Chicago Kingpins - Professional Baseball Experience (PBE)

[Jiggy]

Hey all,

This thread will serve as a beat covering the Chicago Kingpins of the Professional Baseball Experience (PBE) Minor Leagues (MiLPBE).

The PBE is a simulation baseball league where users control players who begin as rookies, are drafted into the Minor Leagues, develop their players and work their way up to the Major Leagues - all the while competing for World Series championships at each level. The PBE is currently made up of more than 500 active users.

If you have any questions about the PBE, I would be happy to answer what I can and point you to someone who can answer any I cannot. The PBE community is very active on forums, Discord, and Twitch and puts together regular novel and recurring community events to keep users engaged and to add spice and intrigue to the league.

Some helpful links to those interested:

PBE Forums - This is in effect the PBE home page, representing the primary content for the league. Though the forums can seem intimidating at first, it doesn't take long to get an understanding of the layout and how to navigate them.
PBE Twitch Channel - The league features regular recurring streams of OOTP simulations and league events.
PBE Discord Server - The primary communication platform for users and those interested in becoming users. The server is robust, active, and most importantly - fun!

I am user Jiggy in the PBE. My player is Bartholomew Brown, a Season 40 (year 2055) rookie drafted by the Chicago Kingpins in the MiLPBE draft.

[Jiggy]

Spring is a time for renewal. For organizations in the Professional Baseball Experience Minor League (MiLPBE), it is a time to refresh, to reorganize, and restart. For the Chicago Kingpins, specifically, spring – and more particularly Spring Training – serves as a palate cleanser in the wake of a disappointing end to a very strong 2054 season.

Chicago advanced to last season’s Minor League World Series and looked dominant along the way, posting a 63-45 record – earning a first-round postseason bye – and defeating the Louisville Lemurs in the semi-finals four games to one. However, the Kingpins ultimately fell short in the championship round, running into a red-hot State College Swift Steeds team clicking on all cylinders just the right moment. The Swift Steeds, who had fought their way into the postseason with a 57-51 record, caught fire throughout the postseason and bested the Kingpins in five games, extending Chicago’s World Series drought to 11 seasons.

“Really proud of last season’s performance,” Chicago General Manager Tiktaalik said. “We had a great regular season, a lot of guys in the locker room putting in the work and updating, and, up until the World Series itself, a great postseason.”

American businessman and writer Max De Pree once wrote that change without contiuity is chaos, but that continuity without change is sloth – and very risky. Chicago has been nothing if not one of the most consistent teams in the MiLPBE.

The Kingpins have finished either first or second in each of the past four seasons and have made the postseason 15 out of their 21 total seasons in the Minor Leagues, yet have won just one World Series title in that span. Last season looked to be among the most promising chances for them to add to one more, but as has been consistent with a franchise known for at least being in the postseason on a regular basis, the club fell just a bit short of winning it all.

“The wheels fell off a bit in the World Series which was pretty unfortunate,” Tiktaalik admitted, “but that’s OOTP and sometimes the sim is going to sim. Playoff series are essentially a series of weighted coin flips and you can’t get too hung up on any particular one, but it did sting a little. That doesn’t take anything away from all the work everyone on the team put in all season though.”

The offseason provided management with an opportunity to reflect on the totality of the team’s performance in 2054, and with Spring Training underway the organization fully expects to compete for the postseason and a potential World Series championship again in 2055. Chicago returns much of last year's nucleus again this season.

Five Kingpins players posted batting averages over .280 and four hit 15 or more home runs in 2054. Leading the way offensively was Rake Hard, ahard raking second baseman who notched a .325 batting average with 17 home runs in 108 games played, good for a 5.4 wins above replacement player value. Center fielder Shawn S. Shanahan hit .320 with 17 home runs of his own and posted a 4.8 wins above replacement player value. First baseman Luigi Lanikai’s 22 home runs and 78 runs batted in led the team. Left fielder Nate Brittles worked a .420 on-base percentage and scored a team-high 76 runs.

From the mound, Chicago’s rotation featured a pair of 13-game winners in flamethrower James Daly and the steady Jolene Mydog, as well as the crafty Ragnar Lothbrok, who recorded an 11-3 win-loss record. Bauer Bottom and Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss shared back-end bullpen duties and each found success, recording more than 10 saves apiece.

All except Hard and Shanahan are back with the team this season, providing the Kingpins with a great deal of continuity for the 2055 campaign. However, as though following Max De Pree’s advice, the Kingpins have used the MiLPBE draft to add a bit of change to go along with it.

Chicago entered the offseason wanting to emphasize shoring up what they perceived as a weakness that reared its head against the Swift Steads.

“A lot of stuff went right last season, so to some extent [our approach is] just ‘keep doing what we’ve been doing’,” Tiktaalik said. “One thing we noticed in the World Series is that we hit into a lot of double plays, while at the same time regularly failing to turn the double play ourselves. This offseason we’ve brought in some speed on the base paths and drafted a great defensive glove to play second, so hopefully that’s going to change in the upcoming season.”

The Kingpins selected Otijommyzarc Kove with the ninth overall selection in the MiLPBE draft. Kove is known as a magician in the field with great range and ability to turn two. While his primary position has been shortstop, he has experience at second base as a secondary position.

Chicago rounded out its draft selecting speedy outfielder Bartholomew Brown with the 19th overall pick and starting pitcher Casey Shaffer with the 29th pick. Brown is capable of causing havoc on the base paths but likely will require time to develop as a hitter and to improve his fielding range before his plus speed can make a significant impact in the lineup. The Kingpins inexplicably failed to steal a single base in 2054 and hope Brown will eventually allow them to mix up their offensive approach in a way that helps its steady offense to create a few more runs. Shaffer boasts above average movement against hitters from both sides of the plate and adds necessary depth to the Kingpins’ staff.

“Going into the draft, we knew we had some holes at second base and center field to fill, and you always need pitching,” Tiktaalik said of Chicago’s draft strategy. “We’re delighted to be able to address all of that with our picks.”

It wasn’t talent and measurables alone that caught Tiktaalik’s eye.

“At the same time, all of our draftees were great in their scouting conversations, and we think they’re going to fit in well in the locker room. So I’m really pleased with the draft and hopeful this season our rookies play great defense and enjoy the locker room, and that their bats improve through the season and become a great strength as well.”

The Kingpins hope the team’s new additions, along with the continuity established by their returning stars, will lead to another postseason appearance and, finally, another championship. Eyes have certainly been fixated on the Chicago rookies during early Spring Training as the front office gauges how the newcomers might mesh with the current roster and contribute to continued success in the 2055 season.

Through ten Spring Training games Kove is batting .243 and has helped turn ten double plays. Brown is getting on base at a .326 clip and is batting .293 with 12 hits, two home runs, a triple, and has scored six times. Shaffer has thrown 13.1 innings giving up just five earned runs, good for a 3.38 ERA, while posting a 7.4/2.7 strikeouts-to-walks per nine innings ratio.

While they typically supplement one another, sometimes change and continuity are inextricably intertwined, as evidenced by movement in the Kingpins' front office this offseason.

Just before the start of Spring Training, Chicago co-GM AK41 accepted a position as co-GM with PBE Major League franchise Providence Crabs. At face value, that loss could have had a significant impact.

“AK joined as co-GM with me a few seasons ago . . . and he’s been key to everything,” Tiktaalik said. “Always available, always there in the locker room, helping players, running fantasy – and he’s a scouting machine. I can’t say enough about what he’s contributed and I know we wouldn’t be in the great position we are in without him.

However, until a full-time replacement as Kingpins co-GM is named, an old, familiar face – Pauadrian - has stepped in to assist Tiktaalik which should allow the organization a measure of continued stability during the transition period.

“With AK leaving, Pau returning is in many ways the ideal scenario,” Tiktaalik said. “He’s done this before, he first scouted and drafted me when I joined the PBE, got me to earn and update regularly. I might not still be here in the PBE if it wasn’t for Pau encouraging me at the start. He’s going to pick up from AK without missing a beat and I’m really looking forward to it.”

Expectations remain high in Chicago's clubhouse, but success is never certain in simulation baseball. For the Kingpins, it helps to know that in 2055 there will be continuity. And change.

[Jiggy]

Through the first 21 games, the Chicago Kingpins boast the best record in the Professional Baseball Experience Minor Leauge (MiLPBE). The Kingpins have won six of their first seven series to blastoff to a 15-6 record.

Despite the red hot start, objects in the Kingpins’ rear view mirror remain closer than they may appear. Chicago sits just one game ahead of the State College Swift Steeds in the East Division, a position likely too close in both separation and timing for comfort. It was only a few weeks ago that the Swift Steeds upset the Kingpins in the 2054 MiLPBE World Series, snatching the championship, which has so often eluded Chicago, in just five games. The Kingpins are also only two games ahead of the Florida Flamingos in what has already shaped up to be a promisingly competitive divisional race.



There are few more valuable pieces to a team in the Kingpins’ position than an elite back-end bullpen arm that can shield a lead from potential run-scoring threats.

Unsurprisingly Chicago’s early season success – and uber thin divisional lead – has been fueled in large part by its bullpen stopper Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss, who is off to a blistering start to their second season in the MiLPBE.

Through the first 21 Kingpins games, Girlboss has given up just one earned run in 16.1 innings. They boast a slim 0.55 earned run average and 0.98 WHIP. Girlboss has been especially stingy against left handed hitters, allowing just a .111 BABIP in 10.2 innings. The standout performance has exceeded the already exceeding high expectations that user @Girlboss has for the pitcher she controls.

“Girlboss is incredible as a pitcher and I think that although numbers will normalize a bit, it will be strong,” user @Girlboss said. “A lot of people note how important it is to be a clutch player, but Girlboss actually has the tools to be clutch, so I expect a good season and a lot of escaped jams with a high WPA.”

For those not dialed into to advanced metrics, Win Probability Added (WPA) is a statistical measure that quantifies the percent change in a team’s chances of winning from one event to the next by measuring the importance of a given plate appearance in the context of a game. Escaping a jam late in a game would be considered more valuable than getting outs in a blowout, for example.

Remarkably, Girlboss’ early 2055 season stat line stands as an improvement over what had been an exceptionally strong 2054 campaign where Girlboss saved 12 games with a 1.80 ERA and 1.13 WHIP over 60.0 innings during the regular season and posted a WPA of +0.2. Through the first 21 games of this new season, Girlboss’ WPA has climbed to +0.9.

Some of Girlboss’ enhanced success may be due to strategic changes made by user @Girlboss during the offseason, when she worked closely with Kingpins General Manager Tiktaalak to re-calibrate her reliever.

“This offseason, I’ve completely revamped my pitcher . . . to follow one of the ideas I’ve had and a model that was created by Tik,” @Girlboss said. “A faux-flamethrower control freak with an emphasis on movement, a change from a faux junkballer.”

The archetype renaissance has paid dividends, and @Girlboss graciously credits Tiktaalik.

“Tik is an absolute god at what he does and has found the best execution of the idea imaginable. He creates new stuff all the time, and it’s incredible to watch.”

Chicago’s hot start continues to fuel optimism that the club will not just return to the postseason, but earn a bye as one of the MiLPBE’s top teams. Last season, the Kingpins earned a bye and advanced to the World Series, but lost to the State College Swift Steeds four games to one.

“In the World Series, the disappointment was immeasurable and my day was ruined,” user @Girlboss admitted, “which unfortunately isn’t something this franchise has never felt before.”

Chicago has finished either first or second in East Division in each of the past four seasons and has made the postseason 15 out of its 21 total seasons in the MiLPBE, yet has won just one World Series in that span. That hasn’t dampened optimism that the Kingpins will compete for a World Series in 2055.

“We’ve consistently shown by now that this is a strong team and we have what it takes,” user @Girlboss said. “That is the baseline at this point and the divider between success and failure in terms of objectivity. Of course, I’d love to see us win a World Series.”

User @Girlboss also takes particular pride in Chicago’s relief corps.

“I would also expect us to have the best bullpen in the league,” user @Girlboss said. “I’m glad we picked up good bullpen help in Julian McMorris Jr. and expect us to do very well in close contests.”

User @Girlboss will continue to tinker with player Girlboss’ player attributes throughout the 2055 season and beyond, noting that by accumulating TPE points – spendable ability points earned in the Professional Baseball Experience (PBE) league – and working with Tiktaalik the possibilities are endless. But no matter how much user @Girlboss invests in improving her pitcher and how much player Girlboss continues to dominate, don’t expect to see player Girlboss in the PBE anytime soon.

“Everyone knows by now that Girlboss is a minor league only pitcher, as I refuse to be picked up by a major league team,” user @Girlboss said. “However, keeping up with this pitcher so far has been extremely exciting and entertaining, seeing what could be.”

When asked whether user @Girlboss would like to emphasize anything else about her pitcher, she stated only that Girlboss is here to stay and to be a menace. The Kingpins are thankful that she will continue to be so in the back end of their bullpen, especially with the need to protect such an early and slim divisional lead.

Series Recaps

Louisville Lemurs 0 – Chicago Kingpins 4
Louisville Lemurs 3 – Chicago Kingpins 4
Louisville Lemurs 4 – Chicago Kingpins 9

Pitching was certainly a bright spot in the season-opening series. Kingpins starter James Daly was brilliant in game one on Opening Day, requiring just 88 pitches to toss seven scoreless innings while yielding just two hits and three walks. Down 3-0 in the eighth inning of game two, designated hitter Tony Franzonello launched a two-out grandslam to put Chicago on top. In game three, right fielder Alyssa Jakob launched two home runs en route to a four-RBI day to lead an offensive charge that completed a series sweep of the Lemurs.

Chicago Kingpins 6 – Amarillo Armadillos 3
Chicago Kingpins 1 – Amarillo Armadillos 7
Chicago Kingpins 6 – Amarillo Armadillos 3

It was Santiago Benito’s turn for a two-home run, four-RBI day in the Kingpins’ first road game of the 2055 season. His second in the top of the sixth inning was a three-run shot that erased a 3-1 deficit and gave the Kingpins the lead for good. Chicago lost their first game of the season in game two, unable to put scrape together runs against Armadillos starter Johnny Patey V2 who scattered eight hits but walked just one batter and gave up just one run through six complete innings. The Kingpins bounced back in game three, scoring five runs in the fourth inning against Amarillo starter Jeronimo Ovechkin. Chicago starter Ragnar Lothbrok three seven innings and allowed two runs on six hits, notching his first win of the season.

California Firehawks 1 – Chicago Kingpins 2
California Firehawks 7 – Chicago Kingpins 3
California Firehawks 1 – Chicago Kingpins 2

In game one, the Kingpins scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back, hanging on for a 2-1 lead on the backs of starter Jolene Mydog, reliever Al Dugger, and stopper Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss, who nailed down the final 1.2 innings for their third save of the young season. The Firehawks offense got to Casey Shaffer in game two, who gave up five earned runs on eight hits before being lifted in the fourth inning. Game three was a pitcher’s duel, with Daly throwing five innings of one-run baseball and Girlboss locking down the final four innings without giving up a run, scattering four hits and striking out three Firehawks hitters. Chicago left fielder Nate Brittles was 2-for-3 with two singles for Chicago and broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth inning with an RBI sacrifice fly.

Chicago Kingpins 10 – Florida Flamingos 11
Chicago Kingpins 5 – Florida Flamingos 4
Chicago Kingpins 1 – Florida Flamingos 6

The Kingpins dropped an offensive tit-for-tat in game one on the road against the Flamingos. Florida scored first in the bottom of the fourth, to which Chicago answered with a five-run fifth inning. The Flamingos proceeded to score five unanswered runs to reclaim the league heading into the top of the eight. The Kingpins plated two in the top, answered by three more Flamingo runs in the bottom of the frame. Chicago rallied again with three runs in the ninth, taking a 10-9 lead into the bottom of the ninth. The bullpen could not close the game out, however, and Florida rallied to load the bases, tie the game with a single, and win the game on a walk-off walk. The second game was another tight affair. With the game tied 2-2, rookie center fielder Bartholomew Brown slapped a run-scoring single to break the tie. The Kingpins scored a total of five runs in that fourth frame, enough to allow their staff to hold on to a 5-4 win. The Flamingos claimed the series with a 6-1 win in game three. Florida second baseman Manuel Bang led the way, going 3-for-4 with a home run, two singles. With the loss, Chicago dropped their first series of the season.

Kansas City Hepcats 4 – Chicago Kingpins 2
Kansas City Hepcats 0 – Chicago Kingpins 7
Kansas City Hepcats 2 – Chicago Kingpins 7

Chicago’s series win against Kansas City came in large part on the backs of its pitching staff. Even in the 4-2 game one loss, Kingpins pitching allowed just two earned runs. A costly error in the fourth inning opened the door to a three-run inning that proved enough for the Hepcats. Led by Lothbrok who won his second game of the season in game two, Chicago pitching struck out 11 batters, walking just four and allowing just five hits. Starter Jolene Mydog kept things going and picked up their second win in the series deciding game three, throwing five innings and allowing just one hit and one walk. Girlboss picked up her fourth save of the season with a three-inning shutdown outing.

Chicago Kingpins 14 – Puerto Rico Ranas 4
Chicago Kingpins 2 – Puerto Rico Ranas 1
Chicago Kingpins 5 – Puerto Rico Ranas 2

Kingpins pitching maintained dominance in a three-game sweep of the Ranas. Home runs from Luigi Lanakai, Randy Fasttrack, and Tony Franzonello led the offense. Lanakai had four hits while Otijomyzarc Kove, Jakob, and Nate Brittle contributed three hits each. Daly allowed just one run in six innings in game two. With the game tied 1-1 in the ninth inning, a costly Puerto Rico error allowed the go-ahead Kingpins run to score, and Al Dugger got the final nine outs to record the win. It was Lothbrok who again dominated in game three, throwing 8 innings of four-hit baseball, allowing just one earned run and striking out four hitters without giving up a walk. Lanakai hit two home runs to lead the offense in the final contest.

