NABO48 w/ MLBPA ... Updated for '26

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Another longtime team, going back to being a fictional power in Front Page Sports Football edition. Often a reaper was used as the logo, but Nebraska's association with corn makes the scarecrow a worthy replacement.

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A natural fit for NABO

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When I was modding stuff for MVP 05 PC, I moved the Pittsburgh Pirates to San Antonio to become the Stallions and played my franchise with them. In Madden 11, I used them again because I needed a team to match the "chess piece" logo (the other chess piece team was the Baltimore Bishops). The naming is a natural fit.

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The franchise used in '24 was the Texas Talons (Owls), but I was running out of enthusiasm for that scheme. I wanted to do something "oil related" as a tribute to the big TV show from the 80s .... but drillers, oilers, etc has already been done to death, both for Texas and Oklahoma. So, I started thinking about "dinosaurs" as being a possible link to oil/petro, and T-Rex popped up early on since it starts with the same letter as Texas. A few bad ideas out of the way, and Tyrants as a play on Tyrannosaurus came into view, and I went with that.

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As a kid, I'd always use something like "Houston Heat" or heatwave as a team, and then somewhere along the line (before city connect jerseys), I started using city nicknames (Gateway City, Emerald City, Empire City, Queen City, Charm City, Motor City, etc) and Space City stuck. Adding in Sky Captains was a fit, but likely not as great as what I thought it was initially. Tribute to the Houston Oilers with the color scheme.

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With Phoenix replacing Mesa, the Monsters nickname was available, and suited for Mexico ... so Monterrey gets it. I didn't want to name a team mountain lions or Mariachis or something else, so it fits. It also suits the uniform style that no other franchise can really use, so it's here for uniqueness.

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Love this teams logo, jersey script, color scheme, etc.

That's it for the team previews

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I've never used MLB players in a fictional league like this, but for '26 I decided to give it a shot.

Inaugural draft was a straight draft with the teams ordered by metro population size, so as St Louis I drafted like 28/48 every round.

Initially I was going to use 1980s modifiers for the league, so for batters I focused more on contact than eye, and was going to build my team around the infield. Top end pitching is rare, so I alternated drafting position players and pitchers until the starting rotation was filled.

With 48 NABO teams and players from 30 MLB teams, that means roughly 1/3 of the players in NABO are going to MLB's minor league players ... depth is not going to be a luxury.

In the first round, I picked Mookie Betts, a great all around player, who can play SS. After Mookie, I took Aaron Nola, the best SP available. Then Albies, Bellow, Arenado, etc. Roman Anthony in the 9th round was a pick for the present and the future. Everything else was just trying to piece the team together.

As mentioned earlier, I messed up the league totals or modifiers with the original idea, so I ended up just going with neutral stats (modifier 1.000) for pretty much everything.

I will update the league every 10 games, 2 turns through the rotation.

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Since my intention was to play this dynasty with average 1980s modifiers, my draft strategy was to maximize contact/AVK at the late and control and movement on the bump. That has worked for me in the past. In this dynasty, I'm using neutral(1.000) modifiers, but the team should perform about the same. With 48 NABO teams and 30 MLB teams worth of players in the draft, depth is rare.

Edit: I utilized the "fictional contract" feature before the draft began.



I contemplated taking a SP in R1 due to the limited supply, and trying to get someone like Dansby Swanson in R2 ... but with Mookie Betts available in R1, a true 5 tool player, with the ability to play SS/OF ... I had to take him.



Nola was simply the best SP available.



Sticking to the infield, Albies is a very good player at a limited position.



In a draft that's running out of good SP rather quickly, Bello could be an above average SP with potential to develop even more.



Arenado rounds out the infield focus at 3B. Not the player he once was, he provides good defense, adequate power, and good contact.

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Alternating between drafting position players and starting pitchers until the rotation is filled out .... Francis looks like he could be league average to slightly above.



Good defensive catcher, under team control, with possibly an overall average bat at C.



The starting pitching pool is getting thin. Hoping infield defense helps out the GB guy Montgomery.



A good pick here, imo, he can start right away and is still a major prospect. Hopefully he develops into a serious #2 batter .... like peak Christian Yelich, even if it's with less power.



Could be a good 5th SP with the right bullpen. Looking back, this pick was a reach.

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Pretty good bat. The lack of walks will be more of a negative in this dynasty than it would have been with the original plan.



Hoping he's an average bat at 1B.



Filling out the bullpen, now that the rotation is full.



I like the heavy bat off the bench and as a sub OF, but it might be a stretch.



I like this pick ... a lot. 2 dominant pitches, and a 3rd average one.

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Okay, enough draft crap .... onto the season.

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