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Benchwarmer News

11/13/25

  • Planning for a more normal off-season, where I don't have to squeeze everything so tightly. Dates may change, but here's a current plan to get us to 2026:
    • This weekend - I'm going to try to have 2026 salaries and positions ready and the salary cap calculated. Once that's all ready, we'll open up teams to confirm returning in 2026 and start the 2 winter trade periods and you picking your players to keep on the roster
    • Sunday 12/7/25: Deadline for trade period 1. Depending on when I can open everything up, this will be at least close to 3 weeks to trade.
    • Sunday 12/28/25: Deadline for trade period 2. Another 3-week stretch.
    • Sunday 1/4/26: Deadline for roster carryover decisions. It's only a week after the last trade deadline, but you shouldn't wait until then to start. You should have close to 7 full weeks to make your changes.
    • Sunday 1/25/26: Deadline for the 1st submission of the Redistribution Draft
    • Sunday 2/8/26: Deadline to adjust Redistribution Draft for rounds 2-5
    • Sunday 2/15/26: Deadline to adjust draft lists for rounds 3-5
    • Sunday 2/22/26: Free agency and trades open
    • Sunday 3/22/26: Week Zero transaction deadline when you need to have a legal roster.
    • Sunday 3/28/26: Week 1 lineups due.
    • Scattered in between I hope to have new leagues up and running and drafting.

11/11/25

  • Benchwarmer Bash 2025 - Final Championship Results: Lamoureux Mighty Dekes (Original Six League) defeated NYC2ATL Jr. Blackbirds (Four Star League) 4 games to 3
    • Congratulations to team owner Sherman Wan
    • This is Sherman's 1st win after 5 times as the runner up
    • Sherman won 2 league championships in 2025 and had 4 teams in the field of 128 that started out the Bash
    •  Also congratulations to runner-up Ricardo Alexander, stopped in his quest for a 5th straight Bash title

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11/10/25

  • Benchwarmer Bash 2025 - Semifinals completed - All games posted.  Championship round coming on Tuesday.
  • We're down to our final two teams. NYC2ATL and Lamoureux were victorious in the semifinals:
    • Lamoureux (87-63, Original Six, Power Rank 150) - Sherman Wan  vs. NYC2ATL (109-41, Four Star, Power Rank 1) - Ricardo Alexander
    • It's different teams for both, but it's a finals rematch for the team owners from last year.
    • Ricardo has won the Bash for the last 4 years with different teams. Sherman has never come out on top in the Bash, but has been runner up 5 times.
    • Neither league has had a Bash winner before.

11/9/25

  • Benchwarmer Bash 2025 - Quarterfinals complete. Games 1-7 posted. Semifinals on Monday.
  • Previewing the Bash:
    • There are 8 teams remaining - 3 league champions and 5 wild card teams
    • None of the franchises in the field have won the Bash before, although 2 owners have won with different teams - Ricardo Alexander and Leif Jonson. Ricardo has won the Bash for the last 4 years.
    • There are no repeats from last season as Federation champions.
    • Federation titles by seed:
      • 1st: 4
      • 2nd: 2
      • 3rd: 1
      • 4th: 1
    • Owners with multiple teams in final 8:
      • 3 teams: Ricardo Alexander
    • Our top seed based on BWB's power ranking, is NYC2ATL (Four Star) with an Power Index of 1. For the first time since 2021, the #1 team made the field. 3 of the top 10 teams for Power Index are in the final 8.
    • Atlanta (Game Night) has a BWB Power Index of 189, which is the lowest-ranked team to make the Bash quarterfinals.

11/6/25

11/5/25

  • Benchwarmer Bash 2025 - Federation Semifinals Games 1-7 posted.
  • Finals coming on Thursday
  • Previewing the Federation round:
    • There are 32 teams in the Federation field - 21 league champions and 11 wild card teams
    • 1 of the teams, Kingston (Marxball), has won the Benchwarmer Bash in the past (twice).
    • 8 of the teams have previously won a Federation title, with 2 of the 2024 winners looking to repeat (Chandeliers from Bronx Bombers and NYC2ATL from Phightin' Phils)
    • 2 of the 16 semifinal series have an owner with teams on both sides of the matchup. The owners are Robert Elias (one as a foster owner) and Ricardo Alexander
    • Owners with multiple teams in the Federation round of the Benchwarmer Bash:
      • 6 teams: Ricardo Alexander and Jason Kiernan
      • 3 teams: Robert Elias (plus 1 more as a foster owner), Jerry King
      • 2 teams: Bill Munger and Sherman Wan
      • 7 other owners have a single team

