AFBL History Section
2013
AFBL Decides League Alignment, Allows Canadian Franchise
AFBL will be split up in two 8-team leagues based on geography, the Frontier League and the Patriot League. The league also will allow a franchise to call Ontario home. This wasn't in the league's original plan but sources indicate that the AFBL wouldn't be opposed to a 2nd Canadian team down the line as an expansion team.
Frontier League
Arizona
California
Colorado
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Oregon
Texas
Patriot League
Kentucky
Massachusetts
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Ontario
West Virginia
Final Notes
The AFBL has decided on names for its end of the year awards and will reward them to each league...
Most Valuable Pitcher - Best Pitcher
Most Valuable Hitter - Best Hitter
Rookie Of The Year - Best Rookie
Best Defender Award - Top Defender
Reliever Of The Year - Best Relief Pitcher
AFBL Rules/Setup
-1-10 ratings scale, stars for rating
-Scouting and Coaching system turned off, OSA (in game scouting) scout for every team
-162 game schedule, balanced schedule of 3 game series, 10 games per sim
-Playoffs: two league champs get 1st round byes, 2 wildcards per league with winner to play league champs, Wildcard Round is best of 5 series in 2-2-1 format, League Champsionship Series and Federation Cup Series are best of 7 series in 2-3-2 format
-Minor league teams location will be within the major league's home state or any neighboring state without a team
-AFBL Rookie League teams will be based in Florida, play 90-game schedule starting the Tuesday after Memorial Day
-Interleague play disabled for 1st season but will be implemented for specials seasons down the line
-No DH
-25 man active roster, 40 man expanded roster on September 1st
-Postseason roster rule disabled
-Secondary (40-Man) roster size rule disabled
-10 day Disabled List
-Trade deadline is July 31st, can trade recently drafted players, draft picks are tradable, 10/5 rule disabled
-Amateur draft held November 15th, draft pool revealed 75 days prior, 7 rounds with 10 rounds of players created
-No financial system to worry about
-USA, CAN, and then 10% from random origin for draft pools
-No International FAs or Independent League FAs
-Scouting and Coaching turned off
Owner Turnover
California Golden Eagles and Massachusetts Americans were taken over by new managers during the season to fill vacancies left by the founding owners.
2014
AFBL's 2nd season was a successful one. The strong core of owners were joined by two new owners in Kentucky and Illinois. AFBL is in the very early talks and preparation for future expansion from 16 to add 4-8 teams but the earliest season for expansion will likely be for the 2017 season.
Notables...
-New Jersey SP Jorge Sep?lveda won his 2nd straight PL pitching triple crown and Most Valuable Pitcher
-Colorado 1B P.J. Foley hit 58 HR in 2014 for the current single season record
2015
-Massachusetts Americans franchise relocates to Pennsylvania and rebrands itself as the Railroaders
-The 2015 All-Star Game was played after the break in play for the league due to a scheduling snafu. Played on a Tuesday at 11:05am then the league sent all players in the ASG back to their teams in private jets.
-The Illinois franchise played its first season under new owner LT; the league didn't experience any turnover as it continued to strengthen its ownership group
-AFBL announces Interleague Play for the 2017 season to celebrate its 5th season
-AFBL selected 4 future owners for the league's upcoming expansion from 16 teams to 20 teams for the 2017 season
-Oregon owner, John Yuda, steps down suddenly due to time constraints after 3 very successful seasons
2016
-Oregon starts with their 2nd owner in team history, Malek Singeling
-AFBL reaches an agreement to bring in 20 High Schools and 20 Colleges as feeder leagues for its Amateur Draft beginning in 2017.
-Arizona Alpines franchise announces relocation plans to move to New Mexico to become the Danger in 2017.
-California Golden Eagles franchise announces relocation plans to move to Maryland to become the Bridegrooms in 2017.
-4 Expansion teams select their home states: Washington, Idaho, Virginia, Georgia
2017
-Oregon gets their 3rd owner in team history, Elliott Pinkham
-Illinois owner Lawrence Tabachnick leaves franchise to take over the expansion Idaho Steelheads franchise
-Raymond Swalley takes over the Illinois franchise and rebrands the team as the Warhawks
-Frank Esselink becomes the founding Washington Resonance owner
-Steve Waugh becomes the founding Virginia Diamond Club owner
-Pete Grassi becomes the founding Georgia Titans owner
-Arizona Alpines relocate to New Mexico and rebrand as the New Mexico (Duke City) Danger
-California Golden Eagles relocate to Maryland and rebrand as the Maryland Bridegrooms
-AFBL realigns from two leagues of 10-team divisions to two leagues of two 5-team divisions
-AFBL plays 2017 with Interleague Play enabled for a single season
-AFBL brings in their College and High School feeder leagues that will serve as development for its Amateur Draft Pools
-New York Brewers founding owner Joel Schrock steps away in August and Matthew Katz takes over franchise
-Illinois gets a new owner at the end of the season with Mike Jewell taking over the franchise.
-Oregon becomes vacant at the end of the season and newcomer Mike Wilkinson takes control of the team.
-Colorado Bears win their 2nd straight Federation Cup title
Notables...
New Single Season Records...
Hits: Julian Parra (WV) - 240
Wins: Kevin Reynolds (CO/MD) - 23; tied Jorge Sepulveda's record
Losses: Juan Palmeiro (WA) - 22
Strikeouts: Ron Martin (CO) - 305
Games Pitched: Norm Fisher (NY) - 103
OBP%: Tommy Carr (IN) - .477
2018
-AFBL votes to keep Interleague Play after a successful 1st season
-Pennsylvania, Iowa, and Georgia all lose their owners (IA and GA founding owners) at the end of the season
-Mike Quinn takes over the Pennsylvania franchise
-Charlie Cooper takes over the Iowa franchise
-Lin Johnston takes over the Georgia franchise
-New Jersey wins their 1st Federation Cup
-During the 2018 Winter Meetings, the league votes to: turn off the storylines option and to upgrade to OOTP15 for the 2020 season
2019
-AFBL's final season using OOTP14
-Georgia gets a new owner before the start of the season: Travis Smith
-West Virginia wins their 2nd Federation Cup
-Colorado SP Ron Martin claims single season Wins record with 24
-Texas 2B Tim Francis takes over single season SB record with 89
2020
-John Yuda returns to the league to take over his original team, Oregon Explorers.
-Indiana wins their 1st Federation Cup
-During the 2020 Winter Meetings, the league votes to: keep 7-7-9 playoff format, keep 7/31 trade deadline, reject DH in the majors due to lack of votes
-West Virginia SP Rod O'Colgan breaks two pitching single season records: Games Started (42), Strikeouts (359)
2021
-Colorado wins their 3rd Federation Cup
-No changes during the Winter Meetings
-No GM turnover as the league has a great, solid group of owners
-Virginia's 1B Pete Murray has a monster season to break several single season records: AVG (.382), SLG (.688), OPS (1.124), VORP (122.1), Hits (245), Total Bases (442), RBI (166), WAR (12.9)
2022
-AFBL strips the ownership from New Mexico and transfers it to Brian Cook who takes over in September
-Indiana wins their 2nd Federation Cup in a 5-0 sweep of Pennsylvania
-Frank Esselink steps down at the end of the season as the Washington Resonance GM, Dave Parks takes over for the 2022 Ammy Draft and beyond
2023
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2024
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2025
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2026
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