NABL a History

[JayW UK]

2035 Regular Season

Western League Review

With the record-breaking Jesus Alarcon (.292, 61 HR, 145 RBI) and Chance Merritt (.295, 29 HR, 98 RBI) leading the offense and Rafer MacNeil (19-9, 2.67) heading the rotation, Oklahoma City (95-67) won their fourth consecutive Midwest division crown holding Minneapolis at arm’s length for much of the season. Despite the best efforts of RF Jose Campos (.279, 33 HR, 106 RBI) and a rotation boasting two 16-game winning pitchers (Steve Gream and Daniel Samuels) the Bears struggled to put teams away (highlighted by their 20 blown saves and dismal 2-14 record in extra innings games) eventually finishing the season seven games back from OKC with an 88-74 record. Omaha (82-80) finished the season in third earning their first ever winning record but with the team sporting a dismal offense it was left to the pitching staff to lead the way, and although the starting rotation was just mediocre the bullpen was lights out, the group featuring youngsters David Elder (7-1, 2.50 ERA) and Grant Copeland (5-2, 2.70) along with star closer Uram Park (42 saves, 1.48 ERA) helped contribute 33 wins to the team total. Much was expected from Denver (80-82), but another frustrating season ensued with the club eventually finishing fourth, whilst bringing up the rear were Kansas City (70-92), even another strong year from Keith Fairchild (.343, 31 HR, 89 RBI) couldn’t lift the club from the basement as below-par pitching held the Tornadoes back.
With Cristobal Chapa (22-3, 2.03 ERA) atop the rotation and star outfielder Alfonso Sosa (.307, 33 HR, 111 RBI) leading the offense, Dallas (96-66) continued to be amongst the best teams in the NABL and another typically impressive campaign brought them their seventh straight playoff appearance (6 division titles and 1 wildcard) and ninth consecutive winning season. Las Vegas (88-74), despite the heroics of 22-year-old 3B Joseph Floores (.277, 62 HR, 138 RBI) and staff ace Holden Willis (19-5, 2.55 ERA), were too inconsistent to mount a serious challenge to the Mustangs for the Southwest division crown and ultimately that inconsistency cost them in the wildcard race too, as they missed out on the playoffs for the second year in a row. A mid-season trade of their best player (Steve Blanton) freed up playing time for young star Hector Soto but didn’t help Houston make a playoff push as the Stars finished with a 77-85 record one ahead of Phoenix (76-86) who squandered strong seasons from 1B Rick Flynn (.289, 39 HR, 111 RBI) and 3B Michael Ford (.318, 26HR, 95 RBI) as a result of the league’s worst pitching (George Buchanan, 9-8, 4.15 ERA being the best of a poor bunch). Austin struggled once again, finishing with just 66 wins and ‘earning’ a top-3 draft pick in the process.
In the Pacific division, Sanfrancisco ended their 18-year playoff drought in style, paced by 1B Andres Romero (.308, 41 HR, 125 RBI), C Sancho Guerra (.328, 28 HR, 102 RBI) and off-season acquisition Matt Romero (.375 batting average) the Gold led the NABL in scoring (821 runs), slugging percent (.450) and were second in hits (1555) on their way to the NABL’s best record at 98-64. Boasting the WL most powerful offense (200 homeruns) featuring Tom Sterling (.331, 41 HR, 104 RBI) Gregg Bambridge (32 HR) and Lucio Guererro (.286, 23 HR, 86 RBI), defending champions San Jose trailed in second, winning 91 games to claim the wildcard spot. Los Angeles (77-85) fell back from 87 wins proving that 2034 was a false dawn, Seattle hit a NABL low 110 homeruns but relied on league average pitching to lift themselves from 61 to 73 wins. San Diego found themselves back at the foot of the Pacific division once again, hampered by the league’s worst scoring offense and abysmal pitching (Vaughan Laursen , owner of a 5-21, 5.12 ERA record and Ken McBride who in 16 games went 1-0 with a 10.36 ERA highlighting their pitching problems), the Mariners slumped to a franchise worst 59-103 record.

Final Standings

Midwest Division
Oklahoma City 95-67*
Minneapolis 88-74
Omaha 82-80
Denver 80-82
Kansas City 70-92

Southwest Division
Dallas 96-66*
Las Vegas 88-74
Houston 77-85
Phoenix 76-86
Austin 66-96

Pacific Division
Sanfrancisco 98-64*
San Jose 91-71*
Los Angeles 77-85
Seattle 73-89
San Diego 59-103

[JayW UK]

2035 Season Notes

Pre-season – with several of their young stars closing in on free agency and able to command hefty salary increases, San Jose GM Larry Westheim made his move. Keenly aware of ownership’s desire to keep spending under control, Westheim packaged 26-year-old catcher Eduardo Cabrera off to Dallas in return for middle reliever Dave Day and 20-year-old shortstop Jaime Perez (#54 on BNN Pipeline). With the headache of Cabrera’s imminent contract demands gone, the Spartans filled the vacant catcher role for the upcoming season by naming back up James Andersen the starter for 2035.
April 4th – Houston star Steve Blanton came a single short of hitting for the cycle going 3-5 and driving in 7, as Houston steamrollered Phoenix 13-2.
April 5th – Seattle’s veteran pitcher Pedro Escobar, now 37, had a day to remember against one of his former teams, pitching a NO-HITTER against San Diego.
April 10th – St. Louis veteran shortstop Richie Rambeaux went deep for the 400th time in his career in the Reds loss to Chicago.
April 18th – Omaha’s LF Daniel Garcia collected his 2500th hit as the Braves downed Houston 5-3. Garcia became only the fifth player in NABL history to reach the milestone.
April 29th – Atlanta pitcher Greg Marshall struck out 15 against Miami as the Flames cruised to a 9-3 victory.
May 11th – on the comeback trail after his elbow injury the previous August, Dallas pitcher Juan Rangel suffered a relapse while on a rehab assignment forcing him to go under the knife again, ruling him out for the season.
May 14th – Philadelphia star Matt Henderson collected three hits in his team’s 3-1 defeat against Boston, his third hit on the day was the 2000th of his career.
June 5th – Boston RF Jared Guest scored his 1000th run as the Pilgrims beat New York.
June 7th – Denver’s star 2B Jack Underwood had a day to remember, going 3 for 5 with a pair of doubles and a homerun, while driving in six teammates as Denver crushed Seattle 11-2. His fourth inning homerun was the 300th of his career.
June 9th – Houston’s Steve Blanton slammed three homeruns and collected 5 RBI as Houston came from behind to beat Los Angeles 9-7.
June 12th – Denver 1B Jamie Boden slammed his 400th career homerun as the Wildcats slumped to a 5-3 defeat against Las Vegas.
June 16th – after underwhelming play from their 1B position (a combined .199 average with just 5 HR from 3 players) Charlotte made a move, sending starting pitcher Gerald Helton to Boston for 1B Broderick Hill and MR Julio Diaz.
June 26th – veteran OKC shortstop Mario Cristo suffered a broken elbow in an on base collision with Austin CF Angel Lopez, both players ended up on the DL with Cristo ruled out for the season and Lopez missing five weeks with fractured ribs.
June 27th – Indianapolis star Jesus Alarcon came up short against Las Vegas, going 0 for 3 on the day and ending his hitting streak at 33 games, the second longest in NABL history.
July 2nd – With young catcher Aaron Payton needing more playing time Chicago decided to move on from incumbent starter Eduardo Moreno, sending him to Boston for RF Alan Lutolz and 20-year-old SS Floyd Bailey.
July 3rd – with the team stuck in purgatory, not good enough to challenge for the playoffs and not bad enough to bottom out, Houston chose to cash in on their all-star infielder Steve Blanton, sending him to Tampa Bay for a fistful of prospects (including BNN pipeline #93, CF Julius Spencer).
July 4th – Indianapolis SS Pancho Sousa suffered a strained ribcage sending him to the disabled list for 5 weeks.
July 10th – Philadelphia’s rotation suffered a blow as John Ford (7-6, 2.50 ERA in 18 starts) suffered a torn labrum ruling him out for the season. The game got worse for Philly as after Ford left the bullpen struggled, letting a 7-2 lead evaporate and surrendering a walk-off Grand-Slam to Boston 1B Alberto Rangel to lose the game 8-7.
July 11th – Boston RF Jared Guest collected his 1000 career RBI.
July 12th – Boston made a move to improve their pitching, adding Leo Wright from Austin for five minor leaguers, the main draw being a pair of top 100 prospects, C Max Mitchell (#84) and SS Jose Rocha (#98).
July 16th – San Jose were left reeling as star pitcher Ivan Lopez suffered a partially torn UCL ruling him out for the season and probably part of the next season too. Lopez was leading the WL in wins when he went down (13-4, 3.17 ERA) and the rest of the Spartan pitching staff would have to step up if San Jose were going to defend their World Series title.
July 19th – Phoenix CF Ramon Mendez recorded six hits, all of them singles as Phoenix fell 6-1 to Dallas.
July 21st – Sanfrancisco’s star catcher Sancho Guerra hit for the CYCLE as the Gold thumped San Diego 14-2.
July 25th – Chicago CF Josh Deric collected six hits (6-for-7, 2b, 3b, 5 RBI) and helped the Zephyrs down Atlanta 9-5.
July 26th – Sanfrancisco catcher Sancho Guerra was at it again, leading the Gold to a beatdown of Houston, collecting five hits and belting a Grand-Slam on his way to 7 RBI’s, as SF cruised to a 15-3 win.
July 27th – Oklahoma City closer Kikaku Aoki, in the midst of another strong season (5-2, 2.50 ERA, with 24 saves), suffered a shoulder injury sending him to the DL for four months.
July 28th – Detroit’s 23-year-old starter Greg Hardy hurled the first shut-out of his career a NO-HITTER against Philadelphia.
July 29th – Philadelphia strengthened their infield by weakening their pitching, sending starter Ieyoshi Matsumoto to Indianapolis for SS Roberto Paz and 1B prospect Bart Dlugpolski.
August 1st – The Mustangs announce that star LF Alfonso Sosa would be remaining in Dallas for the next five years after signing him to a lucrative $90M contract extension.
August 2nd – San Jose’s star 3B Tom Sterling clubbed three homers (all of them solo shots) as the Spartans squeezed past Las Vegas 6-5.
August 3rd – Charlotte LF Stephen Thomas went 2-4 with a solo homerun as the Express came from behind to defeat Atlanta 3-2. The fifth inning homerun that Thomas hit was the 300th of his career while he also collected his 1000 RBI.
August 6th – Superstar Dixon Bodean scored the 2000th run of his career, helping Baltimore hold off Boston 4-3.
August 7th – OKC’s first round draft pick from 2033 Stephen Hart found himself on the wrong side of the law, arrested on a DUI charge. In the days following his arrest he was released by OKC leaving him on the outside looking in and wondering if any teams would give him another chance.
August 8th – Phoenix 2B Pedro Gomez hit for the CYCLE (5-for-5, 3 RBI) as the Eagles crept past Austin 5-4.
August 10th – Chicago catcher Aaron Payton suffered a broken elbow in the Zephyrs defeat to Cleveland ending his season, with the club light on qualified catchers Chicago turned to journeyman Vince Farley and over the hill veteran Richard Watson to fill the void.
August 11th – Boston RF Jared Guest collected another career milestone, this time his 2000th hit.
August 17th – star pitcher Jim Jacques left Charlotte’s win over Detroit early with pain in his throwing arm, the club’s fears proved correct the following day when he was diagnosed with a torn bicep sending him to the DL for the remainder of the season.
August 18th – Philadelphia star Matt Henderson was hit on the hand by an errant pitch breaking his thumb and sending him to the DL for four weeks.
August 28th – Houston 2B Angel Valdez collected his 2000th career hit in style, belting a walk-off RBI single as Houston beat Las Vegas 4-3.
September 5th – Philadelphia ace Shane Olson overpowered Washington striking out 17 of the 26 batters he faced as the Independence snuck past the Generals 2-1.
September 16th – Chicago were dealt a blow to their playoff hopes when 1B Julio Cruz suffered a back injury ruling him out for up to 4 weeks, meaning he would not return to play until the World Series (if Chicago got there)
September 18th – Pancho Sousa’s first year in Indianapolis ended early as he suffered a shoulder injury ending his season having played in only 115 games.
September 22nd – San Jose’s star 3B Tom Sterling strained a triceps muscle sidelining him for three weeks, ruling him out of the first two playoff series (he would be eligible to return were SJ to reach the World Series)
September 25th – Dallas catcher Eduardo Cabrera suffered a broken kneecap ruling him out for 7 months.
September 30th – On the final day of the season Minneapolis LF Jose Campos slammed a trio of homeruns driving in all five of the Bears runs as they fell 7-5 to Omaha, a win which ensured the Braves first ever winning season.
November 4th – At the conclusion to the season a clearly emotional Chicago manager Eddie Gray announced his retirement from the game after 22 years. His career took in stops at four clubs (DEN, KC, TB, CHI) winning over 1300 games and included being named WL manager of the year and leading Denver to a World Series title way back in 2015.

