An Alternate Universe's MLB

[vicfurth]

Honestly, this Yankees logo looks more like Mt. Rushmore than Lady Liberty.

The set's alright, but the Rockies (Yankees in this case) still have a blah set. No fault of yours, of course, since this is "history re-written".

I applaud the effort put in

[Zen]

rockies and yankees my two favorite teams

<3

[BlazerBlaze]

Our Braves are their Indians. love it

Are our Yankee's their Braves?

[BlazerBlaze]

Our Diamondbacks are their Rays

Our Padres are their Angels

Our Braves are their Indians

Our Red Soxs are their Cubs

Our Phillies are their A's

Our Marlins are their Tigers

Our Rockies are their Yankees

Our Giants are their Pirates

Our Mets are their Jays

Our Indians are their Braves <- =( was hoping for some Yankees/Braves swapage

Our Cubs are their WhiteSox

Our Orioles are their Phillies

Our A's are their Astros

Our Dodgers are their Royals

Our Yankees are their Cardinals

Our Cardinals are their Orioles

[BlazerBlaze]

I read the histories too. Love the series, this and NFL. Love that you go the extra mile with this and give us a background =) Texture > B&W

[AlaskaAJ]

Really nice and really well-done. I applaud ya.

Can't wait to see the Rangers/Twins crossover (since they were both the Washington Senators originally).

Thanks man!! I actually didn't think of that one, but you almost guessed correct on one of the crossovers. For this one I tried as best I could to switch the NL with AL and vice-versa so the alt histories match up, since there's no season-long inter-league play. Since there's 16 teams in one and 14 in the other then obviously two teams in the NL had to cross with each other, but that shouldn't throw-off their alt history. Anxious to at least get a few more of these done even if I can't do the entire league.

Ah... I finally got it. Twins/Nationals?

[JH42XCC]

So if the New York Mets alternate reality counterpart is the Toronto Blue Jays, then which team has the Mets as their alternate reality counterpart? Can't wait to see who.

[spamspamspamspam]

The only flaw is that you can still see the mountain on the right. Personally, when I read that you swapped the Yanks for the Rox, I thought it would be the skyline that would replace the mountain, but that would probably end up looking like the Mets, I guess.

[skier14]

The only flaw is that you can still see the mountain on the right. Personally, when I read that you swapped the Yanks for the Rox, I thought it would be the skyline that would replace the mountain, but that would probably end up looking like the Mets, I guess.

I dont think that is the mountain, but rather Lady Liberty's arm. The right side of his logo is clearly different than the right side of the Colorado Rockies Logo.

[robbman21]

Yeah it's her left arm, the two white identions to the far right of it are folds and creases in her robe.

[robbman21]

Boston Red Sox The oldest team in Major League Baseball, the Boston Red Sox began life in 1869 in the American Association before jumping over to the American League. This long and storied franchise has seen their fortunes jump all over the radar in their 140+ year history, beginning with their first championship in the old AA in 1882, and then not winning again until they were ruled champions of the infamous 1919 ?Black Rox? World Series. In 1913 they introduced the first version of the iconic ?Horseshoe B? logo which continued to evolve in style for the next few decades, and debate later sparked when the Cincinnati Bengals of the NFL began using an almost identical ?B?, and has raged since about who the smbol really belongs to. They again struggled for the next two decades until winning the AL in 1939 and winning the Series ? this time on the field ? in 1940. Again 20 years of sub-par play was ended with an American League pennant in 1961, although they would lose to the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. It was still a notable year however, as left-fielder Carl Yastrzemski made his debut and would be a cornerstone for the ?Sox for many years to come. After struggling through the rest of the 1960?s, the 1970?s brought about great prominence, and with youngsters Yaz leading a group of youngsters to the AL crown in 1970, only to fall to the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series in 5 games. The guys fell off a bit in 1971 as injuries and sophomore slumps sat in, but rebounded in 1972 to win the American League in baseball?s first ever strike-shortened season. Facing off against the powerful Houston Astros (the National League?s powerhouse of the decade) the series was an epic 7 game affair that saw no starting pitcher finish a game for either side?a World Series first. Six of the seven games were decided by only 1 run, with Houston coming out on top. The Red Sox would return to postseason in dramatic fashion in 1973, making up 10 ½ games on the Kansas City Royals after the all-star game to win the division, but fell short in the ALCS to the Toronto Blue Jays. The 1974 group(now known as ?The Big Machine?)won 98 games, but this time the Royals were able to hang on to their lead and win the division. In 1975 ? once again ? the Red Sox came through and won the division, once hitting an amazing streak of winning 41 of 50 games. Rolling through the regular season with 108 wins, they returned to the Series to face off against the Chicago Cubs, who were looking for their first championship in 67 years. The 1975 World Series would go down in baseball?s annals as one of the greatest and most memorable ever played, with Cubs? catcher Tim Hosley?s 12th inning walk-off home run in Game 6 as the lasting iconic image of the 7 games played, becoming one of the most memorable images in the history of sport. The Sox took care of business the next day in Game 7 and captured their first championship in 35 years. The Sox continued their AL domination in 1976 by winning the division by 10 games and then promptly sweeping their way through the playoffs, first in 3 games over the A?s, and then sweeping the Cardinals in 4 games in the World Series in the newly remodeled Busch Stadium, which were also the first WS games played in NY since 1964. With their convincing series win, the Red Sox became the first ? and so far only ? team to go undefeated in the playoffs, and made their mark as a dynasty in the history books of Major League Baseball. Though still a winner, the Sox could only manage 2nd place finishes in both ?77 and ?78, but won the division again in ?79 only to be swept in the ALCS. In a fluky/bizarre turn of events, the Sox had baseball?s best record in the strike-shortened year of 1981, but because they won neither the first half nor the second half of the season, they were denied a spot in the playoffs. A famous team photo was taken after the season which reads: BASEBALL?S BEST RECORD ? 1981. This was to be the end of the era that was ?The Big Red Machine?. After the team went through a complete rebuilding, the Sox bounced back in 1990 and led the division wire-to-wire en route to the World Series, a rematch of their 1972 tilt against the Houston Astros, which this time were led by the dangerous ?Bash Brothers? of Glenn Davis and Franklin Stubbs?and were heavily favored. However the Red Sox shocked the world by promptly sweeping the Astros in what was the last of 3 consecutive National League Championships. The Red Sox finally replaced their out-dated ?Big Red Machine? duds in 1992 by throwing back to the early 60?s and reintroducing the era of sleeveless jerseys to the Majors, a look still favored by many teams. The new unis didn?t translate to on-field success though as the Sox played mediocre ball until winning the division again in 1995, but to date that?s been their last post-season appearance. They were able to force a one-game playoff with the Blue Jays in 1999, however they were defeated in their chance to return to the playoffs. The year 2000 brought about the famous Carl Everett trade, in which baseball?s best slugger took less money to come home to Boston, but the rest of his career would be injury-riddled and it never turned into wins for the franchise. As of now the Red Sox ? behind Orioles architect Walt Jockety ? are building young pieces in hopes to compete for a playoff spot in the seasons to come.

