December, 2024

2024: The Year in Review

"Up until I began writing this preview, I had no idea Highland had positioned themselves so quickly to not only contend, but to advance far into the postseason. The last time I checked, the Freedom were a last-place team with 112 losses. How the hell did they turn it around so
quickly?"

--  Season Preview

Congratulations to Bob and Bobby Sylvester, our 2024 BDBL champions! In a season filled with noteworthy events, they are noteworthy champions for several reasons. They are the first wildcard team to ever win the BDBL trophy in 26 seasons. They are only the second team that has ever won a championship one year after losing 100+ games. (The 2002 Allentown Ridgebacks are the other.)

They are only the third team (along with the '02 and '08 Ridgebacks) to win a championship one year after finishing in last place. They are the second co-owned team to win the trophy, and the first father-son champions in our league's history.

Bob is now the fourth person to have won three or more BDBL trophies, joining Jeff Paulson (5), Tom DiStefano (5), and Paul Marazita (4*) on that very short list. Basically, two-thirds of all the trophies ever won in this league have been won by just four people. This is trophy number two for Bobby, which makes him the sixth person to have won two or more titles.

***

Before I continue, I need to get my annual thank-you's out of the way. As always, many thanks to the guy who makes me a CINO (Commissioner In Name Only), Tony Chamra, who does most of the grunt work in this league. He creates our schedule each season, keeps track of all of our contracts, leads our auction committee, and enters the tedious details of each and every one of our 2,760 farm players onto the disk. With regard to the latter, a big thank-you also goes to Joe Demski for helping Tony with that Herculean task this year.

Thanks to Mike Stein for being our Ballparks Czar, to Ian Hartner, our God of WAR, and to Jeff Paulson for his work as Transactions Commissar. Thanks to DJ Shepard for doing the most thankless and unpopular task of all, serving as our Usage Nazi. And a huge shout-out to Tony Badger, whose work on our auction tool makes him the most important asset this league has. We should let him win an extra game every year just for that.

If you haven't noticed, the Akron Ryche have become an Ozzie League dynasty. They have made it to the World Series twice in the past three years and three times in the past five. The only other franchises that have ever made it to the World Series three times in any five-year span are the 1999-2001 Stamford Zoots, the 2002-2005 Allentown Ridgebacks, and the 2015-2017 Los Altos Undertakers. That is some very impressive company!

The 2024 Ryche repeated as division champions for the third year in a row thanks in large part to two players. Ronald Acuna had one of the most impressive seasons in league history. He hit .387/.460/.697, which led the Ozzie League in all three categories. He led the league in runs scored (157) and runs created (216.2), and finished second in RBIs (131) and home runs (46). And just for good measure, he also swiped 44 bases in 54 attempts. His 216.2 RC ranks fourth all-time, just barely behind Barry Bonds' 216.5 in 2005. He also became only the fourth 40/40 player in league history.

The other player that was critical to Akron's success was Gerrit Cole. In fact, the team owes much of its recent success to Cole. He was signed as a free agent in the winter of 2022, and has carried the team to two World Series appearances in that time. In those three years, he has gone a combined 54-21 with a 3.14 ERA in a whopping 644 innings. He saved his best season for last, going 20-5 with a 2.44 ERA (1.91 CERA) in 225+ innings this year.

Surprisingly, Akron faced some competition for the division lead in the first two chapters. Heading into Chapter Three, they were tied with the South Carolina Sea Cats. That competition, however, didn't last long. The Ryche were three games ahead by the all-star break. By the end of the next chapter, that lead expanded to eight.

"A World Series match-up between Joe Demski and Lee Scholtz is something BDBL fans would love to see. I believe that would be a tightly-fought series, but would have to give the edge to Darien."

-- Season Preview

That World Series matchup between the league's two young guns seemed like destiny, and yet neither team made it that far. Scholtz's Darien Blue Wave was a unanimous choice in preseason polling to win the McGowan Division. Darien earned nine out of fourteen votes to win the OL title, and seven out of fourteen to win it all. Demski's Lake Norman Monsters were the runaway favorites to win both their division and the EL championship. They earned four votes to win it all, which makes them the only team to earn more than one vote in that category, other than Darien.

