Sharing the Continental Baseball League

[TrapperJohn]

Only took me two-and-a-half months to get back to this—what'd I miss? Still determined to share the remainder of my 192-team league; we're on to the Southwest Division. First up:

The Albuquerque Lobos

From Maloof Park in the Land of Enchantment, the Lobos are an upstart squad with plenty left to prove. I went back to the Low-well here to borrow a creative cursive scheme—and a "Duke City" away look that solved my Albuquerque-is-too-long-a-word problem. Perhaps not the most remarkable of sets overall, but the Lobos have proven themselves to not be the most remarkable of teams. Maybe next year...

[TrapperJohn]

The Amarillo Rough Riders

One of the final cities to make the cut for a CBL franchise, the Rough Riders are a Teddy-flavored to the old west. This isn't the sleekest of designs or the most dynamic of color schemes, but I'm a fan of the logo, at least—could be a quality minor league option in some of your leagues, perhaps. My Rough Riders call Tyson Field home; they're a power team that pops a lot of homers, and gives up only slightly more.

[TrapperJohn]

The Aurora Sparks

Another of the last cities to snag a team, cozy Aurora, Colorado, is the land of the Sparks. With an unorthodox tri-color scheme and a homer-friendly home at ADT Security Park, the Sparks are a weird beast—and one of the least successful teams in the league. What else is there to say?

[TrapperJohn]

The El Paso Miners

Back to Texas and Dos Lunas Park, overlooking the Rio Grande. The Miners of El Paso are a decent squad with the potential to be more, and boast one of the best aces in the west. The uniform set is fairly classic—deep navy and yellow, with a standard Bosox hat logo, and a pinstripe home jersey that recalls a simpler time.

[TrapperJohn]

The Flagstaff Blue Devils

To Purina Park in Arizona we go, for the first truly quality team in perhaps the CBL's weakest division. I knew that I wanted a Blue Devils squad somewhere in the league, and was drawn to Arizona for reasons unknown—this team was originally based in Scottsdale. It's a straightforward set with the best Devil logo I've been able to find, having searched for a great many; the team itself is a minor power with a veteran staff and one of the game's premier outfields.

[TrapperJohn]

The Glendale Gauchos

We'll stay in Arizona while continuing this run of smaller cities, this time to visit Westgate Park and the struggling Glendale Gauchos. I sure enjoy the color scheme here, unique within the league, and there's a certain synchronicity between the city, team name, and set that makes me decently happy with this one. The Gauchos on the field? Meh. But they've got a halfway-professional look, here, and that's something.

[DustyElbows]

Great to have you back! Can't wait to see this league finished!

[TrapperJohn]

The Mesa Saguaros

Arizona is just flush with teams, and one of the better-looking ones can be found at Sloan Park in Mesa. I love the name 'Saguaros'—it's a big ol' cactus—for the way it simultaneously captures the local culture and flora of the region while offering a unique team name that's a joy to speak and root for. I created the logo myself (shocker) by superimposing the Mesa city flag over an outline of the state; the flag design (and its own saguaro) was just too good to pass up. This one has more of my own handiwork than many of my other Frankenstein creations—I hope it serves you well.

[TrapperJohn]

The Mexico City Diablos

Not too much to say about this squad; I certainly can't claim any originality for placing a Diablo team in CDMX. It's still the best identity I've seen for Mexico City, though, and the total, unsparing saturation of red and black give this team a fresh look (even if the logo and other elements have been around the block). This is a skilled team with the prospects to make a run some day; they play their ball at Estadio Fray Nano.

[TrapperJohn]

The Pueblo Bisons

North to Colorado and Convergys Field, with another small city earning its place in the CBL. Pueblo is no metropolis, but they are the class of this division; to match their well-rounded roster, I had it in my head to give them a color scheme reminiscent of the early 90s Buffalo Bills (perhaps a subconscious Buffalo-Bisons thing?). I remodeled them fairly recently after discovering (surprise) another Low beaut, though I may tweak this set soon to add more contrast to the look.

[TrapperJohn]

The Santa Fe Jaguars

Okay—I got a little nutty with this one. Had to make some contributions of my own after borrowing so much from so many others, you know? For a long while, my Santa Fe squad was the Riders... but with a 'Rough Riders' already in place in the division, that middling name wasn't really doing it for me anymore. I repurposed some fine logo work from a SportsLogos forum and adopted a locally-significant color scheme, and went to work giving my Jaguars a little extra flair. I'm still not certain that the feathers work, but any unique element in a 192-team league has to count for something, right? This squad, fairly ordinary on the field, plays at General Miles Park.

