Evolution: Neloxian Baseball Revisited

[darkcloud4579]

So, I'm basically creating this Neloxian Baseball league -- similar to what I did in the ill-fated dynasty in OOTP2006 before crashing after the 1st patch. The idea here, is to essentially chronicle what's happening in the past -- in brief -- and then to give you a running dialogue of how stuff goes, until we get to the modern era.

If this goes right, it'll last a while, because you'll get to see my thoughts as stuff develops.

Unlike past dynasties of mine, there won't be a lot done in the third person. It might get that way eventually, but for the time being, I'll just be telling you stuff as it happens, etc.

Feel free to contribute in any way, because the more feedback I get, the more compelled I am to keep writing, etc.

So here we go.

[darkcloud4579]

So what does this place look like?

Here's a map for reference:



The country is about the size of Spain. The population is about 60 million people ...to give you real-world proportions and such alike.

The southeastern part of the country is really mountainous. Extremely so. Yet, I haven't Coorsified any of the ballparks there yet. We'll get there...

The game is loaded with about 60...probably more...Neloxian cities from all over Sanfranchez. So, players can come from all over and teams are located randomly, too.

We got started in 1901. Let's go over league structure, now.

[darkcloud4579]

In this incarnation of the league we have the following leagues:

Neloxian Premier League (MAJORS)
Neloxian First Division (AAA)
Neloxian Second Division (AA)
Neloxian Township Association (R)

Each of the leagues is unaffilated, thus players can go where they want for the most part.

However, a few years ago, the owners of the Premier League and the First Division decided to pass a rule that stated that while Second Division and Township players could move up, no player from the NPL and 1st Division could sign with lower division teams.

This is so that players won't accept much less than they're worth to sign with a lower level team.

Financials are now turned on at each level, though they weren't always. This was also done in part to keep good players off lower-tier teams.

The average player salary (1928) in the Premier League is $1,955
In the 1st Division, its $204
In the 2nd Division, its $32
In the NTA, its $11

[darkcloud4579]

In Neloxian baseball, money simply wasn't a really big priority or a huge issue. Teams were sponsored by their local communities. But local sponsors were tired of paying for bad teams or simply didn't have the resources to generate the sort of money teams needed to travel nationally and started to move or simply folded.

One prime example, was the 1st division team in Nanagoodsen. After winning 6 titles between 1901-1919, the team folded after that season, unable to continue to compete. Four NPL teams also folded including 1910 Neloxian Series Champions Turtle Beach.

So, rich benefactors or corporate magnates began to take over teams and started to use them as ways to advocate their products or a particular brand. This led to the skyrocketing of salaries in the Premier League. For example, in 1926, the highest payroll in the NPL was just over $90,000.

In 1927, it was just under $280,000. So, that's how fast things are growing. It's also trickled down to the 1st division, too. But not at the same rate, obviously.

League owners at the lower levels noticed the financial stakes of moving up, so many of them began to petition the Premier League for membership and moved small-town teams worth very little to larger cities where there were more opportunities for bigger fanbases, etc.

So, this has changed the complexion of the game drastically.

[darkcloud4579]

The Premier League is comprised of two leagues. The Dominion Association (DA) and the National Association (NA).

Each is currently comprised of eight teams each in a single-table league. The winners of the regular season advance to the Neloxian Series.

From 1901 until 1926, the regular season in the NPL was 104 games and the Neloxian Series was best-of-five game series.

In 1927, the owners of the NPL decided that a longer season was needed (because they realized it would generate more revenue and that fans desired it) and so, last season was the first year of the expanded schedule of 144 games and most herald that season as the best in history.

Last year's Neloxian Series featured two teams that had never been to the Finals before. It was the Mount Lara Blue Collars, a club team that hadn't joined the Premier League until 1923 versus Raspberry 1924, who spent the first three years of their existance in a different city and based in the 1st Division before moving up (and to the city of Raspberry Wine) in -- you guessed it -- 1924.

Raspberry Wine were in last place in 1926 and won the NA pennant on the last day of the season, finishing a game ahead NBC Capital, the defending Neloxian Series champions.

The 1927 Neloxian Series went the distance, with Mt. Lara -- who are the first team in NPL history to win 100 games (102-32), capturing their first Neloxian Series title.