The 2024 season was a rousing success for both teams during the regular season. Darien won a franchise-high 106 games and outscored their opponents by 278 runs. Lake Norman won a franchise-high 108 games (six more than they won in their EL championship season of 2023), and outscored their opponents by 200 runs.

Despite their regular-season dominance, both teams had to fight tooth and nail just to win their divisions. Lake Norman ended up winning the Wilkie Division by a comfortable twelve games, but that didn't happen until the final two chapters. Heading into Chapter Five, the Highland Freedom were breathing down their necks, only two games behind.

A lot of the legwork that went into winning the 2024 championship happened during the preseason. GM Bobby Sylvester laid the foundation to this championship by adding Marcus Semien in a trade with Flagstaff, and then signing Yandy Diaz to a $12.5 million salary as a free agent. Semien (140.9 RC) and Diaz (138.6) led the team in runs created.

Sylvester also added starting pitcher Framber Valdez in a trade that winter, but he disappointed with a 5.06 ERA and a mediocre 14-12 record during the regular season. Highland's winning formula relied heavily on their over-stuffed bullpen. In the end, it was two relievers (Shawn Armstrong and Tyler Holton) who shared the World Series MVP award.

"It’s WAAAAY too early to even look at the wildcard standings!

Everyone knows I’m not winning the wildcard, Jeff. I’m looking at back-to-back years in which I neither win a playoffs spot or get a chance to rebuild.

...This year, I’m taking a more realistic/pragmatic approach."

-- Me, 3/23/24

Darien's path to the division title was even tougher than Lake Norman's. To win the division, they had to defeat not one, but two 100-win teams. 2024 is the first time in league history that a team won 100 or more games and did not make the playoffs. That team, sadly enough for ol' Hoss, was the Flagstaff Peaks.

Flagstaff was not picked by anyone to win the McGowan Division, and yet after one chapter of play the Peaks found themselves five games ahead of the Blue Wave and Florida Mulligans. That fast start prompted me to do a little Nic Weiss-style arbitrage, offloading free-agent-to-be Trea Turner to the Peaks in exchange for Jung-hoo Lee.

Despite that trade, the Mulligans soon found themselves in the unlikely position of contending for the division lead. A miraculous 20-8 Chapter Two put Florida just one game behind Flagstaff for the division lead. At the all-star break, Flagstaff and Florida were tied atop the division, with Darien a distant third-place, three games behind.

Darien saved their best for the second half. They tied with the Lake Norman Monsters for the best record in the half (56-24) and eked out a division title in the final series of the season. Flagstaff faced off against Florida in that series. They needed three wins to win the wildcard and came up one win short. Florida needed to sweep the series to win the division, but had to settle for a split and the OL wildcard.

"With this below-average lineup and pitching staff, it seems obvious that this will be a rebuilding year in Jacksonville. If that's the case, would Cifrese dare to deal his tastiest piece of trade bait, Aaron Judge? Judge has only one year remaining on his contract and would fetch an enormous return."

-- Season Preview

It didn't take long for that suggestion to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Barely one week into the month of March, Jacksonville GM Nic Cifrese traded Judge to John Gill of the Chicago Black Sox in exchange for an impressive package of prospects. Judge joined a lineup that was already overflowing with power hitters.

Gill had $46.1 million to spend in the auction and he spent it like a squirrel at a nut sale. He landed the auction's top prize, Matt Olson, for $13.5 million. He spent another $15 million to re-sign Bryce Harper and $5.5 million to re-sign Kyle Schwarber.

Not surprisingly, the Black Sox led the BDBL with 331 home runs, and ranked third with 940 runs scored. Five different Chicago batters created more than 90 runs: Judge (94.5), Schwarber (94.6), Fernando Tatis (95.3), Olson (117.4), and Harper (135.7).

Chicago never had much competition in their division. They held a six-game lead at the all-star break and continued to build on that. They wrapped up the season with a monster Chapter Six, going 22-6. Gill won his 11th division title, which ties him with Bob Sylvester and Chris Luhning for the most titles in Eck League history. Chicago's 104 wins in 2024 moves the Black Sox into a tie with the Kansas Law Dogs at third place for the most franchise wins (2,306) in league history.

