2024: The Year in Review

Whenever a season ends and the Mulligans haven't won the trophy, it feels like it was all a giant waste of time. I immediately second-guess every trade I made to get as far as we did. Was it really necessary to trade anyone with future value when there was no reward in the end? What a wasted effort it was to fret over the auction and draft when none of it mattered in the end. We won 104 games and I didn't even get a lousy T-shirt.

The more philosophical and pragmatic view would be that no season is about the end result, but about the journey. Did we learn anything along the way? Did we have any semblance of fun or experience a bit of satisfaction and pride at any point during this long season?

Meh.

We have now played 26 seasons and I have won precisely one trophy. Barely. Which is why it's so aggravating to lose when this team is so talented. I don't mind losing when I have a mediocre team and no expectations of winning the ultimate prize. But when I put together a squad that is good enough to win 104 games, lead the entire BDBL in runs scored, and outscore our opponents by more than 200 runs, it really sucks to waste such an opportunity.

The fact that we even made it so far was hardly a given. I began the offseason by debating whether to rebuild or go for it in 2024. At the end of the 2023 MLB season, we had about half a quality lineup against both lefties and righties, but with a few glaring holes. Our starting rotation needed serious help, but our bullpen was decent enough.

At the end of my assessment last October, I was leaning toward rebuilding, as I determined that the price to compete was higher than I was willing to pay. My first order of business was placing free-agent-to-be Framber Valdez on the Selling block. I was surprised to see that an ace starting pitcher with a very cheap price tag had very little value on the trade market. Once I learned that lesson, I decided to pivot to competing in 2024.

I began the winter with only about $5 million to spend on free agents, so I my first task was to dump salary. I dumped a chunk of it by trading Ranger Suarez ($10 million), which cost me two of my favorite prospects. I did, however, manage to land throw-in Kutter Crawford in that deal. I reluctantly cut a few million more in salary by trading my two best relievers in exchange for "super prospect" Ricky Tiedemann. Tiedemann ended up throwing about three and a half pitches in 2024 before he needed to shut it down for the year.

After my third winter trade, I had managed to cut $10.2 million in salary. I planned to sit tight at that point, but I had a far bigger worry than spending money. Thanks to the season-long injuries to Shohei Ohtani and Luis Garcia, plus the free agency of Jon Gray, we had basically no pitching for the 2025 BDBL season. I needed to do something to fix that.

With that in mind, I went to work adding a couple of young arms that I felt were on the verge of a breakthrough: MacKenzie Gore and Casey Mize. Unfortunately, they cost Valdez, but that also saved me some money. Also unfortunately, both of them ended up sucking monkey nuts in MLB '24.

By the end of the winter, I had turned our payroll around. I began the winter with $5 million to spend on 15 players, and ended it with a whopping $26 million in spending money -- plus three quality young arms for the future.

I targeted three specific players in the auction, and ended up signing all three: Bryan Reynolds, Wilmer Flores, and Jon Gray. Best of all, I landed both Flores and Gray at $5 million, which prevented me from being forced to sign them for two more years beyond this one. I also managed to pick up closer Matt Strahm for another $5 million, which was a pleasant surprise.

By the time Opening Day began, I was feeling very confident about our chances to win the division -- if not the entire enchilada. But then I took a look at our competition and that confidence flew out the window. I expected the Darien Blue Wave to be our main competition. I had completely underestimated the Flagstaff Peaks until I saw what they ended up looking like on paper. And when the first chapter began and the Peaks flew out to a commanding lead, I saw the writing on the wall.

Before the first chapter had even come to an end, I decided to do a little Nic Weiss-like "arbitrage" by trading free-agent-to-be Trea Turner. Our offense was so overpowering, we really didn't need him, as odd as it sounds. In return for Turner, I got a player that I felt would be an asset to this team for at least the next four years -- at a dirt-cheap salary. Unfortunately, that player, Jung-hu Lee, decided to run into a wall shortly after that trade, and ended up missing the rest of the MLB season.

Last March, I was fortunate enough to meet up with Tony Chamra, Ian Hartner, and Joe Demski at a spring training game. During that game, Ian mentioned that he was in the market for a starting pitcher. I saw that as an opportunity to add another quality young arm for the future. I traded Jon Gray for Max Meyer, and was ecstatic to add the third-overall pick of the 2020 MLB draft to our 2025 rotation, which already included MacKenzie Gore, Casey Mize, Kutter Crawford, and Ricky Tiedemann. At that point, I figured I had set up our starting rotaton for the next four years!

