Baseball Premier League

[NYY #23]

Jon Morrison spent his entire life in baseball, and began playing baseball professionally in 1878. Morrison was one of the top professional hitters, and joined the Baltimore Atlantics late in his career for his veteran leadership. It was the right place and right time for Morrison, who was productive enough with the bat to find a spot in the lineup, and Morrison enjoyed working with the younger players on the team, and at 43 years old Morrison was able to share his knowledge with almost everyone on the team. While Morrison was only with Baltimore for three years, the Atlantics moved up from League B to League A, and were in position to move up to the Premier League this year.

So after being robbed of his opportunity to play in the Premier League against the top talent in the country Morrison and the Atlantics were upset. So when Atlantics owner Jon Ganske approached Morrison about starting a rival professional league Morrison was ready to embrace the idea. With Ganske's finances and Morrison's baseball connections a new league was conceived.

Morrison was able to convince eight of the top ten teams in League A to join him in what Morrison was calling the National League. While the league would directly compete with the Premier League, it would not be the only league in competition, with at least three others announcing their intent to form a rival professional league, including the International League, Sunset League, and Continental League.

In an effort to stand out from other the National League announced their intentions to begin the season in June while playing an abbreviated, player-friendly schedule. In direct contrast with the Premier League the National League would play just one game per week. Another player friendly rule that will be put in place is the ability for players in the league to sign with any other team after ten years in the league.

[NYY #23]

While baseball fans across the country have been following the offseason drama of the Premier League and National League a new contender emerged last month when Randy Arnold announced that the International League announced that they would begin play as a new professional baseball league in April. The new league will feature 24 teams, split between the Eastern League and Western League, made up primarily of former NABA teams. Each sub-league will feature two divisions of 6 teams, and all teams will play 162 games per year.

The Eastern League will feature two divisions, the Southeast Division and Northeast Division. In the Western League the divisions will include the Southwest Division and Northwest Division. The teams that will make up each division include:

Eastern League

Southeast Division
1. Baltimore Ravens
2. Georgia Peanuts
3. Havana Sugar Kings
4. Maryland Athletics
5. Philadelphia 76'ers
6. Washington Maroons

Northeast Division
1. Boston Whalers
2. Brooklyn Devils
3. Chicago Whales
4. Nashville Chiefs
5. New York Gothics
6. Springfield Rifles

Western League

Southwest Division
1. Ahwatukee Desert Dogs
2. Arkansas Razorbacks
3. Austin Senators
4. Hollywood Stars
5. Oklahoma Outlaws
6. Phoenix Bobcats

Northwest Division
1. Oakland Oaks
2. Omaha Farmhands
3. Oregon Ducks
4. Rapid City Raiders
5. Seattle Rainiers
6. Vancouver Terminals

[NYY #23]

With 29 teams already announced for the Premier League, the news coming out of the Premier League has been slow. Last year on March 1st the Premier League was holding Opening Day, but fans were anxiously waiting for news on when the 1905 season would begin.

Joe Reese officially announced yesterday that Opening Day will take place on April 1st this year with 36 teams playing games. It was expected that the Premier League would announce one team, but many were surprised by the announcement of seven new teams, including the San Antonio Bullets, Cleveland Lakers, St Louis Cardinals, Denver Buffaloes, Portland Beavers, San Diego Sailors, and San Francisco Dockers.

Reese announced that teams would be playing a 172 game schedule next season with three divisions of six teams making up each sub-league. The winner of each team will advance to the playoffs, with the team with the best record that doesn't win their division heading to the playoffs.

Continental League:



Federal League:

[NYY #23]

People in Nashua will be talking about today's Opening Day matchup between the Massachusetts Generals and Nashua Huskies for years to come as the Premier League opened with a historic game:





Nobody should question the effort by Bob Wicker of the Huskies after today's game after throwing 263 pitches over 20 innings. Wicker didn't allow an earned run today, striking out 13 batters, walking 6, and giving up 12 hits.

