Members of the BBA, like most people around the globe, have spent the greater parts of three months mostly cooped up inside our apartments and houses—and those who were not so cooped up were busy dealing with business and life situations that had, in many cases, radically changed toward the more difficult. In short, the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic were a tough gig. I hope we never see anything like this again.
But facts are facts, and the fact is this: During the pandemic, the BBA has responded, has benefited, and has grown in ways that have been—for the most part—magnificent. Yes, when I get around to publishing my annual PPT report you'll see just how blistering the numbers were. But this post is not about numbers.
I admit fully that I have only been here for twenty seasons of our seventy, but I have very little problem positing the base aspect of the point behind this little ramble: I suggest here and now before Sawyer Silk and Steve Nebraska, hallowed be thy names, that 2042 has to have been this league’s most flat-out entertaining season of all times, that behind the numbers lie the heart and soul of the people who make this league what it is. Yeah, I know that sounds over-the-top pretentious, but screw it. I’ve never in my life seen an online league respond like this one did in 2042, and someone’s got to be that guy—so it might as well be me.
The fact that it’s so hard to even decide where to begin when talking about this season is proof enough of my supposition. But, at some semi-random order, follow me as I take a step into the way-back machine to let you see why I think this is true.
UMEBA EXPANDS, THEN EXPLODES!
Remember back when this UMEBA expansion was in all the headlines?
That was the big news, right?
There was concern, after all. Ten teams so quickly? I mean, the GMs were just settling, right? A little cash added? Maybe that’s good, but more teams? Started from literally scratch? Are you insane?
Yes, indeed, we picked up two more teams created as wildcatting startups, and two more GMs to fill the ranks out to 42 baseball clubs across the Brewster globe. That quaint day may seem like years ago, but it was only in February or March that Neil took the reins in Athens and began storming up into the lead of their Bancroft division and then Kuwait City, abandoned for lost until Chad took on the helmsman job, kinda righted the ship.
That storyline alone would have been enough to make for good reading, but the bigger picture says this is the season the UMEBA came into its own because the UMEBA GMs stood up and declared it their league by dad gummit, and you can’t make me say otherwise. With GMs taking hold of their franchises and driving their teams to tight competition—with the Bancroft going down to the wire and with Jouve’s Baghdad team using the dog-days of August to finally pull ahead. With a freaking Game 163 driven by one of those upstart expansion teams that literally didn’t exist a year prior.
The draft was hot, the All-Star game was interesting, and the activity we saw was off-the charts.
Somewhere in there, the UMEBA got its own governing board member when Ex-UMEBA GM Joe took the ambassador’s slot.
We saw fun fiction and internal trash talking. We had devil-magic in Jerusalem, and mudslinging in Kuwait. Conspiracies and waiver wire controversies. John in Cairo wrote some great features on the All-Stars, and Neil did some cool cross-posting between here and the OOTP world that was interesting in itself. Neil’s player profiles exploded, and John and Ben did both UMEBA and BBA things. Ben, Dillon, and Jouve made appearances in our Brewster podcasts—and of course, the BBA poached Geoff Webb to take over the seat in Des Moines, adding flair there. Filling that slot, and one other, meant the return of long-past GM Jason and the return of another veteran in ex-Hawaii GM Mike.
Jim had heart surgery, fer cryin’ out loud, and still managed to guide the Impalers to a division title.
Then, while Istanbul was busy making hay in the United Cup series for the second season in a row, lowly Kuwait was busy signing BBA talent to three-year deals. And, in a late-season announcement, we grabbed Ben from Jerusalem, but pulled Harpreet into the seat in Jerusalem.
Oh, did we mention the league is going to expand again in 2043? And get it’s own college feeder? And another level of minors? And, yeah, just a little more spending grub can’t hurt, either.
Bottom line: This is a danged fun league all on its own. While the UMEBA has been interesting from the moment it was created, 2042 saw the league take on its own brand as driven by the guys in the environment itself—a measure of which is that we started seeing a lot of BBA guys having fun by poking their heads into the UMEBA environment.
Kudos to the UMEBA. It’s been a blast to watch you guys make this place into what it is today.
