2024 70+ Central

Chicago North TSP Fire 7, Berry’s 3

‘Fire Claim Three-Peat Championship’

Submitted by Dan Gooris, manager

It is often said, “heavy is the head that wears the crown.” If you have ever managed an MSBL World Series team, you know the thoughts that go through a manager’s head as he puts together a team each year. Will we be competitive, since we are a year older? What are our opponents doing to improve their rosters? Who are we missing due to injuries and will the new guys fit into our Fire culture?

We started the week with a nice win over the always-tough Minnesota Bandits team, but followed that up the next day with a thumping by the Berry’s. We played our old nemesis, the LA Athletics, close but lost. Then we came back the next day and beat the Rhode Island Salty Dogs. At that point, we felt like we had finally come together as a team, but quickly learned that making the playoffs was in jeopardy after losing to the Sacramento Tribe.

Most of our players remained at Legacy that day to watch the final innings of the Berry’s/Rhode Island game. Fortunately for us, the Berry’s hung on to beat the Salty Dogs.

Our first playoff game was against the same Sacramento team that had just beaten us 12-4 the day before. This game started late at Legacy due to rain and was forced to stop after just five innings due to another scheduled game at the field. The game was continued three hours later at Tempe #2.  With all the distractions, we were fortunate enough to win the game. Winning that game allowed us to play the same Berry’s team that had beaten us 13-1 earlier in the week.

The championship game at Red Mountain ended with us beating the Berry’s 7-3. I would like to thank my returning players, some who have been with us for over 17 years, and the new players who bought into the Fire philosophy. This was a three-peat for our Fire team, but it is not about wins and losses, it’s about guys buying into a system and culture of team first. I would like to thank our new additions this year, Larry Yoho, Tom Pomatto, Chuck Scheidt, and our MVP Dan Moss.