Week 1: March 1-12, 2023
I've never expanded on this too much, but in the fiction of the Lokasi republic, the people observe a 12-day week. That was done in part because I knew I wanted a season full of 5-game series & wanted it to make sense, but it was also just an idea that I thought was fun. In a given week, the baseball schedule is divided up in such a way that the first 7 days are allotted to the first series, and the second series is played through the final 5 days of the week.
There is just one EL game on the first night of each week, which becomes one of the country's marquee TV events - the Monday Night Football of this country. Those teams have day 2 off while the rest of the league opens their series. There is another off day scheduled for each team in the first part of the week, split between days 4, 6, and 7 of the week. Everyone plays on day 5 because the cultural standard is for that to be a midweek day off of work. These obviously don't align with the standard days of the week that we all use here, so the calendar always looks a little uglier than I want it to!
Opening Night
Meka
3 - 4 Otahel City
Meka: 2B Tsewayo, 3B Otsu, LF Shipeyo, 1B Popa, SS Paweshono, RF Apylsho, CF Hifla, C Kotsypoti, P Pese
Otahel City: SS Pipasu, RF Posheni, 3B Otukatsa, 1B Toyerno, C Salama, CF Shocheye, LF Petosa, 2B Faseltsa, P Neyopet
W: Shewahyso Tsasale (1-0) L: Tewi Imatsa (0-1) S: Turoa Roshirmi (1)
Meka were welcomed into the Elite League for the first time. The opening game is chosen totally at random, as OOTP is wont to do, but this was an excellent choice, in theory. In practice, it was a strange, back-and-forth game. Both starting pitchers left the game due to injury in the second inning, so each team ended up using five pitchers to get through the night.
Kiosho Shipeyo hit the first Elite League HR in Meka's history with two out in the top of the first, then after a two-out rally tied the game for Otahel in the 2nd, relief pitcher Mekoto Neruse hit a long home run to dead center, tying the game leading off the 3rd. It was actually his 11th career home run in just his 5th professional season - formerly a lower-league starter, he's evidently a pretty strong hitter by pitcher standards.
An RBI double from Meka's Chorusho Paweshono tied it back up in the 4th, and they retook the lead 3-2 on a homer from Lilo Kotsypoti, but Otahel would grab the lead for good in the 6th inning. When Meka's Tewi Imatsa was injured pitching, leaving with two on, nobody out, Enle Temyl could not stop the inherited runners from scoring on a Toyerno sac fly and Salama RBI single. Meka went 9-up, 9-down against the strong Otahel bullpen from there.
Round 1:
...National 2-3 Pasataki - 9-10, 5-2(11), 3-4, 8-11, 6-0
.....Semyof 3-2 Akashemo - 2-4, 5-3, 0-5, 7-2, 6-5
....Sitache 2-3 Tsapna - 8-3, 7-4, 0-4, 2-6, 1-16
....Fampalo 0-5 Amnanache - 3-10, 1-3, 3-5, 6-11, 1-2
.....Keleri 1-4 Muni - 1-2, 0-3, 8-1, 5-7(11), 1-9
..Sh.Eagles 3-2 A.Spirits - 11-4, 10-1, 1-11, 6-7(10), 2-1
...Westline 2-3 Kupore - 3-5, 4-2, 4-5(10), 5-4, 8-9
....Cheshek 4-1 Lutrul - 3-1, 7-4, 8-6(11), 7-0, 4-5
.......Meka 2-3 Otahel City - 3-4, 2-5, 1-0, 10-11, 5-2
..BK Kepmem 2-3 Mighty Oaks - 1-6, 6-1, 1-10, 6-4, 4-7
Shunna Municipal 3, Keleri 0: well, that didn't take long. In game 2 of the season,
Keleri SS Atsi Keana had to leave the game with back spasms. He's expected to miss a month.
This was part of the most surprising series result of round 1, Muni taking 4 of 5 from the team I picked to win it all. They also staged a 9th-inning comeback in the 4th game to tie it at 5, leading to
SS Tilutsu Hofohe's walkoff home run.
Pasataki Galaxy 4, National 3: Keana isn't the only star shortstop with injury woes, as
National SS Anesa Mikesash broke his foot in this game & will be out a few weeks at least.
