2026 WMSPL Playoff Tournament Finalists

Left to Right: Barry Guerrero Jr, Poutine, Grahambo, Schneids, Johnny Wagons, Goliath, Taxman, Million Dollar Bill, Shohei, Time Out, Miner Leaguer, Speed Bump, The Ringer, SLF, Dunner.

The Falcons would like to congratulate Broadway on coming out on top in an all-time classic WMSPL Playoff Tournament Championship game to take home the hardware.

See you all in 2027!

Falcon Awesome 2: Electric Boogaloo will have to be put on the back burner. For the sixth time this century, we made it as far as we could go. For the fifth time this century, we couldn't finish the job. I guess we'll have to petition to have the final game played at K2, because that seems to be the only place we can take care of business.


Saturday, 9:00 am: Greenthumb at Falcons

I'm going to continue to beat this dead horse until conditions improve: the so-called "bye" that has the high seeds playing at nine in the goddamn morning on Saturday IS NOT an advantage. Regardless, we did manage to begin tournament weekend strong. Greenthumb took an early 2-0 lead after the first inning, but it was all Falcons after that. MAX6s in the second and third for the home side and it was just counting outs after that.

Falcons 19, Greenthumb 8.

Saturday, 12:00 pm: Isotopes at Falcons

Deja vu all over again. The Isotopes, already 1-0 after a Friday win over Greenthumb and well rested thanks to their killer 5-seed schedule, took an early 2-1 lead after the first inning over the Falcons. And, just like the game before, the Falcon bats woke up in the second to put up a MAX6. The Isotopes showed some late life, closing the score to 13-10 after 5.5 innings, but a six-run sixth highlighted by a Goliath 3-run homer that disturbed a local birthday party put this one to bed for the Falcons. Having secured the pool win, t'was time for pizza and watching ball the rest of the day.

Falcons 19, Isotopes 11.

Quarterfinal: Sunday, 11:30 am: Expos at Falcons

ACTUALLY rested this time, and with the stands jammed with the Falcon Faithful, the Falcons began the march to the finals Sunday morning against the pesky Expos. The visiting Expos put up a 3-spot in the top of the first inning, only to be answered by a well-rested MAX6 by the home Falcons in the bottom half. After trading delicious doughnuts (metaphorical doughnuts, unlike the actual, real-life doughnuts on the bench we had thanks to Lindsey, and fresh baked cookies from Taxman's daughter Serrennia) in the second inning, the Expos broke out for four in the top of the third to re-take the lead, and tighten the collars of Dr J and the Falcon fans in attendance. In response, the Falcons... scored only one to tie it up then laid a goose egg in the fourth. The Expos also didn't score in the fourth, but added one in the top of the fifth to go up 8-7. But that was all they could muster, and the Falcons added three in the fifth and another four in the sixth to move on.

Falcons 14, Expos 8.

Semifinal: Sunday, 1:00 pm: Falcons at Storm

Who doesn't love a Falcons-Storm playoff classic? This is the only game all weekend where Whitby's Most Beloved Slo-Pitch Team would be the visitors. No matter... the visiting Falcons managed a singleton in the top of the first, and held Storm to a doughnut in their half, turning up the heat on the favoured Storm. Storm wouldn't stay silent for long though. After holding the Falcons to no runs in the second (and third, and fourth...), they put up two in the second to take the lead, then three in the fourth to go up by five. The Falcons responded with a whimper in the fifth, scoring one and Storm piled on with another two in their half. After five, Storm led 7-2 and it was getting late for team blue. But that's when something that never happens happened: Storm showed some cracks. A five-run top of the fifth for the Falcons jammed the wedge in to tie the game, and after Storm went four-up, three-down in the bottom of the sixth, it all fell apart. In the top of the seventh, Storm's Jeff uncharacteristically lost the strike zone, walking two after back-to-back doubles to begin the inning. He was replaced by Rene, who was shortly replaced by Joey. I think even Storm would say if Joey is pitching, things aren't going their way. Joey issued a bases-loaded walk to Shohei, and SLF followed with a bases clearing triple to put the nail in Storm's coffin. Storm went three-up, three-down in the bottom of the seventh, and it was back to K1 for the Falcons to meet their fate.

Falcons 14, Storm 7.