DRAMA ON THE BBA FIELD
If nothing else, 2042 proved that rumors of the demise of competition in the BBA were a shade unfounded. Yes, the Frontier division itself was probably “over” in early August—a fact that, given Justin’s prediction of Edmonton fading, was entertaining enough on its own. And, yes, Louisville and Yellow Springs were dominating in the HEartland, Louisville more so than YS9. But the Johnson Atlantic was a wild mess all year, with at least four teams leading it at one point. Charm City took on the Frontier, and after getting their nose bloodied, came back to stand tall over them. The Gamblers in Atlantic City led the division at one point, but couldn’t draw to an inside straight and didn’t have the aces to pull the pot on the last week of the season. Montreal withstood a rough trade and a rash of injuries to be there at the end. New Orleans and Rockville rose after tough starts. And then there was Brooklyn. Always Brooklyn.It was Alan Ehlers’ last rodeo (for a while at least), and the Robins were a glorious ode to him.
And don’t get me started on the Johnson Wild Card. Ten teams within 3.5 games at the trade deadline. Hokey freaking smokes! A final sim that included as many as seven teams fighting for two spots? Mexico-Freaking-City winning out to come from 2.5 games down to freeze out the Atlantic.
In the Frick, it was all about the Heartland, which was fun in its own way. The Nine’s chase of the Sluggers had a certain epic quality—though I’ll understand if you say it only felt that way if you were in my seat. Twin Cities arrived as a real player on the scene, and the entire season saw Omaha, Chicago, and Nashville churn away at each other only to have September find Omaha had an extra gear and Chicago swept their nemesis in Des Moines to step into the post season for the first time in more than a decade.
Let’s not forget the fun of watching Hawaii try to chase down the Crusaders in California. Poor shoeless gets no respect, I tell ya, no respect at all.
Offense still dominated, though runs were down a little due to commissioner’s interference. Despite that (or because if it?) some of the games’ biggest stars were its pitchers, including Julio Alicea, who signed a big-assed contract in the off-season and threw a no-hitter a few months later. Las Vegas’s Girolamo L'Archibudelli flirted hard with .400, and Calgary’s Chairman Mao put on a nearly historic run at homers and RBI. Semei Kwakou took a real run at the Frick League triple crown.
The playoffs, as always, were sensational. As I write this portion of the post, Louisville has just now taken down California and Edmonton beat the always inventive Brooklyn club in a match that—get this—saw the same Brooklyn pitcher start every game. Yes, go with grace Alan, I hope we haven’t seen the last of you. But in the end we’re getting what we all deserved—a chance to see the two behemoths of the league crash into each other. Louisville and Edmonton for all the marbles.
Seriously, can it get better than that?
So, was this the most competitive season in history? Well … objectively? … maybe and maybe not. To be honest, the BBA sees a lot of hot finishes. But our GMs were engaged and active all year, and the result was scintillating.
DRAMA OFF THE FIELD
Where to start?
Kochersmeltz? Brilliant Blue? Emerald Green?
Dancing with the Stars? A participation award gone wrong that gave our wives, girlfriends, or any significant other reason to bond? Even more Pear Baskets? Mikki Manning and her husband buying the island where the Nine’s Short-season A team plays?
How about Benny Vitale in, Vic Caleca out.
Or Caleca in at Cali, and Caleca out again.
Or Caleca in again at Chicago, and on to Monclova and Utah and Grand Junction, flying on beer and mushrooms or whatever. Maybe. Alternate worlds? Lost worlds? Fear and Loathing in Mexico, I guess. I don’t really care though, because now that you ask, I’m just wondering where the hell the YS9 IC complex is, too—and yes, I’d love Hunter S. Thompson to be alive right now because he’d be writing his ass off, but that’s an aside for another moment.
We had a new round of Custom Ammies—with a special third option this year in celebration of the 70th anniversary. Those are always fun.
As noted, we had a GM in Brooklyn questioning whether he’s too old for this shit as he stared at himself in the mirror and guided his team's challenge for the Atlantic division crown, and another in Phoenix doling out dry sarcasm in what would have been a record rate if he’d been willing to just make it a record—but no, that wouldn’t be proper now, would it. I mean, why make a record at all and if you did, well, what would it really mean, right? It’s all just two crummy points.
Then the Brooklyn dude fell into the hole, and holy cows but times they are a changin’.
