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| Most recent season or competition: 2022 All-Senria Baseball League season | |
 | |
| Sport | Baseball |
|---|---|
| Founded | June 18, 1936 |
| Commissioner | Souhei Kosoegawa |
| No. of teams | 24 |
| Countries |  Senria |
| Headquarters | tbd street Keisi, Senria |
| Most recent champion(s) | Kasaoka Sea Lions (1st title) (2022) |
| Most titles | Keisi Dragons (20 titles) |
| TV partner(s) | Senria Broadcast tbd Live streaming tbd International Live streaming tbd |
| Domestic cup(s) | All-Senria Championship Series |
| Related competitions | Senrian Minor League Baseball System (First Division, Second Division, Third Division, Fourth Division) Senrian Women's Baseball League |
| Official website | www |
The All-Senria Baseball League (Senrian: 선썬류우야뀨우런메, Zensenryuu Yakyuu Renmei), or ASBL, is the top-level professional baseball league in Senria. Originally formed in 1936, the league currently consists of twenty-four teams divided into two leagues and four divisions.
Baseball was established in Senria by 1900, with small collegiate leagues emerging in the 1910s and the first efforts to organize professional teams occurring in the 1920s; however, the Senrian Revolution and Great War disrupted the professionalization process, contributing to the ASBL's late founding when compared to the Rizealand Baseball League and Arucian Baseball League. The ASBL was established with eight teams in 1936, with the league's early years defined by barnstorming and a dead-ball tendency caused by rubber rationing. As its popularity grew, the ASBL was expanded from 8 teams to 12 in 1952 and to 16 teams in 1960; to accomodate the larger number of teams, it was subdivided into the Mountain League and Ocean League with its 1952 expansion and into four divisions, two in each league, with the 1960 expansion.
The league experienced its greatest troubles in the 1970s; cheating & match fixing scandals damaged baseball's reputation in Senria, and many teams were revealed to be plagued by financial problems. Stringent punishments for unsportsmanlike behavior and a revenue-sharing arrangement returned stability to the ASBL, which spent the early-to-mid 1980s recovering. Expansion of the league resumed with a third wave of new teams in 1987, followed by a fourth wave in 2006, bringing the ASBL up to its current 24-team roster.
The standard season of an ASBL team consists of 168 games divided into 56 three-game series. The top two teams in each division then proceed to postseason play, with the winners of each league's pennant proceeding to the All-Senria Championship Series, or Senrian Series, a best-of-seven playoff whose winner is declared the league's champion. The Keisi Dragons hold the most ASBL championships with 20 wins across 30 appearances, and - as the Keisi Sparrows - won the first edition of the series in 1936. The reigning champions are the Kasaoka Sea Lions, who won their first championship by defeating the Tosei Tigers. ASBL teams also engage in practice & exhibition games, as well as international play, during the off-season.
The ASBL is Senria's most popular professional sports league, with survey data typically listing it as the favorite sport of 45 to 50% of the country's population and the Senrian Series one of its most-watched sporting events. It is also one of the world's top leagues by average attendance, with an average match attendance of nearly 31,000, and one of the most lucrative professional sports leagues in the world by revenue. The most prominent of the world's professional baseball leagues, the ASBL has adopted a posting system with the RBL and ABL to restrict the flow of their players to the ASBL.
The All-Senria Baseball League also oversees the operations of the leagues within the Senrian Minor League System and the Senrian Women's Baseball League.
Organizational structure
The structure of the All-Senria Baseball League is dictated by the ASBL Charter, originally written in 1936, and its amendments, the most recent of which dates to 2011. The ASBL Charter establishes the league as a legal entity; its two sub-leagues, the Ocean and Mountain Leagues, and their divisions exist entirely within the legal entity of the ASBL and are not separate legal entities in their own rights. Since the 1980s, the designated hitter has existed universally within the ASBL, standardizing rules and regulations across both leagues.
