OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post - North American Baseball (NABA)

PocketsAintFull · 03-15-2020, 12:41 PM

16:35, Calgary, 1st June 2020

Time flies when you're having fun, and baseball is no different. When the North American Baseball Association (NABA) announced that regular seasons would consist of 120 games, few of us realised how quickly the season would come at us - the month of May has seen the league approach the halfway mark of proceedings, and given us the first ever NABA All-Star lineups, full of the new star names that have made an immediate impact on fans with their bat, ball, or personalities.

Later on we'll take a look at the leading names in every position from each conference, and look at the NABA's full standings and stat leaders; but first, let's review what happened in the days of May!

May-be This League Was a Great Idea After All

The month began with the opening of All-Star ballots, which surely confused fans a tad more than normal to fill out - "what's the name of that guy who did that thing last week?". Nelson Sanchez, right-fielder for New Orleans, certainly put himself front and centre on May 2nd with a monster game at home to Calgary; his 3-for-3 game with 2 HR, 6 RBI and 2 BB will be hard to beat for performance of season come awards time. Not to be outdone on the same day, the Juarez Whitecaps put in the greatest comeback to happen so far in NABA, dropping a 6-run bottom of the 9th inning to walk-off 7-4 at home to San Jose - second-baseman Jason Foster sent the final 3 runs flying over the fence into a raucous capacity crowd of 52,812.

Streaks & records were a theme of May; they always are in baseball, of course, but a new young league finds them all the more fascinating, and on occasion, strange. By the 5th of the month, Monterrey's shortstop Jason Jordan had reached NABA's first 20 game hit streak, which would extend to 26 by the time it ended on the 13th. Leon Mountaineers did their best impression of last month's Vancouver Seadogs, finding themselves on a 10 game loser through the 14th; fortunately for them, it would end the next day. The 'strange' achievements that kept coming up this month were combined shutouts; Tijuana did it with 4 pitchers, Omaha managed with 5, and then Buffalo & San Jose came along with 6-pitcher shutouts in the final week of the month.

Mario Morin (LF, San Antonio) is a name that is already synonymous with the league, after his Player of the Month award for April. Early All-Star voting cemented him as the most popular player in the Pacific Conference, and his 3-for-4, 3 HR, 6 RBI performance midway through the month did no harm to his voting tallies. Puebla's right-fielder Kyle Ford became the first player in NABA to hit 7 RBIs in a game, away to Portland on the 16th of May, and indeed that day in particular had put 'something in the water' all around the league; five teams managed double-digit scores that day, including a 19-15 final in the aforementioned Puebla @ Portland extravaganza, a 17-7 tilt between Juarez and Las Vegas, and a 14-1 home embarrassment for Vancouver against Calgary. As we approached the later part of the month, Nashville's shortstop Josh Nelson hit the first Major League cycle, delivering a dramatic triple in the 8th inning on the road in Charlotte, and Winnipeg found themselves storming to a surprise No.1 in the Power Rankings with a 7-for-7 week. They would go on a 14 game tear that would only be broken up by a double-header day against rivals Calgary on the 25th.

Frankly, too much happened this month for me to report at a sensible length, so here's an abbreviated list of the rest.... Ottawa won an extra-innings game in Buffalo with an 11 run explosion.... Portland's first-baseman Eric Anderson will miss 2 months with a fractured finger... he was batting .304 with 22 RBI.... Ricardo Vasquez, 2B for Las Vegas, hit for 22 games in a row, while Jeremy de Armas of Portland will go into June on a run of 26.... SP Blake Rice of Charlotte threw the best pitching appearance of the month, with 8IP, 2H, 5K...... Omaha's star pitcher Matthew Rutledge torn his shoulder, and will miss 10 months... The Pride will miss his 1.09 WHIP and 2.96 ERA over 11 GS.

Finally, Player of the Month goes to Ricardo Martinez of Leon, who hit a monster .306 AVG, 15 HR, and 30 RBI for the month. Yes. Just for May. An honourable mention that will bring sentiment to many a baseball fan - Jared Gatchell, a 36 year-old right-fielder, had been already been cut by two organisations this season, and bounced around the waivers system, spending time in the Minors in between. It's fair to say then, that his 5-for-5 star performance with 3 RBI for Portland on the 31st of May was quite an emotional moment for Jared and his family in the stands.

All-Star Rosters!

A list of the leading vote-getter by position from each conference...

Pacific Conference

C Jose Barron (Juarez Whitecaps)
1B Alberto Hernandez (Juarez Whitecaps)
2B Joe Leach (Monterrey Alligators)
3B Travis Mounce (Puebla Alleycats)
SS Justin Jordan (Puebla Alleycats)
LF Mario Morin* (San Antonio Sultans)
CF Rafael Garcia (San Antonio Sultans)
RF Mike Elliott (Monterrey Alligators)
SP Ryan Osche (Puebla Alleycats)
RP Nick Friedman (San Jose Gamecocks)

Atlantic Conference

C Paul Heaton (Charlotte Pilots)
1B Kyle Welch* (Winnipeg Unicorns)
2B Juan Martinez (Buffalo Vandals)
3B Josh Gibson (Nashville Jammers)
SS Josh Nelson (Nashville Jammers)
LF Carlos Brea (Jacksonville Blue Knights)
CF Steve Williams (Ottawa Whalers)
RF Nelson Sanchez (New Orleans Lakers)
SP Hector Centeno (Montreal Diamond Cats)
RP Paul Robey (Jacksonville Blue Knights)

*leading vote-getters

The All-Star game takes place on the 2nd of June!

