Nutz move franchise the night before the JLB Draft

And in a wild turn of events, the night before the 2023 JLB Draft, the Charleston Boiled Peanuts facilities were empty.

Some critics of Charleston argued on social media that they were empty all last season as the Nutz piled up a franchise-worst 248 losses.

Still, chiding aside, the facilities were officially emptied out. Reports of several 18-wheelers rolling out in the cover of darkness were popping up on local news sites, and the only thing that was left rolling around in the parking lot was a baseball signed by Ke'Bryan Hayes.

Somehow, there was no photo evidence of this, though.

Meanwhile, in Colorado, signs of the new franchise location were surfacing on Twitter. Cheeba Chews Field was written on a cardboard sign outside an old Little League field on the outskirts of Denver. A guy dressed in fur with a pair of horns on a helmet was walking around calling himself Rocky. And merchandise, most likely T-shirts purchased through the Main Line Gamblers through China, were being peddled outside the park with the logo for the Rocky Mountain Oysters.

It was fairly clear what was going on here. Butter packed up the Nutz and finally had them join him in Denver.

"Times were rough in Charleston," Nutz owner said. "We couldn’t afford to own our own facility… the city wouldn’t give us any tax breaks or financial support, and we were all out of sponsors after Timbos Boiled Peanuts on Ashley River Road decided it was either pay their own rent or help out a struggling and always rebuilding fantasy baseball franchise. So we did what any red blooded American would do and applied for thousands of dollars in personal loans and packed up and moved out west under the cover of dark. We figured if we got out without anyone seeing us that maybe they wouldn’t care about the back rent on the team facilities."

They won't care because they scored that sweet Hayes baseball. That should pay off the rent.

Maybe now that the franchise has joined its owner, the team will get back to its winning ways. When Butter finally named his team after his home in Charleston, he recorded his first winning season and playoff berth since 2015.

The magical 2021 season that ended in the NLCS for the Nutz was followed up by the second worst season in franchise history with a .422 winning percentage and 248 losses.

So now that the name matches the location, maybe the greatness of 2021 can return. At worst, he'll be happy to be in the Mile High city to help alleviate the pain of a rough season.

"The Nutz are proud to call Denver its new home, and with new digs comes a new team name," he said. "While we are still The Nutz, our new official team name will be Rocky Mountain Oysters. Our team and fans will be supported by our mascot Rocky the Bull, who is always at a 0 ball count at every at bat!!! And we will be playing our home games in a state of the art facility that we are proud to announce has a 4 to 20 year partnership with Cheeba Chews. Cheeba Chews Field… where there’s no such thing as a fly ball being 'too high'!"