[JayW UK]

Interlude – The race for 60 (the 2035 WL homerun title chase)

In the spring of 2035 few people saw the dramatic events of that summer coming, if asked to name the upcoming western league homerun champion most people would have plumped for one of the usual suspects Wayne Radke (DAL), Alfonso Sosa (DAL), Gregg Bambridge (SJ) or Tom Sterling (SJ) as the most likely champion, some may have named OKC’s up and coming leftfielder Jesus Alarcon or Kansas City’s Keith Fairchild but no-one would have even mentioned Las Vegas 3B Joseph Floores. By the all-star break two players had separated themselves from the chasing pack, OKC leftfielder Jesus Alarcon a brash, confident 26-year-old in his third season and softly spoken 22-year-old Las Vegas 3B Joseph Floores in his second year but first as a full-time starter. Both men arrived at the break having already hit over 30 homeruns (Alarcon 34 and Floores 33) and proceeded to grab the nation’s attention with a potent display of power hitting at the homerun derby, Alarcon pipped Floores to the title and then at the press conference, never short on something to say, he boldly predicted that he would smash the NABL single season homerun record and be the first player to hit 60 in a season!! Simultaneously stealing the headlines and grabbing people’s imagination whilst setting the stage for an iconic second half of the campaign. Both sluggers continued to punish opposing pitchers throughout the dog days of summer and reached 50 homeruns before August turned to September, it was now a matter of when, rather than if, the single season record would fall and who would get there first with Alarcon’s second target of 60 also well within reach. On the 12th September Jesus Alarcon clubbed his 55th homer of the season to break Dixon Bodean’s record, Floores joined him on 55 two days later and with the nation’s eyes on them, the pair entered the final week of play both having hit 58 homeruns. With the national media following their every move, Joseph Floores struck first belting his 59th in Las Vegas’ victory over Houston, Alarcon went one better clubbing two homers the following day to reach the magic 60 mark becoming the first player in NABL history to accomplish the feat. Alarcon drilled another homerun the next day for his 61st and with three games left of the season the WL homerun crown appeared to be heading to Oklahoma City and Alarcon. But Joseph Floores had other ideas, smashing a pair of homeruns in the Gamblers penultimate game of the season before launching another long ball on the final day to reach 62 for the season. Jesus Alarcon on the other hand struggled in OKC’s final series against Austin (collecting just a single hit and striking out 9 times) probably as a result of trying to hit everything out of the stadium, leaving him marooned on 61 HR for the season. Although Alarcon missed out on the Homerun crown, he did set the NABL record for RBI’s in a season with 145 and still had the playoffs to prepare for, unlike Floores who had to be content with watching them at home on TV knowing he had got the best of Alarcon and set a record that would likely stand for some time.

Joseph Floores (Las Vegas)
Season stats - G -154 AB - 567 RS - 125 H - 157 2B - 25 3B - 3 HR – 62* RBI - 138 BB - 106 K - 94 SB - 2 CS - 1 AVG - .277 OBP – .392 SLG – .660 OPS - 1.052
*New NABL Record
Jesus Alarcon (Oklahoma City)
Season stats - G -156 AB - 643 RS - 97 H - 188 2B - 14 3B - 2 HR - 61 RBI – 145* BB - 39 K - 85 SB - 0 CS - 0 AVG - .292 OBP – .331 SLG – .605 OPS - .936
*New NABL Record

[JayW UK]

2035 Playoffs

Divisional Round

The 2035 edition of the playoffs saw six out of the eight teams from the previous year return to the postseason, the east Washington after a one-year hiatus would take on Chicago, while the favourites to win the EL pennant, Philadelphia would face off against Charlotte. In the west, owners of the best record in baseball Sanfrancisco, had finally got the monkey off their back by qualifying for the postseason for the first time since 2017 and would get to go toe to toe with OKC, while defending champions San Jose were set to re-acquaint themselves with Dallas.

Charlotte had qualified for the playoffs on the final day of the season with a dramatic victory over New Orleans setting up their matchup against EL powerhouse Philadelphia, the Independence with their outstanding pitching staff and powerful offense were seen as virtual locks to dispose of plucky underdogs Charlotte and move on the ELCS. A Jamie Henson RBI single in the top of the 9th broke a 1-1 tie and put Charlotte ahead, Justin Babbitt took just 11 pitches to finish off Philadelphia and give the Express their first ever playoff victory. The following night saw a pitching duel of the highest quality as Philadelphia starter Shane Olson pitched seven innings of one run ball, unfortunately for him and the Independence Steve Walls and Wessel Oost combined to produce a 4-hit shutout, putting Charlotte in a very strong position after the opening two games of the series. Having scored just a single run in the opening two games Philadelphia’s offense woke up with a bang in game three, slamming four homeruns (including a pair from Matt Henderson) as the Independence cruised to an 8-0 victory keeping the series alive. The following night the brakes were back on Philly’s offense as Joe Downing, Brian Nichols and Justin Babbitt kept the Independence bats quiet, not even a late homerun from Matt Henderson (his fourth of the series) could spark a comeback, as the Express wrapped up the series with a narrow 2-1 win.

The second eastern league divisional series saw Chicago and Washington face off in the first ever playoff meeting between the two teams. Game one was a tight battle and with Chicago protecting a slim 1-0 lead in the 9th inning, the usually reliable closer Harvey Widdowes chose this moment to suffer a meltdown, with one out and the speedy Marc Smith on second he fielded a routine groundball and instead of taking the easy out at first, he tried the more difficult task of retiring Smith at third, his throw was badly off target and got past 3B David Evans resulting in Smith scoring the tying run and Widdowes being charged with an error. So instead of there being two out with a man on third and Chicago still in the lead, the game was now tied with a man on second and still one out. Widdowes rebounded to strike out RF Michael Moore (which ironically would have been the third out) before next man up 2B Anibal Trueba smashed a double past LF Roberto Escobar allowing the runner to score and put Washington 2-1 ahead as the Generals took full advantage of the extra out before Closer Steve Berg pitched a textbook 1-2-3 inning to preserve the most unlikely of wins for the underdogs. The following night Chicago took out their frustrations on Washington starter Domingas Fidi, piling up five runs against him through the first three innings, after Fidi left the game the Generals bullpen stopped the scoring but their offense couldn’t get going until it was too late, scoring twice late on as the Zephyrs tied the series with a comfortable 5-2 victory. Washington left it late in game three, with the scores tied and the home fans getting restless, a five run eighth sparked by an Aaron Harris Grand-Slam saw the Generals safely home taking the series lead with a 6-1 win. Game four was yet another tight battle, with both teams finding runs hard to come by Chicago starter Logan Jones took matters into his own hands blasting a go-ahead 2-run homer in the seventh inning and although Washington cut the deficit in half in the eighth, they couldn’t manage to score again as Zephyr closer Harvey Widdowes made sure there was no repeat of his game one collapse sending the series back to Chicago for a deciding game five. Game two starters Eugene Fey (CHI) and Domingas Fidi (WAS) were back on the mound and the home team again started fast plating three runs in the first inning and although Fidi struggled with control (issuing 5 walks along with 6 hits) Chicago couldn’t take full advantage, twice leaving the bases loaded. With Eugene Fey pitching well, this profligacy didn’t come back to haunt them and once Fidi left the game (having thrown 112 pitches through just 5.1 innings) the floodgates opened as Chicago ripped six more runs against the helpless Generals bullpen, winning the series decider in a one-sided 9-1 demolition.

The series between Sanfrancisco and Oklahoma City, pitted two of the best offensive teams in the NABL against each other, SF boasted the top scoring offense in the WL while OKC were third, the Outlaws had the advantage of better pitching but with Sanfrancisco having the home advantage there was very little to choose between the teams and a close and exciting series was expected. Things didn’t start too well for Sanfrancisco as top starter Ed Harris (19-7 in the regular season) had to leave game one with back spasms after just two innings, with the score tied at one apiece the Gold turned to Kevin Sims as his replacement. The move turned out to be a disaster, as one inning and six runs later the game was over as a contest with OKC eventually taking the series opener 8-2. After his team’s disheartening capitulation the previous night, Sanfrancisco manager Jorge Castro demanded an improvement for game two, Mike Powell answered the call and started strong, no-hitting OKC through the first five innings and when 1B Andres Romero drove in Steve Feller to give the Gold the lead all appeared to be going to plan. OKC starter Wes Pierson had other ideas though stepping up his intensity and stopping Sanfrancisco from padding their lead before in the seventh a CF Jorge Bruno 2-run Homer put the Outlaws ahead and sent Powell to the dugout, the Gold bullpen struggled to keep the visitors at bay as OKC added three more runs to their total while Pierson proved almost unhittable going the distance as OKC recorded a comfortable 5-1 victory. After their disappointing homestand Sanfrancisco took to the road for games 3 and 4 determined to take the game to OKC, CF Herminio Azurara plated two with a first inning double to give them an early lead in game three. A 2-RBI homerun from Jesus Alarcon tied the scores in the second before the wheels fell off for SF as further homeruns from Chance Merritt and Jesus Alarcon (his second of the day) sparked an eight-run third inning to blow the game wide open. A three-run outburst in the sixth briefly gave Sanfrancisco hope but the Outlaws extinguished that with three of their own in the seventh as they coasted to a convincing 14-5 series clinching win, leaving manager Jorge Castro and his team to lick their wounds and reflect on a thoroughly deflating playoff exit.

The other WL divisional series saw defending champions San Jose face off against Dallas, the pair had met in the WLCS the season before with San Jose sweeping Dallas before going on to sweep Chicago in the World Series, this time around Dallas had the home advantage and were determined to gain revenge. Game one saw a battle between the two staff aces, Cristobal Chapa (DAL) and Pedro Rosario (SJ), both men pitched well until a 48-minute rain delay in the sixth inning forced both players from the mound. The bullpens took over and kept a lid on the scoring until in the bottom of the eighth, when Dallas C Hanus Koliewski (playing in place of injured Eduardo Canbrera) drilled a one-out solo homerun off the pitching of Gil Nash to give the home team a 3-2 lead. With the fans cheering every pitch Luis Lagunas made short work of San Jose to close out the win. Game two was another close battle, both team scoring early in a back-and-forth affair before Dallas starter Jason Cashan left the game with a blister in the fifth inning, the Mustangs turned to veteran Larry de Meza and he delivered, pitching four shutout innings to lift Dallas to victory. Brad Wright was the unlucky Dallas pitcher in game three as San Jose’s bats came alive, scoring 9 runs and smashing five homeruns, a pair each from Gregg Bambridge and Connor Brantley to go with a solo effort from Armando Burrios that provided the final score in the Spartans comprehensive 9-1 victory. Dallas ace Cristobal Chapa did not have is A-game the following night, spotting San Jose a three-run lead which could have much worse if the Spartans had not ground into three double plays and hit just 1 for 6 with men in scoring position. The Spartans did manage to pad their lead with back-to-back homers off reliever Britt Jones, before a late Dallas rally fell just short as San Jose held on for a 5-4 win to send the series back to Texas for a deciding game five. Dallas came out all guns blazing in the decider, blasting a pair of homeruns in the first and cruising to a 6-0 lead after four innings, while the Spartans struggled to produce any offense of their own and only a late homerun from catcher James Andersen gave their fans anything to cheer as San Jose slumped to a 6-1 defeat and crashing out of the playoffs at the first hurdle.

[JayW UK]

2035 Playoffs

Championship Round


The Eastern league pennant series pitted Charlotte, who had surprisingly seen off the heavily favoured Philadelphia Independence in the divisional series, against a Chicago side playing in their third straight ELCS and aiming for a return to the World Series. The underdog status seemed to suit Charlotte, as behind strong pitching performances from Greg Bailey, Tom King and closer Justin Babbitt (1IP, 3K) coupled with a late homerun from 3B Brandon Townsend, Charlotte opened the series with a 3-1 victory. More superb pitching the following night this time from Steve Walls and Justin Babbitt (another 1IP, 3K performance) gave the visitors a 4-1 victory and put them in a strong position, 2-0 up in the series with the next three games at home. With their backs to the wall Chicago turned to Eugene Fey for game three while Charlotte countered with Joe Downing, Fey was excellent for Chicago, pitching eight innings and allowing just two runs on five hits, however the Zephyr bats continued to be stymied by the Express pitching, mustering a mere three hits and a single run leaving Fey on the hook for the loss. Chicago’s dormant offense showed signs of life early in game four, scoring three times in the first two innings but Charlotte pitcher David Reyes knuckled down after the early wobble to dominate the Chicago batters, striking out 11 in seven innings of work before Tom King kept Chicago off the scoreboard over the final two frames. However, for Charlotte it took until the sixth inning (when Chicago starter Logan Jones left the game) for their offense to wake up, sparked by a huge Jamie Henson two-run blast they scored six un-answered runs to see the Express safely home and complete one of the biggest playoff upsets in history.

The WL Championship series saw Dallas and Oklahoma City renew their playoff rivalry, the two teams were meeting for the fourth time overall and third time in the last four years with Dallas owning a 2-1 series lead. Both teams possessed quality pitching with OKC having the edge on offense, but with Dallas owning the homefield advantage there was very little to separate the two sides. OKC pitchers Rafer MacNeil, John Watkins and Jamie Berry joined forces to shut down Dallas in game one, the Outlaws broke through in the fourth plating three runs (all of them unearned after an Alfonso Sosa error) before a Jesus Alarcon RBI double in the seventh completed the scoring as OKC upended Dallas 4-0 to open the series. Game two proved to be a pitching battle between Cristobal Chapa (DAL) and Wes Pierson (OKC), both were flawless through the first four innings until Pierson ran into trouble in the fifth, walking Alfonso Sosa with the bases loaded to give Dallas the lead, a C Hanus Koliewski sacrifice fly added a second run before CF Carlos Martinez hit into a double play to end the inning, David Edwards hit a solo homerun in the seventh to push the lead to 3-0. Cristobal Chapa was brilliant for Dallas, the dominant righty pitching 7.1 innings surrendering just 4 hits while striking out 12 before handing over to the Zach Miller, four hits and two runs later closer Luis Lagunas was called upon to bail out miller delivering a clutch five-out save to even the series. Game three started badly for the home side with the Outlaws falling into an early 3-0 hole and losing their main offensive threat, Jesus Alarcon to injury. David Edwards clubbed his second homerun of the series to increase the Dallas lead before a late rally from OKC fizzled out as the visiting Mustangs held on for a 4-3 victory. Shorn of their biggest offensive threat OKC never got going in game four, a late 2-run blast from Chance Merritt their only score. But by then it was too late, as Rafer MacNeil and three relievers could not keep Dallas off the scoreboard as OKC fell to a 9-2 defeat leaving them on the verge of elimination. Game five saw an entertaining back and forth battle, OKC entered the top of the ninth protecting a slim 5-4 lead and with star closer Kikaku Aoki injured, the task of finishing off Dallas fell to Jamie Berry. The Mustangs got a huge slice of luck when, with one out and runners on first and second, a SS Felix Vasquez miss-field led to OKC only being able to retire one man instead of completing an inning ending double play. Next man up Wayne Radke (on pinch hit duties) slammed a double down the line into the right-field corner clearing the bases and giving Dallas a 6-5 lead for closer Luis Lagunas to work with. Lagunas duly collected his third save of the series, taking just 9 pitches to see off OKC and send Dallas to their fourth World Series in the last seven years.

