Arucian Baseball League

Arucian Baseball League

Most recent season or competition: 2022 Arucian Baseball League Season
Sport	Baseball
Founded	November 3, 1876 (1876-11-03)
Commissioner	Claude Blanc
No. of teams	20
Countries	Bonaventure Carucere Eldmark Gaullica Imagua Île d'Émeraude Sainte-Chloé Satucin
Most recent champion(s)	Sainte-Chloé Sunshine (2022)
Most titles	Sainte-Chloé Imperials (27)

The Arucian Baseball League (Gaullican: Ligue de Baseball Arucien), known as the LBA or ABL, is a professional baseball organisation based in Sainte-Chloé, and one of the oldest and longest lasting professional sporting associations in the world. Since 1999, the League has been comprised of 20 teams, with 9 in Sainte-Chloé, 3 in both Bonaventure and in Île d'Émeraude, and 1 from Carucere, Eldmark, Gaullica Imagua and the Assimas, and Satucin each.

With baseball introduced to Colony of Sainte-Chloé from Rizealand throughout the mid 19th century, a professional league modeled off several Rizealand models would be formed in 1876, with four teams. Largely in the shadow of Rizealand's League, it would operate in the winter months, and saw a great deal of cooperation with Rizealand and sharing of players and talent. Until the Great War, the League would remain within Sainte-Chloé, and during the later stages of the war it would temporarily cease operation. After the war, the League would expand and became multi-national sport, especially after the foundation of the United Provinces. The League continued to see expansion throughout the 20th century, growing from 6 teams in 1946 to 20 teams by 1999.

The League's teams are divided into four largely geograhpical divisions, with five in each division. Each team plays a total of 100 games from early November to March, followed by a brief post-season in March. The teams with the highest record in each division move on to a divisional playoff series to play against their opposing division; winners of the divisional series move on to the Arucian Series, the chief title in the League, the winner of which is considered as the yearly champion of the league. Since the foundation of the Arucian Series in 1906, 115 Arucian Series have been held. Of these, the Sainte-Chloé Imperials hold a record 27 titles, as well 49 appearances. The most recent champion is the Sainte-Chloé Sunshine, who won the 2022 series to finish off the 2021-2022 season.

The league, although being less prestigious than the Rizealand Baseball League, remains one of the top professional leagues in the world, and has had many players and teams who have performed well in international competitions. Although traditionally dominated by teams from Sainte-Chloé, with almost half of the teams being based in the country, the league has professional teams based in 8 countries across the islands of the Arucian Sea, as well as teams from countries both Asteria Inferior and Asteria Superior. It is considered a highly international league, with talent being drawn from countries around the Asterias as well as other continents. It is the most popularly watched sport in Sainte-Chloé, and is a popular sport in Bonaventura and Île d'Émeraude. Although the teams are cosmopolitan, the de facto language of the league is Gaullican.

The League's administration is based in Port de la Sainte, Sainte-Chloé, and is responsible for overseeing the rules and regulations of the game, as well as disciplinary actions. The League also oversees several smaller minor leagues, which act as farm systems for the franchises. The League cooperates extensively with the Rizealand Baseball League, and largely follows its decisions and rules. However, the Arucian League also has some of its own customs and rules, such as prohibiting designated hitters as well as play on Sundays and Holy Days.

