QUOTE (Shadowbeat)
America's pastime made it mostly through the 21st century with only a few, teeny changes: cybered players, the collapse of the old league structure, and a three-team playoff in the World Series. And making things even more interesting, the traditionalists in North American baseball are under increasing pressure from the zaibatsu to open the World Series to competition with Japanese teams. But it's still basically the same old ball game.
Even after things fell apart and the old U.S. broke up, the governments and big corps agreed to keep baseball going. That was the beginning of the North American League (NAL). The North American League championship is still called the World Series, but the order of play has changed to fit a three-conference structure. The team at the top of each conference at the end of the regular season wins the divisional pennant and goes on to play in the World Series. Two of the three regional champion teams are chosen at random to play the first game of the series. The winner of that game plays against the third championship team. The loser of the second game plays the loser of the first game, and the loser of that game is out. The two remaining teams play each other for two out of three wins.
Most baseball teams are based in the UCAS, CAS, or CFS. But just because Mexico turned into Aztlan and joined the NAN, its people didn't stop loving baseball, and the San Diego Jaguars prove it. Besides, a hot baseball team run from San Diego, a former U.S. city, lets the Azteks sneer at the anglos. Beating them at their own game, the Azzies' favorite pastime. The Miami Sharks tap Into a lot of the Cuban and South American talent that used to end up on the U.S. teams in the old days. Now a talented Caribbean League player can stay in his own country and still play pro ball.
Timeline2013The Yankees win the World Series. It will be the last time until at least 2066.
2031The Seattle Mariners win the World Series.
2032For the first time, cyberware is legal in baseball. Players in AAA and major-league play are allowed 3 Essence points' worth of 'ware.
2038Judy Hofsted, baseball's first woman, signs with the Tigers.
2042Harry "Ironjaw" Bartlett, in his sixth year with the Los Angeles Dodgers, goblinizes into an ork.
2043The Dodgers play in the World All-Star exhibition against the Yomiuri Giants. Bartlett pitches in the game, causing an uproar in the Japanese media.
2046The Portland Lords are established by the Hemlad Cartel of Tir Taimgire. Despite receiving much derision for fielding an almost entirely elven team in satin uniforms, the Lords silence their critics by pitching a 5-0 shutout against the Dodgers in their first game.
2048The Portland Lords win the Coastal Pennant.
Ironjaw Bartlett retires with a career strikeout total of 5,301 -- beating Nolan Ryan's long-standing record by two.
2049"Lock-on" Lorenzo Hayes, left fielder for the Yankees, breaks the career home run record. The Yankees do not win the World Series.
2050Hayes brings his career HR total to 847 and his career hits to 4,195. The Yankees still do not win the World Series.
Circa 2054Marcus Garvey Park in Manhattan had a Little League field.
2062The Denver Ghosts become the newest team in the Central Division, going 65-96 in their first season. (Indicating that 161 games is, more or less, a full season.)
July: Mike Dutton of the Chicago White Sox is discovered to be an adept. According to him, the team was aware when they hired him, causing a scandal.
2063The Boston Red Sox, Texas Lone Stars, and San Diego Jaguars win their divisions. However, both the Jaguars and the Lone Stars refuse to continue in the three-team playoffs due to a bomb being set off during their game, causing the World Series that year to go to the Red Sox by default.
2065The last canonically confirmed World Series is held. The Manhattan Yankees do not win it.
2066Boston's home field is Novatech New Fenway, in which there stood a wall called the Green Monster.
The Yankees and Sox play a game which is dubbed "the Boston Massacre" by the sixth inning. Before the inning was over, the score was 28-3 Boston; the Yankees pitcher, "Tyrone Magnusson, had melted down in the first inning and the manager had left him out on the mound out of spite."
A counterfeit 1906 World Series ring was known to be in the possession of Miles Lanier. (There
were no 1906 World Series rings; the first rings were issued in 1932. The 1906 White Sox were, in all likelihood, given diamond-studded watch fobs.)
2069The Hanshin Tigers are bought by the Korean corp Eastern Tiger, but the Yakult Swallows beat them badly. The Tigers were immediately "itching for a rematch next season."
2070"Fairly recently," cyberlimbs optimized for baseball players hit the open market.
The Yomiuri Giants are still around. Also, the season of their league (possibly including pre-season training games) lasts from March to October.
As of 2072Some baseball leagues are still human-only.
AAA division baseball still exists.
The Manhattan Yankees are owned by NYPD, Inc. Renraku owns the New York Mets.
Baseball has a non-Augmented division, to which the Mets belong.
Conjecture--Fenway Park is no more, though Novatech rebuilt as accurate a replica as they could.
--Cyberware still abides by the same restrictions that it did in earlier years.
--Unlike in the past, adepts are allowed, at least in the augmented conferences. (Note Street Magic's off-hand reference to athletic leagues that allow cyber allowing Adepts.)
--Teams are sexually as well as racially integrated now.
--The Albuquerque Isotopes are still active. (Note Smiley's hat in On The Run.)
--The Yomiuri Giants have their home field in Bunkyo.
--Japan's baseball leagues are still human-only.
List of Active NAL Teams as of 2051Eastern DivisionAtlanta Braves (CAS)
Baltimore Orioles (UCAS)
Boston Red Sox (UCAS), confirmed as of 2066
FDC Senators (UCAS)
Manhattan Yankees (UCAS), confirmed as of 2072
Montreal Expos (Quebec)
Philadelphia Phillies (UCAS)
Richmond Generals (CAS)
Central DivisionChicago White Sox (UCAS), confirmed as of 2062
Cincinnati Whites (UCAS)
Detroit Tigers (UCAS)
Kansas City Royals (UCAS)
Miami Sharks (CL)
St. Louis Cardinals (CAS)
Houston Astros (CAS)
Texas Lone Stars (CAS), confirmed as of 2063
Denver Ghosts (???), new as of 2062
Coastal DivisionCalifornia Angels (CFS)
Los Angeles Dodgers (CFS)
Portland Lords (TT)
Sacramento Padres (CFS)
San Francisco Giants (CFS)
San Francisco Whales (CFS)
Seattle Mariners (UCAS)
San Diego Jaguars (AZT), confirmed as of 2062
Non-Augmented DivisionNew York Mets (UCAS), confirmed as of 2072