Anchorage Wheelers 3 – Chicago Kingpins 6
Anchorage Wheelers 9 – Chicago Kingpins 5
Anchorage Wheelers 0 – Chicago Kingpins 3

Girlboss blew the save but got the win in game one. After giving up an unearned run in the top of the eight, Chicago loaded the bases with three walks. With two outs, Benito delivered with an RBI single, followed by a two-RBI single from Kove, allowing Girlboss to lock down the ninth. Anchorage bounced back in game two. The Kingpins held a 4-3 lead through five innings, but the Wheelers scored in each of the final four frames to seize control and a 9-5 win. Jakob hit their sixth home run of the season in the loss. Daly dominated the rubber match, throwing seven scoreless innings and giving up just three hits to pick up the win for himself and the series win for Chicago. Fasttrack was 3-for-4 and drove in one of the Kingpins’ three runs.

Statistics

[Jiggy]

The Temptations sang that when you’re on the top, there’s no place you can really go but down, down, down.

The Chicago Kingpins entered the last sim day of the week with a 32-16 record, clinging to what was then the best record in the Professional Baseball Experience Minor Leagues (MiLPBE). Both the Kansas City Hepcats and the defending champion State College Swift Steeds sat just one game behind at the time.

Heading into the MiLPBE All-Star Break, however, Chicago is going down, down, down. The Kingpins have dropped nine of their last 10 games to close out the first half of the season, falling three full games behind State College in the East Division, who now shares the best record in the league along with the West’s Kansas City Hepcats.

The Swift Steeds have particularly surged, riding an 3-4 record over their last 17 games to take control of the East Division, while the Hepcats now sit a comfortable 10 games ahead in the West Division.


Despite the dramatic stumble, in the bigger picture the Kingpins have had more than a solid first half. Chicago is 11 games above .500 and maintains the third best record in the MiLPBE.

First baseman Luigi Lanikai’s bat is a big reason why the Kingpins have – at least up until the last 10 games – been so consistent and successful. Luigi Lanikai has emerged as a legitimate triple crown threat. He leads Chicago home runs and RBIs and ranks second in batting average (.326), just four points behind teammate Santiago Benito (.330). With 47 RBIs in the first half, Lanikai is tied for the most in the minor leagues. His 12 home runs is just two fewer than league leader Brandbil Ostman of the Louisville Lemurs. He also ranks fifth with a .518 slugging percentage.



“It’s definitely a lot of fun having a positive impact for the team,” said Professional Baseball Experience (PBE) user Icebear, to whom the player Lanikai belongs.

Lanikai hit .274 with 22 home runs and 78 RBIs during a strong 2054 campaign, and Icebear sees room for continued improvement from his slugger. Having the benefit of starting the 2055 season with better statistics, he set some lofty goals for Lanikai in 2055.

“I wanted to be top of the leaderboard for home runs coming into this season and also set a goal for making the All-Star Game,” Icebear said. “We are still a little off but seem to be on the right track for this year.”

Lanikai’s offensive numbers wow, often distracting from the contribution he adds defensively at first base. He ranks first in the MiLPBE among all positions with a 9.39 range rating and his 3.1 zone rating is the best of all first basemen. He’s notched a 1.031 defensive efficiency score, behind only Steve Squirtle of the Anchorage Wheelers who leads with a 1.056 score. Lanikai is now a two-way simulation sports star – he also competes in the ISFL, a football simulation league – and Icebear has built him in the making of a true athlete.

The goals aren’t all personal, however. Like many of his locker room mates, Icebear recognizes that several of the core players from Chicago’s runner-up squad last season are back and wants to get the Kingpins back to the World Series.

“The championship loss last season was tough,” Icebear said. “So this season, anything short of a championship will feel like a letdown. First [goal is] to secure the top spot [in the postseason] and the bye. Then revenge for a championship!”

To accomplish those goals, Chicago will have to rebound in the second half to overcome a familiar antagonist. It was the Swift Steeds that bested the Kingpins in five games during last season’s World Series. It is the Swift Steeds that have now overtaken the Kingpins in the divisional race.

There remains a full half of baseball to play, and it remains to be seen which team will be left "Standing on the Top." To get back to that place, the Kingpins will have to reverse their recent misfortunes, and in erasing what has become a three-game deficient, like the Temptations sang, they can't be too proud to beg.

Series recaps:

5/17 – Chicago Kingpins 3 – State College Swift Steeds 7
5/18 – Chicago Kingpins 3 – State College Swift Steeds 4
5/19 – Chicago Kingpins 8 – State College Swift Steeds 1

Lothbrok staggered a bit out of the gate in Chicago’s game one loss, allowing two runs in the first inning and ultimately six earned runs through just 3.1 innings pitched before being lifted. State College rookie Yoshi Yoshironi and right fielder Maple Dogwood each were 3-for-4, and starter Stun Gun scattered nine hits over six complete innings, giving up just three runs to the Kingpins. Game two held scoreless through five innings before State College broke the stalemate with two runs in the sixth. Chicago scored with three runs in the top of the eighth, seizing the lead but only momentarily. The Swift Steeds answered with two runs in the bottom of the eighth off the bat of Yoshironi. State College reliever Willow Baxter closed the door with a scoreless ninth inning. Chicago avoided the sweep with an 8-1 win in game three. Shaffer shined over five innings of work, striking out three without giving up a walk and only allowing four Swift Steeds hits. He was boosted by plenty of run support from the Kingpins lineup, with Franzonello launching two home runs and Kove going 4-for-5.

5/21 – Brew City Bears 0 – Chicago Kingpins 0
5/22 – Brew City Bears 6 – Chicago Kingpins 8
5/23 – Brew City Bears 2 – Chicago Kingpins 2

All facets were clicking for Chicago in a 13-0 game-one win against Brew City. Six Kingpins hitters posted multi-hit games with Jakob and Benito leading the charge, each with four hits. Fasttrack, Jakob, Brown, and Copeland Jr. all homered while starter Daly and relievers Goatbisky and Bottom combined to blank the Bears. Copeland Jr. added three more hits in game two. Chicago jumped out to a 7-1 lead through the first four innings. Brew City fought back with two runs in the fifth and three more in the eighth, but Girlboss and Yosh combined for a scoreless ninth to shut the comeback attempt down. Mydog allowed just two runs on four hits through five innings in the game three win, with Goatbisky picking up a four-inning save and securing the Kingpins sweep. Copeland Jr. stayed hot with yet another multi-hit game.

5/25 – Chicago Kingpins 7 – Louisville Lemurs 3
5/26 – Chicago Kingpins 8 – Louisville Lemurs 9
5/27 – Chicago Kingpins 6 – Louisville Lemurs 5

A three-run fifth inning home run off the bat of Franzonello tucked game one safely away for Chicago, providing enough cushion for the club to lift Shaffer after 5.1 innings of three-hit baseball. Lanikai belted two home runs and went 4-for-5 in a losing effort in game two. The Kingpins led by a run heading into the bottom of the eighth before Lemurs first baseman Hot Dog hit a two-out, two-run single off Girlboss that proved decisive. Chicago rebounded to win game three and the series on the bat of Jakob, whose fifth-inning grand slam led to a six-run inning – just enough offensive production for the Kingpins to cling to the win. The Lemurs crept to within one with a run in the eighth and ninth inning and had the tying run at second base with one out, but could not push it across against Girlboss, who earned the save.

5/29 – Amarillo Armadillos 0 – Chicago Kingpins 7
5/30 – Amarillo Armadillos 3 – Chicago Kingpins 5
5/31 – Amarillo Armadillos 4 – Chicago Kingpins 5

Pitching dominance carried game one, as Mydog did not allow a hit through 5.1 innings before being lifted for relief. Kove was 3-for-4 with an RBI and run scored. Fasttrack homered in the fifth inning and Brittles added three RBIs on a two-hit performance. Fasttrack and Brittles kept things going, each posting another multi-hit game in game two. Amarillo scored three unearned runs in the third inning after an error by second baseman Kove, but Chicago quickly answered with three of its own in the bottom half of the inning before adding two more in the eighth to take charge. Girlboss picked up the win, shutting out the Armadillos over the final 1.1 innings. Game three was a back-and-forth affair, with Chicago netting two runs in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game at four runs apiece, setting the stage for rookie center fielder Bartholomew Brown to walk off Amarillo with an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth, earning the Kingpins the series sweep.

6/2 – Chicago Kingpins 5 – California Firehawks 2
6/3 – Chicago Kingpins 5 – California Firehawks 1
6/4 – Chicago Kingpins 8 – California Firehawks 2

Pitching carried the California road trip, as Chicago pitching allowed just 1.67 runs per game en route to sweeping the Firehawks, the Kingpins’ second consecutive series sweep. Lothbrok allowed just 2 earned runs on five hits through 4.1 innings in game one, with Goatbisky and McMorris Jr. shutting California out from the fifth inning on. Not to be outdone, Mydog followed by allowing just one earned run on four hits through 4.1 innings in game two before being relieved by Bauer Bottom who threw the final 4.2 innings without allowing a hit and striking out five Firehawks batters. Shaffer tossed 4.2 innings of three-hit baseball, allowing just 2 earned runs in the game three win, which McMorris Jr. and Kronii shutting out California on just one hit the rest of the way. The win was Chicago’s seventh straight.

6/6 – Florida Flamingos 8 – Chicago Kingpins 4 (11 innings)
6/7 – Florida Flamingos 4 – Chicago Kingpins 2
6/8 – Florida Flamingos 3 – Chicago Kingpins 7

Game one witnessed Chicago doomed by an offensive onslaught in extra innings. Three walks and three hits led to four Florida runs in the top of the 11th, and Flamingos reliever Shaningo Flaps retired the bottom of the Kingpins lineup in order in the bottom half to complete the win. Franzonello and Lanikai had multi-hit games and Daly limited Florida to three runs through 5.1 innings pitched. The Kingpins scored two runs in each of the first two innings of game two, but could not break through against Flamingos pitching thereafter. Florida plated four runs in the fifth inning to capture the lead and win. Chicago rookie Otijomyzarc Kove notched three hits on the day and Brittles added a home run to the losing cause. The Kingpins got off the schneid in game three. Jim Copeland Jr. doubled and tripled and Lanikai added three hits and two RBIs. Goatbisky picked up his fifth win of the season throwing four innings in relief and giving up just one earned run.

6/9 – Chicago Kingpins 9 – Kansas City Hepcats 5
6/11 – Chicago Kingpins 3 – Kansas City Hepcats 8
6/12 – Chicago Kingpins 2 – Kansas City Hepcats 1

The Kingpins scored early and often to take game one on the road against the Hepcats. Fastrack was 3-for-5 with an RBI triple in the first. Lanikai added three hits while catcher Santiago Benito and Franzonello each homered in the effort. Rookie Casey Shaffer threw five complete innings giving up three runs en route to his third win of the season. Chicago kept the offensive momentum going early in game two, jumping out to a 3-0, but could not hold on. The Kingpins yielded eight unanswered runs from the fifth inning on to take the loss. Only three of the runs were earned, as a pair of errors from Kingpins shortstop Fasttrack proved costly, opening the door to a five-run seventh inning for the Hepcats that was the difference. Jakob, Kove, and Brown each had multi-hit games, but could not match the offensive output of Kansas City second baseman Loren Jackson (3-for-4 with a home run, three RBIs and two runs scored) and center fielder Tony Gunk Jr. (2-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs). Chicago’s Lothbrok got the better of the Kansas City staff in a game three pitching duel, shutting the Hepcats out over 6.2 innings and allowing just four hits. Al Dugger picked up the save after allowing just one run over the final 2.1 innings. Four Hepcats pitchers combined to allow just to Kingpins runs, but thanks to the Lothbrok’s and Dugger’s effort, that output was just enough to take the series against the West Division leaders. Tony Franzonello went 3-for-5 with a first inning home run.

6/13 – Puerto Rico Ranas 7 – Chicago Kingpins 9
6/14 – Puerto Rico Ranas 6 – Chicago Kingpins 5 (10 innings)
6/16 – Puerto Rico Ranas 2 – Chicago Kingpins 4

Lanikai was a perfect 4-for-4 with two RBIs in game one. Fastrack homered and drove in five runs, while Jakob added two hits, and RBI, and scored three times. The Kingpins fought back from a 4-0 deficit, thanks in large part to a three-hit day from Brittles, to send game two into extra innings. Chicago stopper Girlboss could not shut the Ranas out in the top of the 10th inning, giving up a solo home run to Bailey Jones, who led off the inning, which proved to be the deciding run despite Girlboss retiring the following three hitters. Daly was dominant in game three to seal the series, throwing seven complete innings and allowing just one earned run on four hits and one walk. Lanikai homered and drove in three Kingpin runs.

6/17 – Chicago Kingpins 2 – Anchorage Wheelers 7
6/18 – Chicago Kingpins 3 – Anchorage Wheelers 13
6/19 – Chicago Kingpins 1 – Anchorage Wheelers 7

Chicago was offensively stifled and could not avoid devastatingly big innings on the road against Anchorage, suffering its first series sweep of the season. The Kingpins scored first in the top of the first inning in game one, but the Wheelers immediately answered with six runs in the bottom of the frame, chasing Chicago starter Ragnar Lothbrok and siezing a lead from which they would not look back. Anchorage third baseman Winston Harrison led the charge with a bases-clearing, three-RBI double in that deciding first inning, and starter Bill Webb kept the Kingpins bats in check through the sixth inning to pick up the win. Despite 11 hits in game two, the Kingpins managed to plate just three runs, a total woefully insufficient to overcome a 10-run, fourth-inning onslaught by the Wheelers. Anchorage first baseman Montgomery Burns was a 4-for-5 on the day with a home run and five RBIs and Suhayb Hussein added a home run and five RBIs of his own. Wheelers rookie Shohei Ohtani picked up the win after allowing just one run through five innings pitched. In game three, it was Anchorage’s Michael McGuffey who held serve and limited Chicago to just one run, throwing six complete innings and scattering seven hits.

6/21 – State College Swift Steeds 4 – Chicago Kingpins 18
6/22 – State College Swift Steeds 4 – Chicago Kingpins 3
6/23 – State College Swift Steeds 7 – Chicago Kingpins 4

Chicago seemed to right the ship in a big way in its first of three against State College, plating 18 runs to rout the defending champions. It was a hit parade, as every batter in the Kingpins lineup had multiple hits. Brittles knocked in six runs while Lanikai knocked in four. Meanwhile, Daly continued to roll, earning his fifth win of the season with a five-inning, two run outing. A costly two-out, third-inning error gave the Swift Steeds a 4-2 lead in game two. Chicago got one run back in the seventh but could not find that fourth run necessary to tie things up in the final two frames. The Swift Steeds struck early in game three, plating three runs in the first inning, a run in the second, and three more in fifth. The game-three win pulled State College even with Chicago in the MiLPBE East Division standings.

6/24 – Chicago Kingpins 3 – Brew City Bears 5
6/26 – Chicago Kingpins 1 – Brew City Bears 2
6/27 – Chicago Kingpins 7 – Brew City Bears 8 (10 innings)

The Kingpins suffered their second sweep of the season on the road in Brew City. Chicago struggled offensively in the first two games. Meanwhile, Dwagin Em-inem was 3-for-4 with a home run and 2 singles for the Bears. Brew City pitcher Lots-o’-Henieken Bear Version 2.0 got the better of Daly in a pitchers’ duel in game two. Game three was a slugfest in extra innings. Chicago took what appeared to be a commanding lead, plating three runs in the top of the 10th led by a two-run home run from Franzonllo. But the Bears jumped all over reliever Yosh, going single, single, walk to load the bases with no outs before punching four runs home to walk off the Kingpins and complete the sweep.

6/29 – Louisville Lemurs 3 – Chicago Kingpins 2

Chicago dropped the first of what will be a three-game series against Louisville, which will resume after the PBE all-star break. Louisville jumped out to a lead with a run in the fourth and Tony Yeboah smacked a 2-run home run in the top of the sixth to extend the lead to three. The Kingpins scored twice in the bottom of the sixth on a two-out, two-RBI single from Brown, but couldn’t scrape together that one more run needed to tie things up.

[Jiggy]

The 2055 season could not have gotten off to a better start for the Chicago Kingpins. By the end of May, the team had skyrocketed to a 23-9 start and boasted the best record in the Professional Baseball Experience Minor League (MiLPBE).

Then June came around. Chicago stumbled to just a 9-13 record that included a seven-game losing streak to close out the month. By the All-Star break, the Kingpins had fallen three games behind the State College Swift Steeds in the MiLPBE East Division, but the organization held out hope for a divisional title.

Though there the team is still holding out hope it can achieve that goal, the likelihood is much more remote after an equally chaotic July.

Chicago posted a 7-10 record in July, winning only one series during the month against the Florida Flamingos, who at 34-38 are tied for third place out of five East Division teams. The Kingpins’ recent struggles cannot be attributed to the strength of its schedule either.

July featured losing series against the Puerto Rico Ranas (29-43; the worst record in the MiLPBE), Louisville Lemurs (34-38; third in the MiLPBE East), the California Firehawks (33-39; second in the MiLPBE West), and the Amarillo Armadillos (31-41; tied for fourth in the MiLPBE West).

With the tumultuous start to their summer, the Kingpins (40-32) now seven games behind the Swift Steeds, a division deficit that seems daunting with just 36 games left to be played in the regular season.

“We started even better than I than I thought we would for the first couple of months,” Chicago general manager Tiktaalik said, “and then for the result to just nosedive is hard to take. We reverted to the mean, and then we just kept going down.”

That doesn’t mean Tiktaalik is ready to give up on the season.

“I do believe we’re still a good team and that this is more a run of epically bad luck than anything else. We’ve lost four games in extra innings this month and won zero. If we had won even half of those, we would be back to a winning record this month and things would be looking better.”

Over the course of the July, Chicago averaged 5.4 runs produced per game while opponents scored an average of 5.7 runs per game. During the downswing, consistency has sometimes seemed an issue. In their wins, the Kingpins scored 8.14 runs per game and allowed just 4.14 runs per game. In their losses, the Kingpins scored just 3.5 runs per game while allowing 6.8 runs per game.