"I would be pleasantly surprised if I won the division this year. I do not have the starting pitching to make a championship run, and I think the Rocks have the best shot at the division, but we shall see. As always, I will give it my all!"

-- Jeff Paulson, 1/21/24

The defending league champion did everything he could to let Bart Chinn win a division on his way out the door, but in the end, Chinn's South Loop Furies rolled over and played dead, allowing Paulson to win his league-record seventeenth division title. The Furies weren't expected to win the division, but kept nipping at the Undertakers' heels for the first five chapters, exchanging places at the top of the division over and over again.

The headlines of my chapter recaps tell the story of the season in the Griffin Division:

Chapter 1: "The Griffin Division's Unexpected Start"
Chapter 2: "Furies Refuse to Die"
Chapter 3: "Those Meddlesome Furies"

And then came the twist to the story. At the final trading deadline of the season, Paulson decided it was time to wave the white flag, despite being tied with South Loop atop the division. He traded Mitch Garver and J.D. Martinez to Highland, and Patrick Wisdom and Jordan Romano to Akron.

This came on the heels of a stunning sweetheart deal between the Furies and Niagara Locks, in which the Furies acquired both Wander F'ing Franco and Blake Snell. "For all intents and purposes," I wrote in that chapter's recap, "the Griffin Division race is now over."

The only problem with that statement was that someone forgot to tell the Undertakers and Furies. The two teams went into the final chapter still tied for the division lead. Los Altos went a miserable 13-15 in Chapter Six, but the Furies completely fell apart. They finished the season with a record of 8-20. Before the season had even come to an official end, Bart Chinn resigned after eight and a half years in the BDBL.

"Hoping to finish strong and see if we can surprise somebody in our first postseason!"

-- JD Luhning, 9/30/24

The South Philly Gritty's path to the playoffs was so smooth they clinched their division before the end of September. They were the first team to do so, winning their division by more games (26) than any other team in the BDBL. With 101 wins, South Philly was one of a BDBL-record seven teams to finish with 100-plus.

Luhning didn't need to do much tweaking with his roster over the winter. He made four trades, bringing in Christian Walker and Eduardo Rodriguez, among others. He didn't have much money to spend on free agents, but added a much-needed arm in Chris Bassitt. As the season progressed, Luhning added a little more firepower, acquiring Clayton Kershaw, Christian Yelich, and Justin Turner.

Although the Gritty finished tied for first place in 2023, this was their first official division title in Luhning's fourth year at the helm.

This year I was fortunate enough to attend two BDBL Weekends, one in the spring and one in the summer. During Spring Training, I met up with Tony Chamra, Ian Hartner, and Joe Demski to catch a game between the Phillies and Tigers in Clearwater. Then, in July, I traveled to Arlington, Texas, to meet up with Matt Clemm, Greg Newgard, Mike Ranney, and Tony Badger.

It is always a blast to hang out with the boys. We use baseball as the excuse to get together, but I would do it for any reason -- or no reason at all. I would love to break our all-time attendance record one of these years. I believe that record is thirteen, which was set in Philadelphia in 2005. (Hard to believe that was nearly twenty years ago!)

By the numbers, there have been 25 BDBL Weekends and I have attended 23 of them. We have visited 19 different MLB ballparks (not including spring training.) A total of 33 people have attended, and I have met 32 of them. (Only Brian Hicks managed to evade me.) Out of the current 26 owners, I have met 19 of them. My goal is to reach 100-percent. If you have yet to attend, I highly recommend it!

The Highland Freedom lost Game One of the ELDS to the heavily-favored Lake Norman Monsters, and carried a scoreless tie into the fifth inning of Game Two. They then scored SIX runs in the top of the fifth, and the entire postseason seemed to turn at that point. The Freedom won the next game at home, survived a SEVEN-run top of the ninth in Game Four to win by a score of 15-12, and then ended the series with a walk-off single by Will Benson in the bottom of the tenth inning in Game Five. It was the first upset in a postseason of upsets.

