Preamble
After receiving great feedback on my teaser, I decided to jump right into the FLH post. This chart shows the cumulative number of games over or under .500 for the franchise at the end of every season, 1973-2036. You'll notice that I chose a primary or secondary color from each team's scheme, and also highlighted Landis Championships with the little triangles. My dream for this is one of those fancy GIF charts that populates year by year. If you know how to do that...lemme know!
The Heartland, as constructed today is a very competitive division from top to bottom. You can sort of see this indicated by the recent trends of Omaha, Yellow Springs, Twin Cities and Madison. Des Moines continues their struggles of the past couple of decades, but they've leveled off in the past few years.
The first thing you'll probably notice here is the strong upward trend for Madison right in the middle of the graph. Former GM Gates Elliott started it in 1998, and Chris Wilson didn't screw it up. The Wolves ended up winning their division every year from 1997 through 2009 winning 100+ games in 10 of those seasons. They peaked at +490 in 2021 and are still solidly above .500 overall.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, you've go the Yellow Springs Nine, who as a franchise have been under .500 since the 1984 season. That trend up? That's all thanks to GM Ron Collins who has taken the team from a low of -520 to its current state at -234.
The extremes of Yellow Springs and Madison dwarf the dramatic swings of Omaha, particularly since 2020. The last half of the Ben Teague era brought the team near its peak of the early 2000's but some GM churn in his wake dropped the team back under .500. The Niles era has the team back on a positive trend and it shouldn't be too long until they break even again.
Finally we get to the Twin Cities River Monsters, who have been blessed with fairly consistent management, at least as far as expansion teams go. Scott Piccoli has been steadily digging the team out of the hole created by a 50-112 debut season. The River Monsters have made the playoffs twice, and lost two game 163s in the past four seasons.
Franchise W/L History - Frick League Heartland
- Lane
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Franchise W/L History - Frick League Heartland
Stephen Lane
Vice Commissioner / Historian
General Manager, Long Beach Surfers
Since 2026
Ex-GM, Amsterdam Neptunes, 2025 EBA Champions
Vice Commissioner / Historian
General Manager, Long Beach Surfers
Since 2026
Ex-GM, Amsterdam Neptunes, 2025 EBA Champions
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Re: Franchise W/L History - Frick League Heartland
this is awesome. Just out of curiosity do you have the total records for each of those franchises?
Randy Weigand
Havana Sugar Kings/San Fernando Bears: 32-50 (1608-1481)
Des Moines Kernels: 52-
League Champion- 34
JL Champion- 34
FL Champion- 36, 37
JL Southern- 34
FL Pacific- 37, 39
Wild Card- 33, 35, 36, 40, 43
Havana Sugar Kings/San Fernando Bears: 32-50 (1608-1481)
Des Moines Kernels: 52-
League Champion- 34
JL Champion- 34
FL Champion- 36, 37
JL Southern- 34
FL Pacific- 37, 39
Wild Card- 33, 35, 36, 40, 43
- Lane
- GB: Vice Commissioner
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Re: Franchise W/L History - Frick League Heartland
it's in the Unified History. First table past all the awards.
Stephen Lane
Vice Commissioner / Historian
General Manager, Long Beach Surfers
Since 2026
Ex-GM, Amsterdam Neptunes, 2025 EBA Champions
Vice Commissioner / Historian
General Manager, Long Beach Surfers
Since 2026
Ex-GM, Amsterdam Neptunes, 2025 EBA Champions
- RonCo
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Re: Franchise W/L History - Frick League Heartland
We've been shoveling the fallout of a half-century of losing for some time.
- Lane
- GB: Vice Commissioner
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Re: Franchise W/L History - Frick League Heartland
and doing a damn good job of it.
Stephen Lane
Vice Commissioner / Historian
General Manager, Long Beach Surfers
Since 2026
Ex-GM, Amsterdam Neptunes, 2025 EBA Champions
Vice Commissioner / Historian
General Manager, Long Beach Surfers
Since 2026
Ex-GM, Amsterdam Neptunes, 2025 EBA Champions
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