Famous Owens is a player who changes face every game, delighting in whatever performance they feel like bequeathing the Hades Tigers. From pitcher to batter, from barely lored to the most beloved original Tiger, with multiple songs and their own dedicated swearing corner— Famous Owens has established themselves as one of the most fascinating players of the Hades Tigers.

From the beginning of the Discipline Era through most of Expansion Era, Tigers Hiroto Wilcox and Dunlap Figueroa held down the greatest lineups in their peak and continued to be some of the greatest workhorses— amongst their many accolades, both top the career hits, innings and games played leaderboards just by virtue of playing the most Blaseball.

Strutting in behind them is Famous Owens. They began their career on even footing with the duo, but when Ruthlessness violently took over the League, Famous decided to flummox the Stripes at every turn instead. When we expect them to flounder, they decide to shine. They pitch nail-biters before dramatically throwing the game, a diva sick of the spotlight. They’ll pitch more shutouts than the Hiroto and Dunlap for fun and then completely blow up the next season. No parties, no bites, no peanuts, just absolute chaos on the mound.

It’s no wonder that Famous was rarely popular, not when put alongside stars like Hiroto Wilcox and Dunlap Figueroa. After all, the Tigers love their numbers and pride themselves on their pitching— Season 12 being the shining example. In Season 12, Hiroto boasted a 1.33 ERA, 3rd of the season, while Dunlap came home with 2.16 ERA, 6th. Famous trails behind— a workable but unspectacular 4.68 ERA. And yet, with 3 games each in the postseason, Hiroto gives up 6 runs. Dunlap, a miserable 13.

Owens only allows a single run, one of the best performances in their life. 1 walk, 1 run, 7 hits, a WHIP of 0.444. Despite our love for nitpicking numbers, our dedication to following our pitchers’ accolades— for a year, no one catches the one achievement that we thought had always eluded us.

In the deciding game between the Tigerbeams for Wild League Champion, Famous quietly pitches a perfect game. The only perfect game in Tigers history, something not even Dunlap and Hiroto in their most dominant seasons have accomplished. Like a jester, this feat is met with a few puzzled “Was that a shutout?” as the Tigerbeams quickly usher themselves into the center stage, no time to celebrate as we face the nail-biting finals. After all, no one expects anything from the little clown.

And after that, let’s be honest, the Tigers struggle. No parties and an understarred roster became a weakness. And Famous Owens, who has always played second fiddle, is quietly shadowed with hopes of a future batting career before the Tigers face an absolutely soul crushing collapse. Seasons of dominance and inertia come to a head. Their already declining but competent and beloved duo will be alternated into oblivion. The dependable hearts of their lineups will be vaulted, traded away, alternated, consumed and shadow jailed in quick order. The era of Tiger dominance will, undoubtedly, be over. But… not quite yet. 

Even with Paula Turnip ripped to shreds, Aldon Cashmoney vaulted and Hiroto Wilcox alted into a new low, we still had an Underhanded, 0.33 ERA Dunlap Figueroa pitching for a Magnified 196 WRC+ Dudley Mueller. The Hades Tigers had everything needed to go not with a whimper, but a bang, a circus ready to put on its final, desperate show.

this would be awesome if it was our season 12 championship run. it’s season 21. we’re screwed.

In Season 21, the Hades Tigers put up the most joker finals run, the deep postseason run that Stripes have long dreamed but given up on. Just like our most dazzling peaks, we somehow end up in the finals with one of our oldest rivals, the only team with as many rings as us, the Baltimore Crabs, with a team of Magnified Dudley, Underhanded Dunlap, and a miserable sack of rocks. With one of the worst lineups in the league and finally giving in to a Voicemail machine, we whisper amongst ourselves. Will we have time to infuse Famous’ batting? Could we actually pull this off?

And in the end, Famous Owens, with all our hopes and dreams, debuts and… strikes out. Mummy and Hiroto falter. The Crabs hold down Magnified Dudley. The dream is finally dead.

Yet as the dust settles and we resign ourselves with a new low as Dunlap is alternated to hell and Dudley leaves for a subtractor dog, Famous Owens breaks our streak of bad will luck and lands the perfect batting infuse. Just as our bats and pitchers— no, our favorites, our beloveds and the reasons why we keep rooting for this team are locked away or become shadows of what they once were, the one player we never relied on starts to blossom.

The white line marks Season 21 elections and oh boy there’s the clown music

They infuse, they party like it’s the end of the world, they drink batting blood, they even Theseus the Tigers just to commit LCD Soundsystem fraud, all to emerge as a dominant slugger, the new heart of a Tigers roster driven by a fragile but killer ball game. They’re hope. That even as old beloveds leave us, frustrations mount, and fellow fans leave— there will always be a next era and there will always be someone new to root for.

So maybe they’re not the star of the old era of Tigers dominance. But they’re part of our long history, and they forge an enduring connection between the old and the new, dragging the Tigers into a new era and one day, maybe back on that finals stage that Famous has always shined on. 

