OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post - World Baseball League: Following the Sheffield Mountain Hares

dinosauryoshi · 06-26-2024, 05:57 PM

Editors note: I’ll be writing this ‘blog’ in the character of someone called Finn, who lives in Sheffield (England), and started this blog in the year 2058, 18 years after the inception of the World Baseball League, and 3 years after the league’s 3rd expansion, which included the Sheffield Mountain Hares - the subject of this blog. I live in Sheffield, England, and have been following the MLB for a couple of years now. Thus I’m no expert, and welcome any feedback on how I could more clearly summarise games, and talk about stats etc. I have a young son, and another baby on the way, so time is limited, but the aim is essentially to follow the Sheffield Mountain Hares in this league with series by series posts (and short summaries of individual games) whenever I get time to write them. I’ll also do some looking across the massive league at intervals, and write about things that people request on here (again, if I have time!). I’ve really enjoyed making this league and following it on OOTP, so I hope some of you will enjoy following the Mountain Hares with Finn. Oh, and I'm just watching, never taking control of the team.

Before I slip into character, I also wanted to give a special shout out to @20_range who has made loads of amazing logos for me on my thread here, but also to others such as @tx_ranger and @low who have tailored logos (or I have tailored my teams to their existing logos).

Finn isn’t some larger than life, mad character I’ve invented, he’s essentially just me living in Sheffield in this alternate universe in 2058, where baseball has gained a level of popularity across the globe.

I hope you all enjoy - dinosauryoshi

INTRO POST

Hi all,

Finn here. I’ve been a baseball fan for a couple of years now, following my local Sheffield Mountain Hares when the league expanded and added them in 2056. I wanted to start a baseball blog following my beloved team, introducing others to the league as a whole, and the team. This is a bit of an intro post about the history of the league and how it works, but if you already know all that, and are here to learn more about, and follow, the Sheffield Mountain Hares, do skip right on ahead to the next post.

A very brief history

As you probably know, the MLB collapsed in the early 2030s following multiple lockout seasons, and disagreements between owners, players and the league. This coincided (not coincidentally) with a huge rise in the popularity of baseball across the globe buoyed by that smash-hit TV-Drama we all know, with other popular professional leagues popping up in countries like England, Germany, Argentina (I could go on...) Out of the MLB’s ashes came a large group of players/coaches - and a few of the outlier owners - who started to rally for the creation of a new, bigger baseball league where the idea of a ‘World Series’ really was as advertised. Following significant momentum, and the largest crowdfunding effort ever seen (billions of dollars), the creation of a World Baseball League was set in motion in 2035, including the announcement of the first 112 teams from across the globe. These were chosen based on applications (many backed by their respective governments given the potential prestige having a team in this huge venture would gain), with an aim of having a good representation across the globe.

Over the next 5 years the teams set about building their stadiums or repurposing old stadiums, and investing in grass roots baseball in their areas, ready for the league to start off proper in 2040. Teams were drafted from scratch in 2040 based on a pool of players playing in temporary independent leagues created across the globe following the announcement of the WBL in 2035, as well as those from already established leagues in many countries (which had agreed to get folded into the WBL).

In recognition of the fact that much of the groundswell of support for the birth of the WBL (and the subsequent crowdfunding) came from North America, two of the league’s 8 divisions are dedicated to the region. There are no limits to the amounts of teams per country, and this is largely based on the support a country has for the league and their team(s), and the strength of a team’s application. The league has since been expanded three times (each time adding one team to each of the eight divisions), with the latest expansion happening at the start of this, the 2058, season.

Philosophy

The league is a non-profit league. All teams are run by a panel of 5 elected members, and overseen by the league itself. Any profits made by the team and league are put back into the local and national community through charities and organisations chosen by each individual team. I’ll explain this in more detail in a later post, especially as it relates to the Mountain Hares.

