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Old 03-26-2020, 06:26 PM   #1
Nugget699
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The Southern Union Baseball Almanac

Introduction

Some of you may be familiar with the fictional countries Koana Islands, Ianoia or Gunsovolk of which I am the creator. I tried a few times to start up a dynasty on here for my Koana Islands Super Ligan that went for over 100 in-game years and manually did promotion and relegation (before the game could do it automatically!). I also hit the front page of Reddit with my maps and even got an article in the Smith Journal magazine (I'd never heard of it either) which was pretty cool and I'll happily share it on here if there's interest.

Anyway, my Koana Islands Super Ligan save eventually fell out of my group of hobbies for a few reasons. Firstly, whilst history is never really my strong point, I went about growing the league poorly. The first season had 20 teams and when it came to adding further divisions in the league pyramid I just whacked in another twenty teams and called it a day. There was no slow evolution and things like the DH rule were in effect right from the inaugural season in 1890-something. Hardly the stuff of realism. Now I know this is my world and my history and we could spin the DH rule as being something that the Koana Islands created and the MLB just adopted it 80-years later, but the moment something suspends one's disbelief all thoughts of realism go out the window and the game stops being an alternate reality and starts becoming a game again.

That brings me onto issue number two with the old save. Despite my desire for OOTP to run Promotion and Relegation as successfully as it manages to do everything else, the fact remains that the AI just isn't coded for dealing with drops in revenue and the financially uncertainty that comes with relegation. Having avoided P&R leagues for the last few years, I've been doing a dummy run in OOTP21, just tinkering with settings to see if the AI logic has been improved at all; and it hasn't. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a go at Markus and the team, but rather an observation that might help people make a decision on if P&R is for them.

For example, in my test sim, I had two divisions of 20, let's call them Division A and Division B. The bottom three teams from A were relegated to B and the top three teams from B were promoted. B had finances that were 50% less than A along with 25% less attendance on average. Quite simple. As the years passed, teams went into complete financial ruin and Ivychurch in Division B was a good example. They signed players to whopping contracts that made even the biggest of A team's eyes water. Not terribly unrealistic, you can argue that the team is pushing for promotion which they eventually failed to achieve. However, at that point in real life, the team would cut their losses and trade away their best assets (particularly as some of them were good enough to play for the top teams in A) and rebuild with cheaper alternatives in Free Agency. They might've even traded some of their highest earners and got worse players in return in an attempt to balance the books without going for a complete rebuild. Ivychurch didn't do that, they instead decided to hold onto their best players until their contracts expired, sending the team deeper and deeper into debt until they were so poor they could only sign rejects in Free Agency to Minor League deals. They then went three straight seasons with 24, 19 and 22 wins respectively (out of 162 games). If they had traded away their best assets early, they may still have dropped down the standings in the following years, but at least they wouldn't have been complete no-hopes.

They were the lucky ones really, because they had no place further to fall. The same issues arise with teams in leagues that have relegation as a threat. Teams that are already in massive debt and have relegation looming cling onto their star players that are hitting Free Agency at the end of the season, rather than trying to cut their debt down and grabbing a few young prospects to make a push for promotion the following year. Some teams might carry on as usual, hoping for a turnaround before the season is through, but others would be facing reality and the AI just isn't coded for dealing with relegation. This meant - particularly in the lower tiers of the pyramid - teams had no money and no players, meaning I had to play God and give them a financial boost and sign players for them, because teams would enter Opening Day with just 5 players on the books sometimes; again, suspending one's disbelief. I want to just set and forget... and watch.

Lastly, the thing that bummed me out the most was I wanted to have leagues in all four of my fictional nations yet my world.dat only consisted of the Koana Islands inserted into the rest of the world. There was no way for me to add nations once the game had started, and that prevented me from gaining the full enjoyment of my fictional universe. To rectify this, I have amended the database for OOTP 21 to include Koana Islands, Ianoia, Gunsovolk and Le Grout so that I can fully realise what I had in my mind all these years. I am more than happy to release the database if there is enough interest in the nations.

This 'Intro' has dragged on but I do want to explain what it was going to be. Essentially, I enjoy just watching the years pass and teams rise and fall, I do watch the occasional pennant race and even the odd game mid-season, but otherwise I watch from afar and just take in the universe I've created. Each post I do will be a chapter in a book covering the year that was, starting from the first professional league in 1895.

If you have any questions about anything at all, feel free to ask in here but otherwise, welcome to the Southern Union - a political and economic union containing the four nations I have created - which is situated in the Indian Ocean...

1. The Southern Union

The Southern Union (SU) is a politico-economic union of 4 member states that are located in the Indian Ocean. The Southern Union’s main activities take place within Omfattandestad which is located in the Koana Islands.

The Union contains the Direct Democratic Republic of Koana Islands, the Kingdom of Gunsovolk, the Republic of Ianoia, and the small Free Lands of Le Grout.

Location on World map

Koana Islands
Koana Islands (pronounced Co-ahnah Islands), officially the Direct Democratic Republic of Koana Islands is a country situated in the South Indian Ocean. It’s closest neighbours are Australia to the east, Gunsovolk to the west, Ianoia to the south and India to the North. The capital city is Omfattandestad. The Koana Islands is made up of 32 islands, of which 11 are uninhabited and are national parks. The biggest island, Koana Island has an area of approximately 574,925 square kilometres and is home to the vast majority of Koanians. All up, the 32 islands provide an area of 931,223 square kilometres, roughly the size of Spain and Sweden combined.

Around 93.4 million people reside in Koana Islands, with the majority concentrated in the central part of the mainland. The native language of most of the population is Koanian, which is part of the North Germanic language family and is most closely related to Swedish and English. The second official language of Koana Islands – English – is the native language of 5.5% of the population, although most people under the age of about 30 can speak very good English. Koana Islands is a unicameral direct democracy with a central government based in Omfattandestad and local governments in over 10,000 municipalities. A total of about five and a half million residents live in the Greater Omfattandestad area (which includes Omfattandestad, Blanka Island and Jonestan), and a sixth of the country’s GDP is produced there. Other major cities include Viksida, Ny Aucklanda, Humoor, Embleton, Vizhune and Conneaut.

The Koana Islands, founded in 1482 by early settlers from the Kalmar Union who were disillusioned with life within Scandinavia, expanded quickly. When Willem Janszoon's boat Duyfken attempted to reach shore on Koana Island he was reportedly attacked by the settlers who feared their simple way of life was under attack.

The Kalmar Union collapsed in 1523 when Gustav Vasa became king of Sweden and the Koana Islands eventually became entirely independent, although this has never been written down formally.


Günsovölk
Günsovölk was officially founded by Willem Janszoon in 1605 on the same voyage he discovered Australia. Some 30 years later Dutch pilgrims arrived on the islands and settled in the what is now known as Kuntzvoll as an autonomous country to the Dutch Republic. In 1815 Günsovölk formally separated from the Netherlands, wanting to be led by it's own royal family as opposed to Willem I. The monarchy still stands today although has limited ceremonial duties.

Home to 42.2 million people known as Günsians, the native language is German, with Dutch spoken predominantly to the north of Gilsemans Island. The capital city is Shoof, which is the most populated city at 2.7 million residents.

There was a large influx of German immigrants after the first King married a German 'commoner' which is why there is a lot of German influence even today.


Ianoia
Ianoia (pronounced EYE-an-oh-ah), officially the Republic of Ianoia is an English-speaking nation in the Indian Ocean nation situated to the southeast of the Kingdom of Günsovölk and south of the Direct Democratic Republic of Koana Islands. Around 57.4 million people call Ianoia home, and call themselves Ianoians.

The history of Ianoia is sketchy, but most people agree it was settled by early Koanians around 1520, some 250 years before Captain Cook's first voyage arrived in 1770 where locals and sailors exchanged friendly greetings. Herman McCutchen, a cook on-board the Endeavour, married a native Ianoian girl and settled in the now capital city, McCutchen; the most populous city at just over 2 million inhabitants.

Whilst Koanian is spoken fluently by around 5% of the population, English was adopted as the official language in 1789.


Le Grout
Le Grout (pronounced LE-Grew) is a small Atoll situated in the Indian Ocean with a population of 2.5 million citizens. It was discovered by Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec in 1771 and Charles de Boisguehenneuc landed and claimed the island for the French crown shortly after. Until 2013, the Islands were one of the overseas departments of France. Like the other overseas departments, Le Grout was also one of the 27 regions of France (being an overseas region) and an integral part of the Republic with the same status as those situated on the European mainland. Following much debate over the last few decades, Le Grout secured their independence from France in 2013 and joined the Southern Union as the fourth nation in 2015.

