By Joe “Flexidisk” Hatfield [ joshuapuck@hotmail.com ], with additional (Wolf and Raven) material by Adam Jury [ adamj@dumpshock.com ]
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Everything You Wanted to Know...
» Wow, Wally’s still writing for NewsNet? » Must be on the end of his rope if he got stuck
with a fluff piece like this. The national pastime in 2062 has weathered a lot of storms; the Balkanization of the US, the Crash of '29, cyber-enhancements, metahuman influxes, Japanese pressure, and competition from upstart sports such as Urban Brawl and Combat Biker. However, as with most things, there are diehard fans who refuse to let it die, and keep the stadiums full enough to keep the sport alive for quite some time to come. » Apparently there's still more than enough support
for the ex-"National Pastime." Even with heavy hitters like
Urban Brawl and the NFL giving it a run for its money, the NAL manages
to sit pretty. Maybe it's nostalgia. » It's obviously more than just nostalgia; maybe
it's something in the cheap soda and soydogs they sell. The attendance
figures for the '61 season of the SeaDogs were near 3.2 million. That's
nearly 20,000 people per game, and this was an off season for the Dogs.
They ended up in second place in the division. The State of the Game "Major League" Baseball is run by a holding company called NAL (North American League), Inc., which is owned by the governments of countries with teams, as well as a number of A, AA and even AAA corps. The teams themselves- including all farm teams, venues, training camps, etc.-are for the most part owned by corps and are separate from the NAL. leading some corps to treat teams like subsidiaries and sell shares in the teams. The result is that the corps usually end up squabbling over the rights to the most profitable teams. This raises the fear that a team may be relocated at a whim, but usually they're left alone for PR purposes. However, the corps still sometimes threaten relocation to spur players and teams to play harder under trying circumstances. Threatened relocation also pushes up ticket sales as die-hard fans don't like losing their team. » You know what that means, peeps. Jobs, jobs, jobs!
Remember in '56 when Reggie Peterson "amazingly" signed on to
the Detroit Tigers even though he was a self-proclaimed Yankee for life? » And the Tigers went all the way that year too.
Gee, Tiger, did we have something to do with this? » I plead the Fifth. The "farm" system in place in the old MLB was a means to train prospective players and to weed out those who couldn't quite cut it in the big leagues. It used four tiers of independently owned teams affiliated with specific Major League teams: the Rookie League, Single-A leagues, AA leagues, and AAA leagues, mirroring the tier system of the megacorporations. With the destabilization of Major League Baseball, about 3/4 of the farm teams folded, with most of the major AAA teams surviving due to popularity and adequate funding. During the reboot to the NAL, the shareholders realized that the farm system was still needed. However, they also realized that they could save on costs and the increasing hassles-mainly farm teams shifting around and reorganizing affiliations almost on a yearly basis-if they were all under the same organization. This created the system in place today: all 30 teams have one farm team in each level, scattered across the countries that their teams are affiliated with, all with the same name as the original team. The NAL itself is run almost like the UCAS Congress: There is one representative from each corporation that owns a team (or in the case of private owners, the owner him/herself or a delegated proxy) and one from each government of the country in which the team(s) are located. » The representative to the NAL, especially for
the government sector, is essentially a scrub job, one that some up and
coming loser gets stuck with. They have no power outside of the NAL. No
wonder turnover for those positions is high. » In fact, the main reason the governments don't
just give the power completely over to the corps is "for the good
of the people"; to make sure that they at least have a little say
if the corps owning the teams should jump ship suddenly. » Well, that and it gives them a fleeting feeling
of power. Not too many other venues for governments to hold power. 'Cept
Denver (HA!) or the UN (Double HA!) This prevents a corp (or government) that holds more than one team from having more influence on NAL decisions. » Except of course where the corps owning the other
teams are shell companies anyway... The committee, when teams move or the NAL expands, votes on new membership. The respective newcomer places a bid, usually needing to secure another member's sponsorship to be considered. » Read: In order to guarantee even getting CONSIDERED
joining, the prospective owner essentially signs its soul over to the