Part of the criteria for joining the league is setting out a strong philosophy for how this money will be used. Media rights are split equally between every team in the league, and all streaming is done through one platform - with no blackouts etc - to make this easy to manage, and to make it easily accessible throughout the globe. Prices are very reasonable, and the WBL streaming service has quickly become the most highly subscribed sports channel in the world, providing the league with much of its revenue.

Teams of course keep their own gate revenues and have some freedom in setting ticket prices, though these need to be approved by the league board as a whole, and so are kept very reasonable. They also have the freedom to setup sponsorship deals. Due to the relatively small amount of teams per amount of people interested in viewing them, many teams have lottery systems in place to draw who will get to attend certain games. Stadiums are generally close to full for most games, though a little less so in the USA, where the concentration of teams is much larger.

Divisions, playoffs and world series winners

The league has a hard salary cap, which is reviewed every year to ensure fair payment to players. Players and their families are well looked after in housing villages provided by the teams, given many players are playing far away from their home countries.*

The league currently has 8 divisions of 17 teams, split into two conferences: the Americans and Oceania (TAO) and Europe, Asia and Africa (EAA). These divisions and teams are listed at the bottom of this post, including when any expansion teams were added. Given the huge success of the league as a whole, the WBL made it clear with the most recent expansion that the goal is to reach at least 20 teams in each division, but that expansion will happen no more frequently than once every three years.

The playoffs have changed numerous times over the years as the WBL settles for its preferred format. The current format gives the top two teams in each division automatic playoff places, with the top teams receiving a first-round bye. There are then 4 more wildcard teams added from each conference, and these play the 2nd placed teams in the first wildcard round.

The full list of World Series winners and losers is set out below (as Year - TAO team vs EAA team). There have been 16 different winners over the 18 years of the league so far, with only the New Orleans Jazz and Yaoundé Cannons winning more than one title, with two each. So far, 12 titles have been won by TAO teams, and 6 by EAA teams. Unsurprisingly given the country has by far the most teams, teams from the USA have the most wins of any country, with 5. The teams in bold are the World Series winners.

2040 New Orleans Jazz vs Addis Ababa Lions
2041 San José Sloths vs Rome Legion
2042 New Orleans Jazz vs St Petersburg Pelicans
2043 São Paulo Gold Sox vs Manila Snakes
2044 Sydney Kangaroos vs Antananarivo Lemurs
2045 Vancouver Hummingbirds vs Pyongyang Grasshoppers
2046 Kansas City Meadowlarks vs Madrid Mallards
2047 Colorado Blue Spruce vs New Taipei City Magpies
2048 Toronto Gray Jays vs Vienna Music
2049 Juarez Cacti vs Vienna Music
2050 Asunción Pampas Foxes vs St Petersburg Pelicans
2051 Quito Cinchonas vs Dhaka Mammoths
2052 Miami Swordfish vs Shenzhen Peanuts
2053 Calgary Tartans vs Yaoundé Cannons
2054 Bogota Condors vs Yaoundé Cannons
2055 Calgary Tartans vs Johannesburg Springboks
2056 Lima Cavies vs Kano Camels
2057 Tijuana Stouts vs Kabul Caracals

Rookie draft

The rookie draft works as you’d expect, the lowest ranked teams get the first picks. The only difference to MLB drafts of old is there is now a region lock to the first three rounds (where essentially teams can only pick players from their own continents). After an expansion, the expansion teams usually get to ignore this ‘region lock’ for their first three years. Expansion teams also automatically get the first picks in the year when they are added.

Regular season schedule

I won’t go into massive detail here, but every team plays one home and away series (consisting of 3 games) against the teams in their division, and the rest of the series are against others in their conference, as well as those outside of their conference. The out of division games are weighted every year based on the previous year’s performance using some clever trickery that is beyond me.