Why? Because that’s Famous, darling, what else do you expect?  

-Mera

Mera is a tarot card amateur, STATA forgetter and a 7101 TR tetr.io player. She supports the Hades Tigers and the Atlantis Georgias, two cities realer than her actual home according to TGB. You can contact her at @miasmajesties or by pinging Tetris Talents.

The post Across Eras: the Career of Perennial Tiger, Famous Owens appeared first on Blaseball News Network.

**NOTES FROM THE AUTHOR: During Season 6, the community as a whole was deciding what team would basically “be allowed” to win the blessing LOTTERY PICK, knowing that we would all work together to place an incinerated player in the 14th spot of the Idol board.  The final decision came down to Jaylen Hotdogfingers, the first incinerated player and former ace pitcher for the Seattle Garages, vs Landry Violence, the fanon-declared captain of the Hades Tigers who was famously incinerated towards the end of the postseason of their first Series victory in Season 3. The Tigers acquiesced: The Garages would indeed win the Blessing with 58% of the votes and one of the biggest, far reaching storylines in blaseball would happen.

Last year, a conversation was sparked in SIBR’s Discord chat about what would have happened if Landry was chosen instead.  This article aims to take that discussion, combined with some loose “What If” statistical research, a bit of fanon and our tendencies to see patterns, and rewrite history.  This is a fun look at what could have been different.  This … is an ALTERNATE history.

I mean, it made sense that it came down to those two players.  The Blaseball community was still pretty tight-knit in Season 6, and we were usually able to come to a consensus, even across teams.  Jaylen was an amazing pitcher, and thematically, the first player Incinerated could be the first player Necromanced.  But the fans from Hades just made a more compelling case; what happens when the originator of “REST IN VIOLENCE” is no longer at rest?  Aren’t the Tigers supposed to “Never Look Back”?  Our Alternative universe begins to diverge.

We would all work together, thanks to some shenanigans I won’t re-hash here, to put Landry Violence in the 14th spot of the Idol board.  The Tigers’ considerable voting power would do their best to win Lottery Pick.  And as kind of a “consolation prize”, the league agreed to let the Garages try to win the blessing Who?, and continue their story arc of their well known pitcher… Mike Townsend.  

Wait, WHAT?

It’s not remembered nearly as much as Lottery Pick, but this was also a Blessing option during Season 6.   What may be even less remembered is that the Tigers were actually the highest bidder.  And since, in this Alternate universe, we are manipulating the Idol board, it shouldn’t be too hard to make sure that nobody idolizes Mike (not that many people should be anyway).  Therefore, the Garages’ hope is that they can “steal” him from themselves and maximize his stats.  They’d get their ace pitcher, but they instead go for the comedy value of it being the player they write songs making fun of.  Every team asks a few fans to Idolize one of their players, and it should work, easy-peasy. 

Now we fast-forward our Alternate Universe to Sunday.  Landry is #14, the Tigers have a ton of votes in Lottery Pick, the Garages have a ton of votes in Who?, and the community’s plan goes off without a hitch.  So… what else happens?

Well, for one thing, not only is Mike Townsend now a superstar, they also have no reason to “know what to do” and retreat to the Shadows.  This happened because they were the lowest starred pitcher, where a pitcher was going to now reside, and we don’t have imbalanced rosters in Season 6.

OK, so … Landry’s a hitter.  Coming to the Tigers’ lineup.  Who was the lowest starred batter in the Tigers lineup as of the Season 6 Elections?

Oh.  Oh no.  

If you looked at just those names, knowing what we know today in our universe, you’d assume it’d be Spears Taylor, the player who was Feedback swapped with Jessica Taylor.  But nope; it’s only Season 6 and we don’t know of many ways to manipulate the Shadows yet, and it’s universally beloved best friend Richmond Harrison that goes to where the map shows.  

We flip the calendar one day to Monday and now… the big one.  For many seasons, in our universe, we never knew what would happen if a batter had a Debt instead of a pitcher.  We all watched in horror on Season 7 Day 5 when Jaylen threw Blaseball’s first Hit By Pitch.  

I’m going to go ahead and really stretch my powers as the author here, and give you this Alternate universe’s Debt. Thematically, Landry was an “angrier” player than Jaylen ever was, and would probably be much less apologetic about potentially wreaking havoc. I bet Landry wouldn’t even have to get hit by a pitch to start a fight.  It happens all the time in real life non-L baseball when a batter decides a pitch was too close, right?  So in our Alternate universe, on that same Day 5, newly resurrected and carrying a Debt, Landry Violence… charges the mound. 

There is violence, and the Umps, who are clearly afraid of Landry, have no choice but to “Warn” the pitcher.  Throw another close pitch, and you’re “Ejected.” in flames.  And what’s worse, that anger the pitcher had been stewing inside them, anger since they had a fight with Landry, is now chained to that batter.  The Chain of Violence is spreading throughout the league.  The flames are both being stoked and claiming players left and right, and the term “REST IN VIOLENCE” means something very different.

