"Oh." Atlas says as we pull into our driveway then I drive down the driveway and park in the garage.
Once we're parked, my siblings and I get out of the car, grab the food and drinks, then we head inside as I close the garage door.
"WE'RE BACK." Athena shouts as I shut the door to the garage then my siblings and I carry the food to the kitchen table.
"Wendy's." Kehlani squeals as she leads Nova and Raven into the kitchen as Adelaide follows behind them with the dogs in tow.
Raven, like the smart lady she is, is already packed and ready to move so she's helping us pack up Atlas.
Once everyone is in the kitchen, we pass out our food then we sit around the table and eat.
"I need to show you four something that's going to come out in the public tomorrow." I say as I grab some pieces of paper from the kitchen island.
"Okay." Atlas says then I slide two pieces of paper in front of the four teenagers.
"Woah." Athena says as we all look at the pieces of paper.
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"You're starting a softball league?" Nova asks.
"Us and our rich friends are." I say.
"When?"
"First season is 2024." I say.
"It's gonna start the second weekend of June and the Championship series will finish the weekend before Christmas." I say. "So a 28 week long regular and post season."
"Wow." Athena says as she studies the teams. "Where's your team gonna play?"
"We're gonna build on that big open field across the street from the Real Miami Stadium, but until the stadium is done we're gonna play at the Marshall High stadium." Adelaide says.
Every owner is building a stadium for their respective team, but until those are done everyone's gonna be using high school and college stadiums.
"How many games?"
"Each team plays every team in their conference home and away for a total of 22 3 game series." I say. "So 66 games in the regular season then the top 4 teams in each conference advance to the play offs."
"Will it work like the old baseball playoffs?" Atlas asks.
"Yeah." I say.
In each conference the 1st seed will play the 4th seed and the 2nd seed will play the 3rd seed in the divisional series of the play offs then the winner of the two match ups play in the conference championship series.
The winners of each conference championship series will play in the National Softball League Championship Series.
"And each play off series will be a best of 7 series" I say.
"Are you doing the uniform thing?" Athena asks.
"Mhmm." I say.
"Uniform thing?" Raven asks.
"White and gray uniforms in baseball and softball bore the fuck out of me so, besides the Oregon Orcas, every team has to have colorful uniforms." I say. "So like the Hammerheads home jerseys will be mostly cyan with pink and black highlights and the away jerseys will be mostly pink with cyan and black highlights."
"Ooh." Raven says.
"Could we join out of high school?" Nova asks.
"You could." I say. "Our draft eligibility rule is you can join out of high school or you can declare for the draft after your junior year season in college."
We thought making college players wait three years to be draft eligible was the best because it gives them an opportunity to get a degree in those three years.
"That's so cool." Athena says then we talk more about the league while eating lunch.
After we eat lunch, Nova, Raven, Athena, Adelaide, and Kehlani head up to Atlas room to keep packing while my brother and I clean up the kitchen.
Once we clean up, I hand my brother a piece of paper.
"Call that number before you all leave for college and a friend of mine will hook you and Raven up with a playroom for a night." I say.
"Okay." Atlas says as he looks at the phone number.
"And when we get to Norman I have another thing for you and Athena." I say.