Of course, the rest is history. All five of those pitchers ended up becoming useless turds. Meyer was sent packing to the bush leagues after three quality MLB starts, didn't return until the second half of the season, and then sucked monkey nuts the rest of the season. Crawford allowed more home runs than the guy who lobs them in at the Home Run Derby. Gore and Mize went from up-and-coming young aces to wastes of roster space. And Tiedemann did what he has done best throughout his career: get injured and stay injured.

A funny thing happened after that first chapter. We actually started winning. A lot. At the all-star break, we shared first place with the Flagstaff Peaks. At the end of the following chapter, we shared first place with the Darien Blue Wave. In an effort to make an effort, I made a few small trades to shore up the starting lineup and bullpen, adding lefty-mashers Garrett Cooper, Ruben Mateo, and Stone Garrett, and middle-innings arms Craig Kimbrel, Tommy Kahnle, and Brooks Raley. I didn't sacrifice much to get any of them -- with one exception. In an ill-fated, knee-jerk, trade with Matt Clemm at BDBL Weekend, I gave him Spencer Arrighetti for Kimbrel. I really wish I could have that one back.

With eight games remaining, we were dead-tied with the Peaks for the last-remaining spot in the playoffs. Flagstaff split their series with the Blue Wave. We then took three of four from Darien to take a one-game lead in the wildcard race. We needed a split in our final series against Flagstaff, and we achieved that in the first two games.

Our final series of the season, the OL Division Series against Akron, was a major let-down in every conceivable way. Our offense, which led the entire BDBL in nearly every major category all season, suddenly stopped hitting. We hit just .213/.285/.398 for the series. Bryan Reynolds (.277/.320/.273), Rafael Devers (.130/.167/.261), Wilmer Flores (.100/.269/.150), and Lane Thomas (.050/.048/.050) were completely useless the entire series. And our "lefty-killers" -- Cooper, Mateo, Nick Senzel, and Riley Adams -- went a combined 0-for-9.

Our entire pitching staff -- starters and relievers -- collapsed as well. Our four starters posted a 6.68 ERA in 33+ innings, and our bullpen combined for a 3.74 ERA in 21+ innings. Our starting pitchers allowed 20 walks in 33+ innings. Our relievers allowed 14 in 21+.

So that's it. All of that work led up to a pointless, total team, collapse in the end. The random dice rolls win yet again. It sort of makes me wonder why I bother at all.

Division Series Diary

November 7:

Welp, we tried, but it's over. As expected, Cole was back to his old self in Game Four, and we never really had a chance against him. One two-out rally by Akron after another killed us. And as usual, our offense gave up in the late innings against what should be a sub-par bullpen.

Game Five was your typical ridiculous, aggravating, DMB game -- the type of game that makes you want to never play the game again. Up by a score of 6-1 -- finally, some breathing room! -- Shohei Ohtani once again fell apart for no reason whatsoever. Yet another two-out rally produced FOUR runs for Akron, making it a one-run game. They inevitably tied it.

It took an Adley Rutschman walk-off to eke out a win. Acuna and Riley went 0-for-10 and Akron STILL managed to score six runs.

Game Six was yet another frustrating mess. We were forced into extra innings, and I was forced to use my Game Seven starter (Crawford) just to try to get through the game and force a Game Seven. DJ used two left-handed relievers against us, and I absolutely STACKED my lineup with lefty-killers. Didn't matter. We couldn't score a fucking run. Ohtani finally came through with a solo shot in the 12th.

We needed Crawford to give us just ONE MORE INNING. But he couldn't do it. Game over. Series over. Season over.

Akron's offense throughout this entire series was just fucking relentless. They never gave us one opportunity to breathe. Steven Kwan is such an annoying prick. Dude had a .340 OBP in MLB, but we could. Not. Keep. Him. Off. The. Fucking. Bases. Austin Riley was a goddamn machine. Pitching around him was pointless. We somehow managed to keep Acuna somewhat at bay, and yet he's the one who drove the final nail into our coffin in the end.

What a frustrating end to a frustrating season.

November 5:

We unexpectedly roughed-up Gerrit Cole in Game One, and won that game easily. Normally, you'd think that would be great news, but as it turns out, that could mean the end of our postseason. The reason why: our offense proceeded to roll over and die over the next two games. And now Cole, who threw only 78 pitches in that Game One, is now fresh and ready to go for Game Four.

Beating Cole once was a stroke of luck we don't experience often. Doing it twice would be less likely than being struck by lightning twice. Akron is all but guaranteed to win the next game, which means we would need to sweep the rest of this series in order to win.