So how does this play out over the Season?  In our Season 7, Jaylen had 29 HBPs; but overall 12 players were Incinerated from the various Unstable chains.  Rather than follow all of the chains individually, we’re going to do a loose data analogy here: we take the days that Jaylen had a HBP and instead see who the Tigers were playing on those days (at least in the regular season— I’ll tackle the postseason in a minute.)  Therefore, here are the pitchers that Landry charges in our Alternate universe:

There are ten distinct names on that list… and WOW, are there some intriguing names there.  It’s generally considered that it was Moist Talkers’ fans who first started the research into Necromancy in the first place.  They very much pay for their hubris in this Alternate universe by losing one of the all-time greats in PolkaDot Patterson.  The Leach-Off is sadly cut short, as they both go away midseason.  And one more key thing here… in this Alternate universe, that’s not Jaylen Hotdogfingers pitching in that slot, is it?

It’s newly Maximized superstar Mike Townsend.  Mike’s respect and tragedy comes to them.  They started off this Season by pitching 5 amazing games, but clearly they’re going to succumb to Landry’s Violence on Day 30.  Mike Townsend (was a SuperNova).

And then just totally for fun, and without any data based reasoning whatsoever, I’ll also throw two names out there that may have filled in those other Incineration slots, players who were victims of the Unstable Chain:

• Sebastian Telephone: Because Seb has to die in every universe, every time.
• Workman Gloom:  Hubris, Moist Talkers, Hubris.  And who am I to remove Workman’s amazing “Home Run mid Incineration” story?  Also don’t worry… they may be a Fire-Eating, Home Run smashing hero of Day X in this universe (if that’s how Day X works in this Alternate universe.  That’s called foreshadowing.).

Let’s extrapolate even further.  In our universe, the Season 7 Garages held on and took the last slot in the playoffs.  The team they edged to get there?  It also happens to be the team they played against the most in Season 7.  I’ll give you one guess.

So come on… a Garages team without Jaylen, and in this universe, most of the season without Mike, versus a Tigers team that is riding the Violence and has Landry leading off?  I feel confident in saying that in this Alternate universe, the Tigers win at least 4 more games and slide into that playoff slot.  And here is where I crush the history and identity of another team along the way.  

In our universe, the Garages lost in that postseason to the biggest Cinderella story in blaseball history: The Mexico City Wild Wings.  As a matter of fact, Jaylen hit FIVE Wings with pitches on Day 105.  Transitive properties of Alternate universes say that here… Landry goes absolutely berserk.  Records for HRs and RBIs fall.  The Tigers crush the Cinderella story; and that bitter taste never really leaves the Wild Wings dugout. Those five players go into Season 8 with their Chained Violence, but remember… Jaylen restructured their Debt in S8.  Incineration gave way to Feedback!   Mexico City becomes a veritable revolving door as players are passed around the league.  It’s barely even noticed when one of the most famous Feedbackers of all time, NaN, comes through.  After all… it’s Feedback City.

The Tigers postseason rampage comes to its inevitable conclusion.  If the Lovers couldn’t stop the Wild Wings in our universe, they have no chance against the Landry led Tigers.  Your Season 7 Alternate universe champions, the Hades Tigers do the unthinkable: they Ascend.  Up in Blaseball2, instead of the Crabs, we find a caged Tiger behind those gates.  And no disrespect to our universe’s ascended Crabs, but this is a very different team.  There will be no 1-98 Tigers in Blaseball2.  Landry is too powerful, the Tigers are now powered by flames and Violence.  And that Violence is perfect to be used by a God looking to teach us some Discipline. At the end of Season 9, after the Shoe Thieves miraculously deny the Crabs, they are met and defeated by … THE SHELLED ONE’S TIGERS.

The League holds its collective breath throughout Season 10.  And finally, just like they were denied the Ascension by the Tigers, the Season 10 Champion Crabs are beaten down by these Tigers in the second Day X.  But just like they arrived in our universe, A NEW CHALLENGER APPEARS.  The HALL STARS save the day, and who is leading the charge, who is the Hero, the starting pitcher for the Hall Stars?

Mike Townsend (Knows What He’s Gotta Do).  

Who’s in the 2nd slot in the Hall Stars lineup, fat and powerful on Violence instead of Sippies?

My best friend, Richmond Harrison.

And in the end, who stands victorious, over players and Gods alike, shaping this Alternate universe forever in their image?

Sorry folks… It’s Landry Violence.  The site shows nothing but flames.  Blaseball has succumbed to the Violence.  End of an Era.  Of course it was going to end this way… we told you to Never Look Back.  Good luck in the next Alternate universe.  Blaseball will return.

The post ALTERNATES: LOOK BACK (IN VIOLENCE) appeared first on Blaseball News Network.