The Huskies and their fans went wild in the bottom of the 20th when Benny Bowcock single, stole his second base of the game, and moved to third on an error. He came home to score the winning run on a sacrifice fly by John Titus.

----

The Worcester Hearts also hosted a marathon game, winning 4-3 over the Detroit Tigers in 15 innings. William Whalen lasted all 15 innings to earn his first win of the season.

[munas23]

NYY #23 great story so far. I have started playing around with multiple leagues and I was wondering if you could help with some your knowledge. So not to high jack your story, could you visit the below link and comment. Also what is the best date to move teams from league to league.

http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...l-leagues.html

Thank you so much in advance and good luck with the rest of the league

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by munas23

NYY #23 great story so far. I have started playing around with multiple leagues and I was wondering if you could help with some your knowledge. So not to high jack your story, could you visit the below link and comment. Also what is the best date to move teams from league to league.

http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...l-leagues.html

Thank you so much in advance and good luck with the rest of the league

Thanks, I am out of town travelling this week so I just saw this. I'll take a look at your questions tomorrow when I get home though.

[NYY #23]

Just one month into the season for the Premier League and things weren't going as well as planned. Joe Reese was handed control of the league earlier than expected when William Henry Sherman first was hospitalized, then later passed away. Reese was dealing with challenges on many fronts, including unexpected competition from rival leagues, unhappiness from team owner's, and maybe even more importantly challenges on the field.

In the Continental League West Division it was expected to be a close race between the Arizona Wrens, Minot Mallards, and Salt Lake City Bees, but the Bees were running away with the division. After Christy Mathewson (5-2, 1.02) the Mallards were struggling to pitch, and Arizona was playing without one of it's biggest stars, Jack Chesbro, who is now expected to miss the entire season after reinjuring his arm. The Denver Buffaloes were the laughingstock of the league after starting 4-24.

While Salt Lake City was easily winning the division, they weren't happy that Reese was unable to do anything about the Pacific Coast League, who placed a team in Salt Lake City. The Bees weren't along in their unhappiness, as the downfall of the North American Baseball Association led to chaos throughout the country, with 11 leagues, including the Premier League declaring professional status. As the largest league in the country the Premier League, and it's teams were an easy target.

Teams not only had to worry about playing games on the field, but also had to worry about competition in their own city from a rival league. In some cases the perceived success of the new team was causing even more concern, like the Phoenix Bobcats going 20-7 in April in the International League. While Reese and the Premier League claimed better players and a better product, it was hard to tell from fans around the country, who were able to see a professional baseball game at a lower cost, and see a player like 40 year old Cuban Rey Nunez come to Texas and go 4-0 with a 1.65 for the Rangers and become a star overnight.

Reese found himself locked in a battle with former star and NABA Commissioner Al Spalding, who no longer wanted his name associated with the Premier League and the Spalding Cup. Spalding believed that the Spalding Cup name belonged to NABA, even if the association was no more. Time will tell if Reese and the Premier League are up for the many challenges.

[NYY #23]

The abbreviated history of this dynasty is that professional baseball began at a regional level in 1871, until the birth of the Premier League, which would feature promotion and relegation between the Premier League, and the leagues below. I spent a lot of time with the teams and league before 1901, and I decided to end Promotion-Relegation after the 1904 season. So even though I've spent a whopping four years doing promotion-relegation I wasn't ready for this league to end. What that left me with is a lot of teams, a lot of players, and a lot of history.

Really, too many teams, too many players, and too much history. I probably should have just started over with a much smaller league, but I did spend a lot of time with these teams, and had a good time watching a team like the Minot Mallards, or Grand Island Prairie Dogs establish themselves to be powerhouses. As I mentioned Promotion-Relegation is out, and currently I'm left with a league that's just too big. So right now we are in a period of transition, the Premier League has expanded to 36 teams to absorb some of the excess teams, and teams were reshuffled into leagues. There is currently 11 leagues.