French is spoken by it's inhabitants and the capital city is Audaux.


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Old 03-26-2020, 08:20 PM   #2
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Excellent concept. Looking forward to following.
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Old 03-26-2020, 09:12 PM   #3
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2. Brief Baseball History

Birth of Baseball
Baseball was introduced to the Southern Union as early as 1888, when Albert Spalding's team of All-Stars and the Chicago Club toured the Koana Islands, Gunsovolk and Ianoia, following a tour of New Zealand several months earlier.

The sport quickly gained popularity within the Koana Islands most notably, with American gold miners regularly playing friendly games amongst themselves, having abandoned the gold rush in Australia and immigrating to areas in the state of Norra Koana such as Jordnot Kanjon, Erana Kullar but predominately Connestad (now known as Conneaut). American immigrants flocked to Connestad so much, the population grew to over two and half times it's size, something Koanian's referred to as Yankifiering, or "Yankee-fication".

The sport of baseboll became so popular in the years following Spalding's exhibition tour, that towns and cities quickly formulated social club teams with small circuits operating throughout the nation, particularly state-by-state. However, with the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs growing from strength to strength in the United States it wasn't long before rich businessmen sought to start a professional league to capitalise on the popularity.

Petersson's Plan
Thomas Petersson, Koana Islands' biggest sewer operator and military historian, established the Koanian Baseboll Sammanslutning in Embleton in 1892 with a view of creating the nation's first professional league. Petersson had a tough time convincing other businessmen to invest in his idea, tentatively called the Koanian Baseboll Omlopp, or Koanian Baseball Circulation. The initial rulebook written out by Petersson has been lost, but some strange rule changes included five bases instead of four, and more importantly the re-introduction of soaking or plugging the runner, where a fielder could put a runner out by hitting the runner with the thrown ball - something the Knickerbocker Rules had removed.

With many of the businessmen and social club owners Petersson approached laughing him out of his office, it wasn't long before the owner of the Ny Aucklanda Warlocks by the name of Vilgot Forsberg - a bank manager - formed his own league to be known as the Super Ligan in 1893, an attempt to establish a circuit that sits above all state and amateur leagues for which teams must apply for a spot in the competition.

The Beginning
The response to Forsberg's plan was overwhelming. Of the over 100 amateur baseball clubs within the nation, nearly 50 had applied to become the first professional clubs in the Super Ligan - including Thomas Petersson's Embleton Artillery Social Baseboll Klub.

Initially, Forsberg rejected Petersson's application sighting conflict of interest, however, the two men met in Omfattandestad with mutual friend Kalle Thunberg and agreed a cooperative agreement was in the best interests of the sport. This friendship was not without its flaws though, as Forsberg was later heard at a meeting suggesting Thunberg had twisted his arm to get Petersson's team into the competition and allegedly the two men never spoke to each other again.

The Teams are announced
After a year of discussions and meetings, Forsberg and Petersson narrowed down the applications to just 10 teams and The Koanian Dagbladet (the Koanian Daily newspaper) was given the exclusive list:

Blidområde Wild: Owned by Linus Castren, Blidområde took part in the Berg Baseboll Omlopp, where they won two titles in 1892 and 1893. Castren, the nations top Botanist, named the team the Wild as a play on his occupation.

Conneaut Centurions: Conneaut adopted the name Centurions after owner Max Lunde told the city "T'will be 100 years before the sport of baseball stops being played on this hallowed turf" referring to the field his team plays at. Over time, the team adopted the more literal sense of the word Centurion to refer to a Roman soldier.

Embleton Gunners: Thomas Petersson's team as a reference to the artillery range located justed outside Embleton. Peterson assumed the role of League Commissioner prior to the start of the 1895 season and handed the team over to business partner Loke Lönnberg.

Humoor Hawks: One of two major teams in Humoor (the other being Hamn Humoor), the Hawks were accepted at the 11th hour following the death of Artin Blom, the owner of the Körsbärstad Devils Baseboll Klub. The Hawks finished runners-up to the Devils the last two years in the Bergstopp Ligan.

Jonestan Broncos: Sat in the shadows of Omfattanedstad and Blanka Island in the Större Omfattanedstad Ligan (SOL) but was given entry to the Super Ligan when it transpired Blanka Island Mercenaries owner was a woman. The team never won the SOL but finished runners-up twice.

Ny Aucklanda Warlocks: Vilgot Forsberg's team and most successful team in the Wilkes State Ligan where they won all three of the operating years. The name Warlocks seems to have been lost in translation with the team referred to as "Warriors" or "Warlords" in early newspaper clippings.

Omfattandestad Titans: The most successful team in the amateur era, the Titans are owned by Kalle Thunberg and had crowds of over 35,000 although these numbers are disputed due to early attendance figures included office workers in neighbouring buildings. Following the fallout between Forsberg and Thunberg, the Titans and Warlocks are considered one of the worlds biggest rivalries.

Sandford Stad Bulldogs: Sandford Stad is owned by Petri Ljungberg, a Bulldog breeder and shopkeeper. The team was a merger between the Bulldogs Baseboll Klub and Sandford Stad Baseboll Klub, two teams who shared the same field in the outskirts of the city.

Viksida Bombers: Based in the second largest city in the Koana Islands, the Bombers got their nickname from the Viksida Bombgrupp who played pranks through the city in the early 1880s by throwing rotten fruit at ladies walking down the street. The culprits were never caught but most Viksida locals are known as "Bombers" in jest.

Vizhune Vipers: Vizhune was the only team in Norra Koana's state league to insist on a Koanian-only players rule. With American immigration spiking in 1891, some amateur teams such as Jordnot Kanjon and Nyhamn fielded only American players and Vipers owner Goran Bjorkman made the decision to enforce the rule on his team.

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Old 03-27-2020, 12:49 AM   #4
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You don't know how long I have waited for you to return with a new story on the forums. Your original Koana stories and maps inspired me to start playing OOTP 5 or so years ago. This is such a exciting day! *God, I feel like such a fan girl right now*

I will be following your new posts with some great anticipation. Go Vipers!
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Old 03-27-2020, 01:35 AM   #5
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3. The 1895 Season


SUPER LIGAN
The 1895 Super Ligan season was the first season of professional baseball within the Koana Islands. It began on 5th of April 1895 and concluded on the 6th September the same year. Each of the 10 member clubs played the other 16 times over four, four-game series, twice at home and twice away, for a total of 144 games.

The competition was won by the Ny Aucklanda Warlocks, finishing 16 games clear of the Humoor Hawks having overtaken them on the 6th of June and never relinquishing top spot for the rest of the year.

The season wasn't without controversy though, as Viksida Bombers owner Alexander Mednick accused Warlocks owner Vilgot Forsberg of cheating prior to the start of the season when he snapped up 22-year old stud hurler André Westermark from under the noses of both Humoor and Viksida in early January and then poached Petter Solheim - who had spent time in the United States plying his trade on the mound in the National League - from Omfattandestad, having already signed a contract with the Titans.

"It's all nonsense," said Forsberg when approached by The Koanian Dagbladet prior to the season start.

"We are in a competitive league and winning is all that matters.

"Maybe some of the other teams should do a better job in providing wages that benefit the players abilities".

The early suspicions of cheating by the leagues founder were quickly forgotten when on Opening Day Westermark was pulled from the game against Jonestan after 5 and a third innings, giving up 9 hits and 7 earned runs in a 7-6 loss. A month into the season and Humoor had already built up a five game lead in the pennant race, ahead of the power-hitting side of Vizhune and Conneaut two games further back with Ny Aucklanda.

However, the Warlocks slow start hid their true talent, as they went on a storming run in the month of June, winning 25 of 28 games - including a 21-2 drubbing of Omfattandestad where seven hits went yard - to start the month of July a whopping 10 games clear of the Vipers, who had overtaken Humoor days earlier. So dominant was Ny Aucklanda's season, the Warlocks finished the season with a home series against Humoor where they dropped three games to the runners-up, preventing a possible 19-game advantage.

André Westermark was completely dominant all season despite the Opening Day hiccup, finishing with a 20-3 record and an ERA of just 2.04 with a WHIP of 0.80. His performances saw him win the Pitcher of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards, whilst he finished third in the MVP Award behind Lage Jensen of Embleton and team-mate Knud Grano who blasted 61 Homers during the season.