Welcome to what we hope will become a regular series of articles, reporting on the charged players in each circuit. We’re starting out with Frozen Sky since we had several BNN reporters who focus on these teams— with luck, we will be able to produce more articles like this in the future!

Boston Flowers

The hero…. the record setter… the legend… Lyra Vitamin! They were the Boston Flowers first Charge and the powerhouse leading the League in several categories while setting records in Boston.

Jose Gravy, the Boston Flowers Charge in Short Circuit 3, was not quite that. Short Circuit 3 had blessed the Boston Flowers with a team who excelled in one thing and one thing only, entering Party Time. Despite that, Gravy was certainly our best player.

By the time the Mid-Season Election rolled around Jose Gravy had taken the lead in several batting categories, and they didn’t slow down afterwards. 

Jose Gravy won the Snow Mittens, heavily improving their defence, and the Teams as a whole.  The Feet Warmers Amplification didn’t go to waste either, Gravy was spotted walking onto first, and then stealing their way back home.

Their opposition in discussions about who to Charge was Lila Icicle, who you may have heard of before for being incredibly bad. Icicle was the last batter in the Circuit to hit the ball, and was either the worst overall or next to it in pretty much every imaginable metric of batting skill.

Having terrible batters isn’t news to the Flowers, Icicle had the third worst OPS+ in Blaseball history*, behind two fellow Flowers Moses Mason and Salih Ultrabass.

Icicles’ habit of getting Frozen, however, was extremely funny in relation to their name.

Once more the Boston Flowers felt themselves torn between a loveable skilled player, and a loveable terrible player. The Team loved both players, but internal Team polling on the discord made it clear, Jose Gravy was set to go on a journey to the great static in the sky. 

In the end the Team successfully Discharged Gravy with a respectable 64% of their Charge votes.

With one good player and one legendary player now Charged, it’s looking like the Boston Flowers are hoping they will one day see these players return to play with the Boston Flowers again. Let’s Grow!

* – Over a 90+ Game period 

–Kidror

Breckenridge Jazz Hands

The Jazz have taken a very relaxed approach to the Short Circuits voting. We don’t know what charging does, so we have been “Free Jazzing” every Election. Though only one player can win, so two players became the front runners. 

Hester Scythe has something the prime universe Jazz team has needed forever, pitching stars. Had Hester been a pitcher they would have been the best pitcher in this universe (until Giannis got the Fist).

Prometheus Bug is a fan favorite. They have a top tier name, had fun upshelling campaign, great baserunning and fan loyalty, and are just a solid batter. 

Hester Scythe managed to eke out the charge vote win. Based on Jazz Hands tracked votes it was a close to 50/50 race. If charging does eventually involve the prime universe the Jazz hope that the team’s pitching will get a needed boost, but also hope that Hester never picks up a bat again.  

-Malst (Malst#9560 on Discord)

Canada Moist Talkers

This circuit, the Talkers voted to Charge Saturday Elder. After coming first in the league in the main season, the Talkers went on to win the championship, and Saturday’s performance is in no small part responsible for this victory! Their main season performance was good (0.283 BA, and 0.887 OPS), but with a postseason BA of 0.423 and OPS of 1.271, they were the star of the postseason.

SIBRmetrics aside, though, there is a wonderful story involving Saturday that led to their popularity among fans. On Day Seven, the Moist Talkers faced off against the Hawai’i Fridays. After nine Innings, the Talkers were down 5-2. The Fridays’ pitcher Byran Bono wasn’t particularly strong– Bono would go on to sport an ERA of 5.30 for the season– but they were having a good outing. Tilda Dasher and Nico Haycox went up to bat and hit a ground out and flyout respectively. Three runs down, and with two Outs in the final inning, even to devout fans the game seemed lost.

But then the incredible happened– Valkyrie Domski, second worst batter on the team by OPS, hit a double on the first pitch! Three walks from Bing Assiri, Jasper Coven and Carin Burns followed; the score was now 5-3 with Valkyrie safely at home again. Kinsley Reed hit a double to tie up the score, and now not only a victory but Shame was within reach!

Saturday Elder up to bat. Two balls, and then– a single! Saturday Shamed the Fridays! They went on to steal a base and get batted in by Sasha Baths, before Tilda Dasher hit a ground out to end the game. This inning had seen the Talkers come from behind to score five runs and Shame the Fridays, and every one of their batters saw play. What a performance!

Saturday became a fan favourite after this, with the fans proudly chanting “Saturdays are made for Dads!” to spur on this superb batter. As one fan put it, they were charged for their high spits and hits, and I hope we get to see similar stories and performances from Saturday in the future!

–Finn

Hades Tigers

After the amazing discharge of Rat Love (have you heard of Rat Love?), The Tigers cuddled up in a snowy cloud of frozen sloth and took a nap. Lovely dreams of rats dancing through empty heads. And thus the stage is set for a well deserved slumber party.