sponsor. At the end of MLB's existence, there were two leagues (American and National) that each housed four divisions (East, Mideast, Central, and West). Each division had 4 or 5 teams, leaving the MLB with a headache in scheduling around the total of 36 teams housed in several different countries, many of which had deep misgivings about each other. This was solved when MLB destabilized. Several teams folded for various reasons: anti-Amerind feelings, their cities belonging to the NAN, or lack of funding. When MLB became the NAL, it was originally agreed upon to break the teams into just three divisions, the Eastern, Central, and Pacific Divisions. However, after several expansion drafts that filled the roster from 21 to 24 and later 27 to 30 teams, the three Divisions were renamed Conferences, and given two divisions, North and South, with 5 teams each. Regular season play is 162 games, with an All-Star Game in the middle of the season, pairing off players in UCAS teams against those from the rest in the NAL. At the end of the season there is the Divisional Playoffs, where the two division leaders square off in 'best of five' games to see who gets to represent their conference in the playoffs. The team that has the highest record of the three gets a bye, and the remaining two play in a 'best of seven' called the Wild Card Series. The winner of the Wild Card moves on to face the remaining team in the World Series. There are also exhibition games held against Imperial Japan's best players, usually during spring training or after the World Series and also including the bi-annual World All-Star competition. The NAL is still under increasing pressure from Japan to hold a truly 'World' Series between the NAL and IJBL (Imperial Japanese Baseball League) champions, but the major sticking point between the two is the IJBL's bristling against kawaruhito (metahuman) players. Cyberware has become a major factor in the game. After 2032 it came under pressure by baseball purists, who saw baseball as a true example of athletic excellence and didn't want to see the game ruined by over-loaded cybermonsters crashing through the game, similar to what happened to football. Initially, the NAL allowed players to have mods in the AAA and pro league teams up to a certain level, and none at all in the levels below. Recently, there has been a push from the corp block of NAL members to ease these restrictions, especially those companies who see the sports teams they own as another perfect opportunity to field test their latest mods. However, the ban on mods in the lower leagues is in no danger of being affected, allowing the teams to see how the players operate for the first few years of their careers unchipped. This also means that an already modified player cannot drop below the AAA level; once they fall in ability below the AAA players, their career is over. NAL Teams Eastern Conference |
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North Division
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South Division
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North Division
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South Division
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North Division
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South Division
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Statsofts The short story "Designated Hitter" in the Shadowrun braided novel Wolf And Raven presents a slightly alternate version of baseball in the Sixth World. In this interpretation, the Hall of Fame produces "Statsofts"-baseball Activesofts with a personality overlay-for each player, and the teams bid each year on the services of players from a particular year. This allows legendary players from different generations to play against each other, and allows players to play against themselves. What baseball fan wouldn't want to see Nolan Ryan pitch to Babe Ruth, or watch a rookie by the name of Hank Aaron batting against the 1957 MVP outfielder Hank Aaron; can Hank hit it over the wall before Hank can snag it out of the air? Not only do these Activesofts provide a player with the abilities and playing nuances of the particular player, but the persona overlay also gives them other attributes of that player-vocal inflections, mannerisms, and common habits. Most players only use Statsoft chips during a game, but some have been known to try and live the life of a player from past eras, chipping 24/7. This practice is somewhat looked down upon by other players. It is true that this practice has added a level of predictability to the game, but two elements help to keep fans guessing. The first is the nature of the human body-no matter what (or who) a player has coursing through his brain, the body can only go so far, and when it breaks down it throws all predictions out the window. The other unpredictability element is so-called "Legacy Players," which are players using a Statsoft of an undisclosed player-the player, team and league know which persona he's chipping, but the other teams and fans do not. In game terms, official Hall of Fame approved Statsofts are near impossible to get-only a few designated staff members for each team are allowed contact with them, and in-between seasons all of them are returned to the Hall of Fame for safe-keeping. Some companies have marketed baseball themed skillchips to the general public, but because of the near-BTL qualities of Statsofts, no legitimate company will market anything with those features. Some black-market Statsofts do exist, but they are of dubious quality. In game terms, a Statsoft is a Personafix BTL (p. 66, Cannon Companion) with the Skillsoft Cluster option (p. 60, CC), with the appropriate skills. You may also elect to use the Partial Peak Controls option (p. 68, CC) to reduce the potential for addiction. Of course, black-market Statsofts may have any number of other options. |
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