On January 9th, 2036 Norm Batstone officially signed his first “big boy” contract in the PEBA. The three year, $26,000,000 deal was his first contract outside of his youth and arbitration protections and increased his salary immediately and dramatically. Few could question the decision though as Batstone was coming off an All-Star campaign in 2035 which saw him complete 102.1 innings with an ERA below 1.00 and an ERA+ of 310. Batstone was the closest thing to a sure thing the Underground had had during pretty much his entire career to date, appearing in 77 or more games and logging no less than 102.1 innings each of the past 5 seasons.

Imagine then how surprising – and frustrating – it was for the Underground front office when instead of building upon his 2035 All Star campaign he took his freshly signed contract to the bank and brought his worst baseball since 2032 to the field. By both ERA and ERA+ Batstone had the second worst full season of his professional career in 2036, at one point so bad that manager Jorge Ornelas demoted him from the critical stopper role and put him into the decidedly non-prestigious middle relief role. Batstone who at times has been described as varying combinations of “lazy”, “stupid”, and “aloof” handled questions about his commitment and sudden drop in productive as one might express, with few words and even less that the BBC will let us legally print. Rumors of tumult within the locker room or his personal life were unsubstantiated but nevertheless persistent.

Though at the time the team remaining largely tight lipped about the situation, recent reports indicate the front office had something of a mid-season crisis and began to do something it had never entertained before – taking trade calls for the Canadian. Those same reports suggest the Underground had interest from 3-4 PEBA teams and that talks reached an advanced stage with at least one of them. However, acting General Manager at the time Cyan Winters eventually got cold feet and decided to hang onto the unpleasant righty hopeful that better days were yet ahead.

Despite all indications to the contrary, the 2037 season appears to be proof that Batstone has some pride after all and that this won’t just be another story of a player securing the bag and then checking out. Batstone’s return to form came at the expense of another, as so many professional sports stories go. Underground Closer Richard Higgins struggled in Spring Training and then stumbled out of the gate in the regular season opening up a role in the back end of the Underground bullpen. For the first time in his PEBA career, Batstone was officially named closer. The redemption began.

The role apparently suited him as he earned 33 saves with a 1.76 ERA and a 223 ERA+, second only to his 2035 All-Star campaign. In recognition of this, Batstone was elected to his second All-Star game where he was able to put his pitching – and bull riding- prowess on display. The league sanctioned bull riding event took place with minimal safety protocols and rumors of Commissioner malfeasance ran rampant, but nonetheless it was a success. Batstone’s success as a closer allowed the London front office, which was turned over to a new ownership group in the offseason, to undoubtedly breath a little bit easier. They won’t be answering any more phone calls for their Canadian closer.