“I think it’s more reflective of how we’ve been unlucky than anything else,” Tiktaalik said. “On average we’re still scoring and conceding runs like a good team, but the runs are coming in bursts in victories when we don’t ‘need’ as many, if you like.”

Because there are not enough user-created players to fill out MiLPBE rosters, minor league general managers are forced to utilize “bot” players to field full teams. These “bot” players can lead to unbalanced run scoring in certain game situations.

“Every team pretty much is running ‘bot’ relievers for half their bullpen,” Tiktaalik said. “They’re okay, but even the worst [user] player reliever is much better, so if you can knock the player pitchers out of the game and get into the bots, you’ve got a good chance of running up a decent score.

Rookie starter Casey Shaffer has emerged as a steadying presence throughout Chicago’s chaotic July. He started four of the seven games that the Kingpins won. He was the starting pitcher in only one game that Chicago lost, July 30th’s extra-inning 4-5 defeat at the Puerto Rico Ranas.

“I’ve been really pleased by [Shaffer’s] improvement so far,” Tiktaalik said of Shaffer. “It turns out earning and updating regularly do good things! He’s worked on his movement to keep the ball in the park, and his changeup, and it’s paying dividends.”

Meanwhile, Chicago’s All-Star veteran starters have seen their performances dip significantly since the mid-season break. Left hander James Daly is 1-3 with a 10.59 ERA over his four July starts. Right hander Jolene Mydog’s July ERA is 8.49 and she has not recorded a decision.

Tiktaalik doesn’t think their recent performances are indicative of any potentially worrying trends.

“They’re good pitchers,” Tiktaalik said. “Daly in particular is one of the best pitchers in the minors. Mydog also has a track record of great performance, although they’ve been susceptible to the long ball this year. I’m not too worried by a few bad blowups, and I’m confident they’re going to come up big for us still.”

At seven games back, Chicago has a steep climb to achieve the team’s preseason goal of winning the East Division and earning a first-round postseason bye. However, the Kingpins are one of just three MiLPBE teams with a winning record and are well situated for a postseason berth, where they can still vie for the franchise’s second World Series championship.

“The postseason is a lottery,” Tiktaalik said, “so a bye is helpful because it removes a bit of that uncertainty, but if we’re in the postseason then we’ve always got a chance of winning it all. So a bye would be great, but I think any season you make the playoffs is a successful one.”

July Series Recaps

July 9 – Louisville Lemurs 2 – Chicago Kingpins 10
July 10 – Louisville Lemurs 8 – Chicago Kingpins 4

Everything went right for Chicago in this, the second game of a series against the Lemurs that straddled the months of June and July. Shaffer threw 4.2 innings of one-hit, no-run baseball in the start for the Kingpins, while Mitch Goatbisky and Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss allowed just two runs in 4.1 combined innings of relief, picking up the win and save, respectively. DH Tony Franzonello homered twice, driving in five runs, while third baseman Jim Copeland Jr. added three hits and three RBIs. Game three was a different story altogether. Daly was chased after just two complete innings, having yielded six earned runs. Collectively, Chicago pitching gave up 15 hits while its lineup. The early 6-run deficit was too much ground to make up despite home runs from Otijomyzarc Kove and Randy Fasttrack. The game three loss resulted in a series loss for the Kingpins.

July 12 – Chicago Kingpins 5 – Amarillo Armadillos 6 (12 innings)
July 13 – Chicago Kingpins 1 – Amarillo Armadillos 3
July 14 – Chicago Kingpins 4 – Amarillo Armadillos 2

It appeared like Chicago was well on its way to a game-one win after hanging four runs in the top of the sixth inning. The rally was capped by a two-RBI triple from Copeland and propelled the Kingpins to a 5-2 lead. However, Amarillo chipped away, plating a run in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings to tie the game before winning on a walk-off single from right fielder Adelbert Steiner. Chicago struggled to score in game two despite eight total hits, leaving nine men on base. Armadillos starter Jeronimo Ovechkin threw 6.1 innings and allowed just one earned run in the start. The Kingpins salvaged a win in game three thanks to the combined efforts of Shaffer (4.1 innings pitched; one earned run allowed) and Bauer Bottom (4.2 innings pitched; one earned run allowed). Chicago’s offensive attack was balanced, with Alyssa Jakob, Kove, Bartholomew Brown, and Copeland each recording multi-hit games.

July 16 – California Firehawks 10 – Chicago Kingpins 1
July 17 – California Firehawks 7 – Chicago Kingpins 12
July 18 – California Firehawks 8 – Chicago Kingpins 7 (11 innings)

Daly ran out of gas in the fifth inning, giving up four earned runs in that frame alone to see his Kingpins team fall behind 6-0 to open the home series against the Firehawks. Chicago managed just one run in the bottom of the fifth inning on an RBI-ground out off the bat of Brown. California starter Nova Montagne was sensational, throwing eight complete innings while giving up just one run off of two hits. Jakob and slugging first baseman Luigi Lanikai led an offensive charge in Chicago’s game-two victory, each recording three hits and three RBIs. Lanikai’s three-run home run in the fourth inning gave the Kingpins a 7-5 lead and relievers Jack McMorris Jr. and Al Dugger fended off the California offense enough to secure the win. Chicago came up just short of a miraculous comeback in game three. The Firehawks lit Mydog up for six runs over four innings pitched. Chicago plated a run in the fourth and then exploded for six runs off of six hits, including two home runs, in the bottom of the fifth, seizing a 7-6 lead. California was able to tie the game in the top of the sixth, where it remained deadlocked until the top of the 11th when Harvey Brinkley Jr. hit a bases loaded sacrifice fly off Kingpins reliever Beeg Yosh to plate the series-deciding run.

July 20 – Chicago Kingpins 5 – Florida Flamingos 2
July 21 – Chicago Kingpins 8 – Florida Flamingos 3
July 22 – Chicago Kingpins 3 – Florida Flamingos 10

Game one featured another solid outing from Shaffer, who threw 5.1 innings and allowed just two hits and two runs, both unearned. The game was tied heading into the seventh inning before being broken by a solo home run from Fasttrack. The Kingpins added a pair of insurance runs in the ninth while Girlboss shut down the Flamingos over the final 1.2 innings to earn her eighth save of the season. Chicago hung crooked numbers in the second, eighth, and ninth innings en route to a game-two win. Franzonello drove in four runs on a 2-for-4 day while Daly posted his best start of the month, permitting just two earned runs off of four hits over six complete innings. The victory gave the Kingpins their only series win of the month. Chicago could not complete the sweep in game three, however, as Florida smashed 13 hits and scored 10 runs with just eight innings worth of offense.

July 24 – Kansas City Hepcats 8 – Chicago Kingpins 5 (15 innings)
July 25 – Kansas City Hepcats 3 – Chicago Kingpins 7
July 26 – Kansas City Hepcats 7 – Chicago Kingpins 3

Game one against the West Division leading Hepcats went deep into the night before Kansas City finally broke through with three runs in the 15th inning. Both bullpens were sensational. The Hepcats called on seven relievers who all answered the bell, combining to throw 10.2 innings while giving up just two earned runs. Meanwhile, the Kingpins used five relievers of their own, who in turn allowed just three earned runs over 11.2 innings pitched. Ultimately, Chicago’s bullpen ran out of steam first. Game two turned in the Kingpins favor on a two-out, two-RBI double from Copeland in the fourth inning. The hit gave Chicago its first lead of the game. Kansas City tied things up in the top of the fifth, but the Kingpins rallied again with a two-run homer from Lanikai in the bottom of the fifth. Relievers Ouro Kronii and Checo Perez shut out the Hepcats over the final four innings to secure the win. Kansas City reversed the score in game three, scoring the game’s first seven runs and keeping Chicago scoreless all the way until the eighth inning. Daly was charged with the loss after yielding 6 earned runs on six hits through 4.1 innings.

July 28 – Chicago Kingpins 11 – Puerto Rico Ranas 10
July 29 – Chicago Kingpins 2 – Puerto Rico Ranas 3
July 30 – Chicago Kingpins 4 – Puerto Rico Ranas 5 (10 innings)

The Kingpins closed out the month of July with a series loss at Puerto Rico. Chicago almost blew a nine-run lead in game one. Goatbisky allowed six runs (four earned) in the seventh inning and McMorris allowed three runs (two earned) in the eighth without recording an out before Girlboss took charge and recorded the final six outs to secure a one-run win and their ninth save. The Ranas rebounded with back-to-back walk-off wins to take the series. In game two, it was a ninth inning walk-off home run by Giggity Giggity Goo against Kingpins stopper Girlboss. In game three, it was a walk-off single by Daquavion Davis Jr. against McMorris.

[Jiggy]

In sports, the postseason is special in part because of its restorative property.

A team that performs well in the postseason – especially a team that wins a championship – can erase a bit of its past. Its legacy is not what failings it may have suffered along the way in the regular season, but rather what glory in which its season ended.

With the Professional Baseball Experience Minor League (MiLPBE) regular season in the books, the Chicago Kingpins are seeking just that kind of restoration.

One might describe the Kingpins’ 2055 season as topsy-turvy. Others might describe it more as a fall from grace.

Through the first two months of the season, the Kingpins boasted a 24-9 record, the best in the minor leagues. Then the summer came, and with it bad fortune. Chicago stumbled to a 9-13 record in June that included three extra-inning losses and five one-run losses. July was no better. The Kingpins finished that month with a 7-10 record, including four more extra inning losses.

August’s 13-11 record seemed somewhat stabilizing, but Chicago finished regular play just 4-8 in September. Though only a partial month, winning percentage wise the Kingpins closed with their worst of the season.

Now at season end, Chicago has a 57-51 record. It’s good for second in the MiLPBE East Division, but at 10 games back of the leader the Kingpins have fallen well short of their preseason goal of a division championship and – more importantly – a first round bye in the postseason.

Adding insult to injury, while Chicago was struggling through the summer, a familiar foe was soaring. The State College Swift Steeds posted a 28-11 record in June and July to not just pass the Kingpins in the East Division, but to create a near insurmountable lead heading into the season’s home stretch. The gap got so wide that, by the time Chicago clinched a postseason berth on simulation day September 1, the Swift Steeds’ magic number to clinch the East Division (and the first-round postseason bye) sat at just one. State College won on September 2 to eliminate any mathematical possibility of the Kingpins making a comeback.

Chicago users and fans remember all to well that this is not the first time in recent history that State College has created cause for their disappointment. The Kingpins won the East Division last season and marched all the way to the World Series where all that stood between them and a championship was an upstart Swift Steeds team that had had to grind its way into the postseason.

State College won the MiLPBE World Series four games to one. With the win, memories of the Swift Steeds’ regular season struggles seemed to fade. Last season’s postseason run has seemingly served as a springboard to continued success this season.

There is no love lost for the Swift Steeds in the Kingpins locker room. But perhaps this postseason Chicago reverse its fortune – and the narrative on its year overall – by doing what State College did just one simulation year ago.

Chicago begins its 2055 postseason journey by taking on the Louisville Lemurs, who eked into the postseason with a 52-56 record, five games behind the Kingpins in the East Division. Chicago went 7-5 against the Lemurs during the regular season, but five of those wins came during the months of April and May when the Kingpins’ fortunes were still favorable. Chicago was just 2-4 against Louisville in July and August.

The Kingpins are hoping for another round of topsy-turvy as they chase what has become an elusive second championship for the franchise.

Series Recaps

August 1 – Anchorage Wheelers 0 – Chicago Kingpins 4
August 2 – Anchorage Wheelers 1 – Chicago Kingpins 3
August 3 – Anchorage Wheelers 2 – Chicago Kingpins 3

After a rough month of July, Kingpins starter James Daly got back on track in a game one win, shutting out the Wheelers over five complete innings while striking out 10 to earn player of the game owners. Stopper Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss nailed down the final 2.1 innings to complete the staff shutout and earn her 10th save of the season. Chicago pitching remained stingy throughout the remainder of the series. Starter Ragnar Lothbrok threw seven innings, allowing just one run on five hits to earn a game two win, with Beeg Yosh nailing down the final two innings to earn a save. Starter Jolene Mydog gave up a pair of runs in the first inning of game three but made it into the fifth inning without yielding another run. Relievers Mitch Goatbisky and Girlboss held the Wheelers scoreless over the final 4.2 innings, giving the Kingpins the opportunity to cash in three runs on five hits in the bottom of the eighth to steal the win and complete the sweep.

August 5 – Chicago Kingpins 1 – State College Swift Steeds 6
August 6 – Chicago Kingpins 4 – State College Swift Steeds 6
August 7 – Chicago Kingpins 7 – State College Swift Steeds 5

Chicago produced a station-to-station run with three singles in the top of the second, but was unable to score again, falling in the first of three games on the road at State College. Swift Steeds relievers Tre Taylor and Jebidiah Crunk Jr. stifled the Kingpins over the final 4.2 innings, allowing just two hits along the way. Santiago Benito and Alyssa Jakob had two hits apiece in the losing effort for Chicago, while Zane Cold, Jake Cilliams and Okada Kahn each homered for State College. The Kingpins jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the top of the third inning when third baseman Luigi Lanikai launched a three-run home run off Parker “Sweet Pea” Ness. Chicago couldn’t hold on to the lead, however, giving up a run in the bottom of the third and a three-run rally in the bottom of the fifth to fall behind for good. Swift Steeds catcher Jose FortyThreeAndAQuarter was 3-for-3 with a home run and two singles. Kingpins designated hitter Tony Franzonello also had a 3-hit day. Chicago’s offense helped the club avoid a sweep with a game three win. Left fielder Nate Brittles, Jakob, and Benito each had three hits while Franzoneelo was 2-for-4 with a homer, 2 RBIs and 3 runs scored.

August 9 – Brew City Bears 0 – Chicago Kingpins 7
August 10 – Brew City Bears 7 – Chicago Kingpins 3
August 11 – Brew City Bears 6 – Chicago Kingpins 2

It’s easy to win when your pitching doesn’t allow a run. Mydog, Goatbisky and Girlboss were dominant at home, collectively shutting out the Bears in game one. The Chicago trio allowed just five total hits, struck out five, and walked just three batters. Jacob, shortstop Randy Fasttrack, and Benito had three hits apiece, with Fasttrack and Benito driving in two runs to boot. Reliever Bauer Bottom was charged with the Kingpins’ loss in game two. The left hander allowed four runs on three hits, including a home run off the bat of first baseman Bone Bearer, while recording just one out in a pivotal fifth inning that broke a 2-2 tie and gave Brew City the lead for good. Chicago tallied 11 hits in game three, including 10 off of Bears starter Lots-o’-Heineken Bear Version 2.0, but could only push two runs across in game three’s series-deciding loss. Benito stayed hot with yet another three-hit performance for the Kingpins. Bearer bashed two home runs to lead the charge for Brew City.

August 13 – Chicago Kingpins 2 – Louisville Lemurs 6
August 14 – Chicago Kingpins 3 – Louisville Lemurs 5
August 15 – Chicago Kingpins 5 – Louisville Lemurs 4

Offensive stagnation plagued the Kingpins yet again in the series opening loss at Louisville. Louisville managed just two runs on six hits against Lemur pitching. Jakob and third baseman Jim Copeland Jr. had a pair of hits apiece, while Louisville first baseman Michael Ferris Brueller Jr. was 3-for-4 with two doubles and a run scored. Louisville reliever Mike Ehrmantraut picked up the save, closing out the final three innings without giving up a hit and allowing just one Chicago baserunner on a walk. The Kingpins outhit the Lemurs eight hits to four, but again struggled to produce runs. Santiago was 3-for-3 with a homer, two singles, and a walk, as well as two of the club’s three RBIs. It was a tough outing in relief for Chicago right hander Al Dugger. He walked five Louisville batters while recording just one out in the sixth inning, allowing four total runs (three earned) to be charged with a blown save and the loss. The Kingpins salvaged a win in game three getting to Lemur starter Flamethrower Meta early with a four-run first inning. In total, Chicago knocked 11 hits and scored five runs in 3.2 innings against Meta. Rookie center fielder Bartholomew Brown was 4-for-4 on the game with a double, an RBI and two stolen bases. Lanikai added a homer, his 17th of the season, while Franzonello pitched in with three hits and two runs scored.

August 17 – Amarillo Armadillos 1 – Chicago Kingpins 6
August 18 – Amarillo Armadillos 2 – Chicago Kingpins 6
August 19 – Amarillo Armadillos 2 – Chicago Kingpins 3

A home tilt against the Armadillos produced a much-needed sweep for the Kingpins who had lost six of their last nine games heading into the series. Daly’s strong, six-inning outing carried the day in game one. He allowed just one run on six hits, striking out four and walking none. Franzonello was 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs. Lothbrok yielded just three hits and two earned runs over six innings of his own in game two. Trailing 2-1, rookie second baseman Otijomyzark Kove hammered a 1-2 pitch from Amarillo left hander Charlie Xu 433 feet into the stands, a three-run homer that put the Kingpins ahead. Copeland followed him later in the inning with his own 440-foot solo shot. Chicago had to come from behind again in game three to complete the sweep. The Kingpins trailed by two runs but got one run back in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single by Franzonello before taking the lead on a two-RBI single by Brittles in the seventh. Chicago’s bullpen was spectacular, throwing 5.2 innings of one-hit, shutout relief to set the stage for the comeback.

August 20 – Chicago Kingpins 6 – California Firehawks 5
August 22 – Chicago Kingpins 3 – California Firehawks 8
August 23 – Chicago Kingpins 7 – California Firehawks 8

Franzonello lit up the scorebook Chicago’s game one win. The designated hitter had four hits and four RBIs, including a grand slam, three singles, and a walk. Girlboss shut down any would-be California comeback, no-hitting the Firehawks over the final 2.2 innings to earn her 12th save. California rebounded in game two, with five Firehawks players posting multi-hit performances. The Kingpins were left wondering what might have been after leaving 15 total runners on base in the contest. California starter Nova “Wallstreet” Montagne threw six complete innings giving up just three runs, while relievers Frigg Delling and Bat Mansdad finished the final three without allowing any more. Game three’s Kingpins loss featured plenty of drama. Trailing 7-2, Chicago rallied for five runs in the ninth, including a grand slam from Franzonello and a two-RBI single from Fasttrack. Yosh could not preserve the tie in the bottom of the ninth, however, giving up a one-out, walk-off home run to first baseman Allison Chainz that decided the series.

