There is really something for everyone with the 4 remaining openings. If you want to build a franchise from the ground up the Los Angeles Suns are one of the four 1962 expansion clubs just a couple of sims away from their first Federal Association game. The Suns have some recognizable names led by catcher Stan Czerwinski, who is the younger brother of Adrian Czerwinski, pitching star of the mighty Cleveland Foresters. The Suns also have a now 34-year-old Danny Taylor, who looked like he would be a superstar when he debuted for Boston in 1951 and now is hoping he can finally find his footing with the new west coast entry.
Speaking of Adrian Czerwinski and the Cleveland Foresters. They are also available and have been among the best teams in baseball with 8 pennants in the last 13 years including winning each of the last three Continental Association flags. Most of their stars are into their thirties now including co-pitching aces Czerwinski (37) and the legendary Deuce Barrell, who is still going strong at age 44, but there is likely still a large window to challenge for more flags. Czerwinski is closing in on 300 career wins while Deuce is now third all-time with 342 wins -trailing just early 1900's star Charlie Sis (395) and the great "Double Al" Allan Allen who had 514 wins.
The other two teams are somewhere in the middle between the Suns and Foresters in the Pittsburgh Miners and New York Gothams. The Gothams are led by "The Buckeye Bomber" Red Pilcher, a 31-year-old outfielder who came over from St Louis in a big 1957 deadline deal, and they have won a World Championship Series title in each of the past three decades (1935,42 & 56) but are retooling a bit after a 4th place finish a year ago. What the Gothams do have is a well stocked minor league system, ranked fourth in the 20 team loop.
The Miners are a hard luck team that has not won a pennant since 1940, and their only World Championship Series win came in 1901, but they have some pretty good talent at the big-league level and a farm system that ranks third in the league. Dixie Turner is a 20-year-old infielder who is presently ranked second by OSA's prospect pipeline and they also have a pair of high potential arms in Dan Wilson and Hank Griswold. If you want to read a little more about Turner, he is featured in the latest
This Week in Figment Sports edition in a column from our baseball writer Archie Irwin.
This Week in Figment Sports is our weekly Sporting News type dynasty thread/newspaper that has been posting since the 1928 season (it is 1962 now) and has posted an issue every sim since 1936. It covers baseball of course, but also keeps you up to date on all the other sports. The latest issue, dated March 28, 1962 previews the final four in the AIAA collegiate basketball tournament as well as documents the end of the NAHC (North American Hockey Confederation) regular season in addition to the spring training updates.
So in summary, whatever type of challenge you are looking for one of these four teams will likely provide it. The league is very immersive, has a great commissioner who does not run a team in any of the sports and has a terrific group of GMs always willing to help a new member get comfortable with the Figment Sports Universe. It is well worth checking out.