2042 saw the return of Aaron’s outstanding first round draft reviews.
Doctors in California discovered chips implanted in Mitch Dalrymple, and Heidi in Yellow Springs was busy as usual, uncovering more dastardly deeds in Chicago and perhaps some with even more links to goings on in Omaha and Boise and other places. Then there’s whatever’s on with her and Kate.
You remember Kate, right?
Of course you do. More on her later, though.
Jeffrey in Montreal broke out multi-media themes and corporate sponsorship with a video, a podcast, and a standing twitter feed, all embedded in their TN threads. James—the new hand in Hawaii—spent the year covering his team game-by-game, which was made even greater by an artful inclusion of all those action-packed photos. We’ve had guys play journalist before, but never with such consistent flair. I admit I clicked on every Hawaii TN wondering what it was going to look like.
We had beanball wars and divisional in-fighting. Nashville fired not one, but two managers—one of whom landed in Boise to guide them to the playoffs. The press corps in Vegas was busy with LeeeeeeeRoooooyyyy Jenkkkkiinnsss! (not to mention salary cap controversies and fines and oh my!). Wichita and Chicago documented the minor leagues better than they’ve ever been documented before (that’s a good thing, right?). Emilo Morales: Doubles? Hall of Famer? Will he sign or will he not? Well, pick your own damned story line with him, all right? At the end of the day, he signed, and then hit a gazillion homers in the playoffs, so eat it, detractors. Gregg in Jacksonville ran a classic fire sale, and then checked out a bunch of SOBs. Mike in San Antonio dealt with the dilemmas of calling up star players, and a steady collection of solid journalism just flowed in streams from a bunch of other places. They missed the playoffs, of course, because—San Antonio. But at least he avoided the injury thing this year. Silver linings, right?
Meanwhile, back in Chicago, Benny Vitale seems to have things going her way despite the team being tied to an escort service, and the boss tossing diversional PED shade toward the All-American favorites in Yellow Springs. And just what the hell was going on with all that shit the California GM is throwing Mikki Manning’s way? Is the guy insane? Sure, he came around in the end, but…well…
So, yeah. It was a record year for Team News in a lot of ways. The numbers, of course. The BBA actually drew a hair’s breadth from dropping 1000 TN in the season. Seriously. A freaking thousand. Add the UMEBA and as a Brewster, we make it. But again, this isn’t about numbers.
In my opinion, the raw quality of the content in these TN was astounding.
I mean, really. Day in, day out.
There has always just been -something- interesting going on around the league.
7 FOR 70s!
It was our 70th anniversary, after all. And it was great. In any other year, this topic would probably be a major headliner.
Matt opened up a special one-season PPT opportunity for guys to put together special lists, and of course, the gang responded. At the time of this writing we had a collection of ten Top 7 lists of things that ranged from forum exploits to historical bests and worst. We got the top seven draft picks in history. A foray into the weirdest injuries the league has seen, a look at (naturally) the top players who wore #7.
I mentioned custom ammies were open again earlier in this post. Want to see the top seven of them through history? Check it out. Though, let’s be clear, one of those top seven is actually two guys because, well, this is the BBA and we’re apparently just born like that.
The podcast had already become a BBA staple before the pandemic hit, but once we got closed up inside our humble little abodes, boy-howdy how it blew up. As of May 13 as I’m fiddling with the first draft of this thing, the league has seen 61 unique podcast episodes (way more than that now), not counting a couple in TN threads. In other words, there’s been a whole lotta talking going on.I’m going to take a look at the editions that saw updates in 2042, but first I want to mention Joe’s absolutely sublime post season podcast where he worked up an amazing play-by-play of his Spuds’ game four victory over New Orleans. I mean. Seriously, Joe?
Awesome in every geeky-nerdy way possible.
Anyway, on with the run-down…
A Few Beers in (AFBI):
Originally born of Brett Schroeder and Fred Holmes’ simple gatherings, this is, perhaps, the flagship of BBA podcasts. It’s a long, sluggish, meandering path through the inner workings of the minds of 4-10 GMs at any one point, boozy at times, profane at times, just weird at times. At 3-4 hours a pop of totally unscripted material that I’ll loosely call sim reviews (because why the hell not?) this podcast continues to capture the BBA at its messiest best.