August 24 – Florida Flamingos 1 – Chicago Kingpins 6
August 25 – Florida Flamingos 4 – Chicago Kingpins 5
August 27 – Florida Flamingos 2 – Chicago Kingpins 4

Another August home series resulted in another sweep for Chicago, who took all three games against the Florida Flamingos. Mydog earned the win in game one, allowing just three runs while shutting out the Flamingos through the first five innings. Fasttrack was a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate, while Jakob was 3-for-4 with a home run. Chicago scored four runs in the first inning of game two’s win and broke a four-run tie in the bottom of the eighth on an RBI single from Brittles. Goatbisky gave a steady effort in relief with four innings pitched and only one run allowed on one hit and no walks. Daly was pivotal the Kingpins’ game-three victory, throwing six complete innings and allowing just two runs. Lanikai hit a two-run home run and Jakob was 2-for-3.

August 28 – Chicago Kingpins 1 – Kansas City Hepcats 2
August 29 – Chicago Kingpins 2 – Kansas City Hepcats 7
August 30 – Chicago Kingpins 2 – Kansas City Hepcats 3

Another road series, another series loss, this time a sweep at the hands of Kansas City. The Hepcats clutched out a game one win with third baseman Leo Livid hitting a go-ahead, two-run home run off of Chicago reliever Yosh in the bottom of the eighth. Copeland hit a solo home run in the third inning, the Kingpins’ only run on the day. The Kansas City bullpen allowed just one hit and one walk over 4.1 combined innings pitched. It continued to stifle in game two, allowing just two hits and three walks over the final five innings in game two. Franzonellow and Fasttrack each managed a solo home run against Hepcats starter Hunter Jackson, but the two runs were not enough. Livid was 2-for-3 with a home run and a walk, scoring twice and driving in two runs as part of Kansas City’s 11-hit, seven-run effort. Chicago fell behind 3-1 in game three and, once again, could not scrape the necessary runs together against the Hepcats bullpen. Kansas City relievers allowed just one run, an unearned run due to an eighth inning error, while giving up just three hits through 4.2 total innings.

September 1 – Puerto Rico Ranas 2 – Chicago Kingpins 3
September 2 – Puerto Rico Ranas 2 – Chicago Kingpins 0
September 3 – Puerto Rico Ranas 6 – Chicago Kingpins 5

Daly earned his 9th win of the season after scattering six hits through 5.1 innings. The Kingpins starter allowed just one unearned run in game one while striking out three and walking three. Fasttrack was 3-for-3 and Jakob added two hits. Despite a follow-up good outing by starter Lothbrok, Chicago managed just two hits and was shut out by Rana’s pitching in game two. Brittles did all he could in game three, tallying three hits with a home run, double, and two walks while scoring three runs on his own, but his effort was not enough. Puerto Rico claimed the series by breaking a 5-5 tie in the eighth with an RBI single by designated hitter Bush Blazing.

September 4 – Chicago Kingpins 0 – Anchorage Wheelers 5
September 6 – Chicago Kingpins 7 – Anchorage Wheelers 8
September 7 – Chicago Kingpins 2 – Anchorage Wheelers 5

Chicago could not get anything going against Anchorage starter Michael McGuffey in game one’s defeat. McGuffey went all the way into the eighth inning for the Wheelers, needing just 86 pitches to throw 7.1 innings. He gave up just three hits and no runs, walking one while striking out five Kingpins hitters. A costly error by Kove allowed Anchorage to load the bases in the bottom of the sixth of game two. Wheelers designated hitter Saad Fakhar took advantage of that opportunity, hitting a 377-foot grand slam off Girlboss to spark a five-run rally. Chicago rallied with three runs in the ninth to take a 7-6 lead, but Kingpins left hander Checo Perez couldn’t close things out, giving up four hits including a walk-off RBI single to catcher Harley Quinn. The Wheelers completed the sweep with a game three win that saw Quinn go 4-for-4 with four singles and two RBIs. Anchorage starter Bill Webb got the win, throwing five innings of one-hit baseball, while reliever Missizz Dirk tossed the final four innings to pick up the save.

September 8 – State College Swift Steeds 1 – Chicago Kingpins 10
September 9 – State College Swift Steeds 7 – Chicago Kingpins 3
September 11 – State College Swift Steeds 6 – Chicago Kingpins 7

The Kingpins tallied 14 hits and scored 10 runs in a game one route against the defending champions. Lanikai and Brown had three hits apiece while Kove drove in four runs. Mydog allowed just two hits and no runs over five innings of work, and the only run allowed to State College was an unearned run in the top of the eighth when the game was already in hand. The Swift Steeds hung crooked numbers in the first and fifth innings of game two. Despite 12 hits, the Kingpins managed just three runs in the contest. Game three’s rubber match featured another double-digit hit tally for Chicago – this time the Kingpins plated seven runs, including a walk-off single by Benito in the bottom of the ninth. Jakob finished 3-for-5 while Brittles added two hits and three RBIs.

September 12 – Chicago Kingpins 5 – Brew City Bears 9
September 13 – Chicago Kingpins 3 – Brew City Bears 5
September 14 – Chicago Kingpins 1 – Brew City Bears 0

Brew City pounced on Lothbrok in game one, chasing the Kingpins starter in the second inning after notching seven hits, including a two-run home run in the first and a grand slam in the second, and scoring six runs. The Bears added three more runs against Goatbisky and Bottom. Fasttrack was 3-for-4 in the losing effort with an RBI and two runs scored. Bears starter Kevin Gauzeman earned player-of-the-game honors in game two, throwing 5.1 innings and yielding just two runs and four hits. Kove had a 3-for-4 day, but the Kingpins could not muster much else by way of offense, taking another loss on the road. Pitching helped Chicago stave off a season-ending series sweep. Rookie starter Casey Shaffer tossed 4.2 innings, allowing just three hits. Dugger and Perez added 4.1 additional innings of no-run, three hit relief to nail down a shutout win. The Kingpins’ lone run was scored on a two-out single by Lanikai in the sixth inning.

[Jiggy]

The 2055 postseason got off to a raucous start in Chicago. It ended in a whisper.

Kingpins fans, starved for what has proven to be an elusive second Professional Baseball Experience Minor League (MiLPBE) World Series championship, roared to their feet in the bottom of the first inning of game one. Chicago left fielder Nate Brittles launched a towering lead-off bomb into the outfield seats. Fireworks blasted. Music blared. Fans clapped and danced and cheered.

“I’ve never felt energy like that in the ballpark,” rookie center fielder Bartholomew Brown said of the reaction to Brittles’ home run. “It gave me goosebumps. It made me realize how high the stakes are compared to the regular season.”

The solo shot gave the Kingpins a 1-0 lead and a greater sense of hope that this season they might avoid that taste of postseason disappointment that has plagued the franchise in recent history.

The joy in the stadium was short lived, unfortunately. And about as short lived as time and outs could allow.

Louisville responded immediately with a three-run rally in the top of the second to take a lead from which it would never look back. The Lemurs hit four consecutive singles to tie the game before Chicago starter James Daly could record the inning’s first out. A sacrifice fly from Louisville right fielder Gumby gave Louisville a 2-1 lead, and Lemurs left fielder Ryan James added an RBI single to extend that lead to 3-1.

The drop in Chicago’s The Jose Forty-Three Stadium decibel levels was as mercurial as its rise. By the time Daly was able work out of the inning, the home crowd’s roars had melted into murmurs.

“Louisville is really scrappy,” Brown said of the opposition after the game. “It wasn’t like they were hitting James [Daly] super hard. They just placed balls where the defense wasn’t, and took advantage of contact. It was kind of death by a thousand paper cuts there in the second.”

With the lead, Lemurs starter Vuitton Tentacion took full control. The left hander needed just nine pitches to retire the side in the bottom of the second. He retired the side in order in the third, fourth, and fifth innings, and allowed just one runner on a single in the sixth.

Tentacion was lifted after six complete innings. Other than that first inning home run, he allowed just three hits and didn’t walk a single Kingpins batter.

Chicago may have been able to threaten in the fourth, but a strategic decision potentially prevented the offense from having an opportunity to get going. Right fielder Alyssa Jakob made hard contact to lead off the bottom of the fourth, roping a full-count double with an exit velocity of 105 miles per hour, but was thrown out at third trying to stretch the double into a triple. Tentacion needed only four pitches to get the next two hitters out and end the inning.

Commentators questioned the decision to go for third, but Jakob’s teammates stood by them in the clubhouse.

“I love the way Jakob plays,” Brown said. “We’ve tried to put pressure on defenses all season. That’s part of what makes us successful and what we believe we need to keep doing to win in the postseason. Sometimes the defense makes a really good play, and in those cases you just have to tip your cap.”

Lemurs reliever Adam Roberts took over in the bottom of the seventh and once again Chicago hitters were three-up and three-down. He threw another 1.2 innings, giving up just one run on three hits before being lifted for Ryan Negs in the bottom of the ninth.

James gave Louisville some insurance with a lead-off homer to open the eighth frame, widening the gap to 4-1. The Kingpins threatened in the bottom half, putting runners on first and second with no outs, third baseman Jim Copeland, Jr. flew out to right and Brittle grounded into an inning-ending and threat-ending double play.

Down to Chicago’s last out in the bottom of the ninth, first baseman Luigi Lanikai, shortstop Randy Fasttrack, catcher Santiago Benito and Kove each singled, resulting in a run and trimming the deficit to 4-2. Rookie center fielder Bartholomew Brown stepped to the plate with two outs, the bases loaded, and an opportunity to tie or win the game with one swing of the bat. The situation created the first real buzz in the ballpark since Brittle’s first inning home run. Fans rose to their feet, clasped their hands together, and waited with baited breath for fortune to strike.

Brown lifted a lazy fly ball to right field. Some fans gasped thinking the drive was deeper than it was, but gasps turned to groans, which turned to silence as the ball was squeezed by Gumby for the game’s final out.

“That’s the kind of clutch moment you daydream about from the time you’re a little kid and continue to daydream about as a professional,” Brown said after the game. “It’s really disappointing to have that kind of chance and not come through for my team.”

With the loss, Chicago fell behind 0-1 in the best-of-five series and lost home field advantage.

The next day gave the club its next chance to get things going on a possible postseason run. Once again, hope sprung early, with the Kingpins taking an early 2-0 lead in the second inning. With a runner on first, Brown laced an RBI double to get the scoring started. Brittles followed with a two-out RBI single against Louisville starter Drew Mcintyre.

Once again, however, the Lemurs answered before the Chicago faithful could really begin to enjoy the team’s lead. Kingpins rookie Casey Shaffer gave up a walk and a pair of singles that plated the first Louisville run in the top of the third. With the bases loaded later in the inning, Shaffer walked in the game-tying run.

Louisville then exploded for a five-run sixth inning against right hander Jolene Mydog. Mydog was a member of the Kingpins’ rotation during the regular season, but was moved to the bullpen when the rotation was trimmed to three for the postseason.

The Lemurs continued to notch runs, scoring in each of game two’s final three innings to produce a lopsided 10-4 final.

Chicago managed 12 hits, one fewer than the total allowed to Louisville. Brown, Lanikai, Benito and designated hitter Tony Franzonello each had multi-hit games in the losing effort.

Down the first two games in the series, the Kingpins would have to win the next two in Louisville to give its home fans at one last something to get loud for.

As has become custom in the series, Chicago struck first with a two-run home run from Kove in the top of the fifth that quieted an enthusiastic Lemurs home crowd. But Louisville demonstrated its resilience once again, trying the game with three hits in the bottom half. With the game knotted at two runs apiece in the bottom of the sixth, the Lemurs decimated dreams of a Kingpins run, popping off for a two-out, five run inning to seize a decisive 7-2 lead.

Chicago got a run back in the seventh, but that was it. The Kingpins’ once-promising 2055 season ended with a whisper and a three-game sweep in the first round of the postseason.

“It would be an understatement to say I’m disappointed,” Brown said after game three’s loss. “This is a super talented team, and I couldn’t be happier being a Kingpin. I know the end result is not what we had imagined and not what our fans deserve.”

As the postseason rolls on, it is all quiet at what once was a raucous, hopeful The Jose Forty-Three Stadium.

Series Scores

September 16 - Louisville Lemurs 4 @ Chicago Kingpins 2
September 17 - Louisville Lemurs 10 @ Chicago Kingpins 4
September 19 - Chicago Kingpins 3 @ Louisville Lemurs 7

Series Final: Louisville Lemurs defeats Chicago Kingpins 3-0

[Jiggy]

Winter has been a season of change in Chicago. The Kingpins had little time to seek answers to what happened in 2055 before facing arguable more daunting questions about what comes next in 2056.

Chicago finished 57-51, ten games behind the State College Swift Steeds in the East Division. Though the record was third best in the Professional Baseball Experience Minor League (MiLPBE), it was a disappointment and significant step back from the 2054 season when the Kingpins won the East Division with a 62-46 record.

After a 24-9 start skyrocketed Chicago into first place by the end of May, a slow developing collapse began in June and continued all the way through the first round of the postseason, where the Kingpins were unmercifully swept three games to none by the Louisville Lemurs, who entered the playoffs with just at 52-56 overall record.

Entering the 2055 season, the front office and lineup alike had set their sights on an East Division championship and another shot at competing for the World Series. So what went wrong in the Windy City? How did a team with such a rich winning tradition, confidence, and high expectations fall so short of them?

Looking solely at the numbers, it seems it was the offense – one that boasted a great deal of continuity from the 2054 season – that ultimately lacked the consistency needed to stop the slide that began in June.

Chicago batters collectively hit .279 on the year, good for just sixth out of ten MiLPBE teams. They ranked seventh in slugging percentage, eighth in home runs and ninth in stolen bases. And maybe most telling, they struck out a league most 568 times.

On the flip side, Kingpins pitching was among the league’s best, giving up the league’s second-fewest runs, trailing only the World Series champion Kansas City Hepcats. Based on earned run average, Chicago had the second best starting pitching in the league and the third best bullpen. Lack of steady run support mitigated the impact of the Kingpins’ ability to hold opposing offenses at bay.

Now the Kingpins head into yet another Opening Day tinged with disappointment from the year prior. Some might say the taste left from 2055 is even more bitter than previous seasons considering how long Chicago’s struggles lasted.

The Kingpins will look for answers to their offensive woes and for ways to maintain the quality of pitching that at least kept them treading water and preserved the postseason berth that seemed elemental in May but became questionable over the summer. But they will have to do so without pivotal pieces in both the lineup and rotation that had helped fuel the team’s 2054 success and helped preserve its place in the postseason during the tumult of last season.

Key Departures

SP James Daly

The Kingpins’ ace and rotation anchor moves on to the major leagues for the 2056 season. Daly led the Kingpins essentially every statistical category as the lead starter last season and ranked fourth in total strikeouts among minor leaguers with 105 on the year. It’s unclear which returning starter will take up Daly’s mantle as ace. Key candidates include returners Jolene Mydog and Ragnar Lothbrok, but it will take several simulations to assess the true quality of Chicago’s best long-inning arms.

SS Randy Fasttrack

Chicago’s best infield defender will suit up for the MiLPBE’s Puerto Rico Ranas next season. Fasttrack hit .312 with 15 home runs and 62 RBIs adding an potent middle-of-the-order bat to the slick middle-infield defense, so his absence alone leaves multiple holes in the Kingpins’ roster.

1B Luigi Lanikai

The Kingpins big-bat slugger and key run producer is also getting called up to the major leagues for Season 40. LLanikai hit .305 with 19 home runs and 81 RBIs, fourth most in the minors, while batting cleanup for the Kingpins all of last season. For a team that struggled to find offensive consitency, this loss is particularly painful. Chicago will have to find another bat capable of shoring up the middle of its lineup card to remain a mid-tier offensive team in 2056.

Key Returners

RP Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss

Girlboss wrapped up 2055 with a league-low 2.38 ERA. As the club’s stopper, she was called upon in high leverage situations and delivered 13 saves. As the club’s best bullpen arm, she was called upon often, racking up 69 strikeouts in 90.2 innings of usage. Girlboss will once again be the stopper for the Kingpins, and unless the offense surprises, may find herself in even more low-margin, high leverage situations in 2056.

C Santiago Benito

Benito is one of the best-hitting catchers in the MiLPBE. A season ago he batted .320, notching 130 hits in 406 at bats, including 10 home runs and 60 RBIs. Chicago may need even more out of Benito this season, which is a tall ask.

OF Alyssa Jakob

Jakob was a Swiss army knife of sorts, doing a little bit of everything for Chicago a season ago. They finished 2055 as a .305 hitter with 11 homers and 47 RBIs last season. Offensively that was good for a 116 wRC+. Defensively, Jakob also boasted a +11.1 zone rating and a 1.023 defensive efficiency.

Hopes to Develop

SP Casey Shaffer

Shaffer led all MiLPBE rookies with a 1.39 WHIP. The left hander returns for a second season in Chicago. The Kingpins will need him to pitch deeper into contests this season and serve as more of an anchor to maintain its statistical position of among the best staffs in the MiLPBE. If he can stretch his stamina and enhance his control, he could challenge for a front-end rotation spot.

IF Otijjomyzarc Kove

Kove manned second base last season, but may slot to short after the departure of Fasttrack. With Fasstrack, Kove provided a strong double-play producing middle infield. He will need to expand his range and learn the rhythms of his new middle infield mate to keep turning two this season. Offensively, Kove had a fairly productive 2055 season batting in the bottom third of the Kingpins order. He hit .267 with 42 RBIs in 404 logged at bats. He will need to continue developing at the plate as he will likely be required to move up to the middle of the order and will be looked upon for even more run production this season.