THE TEAMS

THE AMERICAS AND OCEANIA (TAO)

North America West
Las Vegas Jacks
Portland Jackalopes
Idaho Owls
Los Angeles Stars
Honolulu Seahawks
Calgary Tartans
Alaska Moose
Montana Smokey Bears
Albuquerque Chiefs
California Waveriders
Salt Lake City Skiers
Arizona Wrens
Vancouver Green Sox
Colorado Blue Spruce
Tijuana Stouts (2052 expansion)
San Diego Stingrays (2055 expansion)
Winnipeg Caribou (2058 expansion)

North America East
Montreal Miracles
Chicago Hoppers
Atlanta Eagles
New Orleans Jazz
Toronto Gray Jays
St Louis Coyotes
Philadelphia Grouse
Boston Bluebirds
Nashville Rockabillys
Miami Swordfish
Washington Presidents
Kansas City Meadowlarks
New York Raccoons
Memphis Steamers
Houston Apollos (2052 expansion)
New Jersey Jellyfish (2055 expansion)
Dallas Cosmopolitans (2058 expansion)

South America
Asuncion Pampas Foxes
La Paz Doves
Caracas Macaws
Medellin Monkeys
Montevideo Jaguars
Rio de Janeiro Redeemers
Bogota Condors
Santiago Flamingos
Sao Paolo Gold Sox
Lima Cavies
Cordoba Silversmiths
Quito Cinchonas
Salvador Toucans
Buenos Aires Apples
Brasilia Travelers (2052 expansion)
Porto Alegre Winemakers (2055 expansion)
Manaus Jaguars (2058 expansion)

Central America and Oceania
Port Moresby Manatees
San Jose Sloths
San Pedro Sula Fire
Mexico City Aztecs
Juarez Cacti
San Salvador Volcanoes
Melbourne Whales
Havana Cafecitos
Guatemala City Armadillos
Managua Motmots
Panama City Poets
Sydney Koalas
Tegucigalpa Savannah
Auckland Kiwis
Santo Domingo Dolphins (2052 expansion)
San Juan Garitas (2055 expansion)
Perth Fairywrens (2058 expansion)

EUROPE, ASIA AND AFRICA (EAA)

Europe
Vienna Whistlers
St Petersburg Pelicans
Zurich Mountaineers
Kyiv Terrapins
Warsaw Kings
Rome Legion
Bucharest Sounds
Madrid Mallards
Paris Black Cats
London Gentlemen
Minsk Bison
Berlin Bears
Budapest Red Squirrels
Moscow Blizzard
Stockholm Orcas (2052 expansion)
Sheffield Mountain Hares (2055 expansion)
Athens Philosophers (2058 expansion)

Africa
Cairo Pharaohs
Addis Ababa Lions
Kano Camels
Lagos Moons
Casablanca Gray Wolves
Khartoum Rhinos
Johannesburg Scholars
Dar es Salaam Giraffes
Antananarivo Lemurs
Abidjan White Elephants
Yaounde Cannons
Nairobi Lilacs
Kinshasha Leopards
Luanda Red Caps
Ouagadougou Stallions (2052 expansion)
Nouakchott Sand Sox (2055 expansion)
Cape Town Penguins (2058 expansion)

West & South East Asia
Mumbai Directors
Bangkok Eels
Tehran Goats
Jakarta Dragons
Baghdad Chukars
Dubai Hyenas
Phnom Penh Jackhammers
Istanbul Spice
Karachi Seafarers
Manila Snakes
Dhaka Mammoths
Hanoi Mopeds
Yangon Peacocks
Bengaluru Bytes
Riyadh Bedouins (2052 expansion)
Patna Roosters (2055 expansion)
Ashgabat Akhal-Tekes (2058 expansion)

Central and East Asia
New Taipei City Magpies
Kabul Caracals
Seoul Crabs
Beijing Pandas
Hiroshima Express
Shanghai Peaches
Almaty Blue Sox
Hong Kong Songbirds
Singapore Mariners
Guangzhou Rams
Shenzhen Peanuts
Pyongyang Grasshoppers
Tokyo Octopi
Kuala Lumpur Tigers
Busan Oysters (2052 expansion)
Ulaanbaatar Cavalry (2055 expansion)
Osaka Blossoms (2058 expansion)

