Definitely a surprise to see the Worcester Valentine's out of the playoff running after winning the championship last year.  I'm gonna guess the Boston Sugarmen winning it all this time.  Shame to see the Syracuse Miners and Pittsburgh Professionals doing so poorly.   You could argue Syracuse is somewhat deserving of this, (having moved from a much larger market in Cleveland simply because other teams complained about the travel) and one would think the NEBL would pay attention to and learn from this development.  That'll be interesting to see.   Pittsburgh though, never seemed to get over the hump of the 2-98 first season they had while in Buffalo.  You kinda wanted to see them succeed eventually.

I'm picking the Evansville Railers to win in the USBL.  As far as the lack of graphics on the win-loss records, I'm fine with it.  If anything, I like that you now have the team names including in the typed standings now, (instead of just having the city name, which meant you'd occasionally have to look up a team's name if you forgot what it was).   So this is actually an improvement anyway.

The 1893-94 offseason headlines:
-The big news this offseason was the news that owner of the Chicago Maroons, Alexander Cleveland, had talked to several minor league team owners, USBL and NEBL team owners, and people who were interested in founding a team in the Great Lakes region about creating a league of their own, after his request to join the NEBL was denied for being located to far away. Alexander informed commissioner Armstrong about his decision to transfer the team midway through the season. Armstrong who battled against the decision he unfortunately had to make during the 91-92 offseason. Cleveland is aimed at gaining more followers to join his Northern Baseball League. Former Cleveland Carnegies owner has already been set to join the league. Rumor has it Lions owner would also join, possibly Philadelphia BC owner as well. Although neither teams have made any moves. 

-Only one team made any identity changes this season, that team being the Valentines who made a slight update. They darkened their red and added a small red stripe to their caps and another small white stripe to their socks. 


-The biggest offseason move was SP Matt Williams signs with Rochester after having been with the Millers for all 8 seasons of their existence. He played and won 2 games in the past championship as he was arguably their best pitcher. 

-The Snappers also lost two key players, 1B Dave Morris signed with Cincinnati and P Joel Nelson signed with the Lions. 

C&C appreciated, how do you feel about the whole Chicago situation. How do you like the Valentines updates.

Before the 1894 season started, Maroons owner announced publicly this would be the teams last in the USBL. He did this alongside Commissioner Armstrong who after 9 seasons will have enough with the USBL and would be retiring, although it’s speculated he might commission the new forming league, but he denied any allegations. 

1894 NEBL Standings:
1.Hartford Colts: 66-34
2.Philadelphia Revolutionaries: 62-38
3.Worcester Valentines: 59-41
4.Boston Sugarmen: 58-42
5.Brooklyn Dutch Lions: 53-47
6.Manchester Millers: 52-48
7.Rochester Stars: 51-49
8.New York Magpies: 48-52
9.Providence Red Caps: 48-52
10.Pittsburgh Bluebirds: 36-64
11.Baltimore Snappers: 36-64
12.Syracuse Miners: 32-68

-Baltimore falls off, front office issues and loss of talent results in the worst season in franchise history.
-Brooklyn improves greatly under a young core, they finish 5th in the league, the highest they’ve ever reached.
-Worcester returns to the postseason after a poor ‘93 season. They have high expectations entering the fall. 

1894 USBL Standings:
1.Dayton Eagles: 75-25
2.Evansville Railers: 64-36
3.Louisville Stallions: 57-43
4.Hamilton Athletic Club: 54-46
5.Toledo Lions: 53-47
6.Cincinnati Generals: 43-57
7.St. Louis Gatekeepers: 43-57
8.Chicago Maroons: 40-60
9.Philadelphia Baseball Club: 37-63
10.Kansas City Cowboys: 32-68

-Dayton won a ridiculous 75 games, the most of any professional team ever.
-Philadelphia plummets losing the most games in franchise history.
-Chicago forfeit several games in support of the Pullman strike. 

C&C appreciated, sorry if it seems I’m rushing these past few posts, I just want to get some work out there as I’m going to get a bit more busy for the next few weeks (as if my uncalled for hiatus the past month wasn’t evidence enough, sorry about that) I also have big plans for the story line coming up very soon so be excited!

Here’s the 1894 Postseason! 

