Home of the Friendship League
In an unusual circumstance, we do not have any roll offs to break ties between teams this season. For Draft Night, here is the order that will be used for all rounds except for the first (bingo balls will determine that!)
The pre-season favorite Toronto Thunder fulfilled their destiny and earned the 2024 World Series title, paced by a powerful offense (a league-leading 133 HRs) and a dominant pitching staff (second best team ERA of 3.22 and team opposing batting average (.217), and a league low 72 HRs allowed). The Holy Triumvirate of Aaron Judge (6.8 WAR), Bobby Witt (5.2) and Tanner Houck (5.2) paced the Thunder to their historic season.
Aaron Judge won the MVP award easily. I think he led the league in leading the league in stat categories! He slashed .328/.465/.715, clubbed 32 HRs, and racked up 62 RBIs and led in many other categories. His attempt to claim the Triple Crown, however, was thwarted by Mount Pleasant's Vladimir Guerrero Jr, who crept past Judge in RBIs in the last games of the season (finishing with 63). Judge's 74 walks (15 intentional) are now the highest single-season total of walks in the "modern era" of the last 17 years that were all played on computer. He is tied with 2011 Miguel Cabrera. Juan Soto's 73 walks this season puts him 3rd on that list.
Tanner Houck was the ace for the Thunder all season long, including the playoffs. His 1.69 era this year is officially now one of the best ever! He ranks 4th all-time in league history, behind only Kyle Bradish (2023), Roger Clemens (1989), and Jim Palmer (1980)!. Houck went 9-2.in the regular season and was 4-0 with an 0.91 ERA in the playoffs.
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| Judge wins his second FL MVP! |
Some other tidbits from the season...
We had THREE no-hitters this year, a feat likely never done before! You have to go back to 2014 to find a season where we had two no-hitters, yet alone three. The Boston Bobcats had two of them, as Aaron Civale turned the tick against Michigan and Cole Ragans did it against Pittsburgh. Toronto's Tanner Houck threw his against Maine.
Wichita led the league with a 3.05 team ERA, putting them third all-time!
Bobby Witt (TOR) and Vladimir Guerrero (MTP) were the only players with 100 hits (107 and 101 respectively)
Juan Soto, we hardly knew ye! The Lake Erie one-year phenom slashed .263/.414/.544, knocked 20 HRs, and collected 73 walks.
Maine's Carlos Rodon (CAW!!) led the league in wins with 11, and was the only hurler in double digit wins
Wichita's Ryan Pepiot logged the highest winning percentage at .875 winning percentage, with his 7-1 record
Logger skipper Steve Willnus won Manager of the Year award for an outstanding regular-season campaign.
In a controversial vote, Logan Gilbert (WIC) edged Tanner Houck for the Cy Young. Gilbert went 9-5 with a 2.38 ERA. He dazzled voters with his 133 Ks in 125 innings. He also led the league in Ridiculous Faces Made While Pitching, as seen below...
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| Logan Gilbert throwing gas, or possibly just releasing some "gas", judging from that expression! |
Dairon Blanco may have led the league in steals, but it was Pawtucket Patriot Cedric Mullins with the biggest single day of thievery, swiping 6 bases in one game against Mount Pleasant.
Las Vegas closer Justin Slaten won the Rolaids Relief Award with his league-leading 24 saves. Wichita reliever Brant Hurter made the all-time list, tying Chaz Roe (KC) for 2nd best single-season reliever ERA of all time, at 0.30. Nate Jones of Michigan set the all-time mark in 2016 with 0.23!
Cole Ragans (BOS) led everyone with 139 K's, rolled up in just 111 innings. His 11.27 K's per 9 innings was also tops in the league.
Blowout City! Toronto beat Pawtucket 21-8, racking up 29 hits in the biggest offensive output of the season.