The Conneaut Centurions finished third where they lingered for much of the year, never really challenging for the pennant. CF Alfons Boden led the way for The Hundreds, leading the league in batting average and hits and finishing with a slash line of .374/.429/.576 with 22 HRs, 80 RBIs and 114 Runs. To cap off a great season for the outfielder, he also stole 27 bases. 1896 could be a difficult year for Conneaut however, with Starter Sebastian Mathisson (who had two complete game shutouts during the year) signing a four-year deal with cross-state rivals Vizhune at the completion of the season.

It was a strange year for the Vizhune Vipers who relied heavily on the power hitting from David Olsen and Mats Skovhus who both hit 57 home-runs during the season. LF Jon Aberg led the team with a slashline of .316/.448/.557 whilst Lage Gulliksson pitched admirably, going 16-9 with a 2.69 ERA, striking out 233 and walking just 62.

Embleton Gunners will be wondering what went wrong during the year, propping up the standings for much of the second-half of the year, despite CF Lage Jensen picking up MVP for his astonishing year where he led the league in OBP (.463), Slugging (.764), OPS, WAR and Stolen Bases with 40. Following a 12-1 loss to Vizhune on the final day, General Manager Leo Aune was sacked along with Elias Karinsson at Viksida, with both finding work at the two expansion teams joining next season.



Following the season, Omfattandestad Titans owner Kalle Thunberg vowed to spend "more than the other teams combined" to bring the pennant to the capital city after witnessing Forsberg's Ny Aucklanda Warlocks buy their way to the Championship. He wasted no time, snatching up Third Baseman free agent Tore Thern to a 5-year deal from Embleton in October, before taking a gamble on 37-year old Peder Castren, a RF who played for Sandford Stad and finished with a slashline of .330/.412/.641.

The popularity of the Super Ligan was better than expected and league Commissioner Thomas Petersson announced plans to expand the league immediately with two new teams. With Körsbärstad Devils still not in a position to turn professional, Petersson invited the Skeppsbyggaren Baseboll Klub based in Ängelar to join for 1896. The team, owned by Kristoffer Forsbrand - a prominent ship builder - and supported feverishly by ship builders and fishermen alike seemed an obvious choice, although there was some resistance from Blidområde's owner Linus Castren who claimed the Super Ligan didn't want "dirty, blue-collar builders to be seated next to the cultural elite during games". He was ultimately out-voted 10-1 at the Expansion vote. Kristoffer Forsbrand renamed the team the Ängelar Armada in keeping with the English nicknames.

Mattias Svan and his Grenada Kings were the second team voted to join the league, narrowly missing out on being one of the Original 10 last year. However, Svan insisted his brothers team, the Safir Kust Klub be granted entry the following year which was voted in favour at the owners meeting 6-4, only Humoor Hawks Svenbjom Engen abstained.
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Old 03-27-2020, 12:47 PM   #6
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Vizhune were well represented in the inaugural season awards! Hopefully we can improve in the years to come! Olson and Skovhus are a deadly duo! Super Ligan teams beware!
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Old 03-28-2020, 08:09 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sizeman21 View Post
Vizhune were well represented in the inaugural season awards! Hopefully we can improve in the years to come! Olson and Skovhus are a deadly duo! Super Ligan teams beware!
Glad to have you back on board! Hopefully I'll have learned from my mistakes in previous Dynasty threads!


4. The 1896 Season


SUPER LIGAN
The 1895 Super Ligan season was the second season of professional baseball within the Koana Islands. It began on 30th of March 1896 and concluded on the 21st September the same year. With the inclusion of the Ängelar Armada and the Grenada Kings, the schedule was increased from 144 games to 154 to accomodate each team playing 14 games (7 at home and 7 away) against all other teams within the league.

The Blidområde Wild entered the season as strong favourites following off-season acquisitions such as Third Baseman Halvar Nilsson from the Titans and young upstart CF Vilgot Abrahamsen. So strong was Blidområde they led the league right from day 1, maintaining a lead over the defending champions Ny Aucklanda of a few games. Things started to go south for the Wild at the end of August, where they dropped 12 of 16 games, but soon re-built their lead at the top of the standings to five games, following a small collapse by the Warlocks. Unfortunately, that also coincided with the rise of the Humoor Hawks and Vizhune Vipers who sat four games back on the 27th of August, yet five days later the Hawks were only a half game back, with the Vipers two games.

The Hawks came into form at the right time and on the 17th of September tied for the lead with Blidområde on 100-51 records with just 3 games to play. Despite the Wild clinging onto top spot, they were in the boxseat to take the title as they had finished the season with a 4-game road trip against the pitiful expansion team Grenada who were currently in the midst of a 15-game losing streak and sat 23-128 on the year after losing game 1 of the series. Vizhune were a game behind the Wild and Humoor but still had a slim chance of taking the title as they faced off against Ängelar in a 4-game home series, where they came from 4-0 down in the first game to come back and win 5-4; they were doing things the hard way. Humoor had a much tougher task though, they had a 3-game road series against a strong Jonestan Broncos side that was sitting well off of Ny Aucklanda in 4th, but clear of Sandford Stad and the Titans who were battling for mid-table supremacy.



Humoor started the series with a bang, notching up an 8-1 victory over the Broncos on the 18th thanks to Calle Knudsson's 25th home run of the year which drove in three in the 7th. Then the results of the other games started to filter in on the radios throughout Humoor; Vizhune had been beaten by Ängelar 6-3, with the Armada scoring four in the top of the 9th thanks to a bases-clearing triple by Samuel Enckell (who was plying his trade with Blidområde last season) - his first and only triple of the year. Vizhune's season was done, mathematically they were still in the hunt, but realistically they were finished off by the one of the worst teams in the league.



But when news broke that Blidområde had been stunned by Grenada with a walk-off bases loaded walk, people started to wonder - had Blidområde blown their chance of the title that was all but theres a few weeks earlier?



Both the Wild and Vizhune won their final two games, and Humoor needed 10 innings to get past Jonestown the following day. However, a 4-run 2nd inning by the Broncos in the final game of the season was too much for Humoor to overcome and so the season finished with the Hawks and the Wild locked at 102-52! Commissioner Thomas Petersson called an extraordinary meeting that night in Omfattandestad that was attended by most teams and using telegrams for owners who were unable to make the meeting in time a vote was called: Should Blidområde be given the title, having beaten Humoor 8-6 during the regular season, or should a 1-off winner-takes-all game be played the following day? After many hours of waiting for telegrams to return, the decision was made, a 1-off game would take place the following day...





The Wild had done it, barely. A 5-2 victory thanks to a great performance on the mound by Liam Olausson sent the land-locked city into raptures. Team owner Linus Castren released a statement apologising for his comments the previous year about blue-collar workers and on Sunday the 27th of September - during the teams parade through the streets - Linus Castren was given a huge round of applause when he lifted the Super Ligan cup above his head.



The Warlocks had closed right up to the Wild by mid-July, before trailing off to finish the season in fourth place despite another dominant season by André Westermark on the mound, where he finished the year with an ERA of just 1.59 in 28 games, which included the first ever no-hitter, which arrived in April against Vizhune where he fanned 15. CF Seved Malmgren was instrumental for the team , leading the league in Runs and WAR, along with Knud Grano (last season's Home Run leader) with OPS, whilst Erik-Johan Westergren once again led the league in Walks.

Other players to light up the stage included Simon Falk of the Sandford Stad Bulldogs. The 1895 Gold Glove winning CF led the league in Triples once more, and for much of the season couldn't be caught in stolen bases, especially when fellow CF and reigning MVP Lage Jensen missed seven weeks through injury for the Embleton Gunners.

The Conneaut Centurions had a disappointing season despite a blue patch between May and June where they briefly overtook the Viksida Bombers before falling away and finishing well off the pace in 10th. Right Fielder Alfons Boden couldn't replicate last seasons league leading batting average and hits, but still finished with strong numbers of .325/.372/.501 whilst power hitting First Baseman Marten Osterqvist bettered last season's Home Run numbers by two, hitting an even 50 but his slashline dropped off significantly at .263/.383/.590.

The expansion teams were considered a massive failure, with Grenada in particular never going above a .200 winning percentage. Blidområde Wild reject Lennart Ström was the best of the rotation, making 30 starts for a 2-14 record and a 5.38 ERA, whilst Ängelar only fared a little better throughout the year, with rookie RF Ferdinand Riemer from Günsovölk giving the Armada plenty to look forward to, especially when he claimed the Rookie of the Year award. The 23 year old hit .296/.370/.499 in 113 starts to lead the team in stolen bases (18), OBP and WAR.