OF Bartholomew Brown

The speedy center fielder swiped 23 bases in 2055, but his inability to get on base hindered his impact. Brown had just a .279 on base percentage, batting a measly .225 for the year. Despite struggling to make good contact for much of the season, Brown showed that when he does he can be a real threat, leading the MiLPBE with six triples. Brown will need to develop a more keen eye, improved plate discipline, and an ability to make solid contact to grow the dynamics of the Kingpins’ offense.

New Arrivals

SS Theo Allard

The switch-hitting shortstop was a first-round draft selection this year. Known for working counts and finding ways to get on base as an amateur, those skills could provide a significant boon to a lineup that will be a work-in-progress reinvention this season. Allard boasts great range in the infield, but his double-play prowess has been questioned.

RP Ruggsy Witdaheelys

A control freak reliever, Witdaheelys can pinpoint pitches and has great movement, particularly with his circle change, which he relies on as his primary out-producer. It’s unclear precisely where Chicago’s other first-round selection will slot in the Kingpins’ bullpen, but productive outs will be a commodity, particularly with questions surrounding the starting rotation.

1B Pedro Blanco

Taken in the second round of the MiLPBE draft, Blanco is contact-hitting first baseman who will fill the roster spot left by Lanikai’s departure. Blanco has been excellent at avoiding strikeouts and finding gaps when putting balls in play as an amateur, and the Kingpins hope that translates to continued success in the minor leagues.

[Jiggy]

Right fielder Alyssa Jakob does a little bit of everything for the Chicago Kingpins. She bats third in the their potent lineup and does so as a switch hitter. She hits to all sides of the field, mashes home runs against right-handed pitchers and bats over .300 against left-handed pitchers. She covers ground well beyond the range of a normal right fielder and has a power arm that has already cut down many a runner who dared seek an extra base on a ball hit in her direction.

Jakob has been vital to Chicago’s success in recent seasons for all she has contributed in the lineup and in the field during Professional Baseball Experience Minor League (MiLPBE) simulations.

She does so much more for Professional Baseball Experience (PBE) user Canthereon.

Cantheron is trans. And Alyssa Jakob is a player that represents Canthereon for who she is.



Jakob is in part an homage to Canthereon’s own personal journey. A journey that Canthereon, beloved member of the Kingpins family, wants to now share with the PBE and the greater OOTP community as well.

For the reader, the italicized portions of this media contain Canthereon’s own reflections on her personal growth, her transition and her experience in the PBE.*

I want to make it clear that the story I’m sharing involves what would largely be considered as trauma. I have learned a lot of great coping methods over the years through being social, internet research and professional help. It’s also quite long winded and takes probably too long to tie into PBE, so judge as necessary. None of what I am about to share seems upsetting to me anymore. I see my life not as before and after transition, but all part of a continuous journey. I do not consider my old name to be a dead name, rather my current name as a preferred name. I have been incredibly blessed to have my wife, friends and family be so supportive over the years, so that support network has always been there for me. It hasn’t always been easy, and it certainly hasn’t been perfect, but my hope is that by sharing maybe some other folks can get something out of it. I’m usually around in Discord if anyone wants to talk, so remember you’re not alone!*

My earliest memory is of wanting to be different. I know this memory is my own since we don’t have this moment recorded on the home movies my family used to take when I was younger. I’m sure the specifics are a bit clouded by time and distance, fickle as memory often is. I convinced my sister (who was 3 at the time) to swap shirts with me so we could show our parents. I don’t have a specific ‘why’ behind the desire other than it made me happy and I thought they would want to see it too. Growing up in the 90s meant I didn’t really have any clue what being trans was outside of Ace Ventura, and that wasn’t exactly a positive role model. I did have lots of examples of drag queens. To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar was a particular favorite, and something I could semi-reasonably emulate.*

I took forays in secret, sourcing what I could as a pre-teen from my sister and mom. They understandably weren’t super pleased when their dresses and shoes would disappear and reappear in my room. My parents weren’t really ones for confrontation, so they just asked me to stop, and I became more careful. Instead of taking things, I would reserve these moments for when the rest of my family wasn’t home. I would use their closet while they were gone and return the items. It felt normal and comfortable. Just lounging around the house, playing video games and then changing back long before I knew they would be home. It helped for sure, but still didn’t feel like enough. It was at this time that I started to incorporate my desires into prayer, hoping that some divine intervention would help me. I started to get a little overanxious when visiting a cousin for a weekend, and was caught live for the first time by my aunt. In my genius 13-year-old mind, I figured my best bet was to pretend I was sleepwalking. The next morning I stuck with that story and essentially begged my aunt to not tell my parents. She agreed, and I was able to continue my stealth exploits. At this point, outside of what my parents and sister suspected, only my aunt knew. I found out later that she actually didn’t end up telling my parents, so mostly it was just an abnormality they couldn’t explain. My mom didn’t catch me wearing anything pretty much up until my high school years.

My parents divorced when I was 12, and we got into a pretty normal routine of swapping living spaces for weekends or weeks. When we lived with my dad, my mom would drop us off, say her goodbyes and I would almost immediately jump into my routine if my sister wasn’t home. On a particular evening when I was 15, my sister got dropped off at a sleepover with a friend, and I jumped right in. I didn’t realize that my mom had stayed behind to talk to my dad, and wanted to say a last goodbye before she left. I threw on a sweatshirt and hoped for the best, but her eyes went wide after we shared a hug. She didn’t say anything in the moment, but the next weekend she asked me what I was doing. I’ve always been a pretty smooth talker, and had learned a few things from random chat rooms back in the day. Avoidance was pretty simple, so I told my mom it was a pretty common thing for guys to experiment with. That seemed to satisfy her curiosity and we moved on. Things came to a head in college.

My wife and I met in my freshman year of college. She was the first person I ever shared my secret with officially. I wasn’t as educated on the matter as I am now, so I basically explained it as a hobby, something I did for fun. She helped me embrace that part of myself, and as I dove in around her, I realized that this wasn’t just something I wanted to do for a hobby. It was something I wanted to do for life. I started sharing with some of my closest friends not only the feelings and journey I had been going through, but how I wanted to move forward. I wanted to get everyone on board before I made a real go of it, so I went to tell my dad. My father has a best friend who has been out as gay since they were in high school together, so I figured he would be super receptive and help me figure out what to do. When I told him, I said that I wanted to start looking like a girl.*

He responded with “OK, but you don’t want to be a girl, do you?”*
In the moment, this shook me. I hadn’t read about this or even thought of the question. My gut reaction was to deny it, and abandon my quest while I tried to figure out my feelings. In the meantime, I started amassing a small closet for myself, while telling anyone who asked about it that I wasn’t sure how I felt anymore.

So from the ages of 19-to-35, I just kind of coasted through life. There’s a huge comfort in masking, and when you’re in the moment it feels like you’re just using positive coping mechanisms. My wife and I got married when I was 26. It was one of the happiest days of my life, but even that day I couldn’t help but think how, even dressed to the nines, I just looked fine, and wished my wife and I could share her experience. I started to dig in more in trans spaces, learn more information, and even started posting on some boards to get more information. As I saw the amount of effort and diversity of thought in the space, the prospect of transitioning just seemed far too intimidating. I figured I had gone this long as I was, so at this point I just needed to be happy with what I had. I immersed myself into my relationship, work, Dungeons & Dragons and friends in general.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

That first year after lockdowns started was exceedingly rough for me. I had gone to a wedding in Los Angeles without realizing it would be my last live experience with friends for a long time. Losing one of my main methods of distraction made it increasingly difficult to ignore my feelings. I started to supplement that crutch with the gacha game that is Perfect Team. At one point, in late October, the servers for Perfect Team were down. While they were down, a moderator for the OOTP stream named CrazyCaityCat posted that we should use the down time to check out the PBE and sign up. Interested in joining the conversation with some fellow baseball nerds, I dove in with both feet.

In the PBE, players earn ability points – called “TPE” – by completing weekly activity checks, making equipment and training purchases, making successful game predictions, participating in forum games, making short player journal entries, and many other games and activities planned by league leadership. Users invest ability points weekly to improve player skills and attributes throughout their player’s career, hoping to eventually create a player build strong enough to be an All Star, win championships, and potentially earn a place in the league’s Hall of Fame. Players earn money by taking on jobs that give back to the league. Examples include writing media, creating graphics for league use, streaming, producing podcasts. There are also other ways to “max earn”, including gambling PBE dollars on real life and PBE sporting events in the league casino, investing in the PBE stock market, and participating in PBE fantasy (yes, a fantasy league based on user-created player performance during PBE simulations).

For a new user, all of this available activity, and the expectation to keep it up week-to-week, can seem daunting. It did for Canthereon at first, but it soon became a great source for new, and ultimately important, friendships.

Initially, I wasn’t convinced I would be able to keep up with the update schedule, but I quickly became hooked. With my natural social confidence, podcasts came relatively easy, and I was able to pretty quickly amass a solid monetary fund. It became almost trivial when [another user] Dom started co-hosting with me, and I knew I had a friend for PBE life.

The routine couldn’t keep going forever though.

I started to have some admittedly dark thoughts, and knew it was time to ask for real help. My therapist helped me understand that I needed to make a change for myself, that it would be scary and difficult, but I would feel so much better. I made the change socially first, and got everyone to understand how I felt. In the PBE, I started with Dom and instantly got positive feedback.

To further her change, Canthereon began to think about retiring her original player. Under PBE rules, a user may retire their player at any time simply by posting a threat in the retirement section of the PBE forums. A retirement may be revoked up to a certain point, but once a user creates a new player, the retirement becomes final. As she was contemplating retiring her player, Canthereon came out to more PBE users. At that point, she knew she wanted to create a new player that more accurately reflected the transition she was making in her personal life. Her desire eventually led to the Kingpins’ Alyssa Jakob.

Jakob is inspired by Abbi Jacobson’s character, Abbi Abrams, from the web series Broad City, which Canthereon began watching before it was picked up by television’s Comedy Central. The show is based on the real-life friendship between Jacobson and co-star Ilana Glazer, who plays a character named Ilana Wexler.

I watched Broad City online before Comedy Central picked it up, and the exploits of Abbi and Ilana were essentially me if I hadn’t found a lucrative career in call centers but instead stayed on the retail path. It also felt fated that Abbi and I are both 1984 babies. So, Abbi Jacobson became the inspiration for Alyssa Jakob, my current and second character.

Canthereon chose the name “Alyssa” for her player as a way of introducing the new ‘her’ to everyone in the PBE. The name “Jakob” is about Canthereon’s love for the Cubs and is in honor of her grandfather.
Jakob is now in her third season as the Chicago Kingpins’ starting right fielder.

As a rookie, Jakob immediately became a steady presence at the dish. She batted a respectable .279, tallying 113 hits in 405 at bats while hitting seven home runs, driving in 34 runs and scoring 47 times.
In year two a season ago, Canthereon’s investment in Jakob continued to pay dividends. By season’s end, Jakob had posted a .305 batting average, a .811 OPS, and a 3.3 WAR in 108 games. She tallied 11 home runs, 47 RBIs and scored 66 total runs while batting third in Chicago’s batting order.

Through 21 games so far, Jakob is hitting a whopping .375 with a .865 OPS. Her wRC+ is 140, and she leads the minor leagues with 33 singles. She is one of the major reasons Chicago has raced out to an early 14-7 start to keep pace with the seemingly perennially red-hot State College Swift Steeds, who’s 15-6 record is just one game better than the Kingpins’ in the MiLPBE East Division.

As a staple in the Kingpins locker room and someone who has always been close to whoever the general managers so happen to be, I coordinated with the teams from around the league to make everyone aware that as a user I’m a lifelong Kingpin. While not as active as I used to be, it’s been great to see a lot of the positivity that existed when I first came to the team continued, and some of the legacy I helped build exists through rooms I encouraged to get made and activity I helped foster.

Her production and Canthereon’s continuous league activity led to Jakob being selected by the Seattle Sea Serpents in the second round - 21st overall – of the S39 PBE draft. Heading into the draft, however, Canthereon was clear about just how meaningful the relationships she has built within the Kingpins online community – and the desire for her and Jakob to stay a part of her minor league system for longer than may be usual for standard users and their players. Though she will eventually be called up by the Sea Serpents, here is hope that Canthereon will stick around the Kingpins’ locker room where she has been a beacon of joy, kindness, humor and wit. For now, that is Canthereon’s intent.

The easy sell was the minors, but the majors were an entirely different beast. I essentially told general managers that while I didn’t have a specific team preference, I needed to stay in the minors for 5 seasons, and was willing to go undrafted to do so. Apparently, I got a bit lucky as the draft was insanely packed with talent, and picking me up in the second round was a fair bargain for a guaranteed max earner who is loyal to a fault. All in all, the Kingpins have always been great to me, they’re currently under amazing leadership, and they continue to train future generations of general managers as former Kingpins now occupy roughly half of the general manager jobs in the minors. Did I make any of that happen? Not directly, but I’m still glad to be a part of it!

When Jakob does move on, she will leave a monumental void in the Kingpins’ roster. Through two-and-a-quarter seasons in Chicago, Canthereon and Jakob have been a part of a roller coaster experience in simulation baseball, one that has helped grow the strong bonds that exist among teammates.

Chicago was dominant in the 2054 simulation season, Jakob’s first with the club. The Kingpins easily won the East Division with a 63-45 record – earning a first-round postseason bye – and defeated the Louisville Lemurs four games to one in the postseason semi finals. The team thought itself well on the path to ending a 10-season World Series drought and picking up only Chicago’s second minor league championship, and only State College, who had eked into the playoffs with just a 57-51 record stood in the way. But the Swift Steeds trounced the Kingpins in five games, leaving users with players in Chicago lamenting what might have been.

Still, Kingpins users entered the 2055 simulation season with renewed optimism for the team’s postseason chances. When they raced out to a 32-16 record, it seemed their hopes had been validated. However, June began a midseason collapse that never ceased. Chicago made the postseason, but was unceremoniously swept by the Lemurs in the first round, leaving more questions than answers heading into the 2056 simulation season.

So far things have been going well during Jakob’s third campaign with the minor league club Canthereon has grown to love. Chicago is finding ways to win lots of games despite what appears to be an offense that lacks a lot of the power that had fueled it during the 2054 and 2055 campaigns.

The Kingpins rank dead last in the minors for extra base hits and are striking out at the third-worst clip in the league. Despite those deficiencies, they are second in on-base percentage and runs scored, and have drawn the most walks among minor league teams. There remains a belief that power is going to come from the middle of Chicago’s lineup still, and when it does perhaps those elusive championship aspirations will once again return.

Canthereon has aspirations of her own for Jakob, both now and for the player’s future.

I would love to see [Jakob] get votes for Silver Slugger or Gold Glove, and would love for her to walk away with a ring in the minors. There are a lot of folks who created right fielders, but I think she still has a shot at a few records. I’d also like to see her lead the Serpent’s resurgence here in about 3 season!”

[Jiggy]

Halfway into the 2056 simulated season, the landscape of the Professional Baseball Experience Minor League (MiLPBE) has evolved almost exactly as the Chicago Kingpins expected it would.

Having posted an impressive 33-22 (.600 winning percentage) record heading into the All Star break, the Kingpins stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the State College Swift Steeds (34-21; .618 winning percentage) as the current class of the league. Only the Florida Flamingos (29-26; .527 winning percentage) and the defending champion Kansas City Hepcats (28-27; .509) join them above the .500 mark.

“With the Hepcats heading into a rebuild, we knew at the start of the season that barring a few holes in our team that would need to be filled, this team would be able to continue competing just like it has been for the past few seasons,” said Chicago co-General Manager pauadrian.”

There is hope in the Kingpins locker room that the team will continue to pick up even more steam as the season rounds into its second half, with hopes of overtaking State College. Doing so would provide a particular sense of Schadenfreude, as the Swift Steeds have been a constant obstacle to Chicago’s championship aspirations the last few seasons.

In the 2054 season, it was the upstart version of this State College squad that upset the Kingpins in the Minor League World Series. Last season, the Swift Steeds came from behind in the East Division race to not just surpass Chicago in the standings by midseason, but to boat race them by 10 games by season’s end. Division winners earn first-round byes in the MiLPBE postseason. By failing to get the bye, the Kingpins were forced to square off against the Louisville Lemurs in the first round of the 2055 MiLPBE postseason, where they were summarily swept and sent home for the winter.

Chicago believes that 2056 is shaping up to be an about face from 2055. Instead of faltering through the summer, the Kingpins appear to be getting stronger as this simulated season marches on. They opened the campaign posting a mere 3-6 record in April, which caused anxious rumblings among Chicago faithful. But the club rebounded with nine consecutive wins to start the May, ultimately going 19-5 for the month as a whole. June was not been as hot – Chicago went 11-11 – but it would be unreasonable to expect the team to maintain its torrid May pace.

No MiLPBE team has a winning record against the Kingpins at this point in the season.

Twelve of Chicago’s remaining 18 series this season are against teams below .500. Comparatively, State College will have seven more series against teams with winning records, so based on strength of schedule there may be reason to believe the Kingpins can surmount the current single game differential in the East Division standings.

“Our biggest strength I feel is our pitching,” pauadrian said. “We’ve got a few active pitchers and as long as they can get some run support, we could make another run and have another go in the playoffs.”

At the midsummer break, Chicago ranks first among MiLPBE in starter’s ERA (3.85), runs allowed (223) and opponents batting average (.268). Kingpins pitchers have given up the fewest home runs in the league (40), the second-fewest walks (182) and the second-most strikeouts (328).

The staff has been led by second-year starter Casey Shaffer. The left-hander has posted a 3.26 ERA through 58 innings. Rookie Ruggsy Witdaheelys, a first-round pick in the S41 draft, is also 4-2 with a 3.23 ERA through 61.1 innings. Both starters have been named to the All-Star Game, along with second-year reliever Julian McMorris Jr., who is 2-1 with a 1.97 ERA out of the bullpen.

