March, 2025

Chapter One Recap

Players of the Chapter

The MP-led Florida Mulligams struggled to a 14-14 record, third in the Glander race. But it wasn't the fault of Shohei Ohtani who slashed .317/.393/.740. Ohtani was in the top 10 of most categories, but it was his 13 homers out of his 33 hits that propeled him to the top of the slugging pool, creating 29.5 runs with a RC/27 of 10.6, also tops of the Ozzie.

Over in the Eck, Aaron Judge changed uniforms from Chicago to Charlotte in what was the start of a Black Sox fire sale of talent. The Mustangs have certainly benefited as Judge's .370/.436/.890 was the best in the BDBL in two of the three triple-slash categories while the batting average was good for 3rd overall. That's easily enough to crown as the EL Hitter of the Chapter.

Bear Country had some really good pitching performances this chapter but it was Ranger Suarez that stood out. Fetching just 6M in the auction and posting a pededstrian 2-3 record, Suarez posted a 2.04 ERA that was good enough for third in the OL. Of his nine earned runs allowed, seven of those came in one-run losses to Cleveland and Jacksonville. His .185/.212./.295 line led to a league best 7.3 R/9.

Fresh off being franchised for six years, D.C.'s Cole Ragans posted a chapter that helped validate that contract decision. The EL Pitcher of the Chapter leads the BDBL led the BDBL in ERA at 1.26 over nearly 36 innings of work. Ragans went only 2-2 for the chapter, losing two games where he gave up two runs to Niagara and one run to Highland. His two no-decisions came in games where he allowed one run. A .203/.241/.293 triple-slash was easily the best, produce a league-best .534 OPS against.

Top Stories of the Chapter

Story #1: Chicago plants seeds across the BDBL

In 2024, the Chicago Black Sox collected an offense that came six runs away from being the top-scoring offense in the entire BDBL. Their 104 wins was tied for third in the BDBL with Florida. But a sweep by Highland in the ELCS put a damper on a great run and John Gill decided that a reset was in order.

Gill posted five big names after the playoffs that accounted for nearly 45M in salary in Aaron Judge, Matt Olson, Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, and Michael Wacha. Only Olson survived the purge, for now.

Judge is already paying dividends in Charlotte, racking up Hitter of the Chapter. But after Judge, the rest of those impact players have gotten off to slower starts. Harper ended up in Virginia and struggled a bit, posting an OPS about 100 points below his expectations. Wacha has been solid in Flagstaff, though with a slightly bloated ERA for his peripheral numbers. Schwarber is playing a lot of unrated 1B in South Philly, but has similar OPS issues as Harper.

Moving a ton of salary and getting a load of prospects in return will go a long way for a return to dominance. I can't wait to see the prospect rankings when they are released. By my numbers, Gill added six players in my personal Top 70, but Marcelo Mayer (#11) was moved shortly after being acquired. It will be interesting to see if the Black Sox sit on these guys or tool up for a future run.

Talking about a Judge trade is starting to become habit after he was part of the #1 story last year from Mike as he broke down his move to Chicago from Jacksonville. J.J. Wetherholt and Cole Young are still Top 50 prospect in my rankings while Spencer Jones fell off the list for me.

Story #2: The Surprising Law Dogs

I predicted the Kansas Law Dogs would end up third in the Higueria Division, noting that they had a powerful offense that could hang with the division but needed some upgrades, especially on the pitching side.

I seemed right on the first part of that assessment as the metric show Kansas had the third-best offense in terms of runs created with 159.8, narrowly being surpassed by Darien and D.C. That also translated to the fourth-most actual runs in the BDBL as well. Those runs were mainly powered from the long ball as their 43 homers were just five shy of D.C. for top honors. Kansas was also just percentage points behind D.C. with an .814 OPS. Seven Law Dogs had four or more homers, with Mark Vientos leading the way with seven.

But it was the pitching side that helped carry this team to a Eck League leading 20 wins, especially the bullpen. Reed Garrett went 5-0 with a 1.59 ERA in 11 appearances and 21 strikeouts. David Robertson went 3-0 with a save, 23 KS, and a 3.14 ERA in 11 games. Jorge Alcala also appear 11 times and posted a win and a 2.02 ERA. Closer Kirby Yates notched eight saves and a miniscule 0.77 ERA in his 11 outings.

All of that adds up to a four-game lead for the Law Dogs over Virginia who was picked to win this division both by myself and the league vote. 16-12 puts the Sovereigns in a tie for the EL Wild Card, which is still solid, but it'll be interesting if the Law Dogs can keep Virginia in their rearview mirror.

