It was a year of big changes for the London Majors, who began the year having replaced seven of their starting players from a year ago. In fact, the only returnees in the starting nine were veterans Cody Mombourquette, Cleveland Brownlee and Paul Lytwynec. As a result, many ‘experts’ within Intercounty Baseball circles predicted the club to fall to the bottom tier of the league in 2015. But that’s not what happened.
On the contrary, the Majors, led by long-time manager Roop Chanderdat, jumped out to a quick start, winning their first seven games – a team record to start the year. The team did come back to earth from their hot start, but managed to finish fourth in the standings at the end of the regular season with a 20-16 record.
Several Players had standout seasons, including pitchers Luis Pina (7 wins – 2nd in the IBL, 2.57 ERA – 3rd in IBL) and Oscar Perez (6 wins – 3rd in the IBL, 3.22 ERA – 6th in IBL), as well as Paul Lytwynec (.350 average – 11th in the IBL) and Cleveland Brownlee (26 RBI – 9th in the IBL).
Chanderdat, meanwhile, earned his milestone 200th regular season win as a manager in late May.
The team was successful in the stands as well, logging two games of 5,000+ attendance (Sifton Pack the Park Game and July 1st Canada Day Game).
In the Playoffs, the Majors beat Burlington in seven games in the quarterfinals and then lost a close series to the Kitchener Panthers in Game 7 of the Semi-Finals. Noteworthy players in the playoffs included centrefielder Chris McQueen and pitcher Luis Pina.
The Majors also continued their strong work in the community in 2015, supporting groups such as the London Women’s Abused Centre (Purple in the Park game), Rookie League (London Middlesex Housing), Childrens Aid (day at Buffalo Wild Wings to raise money), Sifton Old Age Homes (tea with the residents), Special Olympics Torch Run (Canada Day Game), to name a few.
Special thanks goes to our great fans, volunteers, partners, coaches and players on a great season.