Standings & Leaders

(PC) USA West Division

San Antonio Sultans 35-22
Cheyenne Mad Dogs 27-29 (7.5GB)
Las Vegas Rock Cats 26-31 (9GB)
San Jose Gamecocks 26-31 (9GB)
Portland Diplomats 21-36 (14GB)
Salt Lake City Surge 20-37 (15GB)

(PC) Mexican Division

Monterrey Alligators 37-20
Puebla Alleycats 32-25 (5GB)
Juarez Whitecaps 32-25 (5GB)
Mexico City Coyotes 31-26 (6GB)
Tijuana Phantoms 29-28 (8GB)
Leon Mountaineers 25-31 (11.5GB)

(AC) USA East Division
New Orleans Lakers 33-24
Omaha Pride 31-24 (1GB)
Charlotte Pilots 31-26 (2GB)
Jacksonville Blue Knights 30-27 (3GB)
Buffalo Vandals 28-27 (4GB)
Nashville Jammers 21-36 (12GB)

(AC) Canadian Division

Winnipeg Unicorns 36-20
Montreal Diamond Cats 31-26 (5.5GB)
Calgary Running Rebels 28-28 (8GB)
Ottawa Whalers 26-31 (10.5GB)
Edmonton Wolverines 26-31 (10.5GB)
Vancouver Seadogs 18-39 (18.5GB)

Bold denotes Playoff Position

Leading Players

AVG .383 - Jason Jordan (Monterrey)
OBP .476 - Ricardo Martinez (Leon)
HR 22 - Ricardo Martinez (Leon), Mario Morin (San Antonio)
RBI 58 - Mario Morin (San Antonio)
SB 38 - Alvin Rafferty (Cheyenne)
---
ERA 1.68 - Ryan Osche (Puebla)
SV 17 - Bobby Lease (Winnipeg)
SO 80 - Sidney Chaffee (Portland)
IP 76.1 - Justin Mills (Buffalo)

And that's our May round-up for NABA! Hope you enjoyed it, see you in June!

