Lakers Baseball Club:

LBC, as it has come to be known, has been one of the most successful Midwestern teams to date. Originally playing in a league consolidated around Lake Erie and Detroit, Cleveland’s best baseball club truly burst onto the scene with a Midwestern Championship in the league’s inaugural year, and remained perennial contenders throughout their time in the MWCL. Their name is derived from Lake Erie, which its stadium is nearly a stone’s throw away from.

Cleveland’s top team was initially formed out of spite. Fans of Cole’s Cleveland Baseball Club didn’t like how he managed the squad, and so even before the dissolving of the team it was rumored that a members association was planning to buy Cole’s newly built stadium off of him. When the team went into bankruptcy, the members association was able to buy the park for cheap, and have since rebuilt it to accommodate over 35000 fans.

This year’s squad is a strong mix of youth and experience, with young veteran second baseman Ron Levinson personifying the squad. This team really has no obvious flaws, with Chris Deardorff with a potential All-Star candidacy, along with center fielder Mike Cano and third baseman Kevin Drummond. Shortstop Mark Gillespie is also quite solid, with solid albeit uninspiring corner outfielders Jon Adjaloff and Steve Blaisdell rounding out the lineup. Brad Reeves leads a pitching corps that might end up being the only thing between this team and contention, as Reeves, Justin Stickland, Matt Owens, Mike Basel, and Jason Pinder leave a lot to be desired. Mike Osbahr, D.J. Laredo, Rocky Davison, and Juan Murillo outfit a shaky bullpen, and it’s to be seen if this team will live up to the old adage about Cleveland baseball: You’ve gotta stop more runs than you score.

Detroit United Baseball Club:

Founded in 1915 as a team sponsored by the Ford Motor Company, the squad quickly began to outplay other teams in the area, developing into the team Detroiters had been clamoring for since the Rowdies fell from grace in the Association. Eventually, to greater expand its fanbase, it began accepting players who had relationships with other car manufacturers in the city, and quickly expelled themselves from Ford’s grip and became a members association. While in the MWCL, the Dubs began a reign of dominance culminating in a 6 year span, featuring 2 titles and 4 other top five finishes.

In 1935, the team partnered with United Auto Workers, in which requirements changed to require a relationship with the Union in order to be a shareholder in the club. They’ve since expanded into becoming a baseball club accepting all types of players, and have seen rapid growth and success due to their hiring practices and player support.

A testament to treating your players as people, third baseman Shane Mayne, a 26-year-old from Detroit, has developed into the most explosive offensive player in the Midwest, while still being allowed to take time off for the birth of his first and second child, missing games while taking care of his new family. A veteran who lost his prime to war, first baseman Jon Perl is still an exciting slugger, while shortstop Beau Shaffer and left fielder Matt Meyer are also all-star hopefuls. Penn Kolbow and Jason Christenson fill out the outfield, while Vince Waters plays second and Alan Browning is behind the plate. Josh Greenstein leads a solid starting rotation that should have a lot of run support, so long as everyone is healthy. Expect this team to compete for the title in ‘47 and years to come.

Milwaukee Baseball Club:

Previously the Association’s Brewers in name only, Milwaukee’s squad has a strange history. After the Association, Milwaukee’s owner Nick McCormick continued on building a team around his star ace, George Rogers. They developed a strong team, but was never strong enough to get over the hump and bring home a championship against greater teams like the Republics.

After the 18th amendment was passed in 1919, McCormick didn’t have the excess cash to bankroll his Brewers, and under the behest of both Chicago clubs and their compatriots, ended up selling the team to noted prohibitionist William E. “Pussyfoot” Johnson, who viewed the team as an investment in raising the popularity of prohibition. The team was then formally known as the Milwaukee Pros, and from 1920 until his death in 1945, the team and its assets remained under Johnson’s control. Despite the unpopularity of the name, and the lack of alcohol sold during games, the team was somehow successful enough to garner a large following in the city by having eccentric and outspoken players who would get into public quarrels with their owner’s practices. Following Johnson’s death, his estate sold the team in shares, and Milwaukee’s best pro team became a members association. Their first orders of business were to hire a board of directors who supported alcohol sales at the newly renamed McCormick Park, and remove prohibitionist iconography from both uniforms and stadium signage. In 1946, the team’s surprising MWCL season was capped off in exhilarating fashion, as the squad won the championship on a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 9th during the final game of the year.