WMSPL Playoff Tournament Final: Sunday, 2:30 pm: Broadway at Falcons

Before this game even got started, the murmurs began at the semifinal game on K2. Whispers in the handshake line spread rumours that no one expected: Broadway was up big on Triple Play over on K1... could they hold on? Those rumours were confirmed on the way back to Bill's car for a cold refreshment when 2027 VP Division dwelling Broadway secured the biggest upset of the tournament, holding Triple Play to only six runs in a 12-6 win to keep their championship hopes alive. Up on the hill, the Falcons were relaxed. Whether it was Triple Play or Broadway, the Falcons knew they were playing with house money at that point and were happy to be where few thought they'd end up. Doug Short, the only man to bankrupt a casino faster than Donald Trump, had Triple Play and Storm in the finals. This would be the most unexpected final pairing at that playoff tournament since the Rebels (6th) met Coulas (9th) in 2018.

With fresh lines on the field, the two teams, clearly exhausted already from their previous games that day, began a battle that wouldn't end in regulation. They say defence wins championships, but really, does that apply in slo-pitch? It did in this one. After three innings, the score was 0-0. Neither team's leadoff hitter had batted twice. Schneids had already made an assassination attempt on the league president (get well soon, Ryan!). Broadway had managed only two singles, and the Falcons only had three.

In the top of the fourth, a spark. Chris dinked a single to right, and Trevor followed up with a monster blast to make it 2-0 Broadway. In response, the Falcons got a runner to third base but couldn't score him. Broadway tacked on another run in the top of the fifth to go up 3-0. What even was this game? A classic? A classic.

The Falcons clawed back a couple in the bottom of the fifth inning, starting with singles by Dunner and the Ringer. They were moved over when Barry Guerrero Jr walked to load the bases. With the sacs juiced and no one out, this was the first of many opportunities the Falcons couldn't take advantage of to put this game away. They did manage two sac flies to bring the score to 3-2 after five, but the chance to flip the momentum was clearly missed. Broadway only sent three to the plate in the top of the sixth, so for a minute hope flourished on the home side. The Falcons tied it up when Goliath's lead off double in the bottom of the sixth was moved to third by a Shohei single and cashed by Johnny Wagons' RBI single. The Falcons ended the inning with the go-ahead run on second base.

Tied at three going into the seventh inning is what everyone expected, right?

Right?

Broadway started their seventh with a groundout to the pitcher, and a flyout to right. A two out single was moved to third with a subsequent single. But that's as far as he'd get. A flyout to right ended the top of seven tied.

The Falcons had a situation evolving that you'd wish for. Tie game, bottom of seven in the championship final. The heart of the order due up. To the Falcons, it wasn't "if", but "who". Who would have the championship RBI? How would this play out?

We got baseball'd. Time Out and Schneids each get hits three out of every four times to the plate. Dunner is right behind them. Was it Brad's pitching? It certainly was a factor. Between the three of them, they missed hitting the ball square by about 3/4" combined, and it ended up in three pop-outs.

Extras, kids.

And that's where the wheels fell off. Defence wasn't a factor in either direction for the Falcons in the top of the eighth. Broadway's bats just came alive, and they batted around and then some. When the dust settled, they'd scored 10, more than tripling their total output in the first seven innings. It's a funny game, isn't it? Undaunted, the Falcons knew they were capable of matching that feat. A valiant effort scored five in the bottom of the eighth to make the score look closer than it actually was, and Broadway walked away champions.

Broadway 13, Falcons 8.

A lot to talk about for the Falcons in 2026. To start, let's start at the beginning of the year at the draft: We brought on three new members who immediately made huge contributions to the team. In addition to adding Kevin (better than Steve, says Steve) as our ringer, we got really lucky adding great ball players in Matt and John. Kevin's pairing with Steve in the middle outfield established the Falcons as near, if not at the top of the league's outfield defences. Matt anchors the left side of the infield, hits the ball all over the place and brought the loudest fans; and John cemented himself at the top of the batting order, his arrival time be damned. We've had some collar-tightening drafts in the past and this was at the opposite end of the spectrum. Also: Barry just couldn't quit us. Anyone who saw him leave the parking lot after the playoffs last year could have predicted this.

