2026 Season

Facts for 2026:

1. Final record: 8-7-1 (including 0-1 in the playoffs). Two more wins than last year, one fewer loss, and we crossed back over .500. Technically that’s progress.
2. Three games cancelled this season, up from two. Two of them in May before we had even taken a swing, and then the playoff opener on September 2. So, we sat around for a week and then lost by 13.
3. We finished 3rd. After four straight third-place finishes and then a slide to 4th last year, we are back where we belong. We’re like the Jays in the early 2000’s.
4. Last year I called it a tale of two halves. This year we ran the same film but backwards. We opened 7-0. Then we went 1-7-1 the rest of the way, including the playoffs.
5. The two halves, in numbers: over the first 7 games we scored 16.4 runs/game and allowed 9.6 runs/game. Then with the last nine we scored 8.7 runs/game and allowed 14.3 runs/game. Runs for down 47%, runs against up 50%. Same roster, opposite season.
6. On the plus side, our runs for average went up 20% (12.1 vs. 10.1 last year). We scored 193 runs, 32 more than in 2025, over the same 16 games.
7. Home runs were essentially flat with 17 this year, down from 18 last year. Josh led with 6, followed by Jerrod with 5, and Ilan with 3.
8. And almost everything else went up. Team average .500 from .484. Hits 258 from 250. Walks 58 from 44, a 32% jump. RBI 185 from 145, up 28%. On the season, we were a better hitting team than we were in 2025.
9. Now, on the other side, our runs against average also went up 28% (12.3 vs. 9.6 last year). Now, before anyone blames the defence, let’s remember that the Pirates and Master Batters left the league, and we annihilated them for four games last year to the tune of 72-13. Batstreet Boys and Parkview Athletics replaced them, and they are actual teams. Against the five clubs we played in both seasons, we went 3-8-1 last year and 5-6-1 this year, scoring 57% more per game and improving our run differential by 2.75 runs a game. We got better. The schedule just got harder.
10. Our run differential last year was +8, but this year it was -3. We won two more games with a worse differential, which mostly means we won the close ones and lost the ugly ones. The site’s own model expected 8-8. We went 8-7-1. Let’s take it.
11. Now back to the good part. We only struck out 8 times all season, spread over six guys. Last year it was 24 over nine. That is a 67% drop! Adam, Marc, Ilan, Joel, Jerrod, Kroll and Dylan did not strike out once, and Ilan, Joel and Marc have now gone two straight seasons without one. And me? I went from 8 down to 1. My share of the team’s Ks went from a third to an eighth, and I have saved a fortune on beer.
12. Congrats to Marc, Liebs, and Jerrod, who each increased their BA by 20%, 15%, and 14%, respectively. Cary, Joel, and Adam were right behind them at 12%, 12%, and 10%, and Ilan nudged his up as well.
13. Your 2026 leaders: Liebs took the batting title at .647. Jerrod led in OPS at 1.806. Josh took the home run crown with 6 and the RBI crown with 30. Adam led in hits with 31. Fabian led in walks with 10. Cary played 15 of 16 games, more than anyone.
14. And three guys who do not show up on that leaderboard but earned a line. Bobby was our second most patient hitter behind Fabian: nine walks against four last year, an on-base of .549 that beat his own .528 from 2025, 14 RBI, and exactly one strikeout in 51 trips to the plate. And he suited up for 14 of our 16 games (the ironman still shows up). Dylan drove in 11 runs in five games, the second-best rate on the team behind Jerrod. And Kroll went from three games as a sub last year to 25 at-bats in seven games as a semi-regular, and who knew he could play third base?
15. This year we needed nine different subs to fill out the lineup card, up from four. We averaged 9.9 batters a game, down from 10.5. Oh yeah, on August 26 we showed up against Caciques with eight guys and lost 19-3. Seven regulars were out. Related? Hmmm.
16. And on a more serious note, I had a little something this year. I missed four games, July 15 through August 5, and I was back in the lineup on August 12, playing every game to the end of the season. The love and support you all showed me will never be forgotten. Thank you.
17. And because I’m me, I did a little math: in the seven games before my layoff I hit .348/.423/.435. In the four after it, I hit .500/.538/.750, a 50% jump in OPS. I hit the only home run of my season in my first game back. Full-season line was .400/.462/.543 for a 1.004 OPS, up 55% on last year’s .647. I’m not saying my little something was related, but it might have been related.
18. Summary: third place, two more wins, a better average, a third of the strikeouts, and everybody still standing. The job over the winter is figuring out how to keep the bats alive past Canada Day, and getting more names onto the lineup card in August. See you in May.