Guys pop in. Guys leave. Voices go robotic. Dinner gets made in the background. Sometimes there’s road noise. But always, every time, and without notice, something intense breaks out and you learn something you didn’t know about the league or the game or the history behind both.
To fully understand, though, you have to listen. Yet, listening may just leave you more confused. Welcome to the AFBI, AmIright? 2042 was a great year for the podcast that saw UMEBA GMs jump in, too.
What’s Brewin’ in the Brewster:
One of the best hot-take artists in the league, Justin Niles uses this generally10-minute podcast to comment on something interesting. We got four of these this season, covering things as varied as the draft, deep dives into Hall of Fame candidates, triple crown winners, the influence of park factors, and reviews of several big contract extensions. If there’s anyone better at getting controversy started than Justin is, I don’t know who it would be. These podcasts, as usual, were quick and snappy and always left you wanting more.
My guess is that we would have actually gotten more than four WBITB podcasts this year, but I eventually absconded with Justin on Thursdays to make him part of a standing episode of the BBA Today podcast, of which there will be more coming in a moment.
Brewstopocene Reviewed:
Look, Shoeless has never done a bad podcast. Ever. Every one of these things is a 10-minute slice of perfection rolled up in a billion pieces of nuance, and that includes the magnificent special guests that sometimes make appearances. 2042 is the season that I think it hit its sweet spot. This year shoeless rated baseball, and he rated losing in the playoffs, and anticipating sims. He rated custom ammies, and, in what might be his greatest piece yet (though maybe I say that only because it’s his latest episode), he rated failure.
Looking back at what the shoeless wonder has done this season makes me think that, in the end, the BR podcast represents what the Brewster is, or what it has become anyway. The podcast is totally embedded in fake baseball while breaking that multi-dimensional wall between our reality and the other one (you tell me which is which—I’ll go either way). While pulling his own life events into perspective he makes the listener think about the Brewster and about life in all sorts of weird little ways. And at his peak, he rips your heart out and makes you happy to be alive at the same time. I’m willing to bet about anything that there’s no other podcast like it in any online league anywhere.
Frontier Round Up:
The premier divisional podcast of the BBA, Brett, Fred, and Joe kept this on schedule and on topic this whole season, and were occasionally joined by a few others from around the league. Every game-month like clockwork, the gang kept us up on the inner workings of the Frontier—except, of course, for Joe, who never seemed to remember what damned division he was talking about. It’s all good though. By the time they got to the mandatory Jon Reed awards, you had almost certainly laughed or at least chuckled ten or fifteen times, and by the podcast end, you walked away understanding a lot about where the division was.
The Heart Beat:
We got two editions of the Heart Beat in this year—which, let’s face it, is the Heartland’s somewhat feeble attempt to match the Frontier Roundup. It’s a little less game oriented, and maybe not quite as informed, but it does have better graphics in the link. Fundamentally this year saw us have a great time lording our advantage over the Pacific division, so at least it was fun for us!
GM’s Corner:
Okay, I finally got off my duff and picked up a few more GMs this year—ten of them, to be exact, specifically including the first ever UMEBA GM! Yay me, and yay you guys. I get a lot of comments about these things, and I like hearing them. We’ve had a fair number of GMs come into the league since I’d gone on a bit of a hiatus, and one of the most interesting kinds of comments is that the existence of these things may actually have helped these new GMs come into the league because they can pull them down and hear the GMs of the league talk for a bit. If that’s true … well … I like that quite a bit. It also means I need to get around to finishing the set, right?
The Commissioner’s Corner (AKA: Ask Recte Anything!)
Not to put more pressure on the commissioner, because Matt is already a maniac, but we can never get too many of these podcasts. This year we got only one, but it was an absolute gem, wandering between league history, mechanics, and outright fiction. If you ever want to see the deft workings of how Matt has managed to keep the league rolling for 70 seasons, listen to this episode.
Talons “I Don’t Have Time to Listen to a Podcast” Podcast
Simply reading that title will tell you that this is an amazingly fun piece of irreverently self-referential content that, again, defines that part of the Brewster that is unable to be defined. Perhaps the greatest two points ever earned.