Story #3: Labs start off in the dog house

In a stacked Eck League, I still picked the Lake Norman Labradors to come out top of the EL and be the favorite to win the whole thing. The league forum agreed. And while it may be too early to panic, a 13-15 start from the Labs really surprised me. I never imagined this team in third place and four games back.

The main culprit was the same group of players that I had picked as Lake Norman's biggest stregth, the bats. A team OPS of .740 was middling, barely above the league average. That also translated to runs scored which was 4.5 per game, again a slight tick above average and smack in the middle of the EL.

The shocking part is that they had really strong performances from the players you'd expect. Gunnar Henderson lead the Labs with seven homers, 19 RBIs, and an OPS that was in line with MLB numbers. Ian Happ scored 19 times and posted an .874 OPS, just below Henderson's .888, but nearly 100 points higher than his expectations. Elly De La Cruz and Manny Machado performed in line with their numbers and OPSs over .800. Lake Norman even got a .773 OPS from catcher Patrick Bailey, who mainly faced righthand pitching.

But despite all of those good expectations being met, the rest of the lineup tanked. Colton Cowser was 70 points underwater, Seiya Suzuki was 150 points under. Jordan Westburn was short by 130 points. Ryan O'Hearn was nearly 200 points down. It's hard to score when half of your lineup just isn't doing it's job.

I believe there was a point when Lake Norman was 3-9, so to finish at 13-15 represents something of a rebound for the Labradors. It'll be interesting to see if they can get improvements while maintain their strong efforts from their studs. The main benefactor of this slump were the D.C. Memorials who hold a three-game lead over Niagara at 17-11 but whose offense bludgeoned opposing pitchers to the tune of 173 runs, easily best in the league.

Story #4: The new guys are holding their own

With two league vacancies opening up in the offseason, we welcomed Larry Langellier and Shawn Lehcner to the league, taking over two spots in the Ozzie League.

Shawn's newly renamed Indy Racers took over for a .500 operation out of South Carolina and while adjusting to the league managed to post a 14-14 record, good enough for second place in the Benes, three games behind Las Vegas. The bulk of this effort came from an offense that hit better than expected on paper.

The Racers posted a .746 OPS and scored 129 runs, the former being good enough for second in the OL while the runs were fourth. Willi Castro drove in 20 runs while hitting .295/.344/.473 to lead the team, but Jose Siri smacked six long balls, driving in 15 and posting a .257/.341/.541 line.

Larry's entry into the league was to take over for another .500 operation in South Loop, but deciding to do a full rebuild, trading away anything not nailed down and stocking up the farm system. So when they started out 10-18, that was exactly a surprise. That mark puts then in last place in the Griffin Division with a record that tied West Chester and Ravenswood for worst in the OL.

Pitching helped lead the way. A team ERA of 3.93 is about a half-run better than their MLB numbers indicated, just south of the 3.82 average in the OL. But this team would have fared better if not for their abysmal offensive showing. An .566 OPS was easily the worst in the BDBL, leading to just three runs a game of offense, which belies that 10-18 record. 38-year old Andrew McCutchen was the only real bright spot as he belted seven homers and drove in 14 runs to lead the team.

Story #5: Fresh faces lead two of three Ozzie race

Darien's 20-8 start surprised no one, but was certainly a welcome change to the 2024 campaign when a 16-12 start found them in third place before eventually rallying to win the then McGowan Division. But seeing both Las Vegas and Cleveland on top of their divisions wasn't necessarily unforseen by the league, but still a welcome change from the blue blood teams like Akron and Los Altos.

Las Vegas holds a three-game lead overall in the Benes Division, but more importantly a four-game lead over the Akron Ryche who figured to be their main competition. The Flamingos were lead by their pitching staff posting a 3.17 ERA, third in the OL as the trio of Sonny Gray (2.40 ERA), Zack Litell (2.08) and Albert Suarez (3.38) paced the rotation. Lance Lynn went 3-0 in four starts with a 3.38 ERA as well. Definitely money well spent so far in Gray and Suarez in the auction.

For as good as Vegas's arms were, Cleveland's were better and paced them to an 18-10 record, four games clear of Los Altos. The starters went 14-5 with an ERA of 3.07. Dean Kremer, who got heavy consideration for EL Pitcher of the Chapter, posted a 1.85 ERA in six starts, going 3-0. Closer Ryan Walker led the bullpen to a 2.39 ERA behind his 14 2/3 innings of scoreless ball over 14 appearance, notching nine saves. Jacob Junis repeated that scoreless effort over 14 innings himself.