Organisation

Teams

Division	Logo	Team	City	Country	Stadium	Founded	Current	Notes
West		Épernon Frères	Épernon	Sainte-Chloé	Champ Saint-Roderic	1876		Named after the Roderican Friars. One of the founding teams, and rival of the Imperials.
		Escalade Cavaliers	Escelade	Sainte-Chloé	Champ Dumonte	1925
	File:Sport Club Internacional 2008 Crest.svg	Sainte-Chloé Imperials	Port de la Sainte	Sainte-Chloé	Stade Impérial	1876		One of the original founding teams. Rival of the Frères and the historic powerhouse of the league.
		Tranquille Sugars	Tranquille	Sainte-Chloé	Champ Bennett	1882	1924	Originally founded as the Domingue Sugar-Men as the first team which allowed blacks to participate. The title was shortened in 1903, and the team moved from Domingue to Tranquille in 1924. The first team to move away from the capital area.
		Sermoni Krakens	Sermoni	Bonaventure	XXXX Field	1999
South		Decouverte Navigators	Decouverte	Sainte-Chloé	Stade Phare	1903	1938	Began as the Port Imperial Navigators before moving to Decouverte in 1938.
		Mont-Éclair Blues	Éclair	Sainte-Chloé	Stade du Blues	1876	1963	Founded as the Saint-Laurent Blues as one of the original teams. Due to financial troubles following the Great War, merged with the Volonté Eagles in 1936 and moved to Volonté as the "Blue Eagles". Moved to Subercaseaux in 1946, briefly becoming the "Subercaseaux United" before moving back to Volonté for the 1954 season. Moved to Éclair in 1963 and adopted the original team's colours and name.
		Sainte-Chloé Sunshine	Port de la Sainte	Sainte-Chloé	Parc CBC	1999
		Sainte-Geneviève Generals	Sainte-Geneviève	Sainte-Chloé	Parc Balnéaire	1947
	File:LOGO	Sermoni Fortunates	Sermoni	Bonaventure	XXXX Field	1947
North		Appanno Lancers	Appanno	Bonaventure	XXXX Field	1964
		Carrefour Stars	Carrefour	Carucere	Préval Field	1888	1890	Also the de facto Carucerean national baseball team.
	File:Cuanstad Millers.png	Cuanstad Millers	Cuanstad	Imagua	Bank of the Orient Stadium	1947
	File:Hammarvikbatslogo.png	Hammarvik Bats	Hammarvik	Eldmark	Bank of Asteria Arena	1976
		Terre-Belle Rays	Canicule	Sainte-Chloé	Parc Laurent	1955	2003	Originally called the "Citadelle Captains", the team moved in 2003 to the Terre-Belle region and rebranded itself as the Rays.
East		Arac Alligators	Arac	Satucin	Parc Piremont	1976
		Mathiasville Maroons	Mathiasville	Île d'Émeraude	XXXX Field	1976
		Port-au-Grégoire Robins	Port-au-Grégoire	Île d'Émeraude	Champ Gautier	1964		established in 1964 as the "Ressortissants" (Nationals), rebranded as "Robins" in 1985 as an homage to Port-au-Grégoire native, musician, and cultural icon Robin Gautier
		Saint Clair Sugar Kings	Saint Clair	Île d'Émeraude	Stade de la Banque de l’Île d’Émeraude	1999
		Saint-Thomas Lions	Saint-Thomas	Gaullica	Parc Albert	1999		Team from the Îles des Saints.

Defunct Teams

From the League's foundation until the early 20th century, the League usually numbered around four or five teams, almost all located in neighborhoods or cities surrounding the capital city of Port de La Sainte. Throughout the early decades before the Great War, the League saw expansion, reaching 9 teams in 1926. Due to the Great War, four of these teams would play their last season in 1933, although the owners of two would go on to form a merger franchise for the 1936 season.

 • Clermont Capitains (1876-1881)
 • Saint-Laurent Blues (1876-1933)*
 • Allègre Aces (1881-1884)
 • Port Imperial Sailors (1882)
 • Vichel Wanderers (1884-1889)
 • Clémensat Carmelites (1888-1893, 1903-1905)
 • Saint-Claude Sluggers (1893-1903)
 • Gelles Grenadiers (1901, 1904)
 • Sarry Saints (1906-1919)
 • Domingue Toucans (1908-1915)
 • Esternay Knights (1920-1933)
 • Citadelle Cannoneers (1925-1933)
 • Volonté Eagles (1926-1933)*

History

Contemprorary Era (2000-)

(From Left) Charles Roy and Louis Baptiste, who led the Terre-Belle Rays to 4 Arucian Series Wins in 9 years.

After the expansion teams were added in 1999, Arucian baseball's popularity began to steady. The introduction of new teams had fleshed out the league and greatly expanded its audience capacity. As television structure continued to increase across the Arucian, in person attendance began to decline in certain countries. With five teams in each division and the unlikelyhood of expansion in the near future, the League decided to focusing on maintaining the status quo and developing the resources which each team already had.

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Season Structure

Regular-Season

Before the regular season begins, the months of August and September are utilised as a preseason, where teams will practice and play exhibition games against other teams in order to prepare for the upcoming season.

Since 1947, every team has been required to play 100 games over the course of the months of October through Feburary. The season begins on the first Monday in the month of October and ends by the beginning of March, when the Postseason begins. Since the League's inception, the administration has kept the tradition of barring teams from playing games on Sundays and certain other Holy Days. There are currently 7 moveable Holy days on which teams are not allowed to play, although these may sometimes fall of Sundays and sometimes are transferred to the previous Saturday. La Toussaint (All Saints' Day, November 1st), Le Jour des Morts (All Souls' Day, November 2nd), Feast of the Immaculate Conception (December 8th), Nativity (December 25th), the Feast of the Circumcision (January 1st), Epiphany (January 6th), are all considered Holy Days, as well as the moveable Ash Wednesday. This decision has over the years caused contention with certain owners, players and other countries who wish to maximise profits on game revenue, although players have cited the rest days with favor.