[TrapperJohn]

The Tempe Impalas

Once more to Arizona—this time to State Farm Field in Tempe. Impalas may not be native to the region, but nor, I suppose, will you find too many Lions in Detroit; the name evokes speed in a dry clime, and the appellation fits in this case. The Impalas haven't found much success on the field, but the uniforms, at least, are sharp.

[TrapperJohn]

The Tucson Bulls

Finally, let's put a bow on the Southwest Division with the CBL's penultimate Arizona squad, the Tucson Bulls. Sunquest Park is home to another Low-inspired look, a black-and-mustard set that feels at home in the great American southwest. The Bulls are a speedy, striving squad who occasionally break out in an always-open division—they're also a leading candidate for a brand refresh in the near future.

[TrapperJohn]

Okay! Moving on to the thirteenth of sixteen divisions: the Pacific Division. In terms of quality—both in the sense of team identities and in-game performance—this is a stronger group of twelve than its immediate predecessor; it features two of the five best squads in the West, along with a strong supporting cast of clubs (and a couple of cellar-dwellers). First up is a struggling team in a lesser-known city, though:

The Henderson Mavericks

Not far from Las Vegas is the surprisingly bustling city of Henderson, where the Mavericks play ball at Fiesta Field. They aren't much to speak of on the diamond, but they do have a decently sweet skull logo that I repurposed from a football league concept at SportsLogos—so that's something. I still think the green in here isn't exactly what I want—a bit too far on the neon side—but the contrast works fairly well with the shades of blue and grey that complement it.

[TrapperJohn]

The Hollywood Nights

Crank up the Bob Seger, because it's night-time, folks. L.A. was the only city apart from New York in which I decided to place multiple teams—I wanted this to be a spread-out league covering the broadest swath possible of North America, but exceptions had to be made for our largest metros. From Universal Park come the Nights—man, I love that name—evoking the glamour and excitement of old Hollywood with silver, gold, and midnight tones. I adapted other folks' artwork here for the logo and the star on the sleeve (I've forgotten who designed the retro original logo, which I think was for a team called the Stars—sorry about that). The Nights are a quality squad who always make a play for the division.

[TrapperJohn]

The Honolulu Islanders

The flight arrangements may get a little tricky—don't worry, OOTP will handle that. Every state gets at least one franchise in the Continental Baseball League, and Hawaii's got a good one: Hawaiian Electric Park is home to the Islanders, a quality squad year in and year out. The logo and cap feature the hibiscus (the state flower), inspired by a non-baseball design I found on SportsLogos; the rest of the uniform set is fairly straightforward, with a two-tone green dominating the look.

[slothisking61]

These keep getting better and better! How many teams make it to the playoffs? And how is the structure set up?

Love to see you do a world league or a least another continent!

[TrapperJohn]

Thanks, Sloth! The playoff structure I've used is borrowed from the NCAA tournament—that is to say, 64 of the 192 teams make the cut. Each of the two leagues has eight divisions of twelve teams; the top three finishers in every division are in, as well as eight wildcards (the eight best records among teams that did not finish in the top 3 in their division). That leaves you with 32 teams in the East, and 32 in the West—they are seeded, with no byes, 1 through 32 based on record. The #1 team in the East plays a 3-game series against the #32 team, #2 vs. #31, and so on... like March Madness, it can result in some great cinderella runs each year. The first two rounds are 3-game series, and beginning with the Sweet Sixteen it moves to 5-game series. Only the Final Four pennant round and the Championship are 7-game series—as you can imagine, it tends to drag on deep into late November. Hope that's helpful—it was the best way I could come up with to construct an exciting playoff structure that included the best third-or-so of the league. Might be sacrilege for baseball purists, I suppose.

[TrapperJohn]

The Indio Iguanas

The next team up hails from the eastern outskirts of California's Inland Empire—David Lynch would be proud. This may seem an unusual spot for a franchise, but I figured the region merited a team based on population alone; the Iguanas struck me as a good fit for a dry, sun-baked stretch of country. Alas, these Iguanas are a constant struggle; their tenure at Davis Park has been one disaster after another thus far.

[kjb023]

Really like that color scheme for Indio, especially that green away jersey!