The reign that belongs to Big Ol' Country Breakfast may be too much for me to fully describe here on the Jargon.
With four championships in five years, and four straight in full seasons, it is just a remarkable feat that I really didn't think would be possible anymore.
As we've added stronger owner after owner, I thought we would be destined for some new winners, but year after year since 2019, it's been all about the Breakfast.
It's an honor reserved for sporting icons, sporting legends.
Well, five years later, I do believe it is quite deserved.
What wasn't deserved was the lack of acknowledgment on here.
Everyone knows my struggles with writing in the JLB kicks in during the summer months and lingers until the offseason.
It took almost 2 months for me to write about Sam's second World Series title. His third was written on Oct. 3, so that was much better timing, but his fourth...
Well, it has yet to be written, and for that, I apologize.
This should be something that is documented and honored. His two-matchup sweep of the Dude was impressive, and it gave him the most titles in JLB history, surpassing the Cheese Steaks and Slammers, who each have three titles.
"Sam is the unquestioned king of the JLB," the Cheese Steaks said. "His starting pitching is the best in the league by a mile, and he collects a lot of 25/25 type bats that keep his offense balanced and dangerous. But more than anything else... in the playoffs, he just always catches fire. It's been amazing to watch honestly. Kind of like the Patriots back in the day. No matter what happened during the regular season, you knew they'd somehow flip a switch in the playoffs. We're all out here in no-man's land, just trying to chase him!"
JV wasn't kidding about the postseason switch. Sam is now 10-3 in the postseason, matching the Gamblers and Slammers for most postseason wins.
He's had seven straight winning seasons with seven straight playoff runs, and his 261 wins a year ago were the most in franchise history. He has a franchise winning percentage of .543, and it's making it hard to remember what year is what.
I told Sam, I was actually taken aback when making the new JLB banner, because the years have blended together so much that I really truly thought he was going for the record fourth this year. His dominance has been so good, I'm starting to lose count.
"It doesn't feel like four," Sam admitted after some prodding to talk about the four titles.
"Of course I'm happy with the run," Sam said, refocusing on 2024, "but I try not to dwell too much on the past. Goal this year is to leave no doubt."
Well, there's little doubt that he'll be the team to beat.
The 2024 season has Breakfast as the favorite to win the American League once again, and that's both by popular opinion and the Slammer S-Scale. His pitching at the top levels is one to be impressed with. He has five starters who could all be Top 3 Cy Young vote getters by the end of the season.
Spencer Strider, Corbin Burnes, Luis Castillo, Zack Wheeler, Blake Snell.
That doesn't sound like a fantasy rotation; it sounds like a run on starting pitchers in the second round of a draft.
"My pitching will be my strength early on, balancing minimum start weeks and the weeks I can let them all ride," he said. "But it's really about having guys at the end. Already down Eury (to start) the year shows just how fragile that depth can be."
But if there's one person that should be OK with pitching depth, it's the guy who has managed to find gems, both arms and bats, in the draft, well after everyone has had several cracks at drafting said hidden gems.
Who will this year's be?
"I am very excited about Luis Gil and the stuff he flashed in spring," Sam said, alluding to the newly named No. 5 starter of the Yankees, "but Meadows might be the one that leave people thinking, 'How was he there that late?'"
If Parker Meadows is a difference maker for the Breakfast, then we are all in trouble, because the players who we expect to lead the defending champions are not going to be easy to defeat.
Breakfast has seven players all in line to have 20 or more steals. He's projected to have 10 more triples than the next best team in the American League. He scored high on most every other offensive category, and it really doesn't account for some of the projections that I think are a bit low for his team. Elly De La Cruz has only 22 HRs and 71 RBIs to his name in the projections, and I think that is way too low. I think he gets to 30/90 area this year, if not higher, and no, Choo, he's not going to Triple-A.
I also expect a big year from Trea Turner after he really ramped it up late in the season last year. His projections are pretty good right now, but I can see him out-performing them easily.
"I need Trea to be Trea from the onset," said Sam, who is desperate for a break in luck. "Choo has offensive star power, and the AL top to bottom has different offensive strategies that mean I need a star to emerge."
Maybe that star could be right in Choo's backyard (so to speak). Alex Verdugo is one of my darkhorses to make some noise this year. I think in that Yankees lineup, he'll be able to thrive, and I would not be surprised if he is the one we are all looking at come July and wondering, "Why didn't I draft him?!"
No matter who that surprise guy is for the Breakfast, come July, I plan to write about it. And come end of September, I plan to write about the World Series Champion.
I hope it's me, but at this point, it's hard not to believe it will be Sam for the fifth time.
** Checks record book again **
Yes, that's right, the fifth time.
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