The chief executive officer of the ASBL is styled as the Commissioner, who acts as the ASBL's director, organizer, and chief administrator. The commissioner, currently Souhei Kosoegawa, is assisted by an Office of the Commissioner and by the first deputy commissioner, currently Hiroyosi Hakeyama. The commissioner and first deputy commissioner, in turn, jointly oversee the Commission of the ASBL, which consists of the second deputy commissioner (who manages the Senrian Women's Baseball League), chief operations officer (who oversees a variety of administrative matters), chief strategy officer (who formulates and implements the league's strategic objectives), chief revenue officer (who manages ASBL finances), chief marketing officer (who oversees brand management and advertising for the league), chief legal officer (who advises the ASBL on legal matters), chief communications officer (who handles public affairs and the ASBL's relations with the national baseball team, international baseball authorities, and foreign baseball leagues), chief scouting & development officer (who manages Senrian Minor League Baseball and oversees the ASBL's relations with Senria's independent high school, college, & amateur baseball leagues), and one to three "general senior advisors". All positions other than that of commissioner are nominated by the commissioner and approved by the commission; the commissioner is elected by the combined vote of the commission and team owners.
Under the commission are the various administrative structures that handle hiring umpires, negotiating labor & broadcasting contracts, handling marketing & promotion, and other routine or necessary league affairs. The ASBL does have a multimedia branch under its communications division, the ASBL Media Office Organization, which operates the websites of the ASBL, SWBL, SMLBS, and their teams, as well as certain radio broadcasting services; however, the ASBL lacks the unique control over media contracts held by the Rizealand Baseball League. Nonetheless, close business ties between the ASBL and Senrian broadcast media companies have usually guaranteed it favorable deals for television & radio broadcasting.
Unlike the Arucian Baseball League, the league's player union - the Association of Senrian Professional Baseball Players, founded in 1962 - is not formally integrated into the structure of the ASBL; nonetheless, as it contains a majority of the ASBL's players, coaches, and training staff, it is necessary for the ASBL to regularly consult or negotiate with it in both informal and formal capacities.
History
Origins
[arrival of baseball in senria and its establishment as widespread and popular by 1900]
[collegiate leagues begin appearing in the 1910s, but then the senrian revolution disrupts things]
[efforts to establish professional teams and barnstorm in the asterias appear in the 1920s, but then the great war disrupts things]
Establishment and early years
[30s - initial eight are the reds/foxes, sparrows/dragons, white lions, falcons/giants, tigers, stars, steelworkers, whales, only the senrian series w/ top two teams for the post-season; gov't-supported as a sign of a "return to normalcy" after years of war, a lot of intranational barnstorming as bread-and-circuses for the weary senrian masses]
[40s - things settle down]
Initial expansion
['52 expansion - blues/bears, mariners, unions/eagles, oxen; ASBL divided into ocean & mountain, with implementation of interleague play to try and keep lucrative rivalry matchups intact even as rivals are put in different leagues, postseason changed to top teams from each league going to the series]
['60 expansion - pheasants, stags, clippers/seagulls, ravens; leagues divided into divisions, designated hitter rule implemented in the ocean league, postseason now sees series between top division teams to determine which team from each league heads to the series; the ASBL begins trying to bring the minor leagues under its control and standardize them into farm teams]
The "Troubled 1970s"
[1970s - a match-fixing scandal in '72, in which it is revealed the mob fixed several senrian series for the dragons shakes fan faith; the dragons' ability to keep winning by poaching young talent creates anger; turns out a lot of teams are actually not doing great financially and, as the scandal shakes fan faith, the mariners and whales fold, forcing the promotion of minor league teams koriyama and toyotori to keep the roster full; the tukayama oxen move to isikawa to invent a lucrative cross-town rivalry with the foxes, which kills the nisiyama giants financially, which forces the promotion of minor league team sekiguti; the stars abandon ubeyama in the hopes of capturing the abandoned nisiyama & tukayama markets]
[to stop any further bullshit in this regard, the league finally implements revenue sharing and ends the "reverse draft" system in 1979]
Return to growth
[80s mostly recovering from the 70s, bar the designated hitter rule being implemented league-wide; expansion only resumed in '87 with the stallions, sea lions, timberwolves, and tanuki]
