A Tale of Seven Leagues: 1980-

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OK, this may be the lockdown fever taking over but what started as a fairly simple idea for a league soon exploded into the unwieldy mess that I'm about to present.



So, imagine the world at the close of the 70's. Punk has edged out progressive rock on the airwaves and new regional baseball leagues start to pop up all over the United States (and Canada and Mexico too). I haven't decided what happened to the MLB; I'm either ignoring it or pretending that it collapsed when all current and future MLB players disappeared in some kind of rapture event.


So here's the deal.

• Seven Leagues scattered across the United States (with Canada and Mexico making contributions as well).
• They're all small with 8 or 12 teams and play somewhere between 120 to 126 games.
• Schedule starts mid April and the season concludes in September. In October, the 7 winners are all invited to the World Series (along with the defending champion to make it 8 teams) to play a knockout tournament to crown the ultimate champion.
• Players won't be able to transfer between leagues. They sign a deal with their chosen league and they are stuck there for life.
• Each league draws on a different era (starting with the 60's and ending with the 10's) for stats and player creation modifiers.
• Finances are set to 1980 but with a 75% reduction. Inflation then takes over.
• League Evolution is on but expansion, schedule changes, city moves, and nickname changes are disabled.
• No leagues have employed the DH but it is enabled as part of league evolution. The end of year tournament also doesn't use the DH but once a majority of leagues use it then it'll make the switch as well.
• There's no minors and no feeder leagues. Trying to keep the file size down and more focused on what I care about: the majors.
• I'm not American so some of my nicknames might be a little off.

That's it from me. I'll introduce all the leagues and then start with the 1980 season.

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American Frontier Baseball Championship (AFBC)

Our first league covers the most land out of any of these new leagues as it spans across two countries and features teams from 7 American states.



EAST DIVISION
Albuquerque Broncos
Denver Dinos
Phoenix Lions
Salt Lake City Bees

SOUTH DIVISION
Mexico City Dragons
El Paso Wildcats
Austin Aardvarks
Monterrey Dukes

WEST DIVISION
Las Vegas Ravens
San Diego Dolphins
Tijuana Sharks
San Bernadino Raptors

The division winners as well as one wildcard team make the playoffs.

Top Hitter: Crespin Carrillo (Monterrey Dukes)




Crespin is a local boy that's quickly become a fan favourite for his booming home runs.

Top Pitcher: Totchtawan Piandit (Monterrey Dukes)




This Right Hander from Thailand is an absolute monster at 6'6" and 240 pounds. Appropriately, the game has given him the nickname of "Munchkin". His salary of $240k makes him the highest paid player in the AFBC. The real question is how did they find him? Piandit is the only Thai player in the game.

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Atlantic Baseball Association (ABA)



PATRIOT DIVISION
Washington Senators
Boston Eagles
Brooklyn Bulldogs
Atlantic City Aces

FREEDOM DIVISION
New York Titans
Philadelphia Liberty
Norfolk Admirals
Baltimore Rhinos

The two division winners face each other in a best of seven.

Top Hitter: Nitz Ogea (New York Titans)




Barely a weakness to his name, Ogea is a young outfielder who'll be looking to make a big splash for the rest of the decade. He should prove devastating to right handed pitchers. His $170k salary puts him just shy of the top paid player in the ABA (Atlantic City Outfielder Antonio Morales takes that honour with $180k).

Top Pitcher: Damien Grubbs (Atlantic City Aces)




Only 24 and already looking set to dominate. His Sinker/Curveball/Splitter pitch combo will serve him well.

[progen]

Interesting concept!

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Cascadia Baseball League (CBL)

Just hold onto your seat and we'll just bounce on back to the West Coast.



ORCA DIVISION
San Francisco Gold Rush
Tacoma Turtles
Eugene Ducks
Vancouver Beavers
Victoria Clippers
Seattle Seawolves

SALMON DIVISION
Gastown Elephants
Kelowna Bears
Spokane Suns
Boise Lumber Kings
Oakland Archers
Portland Roses

The two division winners and two wildcard teams make the playoffs.

Top Hitter: Rodney Sukanda (Eugene Ducks)




Sukanda has an absolute monster of an arm that along with his well balanced approach at the plate should mean he'll be a common fixture in the CBL.

