League Champions

1999 Champion: Poughkeepsie Nine
Runner-up: Keg Tappers
Final Standings Not Available

The '99 season was the DBBL equivalent of the "Black Sox" scandal. The Keg Tappers had a comfortable lead on the field in late summer, when several dead teams made some incredibly dubiuos trades with the Nine and convienetly dropped All Star players while Poughkeepsie had the top waiver spot. The Keg Tappers responded in kind, making some shady deals of their own. The Nine and Tappers were the top teams in the league in '99, but with all the cheating it's hard to say who really deserved to win.

2000 Champ: Keg Tappers
Runner-up: New York 2BigTomatos
Final Standings Not Available

Still feeling cheated from the '99 season, the Keg Tappers made a historic "called shot", guaranteeing to bring home the title. They delivered, maintaining control of first place for all but a few weeks of the season. The 2BigTomatos made it interesting in late August, but unwisely traded Pedro Martinez for hitting help despite the fact it wouldn't do them any good. The losses in the pitching categories after Pedro's departure cost New York any shot it had of catching the Tappers.

2001 Champ: Poughkeepsie Nine
Runner-up: Spanktown Sperminators
Final Standings

No asterisks next to this Nine championship. They started a bit slowly, but pretty much dominated the 2nd half of the season and arguably had the greatest pitching staff ever assembled in DBBL history. The Spanktown Speminators made it interesting in coach Jeff Bomba's DBBL rookie season but were clearly bested by the Nine.

2002 Champ: Bax Smaxinatorz
Runner-up: New York 2BigTomatos
Final Standings

A pennant race for the ages ended in controversy as the Smaxinatorz and 2BigTomatos both finished with 86.5 points. Even the tie breaker was close as Bax edged the 2BigTomatos with better stats in 7 of the 12 scoring categories. 2BigTomatos managed Mike Terrone is reportedly still bitter - not about the reduced second place money share he claims but rather than he was denied the title of co-champion based on the tie breaker.

2003 Champ: Boston Flying Blue Hampsters
Runner-up: Poughkeepsie Nine
Final Standings

The Hampsters, perennially stuck in the 3rd place spot, finally made it to the top in 2003. The put together what could be considered the most dominating season in DBBL history, ranking no worst than second in 10 of 12 stats and no worse than 4th in any of them! At one point it looked like the Nine might have a shot at their 3rd drunken baseball championship, but in the end they finished a distance 2nd to a Boston team that had no weaknesses.

2004 Champ: Suffolk Double Diamonds
Runner-up: Boston Flying Blue Hampsters
Final Standings

In what was arguably the best season in DBBL history, five different teams were still vying for the crown as the season headed into September. While the Keg Tappers, Poughkeepsie Nine and New York 2BigTomatos all faded down the home stretch (finishing 3rd thru 5th respectively), the Hampsters and Double Diamonds engaged in a thrilling head to head race that came down to a photo finish. Suffolk, who couldn't have spent more than a week (if that) in first place all season, won by a nose, edging the Hampsters on the final day by just eight tenths of a point.

2005 Champ: Suffolk Double Diamonds
Runner-up: Highlanders
Final Standings

If there were any doubts about the Double Diamonds after they "stole" the 2004 title, jumping into first on the final day and winning by less than 1 point, they disproved them in '05 by becoming the first team in DBBL history to win back to back titles - Suffolk coach/GM Jeff Bomba takes a lot of ribbing from his peers, but he was the one laughing at the end after a historical feat (and another $500 first place prize!). The Highlanders led well into the summer but were eventually over powered by an extremely well balanced Suffolk squad and finished 2nd. It's interesting to note that Jeff successfully punted on saves, finishing last in that category with a paltry 22 - yet Suffolk still ranked 3rd in pitching overall.

2006 Champ: Gauge
Runner-up: Bat Rastards
Final Standings

Todd finished with an impressive 102 points and 13 point margin of victory. Gauge finished in the top 5 in all 12 of the scoring categories but perhaps most impressive of all is that Todd was no worse than 3rd in 9 of them! Well done Todd… it was a dominant season any way you cut it. Enjoy the $550 top prize but remember to tell your wife it was only $250!

2nd place goes to Bret Morrison and his Bat Rastards. Bret seems to be one of the quieter league members but does his talking on the field and deserves a TON of credit for going from expansion team to a very solid 2nd place finish in just 3 seasons! He nabs the $250 #2 prize.

