 2008 season, after nearly a decade with the Toronto Blue Jays organization in a host of roles.

The Jersey-born Daly said that he's "thrilled" to be part of a franchise with "a legacy that goes well beyond its years. I'm hoping to be part of the success here in Brooklyn for many, many years to come.

When he arrived in 2008, the franchise had lost its three overall and second consecutive World Series. The losses -- despite the team's relative success during the decade the team had been in Brooklyn -- led New York area tabloids to brand the team the "Dem New Bums".

Team ownership were adamant about what they called "Project 2020", which basically wrote that by the Year 2020, the Brownstones needed to be the #1 franchise in the NY Metro Area. This short document was based on a few tenets:

- Labor of Love: The Field of Dreams effect
"If you build it, they will come. And if you win, they'll love you for generations.
- Don't sacrifice our values
"Never sell out. We have to be better than the opposition in all facets if we want to be better than them.

The goal from the time that Daly came on, was to established about a ten year window of success, past the "honeymoon" period (described as the first ten years of the franchise) so that in the 21st year of the team's existance and on, the team has some sort of sustainable history to lean on, melding the present with the past. But realizing that people who remember the Dodgers vividly were dwindling in numbers related to their time in Brooklyn, it was important for him to cultivate something that fans could cling to, when the team might not be doing so well.

QUICK FACTS
Here are some of the basic league facts:

- 162-game season
- All three rounds of the playoffs are best-of-seven game series
- 1993 expansion teams (Newark & Washington)
- 1998 expansion teams (Colorado & Arizona)
- Montreal Expos moved to Miami, Florida for the 2007 season.
- NL adopts the DH as of the 2008 season.
- Milwaukee Brewers moved to Norfolk, Virginia for the 2008 season.
- We had interleague play from 2000 until 2007. But it was scrapped in 2008. The three division alignment was also jettisoned in favor of a two-league, four divisions (2 in each) setup, with two wild cards going to the playoffs rather than 3 division champs and 1 wild card.

WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS HISTORY (1994-present)

1994: New York Mets def. Boston Red Sox
1995: Toronto Blue Jays def. Montreal Expos
1996: Boston Red Sox def. Cincinnati Reds
1997: Seattle Mariners def. Cincinnati Reds
1998: Kansas City Royals def. Houston Astros
1999: Oakland Athletics def. Brooklyn Brownstones
2000: Boston Red Sox def. Brooklyn Brownstones
2001: Pittsburgh Pirates def. Boston Red Sox
2002: Pittsburgh Pirates def. Kansas City Royals
2003: San Francisco Giants def. Detroit Tigers
2004: Seattle Mariners def. Montreal Expos
2005: Cincinnati Reds def. Cleveland Indians
2006: Colorado Rockies def. Baltimore Orioles
2007: Cleveland Indians def. Brooklyn Brownstones

FROM HERE...
After taking over in 2008, I decided to simulate an entire decade before taking over. Part of that, is because I wanted to get connected to the team, I wanted to get rid of most of the real players and gather a storyline for where the team will go into its third decade, after assessing the results of now until 2020 or so.

So how this will work, is I'll be simming seasons until I get to the time where I want to begin telling a more detailed account of what's gone on.

So what I'll do for each season is give a basic rundown of what happened, highlights if there were any and things that were important related to the ballclub that year.

While the rest of the league is important, I'm going to attempt to narrow my focus a lot more on what's going on in Brooklyn to almost immerse you into the world of the Brownstones.

Here is MLB's alignment as of the 2008 season:

AMERICAN LEAGUE
EASTERN DIVISION
--------
Cleveland Indians
Detroit Tigers
Baltimore Orioles
Toronto Blue Jays
New York Yankees
Chicago White Sox
Boston Red Sox

WESTERN DIVISION
------
Texas Rangers
Kansas City Royals
Portland Beavers
Houston Astros
Los Angeles Angels
Minnesota Twins
Oakland Athletics
Seattle Mariners

NATIONAL LEAGUE
EASTERN DIVISION
----
Brooklyn Brownstones
Florida Marlins
New York Mets
Washington Nationals
Norfolk Tides
Atlanta Braves
Cincinnati Reds
Philadelphia Phillies

WESTERN DIVISION
----
Colorado Rockies
Pittsburgh Pirates
St. Louis Cardinals
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants
Chicago Cubs

2008 YEAR IN REVIEW
Since arriving in Brooklyn in 1997, the Brownstones have now won seven division titles and have averaged about 3.7 million fans during that span, going over 4 million three times (2001, 2003, 2007).

Despite returning the National League pennant to Brooklyn three times since 1999 (1999, 2000, 2007), the one problem the team had was a lack of execution at critical times.

To hear it from new GM D.C. Daly, the team just suffered from cohesion issues.

"We were a really good squad of individual players. I mean, from top to bottom we were good. We weren't great, because there wasn't any synthesis to how the team was constructed. When I got here, I thought it was important to build with a purpose."

The dominoes started to fall into place once Cardinals first baseman Ryan Howard, a 28-year slugger who has star cred written all over him and a five-time all-star demanded a trade away from his hometown team.

