The year is 1979. But the year is not that important. The league stats will proceed on a historical trend but will stall sometime in the 80s. The dynasty will have a 1940s/1950s aesthetic, minus some of the not so pleasant aspects of that era.
The Milburn Mallards are a team in the Big Leagues, a league that exists in place of Major League Baseball in this world. The New York Yankees do not exist in this world. But the New York Metropolitans do. The Philadelphia Phillies do not exist either. But the Philadelphia Centennials do.
Milburn is a city that does exist in this world. But if you try to find it on a real-world map, you will not find it. Tt is a city though that does not exist in the world where the Cubs, Dodgers, Marlins do exist. But here, in this world, Milburn is a city located somewhere in the American Midwest. To narrow down just a bit, it is a city on the shores of Lake Michigan.
The “major” league in this world is the Big Leagues, which consists of the Hickory League (HL) and the Ash League (AL). The Hickory League came first, and is often referred to lovingly as “ol’ Hickory”. The HL began in 1876 with eight teams. After the unsuccessful beginnings of a few other leagues, The Ash League began play in 1901, and in 1903 the two leagues joined together to form a more perfect union known as “The Big Leagues”.
The Big Leagues consists of the following teams:
Hickory League
HL East
Baltimore Baybirds (Joined in 1955)
Brooklyn Atlantics (1876)
Cincinnati Redbirds (1884)
Montreal Royales (1977)
New York Mammoths (1876)
Philadelphia Centennials (1876)
Pittsburgh Summits (1876)
HL West
Chicago Stars (1876)
Los Angeles Bluebirds (1977)
Milburn Mallards (1881)
Milwaukee Chiefs (1876 - relocated to Milwaukee from Boston in 1949)
Minnesota Millers (1955)
San Diego Skippers (1953)
San Francisco Seals (1953)
Ash League
AL East
Atlanta Thrashers (1974)
Boston Colonials (1901)
Cleveland Foresters (1901)
Detroit Zephyrs (1901)
New York Metropolitans (1901)
Toronto Maple Leafs (1974)
Washington Generals (1901)
AL West
Chicago Unions (1901)
Dallas Texans (1955)
Houston Buffaloes (1955)
Kansas City Keystones (1901 - started in Philadelphia, relocated to KC in 1952)
Los Angeles Seraphs (1953)
St. Louis Saints (1901)
Seattle Rainiers (1953)
The winningest team in the history of The Big Leagues is the Philadelphia Centennials with 19 PrimeTime Series titles. The Mallards have won the Big Leagues Series 8 times in our history, with the last one being twenty two years ago, in 1957.