With the expansion teams fast falling behind early in the season, Commissioner Thomas Petersson announced in late June that all expansion would be put on hold for at least one season, but possibly longer to allow the talent pool to catch up, particularly as Grenada fell victim to many 20+ runs against in games. This announcement incensed Mattias Svan, the Kings owner, who was promised that his brothers Safir Kust team would be granted entry for 1897.

"I was given a promise that was not kept," said Svan to the Grenada Aftonbladet.

"Why should we continue to invest in this product if the Commissioner chooses with whom he does and does not honour agreements?"







Following the season at the Owner Meetings, Svan pushed for expansion, but was outvoted 10-3. Things were made worse for Svan when his brother announced he had no intention on joining the Super Ligan until the on-field product was "to a level exceeding that of what we current witness". He cited blowout scorelines and poor fielding as the biggest issues to the league.

In an attempt to prevent talent hording - and possibly Kalle Thunberg's push to dominate the league with his Titans team, Warlocks owner Vilgot Forsberg put forward a motion to have a process put in place to allocate players to teams. The idea gained great traction over the following days, which included limiting teams to recruiting areas, and there was even a rough plan debated about an entry draft which is used today. However, by the end of the talks, all that could be decided upon was reducing the number of Reserve players from 40 to 25.

After the talks had concluded, team owners from Erana Kullar, Oberoendestad, Thomassmåstad and the new owner of the Körsbärstad Devils all gave talks about being considered for any possible expansion, with a businessman from the island of Nihnby explaining the advantages of splitting the league into sub-leagues to save on travel, and allow teams from off the mainland to thrive should they be invited to join the competition. The talk was well received, with Thomas Petersson certainly seeing the merits of expanding off the mainland eventually.
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Old 03-28-2020, 08:31 PM   #8
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Wow! What a close finish to the season! 101 wins is a huge jump from our measly 79 a season before! Proud of the boys!

Enjoying the season reviews thus far Nugget, keep em coming!
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Old 03-29-2020, 07:36 PM   #9
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did you make that +/- graph? it looks like OOTP design, I really like it
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Old 03-31-2020, 12:58 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dward1 View Post
did you make that +/- graph? it looks like OOTP design, I really like it
You can find it on the Team Home Screen. If it doesn't show for you, check open up the menu in the top right "Screen Setup", and it'll be listed as "Division Graph" Hope that helps!

V. 1897 SEASON


SUPER LIGAN

Pre-Season
The Titans of Omfattandestad made a couple of big splashes during the off-season, with the October signing of First Baseman Marten Osterqvist replacing the outgoing strikeout machine Kim Moe, who eventually found a home across-town with the Jonestan Broncos. Osterqvist had slightly lower numbers (.263/.383/.590) last season compared to 1895 (.320/.423/.643), but his OBP was much higher than Moe's allowing him to slip into the second spot on the line-up. The big news out of the capital was the acquisition of former Blidområde and Humoor 3B Alberik Hölderlin who became the highest paid player in the league when the 31-year old signed a four year deal to join the Titans. An excellent contact hitter who avoids striking out, he has career lifetime stats of .360/.448/.617 in 294 games with just 161 strikeouts. Despite the beefed up bats, the Titans did nothing to help their bullpen which will probably keep them lingering around 500 ball for the 1897 season.

Reigning champions the Blidområde Wild when they managed to re-sign 30-year old LF Marten Dahllöf to a five-year deal. The power-hitting outfielder finished last season with 99 career home runs and a slash of .259/.407/.579, missing just 9 games for the Wild in the last two years. Despite dabbling in the free agency market with a few minor acquistions, the 3rd of December was a huge day for the Wild fans, when the team unveiled two signings outside the stadium. The first was former-Embleton star Pitcher Neo Olsen (29-14 lifetime, 2.76 ERA, 401.2 IP, 1.00 WHIP, 512 K, 15.7 WAR) to a seven-year deal, and then the poaching of Gunner Fredriksen from Ny Aucklanda. The 30-year old made 58 stars for the Warlocks in the last two years, average 9 strikeouts a game which severely dented the Ny Aucklanda's famed rotation.

Another team who was busy in Free Agency was Sandford Stad, grabbing veteran Catcher Johannes Egerman , SS Alfred Palstrom (.307/.355/.373) whilst also splashing the cash on RF Torkel Koch (.324/.393/.506) who spent the last two years languishing in the Viksida Bombers team. The 26-year old contact hitter will spend the next three years at the Bulldogs, following a season where he went 5-for-5 twice. The Doggies also bolstered their Bullpen with Niclas Walfridsson, Melvin Isacksson and Jan Kalling.

The Conneaut Centurions are expecting another tough year, despite completing a trade with the Warlocks that saw 32-year old 3B Karl Karlsson (.233/.331/.521) leave to Ny Aucklanda, with The Hundreds receiving 22-year old 2B Lorens Dalhqvist (#32 Prospect) and 21-year old CF Lars-Erik Lindberg (#61 Prospect) in return.

It was a tough off-season for Grenada and Ängelar too, but despite some solid signings, it's expected to be another long season with the Kings in particular losing Hannes Jarl from their rotation for the first month of the season, whilst RF Fabian Arnesen (.306/.398/.406) - who was acquired in Free Agency from Embleton - will miss the first couple of weeks with a hamstring injury.


The Koanian Dagbladet believed that Blidområde would probably repeat as Champions, but Ny Aucklanda and Vizhune would be right on the heels of the Wild, with the latter continuing their power-hitting offense for a third straight year. Humoor weren't expected to do as well as they did last season, but they would probably still regress with Sandford Stad making a leap up the standings, whilst Embleton and Conneaut prop up the Original 10, with Ängelar and Grenada behind them.

Regular Season
The 1897 Super Ligan season was the third season of professional baseball within the Koana Islands. It began on 30th of March 1897 and concluded on the 19th September the same year. The schedule was unchanged from the previous season, with teams playing 154 games; 14 games each (7 at home and 7 away) against all other teams within the league.

The Blidområde Wild retained the Super Ligan title, becoming the first team to win back-to-back pennants, but needed results to go their way in the final days to clinch the league. After dropping the final game of a 3-game series against Vizhune, the Wild sat 3.5 games clear of the Vipers but having played an extra game. A three-game road trip awaited the reigning Champions against Omfattandestad who were chasing another year of 500 ball, having sat 10 games below the line at the start of September. The Viz, meanwhile, had a tricky four-game homestand against Sandford Stad who only a week earlier won 19 straight games (including a sweep of Blidområde) to make a late charge for the title.

Vizhune needed 11 innings to see off the Bulldogs on the 16th - Blidområde's off-day - with Mats Skovhus hitting the walk-off single. The last time Skovhus got the walk-off hit was a grand slam against Ny Aucklanda in July 1896. An emphatic 8-0 win followed for Vizhune, whilst the Wild lost their second straight game with a 6-4 loss to the Titans after a 5-run 7th by the home side, which closed the gap to two games at the top of the standings.

The next day was a near carbon copy for Blidområde as Omfattandestad came from 6-1 down in the bottom of the 6th to win 8-6 after Aron Blomqvist's 3-run homer in the 7th. Ultimately, the loss didn't make a difference as the Bulldogs rallied against the Vipers to claim a 4-2 win with Torkel Koch hitting the go-ahead solo blast in the 8th after seeing a 2-nothing lead evaporate in the 7th from a solo shot by Mats Hultman - the eventual winner of the Best Batter award and unanimous winner of the Most Valuable Player for 1897.




With the final day being dead rubbers, the Titans swept the Wild 5-4 to finish above 500 for the second straight year, patching over what was a thoroughly disappointing season for a team with title-aspirations that spent the vast majority of the year below 500. Blidområde's season meanwhile, took a massive hit in early July, with the news that Neo Olsen was done for the season after tearing his triceps. The 28-year old hurler led the league in most categories, finishing the season with a 10-2 record from 18 games, with an ERA of 1.96 and a WHIP of just 0.83, fanning 175. If that news wasn't bad enough, 9 days later a torn rotator cuff ended reliever Regnvard Alfonsson's season, too. The 33-year old was throwing decent numbers in 26 innings over 19 games: he struckout 24, walking 12, whilst giving up 18 hits and 8 earn runs for an ERA of 2.77.

The bad luck with injuries also ended André Westermark's season 6 weeks early, with the superstar going down with a partially torn labrum in early August. The RHP was not having the best year - by his standards at least - posting an ERA of 2.56 from 23 starts, striking out 220 and walking just 29. Despite his season ending prematurely, the 25-year old still led the league in K/9 for the second time, with 12.5. The season-ending injury against the Broncos could be the last time Westermark plays for Ny Aucklanda with the hurler hitting arbitration at season's end. The Warlocks slumped heavily following the news of the injury, which included a string of 7-straight defeats against Humoor and Viksida to put them right out of the hunt for their second title having been there or thereabouts up to that point.