Teams usually play six games a week, playing series of three games against another team, although series can last as short as two or as long as four games. Sometimes, these series may have a break day in between, especially if a Sunday falls in between. Sometimes, teams will play doubleheaders to accomodate scheduling or to make up for postponed games. If the distance between cities is great, the team will take a day to travel and adjust to the new enviroment. Before the widespread use of stadium lighting, games were played during the day and afternoon; in recent decades, night games have become more popular as stadium lighting has increased. Adverse conditions such as Rainouts may the game to be called, suspended, or finished at a later date. Occasionally rare occurances such as a protested game also occur.

Of the 100 games, teams play 76 games within their division, playing each team 19 times, necessitating two two-game series or one four game series against each. In addition, each team 18 with members of the corresponding division, with East playing West and North playing South. Usually this means that each team will have to play 3 teams from the corresponding division once and 2 teams twice. Finally, each team plays 6 games with teams from the non-corresponding division, usually one from each of the opposing division- for example, a team in the West Division will play one series with a team from the North and one from the South.

Postseason

Arucian Series Records
Team	Number of Series won	Last Series won	Series played
Sainte-Chloé Imperials	27	2018	49
Épernon Frères	14	2015	17
Mont-Éclair Blues†	11	2019	23*
Tranquille Sugars	9	1988	21
Decouverte Navigators†	8	1974	25
Hammarvik Bats	7	2016	9
Sermoni Fortunates	7	2005	7
Escalade Cavaliers	6	1951	11
Carrefour Stars	4	2011	8
Terre-Belle Rays†	4	2012	6
Sainte-Geneviève Gendarmes	3	1984	10
Appanno Lancers	3	1999	8
Port-au-Grégoire Robins†	3	2002	6
Sainte-Chloé Sunshine	3	2022	3
Cuanstad Millers	2	1994	4
Sermoni Krakens	1	2021	4
Mathiasville Maroons	1	2009	5
Arac Alligators	1	1997	2
Esternay Knights‡	1	1930	1
Sarry Saints‡	0		2
Saint Clair Sugar Kings	0		1
Saint-Thomas Lions	0		1
Domingue Toucans‡	0		1
† Totals include a team's record in a previous city or under another name.
‡ Team is no longer currently active.
* Two appearances as the Eagles, which merged with the Blues in 1936.

Prior to 1906, the Arucian League hosted a single championship game which pitted the teams with the best record against each other. In 1906, following the Rizealand model, the League transformed the championship into the Arucian Series, becoming a best out of seven game competition, although drawn from the two teams with the best two records. In 1947, the expansion of new teams saw the creation of two divisions, switching the Arucian Series to the teams which had the best records within their respective postion. Due to the increased number of teams, in 1965 the League implemented a divisional series between the top two teams in each division. In 1975, the League expanded to four divisions. The divisional series was transformed to take the top team from every division instead.

The first part of the series is the the divisional series, which are best of best-of-five. The team with the top record from the West Division playing against the top team in the East; the same is the case for the North against the South. Of the five games, the team with the higher record has homefield advantage for the first two games; the third and fourth games are played at the opponent's stadium, while the fifth is once again played at the first team's stadium. Should the records be tied, the team which has been in the league longer recieves homefield advantage. The winners of the divisional series go on to play in the best-of-seven Arucian Series. The Arucian Series likewise follows the same conventions for homefield advantage: the first two games are played at the team with the higher record, the second two at the opposing team's field, the next two at the first, and the final one being held at the opposing team's park. The winner of the Arucian series is considered champion of the Arucian League for that season.

Like the regular season, the post-season also has several days on which play is not allowed, as well as the Sunday rule carrying through. If play extends later into the month, play is prohibited on the Saint Joseph's Day (March 19th), Feast of the Annunciation (March 25th), or Pascha. However, the post-season almost always ends before the 19th of March, leading to this not being a major issue. Shortly following the Post-Season, an All-Star Game is held on March 31st, unless this falls during Holy Week, when it is held on the Tuesday following Pascha. All-Stars are selected from among the best players in the League, with an East-West team playing against North-South.

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