06-26-2024, 05:57 PM	#1
dinosauryoshi Major Leagues Join Date: Jul 2023 Location: Sheffield, UK Posts: 411	World Baseball League: Following the Sheffield Mountain Hares Editors note: I’ll be writing this ‘blog’ in the character of someone called Finn, who lives in Sheffield (England), and started this blog in the year 2058, 18 years after the inception of the World Baseball League, and 3 years after the league’s 3rd expansion, which included the Sheffield Mountain Hares - the subject of this blog. I live in Sheffield, England, and have been following the MLB for a couple of years now. Thus I’m no expert, and welcome any feedback on how I could more clearly summarise games, and talk about stats etc. I have a young son, and another baby on the way, so time is limited, but the aim is essentially to follow the Sheffield Mountain Hares in this league with series by series posts (and short summaries of individual games) whenever I get time to write them. I’ll also do some looking across the massive league at intervals, and write about things that people request on here (again, if I have time!). I’ve really enjoyed making this league and following it on OOTP, so I hope some of you will enjoy following the Mountain Hares with Finn. Oh, and I'm just watching, never taking control of the team. Before I slip into character, I also wanted to give a special shout out to @20_range who has made loads of amazing logos for me on my thread here, but also to others such as @tx_ranger and @low who have tailored logos (or I have tailored my teams to their existing logos). Finn isn’t some larger than life, mad character I’ve invented, he’s essentially just me living in Sheffield in this alternate universe in 2058, where baseball has gained a level of popularity across the globe. I hope you all enjoy - dinosauryoshi INTRO POST Hi all, Finn here. I’ve been a baseball fan for a couple of years now, following my local Sheffield Mountain Hares when the league expanded and added them in 2056. I wanted to start a baseball blog following my beloved team, introducing others to the league as a whole, and the team. This is a bit of an intro post about the history of the league and how it works, but if you already know all that, and are here to learn more about, and follow, the Sheffield Mountain Hares, do skip right on ahead to the next post. A very brief history As you probably know, the MLB collapsed in the early 2030s following multiple lockout seasons, and disagreements between owners, players and the league. This coincided (not coincidentally) with a huge rise in the popularity of baseball across the globe buoyed by that smash-hit TV-Drama we all know, with other popular professional leagues popping up in countries like England, Germany, Argentina (I could go on...) Out of the MLB’s ashes came a large group of players/coaches - and a few of the outlier owners - who started to rally for the creation of a new, bigger baseball league where the idea of a ‘World Series’ really was as advertised. Following significant momentum, and the largest crowdfunding effort ever seen (billions of dollars), the creation of a World Baseball League was set in motion in 2035, including the announcement of the first 112 teams from across the globe. These were chosen based on applications (many backed by their respective governments given the potential prestige having a team in this huge venture would gain), with an aim of having a good representation across the globe. Over the next 5 years the teams set about building their stadiums or repurposing old stadiums, and investing in grass roots baseball in their areas, ready for the league to start off proper in 2040. Teams were drafted from scratch in 2040 based on a pool of players playing in temporary independent leagues created across the globe following the announcement of the WBL in 2035, as well as those from already established leagues in many countries (which had agreed to get folded into the WBL). In recognition of the fact that much of the groundswell of support for the birth of the WBL (and the subsequent crowdfunding) came from North America, two of the league’s 