Here are the current members of the NPL:
----
DOMINION ASSOCIATION (DA)
Mount Lara Blue Collars
North Bay Insurance
Schoonersville SeaSoks
St. Langsburg Victors
Crystal Empire (based in Crystal Beach, Larqsville)
Nelitz Metropolitan
Queens Parke Pioneers
Mapletown Express

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (NA)
Mapletown Candystripers
Anderson United
NBC Capital
Raspberry 1924
Royal Kingsbridge
Saint Etienne Excelsior
South Nelitz Steel
Turtle Beach Commodores

[darkcloud4579]

The NFD is divided into two divisions that are currently unnamed.
The teams are:


--
Astern Valley Winemakers
Becheolivia Cheese
Mapletown Prime
Southstate Capital
Turtle Beach Bombers

---
Cassius Claymakers
Fifty Lakes Professional
Grensmett Ghouls
Nelitz Dominion
Sarta Emiliae Statesman

Turtle Beach has won the last two First Division Series titles. The Series is a best of three game series to determine the champion. The NFD also increased its schedule last season, the league now plays 114 game season.

[darkcloud4579]

The Neloxian Second Division (NSD) is comprised of two divisions.

The two division champions, plus two Wild Cards qualify for the playoffs, which are a best-of-five game Semifinals Series, followed by a best-of-seven game NSD Finals Series.

The league plays 104-game schedule. Teams in the Neloxian Leagues didn't start to have nicknames until about ten years ago, so..some teams in the NSD still don't have them.

Teams
---
Becheolivia
Carsons Welch Apples
Eaglestown Red Barons
Parkvonta
West Nelitz

---
Crystal Lake Motors
Des Villes
Morrisberge
Nelympia
Nicosa Kingfishers

Nelympia won the 1927 NSD title.

[darkcloud4579]

The Neloxian Leagues owners are reeling from their recent gains financially and are looking for new ways to expand their earnings.

The expanded schedule has worked very well and has been received by fans with open arms. The other expansion that there is clamouring for, is an expanded playoffs. But the owners, many of whom are former players and traditionalists, don't want to let "second-place teams reap the benefits of first-place success" and so, have been resisting any efforts to expand playoffs in the Premier League.

The thing that will no longer be happening is allowing from-scratch expansion, where teams from club leagues, promote directly to the Premier League. While the teams that have done so (most notably, NBC Capital and Mt. Lara Blue Collars won the last two titles), there is a belief of some that there needs to be a "system" that allows teams from lower-tier leagues to have something to "shoot for" by moving up.

This is favored by a lot of the owners of the First Division, who have asked for a bid annually for their champion to move up, but Premier League owners have rejected this outright.

[darkcloud4579]

The expanded schedule has been fantastic for the Premier League.
Consider, that adding 40 games really changes the complexion of a season, because where as after games 80 under the old schedule, the season was almost finished, now..you've still got another 64 games left. Just under half a season to get your act together.

Teams could manage to get to the Neloxian Series with 60 or so wins, whereas now, you have to win AT LEAST 80 games to even have a shot when it gets to September.

It's a really exciting change, resulting in much better baseball and more competitive battles in the standings. And while stats are up in some regard -- though ERAs are down, thank goodness -- batting averages remain at their rather abysmal rates (somewhere between
.230 and .260 for most teams..)

[darkcloud4579]

Speaking of stats, there have been some pretty amazing players who have gone through the ranks of the Premier League, as well as the other leagues. I'll be chronicling some of those guys as we go through, to give you an idea of the history of the NPL and what sort of standard is being set for future players to etch their own mark on the game.

This off-season (1928) will be the first in which players from the Township and Second Divisions can move up to other leagues, but players from the top two cannot move down or be signed by those leagues. It'll be a good thing, because it officially cements them as developmental leagues, but it'll ensure that I don't go trolling through 2nd division rosters and seeing guys who hit 30HRs in the 1st division the previous season, only to sign with a 2nd division club for LESS money than he's worth.

The differences in salaries should help a ton, too. We'll see how it goes this off-season and report some of the big deals or anything that we see happening in that regard.

[darkcloud4579]

11 years later....the leagues are pretty much the same.

