The Second Floor | King for a Day (63.21)
Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2025 2:36 pm
7.10.2063 – Hackney, Greater London
Grant decided to treat Jenny to a night out during the all-star break. He'd chosen a nice chophouse that came highly recommended; parquet floor, green leather upholstery, subdued lighting. The club was nine games above .500, and a semi-hopeful six and a half games behind Tokyo in the wildcard. Things were okay. With a little luck, the club might reach ninety wins. Grant was content and prepared to not talk about the Monarchs or baseball at all during their dinner, but the conversation veered that way anyhow.
Jenny started it with a simple enough question. How long did Grant think that he'd be in the job in London?
Grant dabbed the corner of his mouth with a napkin. “Difficult to say,” was his reply. “It wasn't that long ago that a GBC or UMEBA GM would be on the job for at most for two years before something opened up in the BBA and away they went. Things have changed, though. Now we're going on two years since anybody moved up from the GBC. But I've heard rumors that the BBA is thinking about expanding.”
“Oh, what have you heard?” asked Jenny. “A couple years of stability sounded nice.”
“Actually, I haven't heard anything of the kind,” said Grant, abashed.
Jenny chuckled and seemed to relax, since another move didn't appear to be in the offing.
Grant continued. “I thought I'd start the rumors myself … tonight. But it makes some sense, if you think about it. There hasn't been any expansion in the Brewster since 2040. The sport and ownership situation is as healthy as its ever been.”
“Okay, since we're just harmlessly speculating, if you had access to funds sufficient to pull it off, where would you put a new BBA club?”
“Well, it depends,” replied Grant. “Like, which division would be expanding, for instance.”
“I don't know, let's just take them one a time. Start in the east, work your way west.”
“Sure, so, the JL Atlantic, or JLA if you're a DC fan. You're spoiled for choice to add a club in that footprint. You've got a bunch of former BBA cities there. Buffalo, Manhattan, uh, Greenville, D.C... There's Hackensack, if you want to embrace the Brewster of it all. Halifax, though that was always a bit of a stretch. Havana. Big mistake pulling out of a baseball hotbed like Cuba, if you ask me. And then you've got Orlando just sitting there for the taking. Raleigh-Durham, if you don't think the Carolinas are played out. But, personally, I think I'd go with Hartford. You got all that insurance money over there to fill your boxes, plus it gets the association a toehold in New England, which can be a pretty good sports area in general.
“In the FL Heartland, it's no contest. Indy Grasshoppers, baby! Could I pass up the chance to revive my childhood club? No way.”
“And what if Indianapolis were off the table?”
“Just for the sake of argument?”
“Just for the sake of argument.”
“Hamilton, Ontario could work, if you wanted to head north and kind of backdoor the Toronto market. Memphis, if you wanted to go in the other direction, and had the stones to maybe pick a fight with Nashville. Huntsville of course used to have a club, as did the UP and Lexington, Kentucky, but I'm more of a realist, I guess. And, I suppose there's Columbus, if you could stomach another Ohio team.
“Moving on to the JL Frontier. There are some former BBA sites that I think still at least make some sense: Salt Lake City, Wichita, Edmonton, El Paso, in that order. To that group I'd probably add Oklahoma City as a fairly strong candidate. Colorado Springs would be intriguing, if the Brewster were interested in getting back in Colorado. Kind of a surprising number of possibilities there. I'd probably go with Salt Lake City.”
“Those BBA teams move around a lot, don't they?”
“Yeah, billionaire owners get bored staying in one place too long, I guess.”
“And I guess that brings us to your old division.”
“For the Pacific, I think you need to zero in on the bay area. San Jose would be at the top of the list, though Fremont might be a good compromise location, geographically speaking. Otherwise I think you have to get creative and look abroad. Mazatlán, maybe? I've heard it's a good baseball town, though you could just as easily make a case that they would fit in the Frontier. I think San Jose would be the top choice there.”
Grants phone, which was sitting on the table and which he hadn't looked at all night, buzzed. He ignored it and took a drink of Malbec.
He set down the glass and it buzzed again. By the time the entrees arrived, it had buzzed several more times.
Jenny had enough. “Just at least look at the thing, I'm worried it might be something important now.”
Grant sighed and picked up his phone. “Huh,” he said.
