GWBL 2025 SEASON RECAPS – CHAMPION (JohnnyC)
Tale of the Tape:
Coming in 1st place is Tom’s Retirement Tour, owned and managed by yours truly, the Commissioner. My team finished with 1,930 points for (5th most), 1,952 points against (2nd most) and a record of 8-6.
Synopsis:
Man what a weird, fun, frustrating and insanely lucky year for my team. It started off with a whimper, losing 110-120 to Ken in Week 1. I was pretty worried about my team, but things took an immediate turn. From Weeks 2-10 I went 8-1 and only lost a tough luck matchup to Lamone – Week 6 when I put up 151 and still lost. I was sitting pretty at 8-2 through 10 weeks and I may have even been in 1st place at that point. Week 10 was an especially good week, a 203.23 point performance. I believe that was the league high at the time and ultimately was only one of three 200 point performances this season. I started thinking about the bye annnndddd of course, the wheels came clean off.
My team proceeded to drop each of its last 4 matchups and drop from top 2 to 5th in the standings. I averaged less than 110 per week and was on a Gabriel pace down the stretch. The ultimate insult was week 14 when Tone, the actual Gabriel smoked my team. An embarrassing score of 118-188. After that humiliation I was absolutely sure that I was going to be one and done in the playoffs. There was no doubt in my mind.
Then the playoffs came and the fantasy cosmos decided I was due. Or there was a tear in the space-time-fantasy continuum. Or I got caught in some Hodor-like time loop (#GOT). Or God shined his light upon me. Or all of the above, but likely the latter.. What happened over the next three weeks is the luckiest stretch I have ever experienced in fantasy football:
Week 15: my team eked out an insanely close win in an even matchup against Ken. The Round 1 final score was 147.94 to 145.86, a 2.08 point difference. I hadn’t put up that many points since Week 10, almost a month. Travis Etienne had three receiving TDs, it was absurd.
Week 16: While the other semi finals matchup was a 205.5-155.25 thriller. I beat Lamone by the NFL equivalent score of 6-3. A rabbit out of the hat, Rob D horsehoe up your ass win by a score of 113.47 to 80.14. The lowest score Lamone had all season. Not the lowest score any team had in a win all year, but not that far from it. Indescribably lucky.
Week 17: the finals came and once again, I was blessed. Dyl told the troops to lay down their arms and gave me the title: 133.29 to 119.85. Euphoria on my end, depression for Dyl. The 133 I put up wasn’t a horrible score, but it wasn’t a league winning score either. Keetz put up 166 in the 3rd place game. Tone put up 137 in the toilet bowl vs Tieg. Dyl had beat that score 10 times previously this season. Even my team had beat that score 9 times this season.
Nevertheless, Tom’s Retirement Tour took the title. Back to back, my third overall. (Insert Tedy Bruschi “that’s three!” meme)
Signature Win/Loss:
I guess I’ll say the finals win, as lucky as it was. I spot-started Trevor Lawrence and he came through with 27 points. Highlighting the flukishness of it all – Lawrence had two rushing TDs. Even flukier? The guy I started him over (Dart) scored 30. Even though I botched that decision it still didn’t matter. Jonathan Taylor (my MVP) scored 21.6 which was clutch. My mid-season trade acquisition Kyren Williams contributed another 18.6. My favorite part though? I finally got the balls to sit Tyler Warren. I started Colston Loveland over him and he scored 21.4 points on Sunday Night football.
Miscellaneous Draft Results & Personnel Moves:
I didn’t have a 1st, but my first pick was my best. Jonathan Taylor was a horse for me early on in the season and at one point was in consideration for NFL MVP. He’s RB3 and the 5th highest scoring player overall. For the first 10 weeks of the season he was the heart and soul of my team. He went for 10.5 or more in every game and had 16+ in 9 of those 10. He had SIX weeks with 35+ and capped it off with a 56 point bomb in Week 10. What a guy.
My success drafting RBs continued into the middle and late rounds. DeAndre Swift (6th round) was a steady contributor (RB15). Jaylen Warren (8th round) was a nice pick and is RB19. Travis Etienne was my shining star though. The 9th round pick is RB10 and had some big weeks.
I also drafted well at TE – Tyler Warren (TE7) in the 7th and Tucker Kraft in the 12th (was awesome until the injury). I snagged Loveland off waivers which helped me win the title.
My WR group was one of the more frustrating aspects of my season. Ladd Mcconkey (3rd round) started off hot, but completely fell off down the stretch - is WR28 right now. Tee Higgins (3rd) did his usual thing and had some big games, but missed some games and is WR22. Devonta Smith had a nice first half, but sucked down the stretch. He has only one game with 10+ points in his last 5 and is currently WR21. Josh Downs never amounted to much.
I made two pretty notable trades: one for Rashee Rice and the other for Kyren. The Rashee Rice trade was a win until the Chiefs completely fell off. I couldn’t even start him/he was injured for the last two games. Definite L. Kyren did contribute but that trade was up and down. I sent Treyveyon to Tieg in that deal and it looked terrible for a while. He literally just scored a TD for the Pats as I sit here and write this. Despite that I’d say I was even on that one, Kyren was great for me.
My best FA move? Jaxon FartDart. Added him in October and he held down my QB spot for most of the second half.
Keeper, I barely Know Her:
The trend of bad keepers continues – Jayden Daniels (10th round). He was very good in the games he did play, but he will ultimately only play in 7 games this year. Bad luck there. He wasn’t even on the roster for the title game.
For next year it’ll either be: Rashee Rice (7th round), Tyler Warren (7th round) Dart (8th round), Woody Marks (8th round), Etienne (9th round), or Tucker Kraft (12th round).
Final Thoughts:
Not much else to say here – this was an incredibly lucky title. Last year I thought I earned it. My team was on fire down the stretch and I put up over 200 in the title game. While I may not have had the best team, it played the best when it mattered most. Not this year though. This was pure luck. I put together a solid squad, but it was a 5th or 6th place team. Somehow it failed upwards into a title.
It reminds me of the Patriots a little bit (#nobigdeal). The Patriots got absolutely robbed in the two super bowls against the Giants. I will go to my deathbed hating Eli Manning. But on the flipside, they had no business winning the super bowls against the Seahawks (“Malcom, Go!) or Falcons (28-3). As for me: I had the best team in 2023 when I went 14-0, but lost in the playoffs. I lost back to back title games in 2018-2019. In both of those seasons I scored the most regular season points and in 2019 I was the #1 seed. Sometimes you lose when you should win and win when you should lose. That’s just fantasy, fair or not.
Regardless, flags fly forever. I can buy my third trophy plate and proudly display it in the background of my work video conference calls. (Unironically, I’m unashamedly proud of those things because this league is a grind.)
That’s a wrap on the 2025 season, our 15th on record. Here’s to 15 more.