The pitching production has been an incredible boon for a staff that lost its ace, James Daly, who was promoted to the major leagues in the offseason.

Hitting has been more of a mixed bag, which has come as no real surprise to the front office.

“I was a little worried about the roster at the start of the season,” admitted pauadrian. “We lost a few players, and some, like Luigi [Lanikai], that were unexpected.”

As the team’s power-hitting first baseman, Lanikai had been the lynch pin to the Kingpins’ offensive attack the last two seasons. But he too received a call up to the majors this offseason, leaving a slugging deficiency that Chicago has not yet fully solved.

The Kingpins rank in the top third in batting average (.296), second in on-base percentage (.368) but only seventh in slugging percentage (.393). They are tied for eighth with just 100 extra-base hits through 55 games, and rank ninth out of ten teams with just 43 total home runs. Despite that lack of power, Chicago has scored the third most runs of any team this season, thanks in large part to the lineup’s ability to hit for average and to discern strike from ball. The club boasts the most walks (231) and fewest strikeouts (290) in the league.

Losing Lanikai was an immediate blow to the organization’s offensive confidence, but the front office believes it has picked up quality players through the draft and just acquired another through waivers.

Rookie first baseman Pedro Blanco, a second-round selection in the S41 player draft, has hit .319 with eight home runs and 38 RBIs, earning a selection to the MiLPBE All Star Game. Theo Allard, the club’s rookie second baseman, has hit .281 through the first 55 games. The team added another infielder, Kent Murphy II, through waivers who it thinks will make a significant impact during the season’s stretch run. Murphy has only been with the team long enough to play in seven games so far.

Major improvements by returning offensive players have also helped lift. Catcher Santiago Benito has been the biggest contributor, slashing .350/.420/.462 with a 142 wRC+ and a 2.8 WAR. Center fielder Bartholomew brown is slashing .345/.426/.438 with 22 stolen bases, a 141 wRC+ and a 2.3 WAR. Both have been named to the All-Start Game as well, as has outfielder Nate Brittles, who has added a 135 wRC+ and a 1.9 WAR of his own.

If the offense continues to grow, the sky may be the limit for this Kingpins team.

The Kingpins have made the postseason in 16 of its 22 seasons in the MiLPBE. Despite that level of consistency, the organization so far has only been able to capture one World Series crown. Though scarred by perceived consistently poor simulation results in the postseason, the front office maintains a sense of cautious optimism about the outlook for the remainder of the 2056 campaign.

“I’m hoping that this can finally be the season Chicago can win a World Series again,” pauadrian said.

[Jiggy]

The 2056 Professional Baseball Experience Minor League (MiLPBE) season has entered the stretch run, with the State College Swift Steeds leading the Chicago Kingpins by a neck in the East Division.

Only 29 games remain to decide a division winner and the who, what, where, and when the Kingpins will begin their postseason hunt for the franchise’s second MiLPBE World Series championship. Chicago has held State College’s pace, matching its streaks and slumps and remaining two games back in the race for nearly all of the regular season.



After a blistering 19-5 month of May, the Kingpins have stagnated somewhat over the summer. In June, they were exactly .500 with an 11-11 monthly record. In July, the club was 9-8 and so far in August, they are 4-3. With the level of talent that occupies State College’s roster, it’s a wonder that with these past few few months that Chicago has not lost any ground in the East Division standings. Heading into the fourth and final week of simulations for the 2056 season, the Kingpins still sit two games behind the Swifties – now with just 29 games left to play in the regular season.

Looking back at the schedule has left some in Chicago wondering what might have been. Through the months of June and July, there were several opportunities to make up ground to the Swifties that the Kingpins simply could not take advantage of. A couple of series in particular stand out.

Chicago was swept on the road by the California Firehawks in early June. At 32-47 (.405 winning percentage), the Firehawks currently own the worst record in the MiLPBE. A win in that series – as is expected of one of the league’s top teams – would have seen the Kingpins tied with the Swifties at this stage of the season.

In late June, the Kingpins dropped another road series to another lower tiered West Division opponent – this time the Amarillo Armadillos and this time a two-games-to-one series defeat. The Armadillos (37-42; .468 winning percentage) at this point in the season sit in fifth place out of six West Division teams.

Things seemed to have gotten better in July. Chicago opened the month by going 7-3 before losing four games in a row, one to the Firehawks and then three straight in a series sweep on the road to the Anchorage Wheelers. The Wheelers have steadily improved as the 2056 campaign has gone on, posting a 12-10 June, a 10-7 July, and a 4-3 August that has propelled them above .500 and up to third place in the West Division. Anchorage’s progression notwithstanding, had the Kingpins been able to salvage just one game in that road series, they would have found themselves at least one game closer to State College heading into the last week of simulations.

Chicago’s results have been far and away better at home (29-14; .674 winning percentage) than it has been on the road (17-19; .492 winning percentage). That could be problematic in terms of the team’s remaining schedule. The Kingpins play just 11 more games within the friendly confines of The Jose Forty-Three Stadium compared to 18 road games.

Who’s Hot?

Rookie second baseman Kent Murphy II has posted a .565 average over the last six games. Having joined the Kingpins’ roster as a midseason waiver pickup, this recent tear raised Murphy’s season slash line to .316/.365/.479. He’s hit five home runs in just 31 games, adding 23 RBIs. His presence has offered a tremendous lift to Chicago’s lineup with veterans like Jim Copeland Jr. hitting a bit of a midsummer slump (Copeland is batting just .120 through the last six games).

Reliever and longtime trusted stopper Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss has also found her form during these dog days of summer. In her last 16 games, she’s posted 7 saves and a slim, tidy 1.11 ERA. This type of lights-out production is what the Kingpins front office expected would emerge even when Girlboss was struggling through much of the season. She began the year with a 9.64 ERA through April, and had just six total saves through the month of June. That seemed like an aberration for Girlboss, who led the MiLPBE with just a 2.38 ERA a season ago.

Otijomyzarc Kove fully broke out during July, slashing .368/.434/.500 with three homers. Kove’s productivity or lack thereof remains a vital component to Chicago’s overall offensive success – or lack thereof. And Kove has in more cases than not risen to the biggest of occasions. Kove is batting .471 with eight hits in 17 at bats with the bases loaded so far.

Who’s Not?

Chicago’s All-Star catcher, and one-time MVP candidate Santiago Benito has been on quite the downward trend since June, when he was still hitting .350. July saw the backstop collect just 17 hits in 66 at bats, good for a much lower .258 monthly average. Through August 9, Benito has just six hits in 28 at bats for an even lower .214 monthly average.

Rookie starter Ruggsy Witdaheelys may have finally hit a wall this season. The lefty is 0-2 with a 9.60 ERA over his last four starts. Monthly statistics show a fairly steady trend of opposing hitters learning how to square him up as the season has waned on. In April, he posted a 1.00 ERA. In May, it came up to 2.70. In June, it came up even higher to 4.56. In July, it ballooned to 7.31. The Kingpins will need Witdaheelys, who made the All Star Game based on his first-half performance, to stabilize if they hope to catch the Swift Steeds in these last 29 games.

Chicago’s other All Star left handed starter, Casey Shaffer, is facing similar struggles, though maybe not as pronounced as Witdaheelys. Shaffer has started 20 games for the Kingpins, but has logged just one decision win on the year. That’s primarily because he is average just 4.2 innings per start, mostly making him ineligible for decision wins. That lack of longevity was fine so long as he was holding opposing lineups down, which he has done through much of the season. He posted a 3.12 ERA in April, a 2.66 ERA in May, and a 3.86 ERA in June. But Shaffer has been knocked around a bit in his two starts so far in August, giving up eight runs in just 7.2 innings, which equates to a 9.39 ERA and just 3.6 innings per start. The hope with Shaffer is that early August is the exception and not an indication of any sort of new norm.

Remaining Schedule

August 10 and August 11 – vs. Amarillo Armadillos (37-42; .468 winning percengate)

Chicago is 4-3 against the Armadillos on the season. Amarillo has had some struggles on the road, where they are 17-23 (.423 winning percentage) and against left handed pitching in particular, which may bode well for the Kingpins who are expected to start lefties Witdaheelys and Shaffer in the final two games of this series.

August 13, 14, and 15 – at Florida Flamingos (38-41; .481 winning percentage)

The Flamingos have been up and down in the East Division this season. Florida at present is trending a bit downward, having gone just 3-7 over its last 10 games. The Flamingos are the only team in the minor leagues with a losing record at home (18-19), so Chicago shouldn’t have to fear any type of home field advantage, its own road woes notwithstanding. The Kingpins are 6-3 against the Flamingos this season.

August 17, 18, and 19 – at Brew City Bears (42-37; .532 winning percentage)

Brew City is tied with the Kansas City Hepcats atop the West Division and is a whopping 23-14 at home. The Kingpins are 5-4 against Brew City, but two of those series came in April and May when the Bears were still finding their way. Brew City went 13-9 (.590 winning percentage) in June and 11-6 (.647 winning percentage) in July, so the Bears are playing much better simulation baseball than they were in those early series.

August 20, 22, and 23 – vs State College Swift Steeds (48-31; .608 winning percentage)

There’s no better way to make up ground against a division opponent than playing that opponent directly. State College has shown itself susceptible when games are close late. The Swift Steeds are 11-13 in one-run games and just 3-7 when games go into extra innings. Chicago will have to score runs to keep up with the explosive State College offense, which ranks first in the league in every isolated team batting statistic and ranking except for walks, where it ranks second. So far, the Kingpins are 4-5 against the Swift Steeds on the year.

August 24, 25, and 27 – at California Firehawks (32-47; .405 winning percentage)

The Firehawks may have the most telling home field advantage in the minors. Despite a 9-31 (.225 winning percentage) road record, California is 23-16 (.589 winning percentage) at home, making this no easy series against what by naked record is the worst team in the league. Chicago is still reeling from its last road trip to California, which resulted in the Kingpins getting swept. Chicago is 5-4 against the Firehawks on the year.

August 28, 29, and 30 – vs. Anchorage Wheelers (40-39; .506 winning percentage)

The series presents Chicago with an opportunity to avenge another recent series sweep. Anchorage has been strong in close games, going 13-10 in one-run affairs and 5-3 in extra innings, but has struggled some on the road (17-23; .425 winning percentage). Chicago is 5-4 against the Wheelers so far this season.

September 1, 2, and 3 – at Louisville Lemurs (35-44; .443 winning percentage)

Chicago faithful will welcome seeing another series with Louisville on the schedule, as the Kingpins are currently 7-2 against the Lemurs thus far. The Lemurs sit tied for last place in the East Division, and have only held serve with a .500 record (20-20) at home. Louisville ranks among the worst teams in most offensive statistical categories, so this could be a series that gives Chicago’s starters an opportunity to get right before the postseason.

September 4, 6, and 7 – at Kansas City Hepcats

The Kingpins will have to make back-to-back road trips to start September, which the second trip to an opponent that has given Chicago a few fits. The Kingpins are just 4-5 against the Hepcats this season. Kansas City, tied for first in the West Division is 26-17 (.604 winning percentage at home) and has posted a winning record in every month except June.

September 8, 9, and 11 – vs. Puerto Rico Ranas (35-44; .443 winning percentage)

The Ranas once ran neck-and-neck among the East Division leaders, opening the year with a 19-14 (.576 winning percentage) record before the bottom seemed to fall out in June. Puerto Rico has gone just 16-30 since (.348 winning percentage) and has lost 7 of its last 10 games. Chicago is 6-3 on the year against Puerto Rico and has won five of the last 6 in this matchup.

September 12, 13, and 14 – at Amarillo Armadillos (37-42; .468 winning percentage)

Chicago will close the season with one more road series against the Armadillos. If the East Division race is not already decided by this time, wins will be at a premium during these final days, as State College closes the year at home against the Louisville Lemurs.

[Jiggy]

After another late-season collapse, the Chicago Kingpins have been left hoping that somehow, someway the Professional Baseball Experience Minor League (MiLPBE) postseason will be different for them this year.

Different in the sense of how the team has played since the summer began. The 2056 simulated season marks the second straight in which the Kingpins have been plagued by a midseason collapse that began in June and seemingly only got worse the deeper the season has run. Last year, Chicago raced to an early 24-9 record only to go 33-42 from June on to finish with an overall 57-51 record at season’s end. This year, Chicago opened 24-19 through May, only to finish 34-41 from June on.

That leaves the Kingpins with a 56-52 (.519 winning percentage) record at the end of this 2056 regular season. The average is good for third best in the minor leagues, which would be a good result for some but reflects a finish that fails to meet even the club’s re-calibrated goal of holding on to the league’s second-best record down the stretch.

Heading into the final month of the season just two games behind East Division State College, Chicago had hoped to make a play for the division crown, but quickly fell too far behind the Swift Steeds for that goal to remain realistic. As a result, the organization modified the season’s goal for the final stretch run.

Chicago entered the final week of the simulated season with a 54-46 record (.540 winning percentage) which at the time was two games better than the Brew City Bears, Amarillo Armadillos and Kansas City Hepcats of the West Division. However, the Kingpins disappointingly posted an anemic 2-10 record during the month of September. Meanwhile Brew City would go on to win 7 of its final 9 games, winning the West Division and finishing two games ahead of the Kingpins overall.

There is hope – albeit diminished from a season ago – that the Kingpins may be able to reverse all of the negative surrounding its seeming collapse with a deep postseason run. The hope seems diminished, however, because it’s the same hope the club carried with it into last season’s playoffs before it was summarily and unmercifully swept by the Louisville Lemurs in the first round.

Chicago is hoping this year’s postseason will be different and that it will have far better success stemming the tide of its mid-to-late season struggles. The Kingpins are also hoping this year’s postseason will be different in another – much broader sense.

Playoff disappointment has become almost a right of passage for minor league players coming through the Kingpins’ system. With this season’s berth, Chicago has now made the postseason in 17 of its 23 total seasons in the MiLPBE. Despite its constant presence in the playoffs, the organization has just one World Series championship. It’s to the point where users in the Speakeasy – the colloquially termed locker room – increasingly shy away from watching the PBE’s stream of the MiLPBE postseason games.

The Kingpins’ only-third-best record in the MiLPBE means there will be no first round postseason bye in this year’s effort to erase the memory of its regular season collapse and to chase the demons of its failure-in-the-postseason past. Chicago will have to fight for its postseason life beginning with a first round, best-of-five series against the Florida Flamingos.

Some would consider this a favorable match up for Chicago. The Kingpins played the Flamingos 12 times during the regular season and won eight of those games. However, season trends may not mean )much for a team that stumbled to a 2-10 finish on the year. Chicago was 7-5 overall against Louisville in 2055 before being swept in the postseason series.

Chicago will have home-field advantage heading into the start of the series, which is certainly a plus factor. The Kingpins were 34-20 (.629 winning percentage) at home this season, while the Flamingos were just 23-31 (.425 winning percentage) in road games.

The series may turn on whether Chicago pitching is able to contain Florida’s Manuel Bang and Cal Pico. Bang batted .357 and posted a .419 on-base percentage during the regular season, good for second best in the league in both categories. He finished the year with 158 hits while Pico had 155, good for second and third in the minors, respectively.

The Kingpins pitching had buoyed the club heading into the All-Star Break, ranking first at the time among MiLPBE in starter’s ERA (3.85), runs allowed (223) and opponents batting average (.268). At the break, Chicago pitchers had given up the fewest home runs in the league (40), the second-fewest walks (182) and the second-most strikeouts (328).

But staff performances have fallen off over time. Now at the end of the year, the club ranks third in starter’s ERA (4.55), runs allowed (496) and ranks fourth in opponents batting average (.279). Chicago pitchers have now given up only the third fewest home runs in the league (97), the third-fewest walks (376) and only the eighth-most strikeouts (574).

Chicago recognizes there is no magic elixir that can cure all that ails it. That’s why the locker room is largely holding on to hope for greater simulation success in the postseason. Both recent and long-term history have been unkind to those hopes, but hope survives nonetheless.

Hope that the Kingpins can rewrite the history of their 2056 season and make new history with a second championship.

[Jiggy]

The Chicago Kingpins are World Series champions of the Professional Baseball Experience Minor League (MiLPBE).

And please, by all means, call it a comeback.

That does justice to the feat the Kingpins just achieved in winning just the second World Series in the franchise’s 24 seasons. During the postseason, this Chicago team continued to snatch game and series victories from the jaws of defeat, transforming a season that’s prospects seemed to get bleaker and bleaker from June through the end of the regular season into one that arguably ended sweeter than any other in the club’s history.

After falling behind two games to none to the State College Swift Steeds in the World Series, the Kingpins rallied to win four straight to claim the title – and did so in dramatic come-from-behind fashion in three of those wins.

“It's been a long, very long few seasons for the Chicago Kingpins,” said Kingpins co-general manager Pauadrian. “Thirteen years without a title and we've finally won the World Series again! This title is for all those who suffered with us in the past but aren't on the team right now. I'm talking people like Benny, Chris Bricksquare, Ioe, Valpix, TVC, JoeTheJester, JimmieJohnson, Crane and so many more in the Crush Fam! The locker room this week was in absolute hype mode this entire week and it's awesome to see! I also want to thank Tik and Sarah for the enormous amount of testing they did the day before, it really feels like they pulled a Dr Strange and went through every single possibility to make this happen.”

Pauadrian continued to give praise to others in his celebratory remarks.

“It's also great to not only have been GMOTY in every single sim league I've GM'd in but also won a title in every one as well so huge shoutout to Tik and Sarah for carrying me while I help with the roster building,” he said. “I love you both to bits. Finally, I want to give a huge shoutout to current players as well, without you being active throughout the season, talking in the locker room, keeping each other engaged. We could not have done this ever, I'm a sim league vet at this point and I've seen what a bad locker room looks like, I've seen the harm it can do to a team. So thank you for that, thank you for not just being my players but also my friends.”

It really was a remarkable road that Chicago took to claim its championship.