You didn't get any real info on background players, because at one point I thought we'd lose the dynasty (crashes) but I managed not to lose it.

It's now pre-season 1939 and league owners of 1st division clubs are talking of increasing salaries to compete with the Premier League. They're tired of being shut out of playoff revenue, they're tired of not being able to join the "big boys" of the Premier League.

So, you might be realizing some new changes for the 1940 season in terms of league alignments, teams, etc.

The most dominant team of the last 10 seasons has been North Bay Insurance, who have 5 DA Pennants and 3 Neloxian Series titles during that stretch. They've also had winning seasons every year since 1924 and during that time have finished 1st or 2nd every season except one.

[darkcloud4579]

Speaking of the 1st division, let's look at some of the notable teams down there in more depth.

The best team in the league since its inception is the squad hailing from Becheolivia, who are now called the Becheolivia Cheese, due to a large contribution from the state dairy producers association who thought it would be a great way to market the local brand of cheese (which is actually made miles from Becheolivia) and well..they were right.

Anyway, Becheolivia won the first 8 NFD titles and made the championship series each of the first 9 season of the league (1901-1909)

From 1917-1923, they reeled off another seven straight league championship series apperances, winning five titles.

That title in 1923 was the first season that the NFD was a "money" league (meaning I turned on financials that season for that league..) and they've only made 2 title apperance since then, with their last win coming in 1930.

The team that has dominated the "money" era better than any other, has to be the Astern Valley Winemakers (who play in the city of Raspberry Wine) who have finished 1st or 2nd in their division each of the last ten seasons, claiming 5 titles and making the playoffs 8 times.

This success has all come since 1929 to date. Prior to that, the team never made the playoffs and their best division or league finish was 3rd.

So, talk about a turnaround.

Fifty Lakes Professional, who have the coolest name in all of Neloxian baseball (in my opinion) have seven career playoff apperances in franchise history, with their only title coming in 1929.

Nelitz Dominion, which actually spent from 1901-1924 in the 2nd Division as the franchise from Prince Village, moved to the country's largest city in 1925 and have 9 playoff apperances and 3 NFD titles, the most recent going back to back in 1935-36.

The Sarta Emilae Statesman are a funny team. They joined the NFD in 1924 as an expansion club and reeled off three straight first-place finishes in their division (going 69-35 each of their first three seasons) and winning a title during their first season in 1924. They got back in 1937, losing in the playoffs and managed to replicate their success from the old days 14 years after the first, claiming the 1938 NFD title.

Southstate Capital (based in St. Langsburg, Larqsville) is the worst team arguably in the league. No titles since 1901 and no first-place finishes in franchise history. Their only playoff apperance came in 1914, but resulted in a loss.

I'm not covering three other teams, as they're not that notable right now.

[darkcloud4579]

Here are your 1939 Champions:

Premier: Mapletown Candystripers (first Neloxian Series title since 1908)
First Division: Southstate Capital (first title in franchise history)
Second Division: Nicosa Kingfishers (third straight NSD title, sixth title in 9 years)

What's happening for 1940 is en route for discussion right now.

[darkcloud4579]

At the behest of the NFD owners, Premier League owners are considering their options. Should they buy the Township Association, drop the teams from it and create their own rival league as the developmental league for the top division?

Some argue this would be the best way to combat any sort of threat from the First Division. Teams in the First Division would essentially try to leverage the fact that they have teams in cities the Premier League is either 1) not in or 2) have teams doing poorly (Nelitz, for example).

But the Premier League is looking for a way to stop this from happening.

In the past, success has been viewed as the most fair way to determine teams joining higher leagues. But some are saying that success should take a backseat to attendance potential or whether an owner would move their team to a more lucrative location if accepted into the Premier League.

The best First Division clubs draw about as many fans as the worst Premier League teams (just over a million fans) and most argue that if the teams moved up -- good teams -- would be able to draw more fans.

Will the league create divisions for the first time in the NPL?

These are the challenges the league faces and will shape the future of Neloxian baseball.

[darkcloud4579]

NELITZ -- The start of the 1940 season will signal a new era in the Neloxian Premier League (NPL), as the league today announced it would go to 2 division in each association setup, adding 4 teams from the Neloxian First Division (NFD) to create a 20-team setup (10 teams in each association).