This team is solid, although unlikely to repeat a Midwestern crown. 24-year-old shortstop Dave Emch is the pride of Milwaukee, as he was born and raised a fan of the MKEBC. Second baseman Rick Livesay and right fielder Darius Lefevre are also solid, but the rest of the offense could use some work. Catcher Eric Eyster, first baseman Tom Grantham, and third baseman Daniel Rodriguez finish off the infield, while Mike Flournoy and Evan Nolen patrol the outfield/ Zachary Clary and the starting rotation isn’t much to write home about, and is most likely the biggest issue for them heading into this year. Don’t expect much from this squad in their first year in the MABL.

So a quick rundown before we get stared! I hope to be posting weekly, but knowing me it might be a while before I could get around to a consistent posting schedule.

(All references to time are in-universe) The season will start on April 1st of each year, and each following post will recap the month's events, with a break in between May and June to release the draft board, and on July 4th for the draft itself and the all-star game.

Both the MABL and regional cup standings will be updated, and the 96-game MABL regular season will end in the first week of October. Alongside MABL updates, each month's posts will include updates on (depending on the region) a 30-game De Jong Cup season, in which each team from a specific region will play at least twice to qualify for the knockout tournament, and a 38-game Hirsch Cup season, which will also see each team play each other regionally defined team at least twice to qualify for the knockout tournament. The MABL's postseason series, the Roosevelt Cup, will be played in-between the end of the regular season and the start of each respective knockout tournament. Then all the off-season stuff, of course. 

Make sure to submit players for the July 4th draft, as it's soon approaching. I hope to make this series something enjoyable for everyone and have something for all the graphics, narrative, and world-building guys and gals this board has to offer. And with that, it's baseball time!

1947 Preseason:

Before the season truly started, many teams made roster changes before opening day. Here are some of the notable transactions:

A lot of pitchers have left their respective teams and have found themselves either wandering under the vast, open sky or finding themselves smaller regional league contracts. Fun names such as Bobby Rogers (CRBC), Bobby Champagne (CBC), Tom Swisher (STL), Casey Belknap (CRBC), first basemen Kevin Cattarinussi (CBC), Chris Merwin (PEBC) and George Mersinger (CIN) have all been sent to pasture.

A few players have been promoted from their organization’s respective U22 and U24 squads.


As you can see, quite a few young pitchers have been called up from their respective junior clubs and into starting roles. Many of these fresh faces have shown themselves to be capable of throwing against great hitting through limited experience in the 1946 campaign, with even the youngest pitcher on this list, 16 year-old(!) Jack Jorns, showing promise at the major league level. The youngest crop of pitchers also physically developed quite a bit faster than they otherwise would have without the war, as many of these young men stayed in fighting shape to help out overseas.

The predictions for this league have shaken out far more differently than the first expectations in the midwest. Cincinnati, once thought to be in the driver’s seat behind the young rocket arm of George Rogers II, has seen their preseason standing drop to last in the division. St. Louis looks to be the top team in the Midwest Division, with many viewing the call-up of Sean Lake and Dario Ferrer as signs of an emerging young core being established with veterans in mind. The Yards’ home games look to be packed, as the ever-devoted fan base might have something to cheer for this year. The east looks to be just as how many predicted it, and while surprises are always still possible, many analysts see this as the year of the Jays.

Opening day is soon upon us.

Last edited by H-Town1141 (7/22/2021 10:08 am)