The Kingpins dropped the first two games of the series on the road in State College. Game one saw Chicago fall behind 5-0 through four innings and be unable to close the deficit, mustering just three runs on 11 scattered hits. Game two ended in heartbreak. With two outs and the game tied at three runs apiece in the bottom of the eighth, State College plated the winning run when left fielder Nate Brittles dropped a can-of-corn fly ball that would have been the inning’s final out.

A loss of that emotional magnitude could have snowballed against the Kingpins – and many in the locker room had visions of bad luck from past postseason sims dancing in their heads during the stream.

But these Kingpins did not fold. Instead, the bowed their necks and simply refused to lose again.

It took 14 innings for Chicago to break through and win game three. The club’s bullpen was sensational in locking down the massively power Swift Steeds lineup over the seven final innings, preventing any runs from crossing despite allowing nine hits during those innings. That allowed the Kingpins’ catcher and one of the team’s most prominent bats to end things in the bottom of the 14th with a walk-off, two-run home run that left The Jose Forty-Three Stadium rocking and breathed new life into Chicago’s World Series hopes.

The Kingpins rode those good vibes through a game four, 12-3 shellacking of State College that evened the series at two games apiece. Rookies Theo Allard (3-for-5 with a home run, three RBIs and three runs scored) and Kris Wakabayashi (3-for-4 with a home run, four RBIs and three runs scored) led the offensive explosion, while Benito also went 3-for-5 on the day.

Game four – the third and final game in Chicago before the series would return to State College for its finish – was a pitchers duel through four innings before the Swift Steeds got to Ruggsy Witdaheelys for four runs on a walk and four hits in the top of the fifth. Still facing a four-run deficit in the bottom of the seventh, the Kingpins’ resiliency reared its head once more.

Benito opened the bottom of the frame with a double and was immediately driven in by an Otijomyzark Kove single. Bartholomew Brown singled, allowing Kove to go first to third, and Kove scored in a fielder’s choice double play to whittle the State College lead in half, 4-2.

Wakabayashi and Brittles both singled to put two runners aboard in the bottom of the eighth for right fielder Alyssa Jakob, who smoked a 1-2 pitch from right handed reliever Hospital Socks over the fence for a dramatic, go-ahead, three-run home run. Chicago stopper Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss – who had an unusually up-and-down regular season – was decisive in the ninth, shutting the door on the Swift Steeds and putting the Kingpins ahead in the series for the first time with a three-games-to-two lead.

Game five saw a return to State College, where to that point the Kingpins had won just two games through both the regular season and postseason combined. With no teams having won a road game in the series, home field advantage still lied with the Swift Steeds. They took immediate advantage, plating two runs in the first inning and adding a run each in the third and fourth innings to blast off to an early 4-0 lead heading in to the top of the fifth.

Much as it had done throughout the postseason, Chicago rallied again in the fifth. Brown got things started with a one-out single. Allard then walked and Kent Murphy II singled to load the bases. A sacrifice fly from Wakabayashi plated the Kingpins’ first run of the game. With two outs, Brittles smoked a double off Swift Steeds starter Tiny Chef, scoring two more and trimming the deficit to just one run and pushing the tying run to scoring position. It was a State College miscue – an error by shortstop Amelia Milligen on a Jakob ground ball, that allowed Brittles to race home all the way from second base and knot the score.

The Swift Steeds answered in the seventh. Maple Dogwood bashed a one-out double, and Zane Cold traded places with him with a double of his own. Cold advanced to third on a Jake Cilliams ground out and Milligen – hitting in State College’s ninth spot – drove Cold home with a single.

Down 6-4 with just six outs left, the Kingpins refused to go quietly into game five’s night. Brown launched a solo home run off Socks in the eighth inning to pull Chicago to within one run heading into the ninth, where things got even more dramatic.

Wakabayashi led off the inning with a walk, a seemingly great start against renowned State College reliever Blain K’Spais. However, swinging at a first pitch, Brittles grounded into a double play, emptying the bases and leaving Chicago down to its final out.

But for this Kingpins team, even the bleakest of scenarios never seemed to dissuade, and they kept swinging for the fences. To their credit and the team’s glory. Jakob crushed a 408-foot home run that tied the game, and then Pedro Blanco stepped crushed the baseball even further, launching a 466-foot bomb that boasted a 116.2 mph exit velocity and gave Chicago an irrational 7-6 lead.

Once again, in stepped. Once again, she closed the door on State College, this time for good for the S40 simulated season. This time netting Chicago a championship that many legacy users had begun to think might never come again based on how simulations had gone for the organization in the past.

The Kingpins’ victory ends a 13-season championship drought. Chicago last won a title in the S27 season, when Jose Forty-Three, the namesake for Chicago’s ballpark, was World Series MVP.

“Holy f******* s*** we finally got it done,” reacted user BennyTheJett, who has been waiting eight seasons – a near PBE lifetime (players begin regressing after 10 seasons) – for his minor league club to win a championship. “I wasn’t sure it would happen after each season of everything falling not in our favor. VINS.”

The drought wasn’t for lack of postseason opportunity. The Kingpins have been a consistently strong franchise in the MiLPBE, making the playoffs in all but six of their seasons. They’ve finished first or second in the East Division 18 times. The club has mostly been there rubbing elbows with the league champions each year, it just couldn’t get over the hump and win the thing on its own. Until now.

This year, World Series MVP honors were given to Bartholomew Brown. The Kingpins center fielder batted 9-for-25 (.265 batting average) for the series with two home runs, three RBIs, two stolen bases, and he scored five times.

“I’m humbled and honored, but I really think 3so many more of my teammates are deserving of this award,” Brown said. “Can you believe those clutch Jakob home runs in games four and five?! And what about Girlboss’ performance. She was unhittable all series. We don’t win a championship without the grit and grind of those two.”

Chicago’s penchant for the comeback did not begin in the World Series. The Kingpins found themselves down three games to one to the Brew City Bears in the semifinals before winning three straight elimination games just to advance to the World Series. The decisive seventh game in that semifinals series required the Kingpins to overcome a two-run deficit, which it did with runs in the sixth and eighth innings before winning in extras.

The championship also changes the narrative on what seemed would be another disappointing season capped by a midseason collapse. The Kingpins began the year with a 24-19 record through May, only to finish 34-41 from June on. The club closed with a brutal 2-10 record in September, failing to meet its preseason goals of winning the East Division and earning a first-round postseason bye.

Entering the playoffs, it did not seem like Chicago had any life or momentum, but members of the locker room held tightly to fading hope that the postseason would offer an opportunity for a reset and a renaissance. With this S40 World Series, hope became reality.

For her part, Girlboss was sensational throughout the playoffs. She appeared in 10 games and maintained a tidy 2.76 ERA through 16.1 innings of work. She notched two saves and earned three decision wins, two against the Swift Steeds in the World Series.

“The Swift Steeds call me mom,” user Sarah said after the series. “Again.”

Starter Ragnar Lothbrok was 3-1 in six postseason starts with a 3.07 ERA through 29.1 innings.

"9 damn seasons, it took 9 seasons AND me not watching the stream to come out victorious!” said user Eric Belmont, who controls Lothbrok. Lothbrok is Belmont’s second player to play for the Kingpins. After Lothbrok was pulled from game one’s start, Belmont could no longer bring himself to watch the World Series stream. “Bout damn time we had something to prove how good we are!" he added. “We have a history of bad luck. It’s nice to see it all come together finally for us as a team.”

Brittles batted .324 with three homers in the playoffs. Benito hit .378 with four homers and 13 RBIs. Kove batted .328 with 10 RBIs and scored 13 times.

“This is honestly, one of the most incredible feelings in the world!” said Kove. “Those two back to back solo home runs just may be the happiest moments of my life. After a disappointing end to last season, we came into these playoffs determined. We found ourselves in a deep hole there against the Bears but I never stopped believing in this team. Coaches deserve a lot of credit, they had us well prepared for each game and I just knew we were going to pull through.”

“asdfhiasfgjkhasfghkashkjsadsda!” exclaimed Kingpins co-general manager Tiktaalik in celebration after the series. “After losing two minors World Series with the Kingpins, to finally win one is fantastic. And it couldn't have come in a better way, with Pau [who controls Blanco] hitting the go ahead home run and Sarah [who controls Gateboss] pitching in relief to get the win. They drafted me to the Kingpins as a rookie 10 seasons ago, so everything I've done in PBE is thanks to them. For that literally to be true in the minors World Series is fantastic. Not forgetting all the work Pau puts in as GM and Sarah's OOTP slider wizardry. A big shout out also to AK who helped build a lot of this team. This is his championship too. And of course all of our players, who've been putting in a huge amount of effort not just now but throughout all of the Kingpins' seasons.”

“Now to start planning to repeat next season!” Tiktaalik added.

[Jiggy]

No matter the litany of crazy places life may take them, small town boys never seem to lose that “first love” feeling they have for their small hometown.

A thousand thoughts and reminisces race through Bartholomew Brown’s head as he runs his fingers along a row of metal lockers in the halls of his old high school. The building seems much more dim than he remembered when he left as one of the nation’s most promising professional baseball prospects. Perhaps that’s just relativity; a contrast he notices from his last two years immersed in the blinding city lights of Chicago where he now – and he hopes only temporarily – calls home.

School hallways are almost eerie when they are quiet. Normally on a midweek morning in February they would be abuzz with mindless student chatter, clanging lockers, ringing bells, and the exasperation of faculty and staff trying to hold some semblance of order together between classes. But not on this midweek morning in February. Today, all of the students have been wrangled to the school’s dome-roofed gymnasium in anticipation of a visit from North Marion’s now most famous son, Bartholomew Brown.

“Are you ready,” asked the school’s vice principal as she slapped a firm hand on Brown’s shoulder.

With a deep inhale, Brown gave a nod and a half smile and allowed himself to be ushered out of the hall and toward a large, metal double door. He knew that on the other side sat a smattering of familiar faces. Former teachers and coaches. Younger brothers and sisters of Brown’s own friends and classmates. Cousins. Kids whose Little League games Brown used to umpire. As the vice principal placed his hand on the double door to the gymnasium, Brown closed his eyes, swallowed his anxiety, and let a clam wash over in its place. It was the same approach he took to still his nerves before each game’s first pitch. The door swung open, and with excited noise from inside the gymnasium beginning to seep over the threshold, Brown stepped through.

Members of the high school band stood when the noticed Brown’s entrance, snatching their instruments and blowing a halfhearted rendition of the high school’s fight song. After a bit of prompting from some of the teachers, the students seated in the bleachers began a lazy applause as Brown nodded, waved, and made his way to mid court.

“Students, please join me in welcoming one of North Marion’s favorite sons, and Chicago Kingpin baseball player Bartholomew Brown!” North Marion’s principal gave the introduction in a way that betrayed the fact that he wasn’t comfortable with baseball and probably hadn’t actually been following Brown’s career.

The principal stood at a microphoned podium set up just in front of center court. Behind him was a table adorned with a Chicago Kingpins banner, baseball equipment, and in the center on a raised display Bartholomew Brown’s World Series MVP trophy.

Brown strode to the podium, shook the principals hand, and the principal stepped aside, leaving Brown to the microphone. Brown raised his glance to the bleachers and scanned the crowd.

“Hey guys!” Brown said enthusiastically. The response was mixed, so he tapped the microphone a couple of times. “Is this thing on?”

After an awkward pause, Brown continued.

“It’s so great being back at North Marion High School. It feels like only yesterday when I was walking these halls. I’ve been where you are now. I’ve taken the same classes as you have and will. I have suffered through the same teachers you have and you will, and if you want, after the assembly I can tell you which cones to avoid when your registering next semester.”

That prospect drew the students in a bit. Brown had begun to capture their attention.

“The faculty invited me here today to talk to you a bit about where I’ve been, what I’ve been doing, and what I’ve learned along the way,” Brown said. “Those of you who know me know that I’m not one to really brag. When I left school, I decided I wanted to try and pursue a career in baseball and right now, I’m still trying to pursue that career. I am in the minor leagues and playing just up Interstate 65 in Chicago for the Kingpins of the MiLPBE.”

Brown’s story in Chicago was certainly not one of instant success.

“I just finished my second season there,” Brown said “and there have certainly been ups and downs along the way. Let me show you what I mean.”

Brown grabbed a remote clicker and pointed to laptop set up just beyond the center court table. Pressing a button, two screens – one on each side of the gymnasium – illuminated with the title page of a slide show. Brown clicked forward to a slide entitled “Bartholomew Brown – Chicago Kingpins – Year 1”. The slide lit up with a litany of statistics from Brown’s first year in the MiLPBE.

As a rookie in the 2055 season (S39), Brown managed just a .225 batting average through 108 regular season games. A player who’s style coming into the MiLPBE draft was predicated on speed and causing havoc on the base paths, Brown managed to get on base at just a .279 percentage. That limited him to just 23 stolen bases on 29 attempts – good for a 79 percent conversion rate but lacking the volume really needed to bolster the Kingpins’ run scoring as was anticipated when he was selected in the second round. On the year, Brown finished with a -0.6 WAR, meaning Chicago likely could have found more success with a replacement level player.

Though he struggled with the bat, Brown’s fielding was at least solid during his first year. In 958.2 innings of work, he made 285 putouts including five outfield assists and only three errors. He finished the year with a 5.5 zone rating, second behind teammate Alyssa Jakob.

Brown clicked the slideshow forward again to a slide with a video embedded. He clicked play, and airing for the students were clips of Brown striking out, hitting fly balls to the infield, weak grounders, and striking out some more.

“That was what I looked like last year.” Brown said. “To say that the transition from high school baseball to professional baseball was difficult would be an understatement. I was way out of my league, and it showed – both statistically and in the video you guys just saw. Life can be difficult like that sometimes. It can throw you curveballs – both literally and figuratively – and it can stretch your patience and your resolve to keep trying. I struggled as a rookie. I struggled hard. But one thing that I never did was stop trying.”

Brown clicked forward to the next slide, this one containing a series of dressed up inspirational quote reading “Do not fear failure but rather fear not trying. Never stop dreaming, never stop believing, never give up, never stop trying, and never stop learning. When the going gets tough, put one foot in front of the other and just keep going. Don’t give up.”

“No matter what happened on the field, I never let my failures affect my willingness to keep trying,” Brown said. “And my willingness to keep grinding – to keep trying despite things not going my way – paid off.”

Brown clicked to the next slide entitled “Bartholomew Brown – Chicago Kingpins – Year 2” showing his statistics and achievements from this most recent campaign.

The slide showed that this past season (S40) – only Brown’s second as a professional – he took remarkable strides forward in his development and had incredible year-over-year success.

Brown batted .302 with a .389 on-base percentage, contributing 111 wRC+ and a 3.4 WAR valuation – best among all Kingpins players. He tallied 34 stolen bases while getting caught just 8 times, good for an 81 percent success rate. The stolen base success rate may have dropped from a season ago, but Brown’s overall impact on Chicago’s offensive production significantly increased from his rookie campaign.

Brown also demonstrated continued improvement as a fielder. In 959.2 innings, he tallied 374 putouts, including four outfield assists, three of which resulted in double plays. He finished the regular season with a 7.5 zone rating, three positive points higher than his closest teammate.

The next slide showed a highlight package of hits, stolen bases, diving catches, and smiles, high fives, and hugs with teammates. It concluded with a shot of the Kingpins celebrating their World Series championship.

Brown turned to the table behind him, where his MiLPBE World Series MVP trophy sat. He grabbed it and held it forward.

“This award is my greatest individual baseball achievement,” Brown said. “But I see this award as being about so much more than a reflection on baseball.”

“Did you guys watch the minor league World Series?” Brown asked the assembly. A handful of eager students cried out their affirmatives before being joined by nearly everyone in attendance.

“That’s awesome,” Brown said. “Next question: how many of you all watched the Kingpins-Bears semi-finals?” The response to this second question was significantly reduce. Maybe a quarter of the attendees indicated they had watched.

“And how about our first-round series against Florida?” Brown asked. “How many of you guys watched those games?” Isolated cheers answered Brown’s final question. This little improvised survey had given Brown the response he had hoped for.

“When most people think about my postseason performance now, they think about this trophy,” Brown said, once again holding up his World Series MVP award. “They think about the fact that Chicago finally won the championship after thirteen years of postseason disappointment, and they think about how the media thought enough of the way I played against the Swift Steeds to give me this.”

Brown held up the MVP trophy one last time before turning around and setting it back on the table behind him.

“What people forget is how much I had been struggling in the postseason leading up to the World Series,” Brown said. “Let me remind all of you who watched the entire playoffs, and let me show those of you who may have only watched the World Series, what I’m talking about.”

Brown picked up the remote clicker and gave it a click, producing a new visual on the screens in the gymnasium. The first was a visual of his stats from the first round five-game series against the Florida Flamingos.

Brown clicked forward to the next slide, this one showing his statistics from the seven-game semifinals series against the Brew City Bears.

Finally, Brown clicked to a slide showing the futility of his combined postseason stats through the first two rounds.

“Heading into the World Series, I was a combined 8-for-41 and only batting .195 during the postseason. I had scored just five times, only driven in four runs, and had only drawn four walks. That means my on-base percentage was just a measly .292. Meanwhile, I had struck out seven times and left 34 runners stranded on base during my at bats. I was struggling, there’s no doubt. But despite the difficulties I was having individually at the plate, I never stopped trying to find ways to help my teammates and my team, and that’s really important.”

Brown clicked forward to another slide, this one showing a screen with a video cued up for Brown to play when ready.

“We live in an amazing age,” Brown said. “I don’t think we take enough time to really appreciate how crazy it is we have all of this technology that surrounds us every day. Social media and the internet make us so connected, and in real time, it truly is amazing. But there can be downsides as well. All of this exposure and interconnectivity sometimes creates competition for attention. In trying to win that competition, we can sometimes lose track of what it means to be a good teammate, a good coworker, or a good friend. Sometimes that requires us to pass on opportunities to be the center of attention so that we can support of others. We usually don’t get credit when we make those kinds of choices, but we don’t do them for the credit. We do them because it’s the kind thing to do, or the right thing to do, or the best thing we can do for the good of our team, our workplace, or our friends.