By far the worst news of the year was the retirement of Alberik Jössi, the 22-year old rookie pitcher for the Grenada Kings. Poached from under the nose of Omfattandestad during the off-season, the right-hander had a bright future in the Super Ligan, posting solid numbers of 7-12, 4.26 ERA, 1.48 WHIP and 2.2 WAR in 25 starts for a team still reeling from a poor debut season. However, on the 9th of August, just days after Westermark was shut down for the year, the youngster partially tore his UCL in a quality start against Humoor (which the Hawks went on to win in extra innings, 2-1). The news soon filtered through the league that his injury was too severe and his career was over. The Kings lost 12 of their next 14 games to all but secure their second last-place finish in a row. It wasn't all bad news for Grenada's pitching corp though, with Michael Parmer moving into the rotation following Jössi's injury and eventually claiming Rookie of the Year.

Elsewhere, Jonestan Broncos GM Jönn Fulke completed six trades in July, before the trade deadline, as they announced the team was going to go for a complete rebuild. Some of the big names leaving the club included SP Gunnar Valqvist to Ny Aucklanda, Catcher Bjorn Aune (.259/.372/.395) to a fast-improving Ängelar Armada, Shortstop Hermann Sonnenberg (.229/.299/.317) to fellow stragglers Embleton (who lost their star CF Lage Jensen for six weeks after he was hit by a pitch during his first AB on Opening Day), and off-season acquisition, power-hitting 1B Kim Moe (.253/.348/.517) who performed well for Humoor following the trade.

It was a difficult season for the Hawks who started the year with 13 losses from their first 15 games before a slow rise through the standings in the months of May and June. Unfortunately, the early season form hurt the team's record badly and they were never able to challenge the top four teams.

Viksida Bombers had a completely opposite season. With a poor season predicted, the Bombers stunned the nation by sitting top of the Standings towards the end of May, before a huge dip in form over June and July saw the Bombers eventually cling on to 6th place. The season wasn't a complete failure though, with Left Fielder Tommy Lagerroth setting a new season record for hits with 237, eclipsing the previous record of 236 held by Blidområde 3B Halvar Nilsson that he set last season. Lagerroth's previous best was 230 that he also set last year.

Vipers SP Lage Gulliksson claimed the Best Pitcher award after starting 29 games and compiling a 21-5 record with an ERA of 2.39 in 203.1 innings and 246 strikeouts whilst reliever Tobias Kihlstedt helped a Vizhune whitewash during the awards, claiming the Reliever of the Year. On the season, Kihlstedt pitched 96.1 innings, with 121 strikeouts and an ERA of 2.15. He also had 3 saves in 50 relief appearances.






Owner Meetings
1897 was a busy year for changes in the Super Ligan. Following the comments made by Grenada Kings owner Mattias Svan's brother that the league had too many blowout scorelines, Commissioner Thomas Petersson pushed a motion to raise the pitching circle by a handful of inches in an attempt to curb the rampant scoring that was taking place. This was initially seen as sacrilege by fans and the media alike, with one journalist claiming: "the need to change the rules shows the Super Ligan's poor on-field product". Despite these sometimes quite hostile complaints which included a death threat telegram sent to the Super Ligan office in Omfattandestad, the teams unanimously voted for the introduction of a "pitchers mound", with Mattias Svan in particular claiming "the blowout scorelines were affecting [his] bottom line".

This wasn't the only major news that broke during the off-season. Viksida Bombers owner Alexander Mednick announced that his team was no longer sustainable in the nations second biggest city and that he would move the team to Uckford on Nihnby Island and re-brand to become the Ducks of Uckford. This news was poorly received in Viksida and the Super Ligan, with many claiming relocating a team for profit goes against everything baseball stands for. Nevertheless, Mednick was unperturbed and sent a message to the Viksida Merkurius newspaper stating: "my pockets are not for your hands. We [sic] don't worry about your feelings when my money is wasted in your city". The message included attendance records for the league which showed Viksida having the lowest attendance and season ticket revenue whilst a fan spokesman was quick to retort with numbers of his own showing that the Embleton Gunners budget was a 30% larger than Viksida's despite revenue being just 10% of the Bombers.

Armada owner Kristoffer Forsbrand pointed out the complications of needing to travel by steamboat followed by a long road trip to reach Uckford, particularly with the distance his team would have to cover from home, and pushed for consideration of splitting the league into sub-leagues following the talk given last year. The owners met and agreed that should any split happen for next year, the league would need to expand by 4 teams to make pennant races more exciting and yet not increase the number of games in a season; except for any series between the winners of the two sub-leagues. The process could not be agreed upon even when expansion without splitting the league was suggested, at least until the new "pitchers mound" rule was introduced. However, newspaper outlets across the country announced that the Körsbärstad Devils and Thomassmåstad Eagles baseball clubs had been told to get their finances in order to join the Super Ligan for 1899.


GÜNSOVÖLK
Factory owner Kristian Riemer, older brother of Ängelar Armada RF Ferdinand Riemer, formed the Günsovölk Baseball Meisterschaft in January with the intention of forming a professional league of his own in the nation of Günsovölk following a visit to the Koana Islands to watch his brother play. So impressed with the league and organisation of baseball within the Koana Islands, he cut his holiday short and returned to Ledigstadt.

Unbeknown to the 30-year old, a league was already being formed on Gilsemans Island by business partners Leon Schreiber and Marcel Fuhrmann, the largest island in the county. In a strange coincidence, Schreiber and Fuhrmann were on the lookout for a potential team owner in Ledigstadt and had yet to formally settle on a name for the league. After much discussion, Kristian Riemer agreed to sell the name Günsovölk Baseball Meisterschaft to Schreiber and Fuhrmann in exchange for his own team in his home city.

Leon Schreiber and Marcel Fuhrmann officially unveiled the league in August, with 8 teams:

Druten Stadt Centurions
Küstestadt Boxers
Schönheit Anglers
Shoof Pirates
Ahnüü Otters
Hüll Clippers
Jeuman Windmills
Ledigstadt Mustangs

The league will begin play next year with teams playing 140 games; 10 games (5 at home and 5 away) against all other teams in the league.

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Old 03-31-2020, 01:09 AM   #11
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Another great post Nugget! The media was spot on with predicting the Vipers season, 103 wins on the dot! The damn Wild are too good though! Someone needs to knock them on their butts!

Keep up the good updates! Can't wait to see the Günsovölk Baseball Meisterschaft in action!
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Old 04-02-2020, 03:10 AM   #12
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VI. 1898 SEASON PRE-SEASON


SUPER LIGAN

- Ängelar Armada signed power-hitting 1B Knud Grano (.303/.426/.683) to an 8-year deal, having spent the last three seasons at Ny Aucklanda. The 29-year old has seen a slight decline in home runs over the years, hitting 61, 50 and then 47 last season. Ängelar then backed up that signing by locking-up 3B Karl Karlsson (.239/.342/.535) to a three-year deal in mid-November to give them a near all-lefty lineup.

- Uckford's first major order of business since the relocation was signing RF Espen Backstedt (.261/.346/.554) to a 1-year deal, although poor plate discipline that was present during his 2 and a half years with Jonestan could see him platoon in right field with current incumbent William Amundsson (.254/.332/.331).

- Grenada Kings snapped up 2B Helmer Kalling in late January, with the 27-year old signing a 1-year deal with the expectation he'd sit in the third spot on the roster. The former Vizhune Viper has a career slashline of .308/.355/.471 to back-up his excellent plate discipline, and isn't afraid of stealing bases.

- The Blidområde Wild and Sandford Stad Bulldogs sign the two best Relievers in Free Agency in Olle Karlsen and Jean Jenssen respectively. Blidområde lost Jenssen and Ragnvard Alfonsson in October, but Karlsen's 3-year deal with the reigning Champions proves it's worth when looking at his career numbers at Humoor which stretches 196 games and an ERA of 2.92, with 264 K's and WHIP of 1.11. Jenssen's 3-year deal with the Bulldogs carries a bit of risk due to his age (32), although he is expected to become the new closer at Globen Parkera whilst Anton Moberg will move back to Setup Relief duties.

