Season 69 saw huge salaries, a repeat championship from a wildcard team, many retirements of great players, and just the second season of the newly implemented game-manager. Let’s get into the review.
Spokane Warriors Repeat
For the second season in a row, the Spokane Warriors are the Franchise Ball world champions. The Warriors went 46-15 in season 69. You may notice they played 61 games this season rather than the traditional 60, and this is due to the fact that the Warriors had to play a division tiebreaker with the Miami Storm (now called Fairfield Free Players!). Ultimately, the Warriors lost that game, sending them to the subscriber wildcard, where they won and kept their season alive. In the world quarterfinals, they beat the New York the HCs 4-2 in a comeback victory, and in the semifinals they beat the Yonkers Metros in a 6-5 nail biter. In the world series, they faced the 1st seed Peoria Destroyers, going 52-8 in the Theta Premier East division. Game 1 was in Spokane, where the Warriors won 6-4, and game 2 was in Peoria, where Spokane clinched their repeat championship with an 8-7 victory. In the World Series, Spokane was led by great power hitting, slugging 8 home runs and 8 doubles, including two home runs in the series from LF Toro Olvera and 3B Rohan Valentin.
In their quest for playoff glory, the team was led by elite pitching, with a starting rotation featuring Jerardo Ulloa (9-1, 2.12 ERA), Preston Pimental (4-1, 2.12 ERA), August Free (8-1, 3.07 ERA), Mariano Arreola (10-2, 3.17 ERA), and Sebastian Ornelas (9-1, 3.40 ERA). They also featured star hitters such as CF Enzo Greigo (0.320 AVG, 24 HR, 67 RBI), LF Toro Olvera (0.353 AVG, 9 HR), and C Mustafa Barden (0.303 AVG, 19 HR, 24 SB). With their championship, the Warriors join an elite club shared only by the Chicago Dolphins of teams with back-to-back championships. They are still a fairly new team, only through 25 seasons. Of those 25, they have won their division 23 times. With this championship, they further prove that they are a force to be reckoned with.
Congratulations to the Warriors and best of luck in the seasons to come.
Future Hall of Famers Retire
This season marked the last one for several elite players who will undoubtedly make their way to the FB Hall of Fame. Below we have compiled reports on some of these superstars.
Retired With Hartford HTFD_YANKEES
Macdonald terrorized hitters for 21 seasons, coming into the league with the historic Chicago Motorsports in season 49. He spent 5 seasons in Chicago, compiling a 25-15 record. He was sent to Hartford to play for the Yankees for the next 4 seasons, continuing to dominate with a 39-9 record. In his first round with the Yankees, he had a sub-1.00 WHIP all four seasons, and never had an ERA higher than 3.00. Macdonald was then acquired by the New York The HCs, spending 4 years with a record of 33-10. He then went to Des Moines to play for the Cubs for a season, where he had a 10-3 record. He then went to the Toronto Lightning for 5 seasons, with a record of 46-14, before finally settling back in with HTFD_YANKEES for his final two seasons of his career.
Although he never won a World Series ring, he did lead his teams to 9 division titles and 1 league title.
In his 21 season career, Macdonald had a losing record only twice. His WHIP was below 1.000 in all but 5 seasons, and he had a 12 season streak from season 50 to season 61 of sub-1.00 WHIP. He had a few seasons with a higher ERA, but his career still rounded out with a pristine 3.11 ERA. His final career record was 159-55, tacking on 32 saves in his final two seasons with Hartford. He will be a no-doubt first-ballot hall of famer for the HTFD_YANKEES.
Career Stats: 159 W, 55 L, 32 SV, 3.11 ERA, 0.911 WHIP, 1575 K, 148 BB, 1802 IP
Retired with Los Angeles Lions
An elite pitcher for most of his career, Buford played for 17 seasons. He came into the league with the historic Las Vegas DBAA in season 53 and played there for 3 seasons. His record in Vegas was 25-12. He went to the Spokane Warriors, where he spent 8 seasons in the prime of his career. His record there was a whopping 66-9, including 6 seasons where he lost 1 game or less. After an undefeated season 63, Buford was sent to Hartford to play for the HTFD_YANKEES for 5 seasons, where he had a record of 33-16. Finally, he played out his last season in Los Angeles with the Lions.
Buford racked up 10 division titles and 1 World Series championship.
In his career, Buford went undefeated 3 times, and had no more than one loss 7 times. He had a sub-1.00 WHIP 12 times, and had a sub-3.00 ERA 7 times. He had only two losing records, and they came in his final two seasons. Buford will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and should go in as a Spokane Warrior.