"This makes the NPL stronger for the future," said Commissioner Mack Dancley, who said that the league avoided any real talk of promotion/relegation as many in the lower leagues wanted, saying that this current model was "better for the game of today," but didn't rule out a move to a different format in the future.

The new NPL alignment is
-----
DOMINION ASSOCIATION
Red Division
------
St. Langsburg Victors
Schoonersville SeaSoks
Mapletown Express
Nelitz Dominion (from NFD)
Astern Valley Winemakers (from NFD)

Blue Division
------
North Bay Insurance
Mount Lara Blue Collars
Queens Parke Pioneers
Crystal Empire
Becheolivia Cheese (from NFD)

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
Black Division
------
Royal Kingsbridge
South Nelitz Steel
Turtle Beach Commodores
Anderson United
Fifty Lakes Professional (from NFD)

Green Division
-----
Mapletown Candystripers
NBC Capital
Saint Etienne Excelsior
Raspberry 1924
The Sons of Evanston (this team was the Nelitz Metropolitans, but moved to the state of Evanston after the 1939 season)

FIRST DIVISION CHANGES
The NFD also made some changes, promoting Crystal Lake Motors, an (admittedly) awful team from the 2nd Division, but a team that has a deep-pocketed owner who had the money to make the jump.

Three teams -- Brynsel Brigade, Mt. Regal Bernardos and West Nelitz Vistas -- are the newest expansion clubs to the NFD, opting to add teams, rather than displacing more teams at lower levels.

[darkcloud4579]

Three seasons into Division play, the Neloxian Premier League will break new ground in 1944. The league teams voted overwhelmingly during the 1943 off-season to inagurate wild cards into the league.

Some teams, originally said they opposed the measure. But after the Nelitz Dominion won 83 games last year and were shut out of the playoffs, while a 71-win team made the playoffs by winning their division, league owners decided that the Wild Cards were a necessary evil.

"The fact is, when you have divisions -- even with a balanced schedule as we employ -- you're going to leave good teams out. We don't believe that there is much of a difference between a 90-win team and an 85-win team when it all boils down to it. This will ensure that great teams get a chance to prove it when it all matters," said one league spokesman.

Last season could go down on record as being an exciting one in the playoffs, as both Mapletown teams faced off in the Neloxian Series -- the first time its ever happened.

"We waited over 40 years for something like that to happen and so, it was pretty cool to see." The Mapletown Candystripers beat the heavily favoured and regular season champion (97-37) Mapletown Express 4 games to 2 in the title series.

For those who think that the playoffs don't result in the best team making it to the finals, consider that in all but one of the Neloxian Leagues (the 2nd division) the top two teams with the best record made it all the way to the league finals in each instance.

"This proves that the cream rises to the top."

[darkcloud4579]

If you weren't sure, my goal is to try to get to modern times and then I'll get more immersive, making taking over a team, etc. It's 1959 right now and that's why I'm just blazing through, giving you structural understanding and a brief backdrop and then we can go full throttle.

[darkcloud4579]

Ok..

So, I'm pondering these changes/ideas:

- Adding one US-based team to the fray at some point in the future and a whole back story to go with it. And of course, Americans who play on the team in an otherwise ALL Neloxian league.

- Deleting all the teams in the Township Association and recreating it as the University Division instead, citing the increase of finances as leading to the demise of the township (though I guess with ages being how they are, it'd be fairly unrealistic..)

I guess that's it for the moment.

Ideas? Thoughts?

[Jestor]

I'm real meh on both ideas. I'd stay with the current setups.

[darkcloud4579]

Founded in 1923, the NPL's Schoonersville SeaSoks, based in Schoonersville, Ninneberg (where ironically, there is no sea) have made 12 Neloxian Series playoff appearances and won 5 Series titles, most recently in 1955-1956.

Well, the 1959 season will be a new era for the franchise, as they announced today their move to Fort Jacobsenn, Larqsville to become simply known as Seminary.

The team was purchased by Michael Letharge, a former Seminarian who felt that his city deserved a team and that it would be great to "remind people of those who commit and dedicate themselves to religious life," which is why he named the team Seminary.

So the former SeaSoks are closer to the sea now, than they ever were before, with a new name and a new image.