NationStates Jolt Archive

The LAZY baseball league, comprised of teams from Liventia, Ad'ihan, Zwangzug, and Yafor 2, has announced its formation.

There will be three leagues, with the two Ad'ihani teams playing in the Liventian league, each organized into four divisions of four. Each team will play twelve games against each other team in its division, six against each other team in its league, and two against each other team (interleague games). The division winners will play series of games to determine league champions. The top three teams from each league (there will be third-place games/series, and one league will send two) will play an eight-team tournament to decide the overall winner. At least one game of the final series will be held in Rennidan.

The teams are:

Liventia
East Division A: Folenisa, Talbott, Neverend, Bede
East Division B: Orean Shockers, Lox Land Island, Gulp Mountain, Grand Island*
West Division A: Desert Rock Cats, Cyclonesville, Pardbo, Dover
West Division B: Jesner, Capital, Orean Titans, Barrier Island*

*-Ad'ihani

Zwangzug:
Northeast Division: Arlington Aurora, Zwischen Bears, Noh Weir Red-Tails, Weegham Rainmakers
Southeast Division: Bassabook Grey Socks, Nuel Panthers, Logrove Dolphins, Kerlagrad Dragons
Central Division: 102d Gray Sox, FTC Mustangs, FTC Crabs, Frischberg Flash
West Division: Spenson Worms, Belpub Wildcats, Inver Millers, Hadiln Tigers

Yafor 2:
Ajer Division: West Ajer Panthers, North Ajer Blizzard, Southeast Ajer Whirlwind, South Ajer Titans
Northern Division: Chelmar Flame, Satiran Boars, J'kar Ice, N'samri Heights Fire
Eastern Division: Uharan Otters, Keira Breeze, Uhari Cutters, Pylos Winter
Western Division: Cardarel Gazelles, Darigeris Wildfire, Indigar Horsemen, Cirad Blaze

Liventian National Baseball Championship resumes

The Liventian National Baseball Championship (NLBC) is set to resume later this month, marking the end of over twenty years of lack of professional baseball in the country.

The old system, which contained 14 teams, has undergone a major restructuring, with the inclusion of two Ad'ihani team, Grand Island and Barrier Island. As the National Baseball Championship is now a league in itself as part of the LAZY Baseball League, the two leagues of seven teams have now been rearranged into four divisions of four teams.

The old format of having a pitcher bat in League B has now been scrapped for the uniform application of the designated hitter, although no DH is used in the interleague games away in Zwangzug and Yafor 2.

However, concerns over the participation of the two Ad'ihani teams have been raised following the Liventian government's decision to suspend diplomatic ties with Ad'ihan. National Baseball Championship commissioner Alfred Graham has acknowledged the political developments, calling them "unfortunate" but stressing he would find a way to work around it.

According to Graham, "in the worst-case scenario we would have matches between the Ad'ihani teams and Liventian teams played in a third country, although this is the last resort." He also strenuously denied claims that the NLBC would kick the two Ad'ihani teams out, saying it would "compromise the NLBC's position" within LAZY.

It is expected that while the Zwangzug and Yafor 2 divisional winners will meet in a series of playoffs to decide those two leagues' three finalists, the Liventian league, with only two finalists, will have the four divisional winners play another set of round-robin games to determine its two representatives to the final tournament.

Graham refused to respond to this speculation, saying that nothing had been confirmed yet, but added that "we would likely find a format that allows us to crown a champion in a series and not a league."

It's a beautiful <time unit> for baseball. Let's play n!

Arbitrary, subjective, and random? That's right: scouting reports on Zwangzug teams to watch in the coming season.

Weegham Rainmakers-Weegham? Still around? The home city of the onetime Zephyrs dynasty has been overshadowed recently by the emergence of the city of Arlington nearby. With the Aurora already an established team, these old-style upstarts (?) have a lot to prove. If the weather holds.
Bassabook Grey Socks and 102d Gray Sox-a natural rivalry lives on, albeit across the new divisional boundaries. The West is fairly easy to identify, what with a mountain range to nicely separate it from the rest of the country. The Northeast, however, is defined less geographically and more socially or historically, and the other divisions just sort of fall into place.
Nuel Panthers-no relation to those of West Ajer.
FTC Mustangs and Crabs-Who knows? The Mustangs were dominant in the early BUBL days, but have, erm, rather fallen off their high horses recently. As for the Crabs, their name is rumored to be a profoundly esoteric tribute to Rennidan, a nation which encouraged development of the LAZY. Short of that, no idea.
Hadiln Tigers-Yawn, another rivalry, sort of like Aurora versus Rainmakers but not really. In contrast to Zwangzug's traditional style of extreme patience at the plate, this team is free-swinging. Mostly young and homegrown-take that, Worms-the Tigers are led by ace fireballer Brianna Schneider.