[JayW UK]

2035 Playoffs

World Series

Making their fourth appearance in the fall classic and looking for their third title were Dallas, while standing in their way were unfancied Charlotte. The Express had already seen off both Philadelphia and Chicago to reach the World Series and although Dallas were seen by many as the hot favourites they could not afford to take Charlotte lightly. In game one a David Edwards 2-run homer was all the offense Dallas required to take the series lead as staff ace Cristobal Chapa was almost perfect, striking out 12 and hurling a one-hit shutout, his only blip a fourth inning single surrendered to SS Jamie Henson. The following night both sides came to play, in a topsy-turvy game with momentum swinging from one team to the other the hometown fans left the happier, as a late 2-run blast from Alfonso Sosa (his second of the night) capped a wild Dallas comeback. The Express, despite a big game from veteran LF Stephen Thomas (3H, HR, 4 RBI) were left to rue missed opportunities as they let leads of 2-0, 4-3 and 5-4 slip on the way to losing a heartbreaker. Back home in the comfortable confines of the Carolina Dome, Charlotte used a Stephen Thomas grand-slam to storm into a big lead and cruised the rest of the way, taking game three in a landslide to cut the series deficit to one game. Things were all knotted up the next night as David Reyes controlled the Dallas offense for much of the contest while the Express used homeruns from Broderick Hill and Brandon Townsend to build a 5-0 lead, the Mustangs plated a couple of consolation runs in the 9th to make the score respectable, game five continued the trend of the home team winning with Greg Bailey and the Express besting Dallas ace Cristobal Chapa in a closely fought game to surprisingly put Charlotte on the verge of winning it all. The series moved back to Texas for the final act with Charlotte in the driving seat, game six saw Dallas build a comfortable 6-0 lead behind the pitching of Jason Cashan, however once he left the game the Charlotte batters found the Dallas bullpen much more to their liking cutting the Mustang lead to one, only the timely introduction of closer Luis Lagunas secured the win and set up a game seven showdown. The visitors drew first blood in the finale when C Nicholas Tate slammed a 2-run first inning homer, the home fans didn’t have to wait long for a reply as the Mustangs levelled the game in the bottom of the first and went ahead in the third. The two teams swapped runs in the fourth before Express 1B Broderick Hill tied the score with a fifth inning homerun. With both teams turning to their bullpens a series of relievers kept a lid on the scoring until the top of the ninth when visiting catcher Nicholas Tate slammed his second homer of the game putting Charlotte on the brink of becoming world champions. With his team holding a slim 6-4 lead Express closer Justin Babbitt took the mound and calmly retired the heart of the Dallas lineup to send the visiting fans into a frenzy and bring to a close one of the most remarkable seasons in NABL history.

2035 Playoff Recap

Divisional Series
EL: Charlotte 3-1 Philadelphia, Chicago 3-2 Washington
WL: Dallas 3-2 San Jose, Oklahoma City 3-0 Sanfrancisco
Championship Series
EL: Charlotte 4-0 Chicago
WL: Dallas 4-1 Oklahoma City
World Series
Charlotte 4-3 Dallas

[JayW UK]

2035 Season Leaders and Awards

EL Batting
Hits
214 Adam Bailey (STL)
207 Dixon Bodean (BAL)
205 Jamie Henson (CHA)
Batting Avg
.337 Jose Villalobos (IND)
.327 Miguel Lujan (MIA)
.326 Sul-Shik Choi (BAL)
Homeruns
40 Bryant Manton (TB)
32 Sul-Shik Choi (BAL)
31 Jose Cintron (IND)
RBI
113 Lee McDale (PHI)
105 Dixon Bodean (BAL)
101 Sul-Shik Choi (BAL)
Stolen Bases
43 Adam Bailey (STL)
40 Marc Smith (WAS)
39 Juan Gutierrez (DET)

EL Pitching
Wins
19 McKenzie Ransford (STL)
18 Gerald Clark (MIA)
15 Ramon Schoof (TB)
ERA
2.64 Logan Jones (CHI)
2.65 Shane Olson (PHI)
2.74 Yasutoki Sugiyama (WAS)
Strikeouts
269 Shane Olson (PHI)
239 McKenzie Ransford (STL)
238 Ramon Schoof (TB)
Saves
42 Justin Babbitt (CHA)
42 Jesus Espinoza (STL)
40 Larry Hoffman (PHI)

WL Batting
Hits
225 Matt Romero (SF)
214 Jose Diaz (OKC)
194 Javier Gutierrez (AUS)
Batting Avg
.375 Matt Romero (SF)
.343 Keith Fairchild (KC)
.331 Tom Sterling (SJ)
Homeruns
62 Joseph Floores (LV)
61 Jesus Alarcon (OKC)
41 Tom Sterling (SJ)
RBI
145 Jesus Alarcon (OKC)
138 Joseph Floores (LV)
125 Andres Romero (SF)
Stolen Bases
50 Jose Diaz (OKC)
48 Wolfgang Worns (HOU)
42 Cesar Salazar (MIN)

WL Pitching
Wins
22 Cristobal Chapa (DAL) *
19 Holden Willis (LV)
19 Rafer MacNeil (OKC)
ERA
2.03 Cristobal Chapa (DAL) *
2.33 Mitch Woodroffe (LA)
2.42 Octavio Cortal (DEN)
Strikeouts
286 Cristobal Chapa (DAL) *
263 Rafer MacNeil (OKC)
233 Holden Willis (LV)
Saves
49 Luis Lagunas (DAL)
42 Uram Park (OMH)
41 Dave Day (SJ)

Batting Champion – in the east, 21-year-old Indianapolis 2B Jose Villalobos (.337) won the title, holding off strong challenges from Miami’s Miguel Lujan (.327) and Baltimore LF Sul-Shik Choi (.326). Over in the west Sanfrancisco 3B Matt Romero (.375) claimed his first WL title (and third of his career) finishing well ahead of KC’s Keith Fairchild (.343).
Homerun Champion – The EL title was won by Tampa Bay’s Bryant Manton (40) who finished eight ahead of nearest rival Sul-Shik Choi (32). The Western league saw a battle for the ages with Las Vegas 3B Joseph Floores (62) winning the title on the last day of the season ahead of OKC’s star LF Jesus Alarcon (61).
Outstanding Hitter – Baltimore’s second year LF Sul-Shik Choi (.326, 32 HR, 101 RBI) won the EL award, seeing off Philadelphia catcher Mike Willis (.312, 27 HR, 100 RBI) and 39-year-old teammate LF Dixon Bodean (.323, 28 HR, 105 RBI). In the west the all-round excellence of San Jose’s 3B Tom Sterling (.331, 41 HR, 104 RBI’s, 113 Runs) meant he took home the award ahead of record-breaking pair Jesus Alarcon (.292, 61 HR, 145 RBI) and Joseph Floores (.277, 62 HR, 138 RBI)
Outstanding Pitcher – St. Louis star McKenzie Ransford (19-8, 3.06 ERA) became the sixth player to achieve a pitching triple crown and won the EL award ahead of Miami’s Gerald Clark (18-9, 3.27 ERA) and Chicago ace Logan Jones (13-4, 2.64 ERA). In the west Dallas staff ace Cristobal Chapa (22-3, 2.03 ERA) dominated to take home the WL award, the only other pitcher to gain any votes was Las Vegas star Holden Willis (19-5, 2.55 ERA)
Rookie of the Year – Tampa Bay 1B Jesus Aguirre (.282, 22 HR, 78 RBI) held off Detroit’s 21-year-old catcher Gabriel Lopez (.230, 26 HR, 94 RBI) to win the EL award. Houston SS Hector Soto (.325, 11 HR, 61 RBI) won the WL award ahead of many peoples favourite, Minneapolis catcher Tom Walsh (.291, 13 HR, 59 RBI)
Manager of the Year – Philadelphia skipper Raul Aguilar took home the EL award for leading the Independence to a franchise record 97-wins, over in the west Sanfrancisco manager Jorge Castro picked up the award after leading the Gold to a franchise best 98-win campaign and ending their 18-year playoff drought
Glove Wizard Awards EL – P McKenzie Ransford (STL) – C Mike Willis (PHI) – 1B Alberto Rangel (BOS) – 2B Ivan Santana (IND) – 3B Alfonso Alvarez (NO) – SS Jorge Mendez (ATL) – LF Lee McDale (PHI) – CF Josh Deric (CHI) – RF Richard Anderson (ATL)
Glove Wizard Awards WL – P Cole Adams (HOU) – C Fernando Belmondo (AUS) – 1B Jesus Rubio (DAL) – 2B Ollie O’Quinn (OMH) – 3B Tom Sterling (SJ) – SS Cesar Morin (KC) – LF Alfonso Sosa (DAL) – CF Jorge Bruno (OKC) – RF Danny Wheeler (LV)

Interesting Facts – on April 5th Pedro Escobar pitched the second NO-HITTER of his career whilst playing for Seattle against San Diego. The first NO-HITTER was back in 2023 while he was playing for San Diego and ironically was a PERFECT GAME against… you’ve guessed it, Seattle.

[JayW UK]

Interlude – Player Profiles

Larry de Meza
College – N/A
Drafted – N/A – 2014 International discovery by Atlanta Flames
Current Team – None (Retired)
Previous Teams – ATL (2020-2026), TB (2027-2032), SEA (2033), TB (2034), DAL (2035)

Discovered as a sixteen-year-old playing in the Dutch Antilles, Larry de Meza was coveted by several teams but ended up choosing to join Atlanta’s international set up. After three years learning his trade, de Meza was assigned to the Tuscaloosa Trojans (the Flames Rookie league affiliate) where an impressive debut season (10-2, 1.61 ERA) caught the eye, steady progress through the Flames farm system resulted in de Meza earning a spot on Atlanta’s opening day roster for the 2020 season. He worked exclusively out of the bullpen turning in a respectable (1-5, 2.81 ERA, 14 SV) rookie campaign before earning a place in the Flames rotation the following season. Steady improvement from de Meza saw him form a strong partnership with staff ace Vince Little with the pair instrumental in Atlanta’s run to the World Series in 2023. A fantastic 2024 campaign in which de Meza earned the EL pitching triple-crown resulted in him winning the EL Outstanding Pitcher Award, a second award arrived after the 2025 season and the following year de Meza made history as the first pitcher to record 300+ strikeouts in consecutive seasons. With his contract up and Atlanta showing little sign of being able to mount a serious challenge for postseason honours de Meza hit the open market, eventually landing with Tampa Bay on a lucrative 6-year $146M deal. A solid debut campaign in Tampa (in which de Meza narrowly missed the 300K plateau for the third consecutive season) was followed by an even better one in which he claimed his third Outstanding Pitcher Award and reached 300K’s for the third time in four years (between 2025-28 de Meza struck out 1250 opponents while only walking 203 for an incredible 6.1 K/BB Ratio). For the next three years de Meza toiled away fruitlessly as the Hurricanes missed the postseason and even when in 2032 Tampa Bay finally made a run, the season ended in bittersweet fashion for de Meza. Although de Meza collected his second pitching triple-crown (becoming the first player in NABL history to do so) and earned his fourth Outstanding Pitcher Award, he missed the playoff run and ended the season on the DL with a torn UCL (the first major injury of his career). After being released by Tampa Bay and spending 11-months rehabbing after surgery, de Meza signed with Seattle, but his brief stint in the Pacific northwest (0-2, 5.84 ERA) was a disaster prompting de Meza to announce his retirement from playing. His self-imposed exile lasted only a couple of months, as Tampa Bay came calling and lured him out of retirement for 2034, but a frustrating (9-5, 4.76 ERA) injury riddled campaign in which de Meza transitioned from starter to reliever, once again led to his exit. After being released from Tampa Bay de Meza, now 37-years-old, was once again contemplating retirement until Dallas reached out and signed the veteran to a one-year deal. Pitching out of the bullpen de Meza proved to be an important cog as Dallas made a run all the way to the World Series, eventually falling in seven games to Charlotte. Once again out of contract after being released and facing an uncertain future, 38-year-old Larry de Meza chose to call time on his career rather than continue to chase his dream of a World Series ring. Larry de Meza retires as the all-time leader in strikeouts and has the distinction of being the only pitcher to have two pitching triple-crowns on his resume, the only thing de Meza did not manage to achieve was a World Series victory, featuring on the losing side twice during his career (2023 with Atlanta and 2035 with Dallas).

Career Stats
Regular Season
G - 565 GS - 437 W/L – 197-144 SV - 15 ERA – 3.31 IP – 3148.1 BB - 710 K - 3696 WHIP – 1.07 ERA+ 123 WAR – 86.7
Post Season
G - 20 GS - 11 W/L – 4-1 SV - 0 ERA – 2.31 IP – 85.2 BB - 10 K - 107 WHIP – 0.86 ERA+ 302

Career Achievements
Outstanding Pitcher Award x4 (2024, 2025, 2028, 2032)
Pitching Triple Crown x2 (2024, 2032)
4-time All-Star

Marc “Presto” Birstall
College – N/A High School
Drafted – 2018 – 1st Round - #14 Overall by Houston Stars
Current Team – None (Retired)
Previous Teams – HOU (2020-2029), LV (2030-2035)

As an eighteen-year-old pitching phenom, Marc Birstall declared for the 2018 draft as soon as he graduated from High-School. Claimed with the fourteenth pick by Houston, Birstall was slow to adapt to the professional game, through his first two years he pitched to an 8-10, 3.73 ERA record in 34 games at both Rookie League and Short Season A level. However, by his third season (2020) the light had come on, splitting time between AA and AAA Birstall started 29-games and recorded a stellar 16-3, 2.19 ERA record and worked his way to the top of BNN’s prospect list. On the back of his excellent 2020 campaign Birstall earned a spot on Houston’s opening day roster for the 2021 season and proceeded to take the league by storm with his play, producing a stunning rookie campaign (16-2, 1.81 ERA + 250K) earning an All-Star nod and winning WL Rookie-of-the-Year. A solid sophomore season was followed up by a superb near triple-crown season (he finished 8-strikeouts shy of Pedro Escobar for the WL lead), resulting in Birstall being named WL Pitcher-of-the-Year. The following four years saw Birstall firmly establish himself as one of the premier pitchers in the NABL (52-24, 2.35 ERA in 133 starts with a phenomenal 10/1 K/BB ratio). However, over the next two seasons Birstall took his play to another level, producing the most dominant spell of pitching in league history (65G, 36-11, 1.56 ERA, 60BB/576k) collecting the 2028 Outstanding Pitcher Award and finishing as runner-up the following season. At the conclusion of the 2029 season Birstall announced that he would be testing Free Agency after nine seasons in Houston where even with Birstall’s superior play, the Stars had only managed four playoff appearances during that span (being eliminated at the first hurdle in three of them). Courted by a host of teams Birstall eventually chose Las Vegas, signing a lucrative six-year deal, but before could throw a pitch in anger for his new team, disaster struck, during spring training Birstall tore his UCL, an injury that saw him miss the entire 2030 season. After surgery and a gruelling rehab, Birstall returned to the mound for the 2031 season, although he was not as dominating as he had been before his injury he still pitched well enough to earn his tenth All-Star nod and helped the Gamblers reach the World Series where they fell to Indianapolis in seven games. The next two seasons were frustrating for Birstall as his play remained above average (garnering him another All-Star appearance) but both campaigns ended with Las Vegas falling in the postseason. A shoulder injury limited Birstall to just 17 games in 2034 and although he returned to the mound in 2035 injuries had caught up with the once dominant hurler as he produced a disappointing (6-6, 4.10 ERA) campaign before the injury bug bit him again and he ended the season on the DL. With his contract expiring and facing another gruelling rehab on his shoulder, Marc Birstall announced his retirement from the game of baseball. The two-time Pitcher-of-the-year enjoyed a 15-year career in which for a large proportion of it, he was one of the best pitchers in the game, (earning All-Star nods in eleven of his first twelve seasons, only missing out in 2030 due to injury) never losing more than eight games in a season and, apart from his final two years, also winning at least twelve games every year.

