The first season of the NAAB has wrapped up, and there was plenty of action to go around! Here are the standings: 



Philadelphia dominated the league, as expected. They exceeded preseason expectations by 5 wins, being the only team to reach 70 wins and clinching home-field advantage for the first-ever NAAB playoffs. Their star slugger, 1B Joel Jefferson, won the batting title, hitting .333 in 94 games with 123 hits, 20 home runs, 77 RBIs, and 63 runs. In second in the East was the New York Busters, 3 games behind the Knights, claiming the first wild card. They were led by Adam Chisham and Kirk Reed, forming a formidable hitting and pitching duo. In third place were the Jets, struggling for most of the season before getting hot at the last second and snatching the second wild card slot from California. Washington had a decent first season, but they were clearly outmatched by the competition in the East. 

Meanwhile in the West, the Golden Suns seemed to be the clear favorites but blew it by going 11-16 in June (including a 20-0 battering at the hands of the Knights) and 11-14 in July to give away the division. It was still a good season for them, but the general feeling in San Jose is disappointment for how the season went. Los Angeles was the benefactor of California’s collapse, led by P Earl Collins, who took the pitching Triple Crown with 15 wins, a 2.25 ERA, and 179 Ks. However, the Olympians still have quite a mountain to climb and look like the weakest team heading into the postseason. Chicago, like Washington, had a decent season, but was really nothing special. Houston, however, had a season to forget. 75 losses would give any team reason to be down, but nothing seemed to be going right in H-Town. They’ll be hoping for something better in 2004. 

The postseason seems to be Philadelphia’s to lose, but strong challengers in New York and Atlanta look to knock them out.

2003 NAAB PLAYOFFS:
The first ever NAAB playoffs were grueling, with each series going the distance. In the first game of the Philadelphia-Atlanta series, the Jets pulled off a huge 4-3 victory in Philly. However, the Knights came to their senses and took the next two games, with only one win left. The Jets were able to stretch the series to a fifth game, but the Knights were able to close it out at home with a 5-2 win. The other series was also quite interesting: the Busters were able to take the first two games in LA, but lost both home games and the final game in Los Angeles to choke the series away. 

In the National Championship Series, both teams were able to take their home games, but it was the Knights' home-field advantage that gave them the edge. Congratulations to the Philadelphia Knights for being the first ever winner of the North American Association of Baseball!

2003 Offseason:

The first season of the NAAB was a huge success, with each team reaching attendance and revenue goals. With all this wild success, many teams began capitalizing on it with new sponsorship deals for their stadiums and other items. New names include: Atlanta's Delta Field, Houston's Exxon-Mobil Field, and New York's Roosevelt Field at Verizon Park. There were even talks of potential expansion to come in the near future, with several cities speculated by fans to include Cleveland, Charlotte, Dallas, Miami, Seattle, Phoenix, and Denver. Commissioner Rose stated that the league was committed to making all eight original teams as stable as possible before expanding, but he also made it clear that expansion will occur eventually.

Preseason predictions have the Chicago Lakers as the team to beat with the Los Angeles Olympians right on their heels. The reigning champion Knights, on the other hand, are predicted to fall hard, not even making it to .500. Either way, the second season of the NAAB should bring plenty of excitement!

The 2004 NAAB regular season has wrapped up and here are the standings: The name of the game this year was the California Golden Suns. They won a record 78 games off the back of the deadliest duo the league had seen: 1B David Lopez and 2B Mario Arreola, called “Flounder” by fans. Their lethal pitching staff was led by SP Brian Breed, and if you made it past him, the best reliever in baseball, RP Aaron Rolston was on your tail. Elsewhere in the West, the Los Angeles Olympians had a disappointing season, with only 46 wins after reaching the championship game a year before. The Storm missed out on a playoff spot by 2 games, leaving the Chicago Lakers with the second wild card slot. However, the Lakers didn’t even have a winning record, leading commissioner Rose to reportedly shout “Why on Earth is there a team with a losing record in the Playoffs?” to his staff. Rumors are floating around that playoff changes may be occurring. 

Meanwhile, in the East, things were much closer. The New York Busters won the division by one game over the Atlanta Jets, but both qualified for the playoffs. The Monuments were only 1 game behind the Lakers and the Knights 2, but there’s definitely disappointment in Philly after fans were hoping to repeat titles.

Steelman wrote:

That's a precipitous drop for Philly. That's gotta be tough on their confidence. I can understand Rose's frustration but it's still early days with only eight teams that are still closely-matched. I imagine some expansion will help drive win totals for better teams.

Yeah, the fans were not happy with the team's performance this year. While it seems normal to us, Rose is actually pretty upset with how Chicago snuck into the playoffs. He'll be looking for almost any way to eliminate that possibility, outside of shrinking the playoffs.