Top Pitcher: Kyrie Cummings (Portland Roses)




Like Totchtawan Piandit in the AFBC we've got another monster on our hands. Both Piandit and Cummings move the scale 240 pounds but Cummings adds an extra inch on the height scale. Unlike Piandit -- Cummings doesn't rely on his power to get outs -- instead, he prefers a more intricate approach making him one of the hardest pitchers to hit a home run off.

[puppies_on_acid]

This is an awesome concept.

I'll be following along for sure!

[dward1]

very cool idea!

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Great Lakes Baseball Society

...and back east again. I know you probably wouldn't consider Ottawa/Montreal/Quebec City as part of the Great Lakes area but here they are anyway.



CANADA DIVISION
Toronto Thunderbirds
Montreal Saints
Ottawa Hawks
Quebec City Owls

EAST DIVISION
Grand Rapids Rabbits
Green Bay Bandits
Chicago Terriers
Detroit Spartans

WEST DIVISION
Duluth Bucks
St. Paul Unicorns
Milwaukee Badgers
Minneapolis Vikings

The division winners as well as one wildcard team make the playoffs.

Top Hitter: Aiden Matthews (Green Bay Bandits)




We've yet to track down the reason his teammates call him "Gargoyle" -- seems a tad mean if you ask us -- but Matthews is beloved by all. Exactly, the kind of guy you want representing this Wisconsin team. You can slot him anywhere on the field (probably not catcher but might as well give it a try!) and he is a left handed pitcher's nightmare. He's signed a deal with Green Bay to be with the team until 1987 with no opt-outs.

Top Pitcher: Shailen Thomson (Grand Rapids Rabbits)




Speaking of left handed pitchers. This guy might be able to handle Matthews.Thomson's nickname might indicate a bit of lightness but his pitches certainly don't. His $230k salary makes him the highest paid in the GLBS.

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Midwest Baseball Association (MBA)

Don't worry, we don't have to go too far for the next one.



EAST DIVISION
Pittsburgh Steelhounds
Louisville Sluggers
Ann Arbor Wolves
Cincinnati Rams
Lexington Racers
Columbus Spiders

WEST DIVISION
Cedar Rapids Cats
Indianapolis Roadsters
St. Louis Stags
Kansas City Kings
Omaha Outlaws
Chicago Cougars

The two division winners and two wildcard teams make the playoffs.

Top Hitter: Chase Petersen (Ann Arbor Wolves)




Hey, it's a catcher! Don't often get a catcher getting this honour so we should really take a moment to sit back and appreciate this moment.

Top Pitcher: Vince Tinsley (Omaha Outlaws)




A young pitcher with a killer sinker and forkball keen to come out of the 80's as one of the dominant pitchers.

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New England Baseball Guild (NEBG)



Burlington Beacons
New Haven Neptunes
Boston Bulls
Hartford Wizards
New Bedford Whalers
Providence Power
Manchester Pride
Portland Sailors

There are no playoffs. The team with the best record at the end of the season is crowned the champion.

Best Hitter: Marco Fillmore (Boston Bulls)




Fillmore is an absolute terror on the basepaths with perfect 10/10 scores in speed, stealing, and baserunning. He backs that up with superb power and discipline at the plate. His partner in the Boston outfield, Christian Speck is ranked as the second best hitter in the NEBG (and also the best paid with a pay check of $200k). Those two are going to blast it up this summer.

Best Pitcher: Tucker Willmott (Burlington Beacons)




The Sugar Bear has so many pitches you never know what's about to come. He's got 6 down (the Forkball is the one you can't see in the image above). His scouting report calls him an "overlooked ace" but then he gets ranked as the best pitcher in the league so I don't know what's about. Sounds like he gets a lot of looks as is.

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Southern Baseball League (SBL)

And in our final league we head down South.



EAST DIVISION
Nashville Stars
Atlanta Railhawks
Charlotte Sting
Athens Music

WEST DIVISION
Baton Rouge Bluebirds
New Orleans Jazz
Birmingham Roosters
Houston Apollos

The two division winners face each other in a best of seven.