- Whilst on the topic of good teams, Ny Aucklanda re-signed André Westermark for 1 year after he recovered from his injury that ended his season early last year. The injury (and subsequent setback during the off-season) could possibly take a bit of an edge off his pitching, even with the rise in the mound height. Vizhune managed to keep the bulk of their squad together for another push at the title, but did manage to re-sign Tobias Kihlstedt for 2 for years as the Setup Reliever. Last year, the 33-year old made 56 appearances (including 6 spot starts), to post his best numbers in ERA (2.15), IP (96.1), WHIP (0.83) and BB/9 (1.9).

- Omfattandestad were busy in free agency once again, snagging relievers Noel Lönnroth and Ragnvard Alfonsson just before Christmas, who coincidentally played for the Titans together in the inaugural season. Omfat's off-season was considered a poor one, with pitching both in the rotation and the bullpen a major cause for concern.

- Jonestan, in the midst of a thorough re-build, solidified their rotation with Axel Salchow. The 33-year old spent three years at Viksida, posting 25 wins from 87 starts, with an ERA of 4.83 and a WHIP of 1.38. Poor movement on his breaking balls as well as his tender age means the Broncos only offered him a 2-year deal. They also strengthened their Catcher position, which has looked off in recent seasons, with the signing of 30-year old Aron Blomqvist who spent the last three years across town at the Titans. A career .223/.312/.448 hitter, Blomqvist is an above average power hitter with decent skills behind the plate.

- Speaking of rebuilds, the Conneaut Centurions signed 34-year old RF Helmar Lilja (.314/.365/.491) as their first big move of the summer, having come off a career year with the Warlocks. The move helps to plug a big gap in the outfield at Conneaut that was filled by journeyman Benedikt Barström (.233/.317/.386) who signed with Vizhune during the off-season. Superstar Closer Ove Thern - who was one of the last star players to hold out during the off-season - eventually signed with the Vizhune Vipers right at the end of spring training, bringing to an end a 3-year relationship with Blidområde where he amassed 75 saves with an ERA of 3.20 and a WHIP of 0.98, striking out 328 and walking just 71.

- Blidområde's newest rookie Henri Stromqvist turned a few heads during Spring Training despite his average numbers. Expected to be in the rotation as early as next year, the righty is currently rated as the 17th best prospect by the Koanian Dagbladet.


- The Koanian Dagbladet considers the title to potentially be changing hands this season with Vizhune favourites for the crown. Led by MVP 1B Mats Hultman, as well as a strong rotation of Gulliksson, Petersson and Mathisson should prove the difference. Blidområde's slight decline brings them about even with Sandford Stad who should have no trouble securing third. Elsewhere, Omfattandestad should move ahead of Humoor whilst Jonestan's re-build looks to be well on track. Embleton will continue to rely on Lage Jensen for offense but will struggle on the mound whilst Ängelar and Grenada continue to find their feet in the Super Ligan with the former expecting big things from RF Ferdinand Riemer and new acquisition 3B Karl Karlsson.


BASEBALL MEISTERSCHAFT

- Der Leiter, Günsovölk's premier newspaper gave a thorough preview of the inaugural Baseball Meisterschaft in which they predicted the Schönheit Anglers will win the inaugural season, but it is much to tough to call it this early. Led by 38-year old Edward Barth on the mound, the Anglers are probably the most complete team up and down the line-up with LF Sepi Schwartz expected to contribute offensively with his strong discipline at the plate and excellent base running skills.

- The Shoof Pirates have a strong chance at the pennant too, with the strong contact hitters of 1B Waggoner Wagner and CF Dirk Breslau a nightmare for opposing pitchers. The Druten Stadt Centurions can't be ignored either. Luther Frank in CF will hit lead-off ahead of the contact hitting Severin Mayer and strong swing of RF Theodor Horn. Odell Meyers has a wicked Changeup on the mound and will be crucial to their success.

- The Ahnüü Otters are the opposite to Shoof and Druten Stadt by lacking in bats but having a decent rotation. Rocky Kohler and his understudy Barney Yacklel are the best strikeout pitchers in Günsovölk and will need to be at their best for the Otters to challenge for the pennant.

- Jueman has arguably the best hurler in the country in Stephen Schult. The 37-year old won't have the opportunity for a long career in the Meisterschaft, but his excellent pitch control will put Jueman in the box seat to challenge the top teams along with Hüll who could prove tricky to beat when Ernest Arnold is on the mound. Unlike the Windmills however, the Clippers have power hitting Marquet Shafer and Shortstop Alphonse Mengele to provide run support.

- Ledigstadt Mustangs are expected to struggle this season with poor run support, no speed and only one decent pitcher in 25-year old Rutger Klah. Second Baseman Mehmet Dorn will be relied on heavily on offense thanks to his excellent contact hitting and reading the strike-zone.


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Old 04-02-2020, 12:16 PM   #13
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Let's go Schoof! Love their logo, so menacing looking. Definitely see them being a power hitting team.
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Old 04-04-2020, 02:15 AM   #14
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Lost due to my incompetence.

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Old 04-04-2020, 01:06 PM   #15
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Old 04-05-2020, 04:57 AM   #16
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Well, bugger. I just saved over my current save, so I'm having to roll back all the way to January 1st of last season, meaning the last season was all for nothing. I'll see what I can salvage, but boy I'm frustrated I didn't make a more recent backup.
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Old 04-06-2020, 12:23 AM   #17
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We're back! Please check the Pre-season post for this year, as I've updated it. I've also merged the two divisions in GBM into one, I was a bit hasty to have two sub-leagues I think. Enjoy!

VII. 1898 REGULAR SEASON


SUPER LIGAN

The 1898 Super Ligan season was the fourth season of professional baseball within the Koana Islands. It began on 28th of March 1898 and concluded on the 19th September the same year. It was the first season of the Uckford Ducks who had relocated from Viksida during the off-season. The schedule was unchanged from the previous year, with teams playing 154 games; 14 games each (7 at home and 7 away) against all other teams within the league.

After a slow start to the season, the Blidområde Wild secured their third consecutive Super Ligan title, finishing three games clear of Vizhune, with a record of 110-44. The Wild broke the record for most wins in a season, eclipsing the previous record of 105 they set last year, whilst Vizhune also broke the record in a frustrating season for the pre-season favourites.



Blidområde had a dominant season from their Starter Leo Angstrom (24-3, 1.21 ERA, 208.0 IP, 0.75 WHIP, 11.0 K/9, 8.6 WAR) who collected the Pitcher of the Year award at seasons end with 9 first place votes, beating out André Westermark who led the league in innings pitched (228.1), strikeouts (331), WHIP (0.70), BB/9 (0.7) and WAR (11.2). It was Angstrom’s recording setting wins in a season (24) and earned run average (1.212) over the course of the year that gave him the honour.

Halvar Nilsson was narrowly voted as Most Valuable Player for 1898, with the 30-year-old Blidområde 3B scorching the opposition with a .362 average, picking up 225 hits, 45 doubles, no triples, 38 home runs and 124 RBIs, while scoring 111 runs. He finished the season with the most doubles (45) and highest batting average (.362), but only just out-scored Humoor’s CF Carl Ahlquist (.359/.422/.601) who finished with a league-leading 15 triples.


Vizhune, runners-up for only the first time in their history, have some positives in a disappointing season. Rookie defensive stud CF Ricard Almström played 84 games for a decent slashline of .254/.299/.356 whilst fellow rookie Dennis Pollak (, a switch hitting 3B hit for the cycle on the 14th of May. It was also another productive year for 1B Mats Hultman, who finished runner-up in Home Runs with 49 whilst leading the league in On-Base Percentage (for the second straight year) and Slugging, to finish the year .342/.443/.678. Although not everything is positive, with Lage Gulliksson (22-5, 2.12 ERA, 220.2 IP, 0.85 WHIP, 12.4 K/9, 8.9 WAR) entering free agency at the end of the year.

Jonestan had a slight improvement over the previous year, but their lack of quality at the plate continues to hold them back. Veteran Petter Solheim (11-6, 2.58 ERA, 164.0 IP, 0.90 WHIP, 13.9 K/9, 5.9 WAR) was a rock as always, but rookie Ove Almkuist’s breakout year was the reason he won Rookie of the Year in a unanimous decision. The 22-year-old starter registered a 17-7 record this season in 32 starts. Over 207 innings he gave up 147 hits, struck out 221 and issued 47 walks as he held the opposition to a .199 batting average and fashioned a 2.65 ERA.