Initial review of the new roster told fans one thing: these Tigers suck. This alone was enough for a somber celebration. But more, we are now lighter than air as Hades freezes over. In typical Tiger nature, our new roster had a mighty thirst for base and an inability to throw a ball. Amusingly, that thirst was not matched with any capacity to actually steal. Meaning ridiculous plays as dizzy Tigers fell over each other trying to round the diamond.

So, with a yawn. One solitary fan picked pitcher Ethan Rivet. Alone making up 39% of the total vote. When asked for comment, this stripe stated: ”I liked the name and didn’t want to not spend my votes.”

So congratulations to Ethan Rivet. Among the Tiger’s pitchers, second best. In the context of this circuit— not objectively awful.

Many Stripes, One Sleepy Tiger.

-Khalvin8 (Khalvin8#1127 on Discord)

Kansas City Breath Mints

In the Mid-Season Election, the Breath Mints won the Snow Shovel. Saoirse Singh’s Snow Shovel (try saying that three times fast) was a core component of the Breath Mints’ offense, with a much-improved BA and OPS post-election (and starting from a solid base). Their offensive SIBRmetrics with the shovel, as calculated by one fan, were .312 BA / .387 OBP / .688 SLG / 1.075 OPS (179 OPS+). The OPS+ metric evaluates batting performance against the league average, and roughly translates to Singh producing 79% more runs than the average player– a wonderful performance!

They were, however, not the only batter considered for a Charge. When Breath Mints fans convened for our Parliamint, we were unable to choose between Saoirse Singh and Maisy Geiger. Geiger’s performance over the same period was comparable, and in fact sported an OPS+ of 216! Some fans, hopeful that a Charged player could return to us in some form, argued that if Maisy could perform like this without their own Snow Shovel, they could be even better further down the line! Others argued that Maisy’s performance might be in part due to their ability to draw walks, and hence their performance might struggle against more Ruthless pitchers, such as those seen in the late Expansion Era.

Ultimately, fans loved both players, with chants for including “Hot Singhles!,” “SINGHER TIME!,” “Geiger makes it count!,” “RADIOACTIVE!,” and “We can count on Maisy!” Choosing between these two players proved impossible, with tied votes after two rounds. We resolved therefore to leave the choice up to the wimds of fate, all agreed that no matter who won, we’d have charged a great batter that we were proud of. And this is exactly what happened– here’s hoping Singh returns to lead a Breath Mints offense in the future!

–Finn

New York Millennials

Clip Clipperson, reporting Live from Upstate New York, in the area where the Gamma 3 Millennials had been playing for the last two weeks over the recent Season. 

Rumors suggested that Eli Nocturne, Team Captain, local Coffee Barge owner, and recipient of the Fourth Strike Distortion in the Midseason Election, had kidnapped the rest of the Team to play Blaseball for mysterious ends. I attempted to get an interview with Nocturne, however there was a Scream Crumpet wailing in the snack case. What I could piece together from Eli included, “Welcome to the Coffee Barge, can I interest you in an Xpresso?” and “I’ve had a change of heart and do believe that perhaps kidnapping Blaseball Players to be was bad, actually.”

Manuela “Manny” Rowdy, reported to be a “hockey” player, whatever that is, from the New York you may be reading this from right now. Manny Rowdy (4.00 ERA, 13-8 W/L, 209 SO) performed admirably, among the better pitchers in the League, despite showing so much promise as a batter and fielder. When questioned, Rowdy said, “Well, you know, pitching seemed like a strong challenge, and my captor, er, Captain, Eli Nocturne, said they were short a pitcher.” 

As the Postseason Election drew to a close, Manny Rowdy skated their way into the Charging station, believing it was a way to get back home. Magnus Plague, an Ohio Doctor and newly Feedbacked Millennial, gave a shrug when questioned about the Microphone’s Charges.

Local Millennials Fans had some comments about the last Circuit:

“Look, sometimes you lore a haunted coffee barge prison and you lore it so well one of your players immediately escapes via Feedback.” -rudy
“They not only escaped, but left a helpfully mean Plague in their place!” -eberron
“Eli Nocturne sure does know how to pick who they kidnap huh” -Woosh
“I can’t believe Mills good again and it’s in a universe where it doesn’t even matter” –erobo
“What else can I say? Mills mills.” -local hydropastry fan

What will the next Circuit have for our New York Millennials? New Year’s Blowouts are what we’ve known for, and whoever is Hosting it should look forward to seeing the Millennials in the Playoffs again, or at the very least, a 010 Midseason Enhanced Party Time Invitation in their future!

–Clip Clipperson

And just a final note – we have only been able to make an article like this for Frozen Sky so far. If you’re a fan of a team and want to write a report like these, to show off your charged player and why they were chosen, please get in touch! We’d love to produce more articles like this in the future, with input from fans of each team.

The post Icy Lightning: Frozen Sky SC2 Charges appeared first on Blaseball News Network.

In the wake of Panda’s splendid writeup about the All-Star Sunbeams roster, the “All-Sun Sunbeams,” we Tigers fans got together to discuss our own take. With 24 seasons of history to look back on and a surprisingly concentrated list to choose from, what would “The Hades Winning Streak” look like?