They range in size from the Premier League and their 36 teams, down to the eight team Texas League with leagues in between like the 16 team Dixie League, the 24 team International League, and the fourteen team Pacific Coast League. It's a world that is too large to maintain long term, so I consider this phase 2 of the dynasty. Through a combination of randomness, OOTP, and what feels right where things will begin to stabilize during phase 2, and the end result will be something more manageable.

I don't know how long phase 2 will last, but I'll know when things feel right. As far as I'm concerned everything is on the table, from a league perspective. The Premier League could fold under its own weight, or survive the final cut. We'll have to see how things play out. There are certain teams that have done enough to preserve a final spot in this world though.

Also, I've been importing real players to mix in with fictional players. I'm going to continue to do that, but in the spirit of randomness every player will be assigned either a 1 or 0 when it comes time to import. The 1's will import, and the 0's won't be. That means the next draft class will feature Pete Alexander, Eddie Collins, and Tris Speaker, but Walter Johnson didn't make the cut.

Then finally, I've imported this league from 15 to 16 three times now. The first two times everything went fine, and I used it for testing. The third time everything went fine, but the league history didn't come. I'm not sure why, but I don't have the tolerance to try again, so the history before and after NABA will remain separate.

[NYY #23]

Continental League East



Cowboy Jones (17-4, 1.57) has been a surprise for the Massachusetts Generals, leading the team in wins and ERA as the number 2 starter after Bob Blewett went down for injury. His success paired with Ham Iburg (12-5, 1.75) has the Generals holding a narrow 1/2 game lead over the Pilgrims in the Continental League East.

The Pilgrims are pitching well and hot on their trails though, with Hooks Wiltse (11-8, 1.62), George Suggs (16-5, 1.53), and Ed Killian (11-9, 1.80) helping bring some excitement to the Premier League with a close race in the east.

Continental League Central



22 year old Eddie Cicotte pitched an 11 inning shutout for the Crescents yesterday to put the Crescents in first place, 1/2 game ahead of the Tycoons and 3 1/2 games ahead of the Texas Longhorns. Cicotte (7-7, 1.93) and Buttons Briggs (15-4, 1.77) have the Crescents well positioned for success.

In Dallas the Tycoons are led by Dad Hale (14-5, 1.43) and their close pennant race with the Crescents is helping to ease some of the concerns for Commissioner Joe Reese as fans are turning out for the exciting pennant race.

Continental League West

The West was expected to be the most competitive division in the Premier League, but the Bees continue to dominate with strong pitching and defense, leading the division by 8 games over the Mallards. 25 year old Addie Joss (12-9, 1.81), 24 year old Doc Scanlon (14-5, 1.81), 27 year old James Drohan (12-7, 1.89) and 27 year old Rip Ragan (14.4, 1.83) give the Bees a solid, young rotation.

The Mallards feature the best pitcher in the division in Christy Mathewson (16-6, 1.28), but outside of Mathewson the team is struggling. Injuries are proving costly for the Arizona Wrens, who are without SP Jack Chesbro, SP Jack Cronin, SP Charlie Ferguson, 2B Charlie Hickman, and CF Charlie Frank.

Federal League East

With a 7 game lead the Reading Railers are looking ahead towards the playoffs. The Railers are pleased with the performance of 23 year old starter George Boice, who has started the season 16-4 with a 1.32 ERA.

Federal League Central

The Cubs hold the largest lead in the Premier League, leading the Federal League Central by 14 1/2 games over the Cardinals.

Federal League West



Jim Buchanan (16-5, 1.33) has helped the Grizzlies build a four game lead in the West. The Grizzlies have outscored opponents 382-243.

From top to bottom the Federal League West is the best division in the Premier League, with the Lobos (52-33), Aviators (51-34), Sailors (50-35), and Aces (45-39) all above .500.

[NYY #23]

37 year old Ed Delahanty is dominating the Dixie League with a .363 batting average, 9 home runs, 58 RBI, and 62 runs scored. With 24 year old Harry Lindsay on the mound (15-1, 1.60) the Tigers are just 3 games behind Port City for first place in the League. However, beyond Delahanty and Lindsay the team has a lot of holes.