The 3rd and final money spot goes to Keith and his Flying Blue Hampsters. Third place and $100 may pale in comparison to the $550 Todd won, but you’ve gotta hand it to Keith – while he’s only won 1 title, he now has five straight seasons (perhaps more?) of finishing in the top 4 and has finished in the money 3 of the past 4 seasons.

The commish, after trading most of his keepers in an ill conceived attempt to "win now", finished a distant 4th. But falling hardest of all was two time defending champ Jeff Bomba – his Double Diamonds occupied dead last more or less wire to wire from what I remember.

2007 Champ: New York 2BigTomatos
Runner-up: Bat Rastards
Final Standings

Mike Terrone and his 2BigTomatos finally erased the heart breaking tie breaker defeat of 2001 in 2007. While New York finished with just a 3.4 point margin of victory, it never really felt like anyone seriously challenged Terrone. He led almost every day post All Star break.

New York was extremely well balanced, finishing 2nd in both hitting and pitching. They finished no worse than third in 8 of the 12 scoring categories. Talented young stars like Grady Sizemore, CC Sabathia, Miguel Cabrera, Matt Holliday, Dan Haren led the way. Ironically, in the same year the last of Terrone's beloved Yankees old guard may have crumbled, all these young studs may turn New York into a DBBL dynasty.

For the second straight season, 2nd place goes to Bret Morrison and his Bat Rastards. Bret was tabbed the preseason favorite by the Swami but got off to an absurdly slow start, languishing in the bottom half of the standings most of the first few months. He turned it on toward the middle of the season but ultimately the Rastards couldn't completely dig out of the hole they created. Still, nabbing $250 back to back seasons ain't bad. The bad news is that almost all of Bret's quality players were in the final year of their contracts so it may be time for a Rastards rebuild

The 3rd and final money spot goes to Eric Bjorkman and his Highlanders. Eric's squad was the only other team to occupy first place for any significant amount of time in '07 but they just didn't have the bats to hold on to the top spot. Thanks to great seasons from young pitchers Josh Beckett, Cole Hamels and Rich Hill, the Highlanders ranked #1 in pitching. But their Achilles heel was an offense that ranked 7th in the DBBL.

After finishing 3rd last year, Boston finished 4th. They contended for a money spot throughout the year but eventually proved themselves a notch below the top 3.

Just like the Double Diamond dynasty before him, Todd and the defending champ Gauge fell hard after winning it all. Gauge went into fire sale mode early and ended up in 9th place, out of contention since pretty much day 1.

2008 Champ: Pain Don't Hurt
Runner-up: Kittle in the Middle
Final Standings

The 10th anniversary season of DBBL was by far the ugliest ever - marred by controversy and finishing with the owners of BOTH the first and second place finishers banished for being whiny douche bags.

Bernie S (who walked into arguably the best set of keepers in the league after Bomba unexpectedly quit mid-season in '07) took the first place cash w/o ever even managing for a full DBBL season or even actually finishing 2008 in first place! In first place most of the season, he was awarded the first place cash and ex-communicated by the commish late in the season after proving time and time again that he never had anything to offer except but complaints.

Always competitive but ever increasingly whiny and annoying, Todd S - who was already on thin ice due to frequent complains from fellow owners about him in both Drunken Bums Baseball and Football- quickly followed his (butt) buddy Bernie out of the league after accusing the commish of various forms of cheating and collusion. On the field, both teams did put together quality teams with Kittle leading most of the season before fading (and running out SP appearances) late in the season and being overtaken by the eventual winning squad Pain Don't Hurt.

The good news for the dearly departed is they both soaked the commish for first place shares... but getting rid of them was worth a little bit out of pocket from the perspective of the league office. Rounding out the money winners were Eric B and his Highlanders who finished 3rd and Mike T whose 2BigTomatos finished 4th in the first season we ever gave prize money for it. The Bat Rastards, considered by some the pre-season favorite to win it all after back to back 2nd place finishes in 2006-07, fell on their face a finished dead last, a mile behind even the 13th place team.

The ugliness around those two owners and spotty activity levels from a few other teams overshadowed an otherwise successful expansion of the league to 14 teams along with some rule tweaks such as eliminating monthly prizes in favor of rewarding the 4th place finisher.

2009 Champ: Bat Rastards
Runner-up: Doc Gooen's Speedballers
Final Standings

After back to back 2nd place finishes in 2006-07, Bret's Bat Rastards finished dead last in 2008. But the Rastards quickly rebuilt, snaring Hanley Ramirez with the #1 overall pick in 2009, taking over first place near mid season and never looking back; they eliminated any drama by coasting home for a worst-to-first turnaround where the 2nd place team finished a whopping 11 points back The Rastards ranked #1 in both batting and pitching and were clearly the best team as Ramirez led a loaded squad that also featured Aramis Ramirez, Dan Uggla and breakout young pitchers Zack Greinke and Yovanni Gallardo.