Before we answer that, let’s reiterate the rules:

1. Team sizes will be standard. 9 Lineup and 5 Rotation Players. Players cannot be considered Elsewhere or Shelled.
2. The Selection must represent a single season played with that team.
3. The player must have played for at least one full season with that team.
4. A player can only be selected once across all 14 slots.
5. No Replicas are allowed.

These all make sense to me— this is The Tigers at their best, after all.

With that out of the way, I present to you, after a much-soirited discussion, the Pride of Hades, the “Hades Winning Streak.”

Dunlap Figueroa (S12) — ERA 2.17 – SO/BB 102 – WHIP 0.595
Hiroto Wilcox (S12) — ERA 1.33 – SO/BB 358 – WHIP 0.486
Famous Owens (S14) — ERA 3.02 – SO/BB 6.72 – WHIP 0.826
Yazmin Mason (S4) — ERA 2.35 – SO/BB 93.5 – WHIP 0.762
Mummy Melcon (S12) — ERA 3.5 – SO/BB 26.78 – WHIP 0.836

As the Tigers have always preferred, I’m focusing on our Rotation first. Each and every one of these players is a career Tiger, with the occasional stint out of town. Not many teams can say that about their best 5 player pitching seasons.

Dunlap and Hiroto were the core of the Rotation for as long as I can remember— understated juggernauts quietly seating the best of the Discipline Era and early Expansion Era. Hiroto was particularly impressive in Season 12, with their lean stat line pumping out strike after strike in the height of the Ruth Era. Notably, three of these player seasons are from Season 12— the dizzying height of Tigerdom on the backs of ruthlessly efficient pitchers, carrying us to Evolution and Blaseball’s first triple-dip since the Crabs’ Ascension two seasons and a Grand Siesta prior.

After these players are “Bloodlust Yaz” in their prime, and their own replacement Mummy Melcon— both instrumental in championship runs, with Mummy’s apparent stats somewhat lacking, but their performance in the postseason was nothing short of magic. Famous Owens is also there because we needed five pitchers and as much as I would love their Season 24 form in the Lineup here— they were better than anyone else we’ve had since. Their Season 14 was quiet, and as frustrating as ever, but competent. Every team needs a lightning rod for the fans’ ire, and Famous has always performed admirably in the role.

Lottie Ceilingfan (S24) — 69 BB – 0.393 OBP – 72 SB
Ayanna Dumpington (S24) — 0.312 BA – 0.958 OPS – 110 SB
Aldon Cashmoney (S18) — 43 HR – 41 3B – 1.247 OPS – 69 SB

The first and most important spots in our Lineup are the brightest stars of the Late Expansion Era Tigers. Lottie leads off, a late Postseason Birth and verified party animal with a penchant for skipping into walks. Their OBP is as high as any Tiger’s ever had and their voracity on the basepath gives plenty of room for… Ayanna! Aya came to us from Tokyo on the wimds of change, and they took their time. But they have Evolved to become a contender to the throne of our next batter…

Aldon Cashmoney. What can be said about Aldon Cashmoney that BNN’s own prior article hasn’t? A legendary base thief, GOAT slugger, and the living essence of style, I can think of no better to drive home our base-thirsty trouble twins.

Jessica Telephone (S3) — 0.322 BA – 1.025 OPS
Fish Summer (S3) — 0.312 BA – 0.961 OPS
Moody Cookbook (S5) — 0.303 BA – 0.941 OPS

Next up we have possibly the oldest of the old guard— a trio of competent historical legends, only one of whom made it to the end of the Expansion Era in top form. Jess’ Season 3 defined the Tigers’ Season 3, our first ever Championship title, with Fish Summer and Moody Cookbook the second fiddle sluggers. Of note is Moody’s Season 7, unfinished due to incineration but with stats that could have seen a truly landmark performance.

Paula Turnip (S18) — 0.297 BA – 33 HR – 0.970 OPS
Zion Aliciakeyes (S6) — 0.319 BA – 0.346 OBP – 0.845 OPS
Randy Castillo (S7) — 33 HR – 82 RBI – 1.020 OPS

Finally, we end the parade with three Tigers who are both near and dear to the hearts of fans across the ages and who recently left our active roster. Paula Turnip, of Stalk Market fame, was a quiet, consistent backup hitter with a good balance of power and speed, ready to take off at a moment’s notice to make room for Zion Aliciakeyes— a Season 1 stalwart until Voicemail exiled them, Zion’s zoomies and triples are the stuff of legend among old guard Tigers fans and their near-symbiotic relationship with our final cleanup batter Randy Castillo is a story greater than words. Randy’s career before Alternation was defined by a significant imbalance between standard Batting Average and Batting Average with Runners in Scoring Position, one of the most eerily self-aware player habits in Blaseball.

