Final record: 74-88, 3rd Aaron Division, National Conference.

In the inaugural Champions season, the Palookas finished better than what ownership expected.  Oolitic drafted for the future but still managed 74 wins. 

1st round pick, Adley Rutschman (.259-18-58) played in all 162 games while leading the pitching staff.  Matt McLain (.321-21-66, 10 stolen bases, .565 SLG, .936 OPS) was amazing in his real life rookie season.  He will be dealt some bad news in the off season as he will sit out the 2025 season with an injury.  Josh Jung (.242-19-63) will also be dealing with injuries next season.  Jace Peterson (.161-2-20) backed up both Jung and McLain and did not perform well.  Joey Meneses (.258-9-55) was serviceable at 1st and C.J. Abrams (.246-14-64, 40 doubles, 41 stolen bases) showed flashes of talent. 

The platoon in left with Kerry Carpenter (.256-19-58) and Tyler O’Neill (.245-8-24, .815 OPS) performed well with a combined 27 home runs and 82 RBI.  The DH platoon was Masataka Yoshida (.270-11-39) and Patrick Wisdom (.132-8-26) was underwhelming.  Wisdom was downright terrible.  Bryan De La Cruz (.237-14-51) was disappointing playing centerfield as was Teoscar Hernandez (.249-24-73, 32 doubles).  Evan Carter (.155-4-7) saw action in 21 games.  Nick Martini (.143-5-12) was an oddity scoring 11 runs while only being on base 8 times (6 hits, 2 walks). 

The offense in general was a let down with 12 of the 14 players who saw significant playing time being under their real life OPS. 

J.P. France (12-6, 3.84, 26 gs, 154 ip, 111 k) and Jake Irvin (7-8, 3.59, 24 gs, 133 ip, 106 k) were pretty good as starters.  Graham Ashcraft (8-12, 4.66, 27 gs, 156 ip, 123 k) was also serviceable.  Kyle Gibson (13-15, 5.35, 33 gs, 200 ip, 175 k) had a high ERA but did exactly what he was drafted for.  He ate some innings and kept the Palookas in games.  Shane Bieber (1-9, 5.56, 20 gs, 110 ip) and J.P. Sears (5-17, 7.14, 32 gs, 166 ip, 135 k) were not very good.  Relievers Ross Stripling (2-1, 4.84, 34 g, 70 ip), Ben Lively (2-2, 5.20, 35 g, 3 saves, 71 ip) and Jameson Taillon (2-5, 5.23, 41 g, 4 saves, 103 ip, 106 k) were the garbage time relievers.  Jhony Brito (8-5, 2.85, 37 g, 4 saves, 79 ip, 1.10 WHIP) and Xzavion Curry (7-1, 3.56, 32 g, 68 ip) were excellent in their roles as long relievers.  Carlos Esteves (2-3, 3.49, 43 g, 18 saves, 59 ip) aka Ricky Vaughn (if you know, you know) and Bryse Wilson (3-4, 2.58, 34 g, 21 saves, 45 ip, 0.82 WHIP) shared the closer duties to the tune of 39 saves.

Awards

Team MVP – Matt McLain

Team Cy Young – J.P. France

National Conference 1st Team All-Star – Rutschman (C)

National Conference Gold Glove – Rutschman (C), Jung (3B), Gibson (P)

National Conference Silver Slugger – Rutschman (C)

Top 5 National Conference Fireman – Wilson (4th)

2025 Projected Line-Up

1B – Tellez .243-13-56

2B – Open

3B – Jung .264-7-16

3B – E Hernandez .229-12-42

SS – Abrams .246-20-65

LF – T Hernandez .272-33-99

CF – Open

RF – O’Neill .241-31-61

RF – Carpenter .284-18-57

OF – De La Cruz .233-21-68

OF – Yoshida .280-10-56

SP – Irvin 10-14, 4.41, 188 ip

SP – Sears 11-13, 4.38, 181 ip

SP – Gibson 8-8, 4.24, 170 ip

SP – Taillon 12-8, 3.27, 165 ip

SP – Lively 13-10, 3.81, 151 ip

RP – Wilson 5-4, 4.04, 105 ip

RP – Estevez 4-5, 2.45, 55 ip

RP – Jarvis 1-2, 3.19, 59 ip