And, of course, I've already mentioned Montreal's in-TN podcasts and videos, and Joe's amazing play-by-play.
I pity the fool that thinks another online league has a podcast environment like the BBA.
The BBA Today:
I wanted to leave the BBA Today podcast until last because it was, as is probably obvious, the most personally important to me. I’ve got to be honest here, this COVID-19 thing has knocked me a bit on my ass when it comes to creativity. After struggling for a bit, and not being able to get my brain centered on my fiction, I decided I needed to pour myself into something different. I needed a deadline. I mean, that’s kind of how I am. So, I decided to experiment with this daily podcast—or, as daily as I could pull off, anyway.
I was worried, tough. I didn’t know if I could find content to do stuff on an everyday basis.
Turns out that was worry misspent, because this league is crammed full of people with great ideas and a willingness to jump in. And thanks to Matt’s decision to accelerate sims after he was sent home for a bit, we moved along at such a pace as there was always a story happening somewhere.
Just scanning though the episodes makes me smile.
We heard team capsules, and Hall of Fame discussions, dives into interesting minor league players, UMEBA Friday! We heard Matt and Kevin talking about the weird standings (and me finally remembering to push the damned red button). Three strikes came back with Justin Niles, extracted from the old TWITB podcasts and restructured as a stand-alone event on Thursdays—and installing the amazingly fun “pitchout” for questions from outside. We talked about issues of the day like the sim schedule or the trade auction for Don Smith, and we got esoteric and fictional with conspiracy theories and random ramblings from Vic Caleca as he was out on assignment to find his International Complex. UMEBA Friday!
Brett gave us a “how to” segment about bullpen management. Gregg talked about All-Star voting as s fresh-faced GM, then Chris and I shared our All-Star starters in a process I hope will be a long-standing one. Mike talked us through his decisions for promoting kids, and Brandon discussed what the heck was happening as the Atlantic grew up before our very eyes. Then, of course, there was the Ballpark Food Challenge, with the Juicy Lucy facing Kate’s Kookies on the air.
Gentlemen, it has been a real pleasure to speak with each of you during this time period. I can’t say for sure how anyone else received this, but doing the BBA Today has been a total blast and a real joy. Thank every one of you.
FEATURES, PROFILES, ANALYSIS, OH MY!
Maybe I’m speaking out of order here, but remember when League Features used to be the big guns for participation? I mean, doesn’t that seem so 2041 now?
Anyway.
The facts are the fact, though. All total as of the day before the Landis we had 146 features, profiles, and trade analysis pieces done this year (119 by BBA GMs and 27 by UMEBA guys), which I’m fairly sure are a world record many fold. (In 2041 we had 87, as a reference, in 2040 was saw 43).
Highlights?
Well, first off Chris Wilson re-tooled the FUBAR list and gave us a whole new linguistic element. And Mike Simon had his recurring Viz’s before reaching into his visual arts tool chest and opening up the highly popular BBA Makeover Monday in which he envisions a new take on a stale BBA brand. Much fun. And I’d be shocked if we didn’t see his work showing up in at least two rebranding efforts in the off-season.
UMEBA GM Neil Thomas made the profile his own pet-project giving us a dozen or so insights to players. Ben Heuring dug into the Don Smith trade, and John Diaz wrote features in the BBA as well as covering the UMEBA.
I did my usual kinds of stuff (including a thing on relative ratings that made your eyes bleed if you read it), and Joe did his (including his now iconic Trade Value series). Swing and Miss analysis, Squinting at Ballparks, Bunt for Hits, Farm Rankings, Trade Projections, LaLoosh to the Fame Arguments, Team Trainers. I mean, yeah, we dug into a lot of junk here.
Randy did his chart thing. Matt, Vic, Shoeless.
Niles broke into the features game big-time with a really fin an useful take on extending the ZR and RC/27 stats into an analysis system.
It’s hard to imagine a season where so many added so much value, but suffice to say that the forums of 2042 were a really fun place to come spend some time.
BALLPARK FOOD CHALLENGE!
I told you we were going to get back to Kate again, didn’t I?Thirty-two teams. Thirty-two ballpark foods. Hike up your eating britches and latch up the old feed bucket. The brainchild of Joe Lederer, the Ballpark Food Challenge of 2042 took the BBA by storm as week after week, the tournament pitted ballpark frank against burrito against some kind of pizza against fancy desserts against...well, the list was as wide as your average BBA GM.
