I'm putting this here, because it's just completely built for this forum. A computerized RPG set in the future - in baseball...
...but we're getting ahead of ourselves. First, a story:
The young Japanese pitcher strolled quietly out to the mound at Olympic Stadium, quietly determined even as the crowd at the ballpark was standing in expectation.
The line of zeroes on the scoreboard told the story of the game – neither his team, the San Francisco Giants, nor the team he was facing, the London Monarchs, had done much of anything that night.
But what was truly telling, even as he took the mound, were the numbers at the end of all the zeroes on the scoreboard: while neither his Giants nor the Monarchs had scored, San Francisco had at least registered three hits on the night.
The Monarchs had none.
The pitcher, one Shohei Ohtani, shook his head and tried to focus as he warmed up for the ninth. He already had 12 strikeouts on the night, including Craig Brambles to end the eighth. And despite Ronald Acuna lining a single to left to start the ninth, reliever Anthony Swarzak set the next three batters down in order – including a strikeout of Wyatt Kinton on a 3-2 pitch.
None of the three batters – Jeff McNeil, Isaac Locke, or Kinton – had dared look at Shohei as they came back into the dugout. Ohtani didn't blame them; he'd had no support to speak of in his seven starts so far on the season. In his last one, the Giants had gone on to win the game in extras, but they hadn't scored much when he was pitching.
This, however, was topping it all. He was having good location, up-down movement, and getting some good calls from the home plate ump Jerry Neudecker… but all of those zeroes were unnerving.
As his catcher, Malik Wakeman, threw the ball down to Max Muncy at second, he collected his thoughts. That line drive in the sixth, with Isaias Askvig on third, looked like it was headed to center field at Warp Factor Six. How London's starter, Adam Clayton, managed to snag it, he had no idea.
Matt Chapman walked out toward the mound to him, tossing the ball to him softly while mumbling something that Ohtani thought was encouragement. Once again he shook his head, then stepped on the rubber and looked in at Malik's sign.
First pitch to leadoff hitter Dick Wagner was a fastball, which Wagner took for strike one. Wagner then took a big swing and miss at a slider. Wagner, the opposing catcher, had looked bad in his previous at-bat against Ohtani, and he did not want to repeat himself.
Ohtani offered a curve that hung just a bit too much – and Wagner gave it an "emergency" swing that somehow contacted the bat. Chapman, who had moments before given Ohtani encouragement, now made a dive toward the hole in short to try to stab the ball.
The ball missed his glove by about five feet. The no-hitter was over.
Manager Bob Melvin immediately went to the comm to get Mariella Lockley ready in the pen. He was worried that Ohtani – who had yet to complete a game in his career to that point – might have it all blow up on him.
He didn't immediately see that Wagner had pulled up a bit lame when he got back to first after legging out the single. Monarchs manager Phil Garner had, though. He and team trainer Jodie Whittaker came out, checking him over and asking about continuing.
The London faithful were cheering over the baserunner initially, but concerned when Wagner had come up injured. They did give him a hand as he limped back to the dugout for a pinch runner – London's backup catcher Carl Fiskar. Fiskar was serviceable on the basepaths, but no one – not even Garner, as he related after the game – knew what he was about to do.
Fiskar took the bag at first, tagging it, and seeing that Ohtani was on the back of the mound contemplating the first hit of the night, decided to start trotting over to second, like he had been awarded the base for some reason.
Shohei hadn't heard the yelling until Fiskar was already pulling up at second, and his throw was drastically late. Shortstop Dalton Moneaux managed to grab the throw to prevent it from being more than an embarrassing stolen base.
Alicea Bauers, Moneaux's counterpart on the Monarchs, launched Ohtani's next pitch to right, but Askvig tracked it down for the first out. That brought up 2B Jenny Hilton.
Hilton was one of the few bright spots for the Monarchs on the season, but Ohtani had already struck her out twice and she'd failed in a bunt single attempt in the sixth. As she settled in, she saw the sign from her third base coach, Duffy Dyer. She nodded and stepped in, trying to concentrate as Ohtani looked in at the sign.
Meanwhile, Fiskar was casually walking off the base at second, and saw that Chapman was playing back and off the base. Fiskar took two more steps, then – in an all-out sprint – made a mad dash for third.
He stated after the game that the steal of second had been a matter of surprise, as he saw that Ohtani wasn't paying attention – but the steal of third was completely planned. He'd signaled to Duffy that he was going on the first pitch, rationalizing that if he was going to make an out, he'd rather do it on third instead of home.
Problem was, Ohtani didn't see him until he'd already thrown the ball to the plate. Hilton tried to make a drag bunt motion at the ball, but it missed her bat and Wakeman caught the ball – and couldn't make the exchange to his throwing hand to make the play.
