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Wilmington Wildcats: 2064 Season Review
Season - 98-64, 1st in DL; Won Brewmaster's 4-3 against Washington
Preseason Predictions - 87-75, #2 WC
Daily Keg Predictions: WC, Losing in DLCS
WHAT WENT RIGHT:
Pitching and Defense: I think I have put this every year I've done a Wilmington review. Ron Thomas, Zack Fleming, Rick Robertson and Cole Good have basically been the top four innings players since my inaugural Wildcats season. Catcher Chandler Frazee won his third DWI in four season. As a group, the rotation ranked 4th in ERA (DL), bullpen 2nd (DL), zone rating 2nd (DL). Pitching and defense really shined in the playoffs. In the games won by the Wildcats, their opponents scored: 2, 2, 3, 1, 4, 6, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.
Rookies: While none of them took how any hardware, or even top 3 finishes for New Brew, SS Jim Jimenez, OF David Hankins, SP Levi Stephens and 2B Corey Hughes all played big roles. Jimenez was probably the 3rd best defensive shortstop in the DL this and in the playoffs lead my entire team in OPS (.893), which is about .200+ his regular season. Hankins was 5th amongst DL rookies in WAR, despite only playing in 79 games. Stephens was the April rookie of the month and got a save in Game One of the Brew.
WHAT WENT WRONG:
Hitting in key areas: 9th in the DL in strikeouts, 12th in the DL in stolen bases, 9th in XBH. This team lived and died by getting walks and were only average at hitting homeruns. Had a lot of games where we just didn’t score.
Poor finance management: More on this later but due to re-signing a lot of players to above market deals, this group is losing a lot of talent out the door that we would prefer to keep.
Trading for a loss: The only trade this year was for 1B Andy Dillon. In July I sent two RL prospects to Denver for Dillon with half the salary paid. He suited up for four... FOUR Wildcat games before getting shelved for the season. After a long injury list stint, I added him to the playoff roster and he went 0/4 with a walk and two strikeouts against Montreal before being removed from the post-season roster. Fortunately we didn’t need him but I thought he would be a huge addition and instead we paid a few million $, gave up two prospects, for literally nothing of value.
PLAYOFFS:
As mentioned above, Wilmington won it's fourth BLB Championship over Washington after losing to them in Game Seven last year. It's crazy how close these things can be. In the Divisional Round, three of the games were decided by 1-run, one went to extra innings and another by only two runs. In the DLCS, four were 1-run games, two games in extra innings. In the Brewmaster's two 1-run games, two 2-run games and one went to extras. DC, New Orleans and Montreal, in my opinion were some of the very best teams in the entire league this year and Wilmington easily could have lost to any of the three.
OUTLOOK FOR 2065
14 players who played for us at the BLB level will hit FA, second most in the BLB to only Pawtucket. 9th worst WAR loss to FA. Zachariah White, Kelvin Kenney, Zack Fleming, Andy Dillon, JaQuan McLaren, Hudson Bell are the top WAR departures. We do have some money but I have been neglecting adding seats and I skimped on scouting last year, so I wouldn't expect any headline grabbing additions in FA. The core remains the same, with probably another rookie or two filling the void from the departures. With Kenney out, the lineup will suffer as he was one of the DL’s best vs. RHP. Fleming had a down year but opened the season as our top rated pitcher.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The main reason I'm writing this one is for this last section. When we hit the off-season, basically every player with an option or opt out, made the right decision for them. I chalk this up to OOTP25 improving the AI decision making. This time last year, I had five key players slated to go to FA. We had just lost a heartbreaker in the Brew after a 101 win season. In years past, with the idea of competing year after year and thus trying to avoid financial mistakes, I probably would have let most of them walk. I might have been able to sign some back cheaper or get better players with the increase in budget room. This was my strategy during my Seattle tenure: Avoid financial "mistakes" and field a good, not great team, every season. Under this formula we almost never missed the playoffs but a surprise to some, Seattle only won one Brewmaster's Championship. But I just didn't have the heart to not let those same guys take one more shot at it. It obviously paid off, but this team is losing talent it normally would have been able to keep, and I have a good handful of players who are way overpaid now, for years to come. But it does make me think...should I "go all in” more often? We will be good but I don’t see us being as good as we have been the past two seasons for awhile. Probably not until Dusty Cahue and Rick Robertson, both of whom shocked me by opting in this off-season, are off the books in three more seasons.
On a personal level, winning in my first year back with Wilmington in '57 was unique, but we caught a lot of lucky breaks in the playoffs and there wasn't a single player on that team that I drafted or signed. I took over an absent GM’s team with talent and obviously having someone active behind the controls paid off. It was shocking to say the least but didn’t really feel earned, I guess. So in a way...this kind of feels like my first Championship since Seattle in 2026. I know, what a relief Pat finally got another ring, but it was the most intense playoffs for me that I can remember. Thanks to Matt and Brad for everything.
