The NCBL season may have technically started last night (Friday) with the Outlaws winning 9-5 over the 2020 Tier 3 Braves, but everyone knows that was more like when the Mariners play their opener in Japan: That’s not the start of the true season.
The real Opening Day is tomorrow (Sunday), with 7 games with playoff implications on the slate. Teams will continue to play for the next 4+ months to determine pennant and championship winners, and most will at some point name a Most Valuable Player. But why wait until September to figure out what’s going to happen? I’ve evaluated the rosters, run the numbers, talked to a number of experts, and have successfully projected the 2019 season.
Stop reading now if you don’t want to know what’s going to happen. This is “snap” level spoilers coming up. You’ve been warned.
Tier 1
Full disclosure: Up until they folded, our projections had the Panthers winning the Tier 1 Pennant (24-0) and sweeping the playoffs (7-0). In fact, even for a few days after they folded our projections still had them going 12-12 and making a deep run into the playoffs. That’s how good they were. But now that their players have scattered across the league, a new champion has been found.
QuarterFinal-1: Mudd over Brewers
QuarterFinal-2: River Rats over Battalion
QuarterFinal-3: Athletics over Winchester
QuarterFInal-4: Marc Sports over Cubs
SemiFinal-1: Mudd over Athletics
SemiFinal-2: River Rats over Marc Sports
Championship: Mudd over River Rats (3-2, River Rats were up 2-0, obviously)
Congratulations to the Mudd, formerly from Metcalfe, your 2019 Tier 1 Champions!
Tier 2
Uh oh, it looks like Pete Gauthier probably gets hurt in game 5 of the regular season. Speedy recovery my man.
QuarterFinal-1: Blue Jays over Cardinals
QuarterFinal-2: Black Sox over Red Sox
QuarterFinal-3: Outlaws over Sharks
QuarterFInal-4: Braves over Expos
SemiFinal-1: Blue Jays over Outlaws
SemiFinal-2: Braves over Black Sox
Championship: Braves over Blue Jays
Congratulations to the Braves, your 2019 Tier 2 Champions! Forget Tier 3, one more last season in Tier 2!
Tier 3
Never before has a division, in any league, in any sport, had so much parity. Commissioner Beelen will be unable to figure out who plays who in the playoffs, since every team will have scored the same number of runs, and given up the same number of runs (in the same innings too). He cancels the playoffs and declares the Coyotes champions.
Congratulations to the Coyotes, your 2019 Tier 3 Champions!
Tier 4
Fresh off of winning the 2018 Lanark Invitational, the Beckwith Bandits will ride that momentum into a wonderful 2019 season. They’ll go on to double their wins from last year, then double that, then double that, and then win 2 more just for fun. In any other previous year that would be more than enough, but there has never been a Ferda in any previous year…
Tie Breaker: Heat over Bombers
QuarterFinal-1: Ferda over Heat
QuarterFinal-2: Barons over Bandits
QuarterFinal-3: STD over Irish
QuarterFinal-4: The Reverse Vampires over Braumeisters
SemiFinal-1: Ferda over Barons
SemiFinal-2: The Reverse Vampires over STD
Championship: Ferda over The Reverse Vampires
Congratulations to the Ferda Baseball Club, who will run the table (27-0) with ease; your 2019 Tier 4 Champions!
That’s all folks.
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