No, it’s not football season. We’re not even close, but the itch often begins for me as we approach June. Soon, Colby will start sending me mock drafts, Matt will ask me how many keepers he can keep and sometime around early August, we’ll all remember that Burrier is still in this league.
For fun though, let’s do some quick lists. With Mike winning the championship this past season in just his sixth year in the league, I was wondering how long it took for everyone else to earn their big beautiful mug. Here is that list.
FIRST CHAMPIONSHIPS
ROBIO – 1st season (1999)
BOB – 2nd season (2004)
RICH B – 2nd season (2003)
MATT – 5th season (2007)
MICHAEL – 6th season (2025)
DON – 6th season (2006)
GRIFF – 7th season (2005)
RICH C – 11th season (2013)
JEFF – 14th season (2020)
COLBY – 19th season (2022)
ERIC – 21st season (2021)
ROB M – Never Won a Title after 23 long seasons in the league
FUN FACTS
- Four of the last five champions were first time winners (Jeff in 2020, Eric in 2021, Colby in 2022 and then Mike in 2024)
- Bob and Burrier both won their first titles in their second season, after both missed the playoffs their first year.
- Colby and myself are the only two people to follow up our first championship with back-to-back titles the next season (Robio in 1999-2020 and Colby in 2022-2023).
- Both Matt and Don won their first title, then won their second championship two years later.
- If we wanted to add the six years Jeff was teamed up with Colby, that means Greenblatt actually went 20 years without a title.
- To win a championship early in your career, one needs to make playoff trips. Michael has made it to the postseason in five of his first six seasons in the league. Only three others pulled that off. Me, Griff and Burrier.
- Michael was the 7-seed when he won his first title. He became the second person to win their first title as the 7-seed. Eric in 2021 remains the only 8-seed to win it all. The average seed for first time winners is 4.4.
BEEN TOO LONG FOR SOME
On the flip side, let’s see who has gone the longest since winning their last title.
ROB M – 23 seasons and counting
RICH B – 21 seasons (2003)
DON – 16 seasons (2006)
BOB – 10 seasons (2014)
GRIFF – 9 seasons (2015)
RICH C – 8 seasons (2016)
MATT – 6 season (2018)
ROBIO – 5 seasons (2019)
JEFF – 4 seasons (2020)
ERIC – 3 seasons (2021)
Colby – 1 season (2023)
Michael – 0 seasons (2024, Current Champ)
FUN FACTS
- Yes, it’s been over a decade since Bob has won a championship. Is he our league’s version of the modern-day Dallas Cowboys?
- Masterson and Burrier both joined the league in 2002. They have combined for 46 seasons, yet have just one championship (Burrier in 2003) and both have gone over two decades now without securing a mug.
- The worst part about Masterson’s failure to win a championship in this league after 23 seasons is the fact he hasn’t even played in the title game.
- For four people, their last championship was their only championship. Michael, Eric, Jeff and Burrier won it all, but none have won it all since (granted, Mike hasn’t played his follow up season yet).
- Bob, Matt, Calderon and myself typically make up the top-four in my career rankings, yet none have sniffed a championship since the COVID vaccine. Coincidence? I think not.
- Three of the last seven champions entered the playoffs without a winning record (Mike was 7-7 this past season, Eric was 6-8 in 2021 and Matt was 6-7 in 2018).
- The closest Masterson has ever gotten to winning it all was in 2013, when he reached the semifinals, but lost to Calderon by 333 points. Overall, he’s 0-5 in the semifinals. Yet, what is stunning is the dropoff after securing a quarterfinals win. In his five 1st round wins, Rob’s squad averaged 1,713 points per game. The following week, his teams only averaged 1,095 PPG. That’s a 618-point drop.
You want more numbers? Let’s keep going, shall we?
LONGEST STREAK WITHOUT A TOP SEED
RICH B – 23 seasons (Never earned a top seed)
ROBIO – 11 seasons (2013)
GRIFF – 12 seasons (2012)
DON – 19 seasons (2004)
MATT – 15 seasons (2009)
JEFF – 8 seasons (2016)
BOB – 7 seasons (2017)
MICHAEL – 6 seasons (Never earned a top seed)
ROB M – 3 seasons (2021)
ERIC – 2 seasons (2022)
COLBY – 1 season (2023)
RICH C – 0 seasons (2024)
FUN FACT
- Not only has Burrier never finished first in the standings during his 23 years in the league, he hasn’t even finished second. He has finished third seven times though, including last year.
- Calderon has earned three of the last six top seeds. Only Bob has pulled off a better feat, earning three top seeds during a four-year run (2014-2017).
- Bob and Calderon are the only two people to deliver back-to-back top seeds. Bob did it in 2014-2015 and Rich pulled it off in 2019-2020. However, they combined for just one championship in those four seasons.
- Don has only one career top seed, but he’s finished dead last six times. He finished first or second three times in his first seven seasons, but he hasn’t done it since.
- Griff only has two top seeds for his career, but he has finished second three times.
- Colby’s 2023 top seed was his only top seed during his 21-year career.
- It’s been 11 years without a top seed for me, but in that time, I have finished second or third in four of the last six seasons.
- Jeff has not finished among the top three since he earned his only top seed in 2016, yet he has appeared in more title games since 2016 than anyone else.
- Matt only has one career top seed (2009) and he’s only finished second once (2005).
- Masterson’s top seed in 2021 is his only career top-seed. But he did finish fourth for a stunning five straight seasons (2015-2019)
LONGEST STREAK WITHOUT A SCORING CROWN
RICH B – 23 seasons (never earned a scoring crown)
ROB M – 23 seasons (Never earned a scoring crown)
JEFF – 17 seasons (Never earned a scoring crown)
DON – 17 seasons (2006)
GRIFF – 19 seasons (2005)
RICH C – 8 seasons (2016)
MATT – 7 seasons (2017)
MICHAEL – 6 seasons (never earned a scoring crown)
BOB – 3 seasons (2021)
ERIC – 2 seasons (2022)
COLBY – 1 season (2023)
ROBIO – 0 seasons (2024)
FUN FACT
- Four people have never won a scoring crown: Burrier, Masterson, Jeff and Michael. Meanwhile, myself, Bob and Colby have combined for half of all scoring crowns (13 out of 26).
- Burrier and Michael are the only two teams to never earn a top seed or a scoring crown. Of course, Evangelist has only been in the league six years, while Rich has been riding this train for 23 seasons.
- It’s been eight years since Calderon earned a scoring crown, but in that time, he has finished second three times.
- In 2023, Colby was both the top seed and the scoring champ. He became the 8th person to pull that off. However, of those eight, he became just the fourth to deliver the in-season triple crown with a top seed, scoring crown and winning the actual championship.
- Matt has two career scoring crowns and he won the championship in both seasons.
- Griff’s only scoring crown in 2005 was the only time he has led the league in scoring in 26 seasons.
- Don finished first in points in 2006. He has never cracked the top-four in any of his other 23 seasons in the league.
- My six career scoring crowns remain the most. The longest I’ve ever gone without a scoring title is four years. The next person on that list is Matt. The longest he’s gone without a scoring title is six seasons.
- Bob is the only person to earn scoring crowns in back-to-back seasons and he actually has done it twice (2014-2015 & 2020-2021).
- While Masterson has never earned a scoring crown, he has finished second three times. In 2011, he missed it by just 69 points. In 2013, he missed it by just 66 points. That’s basically a five-yard rushing or receiving TD.
- And finally, Jeff may not have ever won a scoring crown as a solo artist, he did win one scoring crown when partnered with Colby back in 2003.