The Reality The Red Sox and Reds have both had their share of playoff heartbreak, superstar athletes, Hall of Famers, and championship dynasties, but the recent era of big-spending ball has greatly separated the two franchises. While the Sox have had basically the same uniform for 70 years, the Reds have played and tinkered with their uniforms quite a bit the past 20 years, and often throughout their history. Bronson Arroyo is a notable who?s recently played for both teams, winning a ring with the Sox, but actually finding more success on the mound with the Reds. Including the 1975 World Series, the two teams have faced-off 13 times with the Sox holding an 8-5 edge.

Thoughts As mentioned in the NFL thread, it was a fluky coincidence that the alternate equivalents of the Bears and Reds happened to both fall as the next sets to be released, and my great luck that ?Boston? and ?Bengals? both begin with the same letter, though I was worried that I wasn?t going to be able to pull it off. As with the Bengals, I?m very happy with the results here as well. I enlarged the uni?s here and shrunk the caps and lettering, as I?d noticed the other two sets I?d posted looked smallish and hard to see detail. Looking at this though, it still REALLY looks like the Reds since the color palette is so similar, and being a Boston fan, it?s hard to see this as ?Red Sox?. I redrew the ballman logo to vectorize it and try to do something different with it, but in the end all I could really do is replace the ?C? with a ?B? on his uniform. While working on Red Sox version of ballman I started to consider posting a big dump of all my unused/abandoned ideas for this series once it?s done, and also doing the same for the NFL so you guys can see where everything was going at one point or another. I also really did the ?Boston? road jersey script, and Eriq Jaffe needs to be commended for doing a fine version of the ?Redlegs? font that was introduced in 2007.

[UnclearInitial]

good, but maybe you could do a black alt to counter the blue alt?

[UnclearInitial]

you should also try a red sox script

[robbman21]

you should also try a red sox script

I cant to either one. There are rules...

[JH42XCC]

Impressive work on the alternate reality Red Sox.

The Sox continued their AL domination in 1976 by winning the division by 10 games and then promptly sweeping their way through the playoffs, first in 3 games over the A?s, and then sweeping the Cardinals in 4 games in the World Series in the newly remodeled Busch Stadium, which were also the first WS games played in St. Louis since 1964.

Fixed that part

[robbman21]

Impressive work on the alternate reality Red Sox.

The Sox continued their AL domination in 1976 by winning the division by 10 games and then promptly sweeping their way through the playoffs, first in 3 games over the A?s, and then sweeping the Cardinals in 4 games in the World Series in the newly remodeled Busch Stadium, which were also the first WS games played in St. Louis since 1964.

Fixed that part

Hahaha thanks man!! Gets confusing sometimes criss-crossing timelines and such lol

[DustDevil61]

...and after the Knicks moved from Kansas City the area had two NBA franchises with the Nets playing right across the Hudson. Not since...

Not to get too off-topic, but I know for sure that the New York Knicks didn't start in Kansas City. Are you planning an NBA version of this as well, Robbman?