I don't see that happening. This team has shown no heart all season long, and the playoffs are merely an extension of the regular season malaise we witnessed for 160 games. It seems difficult to imagine that a 104-win team can't hit when it counts, and yet we've seen it far too often to dismiss it out of hand.

Watching this team muddle through the postseason, I get the same sickening feeling in my stomach that I had watching the Yankees in this 2024 postseason. Same exact vibes. No heart whatsoever.

November 1:

Scouting the Akron Ryche, it is easy to find their weaknesses, but the problem is that their two greatest strengths are so incredibly strong it almost doesn't matter. Ronald Acuna is an absolute BEAST. My game plan is to avoid him as much as possible. That means pitching around him almost always and intentionally walking him in crucial situations. I will likely even pitch around him when he leads off each game of this series. I'd rather get beaten by ANY of the other eight hitters in the lineup.

The other beast is Gerrit Cole. The dude doesn't allow any hits or home runs or walks. He strikes out a ton. He's dominant against both sides of the plate. There is no weakness to exploit there. We can't even really play small ball against him because: a) no one on our roster can bunt, and b) Akron catching has been SO dominant cutting down base stealers this season, I don't dare run on them. This means sitting back and hoping to string together a few hits by sheer luck.

Akron's rotation will be a surprise, regardless of what DJ Shepard decides. He could use Cole three times in the series, limiting his pitch count to 80 or so pitches per outing. He could use Brandon Woodruff for five innings. He carried Wade Miley on the roster for a reason. Perhaps that means he'll go with a standard four-man rotation with Miley pitching in Game Four? I really have no idea what DJ will do, but I'm prepared as best I can, regardless.

The Akron roster is super tiltled toward right-handers, both the hitters and pitchers. This plays to our advantage as far as bullpen matchups go. I think we match up well with this team, but in this game, that usually means nothing.

October 31:

I didn't expect to be here, but here I am. As long as I'm here, I may as well try to win this thing.

The first order of business is choosing the 26-man Division Series roster. Unfortunately, Aaron Hicks is not eligible. Fortunately, Akron will likely use mostly right-handed starters against us.

There isn't much to decide on my end. We'll go with a straightforward starting rotation of Ohtani, Eovaldi, Crawford, and Lorenzen. On paper, Ohtani is our fourth-best starter, but I know he's better than that, and he's pitched well against Akron this year. Akron hits righties better than lefties, but that's irrelevant, since there is no chance in hell that any of our lefty starters will earn a roster spot.

Our starting lineup is set in stone:

1. Adley Rutschman, C
2. Brandon Belt, 1B
3. Bryan Reynolds, CF
4. Shohei Ohtani, DH
5. Jason Heyward, RF
6. Wilmer Flores, 2B
7. Rafael Devers, 3B
8. Lane Thomas, LF
9. Paul DeJong, SS

That's twelve. The bullpen is a pretty easy call:

Moreta
Stephenson
Hamilton
Strahm
Chavez
Kahnle

The bench:

Riley Adams
Andrew Benintendi
Garrett Cooper
Stone Garrett
Jorge Mateo
Davis Schneider
Nick Senzel

That's 25.

Hicks would make a fantastic 26th player, but alas...

It boils down to the 11th member of the pitching staff. Would I rather use Craig Kimbrel or Brooks Raley? Kimbrel strikes out a ton of batters and gives up a ton of homers. Raley is a lefty who is lethal against righties. Austin Riley and Patrick Wisdom have had trouble against lefties. Riley and Wisdom also strike out a lot. This is a tough call. I'll have to go with Kimbrel.

Looking Ahead to 2025

I almost titled this post "Looking Forward to 2025," but there is very little to look forward to! With the 2024 MLB season now in the books, we can look ahead to 2025. My god. What a mess this team is. I knew it was bad, but I didn't realize the scale of it until I just sat down and took a good look at it. Even with Shohei Ohtani's historic season, the 2025 Florida Mulligans are a hot mess.

Adley Rutschman, Lane Thomas, Rafael Devers, Paul DeJong, and Wyatt Langford are all platoon players now. Rutschman (.219/.290/.342), Langford (.255/.316/.386), and Thomas (.214/.279/.367) are completely useless against right-handers. Devers (.240/.304/.382) and DeJong (.198/.260/.360) are useless pieces of crap against lefties.

This means that we have four holes in our lineup to fill against lefties and four against righties. We have no first baseman, and no second baseman (thanks to Davis Scheider's epic collapse this season), with roughly $28.8 million to spend this winter.

