Is this a decent idea?

[H I Mcdonough]

This is my idea for a backstory to a new dynasty I was planning. I'd like some feedback. Keep in mind I have little-to-no understanding of many of these concepts. Some of this may be very far-fetched, but I was just trying to have fun with it. SO anyway:


It all began in 2003. The Texas Rangers and Boston Red Sox had spent much of the months of November and December trying to work out a deal that would've sent Alex Rodriguez, perhaps the best player in all of baseball, to Boston for the all-star Manny Ramirez. This trade would have facilitated another move in the neverending quest for the Red Sox to upend the Yankees, while also freeing up some of the millions of dollars that the Rangers had tied up in one player and allowed them to try to end their neverending quest to actually field a competetive team by spending on pitching and other players. The players involved wanted the trade to happen, the fans wanted it to happen, even many among the major league baseball executives wanted it to happen, including Bud Selig, although he would never admit so publicly.

However, it was not to be. The players union stood as a roadblock in the negotiating process, refusing to allow the necessary contract restructuring to take place. So with the deal apparently dead, and Rangers ownership still wanting desperately to rid themselves of the huge contract of A-Rod, something unexpected happened.

The [league redacted] League, based in Japan, was still smarting from the recent losses of several high profile stars. Hideo Nomo was among the first to go. People on both sides of the Pacific were eager to see how the Japanese pitcher would fare in Major League Baseball. Nomo would go on to become a Rookie Of The Year in 1995. He would go on to bounce around for a few years to a few different clubs, but remained a consistant winner. After Nomo, notable players jumping to the major leagues with success included Kazuhiro Sasaki (a star closer for Seattle), Ichiro Suzuki (at the time one of the most popular players in the NPBL) who would win a batting title and both the ROY and MVP awards in his first season, and the man known as "Godzilla", Japanese power hitter Hideki Matsui. Even that same 2003 winter saw the New York Mets scoop up slick-fielding shirtstop Kazuo Matsui. Many in Japan saw the NPBL becoming little more than a developmental league for MLB in the U.S.

With all this as the background, in January of 2004 a move was announced that would shock the sports world. The Yomiuri Giants, owned by a huge media conglomerate and the former team of all-time home run leader and baseball legend Sadaharu Oh, bought out a large portion of Rodriguez' contract and announced they would be bringing A-Rod to Japan. ESPN broke the story on the first Sunday morning of the new year, and the shockwaves were instant. Ichiro and both Matsui's were hounded, asked repeatedly about their opinions on the subject. The Rangers press conference was scheduled for Wednesday of the same week and it was held at a Dallas convention center to accomodate the record number of reporters expected to cover the event.

While japanese fans and players rejoiced, the mood in America was much more somber. While the vast majority of players were unavailable for comment, many owners were outraged. Baltimore owner Peter Angelos called Tom Hicks a "traitor" and demanded he sell his team. George Steinbrenner was quoted as saying that the Yankees would never so much as field a phone call from anyone associated with the Rangers franchise again, so long as Hicks was involved with their day-to-day operations. The Major League Players Union threatened legal action against the Texas Rangers, the Yomiyuri Giants, even Alex Rodriguez himself.

But eventually, it was time to play baseball again. The Texas Rangers used the money gained from the deal to sign Greg Maddux and were able to talk Roger Clemens out of retirement. Those moves were not enough to compete in the AL West, and they finished third. They had tried to make some moves at the trade deadline, but found themselves seemingly blackballed by the rest of the league ownership. The Red Sox would go on to win the AL pennant, and then vanquish the Houston Astors in the 2004 World Series to end the curse of the Bambino, although they did still end up trading Manny Ramirez mid season to the Chicago White Sox for Magglio Ordonez.

In Japan, A-Rod not only flourished, but dominated. Despite the resistance in the past to allow foreign-born players to approach Japanese baseball records, nobody could stop Rodriguez from smashing the single season homer record (55, held by Oh) with an incredible 67. He also batted .388 with 158 RBI's to win the Triple Crown, the first such occurance in the NPBL since 1986. Yomiuri would win the league championship in 2004, and Rodriguez went on to lead the Giants to an incredible 9 pennants and 8 Championships in the 10 seasons he played for Yomiuri. He hit a total of 548 home runs. Added to the 345 he hit in Major League Baseball, it was a total of 893, smaching both Henry Aaron's total and Oh's, and setting a sort of World career home run record. He retired in 2014, at a ceremony in the Tokyo dome that was attended by 60,000 people.

As for the repercussions of A-Rod's jump, they were slow to develop but long lasting. In 2003, Ichiro signed a contract extension with the Seattle Mariners. Following the 2007 season, with that contract up and Ichiro at the age of 34, and following a disappointing season at the plate, Suzuki made the choice to jump back to the NPBL. He would close out his career as a member of the Orix Blue Wave, his original team.