While there wasn't much suspense about who win the title, 2nd place was a wide open race that went down to the final day. The commish and his Speedballers, led by a strong pitching staff featuring Roy Halladay, Matt Cain, Felix Hernandez and Jake Peavy, eventually edged Boston by just 1/2 a point. Boston suffered through disappointing seasons from a ton of different guys including David Ortiz, Carlos Beltran, Dustin Pedroia and Geovanny Soto but was still good enough to finish in the top 4 for the eigth time in nine season.

Damon and his Bax Smaxinatorz actually led most of the first half of the season but couldn't sustain the pace and eventually faded to fourth place.

After winning it all in 2007 and contending again in 2008, Mike and his 2BigTomatos slumped to a woeful last place finish.

2010 Champ: Springfield Isotopes
Runner-up: Nasty Nattys
Final Standings

After six years of mediocre baseball, Coach Tom's Isotopes finally broke through in 2010. Springfield led the league in both hitting and pitching. A star studded line bolstered by several "go for broke" deals included Ryan Braun, Jayson Werth, Robinson Cano, Pablo Sandoval, David Wright, Cliff Lee, CC Sabathia and a host of others.

In just his 2nd full year in the league, Coach Rick's Nasty Nattys jumps from 12th to 2nd. Almost any other year this well balanced, Albert Pujols led Nattys squad would have been champs but instead come up 5 point shorts of the powerhouse Isotopes. Still, an impressive jump in the standings for wheeler dealer Rick C.

Bax's 2009 2nd half fade carries over to 2010 as the Smaxinatorz finish dead last a pathetic 23 points behind the 13th place Roidville Shrunken Testicles.

2011 Champ: Nasty Nattys
Runner-up: DogFishHead Beernuts
Final Standings

After finishing 2nd in 2010, Coach Rick and his Nattys leave no doubt in 2011. He dominates the 2nd half of the season and there is no drama as he pulls away down the stretch. The Nattys post a record (and ridiculous) 80 hitting points thanks to a murders row lineup including Adrian Gonzalez, Troy Tulowitzki, Joey Votto, Justin Upton, Dustin Pedroia, Joe Mauer and Michael Young. The pitching isn't nearly as dominant as the hitting but good enough with solid years from Dan Haren, Jamie Garcia and Ricky Romero among others.

The DogFishHead Beernuts finish and distant 2nd a whopping 15 behind out. The Beernuts get huge years from Matt Kemp, Victor Martinez and Justin Verlander but slightly disappointing ones from Evan Longoria, Mark Teixeira in a season where absolutely everything would have had to break right to catch a truly epic Nattys squad.

The Muckrakers rough DBBL tenure reaches its nadir in year 4 as they finish 14th after previous finishes of 12th, 13th and 12th. Bax doesn't show much improvement finishing tied for 12th after being dead last in 2010.

2012 Champ: Highlanders
Runner-up: Springfield Isotopes
Final Standings

After 10+ years and a couple of near misses in both the Drunken Baseball and Football leagues, Coach Eric and his Highlanders were finally champs. It was down to the final night but they held off the Isotopes to win Eric’s first Drunken Sports championship.

The Highlanders MVP was Chase Headley – all the 13th round pick did was hit .286 with 31 HR and an NL leading 115 RBI. Headley even threw in 17 steals. The Highlanders hitting ranked #1 in the league thanks to Headley and solid contributions from the likes of Ian Kinsler (.257-19-72, 21 sb), rookie Bryce Harper (.270-22-59, 18 sb), Nick Swisher (.272-24-93) and Jose Reyes (.287, 40 sb).

The Highlanders pitching did its part as well, ranking third in the league. The starting rotation in particular was fantastic as David Price (20-5, 2.56 era, 1.10 whip, 205 k), Stephen Straasburg (15-6, 3.16 era, 1.14 whip, 197 k) and Zack Greinke (15-5, 3.48 era, 1.20 whip, 200 k) were dominant.

Second place went to Coach Tom and his Isotopes who just missed getting their second title in 3 years. And finishing in the top 3 three years running is still an impressive accomplishment for Springfield.

Third place went to Coach Bret and his Bat Rastards while Coach Mike and 2BigTomatos edge Boston for 4th and the final money spot.

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