Canada showed themselves the dominant country in the MLR early on. Three sessions in, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Montreal Expos (formerly the Atlanta Braves) were undefeated. Teams like the Cleveland Indians and Seattle Mariners did well at the beginning of the season as expansion teams, while the Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals struggled out of the gate. The Tigers continued to sputter, a leaky dam that went unpatched from their first loss to the Phillies in 2017 Season 4.

Cal Tiberius Jr., the defending Cy Young champion, excelled with 2 earned runs in his first 18 innings, a crazy feat that saw him earn two Player of the Session awards. One of the games he dominated over was a shutout of the Phillies. The Phillies embarked on a shockingly brutal scoreless streak, one that spanned from midway through Session 2 to the end of Session 5. Nothing like that has come close to happening before or after the Phillies streak.

The height of the Mariners' dominance, and specifically the Red Sox' misery, came in the fourth session. Newcomer Jarace Walker pitched a shutout against Boston, who lost 10-0 in a shocking execution. Seattle jumped to first in the power rankings, not just over expansion teams but all teams in general. It was this same session that Hudson Quin was chased out of the first inning by the Cleveland Indians, who beat the Phillies 9-0.

This Cleveland victory was needed. At this time, they had come out of what became an extremely notorious game in MLR history. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Cleveland Indians created an embittered rivalry, spurred by the likes of J.D. De Las Rosas and G.H. Morello. Among what this game's moments were bat-flip home runs, hits-by-pitch, and the only ever steal of home in fake baseball history! It ended in a 9-3 Tampa Bay victory, solidifying a bitter AL East feud.

Tampa Bay began a new dynasty in the early 2017-18 season. Following this victory against the Indians, they would go on to neuter the Twins 2-0, and dominated the Discord with fiery personalities. They would beat the Mariners 11-8, who had started a skid after a loss to San Francisco.

Session 5 was home to a rematch regarding another bitter rivalry. The Phillies and Nationals saw themselves as shadows of their former selves, opposites in every sense of the word. The Phillies had traded away a lot of their assets, paired with the passing of their ace Cy Hadd (He didn't die in real life he just left). The Nationals, on the other hand, had kept their core intact, and their core hadn't adapted well to the growing league.

Typical of the Phillies in those sessions, they were simply unable to score throughout the game. Neither were the Nationals, however. It was a bitter pitchers' duel between Hudson Hildebrandt and Phillies newcomer Owen Uridge, formerly of the San Francisco Giants. Hildebrandt took a no-hitter into the fifth, and the game stayed deadlocked until the bottom of the 6th, where the Phillies broke their scoreless streak on a 6th inning walk off home run by Miguel Snow.

Around Session 5, the 2017-18 season had a huge scandal, with new Red Sox GM Eric Lindros being outed as puppeting multiple player accounts. dubbed AltGate by the general populous, he was banned from the league along with his various fake players, who spanned from the Cardinals to his own team, the Red Sox. This marked the end of Boston's woes however. Around this time they were taken over by their first-overall pick Jordan Peppers, and they didn't look back.

1-0. 11-0. 12-5. 1-0. These were Sessions 5 to 8 for the Boston Red Sox, as the wins kept coming. The first 1-0, achieved in Session 5, was the first no hitter in fake baseball history, thrown by Moritz Steifel. Boston was beginning to rise as an up-and-coming tram.

Where the Red Sox exceeded, meanwhile, the Mariners fell. Seattle took a nosedive as they lost more and more through the middle of the season. It was around this time that the St. Louis Cardinals rose to prominence, as well, spurred by their game against the Milwaukee Brewers dubbed The Sadness Bowl.

This game, the last appearance in a Brewers uniform by Sonny Streaker, saw the Cardinals score 2 in the bottom of the 6th to tie the game. When the Brewers exploded on St. Louis with 4 runs in the 7th, the Cardinals jumped on Sonny Streaker again with 5 runs in the 7th, winning the game. This was crushing to Dan Gerzone, who had silenced the Cardinals through the entire game until Streaker came in in relief. It marked the Cardinals' first franchise win, and they kept their luck brewing after that. (Pun intended)

Among the oddest teams as the season reached its midpoint were the Los Angeles Dodgers. Like the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Dodgers had some of the best hitting in the league, but could not sustain pitching. Because of that, their record was poor. Despite this, when the All Star break came in Session 9, they had 3 players represented.

Amidst the rise of the St. Louis Cardinals, Jameson Poe returned to playing. Poe had been a first baseman for the Pirates before deciding to GM the Montreal Expos, who had been long without a permanent GM. He grew disinterested, however, and decided to return as a pitcher, and he signed with the St. Louis Cardinals. Poe started his pitching career with a bang, receiving All-Star buzz despite not pitching for a very long time by Session 9. He also received the first ever article on 501D, a new blog at the time dedicated to consistent MLR articles. (Of which we're still going strong. :) )

The All Star game came quickly. Phillies GM Jayyburdd and Athletics GM gymnastrick received managerial rights for their participation in the Paper Cup the season prior. The game was started by Tim Burr in the American League and Dan Gerzone in the National League. It was an exciting game, ending with a walk off by the American League. It was off position player Henrik Omega.

The Second Half and a League Downsized