[90s are keeping it steady for the ASBL, though the minor league system is reworked to try and clarify the various levels of play and the home field advantage for the senrian series are changed]
Recent history
[2006 expansion - phoenixes, warriors, otters, hares; minor league is reworked into its current format during this period, with each ASBL team having one minor league team at each minor league level (where previously the # had varied)]
[2010s and 2020s - schedule tweaked, for the postseason the top two teams in each division now play each other to see who goes to the league championship]
Teams
| Defunct teams | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | City | Stadium | Founded | Joined | Ceased operations | Notes | ||
| Nobeoka Mariners | Nobeoka | Yatigasira Park | 1952 | 1952 | 1974 | Folded due to financial insolvency. The ASBL regards the Nobeoka Otters as the de facto successors to the Mariners. | ||
| Yosida Whales | Yosida | Kanagawa Stadium | 1936 | 1936 | 1974 | Folded due to financial insolvency. The ASBL regards the Kasaoka Sea Lions as the de facto successors to the Whales. | ||
| Nisiyama Giants | Nisiyama | Kairakuen Stadium | 1926 | 1936 | 1977 | Folded due to financial insolvency. The ASBL regards the Nisiyama Stars as the de facto successors to the Giants. | ||
Timeline
Rules
Expatriate players
[history of foreign players in the ASBL; posting system and quotas (probably slip in details about rosters here since it fits - 25 man game roster, extended roster as long as the team wants but nobody goes above 40 by custom - and only 5 members of a game roster can be foreign players, though they can still sign as many foreigners as they like) to limit the ASBL poaching RBL, ABL, etc. players; notable names]
ASBL players abroad
[stuff]
Season structure
| Senrian Series records | ||||
| Team | Number of Series won |
Last Series won |
Series played |
Last Series played |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keisi Dragons (OL) † | 20 | 2017 | 30 | 2017 |
| Keisi White Lions (ML) | 15 | 2009 | 26 | 2021 |
| Tosei Tigers (ML) | 12 | 2008 | 24 | 2022 |
| Isikawa Foxes (OL) † | 7 | 2020 | 17 | 2020 |
| Tosei Eagles (OL) | 5 | 2013 | 8 | 2013 |
| ‡ Nisiyama Giants (ML) † | 3 | 1969 | 5 | 1969 |
| Ukyou Ravens (OL) | 3 | 2021 | 5 | 2021 |
| Koriyama Vipers (OL) † | 3 | 2006 | 4 | 2006 |
| Nakamura Bears (ML to OL, 1979) † | 2 | 1964 | 8 | 2016 |
| Isikawa Oxen (ML) † | 2 | 1980 | 5 | 2019 |
| Ubeyama Tanuki (OL) | 2 | 2014 | 3 | 2014 |
| Nobeoka Otters (ML) * | 2 | 2015 | 3 | 2015 |
| Nisiyama Stars (OL to ML, 1979; ML to OL, 1987) †* |
1 | 1956 | 5 | 1990 |
| ‡ Yosida Whales (OL) | 1 | 1945 | 4 | 1970 |
| Katuyama Stags (ML) | 1 | 2004 | 3 | 2017 |
| Toyotori Cranes (ML) | 1 | 2010 | 3 | 2010 |
| Ueda Steelworkers (OL) | 1 | 1978 | 3 | 1997 |
| Hisakawa Stallions (ML) † | 1 | 2001 | 2 | 2006 |
| Kasaoka Sea Lions (ML to OL, 2006) * | 1 | 2022 | 2 | 2022 |
| Keisi Timberwolves (ML to OL, 2006) | 1 | 2005 | 2 | 2012 |
| ‡ Nobeoka Mariners (ML) | 1 | 1963 | 2 | 1970 |
| Sakata Seagulls (OL) | 1 | 1998 | 2 | 2008 |
| Sekiguti Robins (ML) | 1 | 2016 | 1 | 2016 |
| Hukuyama Pheasants (ML) | 0 | 1 | 2013 | |
| Itimura Phoenixes (ML) | 0 | 1 | 2020 | |
| Yokomatu Hares (ML) | 0 | 1 | 2018 | |
| Keisi Warriors (ML) | 0 | 0 | ||
| OL=Ocean League ML=Mountain League | ||||
| † Totals include a team's record in a previous city or under another name (see team article for details). | ||||
| * Totals do not include the record of a defunct team regarded as a team's de facto predecessor by the ASBL (see team article for details). | ||||
| ‡ Team is now defunct. | ||||
Regular season
Consisting of a total 168 games, the ASBL's regular season is slightly longer than the Rizealand Baseball League's 162-game season and significantly longer than the Arucian Baseball League's 100-game season. The seasonal schedule of an ASBL team is subdivided into fifty-six smaller series of three games each, generally grouped into "homestands" (a group of two or three series played at their home stadium) and "road series" or "awaystands" (a group of two or three series played away from home). During the course of a season, an ASBL team plays 5 series (or 15 games) against every other team in its division, 3 series (or 9 games) against every team which is in the other division of its league, 1 series (or 3 games) against every team of the other league, and an additional 1 series (or 3 games) against its "natural rival" (another team which is formally designated by the ASBL as an official rival team, usually another team from the same city or a nearby city, though the intensity and fan recognition of these rivalries can vary heavily). The current seasonal structure was implemented in the 2010s as a refinement of the system implemented with the 2006 expansion to 24 teams, itself ultimately based upon the format implemented by the ASBL's 1950s and 1960s expansions.
