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Introducing The Desert League!
As the dust settles in Europe and elsewhere, and with the economy booming in the USA, a group of 10 owners in the southwestern regions have gotten word of this ballgame that's taken over Mexico. In the United States, this game had been gaining popularity, particularly with the Mexican-American crowd, but a lot of people were playing it in cities across the border. And so, the Desert League is formed, including the biggest cities of the southwestern United States. It was decided the 10 teams would be divided into 5-team divisions, with each team playing 2 home and 2 away series against their closest rivals and 1 home and 1 away series against their rivals further away. Here's how the teams ended up being divided:
Eastern Division
Dallas Mustangs - Trinity River Grounds
El Paso Coyotes - Franklin Field
Ft. Worth Horned Frogs - Stockyard Stadium
Houston Longhorns - Bayou Park
San Antonio Armadillos - Mission Field
Western Division
Albuquerque Roadrunners - Mesa Verde Park
Los Angeles Condors - Tinseltown Park
Phoenix Scorpions - Desert Field
San Diego Barracudas - Harbor Park
Tucson Saguaros - Saguaro Field
Several star players are of Mexican descent and have been playing the game since they were little: LA's Rafael Moreno, El Paso's Mike Castillo, Dallas' Tomás Ortega and San Antonio's Carlos Ramirez are amongst them. Former Ullamaliztli stars like Andrés Martínez, Enrique Pérez, Antonio Trujillo, Francisco Escamilla and Edwin Acosta have made the trip across the border, where it seems like the budgets and the crowds are bigger. Other nationalities are represented: Argentinian pitcher Osvaldo Marquez signed for Dallas after being cut from León, Polish catcher Lukasz Jedrzejewski is set to make his pro debut for Tucson, and countless Central American and Mexican players are happy to get more chances at being a pro player.
The league is set to be made up of mostly southwestern US players though, with the US playstyle being less finesse and more power, fast throwing and hard hitting will probably dominate the league. Some players come from immigrant families, which will also add more to the variety of nationalities: left Salvatore "Il Pazzo" Rossi will lead the Condor's rotation with a nasty curveball, Utah born Harold "The Great Dane" Sorensen learned the Mexican style of throwing which focuses more on control, and San Diego's Otto "The Hammer" Schneider will come in throwing hard moving sliders and cutters for the Barracudas. Amongst the "native" favorites are Dallas pitcher Walter Thompson a.k.a Tommy Gun, Phoenix's young Anthony Vega and rangy shortstop Jack "Cow" O'Reilly.
It is the first time the Mesoamerican ballgame will be played professionally outside of Mexico, finding a new market in the southwest of the USA. This can only be good news for the game, with more eyes and more money bringing more talent to the world of Ullamaliztli!
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