03-15-2020, 12:41 PM	#5
PocketsAintFull All Star Starter Join Date: Nov 2018 Location: Birmingham, UK Posts: 1,917	All-Stars Announced as NABA Approaches Halfway 16:35, Calgary, 1st June 2020 Time flies when you're having fun, and baseball is no different. When the North American Baseball Association (NABA) announced that regular seasons would consist of 120 games, few of us realised how quickly the season would come at us - the month of May has seen the league approach the halfway mark of proceedings, and given us the first ever NABA All-Star lineups, full of the new star names that have made an immediate impact on fans with their bat, ball, or personalities. Later on we'll take a look at the leading names in every position from each conference, and look at the NABA's full standings and stat leaders; but first, let's review what happened in the days of May! May-be This League Was a Great Idea After All The month began with the opening of All-Star ballots, which surely confused fans a tad more than normal to fill out - "what's the name of that guy who did that thing last week?". Nelson Sanchez, right-fielder for New Orleans, certainly put himself front and centre on May 2nd with a monster game at home to Calgary; his 3-for-3 game with 2 HR, 6 RBI and 2 BB will be hard to beat for performance of season come awards time. Not to be outdone on the same day, the Juarez Whitecaps put in the greatest comeback to happen so far in NABA, dropping a 6-run bottom of the 9th inning to walk-off 7-4 at home to San Jose - second-baseman Jason Foster sent the final 3 runs flying over the fence into a raucous capacity crowd of 52,812. Streaks & records were a theme of May; they always are in baseball, of course, but a new young league finds them all the more fascinating, and on occasion, strange. By the 5th of the month, Monterrey's shortstop Jason Jordan had reached NABA's first 20 game hit streak, which would extend to 26 by the time it ended on the 13th. Leon Mountaineers did their best impression of last month's Vancouver Seadogs, finding themselves on a 10 game loser through the 14th; fortunately for them, it would end the next day. The 'strange' achievements that kept coming up this month were combined shutouts; Tijuana did it with 4 pitchers, Omaha managed with 5, and then Buffalo & San Jose came along with 6-pitcher shutouts in the final week of the month. Mario Morin (LF, San Antonio) is a name that is already synonymous with the league, after his Player of the Month award for April. Early All-Star voting cemented him as the most popular player in the Pacific Conference, and his 3-for-4, 3 HR, 6 RBI performance midway through the month did no harm to his voting tallies. Puebla's right-fielder Kyle Ford became the first player in NABA to hit 7 RBIs in a game, away to Portland on the 16th of May, and indeed that day in particular had put 'something in the water' all around the league; five teams managed double-digit scores that day, including a 19-15 final in the aforementioned Puebla @ Portland extravaganza, a 17-7 tilt between Juarez and Las Vegas, and a 14-1 home embarrassment for Vancouver against Calgary. As we approached the later part of the month, Nashville's shortstop Josh Nelson hit the first Major League cycle, delivering a dramatic triple in the 8th inning on the road in Charlotte, and Winnipeg found themselves storming to a surprise No.1 in the Power Rankings with a 7-for-7 week. They would go on a 14 game tear that would only be broken up by a double-header day against rivals Calgary on the 25th. Frankly, too much happened this month for me to report at a sensible length, so here's an abbreviated list of the rest.... Ottawa won an extra-innings game in Buffalo with an 11 run explosion.... Portland's first-baseman Eric Anderson will miss 2 months with a fractured finger... he was batting .304 with 22 RBI.... Ricardo Vasquez, 2B for Las Vegas, hit for 22 games in a row, while Jeremy de Armas of Portland will go into June on a run of 26.... SP Blake Rice of Charlotte threw the best pitching appearance of the month, with 8IP, 2H, 5K...... Omaha's star pitcher Matthew Rutledge torn his shoulder, and will miss 10 months... The Pride will miss his 1.09 WHIP and 2.96 ERA over 11 GS. Finally, Player of the Month goes to Ricardo Martinez of Leon, who hit a monster .306 AVG, 15 HR, and 30 RBI for the month. Yes. Just for May. An honourable mention that will bring sentiment to many a baseball fan - Jared Gatchell, a 36 year-old right-fielder, had been already been cut by two organisations this season, and bounced around the waivers system, spending time in the Minors in between. It's fair to say then, that his 5-for-5 star performance with 3 RBI for Portland on the 31st of May was quite an emotional moment for Jared and his family in the stands. All-Star Rosters! A list of the leading vote-getter by position from each conference... Pacific Conference C Jose Barron (Juarez Whitecaps) 1B Alberto Hernandez (Juarez Whitecaps) 2B Joe Leach (Monterrey Alligators) 3B Travis Mounce (Puebla Alleycats) SS Justin Jordan (Puebla Alleycats) LF Mario Morin* (San Antonio Sultans) CF Rafael Garcia (San Antonio Sultans) RF Mike Elliott (Monterrey Alligators) SP Ryan Osche (Puebla Alleycats) RP Nick Friedman (San Jose Gamecocks) Atlantic Conference C Paul Heaton (Charlotte Pilots) 1B Kyle Welch* (Winnipeg Unicorns) 2B Juan Martinez (Buffalo Vandals) 3B Josh Gibson (Nashville Jammers) SS Josh Nelson (Nashville Jammers) LF Carlos Brea (Jacksonville Blue Knights) CF Steve Williams (Ottawa Whalers) RF Nelson Sanchez (New Orleans Lakers) SP Hector Centeno (Montreal Diamond Cats) RP Paul Robey (Jacksonville Blue Knights) leading vote-getters The All-Star game takes place on the 2nd of June! Standings & Leaders* (PC) USA West Division San Antonio Sultans 35-22 Cheyenne Mad Dogs 27-29 (7.5GB) Las Vegas Rock Cats 26-31 (9GB) San Jose Gamecocks 26-31 (9GB) Portland Diplomats 21-36 (14GB) Salt Lake City Surge 20-37 (15GB) (PC) Mexican Division Monterrey Alligators 37-20 Puebla Alleycats 32-25 (5GB) Juarez Whitecaps 32-25 (5GB) Mexico City Coyotes 31-26 (6GB) Tijuana Phantoms 29-28 (8GB) Leon Mountaineers 25-31 (11.5GB) (AC) USA East Division New Orleans Lakers 33-24 Omaha Pride 31-24 (1GB) Charlotte Pilots 31-26 (2GB) Jacksonville Blue Knights 30-27 (3GB) Buffalo Vandals 28-27 (4GB) Nashville Jammers 21-36 (12GB) (AC) Canadian Division Winnipeg Unicorns 36-20 Montreal Diamond Cats 31-26 (5.5GB) Calgary Running Rebels 28-28 (8GB) Ottawa Whalers 26-31 (10.5GB) Edmonton Wolverines 26-31 (10.5GB) Vancouver Seadogs 18-39 (18.5GB) Bold denotes Playoff Position Leading Players AVG .383 - Jason Jordan (Monterrey) OBP .476 - Ricardo Martinez (Leon) HR 22 - Ricardo Martinez (Leon), Mario Morin (San Antonio) RBI 58 - Mario Morin (San Antonio) SB 38 - Alvin Rafferty (Cheyenne) --- ERA 1.68 - Ryan Osche (Puebla) SV 17 - Bobby Lease (Winnipeg) SO 80 - Sidney Chaffee (Portland) IP 76.1 - Justin Mills (Buffalo) And that's our May round-up for NABA! Hope you enjoyed it, see you in June! __________________ ---------------- Bob Uecker, RIP Last edited by PocketsAintFull; 03-15-2020 at 12:53 PM.