Today in the CBO
News and Notes - Reports from around the Commonwealth
by Nat Wright-Kowalski
31 August 2297 - Commonwealth Baseball Organization Merging
In a joint announcement with the Corvega Assembly Plant, the Commonwealth Baseball Organization has announced a big change to its league, a union of the four leagues.
From Commissioner Nate Howard's speech: "Today, Corvega was able to complete its production facility. We need a lot more work before motorized vehicles are available as an abundant portion of the Wasteland, but we do now have enough vehicles that can be produced. Roads still need to be improved, but we have begun construction crews to work on those.
"The most important of this announcement by Tinker Tom and crew is that the Corvega Plant is offering the CBO its first 150 vehicles produced, meaning teams can travel at a faster rate of speed.
"This is important for the CBO because we can now change from four regional leagues to one united league. We are working on scheduling and other factors in the merge. We have simulated situations with PAM and think we have a winning combination for a smooth transition to a full league."
Howard was asked about all 24 teams playing against each other in a season, and he said that would potentially come as the road infrastructure becomes better.
"Regardless of how many vehicles we have available," Howard said, "it still takes a long time to travel from Concord to Warwick. That distance may not yet be possible for the plans we have without remaining at a low number of games played only on weekends. We would like to have a series during the week, as well as the weekend."
Howard stated that the immediate plan was to match the Brotherhood and Institute Leagues into one northern league and the Minutemen and Railroad Leagues into a southern league. The 12 teams of each would still be divided into their separate divisions.
"We'll look at playing a three-game weekend series within the division," Howard said, "and a two-game weekday series against the other division opponents. We have yet to work out the exact number of games, but five a week allows travel days on Mondays and Thursdays."
In addition to the merge and change in scheduling, Howard also stated that the league would add a midseason "All Star Game" where the best players of the CBO would face off in a battle for which shore's players are better. More details to come.
"The Commonwealth is becoming more and more like a civilization," Howard said. "With the availability of vehicles, we will eventually have more conveniences. Our baseball league is certainly benefitting."
In Howard's question and answer session, he also revealed that the league's ability to centralize all data instead of separating it in four different leagues will make matters easier. He mentioned that seeding the playoffs and determining draft order were statistics based, but a combined league would give more beneficial data. He said that some data errors became "a huge pain in the ***."
Also, Howard stated that he would look into changing the league logo to speak more to the Commonwealth identity.
"We're looking into it," he said. "Erin [Reische] and I will sketch out a hundred graphic ideas a week. She certainly stays just as busy as anyone! Will there be a new logo in 2298? Bet on it!"