That draft led directly to the season's results. We started the year with free beer! We didn't do that AT ALL in 2025! But we started with six straight wins, slept through a Sunday doubleheader then fired off eight more wins in a row. That's free beer twice before it was even summer! Exciting times. That was it for the free beer, but we did also have a 7-0-1 run from mid-July to the beginning of August. All told, we finished with a winning percentage over .700 (.711 to be precise) for the first time in 12 years. We only had a losing record against one team (Triple Play, at 0-4), didn't lose to The Crew, and swept the season series against Broadway, the Expos, Hanet and Glorious Dan's Inglorious Batters. That's only good enough for the 3-seed going into the playoffs thanks to Storm being perpetually Storm, and the Triple Play Revenge Tour '26. More on that later.

Moving to sixteen players was also supposed to eliminate our activity in the league's "WE NEED A PLAYER" panic room of a WhatsApp chat. Spoiler alert: it didn't. We still had TEN games where we took the field with nine Falcons at most. A league rule change to allow sons as young as 22 to join the league would help. Right?

Even though we barely got a player squeezed onto the league's home run leaderboard (Beatty at 13, good for 13th), we had NINE Falcons hit a ball over the fence over the course of the year, the most of any team. That doesn't even include legit inside the park home runs by Steve (SIX), Chad and Arbour. There are no holes in our lineup.

DC's 99 RBI team (and probably league) record is safe. No one hit two dingers in one inning, nor hit two triples in the same inning. No one hit for the cycle. We didn't even score 30 runs in any games. That's not to say we didn't score. At 640 runs scored, we had the second most prolific offence in the league. And for the second year in a row, the third-best defence. Just a good, solid, consistent team top to bottom: This is proven in a record low of only $315 in pizza fines assessed in 2026.

All said and done, we finished third overall, and that placed us in the pool with the Isotopes and Greenthumb. It also earned us a Friday "bye" so we can be "rested" when we play at 9am on Saturday. Bring Caesars, Bill.

AWARDS SECTION

Here are your Falcons Regular Season statistical leaders:

ATTENDANCE AWARD: No perfect attendance this year. Bill came closest, only missing two games. Second year in a row Bill missed two games, and he's earned the right to come and go as he pleases.

Only Miner Leaguer and Handsome Jer missed more than half the games.

RUNS SCORED: Despite moving down the order part way through the season, Speed Bump still led the team with 61 runs scored, though new leadoff man Three-League was only 3 behind him.

1B: MILLION DOLLAR BILL! Billy leads the team in singles at 67, more than 10% more than second place Shohei.

2B: Time Out hit 25 doubles to take the crown this year, hitting a double every 4th time he came to the plate.

3B: Speed Bump's nickname clearly only applies at the poker table, as he wrestled the three-bagger crown back from Dunner, hitting nine this year. Also of note: we set a team record for triples this season, hitting 46, all completely legit.

HR: Schneids, as previously mentioned, led the team with 13 round-trippers.

BB: A three-way tie saw Shohei, Speed Bump and Taxman lead the team with 10 walks each. Pitching to us must be annoying as hell.

TOTAL BASES: Speed Bump wins here at 134, but the race for 2nd place was only a base different between the two rookies Three-League and Time Out.

BATTING AVERAGE: MLB demands 3.1 PA per team game played to qualify for the batting title. Since we only play 7 innings instead of 9, the number is 2.41 PA (3.1 x 7/9) per game. That makes the threshold 92 PA (2.41 x 38) over the course of the season the minimum. I'm writing this here for my own memory as much as anyone else's curiosity because that number seems to have bounced around A LOT over the years.

Time Out takes it here, batting .745 in his rookie season.

ON BASE PERCENTAGE: Time Out again, getting on 74.8% of the time

SLUGGING PERCENTAGE: As expected, the team leader in dingers leads in slugging. Schneids slugged 1.352.

ON BASE + SLUGGING (OPS): Schneids again, leading at 2.091

RUNS BATTED IN: Schneids. AGAIN! 66 RBI.

ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN IN THE PLAYOFFS

For the first time since 2010, the Falcons didn't play on Sunday last year. Time to start a new streak. Expectations are high this season, vibes are off the charts.