11/4/25

  • Benchwarmer Bash - Association Round Recap
    • Association titles by seed:
      • 1st: 10
      • 2nd: 4
      • 3rd: 9
      • 4th: 10
    • 21 titles were won by league champions, 11 by wild cards
    • For our league championship rematches mentioned below on 11/2, Elsinore won again while NYC2ATL avenged their finals loss.
    • 18 teams came in with a chance to repeat from 2024 and 5 of them did

11/3/25

11/2/25

  • Benchwarmer Bash 2025 - Association semifinals are complete: Games 4-7 posted.
  • Association finals coming on Monday.
  • Notes heading into the Association Finals:
    • Second time around, flip a coin. Below we noted that 9 semifinal matchups were repeats of league championships. Just over half - 5 series - went to the league runner up this time.
    • 10 of the 32 finals matchups feature teams in the same league. This time there are 3 repeats of conference championship series and 2 league championship rematches:
      • Blame Canada: Alberta (Michael Rudolph) vs Elsinore (Jerry King). Elsinore won the league championship 4-3
      • Four Star: NYC2ATL (Ricardo Alexander) vs Upstream (Jim Duzyk). Upstream won 4-3
    • In the Association finals we have 1 of the 32 series with an owner playing against himself: Jerry King has both teams in the finals of the Josh Gibson Association.

11/1/25

10/31/25

  • Benchwarmer Bash - Games start on Saturday. Matchups are posted for the Association Semifinals - see the Benchwarmer Bash page and look for "Association Results" links within each Federation block - Quick links to those pages coming tomorrow.
  • Previewing the Bash:
    • There are 128 teams in the Association field - 68 league champions and 60 wild card teams
    • 5 franchises in the field have previously won a Bash title, including last year's champion NYC2ATL Yankees from Chevy Chase League (Ricardo Alexander) and there are 4 previous runners up.
    • He's done it with 3 different teams...Ricardo Alexander has won the last four Bash championships.
    • 24 of the teams have previously won a Federation title, with 4 of 2024's 8 Federation winners attempting a repeat this year.
    • 44 of the teams have previously won an Association title (a level of competition that started in 2019), 18 of 2024's 32 Association winners are in the field again this year.
    • Of the 64 first-round Association matchups, 20 feature teams from the same league playing each other. Several are playoff rematches:
      • There is 1 rematch of conference championships
      • We have 9 league championship rematches:
        • B Movie Actor: Brisco County (John Hula) vs Fantasy (Orphan with foster owner Anthony C). Fantasy won the league title 4-2
        • Beer: Maiden's (Derrick Silensky) vs Duff (Leif Jonson). Duff won 4-2
        • Birdland: J-town (Keith Rudy) vs Ocean City (John Hula). Ocean City won 4-0
        • Geek Pride: Welcome to (Jamie Reese) vs Loco (Michael Quinn). Loco won 4-2
        • Original Six: Montreal (Michael Rudolph) vs Lamoureux (Sherman Wan). Lamoureux won 4-0
        • Steel City: Carnegie (Dave Matter) vs Clean (Orphan with foster owner Robert Elias). Clean won 4-2
        • That's the Fact Jack: Kingston (Ricardo Alexander) vs Fort Knox (Michael Quinn). Fort Knox won 4-3
        • They Might Be Giants: Belgium (Jon Swanson) vs McCovey Cove (Jason Kiernan). McCovey Cove won 4-2
        • White Elephant: Run Rickey (Sherman Wan) vs Mustache (Dave Matter). Mustache won 4-3
    • 2 of the 64 first-round series have an owner with teams on both sides of the matchup - Jason Kiernan and Dave Matter
    • Owners with multiple teams in the Association round of the Benchwarmer Bash:
      • 15 teams: Jason Kiernan and Dave Matter
      • 14 teams: Ricardo Alexander
      • 9 teams: Jim Duzyk, Michael Quinn, and Michael Rudolph
      • 7 teams: Jerry King
      • 6 teams: Robert Elias (plus 1 more as a foster owner for an orphan team)
      • 5 teams: Bill Munger
      • 4 teams: Leif Jonson, Jon Swanson, and Sherman Wan
      • 3 teams: David Henning, John Hula, and Ken Stevenson
      • 2 teams:  Craig Burke, Anthony C (plus 1 more as a foster owner for an orphan), and Greg Flees
      • 11 other owners have a single team

