Premier League Baseball

Premier League Baseball

Sport	Baseball
Founded	Rizealand Baseball League (RBL), 1871 (1871) Asterian Baseball League (ABL), 1887 (1887) Merged into one organization, 1901 (1901)
No. of teams	30
Country	AFR (12 clubs) Rizealand (12 clubs) Cassier (6 clubs)
Headquarters	Liberty City, Lothicania, RZL

Premier League Baseball (Gaullican: Première Ligue de Baseball; Luzelese: Primeira Liga de Beisebol), commonly abbreviated as PLB, is a professional baseball league in Asteria Superior that presently consists of 30 clubs including 12 in the AFR, 12 in Rizealand, and 6 in Cassier. It is the largest and claimed to be the first baseball league in the world. It is also one of the oldest and major professional sports leagues in the Asterias.

The origin of the PLB are traced to the Rizealand Baseball League which was founded in Liberty City, Lothicania in 1871. As baseball spread in popularity throughout Asteria Superior, the Asterian Baseball League was founded in the AFR in 1887. After increased competition against each other, the two professional leagues merged in 1901 to form Premier League Baseball with the Rizealand Baseball League's eight clubs becoming the "Northern League" and the Asterian Baseball League's eight clubs becoming the "Asterian League." Beginning in 1960, the PLB expanded to Cassier with its first two franchises and grew rapidly from 20 clubs to 24 in 1970, 26 in 1977, 28 in 1993, and 30 in 1998.

The Northern League and Asterian League each include fifteen clubs that are divided into three divisions of five clubs each. During the regular season, each club plays 162 games. Following the regular season, the top two clubs in each league's division advance to play each other a four-round knockout tournament that culminates in the World Series to determine the champion of the PLB.

History

Founding

• Baseball originates in Rizealand during the 1850s and 1860s
• In 1871, the Rizealand Baseball League (RBL) was founded in Rizealand as the first professional baseball league with 5 clubs in Portmouth, Liberty City, Winchester, Camden, and Tyrell
• During the late 19th century, numerous other amateur and professional baseball leagues were formed in Rizealand although the RBL continued to dominate due to the location of its clubs in major urban areas. Baseball also began to spread south to the AFR and began quickly increasing in popularity.
• In 1887, a group of AFR businessmen met together and took advantage of the interest in baseball by forming the Asterian Baseball League with six starting teams in major AFR cities
• During the late 1890s, both the RBL and ABL grew rapidly in size and began swallowing up their domestic rivals. As the RBL subsumed its rivals and began paying less to individual players, the ABL began to poach Rizean players with higher salaries and the RBL responded by attempting to poach top players from the ABL.
• In early 1901, representatives from both leagues held a series of meetings in Liberty City and Assunçã to resolve their disputes. While they initially intended to workout a compact to prevent the stealing and signing of each league's players, both leagues began to consider forming a single league in order to consolidate their resources and guarantee each team/league cooperation. They then formed Premier League Baseball with the RBL's eight clubs (Northern League) and the ABL's eight clubs (Asterian League). First season began in 1901.
• After a series of successful starting seasons, the PLB struggled through the Great Collapse starting in 1913, leading to decreased ticket sales and roster cuts although clubs were able to survive by creating night games, radio broadcasting games, and special promotions.
• From 1929-1935, the Great War resulted in a brief suspension of games before national governments provided support and allowed the PLB to continue with reduced rosters to improve morale, provide a source of wartime entertainment, and help increase Rizealand-AFR ties (in the alternative, RBL and ABL could have remained separate up to the point; following breakout of war and invasion of AFR, ABL clubs could have temporarily relocated to Rizealand to play games; as a result, interest grew for a unified baseball league and following the Great War during the rebuilding of AFR in late 1930s-early 1940s, the two leagues merged)
• In 1960, following a few decades of successful growth in Rizealand/AFR and growing interest up north in Cassier, PLB expands by adding 2 Cassien clubs, 1 AFR club, and 1 Rizean club. (TOTAL: 2 Cassien clubs, 9 Rizean clubs, 9 AFR clubs)
• In 1970, another expansion of 2 Cassien clubs, 1 AFR club, and 1 Rizean club. (TOTAL: 4 Cassien clubs, 10 Rizean clubs, 10 AFR clubs)
• In 1977, one Cassien club and one Rizean club added (TOTAL: 5 Cassien clubs, 11 Rizean clubs, 10 AFR clubs)
• In 1993, one Cassien club and one AFR club added (TOTAL: 6 Cassien clubs, 11 Rizean clubs, 11 AFR clubs)
• 1998, one AFR club and one Rizean club added (TOTAL: 6 Cassien clubs, 12 Rizean clubs, 12 AFR clubs)