Career Stats
Regular Season
G – 464 GS - 410 W/L – 183-78 SV – 4 ERA – 2.20 IP – 2566.1 BB - 489 K – 3142 WHIP – 0.91 ERA+ 182 WAR – 106.2
Post Season
G - 17 GS - 17 W/L 6-4 SV - 0 ERA – 2.51 IP – 100.1 BB - 28 K - 110 WHIP – 0.95 ERA+ 207

Career Achievements
Outstanding Pitcher Award x2 (2023, 2028)
Rookie of the Year Award (2021)
Pitching Triple Crown (2028)
11-time All-Star

[JayW UK]

2036 Off-Season

Days after their World Series loss, Dallas received more bad news when star pitcher Juan Rangel announced his retirement due to injury. Rangel, who had originally injured his elbow in August 2034 had been close to a return to playing back in May before suffering a relapse and enduring a second major elbow surgery. Six months on and once again during rehab work, he broke down tearing his UCL for the second time, leaving him the difficult choice of undergoing more major surgery with no guarantee of success or calling time on his career. Rangel reluctantly chose option two, leaving the game after seven successful years with Dallas in which he won a pair of Outstanding Pitcher awards and two World Series rings along with a career record of 79-30, and a 2.33 ERA.
Charlotte opened the off-season with a bang, announcing that they had agreed terms with NABL legend Juan Santos for him to take his first steps into management and skipper their AAA affiliate Jacksonville Dolphins a coup for the Express. After their fall from grace Tampa Bay (who had slumped from 104-wins and a division crown to just 77-wins and a fourth-place finish) moved on from manager Jose Ayala promoting bench coach and former St. Louis skipper Daniel Donnelly to the top job. A pair of Midwest division teams also fired their incumbent managers, Omaha sent Jose Perez packing despite him leading the club to their first winning season while Minneapolis removed skipper Richard Goodwin after he was unable to unseat OKC at the top of the division. Omaha enticed Seattle skipper Michael Bradshaw to jump ship and signed him to a three-year deal to replace Perez, the Pioneers chose St. Louis hitting coach Gomes Solano to replace Bradshaw. Los Angeles were on the lookout for a new manager after Bruce Weaver stepped down to take over in New Orleans, the Lynx didn’t have to wait long for their man as Phoenix skipper John Cochran expressed his interest, and after whirlwind talks was unveiled as LA’s new manager. Phoenix found a replacement for Cochran in the form of former Minneapolis manager Richard Goodwin, another manager who had spent the previous year out of the NABL found a new home when former San Diego skipper Allen Richardson was hired to take over from Richard Goodwin in Minneapolis. After several months of will-he won’t-he speculation four-time Manager of the Year Pat Bennett finally agreed to take over the reins in Chicago, Bennett arrived refreshed and raring to go after spending the previous year relaxing and watching from afar.
With a new manager on board, Tampa Bay took the opportunity for a clear out of several underperforming veterans, first to go was pitcher Angel Castro, the two-time pitcher of the year landed in Phoenix on a two-year $35M deal. Next to leave was 1B Ryan Porter who chose Omaha as his new home, signing a 4-year $61.5M contract. Somewhat surprisingly, the Hurricanes made no attempt to re-sign 2B Andres Montoya who wound up in Oklahoma City on a lucrative 4-year $80M deal, or star closer Josh Renshaw, who was allowed to leave for World champions Charlotte, signing on for one year at a very reasonable $8.5M. The Express didn’t finish there, adding power hitting outfielder Gregg Bambridge from San Jose on a five year $75M deal and Atlanta’s star pitcher Greg Marshall for a cool $21M a season over the next five years. Charlotte however, couldn’t persuade Greg Bailey to stick around, the all-star pitcher leaving town for Boston and a chance to work with manager Christian Eberlein, the Pilgrims continued their wheeling and dealing the next day by sending pitcher Leo Wright out west to Oklahoma City in exchange for veteran infielder Mario Cristo and young pitcher Jesse McGregor. OKC also added star 1B Randy Harrington to the mix, signing the former Boston man to a four year $56M deal. Meanwhile Atlanta said goodbye to another of their rotation staples when Jim Champion joined Greg Marshall in leaving Georgia, signing with Miami on a 3-year $50M deal, leaving the Flames in a desperate search for replacements for two fifths of their 2035 starting rotation. Washington lost speedy outfielder Marc Smith to Indianapolis, who ponied up a staggering $20M a-year over four years to get their man, the Generals replaced Smith’s lost speed by adding raw power instead, signing former Denver 1B Jamie Boden to a team friendly 3-year deal and then adding veteran SS Richie Rambeaux for one year, although many people thought Rambeaux had reached the end of the road and should have retired instead. Washington also made a move aimed at improving their hitting by trading with Cleveland for 1B Pedro Escoriaza, sending 1B Bobby Schoeppell and 2B prospect John Hayes to the Corsairs in return. St. Louis set out to bolster their pitching staff and get some much-needed help for 2035 EL pitcher of the year McKenzie Ransford, adding former Kansas City starter Robert Warwick (4-years at $62M) and star closer Kikaku Aoki (4-years at $42M) from OKC. Many in the local press felt the contract given to Aoki was too much of a risk, as although Aoki was undoubtedly talented, he was coming back from injury with no guarantee he would be able to return to his former self. Another team adding veteran pitching was Cleveland who signed 36-year-old Duane Jones to a one-year deal, fans and pundits alike openly questioned the wisdom of signing a pitcher who most felt was well past his prime (his last two seasons in Austin had yielded a disappointing 9-25 record).
The presumptive #1 pick in the 2036 draft was 21-year-old Penn State Outfielder Greg Jackson, a power hitting lefty with a sweet swing and the potential to regularly slug 40+ homers a season, what separated Jackson from the rest was his ability with the glove already considered by many scouts to be MLB ready. The next tier of prospects was headlined by a trio of pitchers, Lucious Sandford from Central Florida and a pair of high schoolers, Marc Madison and Paul Everhart both of which had the makings of future staff aces. The top position players outside of Jackson were two college shortstops, Carl Edwards from Arizona and Solomon Slaughter of Ohio State while the best high school player was 3B Jason Stefanski, another talented defensive player but with holes in his swing that would need to be ironed out if he was to succeed in the NABL.
Come draft night and San Diego duly made Greg Jackson the number one pick as expected, picking second, New Orleans chose Arizona Shortstop Carl Edwards raising more than a few eyebrows as pitching was a major weakness for the Blues and there were some quality arms available in the draft. The next three picks were all pitchers (all of which would have filled a need in New Orleans), first off-the-board, was Central Florida’s Lucious Sandford picked by Austin, Paul Everhart landed with Cleveland while fellow high schooler Marc Madison was drafted by Kansas City. Boston took a chance on 3B Jason Stefanski’s potential, calling his name with the eighth pick while Ohio State Shortstop, Solomon slaughter slipped out of the top ten and all the way to 16th where Denver snapped him up.
On the eve of the season BNN released their annual predictions for fans to pore over and inevitably disagree with. Philadelphia and Washington were being tipped for their annual battle for the Atlantic division title, although if Boston could carry their Spring Training form (20-8) over to the regular season they would be a threat to the other two. In the Central St. Louis were receiving some love but were not expected to challenge either Chicago or Indianapolis this year, but their time was coming with several quality youngsters on the verge of breaking through. Both Cleveland and Detroit were in for a tough season if BNN were to be believed with both teams expected to lose 100+ games. The Southeast division was seen as a two-horse race between defending champions Charlotte, who had been busy in the off-season and were tabbed as slight favourites for the crown, and Tampa Bay with new manager Daniel Donnelly on board looking to improve on their disappointing 2035 campaign and challenge the Express. None of Atlanta, Miami and New Orleans had done enough during the off-season or shown anything meaningful in spring Training to be seen as anything more than also-rans.
In the west, Minneapolis and Oklahoma City were the teams to beat in the Midwest division while the Southwest would once again see Dallas and Las Vegas face off for the division crown. The Pacific division was where the action would be with four teams all predicted to be in the hunt, defending division champs Sanfrancisco were expected to be strong again along with both San Jose and Los Angeles, the fly in the ointment was San Diego, who one year removed from an awful 59-win campaign had put together the best Spring training record in the NABL (23-5) and were widely seen as legitimate contenders, although time would tell if the Mariners were for real or not.

[JayW UK]

Interlude - Hall of Fame – Inaugural Class (2036)

On April 1st 2036 the great and the good gathered in Memphis to witness the grand opening of the NABL Museum and Hall of fame complex. A stirring speech from the Mayor of Memphis, who thanked the NABL community as a whole and commissioner Buddy McHugh in particular for the decision to place the complex in Memphis went down well. Commissioner McHugh was up next and in a short but well received speech thanked the people of Memphis for their hospitality and stated that the NABL was “honored to build the Museum and Hall of Fame complex in their fair city”. Proceedings then turned to the HOF inaugural class, Buddy McHugh announced the names of the five players to make the grade, the original five (as they would become known) consisted of pitchers Anthony Barrett and Min-Jae Choi (the all-time leader in saves), Shortstop Kevin Jones and great friends and rivals Gabriel Mendez and Juan Santos. One by one, each of them made their way to the podium to give their acceptance speeches and reminisce about their playing days before taking pride of place for the unveiling of their bronze busts. With well-earned applause still ringing out the opening ceremony came to a successful conclusion with the doors to the NABL Hall of Fame being opened to the public for the first time.

Anthony Barrett
College – N/A
Drafted – 2014 Inaugural Draft – 1st Round - #15 Overall by Minneapolis Bears
Primary Position – Pitcher
Years Pro – 17
Teams - MIN (2014-18), DEN (2019-23), LV (2024-26), DET (2027-28), OKC (2029-30)

Career Stats
Regular Season
G - 551 GS - 457 W/L – 222-129 SV - 3 ERA – 2.85 IP – 3076.1 BB - 868 K - 3230 WHIP – 1.09 ERA+ 136 WAR – 101.6
Post Season
G - 27 GS - 24 W/L – 14-6 SV - 0 ERA – 2.71 IP – 153.0 BB - 48 K - 164 WHIP – 1.14 ERA+ 316

Career Achievements
Outstanding Pitcher Award x 3 (2017, 2018, 2020)
Pitching Triple Crown x 1 (2020)
5-time All-Star
3-time World Series Winner (2023, 2026, 2028)


Min-Jae Choi
College – N/A
Drafted – 2014 Inaugural Draft – 16th Round - #363 Overall by Detroit Giants
Primary Position - Closer
Years Pro - 16
Teams – DET (2014-2020), NY (2021-2022), LA (2023), WAS (2024-2025) PHO (2025-2026) DEN (2027-2029)

Career Stats
Regular Season
G - 1014 GS - 0 W/L - 67-73 SV - 537 ERA – 2.31 IP – 1069.2 BB - 187 K - 1303 WHIP – 0.94 ERA+ 190 WAR – 29.2
Post Season
G - 28 GS - 0 W/L - 2-2 SV - 13 ERA – 1.80 IP – 30.0 BB - 8 K - 42 WHIP – 0.90 ERA+ 431

Career Achievements
9-time All-Star
World Series winner (2015)


Kevin “Buzz” Jones
College – N/A
Drafted – 2014 Inaugural Draft – 1st Round - #2 Overall by Los Angeles Lynx
Primary Position - Shortstop
Years Pro – 14
Teams – LA (2014-16), PHO (2017-22), OKC (2023-24), IND (2025-26), TB (2027)

Career Stats
Regular Season
G -1893 AB - 6812 RS - 1109 H - 1976 2B - 345 3B - 15 HR - 284 RBI - 1004 BB - 1444 K - 958 SB - 5 CS - 6 AVG - .290 OBP – .415 SLG – .470 OPS - .885 OPS+ 154 WAR – 79.8
Post Season
G -13 AB - 48 RS -4 H - 11 2B - 2 3B - 0 HR - 0 RBI - 4 BB - 5 K - 10 SB - 0 CS - 0 AVG - .229 OBP – .309 SLG – .271 OPS - .580 OPS+ 66

Career Achievements
Outstanding Hitter Award x 2 (2016, 2017)
Homerun Champion x 1 (2016)
7-time All-Star
3-time Glove Wizard


Gabriel “Kingfish” Mendez
College – N/A
Drafted – 2014 Inaugural Draft – 1st Round - #3 Overall by Atlanta Flames
Primary Position – First Base
Years Pro - 16
Teams – ATL (2014-2017), IND (2018-2021), LA (2022-2024), TB (2025-26), IND (2027-2028), KC (2029)

