[Rocketdawg2016]

1869

In the inaugural season of the NOBB, all eight teams were still mathematically in the playoff race by August 1st, with two of the teams in each league heavily fighting for the pennant. It came down to six days left in the regular season in the Atlantic League, as Washington lost out to Baltimore by a mere 8 games, at one point being within 3 games to take the pennant. Baltimore was the first of the two teams to clinch a spot in the National Championship Series, the first ever of its kind seen in sport.

In the Colonial League, the pennant chase came down to the FINAL DAY of the season, as Hartford and Manchester played a 3-game series against one another to close out the year, with Hartford being only one game behind Manchester for the pennant at the start. The teams split the first two games in Manchester, setting up a would be 137th tiebreaker game if Hartford had won, but that ultimately did NOT live up to the hype. The Eagles defeated the Angels 8-2, scoring all 8 of their runs in the final four frames. The Angels went up 1-0 early in the 2nd inning, but the Eagles would not be denied and the Angels didn't have enough firepower to keep up.



This set up the first ever National Championship Series, a best-of-five between the Colonial League pennant winner Manchester Eagles and the Atlantic League pennant winner Baltimore Red Wings
Game 1: Red Wings defeat Eagles, 9-5
Game 2: Eagles defeat Red Wings, 6-2
Game 3: Red Wings defeat Eagles, 7-5
Game 4: Eagles defeat Red Wings, 4-3
Game 5: Eagles defeat Red Wings, 6-1

Despite falling down 1-2, the Eagles rallied for two straight wins to come back and capture the first ever NOBB title. Shortstop Isaac Jones was named the series' Most Valuable Player, the trophy given to the player who outperforms everybody else. For the series, Jones slashed .458 with 11 hits and 4 runs batted in.

Season Awards
CL Most Valuable Player: Isaac Jones, Manchester Eagles - .304 AVG|101 R|154 H|73 3B|93 RBI|3 HR|
AL Most Valuable Player: Jim DeMiglio, Baltimore Red Wings - .391 AVG|121 R|214 H|40 2B|45 3B|92 RBI|103 SB|3 HR|

CL Pitcher of the Year: Sam Thimm, Providence Fighters - 10-3|5 SV|2.24 ERA|19 K|
AL Pitcher of the Year: Skylar Hayes, Baltimore Red Wings - 57-37|3.46 ERA|51 K|

Isaac Jones had a phenomenal first season in the NOBB, not only did he win MVP of the Colonial League AND MVP of the National Championship Series, he also was the winner of the Golden Batsmen and Defensive Wizard Awards at shortstop. Quite the impressive year for the now-31 year old.

Other notable news from 1869 was out of New York, where pitcher Ray Kanady pitched the first 9-inning no hitter in league history. Coming only two batted balls away from a perfect game, Kanady achieved his feat against the Philadelphia Watchmen on June 16th.