League wide, Triple Play is obviously the favourite to win it all, having only lost three times this season, 50% more losses than Storm in that one season we don't talk about. But as anyone will tell you, the winner of the President's division rarely wins the playoff tournament, and when it does happen, it's Storm. They did it in 2024, 2017, and 2016. The last time a non-Storm team won both was 2006. So history isn't on Triple Play's side here, but ALL of the pressure is. They steamrolled the league, finishing with the best offence and best defence and obviously the best run differential. All the eyes will be on them all weekend to see if they can keep it going.

Hanet won the VP division, and a ticket to the President's division in 2027. The Isotopes move up again after a year in exile. Broadway and the Expos move down. Triple Play lost to Hanet twice and the Expos. Two of their games against Greenthumb were only decided by a run each. They were also played tough by Storm and Broadway. The bug that's actually a feature of a playoff tournament format like this is the chaos it provides. One wedding can ruin a team's chances pulling a pivotal player away for Saturday. It's a great weekend and a great way to end a great season.

My playoff prediction here is that Triple Play gets to Sunday morning but no further, and a VP team is in the final game. I'm also never right.

FALCONS' MOST VALUABLE PLAYER

In a very tight race, Speed Bump's stats at the plate, rock solid defence, and leadership on the team put him over the top as the team's most valuable player.

FALCONS' MOST SPORTSMANLIKE PLAYER

For the seventh time in the last eight years, it's Billy. Billy, now and forever.

Congratulations to both our award winners, and good luck at the banquet!

Wednesday 8:00PM September 9th, 2026

To end the 2026 regular season, the Falcons took care of weeknight business with a 26-14 win over the Inglorious Batters.

Rather than going inning-by-inning let's just focus on the highlight of the night: Shohei's second inning inside-the-park two run home run! With the Taxman already on base, Shohei hit a sinking liner that slipped under the glove of the right centre fielder. Shohei, speedy as always, needed no coaching at third base to tell him to keep going all the way for his second inside-the-park home run of his career, the first since July 10, 2023.

A ten-run fifth inning provided the winning margin in this one.

GAME NOTES: With the regular season over, lets talk playoffs: the 3-5-8 pool is locked in, with the Falcons at 3, the Isotopes at 5, and Greenthumb at 8. The 4-6-7 pool is also locked in, with Hanet at 4, The Crew at 6 and Broadway at 7. Even though Broadway has 4 games left to play, winning out would only bring them into a tie with the Crew in the standings, and the Crew holds the head-to-head tiebreaker at 3-1. Triple Play has clinched the 1-seed, and Storm will be #2, but the 9-12 seeding to determine their pools has a lot of room to move around. Surge can clinch the 9-seed with a win in their last game, owing to owning the tiebreaker over the Batters with a 2-0-2 head-to-head mark. The Expos could be as high as 10, or "win" the horse's ass. Coulas needs some help to stay out of 12th place... Time Out avoided pizza fines in his rookie season, so Karma will get him in 2027.

Boxscore:

Statistical Highlights

Tuesday 9:30PM September 1st, 2026

The Isotopes scored in every inning displaying a very consistent offence to come out with a 20-14 victory over the Falcons on Tuesday night.

The Falcons, to their credit, kept up for a while before the bats ran out of juice late in the game.

With the loss, the Falcons drop to 1-1-1 vs the Isotopes in 2026, ensuring that the Falcons have a .500-or-better- record against every team in the league except Triple Play.

STANDINGS WATCH: Unless Storm really, really shits the bed over the next week, the Falcons are locked into the 3-seed owing to their head-to-head advantage over Hanet. Looking at the muddle that is the 5-6-7 seeds, the Isotopes can clinch the 5-seed with a win in their final game. If they lose (against Broadway), and the Crew beats Coulas next Wednesday, the Isotopes would still be the 5-seed owing to their 2-1 head-to-head advantage over the Crew. Now: if Broadway, with five damn games to go still, wins out they would be the 5-seed (one of their final five is against the Isotopes). Clear? Good.

Moving on down, Greenthumb is going to be as high as the 8-seed. They can't be caught by Surge because they went 4-0 against them. But Inglorious Batters can move up to 8 if they win out... Maybe. There's a missing score on the league website which really messes up any analysis that can be done. The Expos, with five games to go as well, can move as high as the 8-seed, or win the horse's ass trophy. So like we talked about last night, nothing to talk about for about a week.

Boxscore:

Statistical Highlights