At long last, where by "long" is meant "really, really long"...the LAZY has awoken, rubbed its eyes, gone back to bed and dreamt of having the formulas that only worked for interleague play work in general, gotten up, and done it.

Northeast Division W L Inter Pct. GB
Zwischen Bears 93 79 36-28 .541 --
Noh Weir Red-Tails 93 79 33-31 .541 --
Arlington Aurora 90 82 37-27 .523 3
Weegham Rainmakers 88 84 43-21 .512 5

Southeast Division W L Inter Pct. GB
Bassabook Grey Socks 89 83 29-35 .517 --
Nuel Panthers 87 85 29-35 .506 2
Kerlagrad Dragons 85 87 37-27 .494 4
Logrove Dolphins 79 93 33-31 .459 10

Central Division W L Inter Pct. GB
102d Gray Sox 94 78 32-32 .547 --
FTC Crabs 89 83 30-34 .517 5
FTC Mustangs 86 86 36-28 .500 8
Frischberg Flash 85 87 31-33 .494 9

West Division W L Inter Pct. GB
Belpub Wildcats 92 80 32-32 .535 --
Hadiln Tigers 89 83 35-29 .517 3
Spenson Worms 79 93 25-39 .459 13
Inver Millers 78 94 25-39 .453 14

While the races were as tight as you'd hope for teams of presumably equal quality, most of the fun was to be had in the good old northeast. Not only did the Bears and Red-Tails go down to game 173, but the Rainmakers were only as close as they were by their amazing interleague form. 19-13 against Liventian and Ad'ihani opposition, and 24-8 against Yafor 2, Weegham only won two fewer games of their 64 foreign affairs than they did in their 108 domestic ones!

Noh Weir was 7-5 against Zwischen, and won the coin toss for homefield advantage (it was tails), but it was the Bears that triumphed to face the Wildcats in the division series. Meanwhile, Grey Socks versus Gray Sox! Bassabook only won one of their six regular-season encounters; you can bet they'll be out for revenge.

Actually, you probably can't. Stupid country banning everything. They even turned down the recent proposal to start the BU!BL up again.

But who cares? We're the LAZY.

And we're awake.

W(Y) refers to wins against Yaforite teams. L(Y) refers to losses against Yaforite teams. W(L) refers to wins against Liventian/Ad'ihani teams. L(L) refers to losses against those teams. W(Z) refers to wins against Zwangzug teams. L(Z) refers to losses against those teams. Win% is win percentage (number won over total number of games). GB is games back.

Ajer Division:
Team Win Loss W(Y) L(Y) W(L) L(L) W(Z) L(Z) Win% GB
South Ajer Titans 89 83 53 55 21 11 15 17 .517 -
North Ajer Blizzard 88 84 52 56 14 18 22 10 .511 1
West Ajer Panthers 84 88 57 51 14 18 13 19 .488 5
Southeast Ajer Whirlwind 83 89 52 56 15 17 16 16 .423 6

Welcome, mediocrity. The Ajer Division is thy name. Anyway, only two teams even close to above .500 and no team with ninety wins, but the South Ajer Titans somehow manage to advance to the next stage, helped out by some good interleague play. They didn't look at all good, despite putting out a blockbuster deadline move to get some more pitching. Some state that, with their talent, they might just survive until a little further in the competition, but, honestly, it's doubtful.

