The bar was small, narrow as a book’s spine, and packed with people who smoked and talked and didn’t care about Alan O’Toole. He was slouched at a corner table, half a bottle of down, the brown liquid rolling over the ice in his glass like waves breaking on a worn shore. Beside him sat […]
The years since the glorious 2036 championship run have piled high, and the front office of the Niihama-shi Ghosts is displaying a sense of urgency perhaps unlike anything the fan base has ever seen. The team has won an average of 103 games over the four seasons that have followed their first and only Rodriguez […]
Henry Carter felt the misting December rain drip off the frayed brim of his Bakersfield Bears hat and onto his stiffening fingers as he re-lit his cigarette. He wanted to be chain smoking, but his muscle memory was too faded, and his thoughts were too disarrayed to accomplish the task. A fifth attempt to light […]
A shiver shimmied down Henry Carter’s rigid spine, causing a sudden, mild shift in the little red dinghy he’d borrowed from his neighbor. The morning mist was still weeding its way about his exposed skin, continuing the chill he’d been experiencing for the last hour. The dawn had broken, and the golden hour shimmered, but […]
“Laughable.” Vanessa dropped the oft-reused manila folder, weakly struggling to contain a stack of scouting reports, comparison tables, and financial projections, with a casual disdain onto her boss’s unusually tidy desk. “You’ve cooked up some genuinely awful trades before, but this is easily,” Vanessa paused to consider whether to check her anger before deciding against it, […]
The races to the Sovereign League playoffs are in full sprint. As Reno, Niihama-shi, Kalamazoo, Shin Seiki, Aurora, Toyoma, Okinawa, Tempe, and maybe even Madison vie for playoff position, the Sovereign League’s stars push tirelessly to lift their respective teams above the competition. Meanwhile, writers, fans, and executives analyze, argue, and evaluate which players have […]
Niihama, Japan – 19 July, 2038 The Ghosts, just two months after acquiring him, have dealt star 3B Yosuke Morimoto to the Reno Zephyrs. What’s more, they have included SP Carmelo Lamberti in the deal, acquiring more of the front office’s favorite buzzword – “future value” – for the pair of all-stars. Over the course […]
Niihama, Japan – 26 October, 2037 The defending champion Niihama-shi Ghosts had every bit of momentum, luck, health, and opportunity in front of them. After a record-smashing 110-win season – 13 games better than last year and even 11 games better than their LRS peak – the Ghosts managed a single win over the battered […]
Vanessa’s leg shook and bounced so hard that the lone picture frame on her boss’s desk, a simple matte black frame housing a family photo, rattled noisily against the spartan desk surface the GM of the World Champion Niihama-shi Ghosts used to conduct the team’s business. At least, the bits that Vanessa didn’t run herself […]
Jacksonville, Florida, USA – November 11, 2036 Game six saw the series-leading Ghosts drop a game that was tied in the 8th to the mighty, back-to-back-to-back champion Florida Farstriders. The teams met for the final, winner-take-all match on a brisk Florida evening at Streets Casino and Holdings Park. 25-year-old Edgardo Trevino, Florida’s fire-breathing phenom, would […]