Daly said making the deal to get him was "something that doesn't fall into your lap too often. But once he visited us here, he knew he wanted to be part of The Brooklyn Experience."

And what an experience it was.

In his first season with the 'stones, Howard hit 61 homerrs, the most in Brooklyn franchise history. He became just the second player in modern history to hit 170+ RBI in a season, Carols Delgado's 174 in 2002 was the most ever, but Howard's 170 puts him #2 on that particular list.

But Howard wasn't the only player that the team acquired who made an impact in his first year in Brooklyn. Despite the fact that some said he wouldn't like the "hardscrabble" nature of life in Brooklyn, Japanese ace Diasuke Matsuzaka adapted extremely well after being signed to a 6-year/$54 million deal in the off-season, that brought him to America and sushi to MetLife Park. The park offers all of Dice-K's favorite dishes at the park for fans to purchase at a sushi bar out in the Champions Pavillion.

"It's a little more uptown than it is Brooklyn. But fans seem to love it, so we're glad we thought of it," said Daly.

The 2008 season set a franchise record for wins - 113 - for a team that had never won 100 games before and last won 90 games back in 2002.

"We told the guys that we were proud of what they'd done, but that without bringing a title back to Brooklyn, it'd be all for naught. I think they went into this year inspired by how much this borough loves this team."

But the love for the Brownstones doesn't just stop when you hit the BQE. More and more, you see the Brooklyn "B", both old and new when you're walking throughout Manhattan and especially in Jersey, where the team has become the worst nightmare of the Yankees, who were afraid a team in Jersey would steal their market. Instead, it's the team that came from Jersey on its way to Brooklyn, that has captured the imagination of the large fanbase in North Jersey.

"We love 'em. The boys are just a hard nosed team and fans love that out here," said Michael Franti, who writes for the Courier-News (Bridgewater). The Brownstones still play a three-game series each year against the Mets in Newark, the team's temporary home for three years.

LEGENDS OF THE FALL
Brooklyn won its four NL pennant after a hard-fought seven game series win over the Colorado Rockies, who won the World Series in 2006.

The Brownstones faced off against the Detroit Tigers for the 2008 World Series title. The Tigers last appeared in the Fall Classic back in 2003, losing to San Francisco.

The team's main lineup is one that if you look at the guys in it from top to bottom, you'd understand why fans are so enthuastic about a team that's probably one of the most dominant ever.

Shane Victorino (CF)
Troy Tulowitzki (SS)
David Wright (3B)
Ryan Howard (1B)
Toshi Kokura (LF)
J.J. Hardy (2B)
Mike Pizza (C)
Melky Cabrera (DH)
Nick Swisher (RF)

D.C. Daly beams when he talks about his lineup. "Now you have to remember that Jeff (Francoeur) is out for the rest of the year in this lineup and we're still happy about our depth. That's something that past teams here have lacked, the depth to know that if someone goes out for a while, that we've got sufficient cover. And not just sufficient, but guys who you know can come through for you.

With future Hall of Famer and Brownstones legend Curt Schilling injured for most of the post-season, the World Series appearance by the Brownstones gave "Dirt" as he's affectionately known by fans in Brooklyn, one last chance to capture that ever elusive World Series ring -- not just for himself -- but for Brooklyn.

"The people here are just downright amazing. When I came here in '97, I had no idea what I was getting into. Most people told me that playing in New York would be a bit much and the thing is, this isn't like playing in New York. It's like playing in front of 40,000 of your closest friends, who are with you when you suck and when you don't. Especially when you don't."

The three-time Cy Young Award winner ('96, '99, '03) might not be a first-ballot guy, but 173 career wins are most in franchise history, #2 on the list? Is a guy with 374 career wins by the name of Roger Clemens, who spent the last 10 years of his career here.

Why is Brooklyn such a draw for star players? To hear Daly explain it, he says they tell him it's like baseball mecca.

"A lot of sports have that one locale that's the iconic place where that embodies the game more than anywhere else. In hockey, it's Montreal. Football, I'd say Green Bay. But in baseball? No place is better than Brooklyn. And we've proven through what this team has accomplished in a short period of time, that this is a great place to play baseball and guys are attracted to that, especially since -- when it's all said and done -- we're as much a part of New York as anywhere else. And that part helps a heck of a lot."

Swung on, rapped hard on the ground to the right side..Howard picks it up and throws to second. Tulowitzki with the throw back to first! That's it! That's it! That's it!
Brooklyn has WON THE WORLD SERIES! Brooklyn has WON THE WORLD SERIES! The scene is like nothing I've ever seen before! The 'Stones have brought Brooklyn back in a big way! Brooklyn is home to the WORLD CHAMPIONS!

Fifty-three years after the Brooklyn Dodgers won their lone World Series title, a new generation of Bums have left their own mark on Brooklyn that will never be forgotten.

The Brownstones won the World Series sweeping the Detroit Tigers in four straight games.

Brooklyn is again on top of the world.