8 divisions are dedicated to the region. There are no limits to the amounts of teams per country, and this is largely based on the support a country has for the league and their team(s), and the strength of a team’s application. The league has since been expanded three times (each time adding one team to each of the eight divisions), with the latest expansion happening at the start of this, the 2058, season. Philosophy The league is a non-profit league. All teams are run by a panel of 5 elected members, and overseen by the league itself. Any profits made by the team and league are put back into the local and national community through charities and organisations chosen by each individual team. I’ll explain this in more detail in a later post, especially as it relates to the Mountain Hares. Part of the criteria for joining the league is setting out a strong philosophy for how this money will be used. Media rights are split equally between every team in the league, and all streaming is done through one platform - with no blackouts etc - to make this easy to manage, and to make it easily accessible throughout the globe. Prices are very reasonable, and the WBL streaming service has quickly become the most highly subscribed sports channel in the world, providing the league with much of its revenue. Teams of course keep their own gate revenues and have some freedom in setting ticket prices, though these need to be approved by the league board as a whole, and so are kept very reasonable. They also have the freedom to setup sponsorship deals. Due to the relatively small amount of teams per amount of people interested in viewing them, many teams have lottery systems in place to draw who will get to attend certain games. Stadiums are generally close to full for most games, though a little less so in the USA, where the concentration of teams is much larger. Divisions, playoffs and world series winners The league has a hard salary cap, which is reviewed every year to ensure fair payment to players. Players and their families are well looked after in housing villages provided by the teams, given many players are playing far away from their home countries.* The league currently has 8 divisions of 17 teams, split into two conferences: the Americans and Oceania (TAO) and Europe, Asia and Africa (EAA). These divisions and teams are listed at the bottom of this post, including when any expansion teams were added. Given the huge success of the league as a whole, the WBL made it clear with the most recent expansion that the goal is to reach at least 20 teams in each division, but that expansion will happen no more frequently than once every three years. The playoffs have changed numerous times over the years as the WBL settles for its preferred format. The current format gives the top two teams in each division automatic playoff places, with the top teams receiving a first-round bye. There are then 4 more wildcard teams added from each conference, and these play the 2nd placed teams in the first wildcard round. The full list of World Series winners and losers is set out below (as Year - TAO team vs EAA team). There have been 16 different winners over the 18 years of the league so far, with only the New Orleans Jazz and Yaoundé Cannons winning more than one title, with two each. So far, 12 titles have been won by TAO teams, and 6 by EAA teams. Unsurprisingly given the country has by far the most teams, teams from the USA have the most wins of any country, with 5. The teams in bold are the World Series winners. 