The event was a hit right off, with BBA GMs jumping in to the contest with lobbying and politicking and all sorts of other nefarious activity in hopes they might steal a vote for their favorite foods. Lederer’s committee was accused at one point of pitting Heartland teams together in order to winnow down their obviously advanced culinary delights, but nothing could ever be proven.
At the end, the event came down the Twin Cities’ Juicy Lucy Burger and Portland’s Kate’s Kookies.
You remember Kate, right?
Yes. Of course, you do.
Of course, in the end, the Juicy Lucy—the little burger that could—won the day.
TRADES!
“The trade market is weird.” That was how Randy Weigand described it in one of those many podcasts—at least I think it was Randy. Hell, I’ve listened to hours and hour of these things, now, and I can barely keep track of what I said, better yet anyone else. Still, that was the prevailing wisdom. Between the number of young kids, the dearth of pitching, and the influence of the 2038 monster class, the idea was that trading was more difficult, and therefore, stagnant.
Enter Deadline 2042.
Stir in comments above about the ultra-hot competitive environment.
All total I’ll account a total of twenty-five deals to the trade deadline, starting with the River Monsters acquiring Knud Zeitler (who then was signed and hurt in quick order), moving on to the Talons stealing Don Smith, and continuing on through the days until the final, tiny deal in which my Nine took back Carlos Garcia from the Jacksonville Hurricanes as the deadline finally sputtered to its end. If my count is right, 81 baseball players and a basket of pears all traded hands in the few real time days leading up to the deadline, including several big names.
So, yeah. Weird, but hot.
Perhaps the most entertaining aspect of the process were the two very public auctions that Des Moines held for Smith and Jacksonville held for Chris Kelly. The returns were nice, and watching from afar was great fun. Perhaps even better, though, is that the public nature of the availability of these stars made for a healthy situation around the deals in which no shenanigans could be seen or insinuated—which is always a danger when big names are being tossed around in online environments.
Kudos here for Geoff, Gregg, and for the guys throwing offers around like so much Halloween candy.
I think the takeaway is that, while the trade market might still be weird, the dam has apparently broken.
SLACK ATTACK
I should note that while overall PPT and Team News was way, way up, forum posting—despite all those features and whatnot—was strong but not at record levels when put into per capita frames. It’s pretty clear that some of this is related to Slack, which I’d say has probably now hit its “new norm” as far as usage is concerned.
Some days remain slow, but for considerable time there was almost always something interesting going on in the channels—either league related or not.
MEDIA GUIDE
Did I mention that the entire season kicked off with what may well have been the greatest Media Guide this league has ever created?
I know it's now back on the fifth page of the Feature's forum, but you remember that, right?
Way back in the distant past, back before the pandemic and when everything was “normal” (whatever that is in the BBA, anyway), you remember when the Media Guide came out to such fanfare, don’t you? How some folks said nothing could ever top the content you guys put into that Media Guide? The team previews filed with analysis and hot takes you can’t find anywhere else? The final Pantheon section? Horrible poetry?
Did I mention poetry before?
I mean, seriously, how many freaking online leagues have their own goddamned poet laureate?
The Guide had Randy’s tables and bits from winning GMs and a retrospective from Matt that gave us all something to think about. And more, of course. There’s always more.
Well, my friends, to that I say this:
All those accolades were right. The 2042 Media Guide may well represent the pinnacle of all Online League Media Guides ever compiled. It turned out, however, to be merely the shot over the proverbial bow of 2042, the appetizer to a multi-course meal that seemed to never end.
CODA
So, yeah. My case is made.
Entertaining, right?
And the kicker is that I know I missed a bunch of stuff. It was just that kind of year. Overwhelming in a way, yes. But a one of a kind, I'm sure. Or, at least I hope I'm sure. I'm serious when I say that I hope we never have another season quite like this one. The externalities are just too hard to deal with, right?
But sometimes you just have to take a second, pause, and realize that something weird and strange and special has occurred, and I think this is one of those times.
So, thank you.
I mean, Jebbus, guys, from the beginning of 2042 through the end, you were great.