The most lopsided series of the postseason was the matchup between Darien and Los Altos. To no one's surprise, Darien completely dominated Los Altos in the first three games of the OLDS, winning two of those games by scores of 11-0 and 11-1. The Undertakers scored just two runs in the first three games, combined, before eking out a one-run win in extra innings in Game Four. Darien then put them away in Game Five to clinch their first OLCS in the Scholtz Era.

The most competitive matchup of the Division Series took place in Chicago, where the Black Sox faced the South Philly Gritty. Chicago took a commanding three games-to-one lead heading into Game Five, and then scored the go-ahead run in the top of the eleventh inning in that game. Chicago reliever Peter Fairbanks loaded the bases with one out, with two walks and a hit batter. Number eight hitter Andy Ibanez then unloaded them with a walk-off two-run single. South Philly tied the series in the next game, but Chicago easily took Game Seven to advance to the ELCS.

The Florida Mulligans led the league in runs scored during the regular season, but forgot to pack their bats in the OLDS. They hit just .213/.285/.398 in the series against Akron, and yet still managed to push the series to six games. It took Akron twelve innings in Game Six to prevent a Game Seven.

Austin Riley became an Akron legend in the 2024 postseason. He hit .385/.467/1.000 with four home runs in the Division Series. He then stepped to the plate in the eleventh inning of Game Two, with his team already trailing by a game, and delivered a go-ahead two-run home run to even the series. The series went six games, and three of them were decided in extra innings.

Game Six went into the tenth inning with Darien and Akron knotted at a score of 1-1. Lee Scholtz handed the ball to Jhoan Duran to hold that score, but he walked the bases full, and then walked home the go-ahead run. Akron reliever Chris Martin then held that lead in the bottom of the inning, retiring the side in order to give Akron the series win.

The Eck League Championship Series was over so quickly, it's as if it never happened. Highland won a pair of one-run games against Chicago in the first two games, and then capped off the series with a pair of laughers at home. They won Games Three and Four by scores of 11-1 and 12-8. Chicago scored five runs in the third inning of Game Four, and then watched with horror as Highland scored seven in the bottom of the fifth. The all-powerful Chicago lineup that had terrorized the league throughout the entire regular season hit just .209/.321/.455 for the series.

The 2024 World Series was a matchup between Akron's starting rotation and Highland's bullpen. Akron's ace, Gerrit Cole, took center stage for the Ryche. He stumbled in Game One, allowing a two-run double to Jered Kelenic that tied the game. He ended up with the loss when Chris Martin served up a go-ahead single to Ryan Jeffers.

Highland eked out a one-run win in Game Two, and Akron responded with a blowout 12-1 win in Game Three. That put Cole back into the center stage in Game Four. He responded with a gem: 7.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 11 K.

Akron went into Game Six with their backs against the wall, one loss away from elimination, and down by a score of 2-1 heading into the eighth inning. With two outs and the bases loaded, Andres Gimenez drew a walk to force home the tying run. J.D. Davis then delivered a two-run base hit to put Akron in the lead, and Kevin Kiermaier followed with another RBI single, giving the Ryche a commanding 5-2 lead. They went on to win that game and force a Game Seven.

For the third time in the series, Gerrit Cole took the hill for Akron. With the score tied at 1-1 in the fifth inning, Jeffers hit a triple with one out. He then scored on a sac fly. In the bottom half of the inning, Akron loaded the bases with two outs and the ever-dangerous Austin Riley stepped to the plate. He popped up to first to end the inning. Marcus Semien then led off the next inning with a home run, giving Highland a 3-1 lead.

From there, the Freedom bullpen took over. Shawn Armstrong, Colin Poche, Jeff Hoffman, and Tyler Holton combined to pitch 5.2 innings of shutout baseball in the seventh game of the World Series, securing the championship for the Highland Freedom. Armstrong and Holton were named the co-MVPs of the series.

***

A league-record seven teams won more than 100 games in 2024, and not one of them won the championship in the end. For the first time ever, three teams in the same division won more than 100 games, and not one of them made it to the World Series. It just goes to show how random our Tournament of Randomness actually is. It sort of makes you wonder why we bother at all, doesn't it?

Many thanks to all of you for another fun and (mostly) enjoyable season. Happy holidays, and best of luck in 2025!