Career Stats: 121 W, 40 L, 0 SV, 3.18 ERA, 0.893 WHIP, 1214 Km 125 BB, 1455 IP
Retired with Toronto Blue Jays
Although he may not be quite as dominant as Buford or Macdonald, Dionne is still an important retirement this season and deserves recognition. Dionne was a career Blue Jay, playing all 21 of his seasons in Toronto. His career featured a few great seasons, such as season 59 when he went 11-1 with a 2.92 ERA and a 0.847 WHIP.
Dionne played in 9 division championships, 1 league championship and a world championship.
Dionne’s career ERA limits his hall of fame chance, as it sits at 4.02. He did have two seasons of sub-3.00 ERA, however. His WHIP is relatively good, and had 5 sub-1.00 WHIP seasons. He is also a great strikeout pitcher, with 3 season of 100+ strikeouts. He had 1 undefeated season in season 63, when he went 12-0. He might make it to the Hall one day, but he will likely not be a first ballot. Either way, a very high-quality career from Dionne definitely earns him recognition.
Career Stats: 159 W, 64 L, 0 SV, 4.02 ERA, 1.092 WHIP, 1729 K, 343 BB, 1987 IP
Retired with Cincinnati Reds
Ramirez played 19 seasons, most of which were spent with the Reds. He began his career in season 51 with the Los Angeles Lions, called the Scaredy Cats and then the Yankees, spending three seasons and compiling a record of 15-5, and quickly moved to the Seattle Marvols for one season of 3-6 ball. Although the beginning of his career was one of volatility, he finally became grounded in season 55 when the Cincinnati Reds signed him. There, he spent 15 seasons with a record of 133-83.
Ramirez led the Reds to 3 division titles and a world championship in season 59.
Ramirez was great at limited baserunners, as he had a sub-1.00 WHIP 9 times and closed his career with a 0.99 WHIP. He won lots of games, with 6 double-digit win records and only had three losing seasons. Not only did he get lots of wins, but he was also a great closer, having 10 seasons with double-digit saves. His ERA wasn’t his strongest skill, but he did have a 1.92 ERA in season 57. Because of his great WHIP, W-L record, and saves, Ramirez will likely make it to the Hall of Fame, although his higher ERA will probably limit him from getting in on the first ballot.
Career Stats: 251 W, 94 L, 181 SV, 3.80 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 1598 K, 140 BB, 1953 IP
Blockbuster Salaries
Season 69 was a great one for many players as they received massive salaries. For in-depth analysis of some of the biggest deals, check out our article here.
Below is a list of the top 20 salaries for season 69.
James Perry, SP, Hartford HTFD_YANKEES: $42,500,000
Geoffrey Donahue, 3B, Louisville Lions: $15,300,000
Daryl Jobe, SP, Cincinnati Reds: $15,100,000
Angelo Trombley, 3B, St. Louis Browns: $13,600,000
Urbano Armas, SP, Baltimore Orioles: $10,000,000
Sergio Royster, C, Louisville Colonels: $10,000,000
Suelita Cisneros, SP, New York The HCs: $8,500,000
Jamir Barfield, SP, Shreveport Ratchets: $8,100,000
Griffin Hermann, SP, Hartford HTFD_YANKEES: $7,200,000
Lewis Andersen, SP, Baltimore Orioles: $7,000,000
Frankie Vetter, SP, Green Bay Kaukauna Foxes: $6,100,000
Derek Connor, SP, Yonkers River Rats: $5,100,000
Reilly Aquino, LF, Yonkers River Rats: $5,100,000
Landen Lockwood, SP, Peoria Destroyers: $5,100,000
Tanner Pendergrass, SP, St. Louis Birds on a Bat: $4,200,000
Ramiro Morris, SP, Hartford HTFD_YANKEES: $4,000,000
Abdiel Pettigrew, SP, Yonkers Metros: $3,800,000
Montenegro Casares, RF, Colorado Springs Springs Blaze: $3,700,000
Kristofer Noonan, SP, Peoria Destroyers: $3,500,000
Terrell Chitwood, SP, Green Bay Kaukauna Foxes: $3,500,000
It was a great year for starting pitchers, as 15 of the top 20 salaries belong to men of the mound.
That’s it for the Season 69 in review! Please comment any opinions or suggestions you might have, or send me a message in Franchise Ball at Louisville Lions. The main goal of this column is to keep the historic archives of Franchise Ball alive, so I hope you enjoy these!