Northern Division:
Team Win Loss W(Y) L(Y) W(L) L(L) W(Z) L(Z) Win% GB
N'samri Heights Fire 98 74 59 49 17 15 22 10 .570 -
Chelmar Flame 87 85 55 53 18 14 14 18 .506 11
Satiran Boars 85 87 54 54 17 15 14 18 .494 13
J'kar Ice 82 90 47 61 19 13 16 16 .477 16

Utter N'samri domination. They came close to 100 wins, but for N'samri, they weren't interested in dynamic numbers as much as they were interested in winning the division. Chelmar could have easily challenged had they been in Ajer, but with the high-powered offense of N'samri leading the charge, it was unlikely they'd get anywhere. Otherwise, the North was decided quite before the end of the season - in fact, a lot close to the middle. That's what all the teams being over ten games back means.

Eastern Division:
Team Win Loss W(Y) L(Y) W(L) L(L) W(Z) L(Z) Win% GB
Uharan Otters 102 70 69 39 17 15 16 16 .593 -
Kiera Breeze 85 87 49 59 19 13 17 15 .494 17
Uhari Cutters 81 91 53 55 16 16 12 20 .471 21
Pylos Winter 77 95 50 58 14 18 13 19 .448 25

Oh, while we're on the topic of "domination", let's dial up the east. And take a look at the best side on the Yaforite side of the draw. That's the Uharan Otters, for those who didn't catch it. Best pitching. Best hitting. Watch them lose in the first round. But, anyway, they won 102 games, conceded fewer runs than any other team, scored more runs than any other team, and were a ridiculous 30 games over .500 against Yaforite sides. Which doesn't bode well for their chances overall, really. After all, the teams that do well do well in interleague...right?

Western Division:
Team Win Loss W(Y) L(Y) W(L) L(L) W(Z) L(Z) Win% GB
Cirad Blaze 96 76 60 48 16 16 20 12 .558 -
Cardarel Gazelles 94 78 54 54 23 9 17 15 .546 2
Indigar Horsemen 93 77 60 48 19 13 14 16 .541 3
Darigeris Wildfire 64 108 40 68 13 19 11 21 .372 32

Ajer Division, the Western Division called, and they want their playoff spot back! Yeah, the Western Division was quite the race to watch. Cirad and Indigar played it very much the same way, with depth in their rotations and tons of pop in the bats. Cardarel took a .500 Yafor 2 record and then decided to be insane and destroy opposition teams. I mean, really. 23-9 against Liventian/Ad'ihani sides! That's quite, well, amazing. In all honesty, they deserve a playoff spot. The ones who don't, though, are Darigeris, who really should consider a change of sport.

Playoffs:
Uharan Otters (102-70) vs. South Ajer Titans (89-83).
N'samri Heights Fire (98-74) vs. Cirad Blaze (96-76).

(OOC: Just tables for now. Description later.)

Division A
Team W L PCT GB
Talbott 94 78 .547 -
Neverend 90 82 .523 4.0
Folenisa 80 92 .465 14.0
Bede 62 110 .360 32.0

Division B
Team W L PCT GB
Lox Land Island 100 72 .581 -
Orean Shockers 91 81 .529 9.0
Gulp Mountain 87 85 .506 13.0
Grand Island 71 91 .413 29.0

Division C
Team W L PCT GB
Desert Rock Cats 99 73 .576 -
Pardbo 88 84 .521 11.0
Dover 78 94 .453 21.0
Cyclonesville 68 104 .395 31.0

Division D
Team W L PCT GB
Orean Titans 94 78 .547 -
Jesner 89 83 .517 5.0
Capital 84 88 .488 10.0
Barrier Island 60 112 .349 34.0

The four division winners will play each other in a four-team single round-robin to determine the two finalists. Separately, the four domestic division winners (before interleague with Zwangzug and Yafor 2 is factored in) — Talbott, Lox Land Island, the Desert Rock Cats and Jesner — will play in a regular playoff format to determine the Liventian champions for the year.

Both division series in Zwangzug (2-2-1) went the distance, with the Gray Sox taking Game 5 in Bassabook. Despite falling into the deepest possible hole (two games to none), the Wildcats clawed their way back, outslugging the Bears in a high-scoring series.

In the World Qualification Series (2-3-2) to determine third place, the Bears endured a game-one marathon before winning their second game. The Grey Socks rallied at home, taking the next two games, but the Bears sent the series back to Zwischen with a win, and won the lengthy game six.

The Wildcats won the longest games (two and five) of the national championship, but the Gray Sox got the job done more quickly, taking the other four games and winning the championship.