I was so happy with our starting rotation in April that I wrote about it here, patting myself on the back for rebuilding our entire rotation from nothing. I acquired four young pitchers with track records of success, plus one of the top pitching prospects in baseball, plus one young pitcher (JP Sears) who carried over from last year's roster. With SIX good, quality, young pitchers with fantastic resumes, I figured at least one or two of them would become aces in our 2025 rotation. Instead, all six failed miserably.

Our rotation now consists of:

1. Kutter Crawford: 184 IP, 155 H, 34 HR, 51 BB, 175 K, 675/732
2. MacKenzie Gore: 166 IP, 171 H, 15 HR, 65 BB, 181 K, 834/704
3. JP Sears: 181 IP, 172 H, 28 HR, 49 BB, 137 K, 648/777
4. Casey Mize: 102 IP, 121 H, 11 HR, 29 BB, 78 K, 749/796

That's it. They all suck. They all give up WAAAAAY too many home runs. They all have problematic splits. None of them should be in any rotation. And yet, that's all we have.

Our bullpen is similarly filled with problems:

Chad Green: 53 IP, 759/556
Calvin Faucher: 54 IP, 747/633
Ian Hamilton: 38 IP, 765/669
Matt Strahm: 63 IP, 607/446
Yuki Matsui: 63 IP, 673/659
Justin Slaten: 55 IP, 549/600

We're screwed.

Chapter Six Diary

October 27:

This is it. This is our entire season, compressed into one final regular-season series. Given our very long history against both Greg Newgard and this Flagstaff Peaks franchise, it seems appropriate that the fate of the 2024 season rests on the outcome of this series. We need two wins to clinch a playoffs spot. We need four wins to clinch the division. Greg needs to win this series in order to clinch that final playoffs spot. Something's gotta give.

Game 1: Shohei Ohtani vs. Zach Eflin

During this game, I described it to Greg as "two heavyweight champions standing in the middle of the ring trading roundhouses." Greg insisted that his team was only throwing jabs, but those jabs stung, man!

Home runs by Bryan Reynolds (solo) in the first and Lane Thomas (2-run) in the second gave Florida three runs in the first two innings. Flagstaff countered with four runs in those two innings via three singles, a double, and two sac flies. It proves it doesn't matter how you score runs, so long as you score them!

Florida tied the score in the fifth inning with an RBI double by Reynolds. They then blew the game wide-open in the sixth by scoring four runs -- two on a bases-loaded walk by a guy (Chris Stratton) who didn't walk that many batters in MLB '23.

That was about all there is to say about that one.

Final score: Florida 8, Flagstaff 4

Game 2: Nathan Eovaldi vs. Johan Oviedo

A matchup between two pitchers with the most vowels in their names in all of baseball. Back-to-back doubles by the first two batters in Florida's lineup set the stage before fannies ever hit the seats in the first. But Flagstaff responded in a big way in the bottom half of the first with a two-run homer by Mookie Betts followed by an RBI double by Mark Canha.

Flagstaff's 3-1 lead didn't last long. With only one out in the second inning, Peaks starter Oviedo left the game with an injury. Bowden Francis has been, arguably, Flagstaff's best pitcher this season. But he wasn't great in this game. He faced just six batters and allowed four of them to reach base, resulting in three runs. That gave Florida a 4-3 lead.

A sac fly in the fourth inning gave the Mulligans a little cushion. Then it turned into a bullpen game. Stephen Wilson, Jake Diekman, Aroldis Chapman, Hunter Harvey, and David Bednar were all spectaular for Flagstaff, pitching seven shutout innings. Florida's bullpen (Ian Hamilton and Robert Stephenson) were equally good.

Final score: Florida 5, Flagstaff 3

This win locked up Florida's spot in the playoffs, via the OL wildcard. Now, the only question was whether they could win two more to secure the division title and the #1 seed in the Ozzie League.

Game 3: Michael Lorenzen vs. Clarke Schmidt

A single, double, and RBI single by Shohei Ohtani gave Florida the lead in the top of the first. Although Lorenzen was spectacular in his last few starts, the magic seemed to evaporate in the second inning. Flagstaff's first three batters reached base, resulting in two runs, giving the Peaks a 2-1 lead.

A solo home run by Rafael Devers tied the score in the fourth inning. Devers then un-tied the score in the sixth inning with yet another solo homer.

Robert Stephenson has been money against both righties and lefties all season. But he allowed a solo homer by Corbin Carroll in the seventh inning to tie the score at 3-3. The following inning, Matt Strahm recorded the second out of the inning on a strikeout, before allowing a bloop RBI single by Mauricio Dubon, putting Flagstaff in the lead.

