Today in the CBO
News and Notes - Reports from around the Commonwealth
by Nat Wright-Kawolski
5 January 2300
BYDL Settles on 66
The Boston Youth Development League has chosen a schedule, and the magic number is 66. Each team will play exactly 66 games, assuming nothing like incidents or serious weather events prevent scheduled games to be played.
As part of the agreement, Corvega has sold its first line of buses to the CBO, which will be used exclusively by the BYDL. Limited use of train lines are also available, but the lines currently only will run north-south from Bedford Station to Oberland Station with stops at Starlight Drive-In and Graygarden. A full rail line is expected to be ready by 2303, including stations near Downtown Boston with what Nate Howard called "multiple public transportation terminals."
Relating to the BYDL, the bus lines will allow teams to travel farther distances, which will also allow all 24 teams to play against each other at least once, something that has never happened in the BYDL. Most teams would typically play four or five other teams during their seasons due to travel complications. The increased changes could potentially lead to similar changes in the CBO and BMU leagues, though there are no current plans to change the schedule. Howard indicated that would require an expanded schedule that would add at least 24 games to the current schedule, which is at 108 games currently in the CBO.
The BYDL teams will still play what Howard called an "unbalanced" schedule, playing their fellow division teams more often. The BYDL is divided into a North-South association split like the CBO, but teams are not necessarily divided specifically by geography.
"We had some older teams mixed with some brand new teams," Howard said. "Therefore, we tried to divide the teams more along an even split, while also trying to maintain some of the established rivalries since this league began playing in 2288. Not many people realized that there were a few teams of young kids starting to play back then, with just four teams in the first year. It became a truly established league, producing most of our CBO talent in '94. That's when we knew baseball would be the major pastime of the Commonwealth."
Each team will play its division rivals six times for 30 total games, they will play the other six teams in their region four times for a total of 24 games, and they will play each team from the other region once for a total of 12 games. Those 12 games will be in home or road stands, limiting the travel opportunities across the Charles River. With the unbalanced schedule, the number of games adds up to 66, 16 more games played than 2399.
"I don't want to work the players too hard," Howard said. "Playing 66 seems to be about the limit of how many we want to play those young guys so that they are not too banged up by the time they enter the draft. I have heard positive feedback from the players, especially in their upgrades in uniforms. Most had old-fashioned uniforms that maybe had a letter patch to indicate their teams but most just had plain whites or grays for their uniforms. Now, all teams are colorful, just like the BYDL is. We look forward to helping those young guys develop even more for the future of the CBO."
6 January 2300
County Crossing Bloodbugs Ship Fireball to Dark
In a move that has left many fans wondering, the County Crossing Bloodbugs have traded 26-year-old minor league LF Steve Fireball to the Dark Bloodworms. In return, the Bloodbugs receive 24-year-old C Ben Neese.
Fireball was considered an outfielder on the brink of being a CBO regular. Signed as an undrafted free agent off a now-defunct traveling team, the Quannapowitt Mud Hoppers, which also produced CBO pitcher Front Porch Potter, Fireball played most of the last three years with the Malden Grognaks. In a total of 177 games, he started 175 there where he hit .310 in his career with 14 home runs and 92 RBI.
Neese is an interesting prospect for the Bloodbugs. A former undrafted free agent pick up by the Warwick Mirelurks, Neese signed with the Bloodworms after he was released in August. In eight games with the Charles View Cannibals of the BMU, Neese did not start and went 0 for 4. While his bat needs a lot of work, he has shown defensive abilities that could make him a worthwhile defensive catcher in the league. That was GM Kyle Wolf's motivation for trading for him after Warwick gave up on him.
"He was on my list of players I had while with Roxbury as an interesting prospect," Wolf said. "We hate to lose a talent in Fireball, but I can see Neese being a good player one day."
9 January 2299
CBO-NWL Team Up for Nuka Cup Tournament
The CBO and NWL have announced a partnership in the 2300 Preseason Tournament that will be sponsored by Nuka-Cola. Renamed the 2300 Nuka Cup Tournament, it will feature all 32 teams of both the CBO and NWL in a seeded field. Games will be played from Saturday, March 3, until Sunday, March 18, with just one champion crowned. In past seasons, the CBO hosted the Battle for the North and Battle for the South tournaments at home hosts from both shores of the Charles River.
The top seed is the champions of the CBO, the Diamond City Swatters. The rest of the 23 teams are then in the next positions from Fort Hagen to the last team in the CBO, the newly-named Roxbury Rad Sox. The champions of the NWL, the Quartz Star Force are then the next seeded team, coming in at #25, all the way to the last team in the NWL, the Orange Tourists, seeded at 32. The Tourists play the Swatters in the first game of the tournament.
Hosts are the Top 4 seeds of each bracket for the initial brackets and part of the loser's brackets games played at 11 AM, 2:30 PM, 6 PM, and 9:30 PM each day that four games are played with times adjusted based on matchups that day. On Day 16, start times are 12 PM, 4 PM, and 8 PM. Game 63 is only if necessary. All 62 or 63 games will be broadcast on BNN, DC Radio, and WRVR.
Day 1: Games 1-4 at Diamond City
Day 2: Games 5-8 at Nordhagen Beach
Day 3: Games 9-12 at Fort Hagen
Day 4: Games 13-16 at S. Boston (Goodneighbor)
Day 5: Games 17 and 18 at Diamond City, Games 19 and 20 at Nordhagen Beach
Day 6: Games 21 and 22 at Fort Hagen, Games 23 and 24 at S. Boston (Goodneighbor)
Day 7: Games 25 and 26 at Diamond City, Games 27 and 28 at Nordhagen Beach
Day 8: Games 29 and 30 at Fort Hagen, Games 31 and 32 at S. Boston (Goodneighbor)
Day 9: Games 33 and 34 at Diamond City, Games 35 and 36 at Nordhagen Beach
Day 10: Games 37 and 38 at Fort Hagen, Games 39 and 40 at S. Boston (Goodneighbor)
Day 11: Game 41 at Diamond City, Game 42 at Nordhagen Beach, Game 43 at Fort Hagen, Game 44 at S. Boston (Goodneighbor)
Day 12: Game 45 at Diamond City, Game 46 at Nordhagen Beach, Game 47 at Fort Hagen, Game 48 at S. Boston (Goodneighbor)
Day 13: Game 49 at Diamond City, Game 50 at Nordhagen Beach, Game 51 at Fort Hagen, Game 52 at S. Boston (Goodneighbor)
Day 14: Games 53 and 55 at Diamond City, Games 54 and 56 at Fort Hagen
Day 15: Games 57-60 at Diamond City
Day 16: Games 61-63 at Diamond City
Full brackets of the first-round of the double-elimination tournament are posted below.