Evolved, Ascendant, Party Time hosts, and Coinslayers, if there’s one thing the Tigers don’t do it’s look back— but sometimes, in private, it’s nice to let yourself take just a little peek at what could have been.

This article is part of the Dream Team Series, in which our writers look back on the Discipline and Expansion Eras to create the strongest version of our beloved teams. Read the first in the series here.

The post The Winning Streak: Hades Tigers Dream Team appeared first on Blaseball News Network.

Season 18 was a return to form for the Tigers after disappointing performances in the previous threeason. To recap how they made their way back to the top of Wild High, let’s start with the Season 17 Elections.

Accidental Tanking Strats

Season 17 was the end of an era for the Tigers. As the last holdout in the ILB without a single losing season, their luck finally ran out as the team plummeted to a 39-60 record thanks to an unexpected trade of ace pitcher Hiroto Wilcox for Lenny Marijuana of the Garages. This turned out to be an unexpected blessing for the Tigers, however, as they entered PARTYTIME on Day 84 and made the most of it. Eight players Partied, two of them more than once, improving both the Lineup and the Rotation considerably.

This time, the Election went off without a hitch, with the Tigers exchanging Lenny to bring back Hiroto, and Transfusing pitcher Dunlap Figueroa for a second season in a row. The Tigers went into the Siesta feeling hopeful and ready to show the ILB that they were a dominant team once more.

Season 18: The Tigers are Good

The Tigers got off to a strong start in Season 18, but the dramatic nature of Blaseball made itself known at the end of the first week of play when the Salmon Cannons at the Wormhole launched Hiroto Wilcox Elsewhere. Luckily, freshly infused Dunlap Figueroa stepped up to pick up the slack while the team captain was away and led the team to a more than respectable 18 Wins before Earlsiesta.

The positive momentum continued until, for no discernable reason, the team simply stopped winning halfway through the season. The Tigers went on a four-game losing streak starting on Day 54, which was only the beginning of the team’s struggles. In total, the team lost fifteen of their twenty games from Day 54 to 73, capping the slump off with a six-game losing streak. Luckily, the Latesiesta seemed to revitalize the team, as they went on to dominate nearly all of their matchups in the Lateseason (except against the Flowers, a bit of foreshadowing for the playoffs). The Tigers finished the season back on top of the Wild High, and, thanks to Divine Favour, managed to take third place in the Wild League and bypass the Wild Card games.

Aldon Cashmoney is Legendary

Unfortunately, instead of excitement at earning a Playoff spot after two seasons of failing to do so, the mood was somber for Tigers fans at the end of the regular season. Aldon Cashmoney had previously received Ego++++ and, as the recent Preservations of Nagomi Mcdaniel and York Silk had shown, they did not have much time left with the team. Despite every effort by Tigers fans to save their beloved star batter, they remained on the Idol board when MVPs were named, was declared Legendary, and removed from the team.

If there was ever a player to deserve the label of Legendary, it was Aldon Cashmoney. They were one of the brightest stars of Blaseball, and their last season was just as exceptional as ever. This season, they topped SIBR’s stats leaderboards in five categories, was third in four categories, and took fifth in two more. What made Aldon Legendary, however, was not simply their Season 18 performance, but that such greatness was the norm for them.

When Aldon left the league, they were also on the top ten career leaderboards in an extraordinary 13 categories, including first in runs batted in (1301.5) and runs scored (1478). Most notably, they were the first player since the return of the ILB to reach 500 home runs, which will remain a part of Aldon’s legacy forever.

The tragedy of losing Aldon is not simply about their unmatched statistics, but about their place on the Hades Tigers. Despite only joining the team during the Season 8 elections, they became synonymous with the Tigers, only leaving to the Hellmouth Sunbeams for one season before quickly being brought back to Hades in the next Election.

They were part of the Season 12 Tigers that dominated the league before winning their third ILB championship, and they were among the first (non-expansion team) players to evolve alongside the rest of the Tigers.

During games, fans could frequently be heard cheering “CASHMONEY,” “TAKE IT TO THE BANK,” and “$$$$$$$” when they hit a home run or stole their away around the bases. The Tigers’ slogan may be “Never Look Back,” but fans are certainly not going to forget Aldon any time soon.

Aldon’s Leaderboard Rankings for Season 18:

• –  1st – Batting Average (0.375)
• –  1st – On-base percentage (0.385)
• –  1st – On-base slugging percentage (1.247)
• –  1st – Slugging percentage (0.862)
• –  1st – Triples hit (41)
• –  3rd – Runs batted in (105)
• –  3rd – Runs scored (117)
• –  3rd – Stolen bases (69)
• –  3rd – Total bases (411)
• –  5th – Hits (179)
• –  5th – Home runs (43)

(via blaseball-reference.com)

Postseason Woes

After the dramatics of the MVP selection, the Postseason was rather quiet for the Tigers. They first faced the Wild League’s second seed, the Miami Dale, whom they confidently beat in four games. However, the Wild League Championship was a disappointing showing for the Tigers, as they were easily swept by the Boston Flowers. The Tigers’ batting in particular was not up to par, with the team being shut out in game one and only scoring a total of four runs across the series, highlighting just how significant the loss of Aldon would be in upcoming seasons.