Career Stats
Regular Season
G - 2111 AB – 7813 RS - 1349 H - 2457 2B - 510 3B - 17 HR - 472 RBI - 1518 BB - 1020 K - 1168 SB - 20 CS – 18 AVG - .316 OBP – .401 SLG – .567 OPS - .967 OPS+ 171 WAR – 103.2
Post Season
G - 83 AB – 308 RS - 43 H - 89 2B - 19 3B - 1 HR - 11 RBI - 48 BB - 33 K - 47 SB - 0 CS – 2 AVG - .289 OBP – .363 SLG – .464 OPS - .827 OPS+ 135

Career Achievements
Outstanding Hitter Award x 4 (2015, 2018, 2019, 2021)
Batting Triple Crown x 1 (2021)
Batting Champion x 3 (2015, 2017, 2021)
Homerun Champion x 3 (2019, 2021, 2022)
10-time All-Star
3-time Glove Wizard
2-time World Series Winner (2019, 2022)


Juan “Dixie” Santos
College – N/A
Drafted – 2014 Inaugural Draft – 1st Round - #8 Overall by Philadelphia Independence
Primary Position – Rightfield
Years Pro - 15
Teams – PHI (2014-2020), TB (2021-2028)

Career Stats
Regular Season
G – 2230 AB - 8498 RS - 1418 H - 2546 2B - 507 3B - 15 HR - 529 RBI - 1555 BB - 921 K - 1352 SB - 8 CS - 9 AVG - .300 OBP – .373 SLG – .550 OPS – .922 OPS+ 156 WAR – 69.3
Post Season
G - 67 AB – 266 RS - 31 H - 75 2B - 13 3B - 0 HR - 16 RBI - 47 BB - 21 K - 46 SB - 0 CS - 1 AVG - .282 OBP – .337 SLG – .511 OPS – .848 OPS+ 134

Career Achievements
Outstanding Hitter Award x 3 (2017, 2020, 2022)
Homerun Champion x 4 (2018, 2020, 2023, 2025)
10-time All-Star

[JayW UK]

2036 Regular Season

Eastern League Review

The Atlantic division saw a season long two-team tussle that came down to the last few games to decide a winner. With rookie sensation Rob Penney (.307, 27 HR, 72 RBI) along with veterans Jared Guest (.286, 31 HR, 97 RBI) and Eduardo Moreno (41 HR, 104 RBI) driving their powerful offense (194 homeruns on the season) and a pitching staff featuring off-season signing Greg Bailey (12-7, 2.96 ERA) and 24-year-old rising star Brett Knight (14-7, 2.42 ERA) keeping opponents in check, it was Boston (94-68) who claimed the division crown by two games from Philadelphia. Despite a triple crown campaign from pitcher Shane Olson (23-8, 2.18 ERA, 299K) and another strong effort from 1B Matt Henderson (.314, 38 HR, 110 RBI) the Independence ended the season by losing four of their last five games to finish at 92-70 and miss out on the postseason for the first time since 2030. Dixon Bodean continued to defy father time, recording another strong season (.302, 33 HR, 100 RBI) at age 40, but even Bodean’s heroics couldn’t lift Baltimore to relevance as they finished a distant third with a 76-86 record while New York (73-89) continued to blood youngsters (including 23-year-old 1B Jerry Wright and 22-year-old pitcher Mariano Rojo) in the hope that short term pain would lead to long term gain. Washington one of the pre-season favorites to challenge for a playoff berth, had a season to forget, with their rotation struggling for long stretches of the season (a combined 37-70, 4.42 ERA) and an offense stuck in neutral despite the best efforts of C Aaron Harris (28 HR, 83 RBI) and 2B Tomas Mendevil (25 HR, 78 RBI), the Generals plummeted from 86 wins to just 61, the second worst record in club history. As an interesting aside the last time Washington lost 100 games (2025) Boston won the division and went on to win the World Series!! Would history repeat itself eleven years on?
After three years on the outside looking in, Indianapolis made a triumphant return to the playoffs, boasting the NABL’s top scoring offense (912 runs) with Jose Cintron (.288, 47 HR, 139 RBI) leading the charge and the speedy trio of Pancho Souza (57 SB), Jose Villalobos (35 SB) and Marc Smith (33 SB) causing havoc on the basepaths, the Racers cruised to the Central division title winning a franchise record 104 games. With another strong season from McKenzie Ransford (19-11, 3.58 ERA) and a fine debut season from 2035 first round pick Les Scott (16-8, 3.43 ERA), St. Louis (91-71) relied on their stellar pitching (#2 in the EL) to hold off Chicago (90-72) who won one game less than 2035, but slipped back to third in the division. Detroit (64-98) and Cleveland (61-101) remained rooted to the foot of the standings with both teams struggling to find any consistent pitching during the lost campaign. No Cleveland pitcher reached double figures for wins on the season, Jose Castillo and Duane Jones leading the way with just eight, while Larry Moreno (12-10, 3.48 ERA) was by far the most efficient pitcher for Detroit, with the Giants #2 (Larry Summers) and #3 (Carlton Bamber) starters combining for an abysmal 10-34, 5.41 ERA record.
The battle for the Southeast crown was an entertaining one between Charlotte and Tampa Bay with the outcome not decided until the final game of the season. With 3B Brandon Townsend (.352, 30 HR, 100 RBI), outfielders Daron Murphy (24 HR, 102 RBI) and Gregg Bambridge (23 HR, 73 RBI from just 100 games) leading the offense and Greg Marshall (19-10, 3.62 ERA), Joe Downing (18-11, 2.55 ERA) and David Reyes (15-8, 3.48 ERA) locking down the rotation, Charlotte (96-66) just managed to pip Tampa Bay (95-67) to the division crown. Tampa Bay, owners of the highest payroll in the NABL and boasting A-listers such as LF Bryant Manton (34 HR, 103 RBI), CF Steve Blanton (24 HR, 102 RBI) along with star pitcher Ramon Schoof (21-6, 2.89 ERA) on the books, fell to lowly New Orleans on the final day to hand the division title to Charlotte and leave themselves as the EL wildcard entry. For the fourth season in a row Atlanta finished the season with 79 wins while Miami fell back to a 68-94 record a ten-year low, bringing up the rear were New Orleans who slumped to a franchise worst 60-102 record, wasting another strong season from 1B Rick Flynn (.266, 35 HR, 94 RBI). However not everything in Louisiana was doom and gloom as several young up-and-coming players were given significant playing time and held their own, headlined by 23-year-old LF Ferry Vogalsang (.256, 24 HR, 98 RBI) and 21-year-old pitcher Vincent Brice (7-2, 5 Saves, 2.27 ERA in 81 games).

Final Standings

Atlantic Division
Boston 94-68*
Philadelphia 92-70
Baltimore 76-86
New York 73-89
Washington 61-101

Central Division
Indianapolis 104-58*
St. Louis 91-71
Chicago 90-72
Detroit 64-98
Cleveland 61-101

Southeast Division
Charlotte 96-66*
Tampa Bay 95-67*
Atlanta 79-83
Miami 68-94
New Orleans 60-102

[JayW UK]

2036 Regular Season

Western League Review

With Rafer MacNeil (20-8, 2.61 ERA) heading a solid pitching staff and RF Chance Merritt (27 HR, 83 RBI) along with 1B Randy Harrington (27 HR, 94 RBI) providing the offensive fireworks, Oklahoma City (93-69) won their fifth straight Midwest division title pulling away from Minneapolis (86-76) over the final month to claim the crown, neck and neck with OKC entering September, an eight-game losing streak ended any hopes Minneapolis had of unseating OKC from the summit. Denver (79-83) led by LF Ramon Vega (.255, 36 HR, 111 RBI) and 2B Jack Underwood (.298, 30 HR, 93 RBI) clubbed 170 homeruns and owned the top scoring offense in the west but their pitching was substandard, resulting in another frustrating season for the Wildcats. Kansas City (77-85) hampered by of one of the lowest payrolls in the NABL (77M) unleashed several young stars on the league, with 22-year-old 2B Tom Carter (.344, 4 HR, 56 RBI, 36SB) and 24-year-old 3B Juan Torres (.282, 30 HR, 102 RBI) in particular standing out for the Tornadoes, while Omaha dropped back into the division basement after a one-year hiatus finishing with a 75-87 record.
After his record breaking 2035 campaign, Joseph Floores was at it again, producing another excellent season (.261, 44 HR, 121 RBI) as the Gamblers stormed back to the top of the Southwest division despite the injury bug hitting their pitching rotation hard during the season (staff ace Holden Willis managed to play only 20 games). As a result, the Gamblers were forced to lean heavily on their relief corps who, led by Michinori Morita (18-3, 2.71 ERA in 74 games), rose to the challenge and, along with the WL top scoring offense, helped Las Vegas (101-61) secure their fourth 100-win season. Led by young stars RF Wolfgang Worns (.331, 22 HR, 99 RBI, 48 SB), SS Hector Soto (.338, 16 HR, 90 RBI) and C Marv Wilson (.277, 20 HR, 74 RBI) Houston became everyone’s second favourite team with their exciting brand of baseball, finishing the season in second place with a 94-68 record and securing the WL wildcard spot (their first postseason berth in ten years). Austin struggled once again finishing a disappointing 68-94 while Dallas fresh off a World Series appearance stumbled out of the gate leading to a disastrous 15-30 start and a managerial change, the season remained a struggle as injuries and poor form robbed the team of any momentum and ultimately led to a very disjointed 64-win campaign. Even the WL #3 offense, paced by 2B Ronnie Butler (.263, 30 HR, 105 RBI) and 3B Michael Ford (.325, 26 HR, 84 RBI) couldn’t help Phoenix, as the worst pitching staff in the NABL coughed up lead after lead leaving the Eagles mired in the Southwest basement with a 64-98 record.
San Jose (96-66) were once again back on the top of the pile in the Pacific division, carried by excellent team defense and solid pitching the Spartans rolled to their third division title in four years. Los Angeles again flattered to deceive, boasting a pitching staff rated amongst the best in the NABL the Lynx failed to capitalise, finishing the season with a 91-71 record (their best since a 97-win campaign in 2024), Sanfrancisco slipped back to 88-74 to miss the playoffs for the 18th time in 19 years, the Gold’s struggles on the mound undoing the good work by C Sancho Guerra (.298, 27 HR, 95 RBI), Herminio Azurara (.262, 30 HR, 122 RBI) and company. San Diego topped out at 80 wins, a huge improvement over the previous season’s haul of 59 but fell short of expectations while Seattle finished with a 70-92 record, their lone bright spot a promising 10-15, 3.44 ERA campaign from 22-year-old pitcher A.J Hiers.

Final Standings

Midwest Division
Oklahoma City 93-69*
Minneapolis 86-76
Denver 79-83
Kansas City 77-85
Omaha 75-87

Southwest Division
Las Vegas 101-61*
Houston 94-68*
Austin 68-94
Dallas 64-98
Phoenix 64-98

Pacific Division
San Jose 96-66*
Los Angeles 91-71
Sanfrancisco 88-74
San Diego 80-72
Seattle 70-92

[JayW UK]