Jay Jackson then took the ball in the top of the ninth to lock it down. And he did just that, retiring three of Florida's best hitters -- Adley Rutschman, Brandon Belt, and Bryan Reynolds -- in order.

Final score: Flagstaff 4, Florida 3

Congratulations to the Darien Blue Wave for winning the McGowan Division title.

Game 4: Kutter Crawford vs. DeSclafani

A game of utter irrelevance. The only thing on the line was Flagstaff's head-to-head bragging rights against Florida this season. And they got their wish with a decisive 6-1 win.

Final score: Flagstaff 6, Florida 1

Florida finishes the season with 104 wins and the OL wildcard. Flagstaff (103 wins) becomes the first team in BDBL history to win 100+ games and not make the postseason. The Mulligans will now face the Akron Ryche in the OL Division Series, with Akron getting the home field advantage. The Darien Blue wave will host the Los Altos Undertakers.

October 23:

It has been almost a month since our last series. I reminds me of the way that MLB is trying to ice down the hot bats of the Yankees heading into the World Series. FIVE games off? Seriously, Manfred??

Game 1: Sonny Gray vs. Shohei Ohtani

The game was scoreless until the third, when Brandon Belt connected with a two-out RBI double. Darien took the lead in the fifth on a pair of singles and an RBI double by Edman made it a 2-1 game.

The score remained 2-1 until the 7th inning, when Jason Heyward connected for a two-run RBI single. Three batters later, Adley Rutschman delivered a two-run double, making it a 4-2 game.

In the ninth, the Blue Wave tried to make it a game by scoring a run to make it 4-3. They then managed to load the bases with two outs. But Robert Stephensen shut it down.

Final score: Florida 4, Darien 3

Game 2: Justin Steele vs. Nathan Eovaldi

Jose Altuve's solo homer in the top of the first drew first blood for the Blue Wave, but Florida answered with three runs in the bottom half of the inning.

I won't bore you with the details. Florida scored 13 runs in this game. Darien scored four.

Final score: Florida 13, Darien 4

Game 3: Andrew Abbott vs. Michael Lorenzen

Lorenzen owned the Blue Wave in his last start. Not so much in this one: 5 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 2HR.

Darien stuck first with an RBI single by Trout in the first, but the Mulligans took a commanding 4-1 lead after three innings. Lorenzen then coughed up that lead, allowing three in the top of the fourth to tie it up.

Jose Altuve's homer in the fifth inning put Darien in the lead, 5-4, but the Mullligans then put up a three-spot in the bottom of the sixth to make it a 7-5 game.

Darien fought back, scoring two in the eighth to make it a 7-7 game. They then took the lead in the top of the ninth, making it an 8-7 game with an RBI double by Jose Altuve.

Bottom-9. Backs against the wall. Down by one.

With one out, Paul DeJong doubled home the tying run off of Felix Bautista. The next batter, Adley Rutschman, delivered a walk-off two-run homer.

Final score: Florida 10, Darien 8

Game 4: Lucas Gilbert vs. Kutter Crawford

The Mulligans took a 5-0 lead after two innings, and seemed to be in complete control. But the Blue Wave fought back with one run in the third and three more in the fifth, to make it a 5-4 game.

After seven innings, the Mulligans owned a lead of 9-7. Then, in the top of the ninth, Darien loaded the bases. With one out, Robert Stephensen was asked to close it out for Florida. Instead, he allowed a two-run single to tie the game and force it into extra innings.

The game remained tied until the 11th inning, when, with two outs, Yordan Alvarez hit a two-run homer. And that was the end of that.

Final score: Darein 11, Florida 9

So...basically...we have one series left against the Flagstaff Peaks. That is their last series as well. If we win two of those games, we win the OL wildcard. If we win one game, then we'll be the first team in BDBL history to win 100+ games without making the postseason.

September 29:

We managed to stay in the race by taking three of four from the Undertakers -- all by the skin of our teeth. If not for some incredibly bad luck and horrendous clutch hitting on the Los Altos side, we could have easily been swept.

In Game One, Shohei Ohtani was limited to four innings, so we had to jump out to an early lead to have a fighting chance. Fortunately, we did just that, jumping all over Max Scherzer for three runs in the first three innings, and then a fourth in the sixth inning.

After Ohtani left, I was forced to somehow scrap together the bare bones of what's left of our bullpen, just to get through the game. Clinging to a two-run lead heading into the bottom of the ninth, Ian Hamilton allowed the first two batters to reach base on singles. I then handed the ball to Dauri Moreta, who walked the bases full. A sac fly made it a one-run game. Then, with the tying run standing 90 feet away, Moreta whiffed Cedanne Rafaela for a HUGE out. Parker Meadows then flew out to end the game.

