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The Professional Baseball Association

An Alternate History Baseball Universe

In our world, professional baseball developed through a chaotic web of independent leagues, rival organizations, and regional competitions. Throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the sport grew wildly popular across the United States and Canada, but its structure remained fragmented. Cities hosted proud local clubs, tournaments determined temporary champions, and rival leagues competed fiercely for talent and prestige.
By the middle of the twentieth century, however, the sport had reached a breaking point.
In 1950, leaders from dozens of competing leagues, clubs, and regional associations gathered to bring order to the increasingly chaotic landscape of professional baseball. Out of these negotiations emerged a unified governing structure: the Professional Baseball Association (PBA).
Rather than creating a closed league with permanent members, the founders chose a system that reflected the competitive spirit of early baseball: promotion and relegation. Teams would earn their place through performance on the field, not through ownership privilege or market size.
The result was a fully integrated baseball pyramid spanning the United States and Canada, allowing clubs from large metropolitan cities and small industrial towns alike to compete within a single competitive ecosystem.
More than a league, the PBA became an entire baseball civilization.
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The Structure of Professional Baseball

The Professional Baseball Association is organized into four competitive tiers. Each league operates as part of a single interconnected system in which clubs rise and fall based entirely on their performance.
American Professional Baseball Association (APBA)
Top Tier – 16 Teams
The APBA represents the highest level of professional baseball in North America. Its champion is widely considered the premier club in the sport.
The APBA features the strongest rosters, the largest stadiums, and the greatest national attention. While promotion and relegation ensure constant turnover in membership, the league consistently showcases the best talent in the association.
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Continental Baseball League (CBL)
Second Tier – 16 Teams
The Continental Baseball League sits directly beneath the APBA and serves as the immediate gateway to the top tier.
CBL clubs are often extremely competitive, and many organizations have moved between the CBL and APBA multiple times over the years. For ambitious franchises, the CBL represents both an opportunity and a proving ground.
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United Baseball League (UBL)
Third Tier – 32 Teams
The United Baseball League forms the broad middle of the professional baseball structure.
UBL clubs are often developing organizations, emerging cities, or recently relegated teams rebuilding their rosters. The league features intense competition, as clubs fight both for promotion upward and to avoid falling further down the pyramid.
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North American Baseball Federation (NABF)
Fourth Tier – 48 Teams
At the foundation of the professional baseball system lies the North American Baseball Federation.
The NABF is home to dozens of smaller market clubs across the United States and Canada. While the level of play varies widely, the NABF remains one of the most important parts of the system.
Many legendary teams—and many future stars—have begun their journey in the NABF before rising through the ranks.
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Promotion and Relegation
The defining feature of the Professional Baseball Association is its promotion and relegation system.
Each league plays a full regular season with no playoffs. The standings alone determine the outcome.
At the end of each season:
• First place teams are promoted to the next higher league
• Last place teams are relegated to the league below
The sole exception is the APBA champion, who simply claims the title of league champion.
This system ensures that every game carries meaning. A club fighting to finish first may be chasing promotion, while a struggling team near the bottom fights desperately to avoid relegation.
Over time, franchises may climb from the lowest ranks of the NABF all the way to the APBA—or fall back down again.
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The Association Draft
Unlike many historical baseball structures, the Professional Baseball Association does not operate traditional minor leagues.
Instead, the entire system shares a single annual amateur draft.
Draft order is determined by the overall standings of the previous season, with the lowest teams selecting first.
This means:
• NABF teams receive the earliest draft picks
• The worst-performing club in the entire association gets the first overall selection
Young players typically begin their careers with lower tier teams, gaining experience before eventually moving up the pyramid through promotion or free agency.
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Rosters and Player Development
Because the association has no affiliated minor leagues, player development occurs directly within the league system.
Each club carries:
• 35-man active roster
• 15-man reserve roster
Lower-tier leagues like the UBL and NABF often serve as developmental proving grounds where young players gain experience before becoming stars at higher levels.
However, the system also ensures constant movement of talent.
Players become eligible for free agency after three years of service time, meaning breakout stars in the lower leagues frequently sign major contracts with APBA clubs.
This dynamic creates a continuous cycle of opportunity and competition throughout the association.
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The Association Cup
While each league crowns its own champion through regular season standings, the entire baseball world comes together at the end of every season for one final competition:
The Association Cup
The Cup is a tournament featuring the strongest clubs from every tier.
Participants include:
• Top 8 teams from the APBA
• Top 4 teams from the CBL
• Top 2 teams from the UBL
• Top 2 teams from the NABF
Teams are seeded so that higher-tier clubs face lower-tier challengers in the opening round.
The tournament format:
Round Format
First Round Best of 3
Quarterfinals Best of 5
Semifinals Best of 5
Championship Best of 7
The Association Cup gives rising clubs from lower leagues a chance to challenge the giants of the APBA and has produced some of the most legendary upsets in baseball history.
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A Living Baseball World
The Professional Baseball Association is designed to simulate a fully connected baseball ecosystem.
Teams rise and fall.
Small towns can produce champions.
Dynasties can collapse overnight.
Young stars emerge from the lowest leagues and become legends.
Every season reshapes the hierarchy of the sport.
And every club, no matter how small, has a path to the top.