Fremont legend Jose Ramirez had 6 hits in 6 at bats in a game against Pittsburgh. Several other players accumulated 5 hits in a game but only Jose got to six (or seis, for all you bilingual folks out there!)
Three players had three HR games this year: Aaron Judge (TOR), Carlos Correa MTP, and Logan O'Hoppe (MIC).
Mount Pleasant led the league with 12 complete games! That sort of abuse of a pitching staff may lead to some Tommy John surgeries, but it also gives me a chance to repost the meme referencing my favorite fictional ballplayer of all time, Tungsten Arm O'Doyle of the 1921 Akron Groomsmen!
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| Herb Washington, the OG and patron saint of pinch runners back in the early 1970's |
Thanks to all for another exciting and fun season! Looking forward to seeing you all for the Draft!
There will be a moment in silence for the first game of the 2025 season for Montreal as GM Mike Walter will fondly reminiscence about his 2nd year draftee in Alex Verdugo
finally moving on from the wilderness of Montreal to the Atlanta Braves, to
being a free agent.
In a move that shocked the baseball world at the start of July, was the "Gambler" Emmanuel Clase being chased out of Cleveland by the Feds. In hurts the team in Montreal as he was a foundational draft pick, and the pick acquired from the Maine Loggers in the infamous "DJ Lemaitheu" trade, as Montreal was laughed at for trading the then-American league hitting champion for 2 first round draft picks. One of those first round draft picks was used on Clase and the other, Baseball quiet quitter, Anthony Rendon.
After a career filled with laser-line doubles and a surprise
detour north of the border, Alex Verdugo is officially hanging up the spikes.
From racking up hits in the big leagues to becoming a beloved cornerstone of
the fictional-but-forever Montreal Grizzlies, Verdugo gave
fans everything: steady bats, strong arms, and vibes. Baseball won’t be the
same without No. 99 roaming the outfield—especially in Montreal, where the
grizzlies always growled a little louder when he stepped to the plate.
Alex Verdugo's Speech from his retirement presser
“Since 2020, baseball has taken me places I never
imagined—including Montreal. I’m proud of what I did in the majors: a Gold
Glove, big regular-season swings, and years of showing up as a reliable bat and
defender. But my time with the Montreal Grizzlies will always be
special—playing hard, winning friendships, and feeling the love of a city that
adopted me like one of its own. I’ll never forget GM Mike Walter believing in
me enough to take me in the first round of the Friendship League Draft back in
2020. Montreal, thank you for giving me a second baseball home.”
Somber notes as Verdugo does not have a card in the upcoming
draft, so Montral bids "Au revoir" to number 99.
A bad bet on himself - Free agent Presser (Emmanuel Clase's)
The cutter has finally stopped cutting. After years of broken bats, frozen hitters, and ninth innings that ended right on time, Emmanuel Clase is officially riding into free agency. Since 2021, he wasn’t just one of the most dominant closers in Major League Baseball—he was also the quiet force behind the Montreal Grizzlies, slamming doors and striking fear with every appearance. Montreal never needed extra innings when Clase was on the mound.
Emmanuel Clase's Speech from his "bad bet" Presser and into Free agency for the first time:
“Baseball gave me everything—All-Star nods, a lot of broken bats, and the privilege of sweating through the ninth inning for an entire city. But Montreal… that one hurts. Since 2021, every save felt like it belonged to the Grizzlies, not me. I’ll always be thankful to GM Mike Walter for taking a chance on a skinny kid with a fast arm in the first round of the Friendship League Draft. Now I’m heading into free agency, which is basically the ninth inning of life with no lead and no closer. Montreal, thanks for trusting me with the last three outs—and for making it so hard to say goodbye.”
These cuts hurt the team deeply but had to be made. My love for the game trumped the stats Clase had in his limited usage in 2025. I do not want to be remembered as the GM who let a guy thump a button on live pitch bets, just to make a few bucks.
With a bright future predicted by the robots that be, here are the cuts ahead for the soon to be good Montreal Grizzlies.