10/26/25

  • Congratulations to BWB team owners who won multiple league championships in 2025: (see how this compares to last year)
    • 14 titles: Jason Kiernan (out of 18 conference champions)
    • 12 titles: Ricardo Alexander (14)
    • 7 titles: Michael Quinn (8)
    • 5 titles: Dave Matter (12)
    • 4 titles: Jim Duzyk (8), Robert Elias, including 1 as a foster owner (from 7 conference champs, plus 2 as an foster owner of orphan teams), Bill Munger (5), Jerry King (4)
    • 3 titles: Leif Jonson (4)
    • 2 titles: Greg Flees (2), Ken Stevenson (3), Sherman Wan (9)
    • 2 orphan teams won league championships this season
  • 33 of 2024's 68 league champions won their division again this season. 12 completed the journey to a repeat league championship.
  • Two teams have repeated for more than 2 seasons
    • 5 straight championships:
      • Marxball: Kingston (Ricardo Alexander)
    • 3 straight championships:
      • Game Night: Atlanta (Ricardo Alexander)

10/25/25

10/24/25

  • Playoffs: Championship Week: Games 3-5 posted - See Playoffs for All Leagues
  • Benchwarmer Bash page is now active - showing potential entrants.  Listed wild card teams assume the higher-ranked teams win their league championships. Wild cards shown in italics are tentative and not confirmed.
  • For those teams that may make the Benchwarmer Bash, you have one more chance to modify your lineups that will cover the entire span of the tournament. Lineups are open now. Deadline is Sunday night, Oct 26, at 7 PM EDT.

10/23/25

  • Playoffs: Championship Week: Games 1 & 2 posted - See Playoffs for All Leagues
  • 33 of 2024's 68 league champions won their division again this season. 20 are still alive heading into the league finals
  • Congratulations to owners still alive with multiple conference wins: (see how this compares to 2024)
    • 18 Teams - Jason Kiernan (out of 23 division winners)
    • 14 Teams - Ricardo Alexander (18)
    • 12 Teams - Dave Matter (26)
    • 9 Teams - Sherman Wan (18)
    • 8 Teams - Jim Duzyk (11), Michael Quinn (20), Michael Rudolph (15)
    • 7 Teams - Robert Elias (10)
    • 5 Teams - John Hula (16), Bill Munger (9)
    • 4 Teams - Leif Jonson (7), Jerry King (8), Jon Swanson (9)
    • 3 Teams - Craig Burke (6), David Henning (8), Andrew Lehman (5), Ken Stevenson (6)
    • 2 Teams - Greg Flees (2), Michael Lehman (6), Jamie Reese (4)
    • Plus 4 Orphan teams under BWB Office and these foster owners: Anthony C (1 team), Robert Elias, (2 teams) and John Hula (1 team)

10/19/25

  • Playoffs: Week 1: Games 6-7 posted - See Playoffs for All Leagues
  • Lineup deadline for the 2nd week of the playoffs (Week 27): Tuesday, October 21 at 7 PM Eastern
  • Congratulations to owners with multiple division wins (see how this compares to last year):
    • 26 Teams - Dave Matter
    • 23 Teams - Jason Kiernan
    • 20 Teams - Michael Quinn
    • 18 Teams - Ricardo Alexander, Sherman Wan
    • 16 Teams - John Hula
    • 15 Teams - Michael Rudolph
    • 11 Teams - Jim Duzyk
    • 10 Teams - Robert Elias
    • 9 Teams - Bill Munger, Jon Swanson
    • 8 Teams - David Henning, Jerry King
    • 7 Teams - Leif Jonson
    • 6 Teams - Craig Burke, Michael Lehman, Ken Stevenson
    • 6 Teams - Orphan teams under BWB Office and foster owners
    • 5 Teams - Andrew Lehman, John Stroba
    • 4 Teams - Alonda Clifton, Jamie Reese
    • 3 Teams - Anthony C, Sam Campbell
    • 2 Teams - Greg Flees, Robert Hamilton, Don Kruse, Jerry Stevens, Matt Strawbridge, Danny Zaccaro

10/18/25

  • Playoffs: Week 1: Games 4 & 5 posted - See Playoffs for All Leagues
  • 2025 in Review (Part 2):
    • See Standings for All Leagues and Around BWB
    • Of 272 division winners from 2024, 117 repeated with division titles this season (108 of 272 repeated last year)
    • 83 of the division winners from last season finished below .500 in 2025, 29 of them dropped all the way to last place this year. 1 of those teams lost 100 games this year.
    • From the 272 divisions that existed in 2024, 27 division winners in 2025 are franchises that never before won a division title.
      • Special shout outs to teams doing this for the first time after 10 or more years of league play:
        • John Hula, Corwin's Silver and in Blue and Gray's 17th season
        • Alonda Clifton, Cleveland in Cleveland Rocks' 13th season
        • John Stroba, Sweet Lou's in Motor City's 13th season
        • Jerry Stevens, Pig's Eye in Royal Flush's 11th season
        • Craig Burke, California in Royal Flush's 11th season
        • Jon Swanson, Bermuda in Scooby Doo's 11th season
        • Bill Munger, Atchafalaya in Scooby Doo's 11th season
        • Bill Munger, Parkfield in B Movie Actor's 10th season
        • Dave Matter, Manny in Grand Slam's 10th season
        • John Hula, Christmas in South Siders' 10th season
        • Sam Campbell, Dan Ryan Expressway in South Siders' 10th season
    • Of the 68 league champions from 2024, 33 of them repeated as division winners this season. (34 of 68 league winners from 2023 won divisions in 2024).
    • 33 teams went "worst to first" - finishing in 4th place in 2024 and winning a division this year (40 last year).
    • 16 teams out of 1,088 won 100 games this year, topped by 1 team with 111 wins: Robert Elias with Suffolk in Perfect World League
    • 32 teams lost 100 games, with 1 team dropping 114 for the season.
    • 21 teams had 100 or more losses in 2024.  3 of them won their division this year (none made 2nd-place) and 3 of them finished .500 or better. However, 16 of those teams finished in 4th place this season. And 5 of those teams lost 100 games again this year.
    • 21 teams won 100 or more games in 2024. 3 of them won 100 games again this season and 15 were division winners this year. 2 of those teams ended up below .500 this year.