2036 Season Notes

Pre-season – Kansas City reached out to former OKC first round pick Stephen Hart and offered him a minor league contract, giving him a second chance after his DUI arrest the previous year. For his part Hart brought talent to a farm system sorely missing young catchers and he vowed to not stray again and to repay the faith shown in him by Kansas City.
After underwhelming in spring training, young Baltimore pitcher Corvin Curry (the Bulls 1st round pick from 2032) found himself off the roster and on waivers, Seattle obviously saw something in him snapping him up and adding him to their burgeoning core of young pitchers.
April 4th – Charlotte pitcher Jim Jacques opened the season in style, hurling a NO-HITTER while striking out 11 against St. Louis, he was denied a perfect game by an uncharacteristic error from star 3B Brandon Townsend.
April 8th – St. Louis CF Jamal Henson hit for the CYCLE and collected 4 RBI’s, playing an instrumental part in the Reds 6-5 victory over Atlanta.
April 9th – Baltimore’s ageless star Dixon Bodean collected hits 3999 and 4000 of his career as the Bulls upended New York 6-4.
April 10th – Indianapolis’ star LF Jose Cintron collected the 300th homerun of his career in style, slamming a 2-run walk-off homer to give the Racers a 7-6 victory over Tampa Bay.
April 11th – St. Louis pitcher Les Scott had a field day against Detroit, striking out 15 batters as the Reds won comfortably.
April 14th – Boston’s off-season acquisition, SS Mario Cristo suffered a fractured hand when he was hit by a pitch from Baltimore’s Rajion Samit, ruling Cristo out for upto six weeks.
April 27th – San Jose LF Roberto Gonzales showed off his speed swiping four bases against Omaha, however his efforts were in vain as the Braves held off San Jose to win 4-3.
April 29th – Washington’s Richie Rambeaux struggled at the plate against New York, going 1-for-5 with four strikeouts, but that lone hit was the 2500th of his illustrious career.
May 21st – San Diego held Las Vegas RF Danny Wheeler hitless in four at-bats, ending Wheelers hitting streak at 30.
May 24th – with the team sitting at 15-30 and suffering from the mother of all World Series hangovers, Dallas ownership chose drastic action as the way forward, firing manager Hugh Little. In a surprising move, relatively unknown college coach Marlon Davis was named as Little’s replacement.
May 31st – Tampa Bay’s rotation lost one of its most reliable veterans for the season when Nick Grant suffered a partial UCL tear, at the time of the injury Grant was a solid 5-2 with a 3.82 ERA.
June 5th – Kansas City reclamation project Stephen Hart managed to get himself arrested on a DUI charge (his second such charge in less than a year) to compound his mistake he was also charged with possession of class A drugs and illegal firearms. Kansas City immediately cancelled his contract and in an unprecedented move, league commissioner Buddy McHugh suspended Hart from the NABL indefinitely.
June 12th – Indianapolis pitcher Will Christopher collected strikeout victim number 2500 in the Racers 7-4 victory over Dallas.
June 18th – St. Louis fireballer Les Scott struck out 15 Cleveland batters in eight innings of work, only for the bullpen to blow the game in extra innings.
June 19th – St. Louis pitchers certainly liked playing Cleveland, as this time McKenzie Ransford racked up an NABL record 19 K’s as the Reds gained revenge for their defeat the previous day.
June 21st – Boston SS Mario Cristo hit the DL again, this time with a knee injury which would keep him out until early August if the doctors were to be believed.
June 22nd – New Orleans 1B Rick Flynn saved his best for last, belting a walk-off Grand-Slam to give the Blues a 7-3 victory over Miami.
June 24th – Oklahoma City star LF Jesus Alarcon suffered a freak injury, dislocating his shoulder when swinging the bat, the injury was severe enough to land him on the DL for the next three months.
June 26th – Houston SS Hector Soto had a huge day against Boston, going six-for-six at the plate, hitting a pair of doubles and a homerun while driving in three. Unfortunately, Boston had the last word winning the game 8-7.
June 27th – Hector Soto had another big game against Boston, collecting four hits and 6 RBI’s while slamming a pair of homeruns, more importantly this time Houston held off Boston 9-7 to claim victory.
June 29th – Charlotte closer Josh Renshaw racked up his 300th career save, striking out Washington’s Richie Rambeaux with the bases loaded as Charlotte held on for a 5-2 victory.
July 6th – Houston LF Robert Harris hit for the CYCLE including the game winning 3-RBI homerun to lift the Stars over Oklahoma City.
July 7th – after his successful debut season in Rookie ball, Austin’s first round draft pick (#3 overall) Lucious Sandford was promoted to A ball and through his first three games he did not look out of place. Disaster struck for him as pain in his elbow ended his fourth game just six pitches in, and after a visit to the team doctor, he was diagnosed with bone spurs in his elbow ending his promising season.
July 10th – with his performances not living up to expectations and with their season looking likely to be a big disappointment, Washington chose to move on from big off-season signing Jamie Boden, sending him to San Diego in return for RF Adam Hardesty and relief pitcher Ken Cortinas.
July 15th to August 10th – New Orleans pitcher Jose Ibanez threw 36 consecutive scoreless innings including two complete game shutouts, setting an NABL record.
July 17th – Holden Willis, Las Vegas’ staff ace left the Gamblers matchup with Houston with an apparent leg injury, MRI scans the following day revealed a torn hamstring ruling Willis out until mid-September at the earliest.
July 20th – Austin’s slugging RF David Barnett hit his 300th career homerun, a three-run blast in the ninth inning, lifting the Kings to an unlikely 4-3 victory over Las Vegas.
July 26th – Washington lost another of their off-season signings, this time to injury when 1B Pedro Escoriaza ruptured his achilles tendon ruling him out for the season.
July 29th – Boston star RF Jared Guest drilled his 300th career homerun, helping Boston hold off Charlotte 9-8.
July 31st – LA’s 2B Paco Guzman had a day to remember against Seattle, bashing six hits, including two doubles and a three-run homer as the Lynx crushed the Pioneers 15-4.
August 1st – Sanfrancisco star Andres Romero played a big part in the Gold’s 12-9 victory over OKC, Romero went 3 for 4, collecting a double and a Grand-Slam while driving in eight of Sanfrancisco’s runs along the way.
August 3rd – Seattle 1B Lee Hanson hit four doubles against Kansas City, helping the Pioneers to a 6-3 victory.
August 4th – Philadelphia star Matt Henderson was a big reason why the Independence beat Indianapolis 8-6, drilling three homeruns on the day and driving in six of Philadelphia’s runs.
August 17th – Denver pitcher Pablo Arellano collected the 300th save of his career in the Wildcats 2-1 victory over Houston.
August 22nd – Chicago closer Harvey Widdowes clinched his 300th career save against St. Louis.
August 27th – Charlotte’s Jim Jacques had New Orleans hitters number striking out 15 and carrying a perfect game into the ninth inning, protecting a slim 2-0 lead he was two outs away from what would have been his second No-Hitter of the season when LF Ferry Vogalsang ruined everything by blasting a homerun and instantly cutting Charlotte’s lead in half, Josh Renshaw was summoned from the bullpen to save the game as the Express scraped home 2-1.
September 16th – Boston star Jared Guest slugged three homers and drove in four runs, but his efforts were in vain as Boston fell 11-7 to Dixon Bodean and Baltimore.
September 17th – Boston lost 2B Lucio Rodriguez to a strained oblique, the injury would rule him out until mid-October at the earliest, meaning a return for the World Series would be possible if Boston managed to get that far.
September 18th – San Jose LF Roberto Gonzales suffered a season ending ankle ligament injury, leaving the Spartans to rely on Doug Matthews and Matt Smith for their playoff push.
September 19th – Tampa Bay RF Roy Higgins became the third player of the season to hit for the CYCLE, going a perfect 4-4 with 2RBI’s as the Hurricanes came from behind to beat St. Louis 4-3.
September 23rd – Boston lost another key veteran, SS Mario Cristo again (the third time he had hit the DL on the season) this time to a foot injury, the timetable for return was similar to Lucio Rodriguez meaning Cristo could possibly make a return if Boston made a deep playoff run.
September 24th – Indianapolis LF Jose Cintron drove in his 1000th RBI in his sides 12-3 victory over Cleveland.
September 26th – Washington’s veteran LF Lucio Martinez collected his 1000th career RBI, but there was no celebrating from him as the Generals slumped to a dismal 16-1 loss to New York.
October 1st – Cleveland’s 36-year-old pitcher Duane Jones had another nightmare season (8-18, 6.31 ERA) giving him a 17-43, 5.88 ERA record over his last three seasons.

[JayW UK]

2036 Playoffs

Divisional Round

In the Eastern league Charlotte would kick off their title defence against Boston, who were back in the playoffs after a decade out in the cold, while big spending Tampa Bay would take on 104-win Indianapolis in a mouth-watering series. Over in the west, high scoring Las Vegas drew Oklahoma City, while on their return to the postseason, Houston’s prize was a matchup with San Jose.

Boston starter Greg Bailey (a World Series winner with Charlotte the year before) went five innings only surrendering two hits, the problem was they were both homeruns, a two-run shot to Daron Murphy and a three-run blast to Gregg Bambridge, leaving the Pilgrims in a five-run hole. Boston plated a pair in the seventh against Express starter Joe Downing chasing him from the game, however that was as good as it got for Boston as David Reyes and closer Josh Renshaw combined for 2.2 shutout innings to give Charlotte the series lead. Game 2 was a much quieter affair with neither offense able to muster much of anything against starters Brandon Stanton (BOS) and Greg Marshall (CHA), in the top of the ninth with the game finely poised at one apiece, Express star reliever Josh Renshaw took the mound, but unlike the previous night this time Boston had his number. All four batters he faced reached base (2 hits, 2 walks) leading to a pair of runs before Renshaw was replaced by David Reyes who escaped the inning without further damage. With a 3-1 lead Gerald Helton came back out for the bottom half of the ninth to finish the game but also ran into trouble, surrendering a solo homerun to Micheal Miller to cut the lead to 3-2. When Helton put two of the next three batters on base Boston manager Christian Eberlein decided enough was enough and turned to Kane Conacher (usually a starter) to wrap the game up once and for all, it took Conacher just six pitches to accomplish the feat and give Boston a series tying 3-2 win. Boston’s hitters took a liking to Charlotte starter Jim Jacques to open game three blasting four runs over the opening two frames, 3B Eric King took Jacques deep to start the fourth inning (the 3rd deep ball hit by Boston in the game) pushing the lead to 5-0 and ending Jacques outing. Things got worse for the Express in the next inning as a pair of errors led to another three Boston runs as the Pilgrims threatened to run away with the game, the final 10-5 scoreline did not do justice to how dominant Boston were in dismantling Charlotte before taking their foot off the gas late. Game four saw Boston’s Greg Bailey looking to deal the knockout blow to his old team, he got off to a flier striking out the side in the first, while Charlotte starter Joe Downing struggled to contain the Pilgrims offense, surrendering three homeruns as Boston built an early 5-0 lead. With Bailey in cruise control, it wasn’t until he was back in the dugout that the Express managed to mount any kind of rally but by then it was too late as Boston cruised to a 7-3 victory sending the defending champions home early (it was the fourth season in a row that the defending NABL champions were eliminated in the divisional series).

A disastrous start from ex-Philly man John Ford set the tone for Tampa Bay in game one, Ford lasted less than three innings and walked as many men as he gave up runs (5) before giving way to 40-year-old Will Christopher to clean up the mess. Two innings later Indianapolis effectively ended the game as a contest plating six more runs, sparked by a Grand-Slam from the most unlikeliest of sources, Marc Smith a man not known for his power (only 6 HR all season), the Racers padded their lead with two more late runs as they ran out easy 13-1 winners. Four homeruns (Roy Higgins x 2, Emilio Gracia and Jose Mendoza), all solo efforts and all off starter Ken Kramer put Tampa Bay in control of game two, the Hurricanes eventually rolling to a 6-0 shutout to even the series ahead of returning home for games 3 and 4. In game three Tampa Bay continued their homerun barrage against the Indianapolis starters, this time smashing three (Roy Higgins again, Steve Blanton and Jose Muniz) off Angel Garza, Indianapolis for their part did not lie down as they did in game two but mounted a spirited fightback to cut the lead to 5-3 but Tampa Bay closer Felix Martinez stopped the Racers in their tracks, ensuring that the Hurricanes would have the chance of wrapping the series up at home the following night. Game one starters John Ford (TB) and Dave Lockhart (IND) were back on the mound for game four and things began to go awry for Lockhart almost immediately as the Hurricanes scored two in the first before doubling their lead in the third on a Bryant Manton 2-run homer. Vintage John Ford showed up for Tampa Bay, scattering four hits and a single run over six strong innings putting the Hurricanes firmly in the driving seat, the Racers put men in scoring position in the seventh, eighth and ninth inning but could only muster a single run as Tampa Bay held on for a series clinching 4-2 win.

A two-run homer from Tom Sterling and a bases loaded wild pitch put San Jose in control early against Houston starter Jose Vazquez, the Stars pulled a run back in the second courtesy of a solo blast from catcher Marv Wilson. Things began to unravel again for Vazquez in the third, he surrendered a homerun to Tom Sterling (his second) and once again loaded the bases before mercifully (for him) being removed from the proceedings. Houston turned to the bullpen to regain control, and they did just that pitching 6.1 innings of shutout ball to keep the Spartans from increasing their lead, although the Stars pitchers managed to stop the San Jose offense after their early success, Houston’s own offense never got going, as Pedro Rosario and Dave Day combined to keep the Stars in check as the Spartans took game one 4-1. The following night was an enthralling matchup with each team taking turns to lead, with the score tied at three after eight entertaining innings, and with the starters having pitched themselves to a standstill both teams turned to their bullpens. First up was Henry Hall for San Jose, in an uninspiring performance he put two men aboard before escaping the inning unscathed, next to the mound was Houston’s Cris Bastillo and in an equally uninspiring performance Bastillo proceeded to load the bases, surrendering a single and two walks. When Tom Sterling flew out to rightfield Armando Burrios tagged up at third and tried to score, however a bullet-throw from RF Wolfgang Worns cut him down at the plate and it looked as though Bastillo could still escape the inning, that was until 1B Don Clark (playing in place of the injured Lucio Guerrero) smoked a 1-2 fastball down the line into rightfield for a dramatic game winning walk-off RBI single. The series continued two nights later in Houston with the trend of the home team winning continuing, homeruns from Hector Soto and Christos Warner staked the Stars to a 4-0 lead as Houston starter Darrell Haney cruised through seven scoreless innings. A Tom Sterling 2-run homer in the eighth made things interesting, before the Stars bullpen quickly stifled the San Jose rally and secured the win, keeping Houston alive in the series. The home team trend ended in game four, as Houston were held scoreless by a combination of Pedro Rosario and Dave Day, San Jose left it late to secure victory plating the go ahead run in the seventh before adding an insurance run in the top of the ninth to wrap up the proceedings and send San Jose to their third pennant series in four years.

Las Vegas sent staff ace Holden Willis to the mound for game one, it was Willis’ first start since his July injury and the rustiness showed, as he was far from sharp surrendering five runs in his five innings of work. OKC starter Rafer MacNeil also found the going tough (4.2 IP, 10 H, 3BB, 3ER) but the Outlaws rode their luck and used a big game from fit again LF Jesus Alarcon (3-4, HR, 5 RBI) to take the series opener 7-3. Game two was all Las Vegas as OKC starter Mark Graham was shelled for five runs in the opening two frames, a deficit the Outlaws couldn’t overcome as they fell to a 7-1 defeat with 2B Andres Montoya’s homerun in the top of the ninth denying the Gamblers a shutout. A seventh inning Porter Raines 2-RBI double put Las Vegas ahead for the first time on the night and closer Leland Watson pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning to give the Gamblers a 5-3 victory in game three, Porter Raines was at it again the following night as a 3-RBI triple in the fifth inning put the Gamblers ahead for good, an eighth inning 2-run homer from Jesus Alarcon cut the Outlaws deficit to one before Las Vegas 1B Ed Matthews added an insurance run in the top of the ninth. Protecting a 6-4 lead Las Vegas closer Leland Watson once again sat OKC down in order barely breaking a sweat (six batters faced, six batters retired with 4 K’s on only 15 pitches in the series) sending Las Vegas onto the WLCS for the fifth time in their history.

