History of the LOD
2017: 8-team Restructure; Ant and Rob Join; Chuck Repeats as Champion; Trade-gate
After the breakup of TVS following the 2016 season, the Original 6 were quickly able to recruit two new members to join for the upcoming year:
- Anthony “Ant” Perez: RHS Alumni, Baseball Teammate of Chuck and Weege based in Rialto
- Roberto “Rob” Alvarez: High School Friend of Erik based in Moreno Valley
With no additional recruits, the league proceeded as an 8-team ESPN PPR league, adopting the same rule set as TVS with some changes to the season format. The 2017 season would run for 14 week seasons, with only 4 teams making playoffs and separated into two divisions of four teams. The league name has not yet been confirmed, but is allegedly “a mixture of LA and Rialto,” per Chuck Cassidy.
Primary sources for the 2017 season are difficult to come by for several reasons:
- The removal of the league from ESPN servers
- Lack of Group Chat records from the time
- Lack of blog records from this season. Wings was unable to write material due to other commitments during the 2017 fantasy season
Blog records from the 2018 season, however, do contain some primary source material from posts recapping the 2017 season, which help piece together the high-level story.
2017 Season Results
The 2017 draft was held in August or September. Overall, the season was less competitive than the year before, with a top-heavy group of 4 being the clear best teams. Chuck, Hurtado and Joe all returned to the playoffs. Rob, in his debut season, would get the final seed with a 2-game lead on the rest of the field and an even record with Joe. Erik, after qualifying the previous season, would miss the playoffs and put up a losing record, joining Wings and Weege who continued their streak of missed playoffs. Ant, the other debutante, would only win 3 games in his rookie campaign.
The semifinal round of the playoffs saw top two seeds Chuck and Hurtado take care of Rob and Joe, respectively, to line up a championship rematch from the year before. Chuck would best Hurtado once again to win his second consecutive Championship.
Trade-gate
The 2017 season saw a dramatic increase in scandals for Commissioner Chuck that would become the legacy of his administration. The biggest of these was what was known as “Trade-gate,” where three trades between Chuck and Joe were attempted in a one-day span, all subsequently vetoed by league majority on grounds of collusion. Though a trade was eventually allowed to take place, this scandal hangs over Chuck’s 2017 title and almost every trade involving the two brothers afterwards was heavily scrutinized. No investigation nor further action was ever taken for this specific incident.
Despite a scandal-filled and relatively noncompetitive year, the 8 members of the League were all committed to continuing onto next season. This continuity was crucial to the League surviving on to become the modern LOD.