Aside from that, this and the NFL alternate threads are very interesting and fun to read. I'm surprised at the Red Sox alternate look.

[robbman21]

Florida Devil Rays The Florida Devil Rays began life as an expansion team in March of 1995, and took the field for the first time on March 31st, 1998 against the New York Yankees, themselves the most recent MLB expansion team. Opting to build through trades and free-agency, the Devil Rays astonishingly won 100 games and won their division in only their second season of existence, but would fall to the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALDS in 4 games. With much expectations for the 2000 season, the Devil Rays brought in sluggers Jose Canseco, Greg Vaughn, and Vinny Castilla to help power them to another division title, but all three struggled at the plate and the result was a very disappointing season. The 2001 season saw the re-emergence of veterans Vaughn and Castilla along with Fred McGriff to lead a potent offense back to a division crown. After knocking off the Baltimore Orioles in the ALDS and then Cleveland in the ALCS, the Devil Rays advanced to the World Series in only their 4th season of existence, an amazing feat that surpassed the Detroit Tigers?, who?d won the pennant in their 5th year. The ensuing World Series versus the dynasty of the St. Louis Cardinals (seeking their 4th straight World Championship) would turn out of be one of the greatest and most exciting ever played. The series would go 7 games, with the home team winning each game, and back-to-back walk-off wins in St. Louis by the Card VS D-Rays reliever Esteban Yan. However the D-Rays won game 6 at home to force a Game 7, and game 7 was decided in walk-off fashion with Aubrey Huff scoring on Gerald Williams? single up the middle. The D-Rays again returned in 2002 after once again winning the division, but were swept in the ALDS by Baltimore. Shortly afterwards it was a fast decline for Florida, as several veterans moved-on or were traded away as they became too pricey to keep. Just 3 years after winning a championship, the D-Rays lost 111 games, which was one of the worst records in the past 100 years of baseball. The D-Rays made a 26 game improvement in 2005 and finished 2nd in their division, winning 77 games behind youngsters Carl Crawford and Rocco Baldelli. Though not improving on their record in 2006, young SP Scott Kazmir was able to take home the AL Cy Young award. The following year was one of big change for the Devil Rays, as they dropped their familiar dark green, royal blue, and black color scheme that had been around since the very beginning of the franchise, in favor of two shades of blue (a dark navy and a bright powder blue) and a completely redesigned uniform front. Though the familiar ?D-Ray? logos stuck around on the caps, they were recolored to match the new scheme. The jersey fronts also featured the name ?D-Rays? ? which had long been accepted as an alternate name for the team ? as if to accept it as the new team nickname. The fan reaction was split as most preferred the older, original style and colors. But 2007 was a return to winning for the D-Rays, as they posted a 90-72 record which was good enough to not only win the division but gave them the best record in the American League. They would move on the sweep the Chicago White Sox in the playoffs before they themselves were swept out by the New York Yankees, a team that seemed could not lose in the 6 weeks previous to the series. After opening 2008 with a 20-8 record and the best record in the majors after the first month of the season, the D-Rays went into a monumental slump, though still led their division at the All-Star Break with only a 47-48 record, and struggled to the finish with an 82-80 record, finishing 2nd in their division. Since their division title in 2008, the young D-Rays have struggled to find consistency in winning.

The Reality The ?Devil? Rays and Diamondbacks, though both entering the majors in 1998, have seen drastically different results in their success in the 12+ years since. While the D-Backs went after expensive all-stars to win right away, the Rays built consistently through their farm system and struggled through year after year of miserable finishes only to finally be rewarded in 2008 with their first playoff appearance, an American League crown, and a trip to their first-ever World Series. And as of this writing the Rays have the best record in the Majors.

Thoughts So far I think this has been the toughest work for me between my two series, mainly dealing with how to translate the Diamondbacks? snake logos into the Ray?s stingray logos?and I?m not quite sure if it worked. The snake ?D? was the easiest, as I just turned the existing Ray on it?s side, turned it to more of an angle to elongate the top, and was able to get the ?D? shape I needed. The Arizona ?A? to the ?D? logo was a bit more tricky. I used the shape of the ?D? in the old ?Diamondbacks? home script, found a silhouette of a Ray that I liked and expanded on that idea. Whereas the ?A? has the snakeskin pattern, I went with a pattern that?s meant to mimic waves as well as a scale pattern. I?m most satisfied with this logo. The final logo was meant to mirror the ?db? snake?s head logo, and IMO this is the weakest logo I?ve come up with for any of the previous MLB or NFL entries I?ve posted. Trying to get the letters ?D? and ?R? into the shape of a Manta Ray was not an easy task, and just about impossible. I used the shape of the Ray that makes up the middle of the ?D?, and inserted my letters from there. This logo more so than any other I?ve done differs greatly from it?s real world counterpart. I also chose to go with ?Florida? as the location rather than Tampa to mirror ?Arizona? being used over ?Phoenix?, which means that when it?s time to do the Marlins, they?ll be under the moniker of Miami.

[AnythingChicago]

Wow. Couldn't be any better.

[justie]

I like it. just great