Clubs

Division	Club	Location	Stadium	Capacity	Founded	Joined
Northern League
North	Andade Lakers	Andade, Breloux	Champ Étienne	41,500	1925	1960
	Belltown Orcas	Belltown, New Estmere	GoHub Park	47,943	1998
	Bellvue Caps	Bellevue, New Sylvagne	Parc Maraisvoie	41,083	1915	1960
	New Rayenne Voyageurs	New Rayenne, Breloux	Parc Découverte	42,319	1955	1975
	Portmouth Cubs	Portmouth, New Estmere	Apexi Park	41,915	1871	1901
South	Camden Federals	Camden, CT	Federal Ballpark	41,313	1977
	Liberty City Dodgers	Liberty City, Lothicania	Durham Park	47,309	1883	1901
	Liberty City Knights	Liberty City, Lothicania	Sunrise Insurance Field	37,305	1887	1901
	Marymore Squirrels	Marymore, Lothicania	Madison Park	34,830	1892	1901
	Tyrell Gealbhain	Tyrell, Fael	Páirc na Gealbhain	40,162	1892	1901
East	Armeins Sommets	Armeins, Katepas	Champ Polaire	46,897	1955	1993
	Bougainville Vachers	Bougainville, Katepas	Parc Bargain	38,871	1945	1970
	McDowell Braves	McDowell, Lyhoming	Liberty Insurance Field	37,903	1970
	Montagne Brasseurs	Barnier, Montagne	Parc Lumine	41,900	1967	1975
	Winchester Rangers	Winchester, Providence	Parshall Field	41,268	1871	1901
Asterian League
North	Forte Azul Defenders	Forte Azul, Marchena	Azul Parque	20,062	1885	1901
	Irving Rabbits	Irving, San Andreas	Irving Ball Park	45,957	1960
	Los Santos Angels	Los Santos, San Andreas	Angel Stadium	56,000	1890	1901
	Ponte Quebrad Bridgemen	Ponte Quebrad, Marchena	Arena Antiga	40,615	1884	1901
	Porto Arenoso Pufferfish	Porto Arenoso, Marchena	Estádio All-Asterian Shipping	36,742	1937	1970
South	Agugar Strikers	Agugar, Silvieria	Arena Silvieria Mineração	41,676	1911	1960
	Assunçã Challengers	Assunçã, Nou Remana	Arena Asterfi	41,922	1891	1901
	Assunçã Courages	Assunçã, Nou Remana	Arena Assunçã	41,500	1881	1901
	Rio da Orla Runners	Rio da Orla, Nou Remana	Colosso das Astérias	46,847	1885	1901
	Rio Silver Rush	Rio Vermelho, Massa	Arena Tinto	43,651	1884	1901
East	Barros Rurales	Colinas Castanhas, Barros	Arena Baroigas	40,300	1887	1901
	Correia Vultures	Estevia, Correia	Arena Grandas Financial	21,803	1955	1998
	Forte Nelson Anacondas	Forte Nelson, Andrande	Parque Buffallo	48,519	1941	1993
	Forte Saint Reynard Saints	Forte Saint Reynard, Barros	Arena do Santo	43,975	1882	1901
	Gadsen Bushdogs	Gadsen, Cahoka	Blackwell Flynn Field	24,505	1890	1901