Elsewhere, Sandford Stad finished third with CF Simon Falk (.326/.367/.428) leading the league in ABs with 669. The 27-year old leads the league in career At-bats (2592), Hits (877), Singles (643) and Triples (69) but Simon Moen (.258/.348/.539) was also productive, leading the team in Homers and RBIs with 38 and 108 respectively. Unfortunately, it’s a tough off-season approaching for Doggies fans, as RF Torkel Koch (.316/.377/.530) is looking increasingly likely to test Free Agency again.


Omfattandestad’s slow building process continued unabated, although they will go down in history for two things this season. On the 16th of April, Alf Bergsson pitched the Super Ligans first ever perfect game when they defeated the Vizhune Vipers, 4-0. The 30-year old struck out 4 in 9 innings and is a free agent at the end of the season. The Titans also became the first team to complete a trade with a team from the Günsovölk Baseball Meisterschaft when they sent Catcher Olof Bbjornstrand to the Otters for Reliever Hastings Meyerbeer. In a cruel twist of fate, Meyebeer’s season came to an end 10 days and 3 appearances later when he ruptured a tendon in his finger.


The Ducks first season in Uckford was a frustrating endeavour as they equalled their worst ever finish with a 9th place. July saw a whole host of trades as they looked to rebuild with youth for the future, which included offloading star 2B Otto Alenius to Vizhune. However, some reasons for optimism include #3 ranked prospect Alfie Breinholst and power-hitting youngster Alastair Ewart who should both make their debuts next year.

Conneaut had a season to forget with star LF Alfons Boden spending much of the year on the sidelines through injury. The 29-year old made just 65 starts for the Centurions, but rookie 1B Bengt Ericksson (.227/.258/.404) shows good promise for the future and Liam Maloney (.211/.268/.282) from Ianoia smashed the record for stolen bases in a season with 47; 7 more than the record that was set by Lage Jensen in 1895.




BASEBALL MEISTERSCHAFT

The 1898 Baseball Meisterschaft season was the first season of professional baseball in Günsovölk. It began on the 18th of April 1898 and concluded on the 17th September the same year. The Shoof Pirates won the offense-heavy season, finishing 18 games clear of the Schönheit Anglers.

Shoof went into the inaugural season as potential favourites but didn’t pull clear until mid-June when they went on an 8-game winning streak to hover around 6 games clear of the Jueman Windmills whose 14-game losing streak at the end of August saw them eventually slip down to 4th in the Standings at the end of the season. The lone highlight of Jueman’s season was Oskar Mann (.340/.394/.489) becoming the first player to hit for the cycle in the Baseball Meisterschaft on the 23rd of April against the Küstestadt Boxers.



So dominant was Shoof’s season, they wrapped up the Pitcher of the Year through Pankratz Pohl (14-4, 3.09 ERA, 192.1 IP, 1.25 WHIP, 8.8 K/9, 5.0 WAR) whilst Waggoner Barth claimed Rookie of the Year and MVP compiling a .326 batting average to go with a .415 on-base percentage. The native of Apeldoorn, Günsovölk also added 48 doubles, 5 triples, 41 home runs, 146 RBIs and 137 runs scored. Barth only just won the MVP title ahead of Hüll Clippers 1B Marc Wanneck who finished with a slashline of .341/.465/.721.


The Clippers had a great run at the end of August (the polar opposite to Jueman), winning 13-straight games to patch over what was a mildly-disappointing season where they languished in the bottom half of the table for much of the year. The season also saw a horrific injury to LF Marquart Shafer who broke a bone in his elbow on the 9th of August. The 35-year old becomes a free agent at the end of the season.

Unsurprisingly, Ahnüü Otters starting pitcher Rocky Kohler led the league in innings pitched (201.1) strikeouts (210), WHIP (1.11), K/9 (9.4) and WAR (6.2), but their offense was poor, ranking 7th in most categories, with 2B Ruben Schaefer (.286/.351/.484) leading the team in HRs (18), RBIs (75) and WAR which was an iffy 1.9. Catcher Olof Bbjornstrand – the first player traded from the Super Ligan – found the adjustment to life in the new league difficult, batting just .203/.321/.232 for the Otters, down from his .325/.413/.479 line at Omfattandestad.

Mehmet Dorn’s (.330/.396/.520) league-leading 56 Doubles made little difference to Ledigstadt who collapsed to a 12-43 record through the months of July and August to become the first team to finish last in the league. A lack of base-runners became more and more evident as the season progressed, with the Mustangs stealing just 9 bases all year, 12 less than the next lowest (Hüll) whilst also hitting the least amount of Home Runs, Triples and Runs.



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Old 04-06-2020, 02:03 AM   #18
Sizeman21
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Excellent season for both Vizhune and Shoof. Vizhune were so close to first on several occasions in the season but couldn't capitalize. Missed opportunities.

Shoof on the other hand! Pop the champagne! Whooooo!!!
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Old 04-06-2020, 01:23 PM   #19
andyhdz
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Hi. I play a pro/rel league based off the USBL pro/rel quick start and am in year 73. I can tell you Ive never had the issues you mentioned with teams destroying their financials like you mentioned or having only 5 players on the roster or me having to bail out teams. I do monitor league level finances at each level after each season and adjust as necessary to make sure they have appropriate revenue coming in so they are all spaced apart with the top league earnig MLB level revenue. I do also adjust market sizes every once in a while so it makes some sense as well.

Its tough for teams to move up and be successful as it should be and I definitely do have teams that climb to tier 1 and then go one and done and fall a level down after year one. Sometimes teams go into free fall when they relegate and players opt out and that does frustrate me especially when they are a large city. However after 73 seasons Ive had 72
out of 100 reams make it to tier 1 with 3 teams in tier 1 never having been relegated. I like those numbers. I do agree that I wish I could see more of the panic set it maybe with story lines on how a team is trying to climb up or is in fear of relegating. The owner does mention it but no news stories and I don't know how much the AI is doing about it in its game management like they said they improved with pro/rel. Overall I'm very happy with my save but of course I wish they would fix the manual promotion/relegation financial bug.
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Old 04-08-2020, 02:42 AM   #20
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VIII. 1899 SEASON (PRE-SEASON)


SUPER LIGAN

Following the start of the Baseball Meisterschaft in Günsovölk, Thomas Petersson called an emergency meeting of Super Ligan team owners to discuss how the two leagues would (or wouldn’t) co-operate. The discussions were generally positive towards working with the GBM in allowing trades between the two competitions. This was done formally in the backroom of a pub in Shoof, where Thomas Petersson met with Leon Schreiber and Marcel Fuhrmann and signed the Southern Union Baseball Agreement, in which teams were allowed to freely trade players between competitions but with one major stipulation which prohibited teams from trading newly signed rookie players for 365 days. The “SUBA” was not an association, and merely allowed the trading of players to maintain their service time to professional baseball.

Not everyone was happy with the agreement. Max Lunde, the owner of the Conneaut Centurions was incensed when he learned of Druten Stadt adopting the same nickname as the owner Sixt Petersen was a keen Centurions fan. Despite threatening legal action, Lunde eventually dropped the plan and instead pushed for a draft during the following off-season at the annual Owner Meetings. Last discussed in 1896 by Warlocks owner Vilgot Forsberg, the plan of securing the best Koanian talent at a young age gained immediate support by Blidområde, Sandford Stad and Vizhune, who all feared the GBMs founding could unsettle players and see them move to the Baseball Meisterschaft for better wages and conditions.

The growth of the sport within the Koana Islands was continuing to such a degree, that Super Ligan owners feared another competition within the Koana Islands might even threaten the monopoly the Super Ligan has on young players. A Junior Draft as it was proposed, would ensure that the best young prospects out of school and colleges (which were fast forming leagues of their own) were tied down to Super Ligan teams for at least 4 years. The original proposal was for 5 rounds, but after strong opposition from Titans owner Kalle Thunberg gained support, this was eventually reduced to 1 round, allowing each of the Super Ligan teams a guarantee to one amateur player on base wage. Following the Amateur Draft as it was eventually called, all amateur players could enter free agency if they chose and could be signed by any team, either locally or abroad.

This proposal was voted through narrowly 7-6, with Thomas Petersson getting the deciding vote. Grenada Kings owner Matthias Svan believed this proposal did nothing more than keep the status quo, quoted as telling newspaper journalists outside his office: “What is the point of having a draft when we still need to negotiate with the players, and we still need to battle with teams with deeper pockets than mine?”.

Unfortunately, his outburst to the media did little to change the opinions of his fellow team owners. They all rejected his brothers team based in Safir Kust to become one of two new teams to join the Super Ligan next year, and also put plans into action to potentially change the way clubs stayed in the league. Uckford Ducks owner Alexander Mednick explained to the Koanian Dagbladet: “Having a closed league ensures teams like Grenada can do the bare minimum to put a product on the field, like their dismal record last season suggests.