After that nail-biter, our offense then ran into a buzzsaw in Game Two, in the form of Bailey Ober, of all people. Los Altos scored a first inning run, and that 1-0 score stood for six innings, as our offense couldn't get anything going against Ober. Finally, once Ober left the game in the seventh, we managed to get on the board thanks to Jason Heyward's two-run double.

In the bottom of the eighth, Jesse Chavez loaded the bases with one out. Ian Hamilton then came into the game and whiffed the only two batters he faced. We eventually won by a score of 3-1.

Our Game Three and Game Four starters were MacKenzie Gore and JP Sears, so we absolutely had to win those first two games to stay in the race. Gore was his usual awful self in Game Three, allowing three runs on eight hits and two walks in less than four innings before I couldn't take it anymore and yanked him out of there.

I was very concerned about facing Dustin May, given his dominant numbers, but surprisingly we managed to touch him up for four runs in four innings (eight hits, four walks.) For the third game in a row, our beleaguered bullpen managed to hold that lead. We won by a score of 5-3.

JP Sears gives up a lot of home runs. I mean A LOT. Game Four was no different. He managed to serve up two homers in only five innings, allowing four runs in the process. I used my best lineup in this game, knowing that we would need to score a lot of runs to make up for Sears' awfulness. It didn't work. We scored just two runs on six hits. Final score: 7-2.

This series win puts us one game behind Flagstaff. Up next is South Carolina. Then, we face the big boys. I have managed usage as best I can. Hopefully it's enough.

September 25:

Thankfully, we swept the West Chester Blooms last night. Anything less than a sweep would have been catastrophic. Unfortunately, it doesn't matter, because the Flagstaff Peaks somehow swept the Akron Ryche yesterday morning. The Ryche are on pace to win 99 games this year and yet the Peaks trounced them like a steamroller.

It's beginning to feel very much like the Peaks are the Team of Destiny in 2024. I had this same exact feeling about the Ryche in 2022 and that feeling proved to be prescient. We are now 8-4 on this chapter, and yet it's only the second-best record in the division. Flagstaff has won eleven out of twelve. Absolutely insane.

It's beyond disheartening to know that we will finish this season with one of our best records in franchise history...and we'll finish in third place. Current division leaders Akron, Los Altos, South Philly, and Chicago would be last-place teams in the McGowan Division. What a waste of a tremendous season.

September 24:

When it comes to the BDBL, I tend to focus on the negative. Even when I win three of four in a series, I obsess over that one loss. Such is the case with my series against Bear Country last night. Three of the four games were won rather easily: 11-3, 10-3, and 10-5. But that one goddamn game, Game Three, is the one that irritates me.

Two-out rallies piss me off, and that game featured one of those in the second inning. Walk, single, single. Like being poked on the forehead over and over again. Piddly little shit. Irritating.

We were losing 4-0 to Freddy Peralta, a guy who has been very hittable all season long. We clawed our way back into the game with one run in the sixth, one in the seventh, and one in the eighth. Down by just one run in the ninth, the bottom three hitters in our lineup couldn't get on base. Not one of them. 4-3 loss.

We've now lost three one-run games this chapter, and we've only played eight games. That stings. We're now two games behind Flagstaff, and seven behind Darien. We have played .643 baseball this year and it isn't good enough. What a fucking waste.

September 17:

It always sucks to lose three out of four. It sucks even worse to lose three out of four at home. And it sucks ten times as much to lose three out of four to a team that is incredible beatable. That is exactly how our final chapter began last night.

Shohei Ohtani is supposed to be our ace. Instead, he has been the most inconsistent pitcher on our staff all season long. You never know which version of Ohtani you'll get when he takes the hill. He has now made 22 starts for us this season. He has allowed two or fewer runs in thirteen of those starts, and he has allowed six or more runs in five starts. Last night was one of the latter.

It's bad enough that he allowed nine runs (eight earned) in six innings, but what really irritates me is that six of those runs were scored in the same inning -- all with two outs. And it happened against the bottom half of a lineup that is below league average in each of the three triple-slashes.

That lineup features Xavier Edwards in the leadoff spot. Edwards owns a sub-.300 OBP for the season (.333 vs. RH). This is their leadoff hitter. Their table-setter. Seriously. Shea Langeliers is the cleanup hitter. He is hitting .222/.291/.433 this season. Seriously. I'm not making this up. Drew Waters (.248/.292/.431) offers "protection" for Langeliers in the #5 spot. And it only gets worse from there.