As Senria is located in the Southern Hemisphere, the ASBL's season is usually scheduled to begin in late September or early October and ends in late March or early April. Teams generally play on every day of the week except Monday, for a total of six games a week; doubleheaders are rare compared to other major baseball leagues, used primarily to either account for the possibility of or in response to rainouts, or to accommodate national holidays. Unlike the ABL, protested games are not permitted under ASBL rules. A week-long break is scheduled roughly midway through the season, usually in late December, during which the league holds an all-star exhibition match, which pits the best players from the Ocean and Mountain Leagues against each other; since 1997, the starting lineup for this game has been chosen by public vote, with reserve players selected by players & coaches and pitchers selected by managers.
The rules of play in the ASBL are broadly similar to the rules in other leading baseball leagues; however, there are some distinctions. Due to the constraints regarding land availability in the rugged and densely-populated Senrian archipelago, the ASBL's minimum dimensions for baseball fields are smaller than those of the RBL and ABL; ASBL rules mandate dimensions of 90 meters (~295 feet) down each foul line and 115 meters (~380 feet) to center field, in contrast to the measurements of 99 meters (~325 feet) and 120 meters (~400 feet), respectively, mandated by the RBL and semi-officially followed by the ABL. Accordingly, many ASBL ballparks are regarded as "hitters' parks" rather than "pitchers' parks", though in recent years some ASBL teams have sought to expand their fields to bring them closer to the RBL-ABL standard. Some Senrian ballparks are also known for their large foul territories.
The official balls used in the ASBL, manufactured by Yamamura, are smaller and have more prominent seams than those used in the RBL, making them easier for pitchers to grip, spin, and break. Like the RBL but unlike the ABL, the ASBL utilizes designated hitters, a practice which began in the Ocean League in the 1960s and was implemented league-wide in the 1980s, and has openly considered following the RBL in implementing pitch clocks to speed up pace of play, in spite of pushback from players. Conversely, the ASBL has stood alongside the ABL in refusing the practice of using "ghost runners" when games proceed to extra innings.
One particularly unique feature of ASBL play is that ASBL rules allow for tie games. If a game is tied at the end of the nine regulation innings, the game proceeds to extra innings; if an extra inning ends with one team in the lead, then the game ends accordingly with said team as the winner, but if the game is still tied after three extra innings (twelve total innings), then the game is declared a tie.
Postseason
The ASBL postseason is typically held in late April and early May, providing players a small break following the conclusion of the regular season. The format of the postseason - initially just a singular seven-game series between the top two teams - has been altered multiple times as the ASBL has expanded, with the current format being adopted in 2010.
Under the current format, the top two teams from each division play each other in a best-of-five series in order to determine who wins each division. The first two games of the series are held at the stadium of the team holding second place in the division, followed by two games at the stadium of the team holding first place in the division, with the series returning to the stadium of the team holding second place for the fifth game; this format is intended to "level" the competition by giving the "weaker" team a slight edge in terms of home-field advantage.
The winners of each division-level series then play the victor of the other division series in their league in another best-of-five series for the Ocean and Mountain League pennants; the league-level series follows a similar scheduling format to the division-level series, with the first two games of the series being hosted by the team with the weaker regular season record that year, the second two being hosted by the team with the stronger record, and the final game being hosted by the one with the weaker record.
Finally, the pennant winners from each league meet in the All-Senria Championship Series, commonly referred to as the "Senrian Series", which is a best-of-seven series. The Senrian Series follows the same conventions for determining home-field advantage as the league-level pennant series, with the difference that the first six matches are divided into blocks of three (rather than two, as they are at the division and league levels); however, from 1952 to 1963, it simply alternated by year (with the Ocean League given home-field advantage in even-numbered years and the Mountain League holding it in odd-numbered years), and from 1963 to 1998, it was determined by the outcome of the annual all-star match.
As ASBL rules allow for tie games, special rules exist to account for the possibility of a tie game resulting in a tied series. If a series is tied after all regulation games in the series are completed, an additional tiebreaker game is held; unlike all other ASBL games, which are capped at twelve total innings, these tiebreaker matches have no inning cap, with play continuing as long as needed until one team wins.