“We are considering a couple of options for this league. Firstly, teams who finish will need to be re-elected to stay in the competition, such an idea is already in use in English Football. The second is to form a second tier, or division, in a process where teams are transferred between tiers based on their performance for the completed season.”

Despite the support from dozens of clubs around the country to join a second division, promotion and relegation was put on hold for the foreseeable future, with Commissioner Thomas Petersson suggesting the league needed to work closely with other competitions such as the largest amateur league: The Koanian Baseboll Förbund.

At the completion of the Owner Meetings, two new teams were officially elected into the Super Ligan. The first team was the Körsbärstad Devils who had seen baseball grow exponentially over the years with Humoor, Ny Aucklanda and previously Viksida all using the city as a rest stop between series. The second team to be announced was the Thomassmåstad Eagles, owned by an eccentric American businessman who previously lived and worked out of Conneaut and became disillusioned with baseball within the city following the introduction of the Centurions. He bought Thomassmåstad Baseboll from a retired butcher and rebranded them for a possible entry into the Super Ligan several years ago, playing in the local Bergen Ligan.

1899 Season Preview
The Grenada Kings either listened to their rivals over the off-season, or had a solid plan all along following their dismal season in which they seemed to go backwards. They stumped up the cash and locked down former-Vipers pitcher and 1897 winner of the Pitcher of the Year award Lage Gulliksson to a 6-year deal. The good news kept coming for the Kings, who also strengthened both the infield and outfield by capturing 2B Otto Alenius and then signed RF Torkel Koch just before the first ever Amateur Draft in which they selected youngster SP Knud Christensson who deferred to College. Despite these big movers joining the Kings, they are still expected to struggle with another 12th place finish on the cards.

It was also a great off-season for Jonestan who nabbed CF Carl Ahlquist to a three-year deal, with a possibility of extending that until the end of 1903 with a player opt-out clause in place. They also saw marginal improvements throughout the line-up with Kim Moe returning at 1B, whilst former-Vipers Shortstop Nicklas Falkberg was joined by his old team-mate Jonam Nordlund in RF. The Broncos though are still expecting a lower-half of the table finish, losing some key players such as Catcher Aron Blomqvist to their cross-town rivals, Omfattandestad. Speaking of the Titans, they had a very quiet off-season by their standards, with RF Berg Amdahl the only other main acquisition. The lack of improvement in the line-up will prevent Omfat from cracking the top four, although their draft signing of SP Lars-Bjorn Thern could prove to be a solid signing, with the 20-year old expected to ply his trade in the bullpen this season.


Despite the loss of Gullicksson amongst others, Vizhune are still going into the season as favourites, off the back of CF David Olsen and 1B Mats Hultman continued offensive productivity. Vizhune did nab Lienhard Mast in the draft who might see some game-time following a strong pre-season training where he batted .340/.421/.480.

Blidområde lost their veteran 1B Ivan Kristiansen who signed with Humoor during the off-season, but replacement Marten Osterqvist comes over from the Titans with his power-hitting prowess, although Kristiansen’s batting average is vastly superior and will be sorely missed. Another player that the Wild might regret losing is Starting Pitcher Humfrid Sunberg who joined newcomers Körsbärstad in a 1-year deal. An extreme groundball pitcher, the 30-year old led the league last year in HR/9 with just 0.4, but the rotation of Neo Olsen, Leo Angstrom and Gunner Fredriksen is still potent enough to cause teams trouble, but winning the league could prove difficult this year.

Losing Torkel Koch could hurt Sandford Stad this season, but their contact-focussed hitting will still put them as one of the favourites this season. Simon Falk hasn’t hit a homerun since 1896, but that won’t matter to the Doggies faithful who have a stacked batting line-up including the speedy sophomore LF Dennis Szalkai and the slugging 1B Elias Forsbrand.


Conneaut and Embleton continue to be in limbo, with the former shipping Anton Strand from their bullpen for a 22-year old scrub (at least in the minds of Centurion fans) but Ivan Ackerstrom is likely to make his full debut in the rotation this year after posting solid numbers last year in relief. 3B Lorens Dalhquist (ironically coming from a trade with the Warlocks) continues his upward trajectory and should help Conneaut seek a mid-table finish. For the Gunners however, things are bit less optimistic. RF Lage Jensen still has another 6 years running on his contract with Embleton and remains the standout in the team. Expect him to lead the league in steals if he stays healthy. There is some interest in Centre Field this year though. Held by Matteus Tanner last year (who joined the Devils for this year), the spot seemed to be 21-year old Le Groutian Joffrey Delmas’s to lose, but the Gunners snapped up Ianoian slugger Stephen Paul in the draft who seems to be the better hitter, but a weaker fielder.


The two newcomers are expected to have a difficult life adjusting to the professional world of the Super Ligan, but Thomassmåstad did capture LF Ricard Almström and C Adrian Lillkvist to help the youngsters adapt, which includes the first overall pick of the draft, SS Leo Speltke.

For the Devils, they easily have the worst hitting in the league, emphasised by the four-hole going to 1B Jönn Stedholm. The 32-year old has sat on the reserves of Ny Aucklanda since 1896, having made just 65 plate appearances for Omfattandestad in the inaugural season. Don’t be surprised if you see SS Torbjorn Isaksson – selected second overall in the draft - make his debut for Körsbärstad before the season is through.






BASEBALL MEISTERSCHAFT

Following the historic meeting and signing of the of the SUBA, the Baseball Meisterschaft considered the first season a huge success despite the runaway Championship for Shoof and the high-scoring. Leon Schreiber and Marcel Fuhrmann laid out plans to stabilise the future of the competition, including no expansion for several years, whilst also ensuring finances were kept under control even if the Super Ligan could offer better wages to players.

Leon Schreiber formally stepped aside to give full control and Presidency to Marcel Fuhrmann following the season, whilst Schrieber announced that he would carry on as vice-President of operations behind the scenes. The first order of business by Fuhrmann was the introduction of an Amateur Draft, which he announced just weeks after the Super Ligan. Following the announcement, both leagues got in touch via telegram and agreed to run their draft on the same day; the 10th of December. However, both leagues couldn’t agree to a shared draft pool and instead insisted on being only able to draft players from within their own countries school system. Another key difference was Günsovölk’s system did not contain negotiations, and the teams owned the players drafted for four years.

Terrence Weller, the owner of the Ahnüü Otters sold the team to friend and Ahnüü local Vinzenz Roth following a tough season on the field where they finished with a 61-79 record. Weller cited the financial pressure as one of the biggest reasons he decided to pull out of team ownership.

1899 Season Preview
After the dominance of Shoof last season, free agency seems to have closed the gap, but also rocketed Ledigstadt to joint favourites with the Pirates having finished last in 1898.

The reigning Champions lost some solid starters to free agency including CF Dirk Breslau who moved to the Mustangs in a whopping 8-year deal whilst 2B Lazarus Lauffer will join his former team-mate at Ledigstadt in a two-year deal. The Pirates also saw last seasons walks-leader 3B Ricardo Brown leave for free agency before eventually signing with the Anglers but did pick-up former Boxers pitcher Barney Rose and plugged the hole in Centerfield with Theodor Horn (.303/.402/.595) who plied his trade in Druten Stadt last season.


Ledigstadt was easily the busiest team in free agency, also grabbing the services of strikeout-king Rocky Kohler. The 40-year old signed a one-year deal in an attempt to win the Championshop before retirement, being joined by fellow veteran Stephan Schult in the rotation from Jueman.

The Hüll Clippers lost their slugging 1B Marc Wanneck to the Otters but did snap up Druten Stadt’s star pitcher Odell Myers to a 6-year deal that turns the Clippers into a very potent pitching unit along with Ernest Arnold. The same cannot be said of the Centurions who now have arguably the worst pitching corps in the Southern Union. Rutger Klah plugs a major whole in the rotation after signing from the Mustangs but outside of SS Lazarus Knapp, Druten Stadt have a very long season ahead of them.


Küstestadt Boxers managed to strengthen their lineup during the off-season, with the acquiring of contact-hitting RF Arnim Martin and veteran 3B James Pfrommer from Jueman and Druten Stadt respectively. Keep an eye out for Kellan Grant, whom the Boxers signed in the inaugural Amateur Draft, the 22-year old speedster has real batting assets and can play across the whole outfield, which should see him given plenty of action filling in for injuries.



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