The NEBL play-in games: 
Boston Sugarmen vs Hartford Colts: Hartford came out and gave up 3 runs immediately at the top of the first. Boston took advantage of their quick start and pressed down on the gas pedal, outscoring the startled Colts 10-1 by the 6th inning. Hartford would scramble for a comeback that would unfortunately come up short. Boston would upset Hartford 11-8. 

Worcester Valentines vs Philadelphia Revolutionaries: Valentines were on a mission, within two innings Worcester had their foot on the Revs’ throat. Philadelphia would fall just as easily as Hartford would, except without even a humbling comeback. The win grants the Hearts their 8th appearance in The Championship. The

The USBL play-in games: 
Hamilton Athletic Club vs Dayton Eagles: Dayton struggles early on, allowing Hamilton to take a 4-1 lead by the 3rd inning. Not wanting to back down though, the Eagles battle back in the 5th and tie it at 6. Both teams battle it out, seeming to want to outbest each other and by the 9th the best team in baseball history is down 12-11. With two outs and 2 strikes, it surely looked over for Dayton. Until an RBI double sent them into extras where it took another 5 innings for the “invincible” Eagles to win. The final score was 16-15 Dayton. 

Louisville Stallions vs Evansville Railers: Evansville shows their hunger for a threepeat with a cruising victory. Winning 5-0 against a washed up Stallions team. 

The NEBL Championship boiled down to the Worcester Valentines vs the Boston Sugarmen, a rivalry revived! 

Game 1 was as tight as ever, the battle between pitchers Till and Brady were reminiscent to their battles almost a decade ago. Rounding the 9th the game was tied at 7. Boston led off at the bottom of the lineup. But it didn’t matter because with one out there were two men in scoring position and long time Sugarmen SS Jonathan Irvine up to bat. Two pitches in he sent one down the left field line barely escaping the thirdbasemens grasps. This roped in a run giving Boston the lead. Brady would shut down the next two batters keeping Boston from scoring again. Worcester now had a chance to walk off. Up to bat was LF Adrian Moore. He singled and after a strikeout, 2B Will Lozano was up to bat. The man who had had an illustrious career alongside Irvine and the Sugarmen now had a chance to walk off against them in the championship. After two balls were thrown his way. Till threw him a fastball, expecting him to take. Lozano didn’t. He swung and corked the ball out of the park winning the game for Worcester. Till famously came and congratulated him as he rounded the bases. 

Game 2 was unfortunately not near as exciting. Worcester followed up on the momentum from the end of game 1 and jumped to a big 5-0 lead that they never gave up. The score stayed the same from the 4th inning on. Boston went down 5-0. 

Game 3 was a chance for the Sugarmen to recover, now in front of their home crowd. They failed to capitalize however. Going down 3-0 in the series after being shutout again 3-0. 

Game 4 looked set to be as exciting as the first, as Till battled against Brady once again. Sadly, Till hurt his arm after 2 innings pitched and couldn’t play the rest of the game. Brady dominated against an unmatched backup and held the Sugarmen scoreless for the third straight game. Winning the game 2-0 and clinching their 5th NEBL Championship.

The USBL Championship led to the Evansville Railers vs the Dayton Eagles.

Game 1 surprised many as many of the issues Dayton had in the play-in game still showed prominent here. Evansville cruised to an early 3-0 lead that the Eagles couldn’t recover from.  

Game 2 seemed as though it would be a pivotal moment in the series. Evansville lets in a couple runs in the bottom of the second, and Dayton carries this momentum into the third and fourth where the garner 4 more runs and only allow 1. But as the game continued the problems continued as the Railers crept back into the game and had clinched the lead by the 9th. Dayton would fall again, 8-6. Surprising many since they were the clear favorites to win it all. 

Game 3 was the game where the Eagles completely fell apart. By the 5th inning they had given up. Down 10-0 to a hungry Railers team who looked unbeatable. Evansville would rack up 17 hits by the end of the game and hold Dayton scoreless for the second time this season. Taking a crucial 3 game series lead. 