But before that, there was even more. In 2005, following the incredible success of Rodriguez and the huge rise in popularity of baseball in Japan ( as well as the huge swell of the attendance across the league and thus the huge swell of the wallets of NPBL ownership), the Nippon League did away with their rule of limiting the number of foreign born ballplayers per team. This opened up a flood of minor league and fringe major leaguers to jump to the NPBL. Suddenly, there was an international free market for baseball, and business in Japan was through the roof. In 2006, the overall #1 pick in the Major League draft spurned the Minnesota Twins ( who had chosen him) and signed a huge contract with the Chunichi Dragons. This was another huge hit to Major League baseball and the players union.

To make a long story somewhat shorter, things got increasingly difficult for baseball in the US. With the Japanese market open and flourishing, and with so many of it's players either threatening to jump to Japan or actually doing it, the players union nearly fell apart. The baseball owners were able to keep most of the game's stars in the States, but the loss of many role-players and mid-level prospects meant that rosters were incredibly thin on talent. Montreal finally moved to Puerto Rico full time in 2005, but was unable to maintain the necessary crowds and financial support. With the dearth of talent and financial woes throughout the league, Bud Selig, somehow still the commissioner, announced the retraction of 4 teams in 2007 - the Expos, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Kansas City Royals, and Minnesota Twins. In 2008, citing the same poor financial situation, the Toronto Blue Jays moved to Washington DC and became the Senators version 3.0. By 2012, Major League Baseball had dipped to a 30-year low in attendance. The NPBL was considered close to equal with Major League baseball talentwise. Several other high-profile stars had either jumped or spent their entire careers in Japan and become world-wide stars. Japanese boys were joining school and little league teams in records numbers, ensuring the boom in popularity in that country would continue for some time.

Over the next few years, the situation deteriorated rapidly in North America. Two-thirds of the remaining teams were in deep financial trouble, and another round of retraction took place in 2014. This time it included Pittsburgh, Oakland, Florida, and San Diego. Attendance was still very low, although it had ceased its dramatic decline. In 2018, Commissioner Bud Selig (now at the ripe age of 84) met in secret in Tokyo with several prominent NPBL executives and owners. The result of the meeting was preliminary negotiations for a type of merger between the leagues. Within a few months, the news had been leaked: With so many of the teams in Major League Baseball on the ropes, plans had been made for a group buyout of all but 16 American teams. The buyout was paid for by a group comprised of all NPBL owners and the owners of the remaining MLB teams, and the teams bought out would be immediately liquidated. The decision was made for the new organization to include both leagues. The Nippon league would remain essentially the same: Same team names, locations, league names, everything. Major League Baseball would remain the name of the other league, with two regional divisions. The winners of each division would play for the chance to go to the final series, and there would be a championship team from Japan and one from the US for the "real" World Series. It was agreed upon by all parties that the inaugural season of the International Baseball Coalition would begin in 2020. The NPBL would continue to play on as normal, and MLB would shut down for the 2019 season and reorganize.

[H I Mcdonough]

This was the layout I had envisioned:

U.S. Teams

American League
1. New York Yankees
2. Boston Red Sox
3. Philadelphia Phillies
4. Washington Senators
5. Chicago Cubs
6. Detroit Tigers
7. Cleveland Indians
8. Atlanta Braves

National League
9. St. Louis Cardinals
10. Milwaukee Brewers
11. Houston Astros
12. Seattle Mariners
13. Los Angeles Dodgers
14. Denver Rockies
15. San Francisco Giants
16. Phoenix Diamondbacks

Japanese Teams

Central League
1. Chunichi Dragons
2. Hanshin Tigers
3. Hiroshima Carp
4. Yakult Swallows
5. Yokohama Baystars
6. Yomiuri Giants

Pacific League
7. Chiba Lotte Marines
8. Fukuoka Daiei Hawks
9. Kintetsu Buffaloes
10. Nippon Ham Fighters
11. Orix Blue Wave
12. Seibu Lions

[joncarlos]

I think that's a really cool concept. The only thing is that starting in 2019 you will have basically all fictional players. Which is fine and probably makes things more fun

[H I Mcdonough]

Originally posted by joncarlos
I think that's a really cool concept. The only thing is that starting in 2019 you will have basically all fictional players. Which is fine and probably makes things more fun

Yeah, that was on purpose actually. I figure if the first season is in 2020, I could say that any current players would be retired and thus I could just start with all fictional players.

[jmaness84]

Well thought out

[AsTrOFaN]

Looks interesting. Keep us updated

[Carlton]

Very nice HI

What playoff format are you doing with 8 teams per division?
Just a League championship...or will the two second place teams fight a wildcard battle...or just one wildcard team

[H I Mcdonough]

Originally posted by Carlton
Very nice HI

What playoff format are you doing with 8 teams per division?
Just a League championship...or will the two second place teams fight a wildcard battle...or just one wildcard team

I was raised on the ALCS/NLCS only format. So that's what I'm doing. 4 Playoff teams, no wild card. It's just what I prefer.

[jaxmagicman]

Hey, it was like you have a crystal ball.