What’s in store for Season 19?

After a successful season with a lackluster end, one thing was clear to Tigers’ fans: the loss of Aldon left a hole in the Lineup that needed to be patched. Luckily, this issue had been predicted since fans learned what Legendary meant, and, being the Hades Tigers, they had already decided to tackle it in the most dramatic way possible. To save Aldon from the vault and spite the gods, the Tigers attempted the Bank Job: heisting Aldon from wherever Legendary players are Preserved. In more practical terms, fans voted to Move Aldon to the Tigers lineup.

This was serious enough to break the cardinal Blaseball rule (don’t vote before Saturday), as all votes had to be cast before MVPs were named on Friday. The Move Will did go through, but unfortunately, the team was unable to recover the original Aldon. Instead, Hades ended up with a replica, Aldon Cashmoney II, who will only remain with the team for one season. While this is not the ideal outcome, it will strengthen the team’s hitting in the meantime, allowing fans more time to improve the remaining players.

The Tigers’ second Will was much less dramatic but very successful for long-term preparations: shadowed pitcher Mummy Melcon was Infused, turning them into a powerful prospect for the Tigers’ Rotation.

As for Blessings, the Tigers have Targeted Evolution to be excited about. Rather amusing to Tigers fans, notoriously dramatic pitcher Famous Owens became the first player in the ILB to reach Base 2 Evolution, while Ayanna Dumpington, a more recent addition to the Lineup, reached Base 1 to match many of her teammates.

What can we expect from the Tigers in Season 19? Honestly, I have no clue. The Tigers seem to still be the best team in Wild High, but the Trust Fall Decree has thrown Blaseball fans into confusion. At the time of writing, it’s too early to say what that means for the league (although when you are reading this things may be more clear).

However, this season shows us that the Tigers are back to the reliable winning team that they have been since the return of the ILB. We are all very excited to see where this momentum carries them for the rest of the threeason.

The post The Tigers are (Looking) Back: Season 18 Recap appeared first on Blaseball News Network.

It’s been seven Seasons since the Hades Tigers won their second Internet Series Championship all the way back in Season 4. It’s been a long time coming. Hades clawed its way to win number three. The Tigers have finally evolved.

After the return of Internet League Blaseball, Season 12 was a healthy reminder that the Hades Tigers are a ferocious threat on the field. But as any fan should know, anything and everything can happen in Internet League Blaseball.

After the Tigers’ evolution, the team as a whole gained a new, unique Modification: Ambush. This enhancement promises that for every incineration during a Tigers game, one player from the Hall of Flame will find themself in the Tigers’ shadows. The catch? The Tigers already share a protective Sealant that prevents any of their players being incinerated.

Blaseball is legally classified as a bloodsport, and players know their lives could be on the line. Still, tensions might run high in future games, where players may wonder if the Ambush will activate.

But just how often will we really see this in play? Season 12 introduced much fewer cases of incineration than the Discipline Era had prepared us to expect: two in total, with the incinerations of Joshua Butt and Case Sports (RIV), of the Chicago Firefighters and the Mexico City Wild Wings. A lot of moving parts need to come into place here: the Tigers, the Eclipse, and a rogue umpire firing at someone other than a Tiger. I have my doubts that we’ll see the Tigers’ Ambush in action often.

Representatives of the Tigers have gone on record to assure rivals and anti-rivals alike that they will not intentionally try to goad any rogue umpires to attack during play. Pinch hitter and Hades native Usurper “Ultraviolet” Violet has been overheard commenting on fan speculation, “We’re from the Underworld. If anyone knows not to mess with attempted murder, we do.”

In collaboration with the team, the Hades Ministry of Tourism has officially agreed to relax their famously strict, no-exceptions migration policy for the sake of the splort’s continued expansion.

Plus, as we’ve seen after this first season in the Expansion Era, the shadows seem to have been getting more and more fluid, and not just because of all the flooding. With the introduction of Wills, the fans have even had the choice to try to tag in specific players. One Tigers player, Matteo Triumphant, has already been brought in and welcomed onto the active lineup.

But Hall of Flame players? These are the players we venerate with chants of “Rest In Violence,” a phrase coined in honor of the loss of Landry Violence, the first player to be incinerated during a Championship game. Landry was a superstar in his time and remained a beloved Tiger fixture throughout his career. He’s been Released from the Immaterial Plane since, but we still pay Tribute in honor of the fallen in the Hall. We haven’t had reason to expect their return since the Hall Stars were conscripted to fight against the Shelled One.

Ambush is no Necromancy. This is a League-approved part of play. At the very least, this is a promise that we may very well see some long-lost faces return in the future – perhaps even Joshua Butt or Case Sports. I for one will welcome any familiar faces around the Underworld.

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