The season we just had will probably be known in CBL history books as The Year of the Underdog. I decided to look back at the 2024 season through the lens of some significant numbers:
225: Going into last game of the regular season against Traverse City, Mustache Sellers needed one hit to break the all time hit record for a season in CBL, set last year by his teammate Griffin Keller. He did it on the second pitch of the game. How did Keller react you ask? He came to the plate minutes later, grounded into a double play and dragged Sellers down with him (I’m not joking, Check the game log!). Sellers got two more hits in the game to set the new record at 225.
7: Number of HL pitchers who had a better WAR for the season than Carlos Rodon (4.9) who led FL in the category. Among them were three pitchers who had a WAR of 7.0 or better. Mike Wheeler, Brady Aiken and Anthony Molina, all playing in HL east.
84: Erie Seawolves won 84 games during the regular season. That’s the lowest number of regular season wins by the eventual champions in CBL’s 162-game era. The year of the Underdog indeed. Previous record was shared by 2019 and 2022 Blood Raven championship teams, both winning 89 regular season games. They won 89 games again in 2024, bus surprisingly no ring.
520: Collective number of regular season wins for Mahoning Valley Scrappers over the last 5 years. Related crazy fact? This year’s 102 – 60 record was their worst in 5 years. Related crazier fact? They did not reach the premiere cup series in any of those 5 years.
235: Number of consecutive relief appearances for Clayton Kershaw before he got his first start since 2019 this season by Trey. The old buck started 29 games and posted a respectable 12 – 13 record. To quote Josh Charles in Sports Night : “There’s really nothing like seeing a guy realize he’s not done yet. Usually It goes the other way”
2273: Number of days between the second and the third Perfect games in CBL history. Vancouver’s Cobi Johnson retired 27 Erie batters in order to become the first pitcher since Stephen Strasburg (2018) to throw a perfect game.
1500: Scotter Gennet and Freddie Freeman became the first players to break the 1500 hit barrier. Gennet is currently the all time hits leader with 1583, but Fransisco Lindor and especially Nicholas Gordon are in good position age-wise to catch him. The race for 2000 begins.
1,283,797: Total attendance for Tuscon Express ball club during the season. That’s the second lowest total attendance in CBL history. Let me be clear, only one team in the 82-game era, when teams played half as much home games, had a lower total attendance than the 2024 Express.
2000: Four pitchers passed 2000 innings pitched for their career. Stephen Strasburg, Jose Fernandez, Shelby Miller and Michael Wacha. Among them Stras is the only one who did it in less than 300 appearances.
.734: Going 21 -5 for the season, Mike Wheeler has, at least for now, passed Stephen Strasburg to hold the best career winning percentage in CBL history. He is 69 wins behind Stras’s total of 171.
10: As all good things eventually come to an end, Longest Play off streak in CBL history, belonging to Calgary Sting, came to an end in 2024. This was the first time they missed it. Vancouver Canadians now hold the longest active streak, making the play offs 7 years in a row. While Calgary didn’t win the championship during their run, They did make the cup series twice in 2017, 2019, Back when they were known as Mavericks and once in 2014, When they were the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.
1 Million : Collective number of games missed by Altoona Curve players during the season.
