History of the LOD
Intro
The League of Degenerates (often referred to as the “LOD” and “the League”) is a PPR fantasy football keeper league hosted on Sleeper and composed of 10 member teams. Founded in 2016 as “The Vinegar Strokes” and originating in Rialto, CA, the League is currently headquartered in Sacramento, with its members now spread out in 10 different cities across 4 states. Since the League’s inception, it has undergone several name, rule, membership and leadership changes, with the League’s current name and 10-team keeper format being in place since 2019. The modern League is characterized by high scoring, fierce competition, and strong camaraderie from its relatively consistent lineup of members.
For the 2025 10th Anniversary season, the League reverted to a redraft format in what is known as “The Great Reset.” After this, the LOD has resumed it’s typical keeper format.
The League’s Commissioner is Andrew “Wings” Alas, who assumed the title after the 2020 offseason following the resignation of the First Commissioner Johnathon “Chuck” Cassidy.
Erik “Mister Orange” Naranjo is the current LOD champion following the end of 2025 season, with 6 total members having won the title since its founding year. Wings, Erik, Giovanni “Gio” Gonzalez and Johnathon “Chuck” Cassidy currently hold the record for most championships at 2 each.
Official Logos
Introduced 2020
Introduced 2022
Introduced 2024
Teams & Locations
The LOD's Origins and Timeline
Timeline of the LOD
The LOD recognizes its origins as a 12-team ESPN PPR redraft league founded in 2016 named “The Vinegar Strokes” (TVS), which was composed of a group of Rialto High School alumni and affiliates. After the collapse of TVS, six of these members (known as the Original Six) would continue on amd evolve into the LOD as it is known today.
The name “League of Degenerates” is attributed to Original Six member Jonathan Hurtado, who referred to the group as a “league of degenerates” sometime during the 2018 season. The following offseason saw the official adoption of the name, as well as creation of the Championship Trophy and transition from ESPN to Sleeper as a Keeper league. These significant changes during 2019 are what formalized the League into what it is today and separates its history into two distinct eras, The ESPN Era and The Sleeper Era.
The recognition of the ESPN Era and its Champions as part of League history has been the topic of debate and controversy. These championships were first recognized through the inclusion of their nameplates when the Trophy was created after the 2018 season, and were formally codified with Article II of the Official Rules adopted by the League during the 2020 offseason as “League Traditions”.
Due to the lack of surviving records from the ESPN Era, a majority of scoring history from this time has been lost. Despite this, surviving content such as videos, photos/screenshots, group message records, blog posts, and the member testimonies have helped piece together a reliable account of this period.
The ESPN Era (2016-2018)
The ESPN Era covers the 2016, 2017 and 2018 fantasy football seasons of 3 separate ESPN PPR leagues that were governed by Chuck and Wings in what is known as the Chuck-Wings Co-Commissionership. While these leagues predate the formal organization of the modern LOD, they are recognized as official parts of League history by Article II of the League Rules.
This period of the League’s history was defined by the dominance of Chuck, winning the League’s first two titles in 2016 and 2017. There was also a great deal of instability during this time period, with multiple changes to the League’s membership. Aside from the Original Six, longtime members of the LOD such as Ant, Gio, Nauch, and Roberto would also join to bring the League to it’s current-day 10-team format.
The ESPN Era was also marked with several scandals emerging from unethical trade practices, as well as alleged abuses of power by Commissioner Chuck. Chuck’s dominance would end during the 2018 season, with Wings winning the title and marking a turning point for the League into its modern form.
The Sleeper Era (2019-Present)
The Sleeper Era is the current era of the League extending 7 seasons, from 2019 to the recently completed 2025 season. The use of Sleeper brought multiple benefits to the League that it did not previously have available at ESPN:
- Multiple Commissioners, allowing Wings and Chuck to share equal powers in the 2019 season and 2020 offseason
- Real-time alerting, which served to level the playing field for members to react to news
- Draft pick trading built in for the new Keeper format
- Ability to quickly navigate past seasons in the league, which was highly important for the purposes of blogging and record keeping
While this is the literal definition of the Sleeper Era, the name is also used interchangeably with the modern LOD.
Because of the incomplete historical record from the ESPN Era, only statistics from the Sleeper Era are considered in most records the League actively tracks. Article II of the LOD Rules allows certain surviving records from the ESPN Era to be counted, most notably the 2016, 2017 and 2018 championships and regular season win/loss records going back to 2017.
The Sleeper Era has seen higher parity, with 4 unique Champions. Within this time, though, many recognize Gio’s dynasty, with 4 consecutive finals appearances and 2 championships from 2019-2023.
Though the 10-team format has remained, the League also has seen turnover in the Sleeper Era, with teams being replaced in the 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2025 offseasons. In this time, 3 of the original 6 members also departed.
The LOD has also had its fair share of controversies during this Era as it suffered from growing pains that came with the transition to Keepers. These scandals have revolved around tanking, keeper acquisition, excessive draft pick trading, ties in the postseason, as well as abuses of Commissioner powers.