Premier League Baseball
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| Sport | Baseball |
|---|---|
| Founded | Rizealand Baseball League (RBL), 1871 Asterian Baseball League (ABL), 1887 Merged into one organization, 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)