10/17/25

10/16/25

10/15/25

  • Playoff schedules are posted. See the link for playoffs on your league's home page or you can get a link to any league's playoffs from this page. You can also view quick links to all of your teams' playoff pages. (Let me know if you see any mistakes or links that show 2024 instead of 2025)
  • One final deadline for playoff lineups - tonight at midnight Eastern. Let me know if you have any problems with that. We should be able to start posting game scores then on Thursday night.

10/14/25

  • Tiebreakers posted for division placement and playoff seeding.

10/13/25

  • Wrapping up playoffs setup, but I'm in the middle of a trip back to PA and some things have slowed me down. So, I've opened up lineups and transactions again - giving you 2 more nights to work on that. The deadline is Wednesday night (10/15) at midnight Eastern.
  • Reminders about Week 26 transactions:
    • This is the final week for transactions - you can do cuts and moves to IR - no free agent signings.
    • You may need to cut some players to make room for players on your starting lineup/bench - particularly if you have to make room for players making under 250 in salary.
    • Also - if you have players under contract for 2026 and beyond - you must keep them for your roster carryover. However, you can cut them this week if you've changed your mind about them. No refund on the contract, but it will free up an extra roster spot.

10/9/25

10/6/25

  • 14 Division Champions from the October 5 tiebreaker games (See standings for all leagues and a full list of all 2025 division winners)
    • Big Red Machine League - Sparky Anderson Division: Golden GR8S (owner David Henning - 8th win in 2025) - Also won in 2020
    • Birdland - Eddie Murray Division: J-town Roadrunners (owner Keith Rudy) - 4th straight pennant; 2023 league champ
    • Blame Canada League - Kyle Division: Aurora Borealis (owner Sherman Wan - 17th win in 2025) - Defending league champ (3 overall); 7th division title
    • Experts League - Web Division: Smart Kids (Orphan team - foster owner Robert Elias) - 4th division title; 2016 league champion
    • The Kings of Queens
      • McGraw Division: Woodside Dingos (owner John Stroba - 5th win in 2025) - 9th division crown; 2 league championships (2011 and 2015)
      • Hernandez Division: Astoria Argyle Sox (owner Sherman Wan - 18th win in 2025) - 7th division win; 3-time league champ, most recently in 2023
    • North Siders League - Sutter Division: Wrigleyville Bryzzo Souvenirs (owner Jason Kiernan - 22nd win in 2025) - Repeat winner, 8th overall
    • Pacific Northwest League - Ducks Division: Griffey, Edgar, and The Big Unit Ride Again (owner Jason Kiernan - 23rd win in 2025) - 6th division win; 2019 league champ
    • That's the Fact Jack League - The Life Aquatic Division: Zissou Oceanographers (owner Jon Swanson - 9th win in 2025) - 3rd trip to the playoffs
    • ThirtyThirtysomething League -Raul Mondesi Division: Duluth Superiors (owner Jerry Stevens - 2nd win in 2025) - 3rd straight win, 4th overall; League champion in 2023
    • Three of a Kind League
      • Beckley Division: Aces High (owner Danny Zaccaro - 2nd win in 2025) - 1st division win since 2011, 3rd overall; 2010 league champion
      • Speaker Division: The Three Amigos (owner Leif Jonson - 7th win in 2025) - 4th consecutive title
    • Whiff League - Wille Stargell Division: The Usual Suspects (Orphan team - foster owner Bill Munger) - 4th pennant, won 3 straight 2021-2023
    • Winners Circle League - Spahn Division: Mobile Baseball Legends (owner Bill Munger - 9th win in 2025) - 4th division win - 1st since 2015

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