Hey y'all! Sorry about the long wait, but between my senior year of college starting up and captaining a College Project team, I haven't had a ton of time or motivation to work on this. I finally got around to getting the Finals written up (I had nothing on paper before Saturday), but it might be another good bit of time before the offseason post comes out. Anyway, without further ado, the 2028 NDL Championship Series:



As familiar as the Redbacks were with the NDLCS, there was still something noticeably new this time around. Believe it or not, this was the first time Texas did not have home-court advantage in the Finals, and the Row were looking to take … well, advantage. It wouldn’t be easy, though, and Game 1 proved that. Both teams were locked in a constant battle; the game saw 31 lead changes and 12 ties, and naturally, would come down to the wire. Down 4 with the ball, Philly would look for one final opportunity to score, but knowing they needed 5, Texas was effectively able to ignore anything between the 5-point line and the goal line. With the tight perimeter defense, the Row couldn’t find an opportunity, and a B/ZB Kenton Snowberger pass would eventually be picked off by W/ZB Larry Whitt. Whitt’s two-point goal at the other end would ice the game for the Redbacks, stealing home court advantage right off the bat.

Still, Game 1 had confirmed what was expected from this series - it was gonna be close. Philly, determined not to lose both of their first two home games, tried to slow it down to make it even closer, hoping it would be their defense that would take control of the game. After all, during the regular season, the only time they lost was in Texas when they allowed 143 points; in no other game against the Redbacks had they allowed more than 126, and of course, they had won all three. In that respect, Game 2 was a success, as Texas was only able to score 124, a big difference from their 148 in Game 1. Unfortunately for the Row, that wouldn’t be the big story they had hoped. Instead, they seemingly forgot to show up on offense, starting out on the wrong foot in the first few innings and then repeatedly shooting themselves in that same foot all game. For the first time all season, regular and post, Philly would come up short of the century mark, as the Redbacks would go up 2-0 with the chance to close out the series before it got back to Philadelphia.

Game 3 was more of what the Row expected from a slowed-down, defensive-heavy game, and they even had a 6-point lead at halftime. However, the Redbacks don’t seem to ever let anybody have anything nice, so of course, they came out in the second half and swung the tide back in their favor. In particular, W/C Elide Amigazzi was huge on defense, swallowing up multiple opportunities before Philly could blink an eye. Texas would pull ahead in the seventh and wouldn’t look back, earning a 14-point win and once again bringing us to Game 4 with the chance at a sweep. With the momentum and the crowd in the Redbacks’ favor, it was all the Row could do to keep Game 4 as close as it was, as Philly would come up short once again and Texas would take home its seventh title in eight years.

Rugrat wrote:

If Texas wins it all I will clean up my apartment which I really really don’t want to do

Time to start cleaning, I guess! Hopefully your apartment hasn't accumulated too much extra dust in the last month.

master BDoof (CodeG) wrote:

I keep seeing every non-Redbacks fan promising some crazy thing if they win again... I'm tempted to do so too. Usually my go-to bet is to ask a girl out, but cant really do that in the pandemic. So I will instead bet that if the Redbacks win, I will try to go through all 70 years of a soccer league simulation I have (ive been putting off doing write-ups and jerseys for well... 70 years) 

Excited to see what this turns into! 70 years is a lot, but if you start at year one and take it one step at a time, you'll be surprised at how quickly you might start moving. (Or you might be like me and completely ignore your project for weeks on end. There's no wrong way to do it.)

ThisIsFine wrote:

If the Redbacks win the title again this year, I will break my foot with a hammer.

Cardiac Cardinal wrote:

If Texas beats Philly I will eat a Tide Pod

I guess this is as good a time as any to provide some sort of disclaimer that I'm not responsible for any damages caused by the reading of this year's NDLCS.

Anyway, I'm 99.99% sure that both of these were jokes, but on the off-chance that they weren't, please don't cause yourselves bodily harm because of some stupid internet sport that isn't real. I had already simmed the whole postseason at this point, and these comments legitimately gave me a bit of pause because I didn't want to re-sim it but I also didn't want anybody going to the hospital over this. I mean, that sh*t's expensive...

Thinking about it, the league should be facing huge backlash for letting the Redbacks walk through all the other teams. That could hurt a new league like this, especially with it being a new sport. New leagues shouldn’t be monopolized at all when trying to gain momentum. Maybe some discovery finds the Redbacks are undermining the salary cap, and I know it’s simulation, but even still, it always seems too fishy.

ProsecutorMilesEdgeworth wrote:

Thinking about it, the league should be facing huge backlash for letting the Redbacks walk through all the other teams. That could hurt a new league like this, especially with it being a new sport. New leagues shouldn’t be monopolized at all when trying to gain momentum. Maybe some discovery finds the Redbacks are undermining the salary cap, and I know it’s simulation, but even still, it always seems too fishy.

This seems like less of a should/shouldn't for a new league and more of a thought geared towards lack of variety in a fictional story. This start is actually fairly common for very successful leagues.

Last edited by Thehealthiestscratch (9/29/2020 8:55 pm)

*ahtr*

Looks like it's time for another digit on that sig. Gonna run out of room at this rate!