Best Hitter: Jacob Pitman (Nashville Stars)




Barely a weakness on Pitman. He can hit for contact or power, he's disciplined enough to draw walks, he's not too shabby on the field, and makes himself useful on the basepaths.

Best Pitcher: Jorge Estevez (Houston Apollos)




A 5-pitch repertoire with excellent control has propelled this Texan to the top of the SBL.

[dward1]

No Florida teams?

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Originally Posted by dward1

No Florida teams?

Yeah, no Florida teams for now. I've probably seen too many Florida Man memes.

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Very glad I made a backup of my file about halfway through the first season as the inaugural world series broke down into a farce when one of the teams suddenly had all their free agents released from their contracts in the middle of the series.

The final game of the season was a 58-9 win for the Spokane Suns as the 15 remaining players of the Liberty battled on very unsuccessfully.



The last remaining Philadelphia pitcher had to make 302 pitches to finish the game.



I see that I can manually delay the moment that free agent filing happens so I'll need to do that each season for each league. Anyway, I'm going to go back in time and try again but enjoy the absurdity.

[puppies_on_acid]

I scrolled down and only looked at the score. The first thing I thought was, did they accidently play a football game instead? Haha.

On a side note. I've been making a custom league similar to this every year that involves sub leagues on each continent, comprised of teams from various countries. It's similar to the World Baseball Classic, only in a full season format. I always end up restarting it every version of OOTP because I'm never fully satisfied with it. Maybe this years version will stick...

[mrbucket]

Originally Posted by puppies_on_acid

I scrolled down and only looked at the score. The first thing I thought was, did they accidently play a football game instead? Haha.

On a side note. I've been making a custom league similar to this every year that involves sub leagues on each continent, comprised of teams from various countries. It's similar to the World Baseball Classic, only in a full season format. I always end up restarting it every version of OOTP because I'm never fully satisfied with it. Maybe this years version will stick...

Yeah, I've made quite a few giant worldwide competitions during my years playing OOTP. Never quite made one stick!

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1980: Midwest Baseball Alliance (Part One)

I was going to write about the actual MBA season but I got distracted by one game so wrote about that instead. Full season summary to come.

"I'll Just Do It Myself"
August 25, 1980. The St. Louis Stags and Louisville Sluggers meet for a doubleheader to kick off their series. Both teams are well under .500 at this point and well out of the running and the first game is an unremarkable win for the Sluggers.

But then things get a bit crazy for the evening.

The Stags blasted out of the gate. By the time we hit the bottom of the fourth they already had a 19-1 lead, you'd probably think they were safe at that point but you haven't met the hero of our story: a grumpy perfectionist called Evan Alsbrook.

Alsbrook, a 38 year old second baseman was known for his work ethic. Long hours at the park honing his craft. Any players he perceived as slackers received the full brunt of his grumpy old man persona.

Earning an $120k salary, he was tied for highest paid player in the team and one of the biggest earners in the MBA but as the season progressed and his defensive deficiencies were exposed he lost his starting spot to 24 year old Eden Neldner. Alsbrook was still contributing with the bat (122 OPS+) but coach preferred the defense of Neldner.

Which brings us to this game, the Sluggers had started to fight back, they were only down 23-12 with one out at the top of the 6th when coach -- throwing in the towel -- sent his washed-up second baseman in to pitch. He threw two balls to start the inning but then started to get in the groove. He induced a double play and ended the inning.

Come the bottom of the 6th and he was second up and blasted a line drive to right field for a single. Next up was 21 year old Felipe Sardina who -- not known as a home run hitter -- hit his third home run of the game to drive Alsbrook in (Sardina played in 109 games over the season and only hit 8 home runs in total that season -- 3 in this game alone!). Five more runs will be scored until Alsbrook came up again in the inning but a mis-hit saw him fly out. The score now was 23-19 to the Stags.

Alsbrook went up again in the 7th and got two quick ground outs before giving up a walk. He recovered though and got the last out with his very next pitch. The Sluggers got another home run and shifted the deficit to just three runs. Alsbrook dispatched the three St. Louis batters in 9 pitches and then came up to bat with the bases loaded. So naturally, the first pitch he sees is blasted for a 418ft grand slam home run to give the Sluggers a 24-23 lead. Everyone who didn't leave after their team fell behind by 18 runs is over the moon.