Shohei Ohtani, one of the best pitchers in the game, coughed up SIX runs -- all with two outs -- against Erika Baddoo, someone named Triolo, Josh Lowe, Edwards, Jorge Soler, Francisco Lindor, and Langeliers.

Five straight batters reached base, all with two outs: walk, single, single, walk, double, single.

Fucking ridiculous. And that was just Game One.

In Game Two, we faced Dane Dunning. Dane Dunning, with the lifetime 4.39 ERA. Mister Mediocrity. Our lineup is filled with top-50 hitters: Ohtani, Rafael Devers, Bryan Reynolds, Adley Rutschman, Brandon Belt, Wilmer Flores, etc. We managed all of SIX hits against Dane Fucking Dunning. One run. Lost by a score of 2-1 to Dane Fucking Dunning.

Game Three required a miracle come-from-behind walk-off win because Kutter Crawford couldn't hold the mighty Furies offense to fewer than six runs. In a preview of what's to come in 2025, he allowed THREE home runs to this wretched offense. One of them was hit by Mike Moustakas, if you can believe it. I thought that guy died about a decade ago.

Then, just to rub some more salt into the wound, we lost yet another one-run game in Game Four. Alex Cobb -- Alex Fucking Cobb -- blanked our offense for seven innings. Not a single run. Just three hits. Against Alex Fucking Cobb.

We finally scored two in the eighth and two more in the ninth, but it wasn't enough because the mighty Furies once against brought out their big lumber, stroking two homers off of JP Sears.

Not only did we lose three of four, but I used my "A" lineups in all four games, wasting the usage of the players we'll need to beat the better teams in this league. Meanwhile, Bart didn't even play his best hitter (Wander F'ing Franco) in three of those games. He didn't need to. Tom Murphy (.571/.625/1.143), Erika Baddoo (.333/.333/1.000), Someone Named Triolo (.500/.750/.500), and Drew Waters (.231/.375/.769) picked up the slack.

What a stupid fucking game.

Chapter Five Recap

We started Chapter Five by losing a series to Darien, allowing them to sneak to the top of the division for the first time this year. We even managed to lose two games to left-handed starters after having added three lefty-mashing bats to our lineup at the end of Chapter Four.

We split against Flagstaff, losing both games in extra innings. We also split a series against last-place Ravenswood's robot manager. Thankfully, we managed to take three of four from Lake Norman, Cleveland, and Charlotte, and swept the West Chester Blooms. That put us at 18-10 for the chapter.

For now, we own sole possession of first place. Flagstaff's chapter is over, after they went 20-8 for the chapter. Darien still has sixteen games left to play. If they go just 9-7 in those 16 games, they will catch us. Given that four of those games are against West Chester, that seems like a lock.

We continued to knock the cover off the ball in Chapter Five, batting .295/.364/.513 as a team and averaging an even six runs per game. But I made a major, major, error by over-using Aaron Hicks. As a result, if we should make it to the Division Series, it will be without Hicks and his .337/.417/.483 bat against lefties.

Our Chapter Five pitching was a mixed bag. Michael Lorenzen, of all people, will probably be the OL Pitcher of the Chapter. He went a perfect 5-0 in five starts, with a 0.50 ERA. He pitched a complete-game gem (3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 11 K) against Darien, and dominated Flagstaff (8 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K) as well. On the other end of the spectrum, JP Sears posted an ugly 7.36 ERA in three games (14+ IP.) And our newest "closer," Craig Kimbrel, was lit up like a Christmas tree: 9 IP, 7 H, 11 R, 8 BB, 16 K, 3 HR.)

Our usage is going to be extremely tight down the stretch -- especially in the bullpen -- so I'd like to get the Flagstaff and Darien series done first in Chapter Six. Of course, people usually like to save those big series for last, so we'll see how that goes.

Chapter Four Recap

Four chapters are now in the book forever, and your Florida Mulligans are still in first place! Who could have predicted such a crazy, nutty season? Certainly not me. After last year, I had become so jaded, I believed it didn't matter how many quality players you put on the field. This game has a mind of its own and your fate is already sealed regardless of what you do.

Last year, nearly every player on our roster under-performed. We choked in clutch situations. We rolled over dead when our backs were against the wall. In the end, despite preseason predictions of postseason success, we didn't even make the playoffs cut.

This season has been the polar-opposite. Most of our players are performing at least as well as their MLB numbers suggest they should. We have not only performed well in the clutch, but we may have set a franchise record for come-from-behind wins (or at least it seems that way.) And we're coming through in big situations against tough teams.