[JayW UK]

2036 Playoffs

Championship Round

The Eastern league pennant series was the first playoff meeting between Boston and Tampa Bay, both teams featured similar offenses, but where Boston hit more homeruns Tampa Bay drew more walks, however pitching would likely decide the series and the Pilgrims held the advantage. Game one featured a tight pitching battle between starters Brandon Stanton (BOS) and Ramon Schoof (TB) with both men going seven innings, Boston were first to blink turning to the bullpen for the eighth while Schoof returned to the mound in what turned out to be a mistake as 1B Alberto Rangel tabbed Schoof for a game winning two-run homerun propelling the Pilgrims to a series opening 3-1 victory. Game two was another closely fought battle with the hometeam Pilgrims pulling ahead late to record their second consecutive 3-1 win of the series, the two teams then headed down to Florida for the next three games with Tampa Bay yet to worry the Boston pitching. That changed in game three as RF Roy Higgins took Boston starter Greg Bailey deep in the first helping the Hurricanes build an early lead, only for the Pilgrims to chip away at their advantage and eventually tie the game in the top of the eighth on an Eduardo Moreno homerun. With the home fans understandably nervous (having seen their side let a 4-0 second inning lead slip) Tampa Bay once more strung multiple hits together and pushed their way back into the lead, taking a 6-4 advantage into the ninth where closer Felix Martinez gave the fans more palpitations, putting two men on base before finally closing the door and securing the Hurricanes first win of the series. The following night featured two pitchers making their first starts of the postseason, Kane Conacher for Boston and Dave Cramer for Tampa Bay. Things unraveled quickly for Cramer, surrendering a first inning homerun to Jared Guest and then being tabbed for three runs in the second putting the Hurricanes behind the eight ball, Cramer’s night lasted another 1.2 innings with him being hooked with two out in the fourth and two men in scoring position. Tampa Bay’s bullpen quickly got the situation under control and restricted Boston to just four hits the rest of the way giving their hitters a chance to save the day, however Kane Conacher, Ralf Conrad and closer Gerald Helton had other ideas, allowing a single run on just five hits as Boston ran out comfortable 4-1 winners leaving them one win away from the World Series. Tampa Bay ensured that Boston would have to wait at least another couple of days by taking game five, Hurricane starter Ramon Schoof pitched six strong innings striking out 8, but it took a pair of late home runs (one each from Roy Higgins and Jose Mendoza) to put the pesky Pilgrims away. Back in Boston for game six it was the visiting Hurricanes who drew first blood, a Steve Blanton RBI single giving them the lead, Tampa Bay starter Anastasio Perez immediately gave that run back with interest, surrendering a two-run homer to 2B George Shreeve to give the Pilgrims the lead. The game quickly settled into a rhythm with neither team able to force home any further runs until the bullpens got involved. Boston rocked Caden Duncan for two runs in the sixth before Tampa Bay plated a run of their own off the pitching of Ralf Conrad one inning later, the game ended as a contest when Boston battered Sean Nicholas for five runs in the eighth, including George Shreeve’s second homerun of the night, as the Pilgrims rolled to a 9-2 victory, clinching their place in the World Series.

The Western league championship series saw Las Vegas take on San Jose, the two teams had met once before in the playoffs, back in 2033 when postseason debutants San Jose had seen off Las Vegas on their way to a World Series appearance. Las Vegas owned the homefield advantage (the same as 2033) but were aiming for better results this time around. Game one saw top quality pitching from both teams, it took an eighth inning Bryan Dale homerun to break the deadlock as the Gamblers squeezed past the Spartans 2-1 to open the series, Las Vegas starter Mike Cooper had a rough day in game two, struggling into the fifth inning before being removed having conceded five runs. Spartans starter Ivan Lopez had a much better time of it hurling eight innings of one run ball, however the San Jose bullpen tried their hardest to give the game away, as three pitchers combined to allow three runs in the ninth, with Dave Day striking out dangerman Joseph Floores with two men on board to finally get the Spartans over the line and even the series. Two homeruns from Tom Sterling were not enough to lift San Jose to victory in game three, as a late RBI double from 1B Ed Matthews proved the difference with Las Vegas sneaking home 5-4 to put themselves back in front in the series. That lead lasted only until the following night, as an early barrage against Gamblers starter Gil Wallace put the Spartans on the road to victory to once again even the series, the Spartans bats were alive early in game five as well, battering Franklin Smith into submission and chasing him from the game after 4.1 innings, the Las Vegas bullpen struggled to contain San Jose’s hitters as they merrily added another four runs to the total before the fifth inning ended. Michinori Morita and Claudio Bonilla put the brakes on the Spartans offense from then on, while Las Vegas tried to mount an epic comeback, the Gamblers did manage to score four times over the final two innings but still fell well short, as the Spartans ran out 9-4 winners putting themselves on the brink of the World Series. Las Vegas held off San Jose in game six, a strong performance on the mound from Mike Cooper (6.2IP, 5H, 1ER, 8K) paved the way for a 4-1 Gamblers victory, ensuring the series would go to a winner-takes-all game seven. The decider proved to be a tight exciting battle that went all the way to the wire, San Jose’s veteran shortstop Connor Brantley was the Spartans offense, collecting half the team hits (3) and driving in all of the teams runs (3) as the San Jose held off Las Vegas to advance to their third World Series in four years. In what proved to ultimately be a frustrating night for Las Vegas, they out-hit the Spartans 12 to 6, drew more walks 4 to 2, hit more homeruns 1 to 0, but crucially could only turn their dominance into 2 runs, as the Gamblers left nine men on base also hitting into four inning ending double plays and in the end were left to rue numerous missed opportunities as they crashed out of the playoffs.

[JayW UK]

2036 Playoffs

World Series

The World Series between Boston and San Jose saw the two teams making their third appearance in the fall classic, with each having won once, Boston back in 2025 and San Jose just two years prior (2034), but the story most people were interested in was San Jose skipper Gary Hatcher managing in his fourth World Series and facing off against his old team Boston. A ninth inning collapse by San Jose handed game one on a plate to Boston, holding a slim 5-4 lead entering the ninth San Jose closer Dave Day took the mound and chose the wrong time to have bad day, after retiring the first batter he faced he walked CF Weldon Render and followed that mistake by surrendering back to back homeruns to Eduardo Moreno and Jared Guest giving Boston a 7-5 lead, Pilgrims closer Gerald Helton on the other hand had no trouble seeing off the Spartans in the home half to complete the turnaround. Game two was a pitching duel between Boston’s Greg Bailey and San Jose’s Gil Nash with neither man giving an inch, an eighth inning RBI single from Connor Brantley gave San Jose a narrow 2-1 lead and Dave Day the opportunity to make up for the previous night, Day needed no second invitation calmly seeing the Spartans home to tie the series. Game three, in Boston saw another hard-fought pitching battle with the home team Pilgrims coming out on top, as Kane Conacher and Gerald Helton combined to hold the visiting Spartans to just one run and four hits while Pedro Rosario was the hard luck loser, going the distance in a 3-1 defeat, the following night it was the turn of the visitors to win a pitching duel, Rick Sauer and Dave Day worked a six-hit shutout as San Jose evened the series at two. Boston starter Brett Knight pitched a gem in game five (7.2 IP, 4H, 1ER, 1BB, 9K) as once again the San Jose offense was stymied mustering a paltry five hits on the night, the Pilgrims offense by contrast had no such trouble, battering a succession of Spartan pitchers into submission as Boston waltzed to an easy 12-1 win. Obviously still reeling from the mauling they received two nights before, the Spartans opened game six by spotting Boston a two-run lead courtesy of an error by 3B Tom Sterling, a third inning two-run homer from Jared Guest doubled the Pilgrims lead before 2B Lucio Rodriguez (making only his second start of the playoffs after injury) slammed a three-run homer to put the game beyond San Jose’s reach. With the visiting Boston fans in full voice, the Pilgrims cruised to a 7-2 victory to claim the club’s second World Series crown, and just as they did in 2025, they secured the final victory on the road.

2036 Playoff Recap

Divisional Series
EL: Boston 3-1 Charlotte, Tampa Bay 3-1 Indianapolis
WL: Las Vegas 3-1 Oklahoma City, San Jose 3-1 Houston
Championship Series
EL: Boston 4-2 Tampa Bay
WL: San Jose 4-3 Las Vegas
World Series
Boston 4-2 San Jose

[JayW UK]

2036 Season Leaders and Awards

EL Batting
Hits
212 Brandon Townsend (CHA)
210 Glenn Hansen (STL)
209 Jose Villalobos (IND)
Batting Avg
.375 Jose Villalobos (IND)
.352 Brandon Townsend (CHA)
.336 Aaron Payton (CHI)
Homeruns
47 Jose Cintron (IND)
41 Eduardo Moreno (BOS)
38 Matt Henderson (PHI)
RBI
139 Jose Cintron (IND)
113 Aaron Payton (CHI)
110 Matt Henderson (PHI)
Stolen Bases
57 Pancho Sousa (IND)
44 Juan Gutierrez (DET)
39 Gustavo Reyes (CHI)

EL Pitching
Wins
23 Shane Olson (PHI) *
21 Ramon Schoof (TB)
19 McKenzie Ransford (STL)
ERA
2.18 Shane Olson (PHI) *
2.42 Brett Knight (BOS)
2.55 Joe Downing (CHA)
Strikeouts
299 Shane Olson (PHI) *
283 Les Scott (STL)
273 McKenzie Ransford (STL)
Saves
48 Josh Renshaw (CHA)
46 Felix Martinez (TB)
40 Ralf Conrad (BOS)

WL Batting
Hits
212 Hector Soto (HOU)
207 Wolfgang Worns (HOU)
197 Bryan Dale (LV)
Batting Avg
.356 Ed Matthews (LV)
.344 Tom Carter (KC)
.338 Hector Soto (HOU)
Homeruns
44 Joseph Floores (LV)
36 Ramon Vega (DEN)
32 Gary Davis (KC)
RBI
122 Herminio Azurara (SF)
121 Joseph Floores (LV)
111 Ramon Vega (DEN)
Stolen Bases
48 Wolfgang Worns (HOU)
37 Roberto Gonzales (SJ)
36 Tom Carter (KC)

WL Pitching
Wins
20 Rafer MacNeil (OKC)
18 Darrell Haney (HOU)
18 Michinori Morita (LV)
ERA
2.32 Mark Fort (MIN)
2.49 Steve Gream (MIN)
2.54 Mitch Woodroffe (LA)
Strikeouts
284 Cristobal Chapa (DAL)
257 Rafer Macneil (OKC)
247 Mark Fort (MIN)
Saves
49 Dave Day (SJ)
41 Jaime Buenafe (AUS)
41 Vince Luscombe (LA)

Batting Champion – In the east Indianapolis 2B Jose Villalobos led the way with a blistering .375 batting average while in the west Las Vegas 1B Ed Matthews (.356) held off Kansas City 2B Tom Carter (.344) to take the crown.
Homerun Champion – In the Eastern league, Indianapolis star Jose Cintron collected his second career title, clubbing 47 homers while Boston’s catcher Eduardo Moreno (41) trailed in second. Over in the west, Las Vegas 3B Joseph Floores followed up his historic 2035 campaign with another excellent showing, belting 44 homeruns, eight ahead of nearest rival Denver’s Ramon Vega (36)
Outstanding Hitter – Charlotte’s star 3B Brandon Townsend (.352, 30 HR, 100 RBI) picked up the award in the east holding off New York’s Brad Miller. In the west Houston’s 23-year-old RF Wolfgang Worns (.331, 22 HR, 99 RBI, 48 SB) held off a strong challenge from Las Vegas 3B Joseph Floores to take home the award.
Outstanding Pitcher – A brilliant Triple Crown season from Philadelphia’s Shane Olson (23-8, 2.18 ERA, 299 K) ensured he claimed the EL award ahead of Tampa Bay’s Ramon Schoof (21-6, 2.89 ERA). In the west OKC ace Rafer MacNeil (20-8, 2.61 ERA) topped the voting ahead of Las Vegas reliever Michinori Morita (18-3, 2.71 ERA) to claim his first award.
Rookie of the Year – Boston LF Rob Penney (.307, 27 HR, 72 RBI) pipped St. Louis pitcher Les Scott (16-8, 3.43 ERA, 283 K) to the EL award while in the west, Denver’s Fernando Diaz (.302, 9 HR, 50 RBI) topped Minneapolis RF Glenn McGhee (.267, 24 HR, 77 RBI) in the voting to take home the WL award.
Manager of the Year – Christian Eberlein picked up the eastern league award for leading Boston all the way to their second World Series championship while Las Vegas skipper Luis Martinez won the WL award despite his Gamblers falling to San Jose in the playoffs.
Glove Wizard Awards EL – P Lucio Castillo (ATL) – C Gabriel Lopez (DET) – 1B Jerry Wright (NY) – 2B Anibal Trueba (CHA) – 3B Ernesto Bernal (IND) – SS Ron Boyce (CLE) – LF Alec Hoff (ATL) - CF Lee McDale (PHI) – RF Richard Anderson (ATL)
Glove Wizard Awards WL – P Leo Wright (OKC) - C Sancho Guerra (SF) - 1B Randy Harrington (OKC) - 2B Mark Barry (SD) - 3B Xavier Cisneros (OKC) - SS Christian Moore (AUS) - LF Roberto Gonzales (SJ) - CF Pedro Altagracia (SD) – RF Glenn McGhee (MIN)

Interesting Facts –Las Vegas batters struck out a combined 936 times on the season a new NABL record low (the first team to strike out less than 1000 times), while San Diego’s pitching staff only managed to fan 962 opponents (also an NABL record low) however the Mariners surrendered just 97 homeruns for the season. Las Vegas relief pitcher Michinori Morita set the NABL record for wins in a season for a reliever with 18, smashing the previous record of 14 set by Gonzalo Pina in 2034.
Oklahoma City 1B Randy Harrington completed his tenth consecutive year with at least 100 walks earned.
Juan Santos’ first season as a manager ended with his Jacksonville Dolphins finishing the season at 72-72, their first non-losing season in a decade!!