An actual pitcher replaces Alsbrook at the top of the 9th and he gets the outs giving the Sluggers an incredibly improbable win.

Alsbrook gets the pitcher win, his final line was 2.2 IP, no hits, no runs, no strikes, and one walk. At the plate he went 2-3 with 4 RBIs. Shockingly, he isn't awarded player of the game, that honour going to Felipe Sardina who hit three home runs.

That would be Alsbrook's only pitching appearance to date.

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1980: Midwest Baseball Alliance (Part Two)

The story of the season was certainly the dominance of Pitcher Vince Tinsley who put in a triple crown season for the Omaha Outlaws. His Sinker/Splitter/Forkball combination of pitches proved unhittable as he gave up a mere 99 hits over 188 innings for a H/9 of 4.7 (and only two of those were home runs. TWO.) and racked up 219 strikeouts for a K/9 of 10.5. He did have a weakness for control though. He led the league in walks with 96. Despite the walks, he finished with a 16-2 record, 2.20 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 2.74 FIP, and 7.7 WAR (9.4 rWAR).

One of those two losses happened in a game against the Cedar Rapids Cats in August. His Outlaws were up 1-0 in the top of the 7th. He got the first out but that was followed up with a horror sequence where he hit two of the hitters and then gave up a walk to load the bases. A wild pitch then got a run on the board and advanced the runners. A Sac Fly got another run on the board before getting the last out with a swinging strikeout. The damage was done though and the Outlaws would go onto lose the game 3-1.

Tinsley's line was 8 IP, 2 hits, 3 earned runs, 3 walks, 11 strikeouts, 5 hit batsmen, and a wild pitch.

He still got player of the game.

It was another game against the Cedar Rapid Cats where he was at his best where he threw 8 shutout innings in a 2-1 victory. He gave up 2 hits and 3 walks but terrorised the Cat hitters with 16 strikeouts.

A few weeks before, he also threw 142 pitches in a complete game shutout against the Lexington Racers. A game that included a 12 strikeout haul.

He was unanimously awarded the pitcher of the year prize but narrowly lost out on the MVP prize.

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1980: Midwest Baseball Alliance (Part Three)

So if a triple crown season from Vince Tinsley wasn't enough to secure him the MVP then what was?

The answer is St. Louis LF Dean McPeck. The 32 year old cuts a fairly ordinary presence at 5'11"/195lbs but boy he can smash the home runs. His 45 home runs were 10 clear of #2 Adam Aceves. Throw in his 95 walks (good enough for #3 in the MBA) then you have a fairly deadly hitter at the plate.

Unfortunately, as good as the Stags were at getting themselves runs (led by McPeck), they were just as bad at preventing them. Ultimately, they finished the season 57-63 and bottom of the West Division. An MVP season from McPeck gone to waste.





The MVP vote was one of contention with fierce debate between the merits of McPeck vs Tinsley. One voter however decided they wanted nothing of that debate and simply gave their first place vote to Pittsburgh catcher Jake van Kuren (who led the league in batting average and on-base percentage while being a slighty-better-than-average catcher).

"No comment" was all we got from the Pittsburgh writer who made the vote.



One final fun fact is that Nigel Knowles, who finished #7 in the MVP vote was a 37 year old left fielder for Pittsburgh. He had a pretty solid season with .286/.437/.596 slash line with 32 home runs and 95 RBIs. 153 OPS+ and 4.3 WAR and decided to retire. BNN reported that he wants to take a role in the broadcasting booth next.

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1980: Midwest Baseball Alliance (Part Four)

EAST DIVISION
The East Division in the MBA was dominated by the Pittsburgh Steelhounds and the Cincinnati Rams. The Steelhounds bounded out of the gate with a bang as they won their first 6 games on the trot to kick the season off. Led by Catcher Jake Van Kuren and 41 year old Ace Edward Sosa (nickname: Rainmaker), as well as solid contributions from lead-off CF Dylan Schaar and 1B Wolverine Yang (oh my god what a great name) they were a run scoring machine.

Their start was short-lived however -- they inevitably dipped -- and the Cincinnati Rams caught up. Aside from two big home run hitters in CF Mercury Glaus (another great name) and 3B Horado Taveras, the Rams were largely devoid of the star power that the Steelhounds could boast of.