[NYY #23]

It's the Detroit Giants who have jumped out to a two game lead in the Great Lakes League, leading the league in runs scored. Francisco Gonzalez (.330) leads the team in batting average.

[NYY #23]

While the Boise Cutthroats are running away with the League with an 8 game lead, they are doing it without their best player, SP Frank Smith, who will be returning from injury in July.

[NYY #23]

26 year old Edgar Zetina is leading the surprising Danbury Hatters with a .363 batting average. The Hatters have scored more runs than any other team in the league and currently lead the Boston Red Sox by 5 games.

[NYY #23]

The Rochester Red Wings and Philadelphia Phillies are locked in a close race in the New York Penn League. Both teams have strong pitching, with Beany Jacobson (15-5, 1.49) and Rube Vickers (16-5, 1.84) leading the Red Wings and Tad Quinn (16-5, 1.64) and Lou Polchow (11-8, 3.20) leading the Phillies.

[NYY #23]

No pitcher has been more dominant than Bill Donovan (22-0, 0.40) of the California Suns, who are leading the Pacific Coast League by 13 games.

The Suns were the last team to join the PCL, which struggled to recruit teams from California, and was forced to expand eastward to Kansas City, St Louis, and even Louisville. Rumors have already started regarding the Suns being recruited to join other leagues.

[NYY #23]

After a slow start to the year the Baltimore Clippers are making their move in the Sunset League and have closed the gap with the Miami Marlins to just 2 games.

[NYY #23]

Despite leading the Texas League by 4 games the Fort Worth Black Cats are having trouble filling seats and made two moves last month that will make things harder, selling leading hitter Matthew Herring (.371, 2 HR, 53 RBI) to the Chicago Whales and RF Andy Bentley (.375, 2 HR, 28 RBI) to the Tampa Pirates.

[NYY #23]

In the International League the closest race is in the Southeast Division where the Baltimore Ravens hold a narrow two game lead over the Maryland Athletics. 24 year old Ed Walsh (19-3, 1.21) has been leading the Ravens' rotation while the Athletics are led by Bryan Mietus (13-8, 2.10).

[NYY #23]

Last but not least is the National Baseball League, which is a little nod to the past. The National Baseball League will be playing one game per week, using the same structure as my Any Given Sunday dynasty. The structure is the same, although some teams names have changed since they are in use elsewhere. I've been upset since I've lost this league, and tried to do something to rekindle the league. I was able to find an old backup, create a template and back date some players ages. What I did was keep two fictional players per team, and then fill in the team with fictional players, in order to prevent players from appearing more than once.



That means that someone like Aaron Jackson will get another shot, although this time with the New Orleans Gators instead of the Crescents, since the Crescents already exist in this universe.



Cameron Cotter is now playing for the Dallas Texans, and has started the year 2-2 with a 2.06 ERA.



Dave Thompson was another familiar name, and is now pitching for the New York Titans. Thompson has started off 4-0 with a 0.75 ERA.

That's just a sample of some of the players who are making their reappearance. It hasn't always worked out well for everyone, like Devonte Durham, who lost his job for the Boston Trolleys. Or Hugh Bond, who lost his starting pitching spot for the Kansas City Comets. One of my former favorites, Matt Kelley of the Bisons is struggling with a 1-3 record, although he has a 1.32 ERA.

There are some new stars being born, like David Gilman of the Hawkeyes, who is 3-0 with a 1.33 ERA.

While I mentioned I don't have any preconceived notions about which teams and leagues will stick around, I would like to see this league stick around, although the jury is still out technically. More to come on the National Baseball League and the other leagues, but this was meant as just a quick intro.

[dynaboyj]

If nothing else, you know, traditionally soccer teams only play league games on the weekend...if you wanted to you could combine the two formats (although I don't know how scheduling really works in that regard).