Our Chapter Four schedule was so brutal, I assumed we'd be trailing far behind by now. Of our six opponents this past chapter, five of them have winning records. Three of the six are currently in first place in their divisions. Yet, we finished this chapter with an impressive 15-9 record. With the Darien Blue Wave going a ridiculous 18-6, that means we head into the final two chapters tied for first place in the McGowan Division.

Four of our fifteen wins happened when we were trailing after seven innings. We also won one game in which we were tied after seven, and two extra-inning games. We won fifteen games despite losing Shohei Ohtani in the early innings of Game One in two different series!

We hit .267/.338/.489 as a team. Ohtani (.302/.418/.491), Adley Rutschman (.304/.372/.510), Rafael Devers (.313/.360/.566), Jason Heyward (.377/.411/.755), and Aaron Hicks (.274/.383/.450) all knocked the cover off the ball.

On the pitching side, we posted a respectable 4.13 team ERA, with fewer hits allowed than innings pitched. Michael Lorenzen (2-0, 1.25 in 21+ IP) was shockingly good. Ohtani (2-0, 1.86 in 19+) turned his abysmal pitching season around somewhat. Newcomer Nate Eovaldi (1-0, 2.92 in 24+) fit right in.

Our schedule doesn't get any easier. Next chapter, we'll face three -- count 'em, three -- teams sporting winning percentages of .630 or better. Two of those teams are in our division! We get to face the Flagstaff Peaks on friendly turf for four games, but then we have to travel to the armpit of the BDBL, Darien, for four. Those eight games could very well decide how this season ends for all three teams.

Our usage situation is very alarming at the moment, so to help remedy that, I made a couple of trades. First, I sent Seth Hernandez and Fernando Cruz to West Chester for Stone Garrett and Jorge Mateo. Garrett can fill in for Heyward against righties, and gives us another strong bat in the outfield against lefties (likely taking Bryan Reynolds' spot.) Mateo gives us another decent bat against lefties, and helps solve our usage problem at shortstop.

I made another trade with Kansas, sending Jorge Alcala their way in exchange for Garrett Cooper. He will help ease the usage burden on Wilmer Flores, who is currently at 77% of his MLB PA's. Wilmer hasn't done much against lefties this season (.190/.250/.444, vs. .303/.359/.527 in MLB), so maybe this will be an upgrade.

We still have some holes that would be nice to fill, but nothing pressing. We still have 2.9 to play with under the WAR cap, which is enough to haul in another good bat, or maybe another decent bullpen arm. Next weekend in Arlington will present plenty of opportunities for trade talk. We'll see what happens. If it's nothing, I'm comfortable riding it out with the team we have.

Chapter Three Recap

Surprise, surprise! Thanks to our 17-7 record in Chapter Three, we are now tied with the Flagstaff Peaks atop the McGowan Division at the all-star break. We share the best record (53-27, .663) in the BDBL. If the Lake Norman Monsters win all eight of their remaining games this chapter, then they will own the best record in the BDBL. Otherwise, it's all ours.

It's been a wild season. We began this season with a 16-12 record in Chapter One, which was five games behind the leader (Flagstaff) at that time. Since then, we own the best record (37-15, .712) in the BDBL. We traded Trea Turner and Jon Gray and somehow became better.

This past chapter, we faced such a tough schedule that I assumed we would be in third-place at this point. Instead, we took three out of four from the first-place Chicago Black Sox, three of four from the first-place Highland Freedom, three of four from the heavily-favored Darien Blue Wave, and split with the Peaks after losing the first two games of that series.

We head into the all-star break with several players who should be in the starting lineup of that game. Shohei Ohtani (.348/.429/.741, 28 HR, 98.2 RC) is well on his way to winning his second OL MVP award. Adley Rutschman (.319/.399/.495), Bryan Reynolds (.264/.334/.502), Brandon Belt (.264/.369/.563), Wilmer Flores (.275/.355/.480), and Jason Heyward (.324/.383/.571) all deserve consideration.

On the mound, Kutter Crawford (8-2, 3.03 ERA in 77+ IP) deserves a spot on the all-star roster, as does Dauri Moreta (6-0, 1.89 in 38). Our pitching has not been great, but it's been good enough to allow our offense to carry them. As I type, we own the best OPS (.850) in the BDBL, with the highest OBP (.353) and Slugging % (.497), and the most home runs (139).

Our pitching is merely good-enough. We rank 9th in the BDBL in ERA (4.37), 9th in CERA (4.19), and 9th in RCERA (4.27).

I have no idea how we got here, and I certainly don't know where we're going, but it sure has been a fun ride so far.