“I showed you the numbers, which demonstrated just how badly I had been playing in those first two series. Now I want to show you something else.”

Brown pressed play and the video began rolling. It began showing footage from various Kingpins postseason games. First, it showed Brown laying down a sacrifice bunt in the fourth inning of Chicago’s game-three win against Florida. Despite there being runners on first and second, Brown decided to give himself up to advance both into scoring position, allowing teammates Theo Allard and Kris Wakabayashi to drive them in instead of going for RBIs of his own. Next, it showed a clip from the fifth inning of the same game. With a runner on third and Brown in a hitter-friendly 2-0 count, instead of taking a massive hitter-friendly swing at the next pitch Brown choked up on the bat and took a balanced, measured cut, making sensible contact and lifting a fly ball deep enough into the outfield to allow the runner to tag and score. The video showed Brown laying down two more sacrifice bunts with Chicago already facing elimination in game five against Brew City, leading to three Kingpin runs that helped extend the series. It showed him racing at full speed to take away a pair of would-be hits in game six. It showed him making an immediate decision at the crack of the bat to take an agressive back-up angle on a liner in the gap of the decisive game seven, allowing him to cut the ball off before it was able to reach the wall and get the ball in quickly to limit the Bears to a lead-off single instead of a double with the game tied in the eighth inning, helping prevent a go-ahead run scoring and preserving the Kingpins’ opportunity to win the game in extra innings.

“None of these plays made any of the highlight reels for these games,” Brown said. “There were no newspaper stories or internet write-ups that featured them. People on social media weren’t messaging about them. But with each one, when I got back to the dugout or into the clubhouse, I could see the appreciation on the faces of my coaches and teammates. By not trying to win the competition for attention in those moments, and focusing on the greater good instead of personal success, I was able to do things to help my team win. And for me, that makes me feel so much better than say I have a four-hit performance but my team loses.

“I think that holds true in other walks of life,” Brown continued. “I think it is far more rewarding to be a part of something that is bigger than self. And I think there is no success like team success.”

“Speaking of ‘team’, if not for my teammates really picking me up – especially during those three-straight elimination games against Brew City – I never would have had the chance to right the ship in the World Series. The Bears very easily could have sent us home in any of those three elimination games, but our team fought together – not as individuals looking to pad stats or seek personal glory – to do everything we collectively good to win.”

Brown clicked to the next slide showing his World Series performance, where he batted 9-for-25 (.265 batting average) for the series with two home runs, three RBIs, two stolen bases, and scored five times.

He didn’t linger on this page or highlight his achievements. After a brief few seconds, he clicked forward to a closing slide with a hodgepodge of inspirational quotes about opportunity. “Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday's success or put its failures behind and start over again. That's the way life is, with a new game every day, and that's the way baseball is. Most people give up just when they're about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game one foot from a winning touchdown. Victory comes from finding opportunities in problems.”

Brown read through the quotes and then looked at the students in attendance.

“I have been incredibly blessed,” Brown said. “But what good are blessings, what good is talent or skill if you’re not willing to use those blessings when opportunity calls?

“If you’re willing to try, every day can be an opportunity,” Brown continued. “For example, today is a great opportunity to get better. Whether that means getting better in sports, getting better in the classroom, getting better as a friend, or getting better at some other skill you have or dream you want to chase, every day is an opportunity to be better at that one thing than you were yesterday.

“My story has been a limited one. I am only heading into my third season in this chase to be a professional ball player. I’m still going to be in the minor leagues, grinding for my own opportunity to some day play in the major leagues. But until that day comes, today is an opportunity for me to get better at my craft – better than I was when I won this trophy.”

Brown gestured one last time to the World Series MVP award.

“I’m not going to waste mine,” he said. “Will you?”

Brown closed with this rhetorical question. Realizing that Brown had finished, the principal stood and pointed to the band director, who stood and coaxed the band to rise and play the school fight song one more time. Brown shook hands with the principal and other staff collected near mid court before once again following the lead of the vice principal and exiting the gymnasium door from which he had entered.

“How was that,” Brown asked tentatively.

“It was great,” the vice principal assured. “I think the students really appreciate that you wanted to come back home, and I think they can relate to you enough that your message will land with at least a few of them.”

Brown nodded and turned to walk away. As he took his first few steps, the vice principal shouted his name urgently.

“Bartholomew! You forgot your MVP award. It’s still in the gym on the table.”

“You know what,” Brown said. “Add it to the school’s trophy case here. It will just collect dust at my place. And if it can inspire just one kid to keep trying and to not let opportunity pass them by, it’ll do much more good than it is currently doing with me.”

The vice principal nodded and Brown exited the school. He walked through the parking lot to his car, and as he opened the door he took one last long look back at the brick and mortar high school that had been so defining for him as he formed the professional baseball dreams he was now chasing.

A small grin crept across his face. A grin of acknowledgment that no matter where he went in the future, no matter how much success he found or money he made, this little slice of mid-America would always be home. North Marion was where his baseball career really first started, and it would always be his first love.

[Jiggy]

How does one follow up a championship?

The feeling heading into spring training this season was dramatically different for the Chicago Kingpins this year. Until now, the ordinary feeling was one of disappointment and regret. Of having had a really good regular season only to flame out in the postseason. Of knowing you have historically been one of the MiLPBE’s most successful, consistently strong franchises, and also knowing that you remarkably (and not in a good way) still only had one championship in your franchise’s personal history. Of knowing you had a talented team capable of adding the second when the postseason began, but with nothing left to show for it but questions about what went wrong during your elimination and what you as a player could have done better to potentially have prevented it.

This year’s spring training was different. Players arrived to camp almost not knowing how to carry themselves. Last season did not end in disappointment. It ended in glory. The club won it’s second World Series championship, and now the questions floating around the facilities weren’t retrospective - thinking about what could have been and what should have been done - but rather prospective - thinking about how to handle being “the hunted” for the first time in 13 agonizingly long seasons.

Success breeds confidence, and this spring there were rumblings about a possible repeat. Las Vegas has tabbed the Kingpins as the favorites to win the 2057 World Series, and Chicago has the highest number on the over/under season win totals betting board.

How will the Kingpins respond to the pressure? Pressure is something many on the 2057 roster are now used to. The core nucleus has been together now for three seasons, and has evolved from tasting the bitterness of defeat to the sweetness of glory. They’ve lost as World Series favorites. They’ve lost in early playoff rounds. And they’ve won as scrappy underdogs. Along the way they’ve continued to grow together, get better, and most importantly - they’ve gotten tougher.

How does one follow up a championship? For the Chicago Kingpins this year, there is only one correct answer: With another one.

[Jiggy]

The start of the 2057 has proven that Chicago’s championship window remains wide open.

There appears to have been little let down after the Kingpins hoisted the Professional Baseball Experience Minor League (MiLPBE) World Series trophy last year. The club kicked off the current campaign with an 18-9 (.667) record after the first week of simulations, already good enough to have built itself a three-game lead in the East Division and just one game off from the best record in the league.

Continuity has been key to the Kingpins’ continued year-over-year success, and this season is no different. Of the major contributors to Chicago’s championship run, the team said goodbye only to catcher Santiago Benito.

And the first week’s simulation is proof that there will be no rebuild at the catcher’s position. There may even be an upgrade.

New catcher Gleyber Tourizz has exploded out of the gate to begin the season.

He’s batting .364 through Chicago’s first 27 games with nine home runs, 30 RBIs and has already built up a 1.6 WAR and 182 wRC+ valuation. Those are crazy levels of production for someone a player – and user – who is still assimilating to a new locker room.

“The adjustment has been really easy,” said subby500, the PBE user who controls Tourizz. “The locker room is full of a bunch of very cool people and it’s active and welcoming. Hopefully I can be a little more active as the season progresses.”

The Kingpins acquired Tourizz in a trade with the Louisville Lemurs during the offseason. Tourizz became available – and a widely pursued trade target – after subby500 stepped down as Lemurs general manager after a little over 10 seasons of service there.

“I knew a [Lemurs] rebuild was coming,” subby500 said, “and knowing my player was at the [TPE] cap I knew I was likely to be traded.”

The interest in Tourizz shown from around the league came as little surprise to subby500. However, he actually had envisioned his player suiting up for the team that has evolved into one of the Kingpins biggest rivals in recent seasons.

“Personally, my preference was to be traded to the Swifties,” subby500 said, referring to the familiar monikor given to the State College Swift Steeds. “They have an excellent managing staff and their team is great, but I [didn’t] mind really being traded to any team.”

Like most of the league, and truth be told some in the Kingpins’ own locker room, subby500 internally thought that State College was going to win last year’s World Series. They had shown themselves to be the league’s best team throughout the regular season with a star-studded lineup and fiercely competitive pitching staff. But subby500 was not terribly surprised that Chicago beat them based on the Kingpins’ own make up. And unlike the Swift Steeds, Chicago returns nearly every one to their roster from last season.

“So I wasn’t shocked when I knew I was going to Chicago, considering they were only losing their catcher and their contention window was still wide open,” subby500 said. “I was really happy to be traded to the Kingpins considering their championship aspirations.”

Tourizz has carried those championship aspirations on his shoulders through the first chunk of 2057 simulations, making a case that may be an MVP candidate this season. His 30 RBIs lead the MiLPBE and his nine home runs is second most in the league. He also ranks in the top 5 in terms of on-base percentage (.430), slugging percentage (.636), WAR (1.6), isolated power (.271), and total bases (68). His .364 batting average is second among Kingpins players, behind only mainstay and World Series hero Alyssa Jakob’s .367 average which she posted while opening the year with an incredible 21-game hit streak.

When he created Tourizz, subby500 had a particular mind toward the long ball, and now Tourizz’s build is beginning to take the form subby500 had imagined when he created the player.

“My goal for him was to be a power hitting catcher who would break the single season Lemur home run record,” subby500 said.

“He’s most definitely exceeding expectations, and I couldn’t be happier.”

subby500 gives some credit to their new locker room mates for Tourizz’s early success.

“Going into the offseason, I was hoping to deposit most of my TPE into power and eye,” subby500 said. “But a few Kingpins persuaded me to go more into contact and avoid strikeouts. I guess the advise was helpful!”

While subby500 is incredibly please with Tourizz’s personal success, he said he came into the season – and has approached Tourizz’s early career – more so with goals centered around team.

“My focus has always been to win a ring. Major or minors,” subby500 said. “I’m super happy I have a great chance to do it with the Kingpins this year. I’m really excited to see what this team can accomplish in the next few weeks.”

He also recognized how his goals meshed so well with his new locker room.

“I think the only preseason goal for Chicago was to repeat, championship or bust, right?”

If results from the first quarter of the season of the indication, he may have his best chance during this Kingpins campaign.

The club opened April with losing series against the Kansas City Hepcats and the State College Swift Steeds before rebounding and resetting with a sweep against the Louisville Lemurs who – at just 9-18 (.333 winning percentage) appear to corroborate subby500’s claim that the team is rebuilding.

So far Chicago is 13-5 in the month of May and showing no signs of slowing.

The Kingpins are a whopping 10-2 at home and are 10-3 against left-handed starters.

Time is of the essence. Considering Tourizz is in his third season in the minor leagues, he will likely be called up to the majors at season’s end.

Based on the nature of his acquisition and the likely term of his stay in Chicago, some might consider Tourizz a rental player; a for hire mercenary. It doesn’t feel that way to subby500 after the first week of simulations.

“I’m super happy to be with Chicago, even if it’s only for a season,” subby500 said. “Now that I’m here, I’m a Kingpin for life, in a way.”

[Jiggy]

Championship week has come and gone, and the MiLPBE has crowned it’s S41 champion. Congratulations to the Amarillo Armadillos, who bested my Chicago Kingpins to earn their eighth title as a franchise (I still can’t believe the Kingpins have only won two! Ugh!).

What looked like it was shaping up to be a super competitive series snowballed against Chicago, who blew a 6-3 lead in the bottom of the ninth in Game 4 only to lose in extra innings. Had the Kingpins won, they would have evened the series at two games apiece and the series as a whole may have taken a few different twists and turns. Instead, utterly deflated by the heartbreak of it all, Chicago put up little fight in the decisive Game 5, losing 7-2, and the Dillos were crowned champions having won the series four games to one.

Congratulations to the Amarillo Armadillos for winning the S41 MiLPBE World Series! As a member of the losing squad, I have to grit my teeth as I congratulate them, but despite my disappointment in the simulation results, I am honestly happy for the Dillos. They were an offensive juggernaut throughout the postseason, so the title is well deserved. But that salty taste of defeat that lingers with me made me want to take a closer look at how the two teams compared all year long. The bitterness inside me wants to chalk things up to poor sim luck. Unfortunately, a deeper dive seems to reveal that the Amarillo and Chicago were much more evenly matched than some may have initially thought.

Just how did these two teams compare heading into the postseason? The natural place to start would be to look at the head-to-head results. The Kingpins actually won the regular season matchups with a September series sweep giving them a 7-5 record against Amarillo. In total, the two teams played four three-game series.

May 14 – Kingpins 0 – Armadillos 1
May 15 – Kingpins 3 – Armadillos 4
May 16 – Kingpins 4 – Armadillos 1

June 19 – Armadillos 4 – Kingpins 0
June 20 – Armadillos 5 – Kingpins 9
June 21 – Armadillos 7 – Kingpins 1

July 31 – Kingpins 10 – Armadillos 6 (14 innings)
August 1 – Kingpins 1 – Armadillos 8
August 2 – Kingpins 3 – Armadillos 0

September 5 – Armadillos 2 – Kingpins 3
September 6 – Armadillos 7 – Kingpins 9
September 7 – Armadillos 2 – Kingpins 9

Had any one game gone the other way, the Dillos and Kingpins would have finished the year even in the head-to-head. In total, the Kingpins only outscored the Dillos 51 runs to 47, a difference of only four runs. Needless to say, the regular season series was extremely close. Until the Game 4 collapse, the World Series had been similarly close, with three of the first four games being decided by just one run.

Game 1 – Armadillos 9 – Kingpins 5
Game 2 – Armadillos 2 – Kingpins 3
Game 3 – Kingpins 5 – Armadillos 6
Game4 – Kingpins 6 – Armadillos 7 (10 innings)
Game 5 – Kingpins 2 – Armadillos 7

Amarillo stole home field advantage from Chicago with the Game 1 win, and the series never made it back to Chicago after Game 2. That was a bit surprising considering the dramatic difference in home-away splits each team had demonstrated throughout the year. Chicago finished the regular season with a 66-42 record (.611 winning percentage), good for the East Division crown and the second-best record in the league behind only the Kansas City Hepcats. They were 14 games above .500 (34-20) at home and 10 games above .500 (32-22) on the road. Amarillo finished the regular season with a 59-49 record (.546 winning percentage), tied for third in the West Division. They were 12 games above .500 (33-21) at home, but were two games under .500 (26-28) on the road. Despite the struggles on the road and Chicago’s resilience on the road, Amarillo was the only team to win on the road during the series.

It was Amarillo’s offense – and more specifically it’s power – that proved the difference. The two teams were very close in total hits, with the Armadillos edging out the Kingpins 49 hits to 45 hits. But the individual hits were in no way even. Amarillo smashed seven home runs across the series’ five games. Chicago hit only four. The Dillos piled up 80 total bases. The Kingpins just 64.

The postseason power was not an aberration. The Dillos ranked first in the MiLPBE with 257 extra-base hits during the regular season. They tied for the second-most home runs with 118 and were the second best slugging team with a .420 percentage. They also had a penchant for manufacturing extra runs on the base path, stealing 149 bases on the year, good for the third best total.

The Dillos also boasted an outstanding pitching staff, leading the league in hits allowed (930), opponents average (.254), and BABIP (.275). The bullpen’s 3.75 combined ERA was the second lowest in the MiLPBE and the starter’s 4.11 combined ERA was third lowest. Collectively, Amarillo allowed just 98 total home runs and 475 runs, third fewest of all staffs.

Amarillo was consistently inconsistent during the season, but showed time and again an ability to get hot and go on a run. The Dillos opened the year going just 11-12 in May, but then rattled off a 14-8 record in June. They fell back to a near .500 record with a 10-9 finish in July, but then surged again in August with a 15-8 record. They closed the season with a 5-7 record in September, including being swept on the road at Chicago.

In what had become feast or famine every other month, the postseason provided the backdrop for another surge. The Dillos outlasted Anchorage, winning an 11-inning nail-biter of a Game 5 and then blasted off to another stratusphere against the league’s top-two teams. They thumped the Kansas City Hepcats four games to one in the semifinals to advance to the World Series against the league’s second-best team, where they raced to another four-game-to-one series victory.

Chicago had also demonstrated some remarkable balance during the regular season. Their pitching staff was arguably the most dominant in the league, leading all other teams in ERA (3.90), runs allowed (459) and home runs allowed (87). They also ranked third in hits allowed (1005), opponents average (.268), BABIP (.297) and walks (396). Offensively, the Kingpins scored in a variety of ways. They were tied with Amarillo for second in the league with 118 home runs, had the second-most hits in the league (1100) and the second-best on-base percentage (.358). Chicago ranked third in runs scored (574), which combined with allowing the league’s fewest runs paints a pretty clear picture why they were so successful all season long.

Not that there weren’t hiccups along the way. Chicago was only 5-4 in April, 10-9 in July, and 12-11 in August. They were 15-8 in May, 16-6 in June, 8-4 in September and entered the postseason having won eight of their last 10 games.

The future for the Dillos still looks bright. Rookie catcher Leonidas Ruiz claimed World Series MVP. He batted a whopping .364 during the postseason with four home runs, 14 RBIs and a 186 wRC+. Rookie starter Jeff Salad started 5 postseason games and was the front man for the World Series rotation. Fellow rookie starter Unaaq Lyberth added 4 postseason starts of his own, posting a 2.18 ERA and a 2-0 win-loss record.

And for us in the Kingpins locker room, it will be another season wondering what might have been had the simulation gone different, and what we might do to get ourselves back to the postseason again next year.