[JayW UK]

2037 Off-Season

After entering 2036 with lofty expectations of a playoff push, Washington endured possibly the club’s single most disappointing season, slumping to a disastrous 61-win campaign and after the failure of the “veteran playmaker experiment” (an underperforming Jamie Boden shipped out to San Diego halfway through the season, Pedro Escoriaza landing on the disabled list in July and Richie Rambeaux struggling through a dismal injury hit campaign, playing in only 82 games and producing a career worst .194, 3 HR, 21 RBI stat line) manager Ramon Ortega chose to jump rather than be pushed, resigning his position as field manager as soon as the book closed on their forgettable season. Division rivals New York also found themselves in the market for a new manager but for an altogether different reason when Leonard Miller announced his retirement from the dugout, the Senators job would be one of the more sought after in the NABL with New York boasting a roster full of young talent. Two-time manager of the year Francisco Cerda also called time on his managerial career at the end of the season, leaving Denver to begin the search for his replacement, while two other clubs joining the search for new managers were Baltimore and Detroit who both fired their incumbent skippers after disappointing seasons. Baltimore removing Sergio Vasquez after he failed to take the team forward despite significant investment and Detroit, who fired Juan Vasquez (no relation) after the club dropped from 87 wins in 2035 to just 64 leading to his exit. Baltimore were the first to act, promoting bench coach Allen Long to the top job and giving him the unenviable task of toppling Boston and Philadelphia at the top of the Atlantic division, Detroit acted quickly as well, poaching Baltimore’s hitting coach Cisco Rivera to be their new manager. Washington announced that former St. Louis pitching coach Dave Wildridge would take the reins for the upcoming season, the hope in D.C being that Wildridge would be able to stabilise the rotation and build a contender from there. Denver named former AAA Boise Roughriders manager Arnold Spencer as their new skipper while New York chose to go in a completely different direction, naming former Indianapolis and Denver Scout Kendrick Britton as the man to take the team forward.
In a relatively quiet off-season for star free agent signings, only a few teams opened the chequebook and spent big. First to make a splash were Indianapolis, who brought former Minneapolis and Tampa Bay pitcher Ramon Schoof to town on a six year $108M deal, Baltimore owner John Rockwell was once again free with his money, signing former St. Louis speedster Adam Bailey for six years at $95M before persuading NABL legend Dixon Bodean to stay put for another year, handing him $18.5M for his services. Houston lost pitcher Darrell Haney to free agency, who ended up signing with St. Louis for 6-years at $88M while Washington, after missing out on Haney, lured New Orleans star Jose Ibanez to town on a bargain 7-year $75M contract. Several of the league's top closers were also on the move, Indianapolis nabbed former Chicago man Harvey Widdowes on a 2-year deal, adding him to a bullpen that already included 37-year-old veteran Greg Gray giving the Racers a pair of capable closers. Denver lured former Tampa Bay and Charlotte star Josh Renshaw on board with a one year $8.1M deal while Omaha chose to send franchise leader in saves Uram Park, to St.Louis in a trade for four prospects. With the perceived lack of top end talent on the move several teams chose to spend on keeping their own stars, chief amongst them were the Reds, who after adding Darrell Haney to an already stacked pitching staff made a deal with star pitcher McKenzie Ransford, buying out his last year of arbitration and keeping him in St. Louis for another six years. Another team spending on keeping their own young talent was Houston who signed 24-year-old star shortstop Hector Soto to a 7-year $105M deal while former Houston man Steve Blanton, now in Tampa Bay, signed a lucrative extension that would keep him in Florida for another seven years. With the dust settling on the big money signings and extensions OKC set about upgrading their pitching by swinging a couple of trades, first the Outlaws sent 2B Andres Montoya to Minneapolis for SP Arnold Silver before, in a surprise move, sending power hitting LF Jesus Alarcon along with 1B prospect Ben Marshall to St. Louis for starter Robert Warwick. Las Vegas swung a trade for another veteran pitcher to take the load off Holden Willis, sending 1B Jorge Rodriguez, SS Tomas Alonso and infield prospect Luis Nunez to Phoenix for 35-year-old 2-time Pitcher of the Year Angel Castro.
The 2037 draft class was stacked with college talent, leading the way were outfielders David Moulin from Central Florida, Adrian Ramirez from Oklahoma State and Alex Bayley from Mississippi state, infielder Brandon Buck from Alabama and possibly the best of all, Arizona State’s catcher Santiago Melendarez who combined NABL ready defense behind the plate with a power bat. Although somewhat overshadowed by his more polished college rivals, high school star LF Jim Hopkins was tipped by many experts as having the highest ceiling of any player in the draft and would certainly be in the conversation for first overall pick. This draft class did not however have much in the way of top end pitching, with NC State’s Allan Albano the top college prospect and Edgar Dillar the lone high school pitcher being talked about as a high first round pick.
New Orleans, owners of the first pick and with holes all over their roster went for the player with the highest upside, drafting high school LF Jim Hopkins #1 overall, San Diego with almost as many holes chose Central Florida LF David Moulin. With the #3 pick Washington called the name of catcher Santiago Melendarez with the aim of him being the long-term replacement for Aaron Harris, Cleveland chose outfielder Alex Bayley fourth before Detroit rounded out the top five by taking NC State pitcher Allan Albano. Phoenix owners of two top ten picks went with a pair of college stars, Alabama’s Brandon Buck 8th overall and Oklahoma State’s Adrian Ramirez tenth, while Seattle with two high picks of their own went for a pair of high school pitchers, tabbing Garry Jackson (7th) and Edgar Dillar (12th).
Heading into the 2037 season BNN had the Atlantic division as a four-horse race, Philadelphia who had returned most of their key contributors for another run at the division along with a young talented New York team and Baltimore, who boasted the NABL’s highest payroll and the evergreen Dixon Bodean, would all challenge defending champions Boston and make the Atlantic division the one to watch. In the Central, St. Louis were expected to emerge from the pack and supplant Chicago as the biggest rivals to Indianapolis for the division crown while the Southeast would once again be a two-horse race between Charlotte and Tampa Bay.
In the west Denver was expected to join Oklahoma City and Minneapolis in a three-way tussle for the Midwest division title, the Southwest division was Las Vegas’ to lose, with Houston waiting in the wings to pounce on any mistakes, but realistically the Stars were chasing the WL Wildcard spot. The Pacific division was once again expected to be a tight battle with defending champs San Jose, the expensively assembled Los Angeles Lynx and offensive powerhouse San Francisco all expected to be in the hunt, while both Seattle and San Diego (despite winning 80 games the previous year) were both being touted as good bets for the #1 overall pick in the 2038 draft.

[JayW UK]

2037 Regular Season

Eastern League Review

A coming of age season from 25-year-old pitcher Brett Knight (15-6, 2.97 ERA) and solid contributions from LF Rob Penney (.308, 27 HR, 104 RBI) and C Eduardo Moreno (35 HR, 101 RBI) propelled Boston (89-73) to the Atlantic division title, New York were their nearest rivals with their young core led by pitcher Brent Brown (18-7, 3.09 ERA) and 1B Jerry Wright (.261, 45 HR, 101 RBI) giving Senators fans plenty to cheer for, the Senators pushed Boston hard all season but ultimately never quite managed to get ahead of the Pilgrims in the standings and finished the campaign three games back. Big Spending Baltimore failed once again to truly challenge for a postseason spot, having to settle for third place and an 81-81 record, while Philadelphia who despite their star-studded roster struggled with consistency and injury all season, culminating in an 80-82 finish, their first losing season since 2030. Bringing up the rear as expected was Washington (71-91), although the team did improve their record by 10 games over 2036, manager Dave Wildridge still had plenty of work to do to make the Generals competitive.
In the Central, Indianapolis (99-63) missed out on a 100-win season by losing their final two games, RF Jose Cintron (.288, 33 HR, 122 RBI) was the catalyst on offense, while off-season signing Ramon Schoof (19-4, 2.77 ERA) ably supported by Dave Lockhart (14-6, 3.00 ERA) and Jose Franco (15-7, 3.93 ERA) locked down the rotation. With impressive seasons from McKenzie Ransford (19-6, 2.90 ERA) and Les Scott (20-6, 1.82 ERA), St. Louis rode their pitching all the way to the club’s first playoff appearance, collecting a franchise best 93 wins along the way. Chicago got typically strong seasons from Eugene Fey (19-7, 2.67 ERA), Josh Deric (.313, 17 HR, 81 RBI) and 2B David Evans (.317, 26 HR, 106 RBI) but fell woefully short of expectations with an 83-79 campaign. New manager Cisco Rivera had little effect as Detroit (69-93) continued to struggle with inconsistent pitching being the biggest problem, Larry Moreno (13-7, 3.08) was excellent while Greg Hardy (6-17, 5.72 ERA) and Leo Wright (4-17, 4.92 ERA) were not. Cleveland (65-97) stumbled to their tenth consecutive year without a winning season, haemorrhaging money, with the NABL’s lowest payroll and only 1.4M fans turning out to see them, the franchise was sliding inexorably into crisis.
With an offense propelled by the quartet of SS Brandon Townsend, RF Daron Murphy, 3B Alfonso Alvarez and 21-year-old CF Luis Garza who all hit 20+ homeruns and a pitching staff featuring David Reyes (19-6, 3.63 ERA), Jim Jacques (14-9, 3.11 ERA) and youngster Rich Sutton (13-5, 3.25 ERA), Charlotte (93-69) held off Tampa Bay to claim their third straight Southwest division crown. The Hurricanes (88-74) looked to be on their way to reclaiming the division title until injuries to 3B Bryant Manton (.260, 39 HR, 98 RBI) and CF Steve Blanton (.291, 24 HR, 105 RBI) robbed them of their two best players down the stretch leading to 4-9 record over the final two weeks handing Charlotte the division. Miami’s pitchers struggled all season to keep the ball in the park, surrendering a league high 202 homeruns, a big reason why the Everglades finished a distant third with a 75-87 record, Atlanta fell back from 79-wins to 73 but had reason the believe better days were in store with several youngsters breaking through, 23-year-old catcher Luis Guerra (.308, 33 HR, 96 RBI) the best of them. New Orleans (66-96) finished in the basement once again (the fourth season in a row) and just as before, a strong season from 1B Rick Flynn (.259, 28 HR, 77 RBI) was wasted, just how long the club could hope to keep Flynn was anyone’s guess.

Final Standings

Atlantic Division
Boston 89-73*
New York 86-76
Baltimore 81-81
Philadelphia 80-82
Washington 71-91

Central Division
Indianapolis 99-63*
St. Louis 93-69*
Chicago 83-79
Detroit 69-93
Cleveland 65-97

Southeast Division
Charlotte 93-69*
Tampa Bay 88-74
Miami 75-87
Atlanta 73-89
New Orleans 66-96

[JayW UK]

2037 Regular Season

Western League Review

After five years of underachieving, Denver finally lived up to their promise, with C Mack Peralta (29 HR, 101 RBI), LF Ramon Vega (29 HR, 87 RBI) and young CF Fernando Diaz (.352 16 HR, 88 RBI) pacing the WL #1 scoring offense and off-season signing Caden Duncan (14-5, 2.72 ERA) heading a solid pitching staff, the Wildcats (92-70) overcame Oklahoma City at the top of the Midwest division. Despite boasting one of the top rotations in the game featuring ace Rafer MacNeil (19-7, 2.44 ERA) and up and coming star Mark Graham (13-6, 3.03 ERA) it was their league average offense that held OKC back in the end, as they ended the season three games back at 89-73. Minneapolis (79-83) flattered to deceive all year, as big seasons from C Tom Walsh (.316, 33 HR, 100 RBI), CF Fernado Hernandez (.293, 35 HR, 104 RBI), RF Glenn McGhee (.324, 23 HR, 90 RBI) and pitcher Steve Gream (17-10, 2.14 ERA) went to waste, as the bullpen struggled, blowing an NABL leading 24 games on the season. Omaha tied Minneapolis on 79 wins with 2034 first round draft pick David Lyons (13-10, 2.79 ERA) looking the part of future staff ace, Kansas City won their most games for six years (78) but still finished in the division basement.
Las Vegas, as expected took the Southwest division title, but not without a fight. The Gamblers (96-66) used another monster season from 3B Joseph Floores (.282, 38 HR, 114 RBI) and strong pitching performances from a pair of 35-year-olds, Angel Castro (15-5, 2.82 ERA) and Holden Willis (12-8, 2.71 ERA) to hold off a late season charge from Houston who finished just three games back on 93-69, qualifying for the playoffs as the WL wildcard entry. The Stars used a team approach as Christos Warner led the team in batting average (.328), Wolfgang Worns in homeruns (21) and Hector Soto in RBI’s (97) while Elmer Cherry (14-9, 3.28) and David Martinez (13-5, 3.43 ERA) topped the rotation, Pablo Hernandez’s league leading 49 saves were also a big part of Houston’s ability to win close games. With their once dominant pitching staff a shadow of their former selves with only Cristobal Chapa (11-4, 2.67) winning more than ten games, Dallas finished the season in third place at 80-82 while Phoenix, who were also suffering from their own pitching woes (Brendon Smith, 10-7, 3.82 ERA the only pitcher to reach double figures in wins) finished with a 70-92 record. Back in the division basement were Austin who matched their 2036 win-total with 68 while 40-year-old veteran pitcher Stan Fleming (3-15, 5.87 ERA) found himself one step closer to retirement after his abysmal showing.
The Pacific division came down to the wire, entering the final 3-game series, San Jose had a slim one game lead over both Los Angeles and Sanfrancisco. The Spartans with an offense carried by Tom Sterling (30 HR, 92 RBI) and Armando Burrios (26 HR, 80 RBI) and with Pedro Rosario (17-10, 3.14 ERA), Ivan Lopez (15-7, 2.75 ERA) and Rick Sauer (13-10, 2.47 ERA) leading their rotation, faced off against LA, who’s roster featured the likes of C Andrew Lewis (.275, 27 HR, 84 RBI), 3B Luis Rosario (.297, 15 HR, 78 RBI) and ace pitcher Mitch Woodroffe (18-10, 3.69 ERA). The Gold with their stacked offense headed by C Sancho Guerra (.331, 25 HR, 84 RBI) and CF Arminio Azurara (.292, 38 HR, 122 RBI) had the easier (on paper at least) task of matching up with a struggling San Diego team. In the end San Jose (86-76) took their series over Los Angeles (84-78) by two games to one to win the division by two games, while Sanfrancisco also dropped their series against the Mariners by the same score, finishing the season tied with LA on 84 wins. Seattle (77-85) improved their record by seven games from 2036 with young stars-in-the-making RF Patrick Richardson (22 y/o) and pitchers Bryan Marburg (21 y/o), A.J Hiers (23 y/o) and waiver claim from Baltimore Corvin Curry (23 y/o) all making contributions. San Diego slipped back to a disappointing 64-98 finish, with a campaign marred by injuries to several of their top players, most notably 1B Jamie Boden who was restricted to just 20 games by a chronic back issue.

Final Standings

Midwest Division
Denver 92-70*
Oklahoma City 89-73
Minneapolis 79-83
Omaha 79-83
Kansas City 78-84

Southwest Division
Las Vegas 96-66*
Houston 93-69*
Dallas 80-82
Phoenix 70-92
Austin 68-94

Pacific Division
San Jose 86-76*
Los Angeles 84-78
Sanfrancisco 84-78
Seattle 77-85
San Diego 64-98