Fears were struck in the Steelhound camp when their Ace Edward Sosa came down with a ruptured finger tendon that will put him out of action for the rest of the season. At that point over 8 starts, he had gone 7-0, with a 1.94 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, a 256 ERA+, and had only given up 2 home runs at that point. He went hitless over 7 innings in his final game before coming off for injury.

One other memorable game for Sosa came early in the season against the Kansas City Kings with a complete game shutout. He only gave up the one hit in the game -- and that was to a pitcher. Hopefully he can return strongly next season in his quest for a no-hitter.

The battle for the division title between the Steelhounds and Rams remained constant until it all started to come together for the Steelhounds who turned into an absolute beast at the end of the season. Their record for August & September was 25-9 and the Rams just had no answer. Ultimately, finishing 10 games out of the division title.

Credit partially went to catcher Jake van Kuren who went from batting .339 to .421 over August and September. That explosion of hits propelled him to the batting title over Louisville LF Dan Jilek by .002.

WEST DIVISION
The West Division was a three-way battle for the division title between the Chicago Cougars, Kansas City Kings, and Omaha Outlaws. All three teams built a bit differently: The Cougars were well-rounded, the Kings relied heavily on their bullpen and defense, while the Outlaws invested into their starting rotation (led by triple crown winner Vince Tinsley) and their ability to hit home runs to keep the offense flowing.

The lead change hands throughout the season. The Omaha Outlaws were the first to blink and fell off the pace first. It was looking like the Kings would take out the division title but they hit a red-hot Outlaw team to finish the season off and got swept. The Cougars took their chance and forced a tiebreaker game for the division title. The Cougars rolled out their ace while the Kings took their chances with their #5 starter. In the end, the Kings couldn't get any traction offensively and a pair of home runs in the 4th from 3B Jake Adams and rookie star RF Adam Aceves sealed the deal for the Cougars. They had their division title but never fear as the Kings and Outlaws grabbed wildcard spots.



The playoffs were a tense affair as both semi final rounds went to 7 games. Chicago and Omaha needed 11 innings to decide the first game, and then the next game was settled with the a Chicago walk-off. Omaha's RF Hayden Morrow did his best with a home run three games in a row but ultimately the Cougars took out game 7 with a commanding 7-2 victory.

Meanwhile, Pittsburgh took an early 2-0 lead in their semi final against Kansas City but the Kings turned it around to take it out in seven.

1980 MIDWEST CHALLENGE -- CHICAGO COUGARS vs KANSAS CITY KINGS
Disaster struck early for Chicago in game one of the Midwest Challenge as their starter Brian Kyte injured his elbow in the second inning. The bullpen took over and kept the Kings hitters in check, closer Corbin De Vries took over the last four innings and didn't concede a single hit to get the win for the Cougars.

The Kings struck back in the second game. All restrain was gone as the final score ended up 12-5 with a particular highlight from Kansas City defensive superstar 2B Oliver Schultz who hit a grand slam in the first inning. Schultz isn't particularly known for his home runs -- he only hit three all season after all.

The big hitting of game two fell away in game three as neither team could rack up the runs. Eventually the game was decided in the 11th inning. With two outs, and Oliver Schultz on third. Chicago Pitcher Maurice Alcorata made a wild pitch that allowed Schultz to run in home for the win. Walk-off Wild Pitch anyone? Not a moment that Alcorata will live down.

Chicago piled on the home runs in game four as five homers got them a 10-1 victory to tie the series up at 2 wins a piece.

With the series now a best-of-three, the Kings grabbed the early advantage. A four-run blitz in the second inning was all they needed to secure the win with 3 superb innings from closer (and reliever of the year) Charlie Burris was just what they needed to close the game out.

Game Six was a low-scoring affair, the game tied up 1-all into the ninth inning. Leading off the inning was Kansas City RF Tiesheng Bian and after watching two pitches from Maurice Alcorata go for a ball and a strike he blasted a home run into the stands to give the Kings the 2-1 advantage. Starter Gregory Burch was given the ball to close out the 9th and he got three outs in quick succession for the save... and the title.

The Kansas City Kings are the inaugural winners of the Midwest Baseball Alliance.