Ghosts of League Winners Past

Every year it seems a handful of players go on a September heater and change the destiny of their fantasy teams. Some of those players are flashes-in-the-pan, but some have staying power. Last year’s class of league winners did produce some solid breakouts, with Ben Rice leading the charge, and Iván Herrera and Daylen Lile not far behind. For players like Michael Busch and Jo Adell, strong seasons were capped off by big power outputs to end the year, helping us believe in their power carrying over to this season.

George Springer ended on a high note in his healthiest season in recent memory, with a final line that papered over injuries sustained during the playoffs and drove him to be a consensus top-100 pick in drafts this season. Despite having put up a combined 99 wRC+ across the previous two seasons. He’s back to a 101 this year. 

Springer is not even the most emblematic example of the late season league winner. Most of the time, these players fall into one of two brilliantly frustrating buckets. 

Behind Door Number One, you have your slightly older prospects, typically between 23 and 27, who have some shred of pedigree remaining, but who also have one glaring whole. Like a 30% strikeout rate perhaps. They get drafted far too high the following season much too often. 

And behind Door Number Two, the hapless career minor leaguer, soon to be fan favorite. The 30-year-old first baseman who runs into a handful of homers and has decades of stories for his friends and family. But they aren’t likely to be in the majors the following summer.

Sure, there are prospects who come up and dominate, and then stick around in the majors. And older players who scrape out a few years of success before fading into alumni status. But most seasons have league winners that do anything but the following year. 

On the top end are players like Daylen Lile, who had 16 XBH to go with his near-.400 AVG last year to help him become a favorite sleeper in drafts before this season. He will put up a respectable 15 HR, 15 SB season this year as an everyday regular for the Nationals. Solid as a fifth outfielder, but unspectacular compared to his 2025 electric ending.

Lile is leaps and bounds better than most of these September flashes in the pan end up being. 

Pavin Smith had 32 R+RBI while hitting .290 in September for the Diamondbacks in 2024 at age 28. He’s hit .230 with 9 HR in the 115 games he’s played in the majors since then. Jonah Bride hit .312 with 33 R+RBI for the Marlins as a 28-year-old that same September, and hit .171 in 47 games in the majors since. 

September 2023 was the month where then 27-year-old TJ Friedl cemented his place as a fantasy breakout candidate, hitting for a .333 AVG with 7 HR and 36 R+RBI to cap off a 4-WAR season. That same month, Christian Encarnacion-Strand became CES, hitting .301 with 8 HR and 32 R+RBI before never making a sustained impact for the Reds again. 

One thousand miles west, a 25-year-old Nolan Jones completed a breakout campaign for the Rockies, finishing up his breakout rookie season with 20 HR and 20 SB after rocking a .349 AVG with 7 HR, 46 R+RBI, and 12 steals! His 53.8 ADP the following season came despite a 29.7% K% and .401 BABIP. He’s hit eight homers in the majors since.  

A 30-year-old rookie first baseman had us going in 2022, with a .318 AVG, 7 HR, and 40 R+RBI in September. That was Joey Meneses.

Not to be confused with 2021’s 30-year-old first baseman, Frank Schwindel, who hit .344 with 7 HR and 48 R+RBI. 

In the ancient times before COVID-19, Rougned Odor hit .205 and struck out more than 30% of the time in his last good season in 2019. But he hit .261 with 9 HR and 43 R+RBI to end the season, and he was drafted in the first 11 rounds in 12-teamers that year. Perhaps more impressive was Keston Hiura, who wrapped up his 2019 rookie campaign while battling through a hamstring strain, but still managed to hit over .300 in 14 games.  

Had enough?

These September flares are almost always certain to carry special emotional significance for the otherwise petty, fickle fantasy manager. Especially if you found yourself rostering one of these immortals during a fairytale finish and a championship, you may never quite be able to let these men go. 

You may own a TJ Friedl jersey. Or perhaps you rushed out to buy a Nolan Jones rookie card during the winter of 2023. Maybe you named your cat Piscotty after Stephen hit .310 with 8 HR and 46 R+RBI to cap off the 2018 season. And if you christened your first born son Kendrys after Morales hit .321 with 8 HR and 46 R+RBI in a storybook 2016 that saw the Angels miss the playoffs yet again, who could blame you?

Part of the magic of baseball is that it is a game of runs. Yes, basketball is more frequently referred to this way. But baseball’s version is much less fleeting. At least for a few weeks. 

In baseball, any player in the majors can flip a switch for a few weeks and hit like Aaron Judge, or even outhit Aaron Judge. A month of clear vision can mean a career minor leaguer doesn’t just get a cup of coffee as a September call up, but is instead remembered across a city and definitely by a few thousand lucky souls who picked him up in fantasy. 

If you take anything from this article besides a wistful smile and maybe even a tear of joy, I hope it’s a reminder that this beautifully unpredictable game is just that. Unpredictable. Beautiful sure, if you’re not playing at repressively humid Chase Field in September. But more unpredictable than anything. Daylen Lile was not a top prospect last year. Joey Meneses was not supposed to hit major league pitching. Frank Schwindel was more fever dream than reality for most.

But strange things can happen on the field. 

And if you’re lucky, then maybe, just maybe, this year they’ll happen to you.

Or if you’re a little less lucky, to whoever you’re facing in the playoffs.

Later this week, I’ll take a look at some of the players that could make up the 2026 League Winner class. We’ll look at those who maybe you can trust for a few weeks and who you will want to draft heading into 2027. 

But for now, let’s just enjoy those that came before them.