“Well, what is it?”
“Peyton,” was his one-word reply.
Grant decided to treat Jenny to a night out during the all-star break. He'd chosen a nice chophouse that came highly recommended; parquet floor, green leather upholstery, subdued lighting. The club was nine games above .500, and a semi-hopeful six and a half games behind Tokyo in the wildcard. Things were okay. With a little luck, the club might reach ninety wins. Grant was content and prepared to not talk about the Monarchs or baseball at all during their dinner, but the conversation veered that way anyhow.
Jenny started it with a simple enough question. How long did Grant think that he'd be in the job in London?
Grant dabbed the corner of his mouth with a napkin. “Difficult to say,” was his reply. “It wasn't that long ago that a GBC or UMEBA GM would be on the job for at most for two years before something opened up in the BBA and away they went. Things have changed, though. Now we're going on two years since anybody moved up from the GBC. But I've heard rumors that the BBA is thinking about expanding.”
“Oh, what have you heard?” asked Jenny. “A couple years of stability sounded nice.”
“Actually, I haven't heard anything of the kind,” said Grant, abashed.
Jenny chuckled and seemed to relax, since another move didn't appear to be in the offing.
Grant continued. “I thought I'd start the rumors myself … tonight. But it makes some sense, if you think about it. There hasn't been any expansion in the Brewster since 2040. The sport and ownership situation is as healthy as its ever been.”
“Okay, since we're just harmlessly speculating, if you had access to funds sufficient to pull it off, where would you put a new BBA club?”
“Well, it depends,” replied Grant. “Like, which division would be expanding, for instance.”
“I don't know, let's just take them one a time. Start in the east, work your way west.”
“Sure, so, the JL Atlantic, or JLA if you're a DC fan. You're spoiled for choice to add a club in that footprint. You've got a bunch of former BBA cities there. Buffalo, Manhattan, uh, Greenville, D.C... There's Hackensack, if you want to embrace the Brewster of it all. Halifax, though that was always a bit of a stretch. Havana. Big mistake pulling out of a baseball hotbed like Cuba, if you ask me. And then you've got Orlando just sitting there for the taking. Raleigh-Durham, if you don't think the Carolinas are played out. But, personally, I think I'd go with Hartford. You got all that insurance money over there to fill your boxes, plus it gets the association a toehold in New England, which can be a pretty good sports area in general.
“In the FL Heartland, it's no contest. Indy Grasshoppers, baby! Could I pass up the chance to revive my childhood club? No way.”
“And what if Indianapolis were off the table?”
“Just for the sake of argument?”
“Just for the sake of argument.”
“Hamilton, Ontario could work, if you wanted to head north and kind of backdoor the Toronto market. Memphis, if you wanted to go in the other direction, and had the stones to maybe pick a fight with Nashville. Huntsville of course used to have a club, as did the UP and Lexington, Kentucky, but I'm more of a realist, I guess. And, I suppose there's Columbus, if you could stomach another Ohio team.
“Moving on to the JL Frontier. There are some former BBA sites that I think still at least make some sense: Salt Lake City, Wichita, Edmonton, El Paso, in that order. To that group I'd probably add Oklahoma City as a fairly strong candidate. Colorado Springs would be intriguing, if the Brewster were interested in getting back in Colorado. Kind of a surprising number of possibilities there. I'd probably go with Salt Lake City.”
“Those BBA teams move around a lot, don't they?”
“Yeah, billionaire owners get bored staying in one place too long, I guess.”
“And I guess that brings us to your old division.”
“For the Pacific, I think you need to zero in on the bay area. San Jose would be at the top of the list, though Fremont might be a good compromise location, geographically speaking. Otherwise I think you have to get creative and look abroad. Mazatlán, maybe? I've heard it's a good baseball town, though you could just as easily make a case that they would fit in the Frontier. I think San Jose would be the top choice there.”
Grants phone, which was sitting on the table and which he hadn't looked at all night, buzzed. He ignored it and took a drink of Malbec.
He set down the glass and it buzzed again. By the time the entrees arrived, it had buzzed several more times.
Jenny had enough. “Just at least look at the thing, I'm worried it might be something important now.”
Grant sighed and picked up his phone. “Huh,” he said.
“Well, what is it?”
“Peyton,” was his one-word reply.
