Repeat After Me: How do you follow up a Landis?

[neugey]

As you may know, I've returned to the BBA fold after a year-plus hiatus and am facing an interesting challenge. I've taken control of GBC Moscow Thunder Bears, a wildcard team that won it all in 2062, but cannot seem to get anything going in 2063. Things continue to not go well and the T-Bears remain in last place in the GBC EurAsia. Going through this siutation has brought about this question ... will this be the worst failure ever coming off of a championship in the history of the BrewsterVerse? And with that comes a bigger question - what have been all the outcomes of teams attempting to repeat? Well, that's what this feature will aim to summarize.

This will be a two-part feature. The first will look at the BBA going all the way back to 1974 when the Honolulu Typhoons had the first-ever opportunity to defend a Landis. The second will look at the shorter but just as revered history of the UMEBA/GBC in the same regard.

Legend:
Grade:

• - "." if the team achieved a similar win total as the prior year (0-4 wins less or 0-4 wins more)
  - "~" A tilde mark for each 5 wins less the team recorded than the prior year.
  - "*" A star fpr each 5 wins more the team recorded than the prior year.

• - LYWT - Last Year's Win Total
  - TYWT - This Year's Win Total
  - REP - "Y" if the team acheived a championship repeat in this season, otherwise "N"

Year	Team	Grade	LYWT	TYWT	Diff	Rep	General Manager
1974	Honolulu Typhoons	.	89	87	-2	N	David Klein
1975	New Orleans Crawdads	.	97	101	+4	N	Jerimy Kopra
1976	Washington Bobwhites	~	109	101	-8	N	Allen Rainey
1977	Las Vegas Hustlers	.	93	90	-3	N	Matt Rectenwald
1978	Birmingham Bandits	~~~~	98	78	-20	N	Chris Oxford
1979	Washington Bobwhites	.	107	111	+4	N	Allen Rainey
1980	California Crusaders	.	94	93	-1	N	John Bibler
1981	Louisville Sluggers	~	98	89	-5	N	Martin Lee
1982	Washington Bobwhites	.	91	91	0	N	Allen Rainey
1983	Buffalo Bisons	*	87	94	+7	Y	Justin Lorenz
1984	Buffalo Bisons	.	94	96	+2	N	Justin Lorenz
1985	New Orleans Crawdads	*	99	105	+6	N	Jerimy Kopra
1986	Baltimore Monarchs	~~	106	93	-13	N	Scott Maynor
1987	Birmingham Bandits	*	90	99	+9	N	Jason Bartlett
1988	Baltimore Monarchs	.	96	92	-4	N	Andre Girard
1989	New Orleans Crawdads	~~~~~	108	81	-27	N	Jerimy Kopra
1990	Las Vegas Hustlers	*	98	103	+5	N	Matt Rectenwald
1991	Birmingham Bandits	~~	97	84	-13	N	Jason Bartlett
1992	Las Vegas Hustlers	.	100	100	0	N	Matt Rectenwald
1993	Birmingham Bandits	.	90	86	-4	N	Trapper Yuvienco
1994	Chicago Black Sox	~	97	92	-5	N	Mike Giovacchini
1995	Des Moines Kernels	~	97	88	-9	N	Mike Lynch
1996	Chicago Black Sox	~~~	103	84	-19	Y	Mike Dunn
1997	Chicago Black Sox	~~	84	71	-13	N	Matthew Nall
1998	Hackensack Bulls	~~~~	107	87	-20	N	Ben Teague
1999	Des Moines Kernels	~~	98	85	-13	N	Mike Lynch
2000	Vancouver Mounties	~	102	95	-7	Y	Joe Geoghegan
2001	Vancouver Mounties	~	95	88	-7	N	Joe Geoghegan
2002	Las Vegas Hustlers	.	96	93	-3	N	Matt Rectenwald
2003	California Crusaders	.	97	95	-2	N	Brett Schroeder
2004	Las Vegas Hustlers	.	94	97	+3	N	Matt Rectenwald
2005	Madison Wolves	~~	112	102	-10	N	Chris Wilson
2006	Las Vegas Hustlers	***	97	115	+18	Y	Matt Rectenwald
2007	Las Vegas Hustlers	~~~~~	115	90	-25	N	Matt Rectenwald
2008	Des Moines Kernels	.	91	87	-4	N	Edward Murphy
2009	Las Vegas Hustlers	.	103	101	-2	N	Matt Rectenwald
2010	Madison Wolves	~~~~	102	78	-24	N	Chris Wilson
2011	Hawaii Tropics	.	98	94	-4	N	Al Hoot
2012	Montreal Blazers	***	86	103	+17	N	John Callahan
2013	New Orleans Crawdads	****	87	107	+20	N	Jim Roberts
2014	Baltimore Monarchs	~~~	89	70	-19	N	Nick Verhoeven
2015	New Orleans Crawdads	*	91	97	+6	N	Jim Roberts
2016	Birmingham Bandits	.	95	97	+2	N	Mike Calvaruso
2017	New Orleans Crawdads	.	98	98	0	N	Jim Roberts
2018	Halifax Hawks	.	91	92	+1	N	Chris Robillard
2019	Calgary Marauders	**	95	105	+10	N	Kevin Dickson
2020	New Orleans Crawdads	*	102	109	+7	N	Jim Roberts
2021	Carolina Kraken	~~	97	87	-10	N	Aaron Weiner
2022	Calgary Marauders	~~~	101	83	-18	N	Kevin Dickson
2023	Atlantic City Gamblers	~	96	91	-5	N	Ryan Scott
2024	Huntsville Phantoms	.	90	94	+4	N	Kyle Stever
2025	California Crusaders	.	84	84	0	N	Ted Schmidt
2026	Hawaii Tropics	~	102	94	-8	N	Mike Bieschke
2027	Brooklyn Robins	**	84	98	+14	N	Alan Ehlers
2028	Las Vegas Hustlers	.	103	106	+3	N	Matt Rectenwald
2029	Huntsville Phantoms	.	101	100	-1	N	Kyle Stever
2030	Long Beach Surfers	~~	95	84	-11	N	Stephen Lane
2031	Louisville Sluggers	~~~	115	94	-19	N	Stu Hopkins
2032	Jacksonville Hurricanes	~~	94	85	-9	N	Tyler Simmons
2033	Louisville Sluggers	~~	94	92	-2	N	Stu Hopkins
2034	Jacksonville Hurricanes	****	87	107	+20	N	Tyler Simmons
2035	San Fernando Bears#	.	94	91	-3	N	Randy Weigand
2036	California Crusaders	*	98	106	+8	N	Ted Schmidt
2037	Rockville Pikemen	*	95	100	+5	Y	Aaron Weiner
2038	Rockville Pikemen	*	100	106	+6	N	Aaron Weiner
2039	Edmonton Jackrabbits	~~	93	83	-10	N	Chris Robillard
2040	Jacksonville Hurricanes	*	87	92	+5	N	Tyler Simmons
2041	Las Vegas Hustlers	.	101	97	-4	N	Matt Rectenwald
2042	Edmonton Jackrabbits	***	91	106	+15	N	Chris Robillard
2043	Louisville Sluggers	~~~~	111	88	-23	Y	Stephen Shaw
2044	Louisville Sluggers	.	88	86	-3	N	Stephen Shaw
2045	San Antonio Outlaws	~~~~~	97	72	-25	N	Mike Calvaruso
2046	Edmonton Jackrabbits	~~~~	101	77	-24	N	Chris Robillard
2047	Omaha Cyclones	*	92	97	+5	N	Justin Niles
2048	Las Vegas Hustlers	.	105	107	+2	Y	Matt Rectenwald
2049	Las Vegas Hustlers	.	107	107	0	Y	Matt Rectenwald
2050	Las Vegas Hustlers	**	107	117	+10	N	Matt Rectenwald
2051	Nashville Bluebirds	*	99	104	+5	N	Chad Nason
2052	New Orleans Crawdads	~~	108	98	-10	N	Jim Roberts
2053	Mexico City Aztecs	~	107	100	-7	N	Fred Holmes
2054	Sacramento Mad Popes	~~	104	94	-10	N	Doug Olmsted
2055	Charm City Jimmies	**	107	120	+13	Y	Dave Burcicki
2056	Charm City Jimmies	~~~	120	103	-17	N	Dave Burcicki
2057	Rocky Mountain Oysters	~~~	100	84	-16	N	Brett Golden
2058	Nashville Bluebirds	**	105	119	+14	N	Chad Nason
2059	Charm City Jimmies	.	94	96	+2	N	Dave Burcicki
2060	Portland Lumberjacks	~~~	104	88	-16	N	Chris Wilson
2061	Nashville Bluebirds	~	115	110	-5	Y	Chad Nason
2062	Nashville Bluebirds	.	110	109	-1	Y	Chad Nason
2063	Nashville Bluebirds	?	109	?	?	?	Chad Nason