2040 New Orleans Jazz vs Addis Ababa Lions 2041 San José Sloths vs Rome Legion 2042 New Orleans Jazz vs St Petersburg Pelicans 2043 São Paulo Gold Sox vs Manila Snakes 2044 Sydney Kangaroos vs Antananarivo Lemurs 2045 Vancouver Hummingbirds vs Pyongyang Grasshoppers 2046 Kansas City Meadowlarks vs Madrid Mallards 2047 Colorado Blue Spruce vs New Taipei City Magpies 2048 Toronto Gray Jays vs Vienna Music 2049 Juarez Cacti vs Vienna Music 2050 Asunción Pampas Foxes vs St Petersburg Pelicans 2051 Quito Cinchonas vs Dhaka Mammoths 2052 Miami Swordfish vs Shenzhen Peanuts 2053 Calgary Tartans vs Yaoundé Cannons 2054 Bogota Condors vs Yaoundé Cannons 2055 Calgary Tartans vs Johannesburg Springboks 2056 Lima Cavies vs Kano Camels 2057 Tijuana Stouts vs Kabul Caracals Rookie draft The rookie draft works as you’d expect, the lowest ranked teams get the first picks. The only difference to MLB drafts of old is there is now a region lock to the first three rounds (where essentially teams can only pick players from their own continents). After an expansion, the expansion teams usually get to ignore this ‘region lock’ for their first three years. Expansion teams also automatically get the first picks in the year when they are added. Regular season schedule I won’t go into massive detail here, but every team plays one home and away series (consisting of 3 games) against the teams in their division, and the rest of the series are against others in their conference, as well as those outside of their conference. The out of division games are weighted every year based on the previous year’s performance using some clever trickery that is beyond me. THE TEAMS THE AMERICAS AND OCEANIA (TAO) North America West Las Vegas Jacks Portland Jackalopes Idaho Owls Los Angeles Stars Honolulu Seahawks Calgary Tartans Alaska Moose Montana Smokey Bears Albuquerque Chiefs California Waveriders Salt Lake City Skiers Arizona Wrens Vancouver Green Sox Colorado Blue Spruce Tijuana Stouts (2052 expansion) San Diego Stingrays (2055 expansion) Winnipeg Caribou (2058 expansion) North America East Montreal Miracles Chicago Hoppers Atlanta Eagles New Orleans Jazz Toronto Gray Jays St Louis Coyotes Philadelphia Grouse Boston Bluebirds Nashville Rockabillys Miami Swordfish Washington Presidents Kansas City Meadowlarks New York Raccoons Memphis Steamers Houston Apollos (2052 expansion) New Jersey Jellyfish (2055 expansion) Dallas Cosmopolitans (2058 expansion) South America Asuncion Pampas Foxes La Paz Doves Caracas Macaws Medellin Monkeys Montevideo Jaguars Rio de Janeiro Redeemers Bogota Condors Santiago Flamingos Sao Paolo Gold Sox Lima Cavies Cordoba Silversmiths Quito Cinchonas Salvador Toucans Buenos Aires Apples Brasilia Travelers (2052 expansion) Porto Alegre Winemakers (2055 expansion) Manaus Jaguars (2058 expansion) Central America and Oceania Port Moresby Manatees San Jose Sloths San Pedro Sula Fire Mexico City Aztecs Juarez Cacti San Salvador Volcanoes Melbourne Whales Havana Cafecitos Guatemala City Armadillos Managua Motmots Panama City Poets Sydney Koalas Tegucigalpa Savannah Auckland Kiwis Santo Domingo Dolphins (2052 expansion) San Juan Garitas (2055 expansion) Perth Fairywrens (2058 expansion) EUROPE, ASIA AND AFRICA (EAA) Europe Vienna Whistlers St Petersburg Pelicans Zurich Mountaineers Kyiv Terrapins Warsaw Kings Rome Legion Bucharest Sounds Madrid Mallards Paris Black Cats London Gentlemen Minsk Bison Berlin Bears Budapest Red Squirrels Moscow Blizzard Stockholm Orcas (2052 expansion) Sheffield Mountain Hares (2055 expansion) Athens Philosophers (2058 expansion) Africa Cairo Pharaohs Addis Ababa Lions Kano Camels Lagos Moons Casablanca Gray Wolves Khartoum Rhinos Johannesburg Scholars Dar es Salaam Giraffes Antananarivo Lemurs Abidjan White Elephants Yaounde Cannons Nairobi Lilacs Kinshasha Leopards Luanda Red Caps Ouagadougou Stallions (2052 expansion) Nouakchott Sand Sox (2055 expansion) Cape Town Penguins (2058 expansion) West & South East Asia Mumbai Directors Bangkok Eels Tehran Goats Jakarta Dragons Baghdad Chukars Dubai Hyenas Phnom Penh Jackhammers Istanbul Spice Karachi Seafarers Manila Snakes Dhaka Mammoths Hanoi Mopeds Yangon Peacocks Bengaluru Bytes Riyadh Bedouins (2052 expansion) Patna Roosters (2055 expansion) Ashgabat Akhal-Tekes (2058 expansion) Central and East Asia New Taipei City Magpies Kabul Caracals Seoul Crabs Beijing Pandas Hiroshima Express Shanghai Peaches Almaty Blue Sox Hong Kong Songbirds Singapore Mariners Guangzhou Rams Shenzhen Peanuts Pyongyang Grasshoppers Tokyo Octopi Kuala Lumpur Tigers Busan Oysters (2052 expansion) Ulaanbaatar Cavalry (2055 expansion) Osaka Blossoms (2058 expansion) Last edited by dinosauryoshi; 11-17-2024 at 07:33 PM.