Game 4 was the nail in the coffin. Dayton, who once looked like the best team in the world, now looked like they didn’t know how to play. Evansville was beating them in every aspect. They held the Eagles hitless through 3 and scoreless through 7. While getting at least 1 run every inning almost. In the least exciting elimination game ever. Evansville wins soundly 11-4, winning their third straight USBL Championship. Becoming the second team to do so.

C&C Appreciated! How did your team do?
 

The 94-95 offseason was the biggest since the founding of professional baseball.
The dominos started with the shift from commissioner Armstrong to new commissioner Joe Davis in the USBL. Davis being regarded as a greedy cheapskate, was heavily unliked by the USBL community, this was displayed in brilliant fashion when he, pretty much as soon as he took office, made a new rule that all USBL teams had to be located in major metropolitan area with a population above 125,000. He created this rule so that contending teams such as the Eagles, AC, and Railers would be forced to relocate to bigger populated cities where the teams success would bring in more revenue. Although faced with big backlash, the teams obliged, owners agreeing that the relocations would work out and thicken their pockets up too. Evansville and the AC stayed close to home AC moving in with the Generals and the league headquarters in Cincy, while the Railers shipped north to Indy. Dayton however was stuck between Columbus and Washington. But with Columbus focused on a deal with the new league, the Eagles had to settle with the nations capital. So welcoming three new cities into the league, the USBL was looking pretty powerful, having some of the biggest cities in the US. This was until in the middle of the relocations, the news broke of the new league. It started off with former USBL commissioner and newly retired Bob Armstrong announcing he was coming out of his short lived retirement to commission the new Great Lakes Baseball League. Soon after the team owners came out, and among them were USBL team owners of the Lions and Maroons. Toledo Lions Owner had told the USBL they were going to fold at the end of the season. Apparently this was never the idea though as they had been with Chicago Owner, Alexander Cleveland, the founder of the GLBL, since the idea came up. Along with the Lions and Maroons, who had actually rebranded as the Scarlets to refresh the team, were the Cleveland Steamers, Detroit Victorians, and Milwaukee Giants with a Columbus team slated to join next year. This whole story was a big shock to the baseball world and especially NEBL owners and commissioner, who hadn’t been aware of the tension inside the USBL, and didn’t see this coming. Talks of there being too much competition inside the professional world started pilling in from fans, players and owners alike. 
This whole move left the USBL with a completely new set of teams compared to last year, and while not affected immediately, it seemed as though the NEBL’s way of smaller markets would eventually have to go through some kind of change. Teams like Worcester, Rochester, Manchester, Syracuse and Hartford might have to relocate or fold if this experiment of bigger cities over a wider area, that the USBL and GLBL have started, works out in their favors. 
On with the identities, i’ll start with the GLBL! 
First the Cleveland Steamers:
Blue and yellow are the team colors, as displayed on the socks, they pair this up with blue caps and nice uniforms with the team’s C logo on the chest.



Next the Milwaukee Giants:
The Giants bring a new color into the professional world; Brown! And they aren't afraid of using it, their entire away uniform is brown, from the socks to the cap. Certainly a unique look. On both jerseys they also have an M and a G representing Milwaukee and Giants.



Third, the Detroit Victorians: 
The Victorians have a red and blue color scheme, they have a unique script on their road jersey that doubles as their primary logo.



Penultimately, the new look Chicago Scarlets:
The Maroons change names to represent a new shade of red they’ll wear. They have red and white striped socks and grey caps. 



Last but not least the Lions:
The Lions make a small change and lighten their blue.



Next the relocated teams: 
The Indianapolis Railers:
Not much of a change, keeping their simple red and grey from Evansville.



The Cincinnati Athletic Club:
The AC made the biggest departure from their old look. Throwing a bit of red in there and getting rid of the navy aways. They're also the first team to incorporate two different hat designs.



Lastly, the Washington Eagles:
They, just like the Railers, updated the old look to better represent the new city.



Finally, this offseason had some pretty big player moves as well.
The biggest of them all is probably, legendary and all time great pitcher, Ben Till being traded from Boston to Manchester. After a poor championship performance, and his age catching up on him, he had his worst ERA of his career as well, the Sugarmen decided it was time to move on. Next was star C Richard Snow being the first star to join the GLBL, signing with the Giants. 

C&C Appreciated, how do you feel about the ground rattling changes to the baseball world?