# San Fernando won the championship in 2034 as the Havana Sugar Kings

Findings and Musings:

• - The best win total improvement after a championship is a tie between the 2013 Crawdads and the 2034 Hurricanes, with each team improving by 20 wins after winning the big one. It didn't help either team repeat, though!
  - The biggest win drop following a championship is the -27 tallied by the 1989 Crawdads. This is a number that my Thunder Bears will work hard not to surpass.
  - A lot of "Mike's" have won the Landis. Damnit, don't give me hope!!!
  - You can manage to sneak in the playoffs with just 84 wins and still take home the trophy. It's happened more than a few times.
  - My math (numbers here are hopefully correct or close to it) shows that a repeat champion on average loses -3.7 wins after winning the Landis. Aging, arbitration and free agency are indeed an ass-kicker, right?

[Trebro]

So if i read it correctly, only 9 repeat champions and @recte44 is only one to do it twice? And Matt and @Dington are the only 3 peat champions?

And also that 7 of the repeats were since 2037 and 5 of them since 2048? I wonder what that says about the league and changes over time

[Dington]

So if i read it correctly, only 9 repeat champions and @recte44 is only one to do it twice? And Matt and @Dington are the only 3 peat champions?

And also that 7 of the repeats were since 2037 and 5 of them since 2048? I wonder what that says about the league and changes over time

I've done it twice, too, naturally, as part of a three-peat.

[neugey]

So if i read it correctly, only 9 repeat champions and @recte44 is only one to do it twice? And Matt and @Dington are the only 3 peat champions?

And also that 7 of the repeats were since 2037 and 5 of them since 2048? I wonder what that says about the league and changes over time

When I was compiling all of this, it did stand out that there was a long stretch (basically the 30 years before 2037) where no one in BBA repeated. The last 25 years appear to be more dynasty-driven and a little more repeat friendly.