Quote:
Originally Posted by Sizeman21
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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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.