Key: NC=No Card.
1.) Dairon Blanco, (OF) - NC, 2.) Vaughn Grissom, (2B), - NC, 3.) Richie Palacios, INF/OF, 4.) Alex Verdugo (OF), NC, 5.) Michael Kopech (RP), - NC, 6.) Corbin Burnes -(SP) - NC, 7.) Freddy Fermin (C), 8.) David Fry (UTL), 9.) Cristin Javier (SP), 10.) Emmanuel Clase (RP), 11.) Ezequiel Duran (UTL), 12.) Greg Weissert (RP)
Keepers: Pitchers: 1.) Tarik Skubal (LHP), 2.) Garrett Crochet (LHP), 3.) George Kirby (RHP), 4.) J. Leiter (RHP), 5.) Taj Bradley (RHP), 6.) Brayan Abreu, (RP), 7.) Josh Hader (RP).
Keeping Batters: 8.) Jacob Wilson (SS), 9.) Zach Neto (SS), 10.) Julio Rodriguez (OF), 11.) Spencer Torkelson (1B), 12.) Gleyber Torres (2B), 13.) Alejandro Kirk (C) 14.) Maikel Garcia (3B/2B, 15.) Jake Meyers (OF) 16.) Davis Schneider (2B/LF).
Revised: Yu Darvish: Ben Joyce. (Flamethrower, come back in good shape, please).
The Toronto Thunder battled toe to toe with the Las Vegas Fremonts but ultimately hung on for a World Series victory in Game 6! Congrats to Chuck for a great regular season AND post-season. The Fremonts had the Thunder on the ropes a few times, they were a break or two away from winning it themselves.
Special congratulations to Steve Tufte for putting together this juggernaut and getting them off to a great start!!! I felt a bit like Steve Fisher in 1989 taking over Michigan Basketball for their eventual NCAAA title ("A Toronto Man will coach Toronto"? :-)) . Very happy I didn't blow this for him. Sincerely hope to see Steve back in the Thunder Front Office again!
Game 1: After the Royal Canadian Air Force fly by, the Thunder took the field. Tanner Houck was a machine this game, tossing eight shutout innings before tiring in the 9th. Tanner Scott got the last two outs to preserve the shutout. Aaron Judge hit a HR to lead off the bottom of the 1st and there was no looking back. Thunder win 3-0.
kcbutchers.drivehq.com/2024fl/BOX 10-16-2024 LAS @ TOR.htm
Game 2: Las Vegas' bats were again flummoxed and hopeless against the Thunder's arms. Bryan Woo tried valiantly to get the complete game shutout, but yielded the last out to Tim Herrin. Bobby Witt and Shea Langeliers each homered to provide all the scoring for Toronto. Another game, another 3-0 shutout win for the Thunder. They couldn't be faulted for thinking that this Series would be a laugher and contemplating the first ever complete Series shutout, but the Fremonts had other ideas, as we would soon see.
kcbutchers.drivehq.com/2024fl/BOX 10-17-2024 LAS @ TOR.htm
Game 3: The 'Monts Strike Back! Going back home to Vegas immediately invigorated the Fremonts. They needed to breathe more of that unique mix of cigarette smoke, stale beer, and 80-year old grandparents sweating profusely from pulling the arms on the slot machines. Las Vegas drew first blood, scoring in the first two innings. Thunder starter Grayson Rodriguez got injured in the second, leading to a parade of relievers trotting out of the Toronto bullpen. Meanwhile, Tristan Casas launched two home runs. Vegas took a 3-2 lead in the 4th and held on for dear life to win the game and make the series 2 games Toronto to 1 game Vegas. The Fremont bullpen of Austin "The Goth" Voth, Garrelt Cleavinger, and Justin Slaten blacked the Thunder for the last three innings.
kcbutchers.drivehq.com/2024fl/BOX 10-19-2024 TOR @ LAS.htm