Season - 98-64, 1st in DL; Won Brewmaster's 4-3 against Washington
Preseason Predictions - 87-75, #2 WC
Daily Keg Predictions: WC, Losing in DLCS
WHAT WENT RIGHT:
Pitching and Defense: I think I have put this every year I've done a Wilmington review. Ron Thomas, Zack Fleming, Rick Robertson and Cole Good have basically been the top four innings players since my inaugural Wildcats season. Catcher Chandler Frazee won his third DWI in four season. As a group, the rotation ranked 4th in ERA (DL), bullpen 2nd (DL), zone rating 2nd (DL). Pitching and defense really shined in the playoffs. In the games won by the Wildcats, their opponents scored: 2, 2, 3, 1, 4, 6, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.
Rookies: While none of them took how any hardware, or even top 3 finishes for New Brew, SS Jim Jimenez, OF David Hankins, SP Levi Stephens and 2B Corey Hughes all played big roles. Jimenez was probably the 3rd best defensive shortstop in the DL this and in the playoffs lead my entire team in OPS (.893), which is about .200+ his regular season. Hankins was 5th amongst DL rookies in WAR, despite only playing in 79 games. Stephens was the April rookie of the month and got a save in Game One of the Brew.
WHAT WENT WRONG:
Hitting in key areas: 9th in the DL in strikeouts, 12th in the DL in stolen bases, 9th in XBH. This team lived and died by getting walks and were only average at hitting homeruns. Had a lot of games where we just didn’t score.
Poor finance management: More on this later but due to re-signing a lot of players to above market deals, this group is losing a lot of talent out the door that we would prefer to keep.
Trading for a loss: The only trade this year was for 1B Andy Dillon. In July I sent two RL prospects to Denver for Dillon with half the salary paid. He suited up for four... FOUR Wildcat games before getting shelved for the season. After a long injury list stint, I added him to the playoff roster and he went 0/4 with a walk and two strikeouts against Montreal before being removed from the post-season roster. Fortunately we didn’t need him but I thought he would be a huge addition and instead we paid a few million $, gave up two prospects, for literally nothing of value.
PLAYOFFS:
As mentioned above, Wilmington won it's fourth BLB Championship over Washington after losing to them in Game Seven last year. It's crazy how close these things can be. In the Divisional Round, three of the games were decided by 1-run, one went to extra innings and another by only two runs. In the DLCS, four were 1-run games, two games in extra innings. In the Brewmaster's two 1-run games, two 2-run games and one went to extras. DC, New Orleans and Montreal, in my opinion were some of the very best teams in the entire league this year and Wilmington easily could have lost to any of the three.
OUTLOOK FOR 2065
14 players who played for us at the BLB level will hit FA, second most in the BLB to only Pawtucket. 9th worst WAR loss to FA. Zachariah White, Kelvin Kenney, Zack Fleming, Andy Dillon, JaQuan McLaren, Hudson Bell are the top WAR departures. We do have some money but I have been neglecting adding seats and I skimped on scouting last year, so I wouldn't expect any headline grabbing additions in FA. The core remains the same, with probably another rookie or two filling the void from the departures. With Kenney out, the lineup will suffer as he was one of the DL’s best vs. RHP. Fleming had a down year but opened the season as our top rated pitcher.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The main reason I'm writing this one is for this last section. When we hit the off-season, basically every player with an option or opt out, made the right decision for them. I chalk this up to OOTP25 improving the AI decision making. This time last year, I had five key players slated to go to FA. We had just lost a heartbreaker in the Brew after a 101 win season. In years past, with the idea of competing year after year and thus trying to avoid financial mistakes, I probably would have let most of them walk. I might have been able to sign some back cheaper or get better players with the increase in budget room. This was my strategy during my Seattle tenure: Avoid financial "mistakes" and field a good, not great team, every season. Under this formula we almost never missed the playoffs but a surprise to some, Seattle only won one Brewmaster's Championship. But I just didn't have the heart to not let those same guys take one more shot at it. It obviously paid off, but this team is losing talent it normally would have been able to keep, and I have a good handful of players who are way overpaid now, for years to come. But it does make me think...should I "go all in” more often? We will be good but I don’t see us being as good as we have been the past two seasons for awhile. Probably not until Dusty Cahue and Rick Robertson, both of whom shocked me by opting in this off-season, are off the books in three more seasons.
On a personal level, winning in my first year back with Wilmington in '57 was unique, but we caught a lot of lucky breaks in the playoffs and there wasn't a single player on that team that I drafted or signed. I took over an absent GM’s team with talent and obviously having someone active behind the controls paid off. It was shocking to say the least but didn’t really feel earned, I guess. So in a way...this kind of feels like my first Championship since Seattle in 2026. I know, what a relief Pat finally got another ring, but it was the most intense playoffs for me that I can remember. Thanks to Matt and Brad for everything.