Winning run on third, and one of the best bunters on the Monarchs at bat.
Melvin went out to the mound, calling the infield in for a conference as to what to do. Melvin put the rotation play on, bringing the outfield in and having CF Acuna play a deep shortstop while Moneaux moved over to the gap between short and third. Ohtani was going to try to get a second strike on her, to try to get the bunt off the table for Hilton.
It was a great idea, and everyone was working it to perfection as Ohtani delivered his 99th pitch on the night.
Hilton promptly laid down another drag bunt, perfectly placed in the no-man's-land between the mound and first. Ohtani went to his left to try to make the play, getting the ball just before nearly colliding with his first baseman Isaac Locke, who was going to try to bare-hand the ball and underhand it to Wakeman, who was waiting to swipe-tag at Fiskar.
Ohtani jumped over Locke, who dove for the dirt strip between the mound and home plate. Shohei turned and tried to make a throw towards home.
The ball hit Locke in the arm and ricocheted down towards first, where Hilton was just pulling up to the bag. Fiskar was doing the same as he crossed the plate, running toward the Monarchs dugout in celebration.
Muncy grabbed the ball, pulled it into his glove, then spiked it down in frustration.
London had won the game on the most unlikely of endings, 1-0. Though it wasn't going to mean much in the standings, it was a bright spot for Monarchs fans in what was proving to be a long 2241 season.
Meanwhile, even as Melvin was telling reporters the obvious: "That was a truly lousy way to end a ballgame," is what he told the press pool – there were loud screams and banging coming from the Giants' clubhouse.
"Sono ichirui-te o ####! Soshite, sono meinu Hiruton o fakku!"
*** --- *** --- *** --- *** --- *** --- ***
It's
Star Trek meets
Bull Durham. Or is it
Interstellar meets
Major League? No, it's definitely
Spaceballs meets
Field of Dreams...
Baseball in the year 2241 is drastically different than what it is today. Or maybe not; the Yankees, Cubs, Astros, Diamondbacks, Brewers, Rockies, Giants, and Guardians are all playing at roughly their same locations, as are the Dodgers (technically).
The Pirates, however, aren't – but not because Pittsburgh is a toxic dump. No, the city on the Three Rivers is the triple-A farm team for… Ganymede's Pirates.
The main difference between baseball in the 21st and 23rd centuries is that there are now 15 teams that do
not play on Terra. Five teams play off-world on various moons of Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto – and, of course, Luna City's Meteors.
Ten more teams play outside the Solar system – including the defending World Series champion Aldebaran Athletics. There's a whole story behind that team – including its former nickname of the Bulls – that can be told.
The reason why the game in 2241 has aspects of
Bull Durham,
Major League, and
Spaceballs is that while it is the era between
Enterprise and
Discovery, it's more akin to the humorous side of the game.
This is where Procyon come in. Procyon is home to the multiple-time World Series champion Pulsars – a team that, early on in the current MLB's history, went a remarkable 140-22 while dominating the major leagues in 2219. Their key players are known for their talent, hard work, and even harder lifestyle – and yet they still win games.
There are, of course, other odd situations within the game: the four newest teams in the majors are the Houston Astros, San Angelos Dodgers (who went for a year and a half as the Evitadores), San Francisco Giants and Denebola Tigers. Denebola has the misfortune of playing in arguably the most difficult division in the majors, with the Alpha Centauri Aces, Castor Twins, Perseus Penguins, and the Pulsars in the American League Galactic Division.
The Astros, Giants, and Dodgers play in the Solar Division, with the Astros in the AL with the defending league champion Callysto Lightning (more on that misspelling later), Kuiper Belt Coyotes, London Monarchs, and Neptune Tridents. The NL features Ganymede, Luna and the Rotterdam Lions (Leeuwen) with the Dodgers and Giants.
While many would recognize the teams based in the Terran Divisions, some would seem just a bit…
off. For example, the Yankees share the New York market with the Long Island Expressways; the latter plays in the NL at the site of what was formerly Shea and Citi Field. (They have announced an intention to rename themselves the New York Grays in 2242.) The Diamondbacks play in the AL, not the NL, with Cleveland and two other teams: Boise's Kings (formerly the Diamond Kings, but they shortened it) and the New Orleans Notes. The Cubs, Rockies, Brewers and soon-to-be Grays feature the Racine Jaguars, owned by the Johnson Family Chemical Corporation.
Yes, baseball in the 23rd century is popular enough to support three teams in the Milwaukee-Chicago area. Deal with it.*
* - This comes with a caveat which I'll get to later.