As of the conclusion of the 2022 postseason in May 2023, the reigning champions are the Kasaoka Sea Lions, who defeated the Tosei Tigers to win their first series (though, as the ASBL regards the Sea Lions as the de facto successors to the defunct Yosida Whales, the Sea Lions are allowed to count the Whales' 1945 victory as one of their own). The Keisi Dragons hold the record for most series won and most appearances at the Senrian Series, having appeared 30 times and won 20 times; the Dragons, then named the Keisi Sparrows, were the victors of the first Senrian Series in 1936, and made their last appearance at the series in 2017. Following the Keisi Dragons in the rankings for most series won are the Keisi White Lions with fifteen wins, the Tosei Tigers with twelve, the Isikawa Foxes with seven, and the Tosei Eagles with five. Four teams - the Hukuyama Pheasants, Itimura Phoenixes, Keisi Warriors, and Yokomatu Hares - have never won a Senrian Series; of these four, the Keisi Warriors are the only team in the ASBL to have never made an appearance at the series. The ASBL team with the longest championship drought is either the Nisiyama Stars, who last won in 1956 as the Ubeyama Stars (if one does not count the 1962 and 1969 championship wins by the Nisiyama Giants, to whom the Nisiyama Stars are regarded as de facto successors), or the Hukuyama Pheasants, who have not won the championship since their creation in league's 1960 expansion. Of the 71 Senrian Series held following the ASBL's 1952 division into the Ocean and Mountain Leagues, 37 have been won by the team from the Ocean League and 34 have been won by the team from the Mountain League.
Off-season
The league enters the off-season period following the conclusion of the Senrian Series. For players, this off-season period provides them valuable time to rest and recover following the lengthy ASBL season. It also usually (though not always) allows them to participate in international baseball competitions and events such as the Summer Invictus Games without worrying about these events conflicting with regular season play.
Shortly following the beginning of the post-season, usually in late May or early June, the ASBL draft is held. Players must register and have their eligibility for the draft verified by the ASBL in order to participate; in order to be eligible, prospective players must either hold Senrian nationality or have graduated from a Senrian high school or university; must have never played with a Senrian professional baseball team or be free agent Senrian players in a foreign league; and, if they are members of Senria's high school or collegiate baseball federations, must inform the federation beforehand. The order in which teams make picks is determined by the standings of the previous season, with the team with the worst record in the previous season receiving the first draft pick. The selection process ends once the total number of players selected reaches 240. Historically, the ASBL draft process incorporated a feature known as the "reverse draft", in which potential draft picks had the option to name a team for which they wanted to play, and - if this differed from the team which picked them during the draft - were given the choice between either playing for the team which drafted them, or waiting a year before being signed by the team they selected. However, wealthier teams regularly offered high-potential draft candidates clandestine payments in exchange for being named in the reverse draft process, allowing them to hoard young talent, thereby defeating the purpose of the draft; the system was abolished in 1979 as a result.
Following the draft, it is typical for ASBL teams to participate in exhibition games and tours abroad. This includes ASBL teams playing each other in matches hosted abroad, ASBL teams playing foreign teams in the other team's home country, and ASBL teams hosting matches against foreign teams. For practical reasons, exhibition games against foreign teams tend to involve teams from other leagues which schedule their seasons around the end of the year (like the Arucian and Aucurian leagues) rather than the middle (like the Rizean league). In some years, the ASBL has also hosted exhibition matches between an ASBL all-star team and the Senrian national team, or all-star teams fielded by foreign leagues.
Roughly two months before the start of the regular season, the preseason begins. During this period, which typically spans the majority of August and September, teams hold training camps and play exhibition matches against other ASBL teams. The preseason provides the existing members of a team's roster time to practice before the resumption of competitive play, newly drafted or acquired members of the team the chance to compete for position spots, and managers the opportunity to experiment with calling up players from a team's minor league affiliates. The friendly matches of the preseason are also sometimes used as a way for teams to play additional games against their traditional rivals, a practice which is popular with fans and highly lucrative for teams. The ASBL encourages teams to barnstorm during this period by playing preseason matches at neutral venues in smaller Senrian cities and towns, both as a harkening-back to Senrian baseball of the 1920s & 1930s and as a practical measure to drive public interest in the sport.