Round 2:
.......Muni 4-1 Cheshek - 3-1(10), 7-3(10), 5-4(12), 6-5, 1-3
...Pasataki 2-3 BK Kepmem - 2-4, 2-1(10), 2-6, 13-4, 6-3
Mighty Oaks 4-1 Semyof - 1-2, 6-4, 4-3, 11-7, 4-0
.....Lutrul 1-4 Meka - 7-3, 3-4(11), 3-9, 5-6, 4-5
.....Tsapna 1-4 Westline - 4-8, 9-6, 5-9, 1-10, 5-8
Otahel City 1-4 Fampalo - 2-3, 1-3, 1-11, 8-0, 0-6
..A.Spirits 1-4 Sitache - 1-9, 3-1, 5-8, 1-9, 4-5
...Akashemo 1-4 National - 3-10, 0-3, 0-1, 4-12, 5-3
..Amnanache 1-4 Keleri - 4-2, 3-4, 5-7, 2-5, 3-6
.....Kupore 3-2 Sh.Eagles - 3-4, 4-3, 13-3, 8-4, 4-6
Westline 8, Tsapna 4:
Tsapna SP Mua Wyranu was knocked around by Sitache in his first start, and in this one his season comes to an end quite early with a torn labrum. In the preview, I described Wyranu as the young hotshot in a buddy cop movie. I'm not sure what this event would be in that analogy but it isn't good. He finishes his season with 8 runs allowed in 5 innings, a 14.40 ERA.
This was the prelude to Westline passing their first big test of the new season by taking 4 of 5 from a reeling Tsapna team, scoring 41 runs in the process (8 teams scored fewer than that all week). Lomunu Awia was the only starter they didn't really get to - he had a quality start in Game 2 before the bullpen almost blew it.
March 9:
Mighty Oaks SP Notsimi Feshasu, in the last year on his rookie contract, has signed a 6-year extension that will pay him $83.6 million. Feshasu, as a late bloomer who didn't even have a consistent uniform number until he was 23, suddenly became a Pitcher of the Year winner at 24. He is now going to be quite rich, though this will only make him the 4th-highest-paid player on the Oaks roster.
Otahel City 8, Fampalo 0: The season's first shutout belongs to Otahel's
Elpim Merefife, 3 hits/1 walk. Unfortunately for Otahel, this was their lone win in the series. On the other side, Otahel City had 17 hits, with 16 of them being singles. That's pretty weird, I think - that many hits with only one XBH hasn't been done in MLB since 2016.
Standings.....W..L
........Muni.. 8 2
.Mighty Oaks.. 7 3
....National.. 6 4
....Westline.. 6 4
......Kupore.. 6 4
...Amnanache.. 6 4
........Meka.. 6 4
....P.Galaxy.. 6 4
.....Sitache.. 6 4
.....Cheshek.. 5 5
......Keleri.. 5 5
...Sh.Eagles.. 5 5
......Tsapna.. 4 6
.....Fampalo.. 4 6
......Semyof.. 4 6
.Otahel City.. 4 6
......Kepmem.. 4 6
-----------------------------
Akashemo Utd.. 3 7
...A.Spirits.. 3 7
......Lutrul.. 2 8
What an incredible start for Muni, two 4-1 series wins over teams that should be much better than them. Let's ignore that they won four games in extra innings this week and just try to feel good about it, non?
Next week, the challenges continue for Westline with a visit to Aroketsil to play the Oaks, with the eyes of the national broadcast for the first game. There's also a Shunna derby at the National Stadium, & Tsapna/Pasataki is another series to watch. Round 4 also has a big rivalry series, with the Spirits hosting the all-Aroketsil games.
Round 3:
Westline vs. Mighty Oaks
Fampalo vs. Shunna Municipal
Otahel City vs. Amnanache
Tsapna vs. Pasataki Galaxy
Aroketsil Spirits vs. Semyof
Cheshek vs. Keleri
Sitache vs. Akashemo United
Meka vs. BK Kepmem
Shunna Eagles vs. National
Lutrul vs. Kupore
Round 4:
National vs. Otahel City
Mighty Oaks vs. Aroketsil Spirits
Keleri vs. Fampalo
Akashemo United vs. Lutrul
Kupore vs. Meka
Semyof vs. Sitache
Pasataki Galaxy vs. Cheshek
Amnanache vs. Tsapna
Shunna Municipal vs. Westline
BK Kepmem vs. Shunna Eagles