PennantChase.com Free Baseball Sim League News

Recapping the feedback of the Auto Draft Survey

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 11:13:14 -0700

Hi everyone! Thanks to the many folks who took the Auto Draft survey. I wanted to take a moment to share my impressions, along with some planned follow-ups.

Key Takeaways

Quick Draft is the clear favorite. About 70% of respondents prefer the Quick Draft. That’s not a huge surprise, but it is a big number—and it really highlights how valuable the Quick Draft experience is to the site.
Daily Drafters are fewer, but passionate. While a smaller audience prefers Daily Drafts, they largely like the format as it exists today. Their needs are different from Quick Drafters: they enjoy the slower pace, having more time to think, and build their roster on a schedule that works with busy lives.
Most respondents only care about baseball. A whopping 75% of responders said they have no interest in basketball or football. This didn’t surprise me, but it does underscore how hard it is to gain traction with other sports. Baseball is uniquely well-suited for a stats-based sim, while other sports are simply less intuitive in this format. (I absolutely love the basketball game, and I know we have a passionate fan base in basketball, but there just aren’t as many of them.)

What’s Next?

Despite the lower popularity of other sports, it’s clear that a Quick Draft option for basketball and football is highly desired—and it may even help draw a few more players to those leagues. This also required a Waiver feature for those sports, which I’m happy to report is now LIVE. Custom basketball and football leagues can start using waivers immediately.

Improving the Baseball Quick Draft

Overall, the feedback on the current Quick Draft balance was very encouraging. Many people appreciated how the new formula keeps teams more competitive than in the past. That was great to hear, especially considering the initial drama around the change (including a few folks leaving the site over it). Your feedback reinforces that this was the right move for the long-term health of Pennant Chase. That said, two recurring concerns came up:

The draft can feel repetitive
Some owners struggle to fill all positions

The repetition issue is admittedly tough to solve—it’s somewhat the nature of the beast. However, I think we can make things feel more dynamic by:

Adding a slightly larger player pool to each league
Ensuring owners are offered players at all positions, especially late in the draft when a position remains unfilled

Quick plug: If repetition really bothers you, check out Random Player leagues. They use a fresh player pool every season and offer a totally different experience.

Bots, League Fill, and the Draft Room

Interestingly, there weren’t many complaints about bots. Still, I plan to revisit how bots fill leagues so that we prioritize humans joining first, with bots stepping in only to fill the less desirable final spots in Quick Drafts. I’ll also continue trimming down the overall number of leagues—this is an ongoing effort to keep things healthy and active. As for the “Draft Room” idea, many people found it intriguing, but there wasn’t enough enthusiasm to justify pursuing it right now. That said, I do have ideas for special one-off leagues that I think people will enjoy, and that’s something I’d like to experiment with this year.

Other Draft Ideas

Several of you suggested ideas like hybrid drafts or auction drafts. I’ll definitely keep these in mind, although the site really shines with Custom Leagues, so I don’t want to over-invest in endless variations of Auto Drafts. That said, some of these ideas could absolutely fit into future one-off or experimental league formats. While I know a few of you would like a faster Daily Draft, there was a lot of passionate feedback to keep it exactly as it is—so no changes are planned there. And yes… hockey. I know it’s still on many wish lists. That said, many people once wanted basketball and football too—especially football—and now hardly anyone plays them. Building a new sport is a multi-year commitment, followed by permanent maintenance, so it’s hard to justify lightly. I’ll never say never. Hockey is still possible someday, and I admit it would be a fun project. We’ll see where things go. Thanks again to everyone who took the time to share feedback. It genuinely helps shape where Pennant Chase goes next.]]

Yet another year! Hello to 2026, but first...

Wed, 31 Dec 2025 23:22:37 -0700

Baseball Auto League Leaders - Most Wins These owners simply grinded baseball this year — five elite performances, with the top three all clearing 45,000+ wins in a single season: 1. chaaad — 54,820 wins (.636) 2. WorcWarr — 52,900 wins (.595) 3. Artinshki — 47,413 wins (.593) 4. RichGibson — 45,976 wins (.534) 5. Mortamar1966 — 45,843 wins (.594) That’s an incredible amount of baseball simulated — and sustained success. Best Winning Percentage (baseball) 1. barr512 — .709 winning pct (13,983–5,727) 2. ColinBoucher — .700 3. ClassicOs — .683 4. bdavids28 — .654 5. charlesgant68 — .654 🏀 Basketball Auto League Leaders - Most Wins Basketball continues to reward both strategy and endurance: 1. shane211 — 8,339 wins (.704) 2. disturbed — 7,987 wins (.788) 3. REVEJB — 6,314 wins (.677) 4. Maulucci16 — 5,418 wins (.718) 5. Cardscoach — 4,810 wins (.608) Huge shout-out to disturbed — nearly 8,000 wins and flirting with a .790 win rate is no joke. Best Winning Percentage 1. bdavids28 — .822 (2,931–635) 2. mgm7 — .790 3. disturbed — .788 4. kingstreet — .786 5. jamin — .774 The great bdavids28 continuing to roll, jamin continuing to flex in all sports, and the legendary kingstreet showing up after all these years! Hoops Playground This game is still getting action! Some users did outstanding this year as well! 1. jamin 1439 - 441 2. wroddick 1307 - 533 3. dshearer 1235 - 485 4. jaredhamann 1030 - 850 5. bdavids28 1016 - 264 🏈 Football Auto League Leaders - Most Wins 1. Cardscoach — 1,522 wins 2. jamin — 1,412 wins (.828) 3. ScottCornelius — 1,243 wins 4. AtsanBPinetti — 1,073 wins 5. mgm7 — 1,025 wins (.824) Best Winning Percentage 1. jamin — .828 2. mgm7 — .824 3. bdavids28 — .786 4. Shp73256 — .776 5. AtsanBPinetti — .771 Love so many of these guys flexing in multi sports! Looking Ahead Every year, these leaderboards remind me why I keep this thing called Pennant Chase going: people care, they experiment, they compete, and they keep coming back. Whether you’re chasing rings, win percentage, or just running seasons because it’s fun, you’re what makes the site tick. Thanks to everyone who played in 2025. I can’t wait to see what 2026 brings to Pennant Chase. Happy New Year — and play ball. ⚾🏀🏈]]

Annual Cyber Monday/Giving Tuesday Ad-Free Special is Back!

Sun, 30 Nov 2025 19:47:37 -0700

OFFER IS NOW CLOSED! ** Thanks to those of you who have already taken advantage!! ** It’s here - the annual Cyber Monday/Giving Tuesday special for those interested in a full year of ad-free Pennant Chase! I did this last year for the first time, and it got a surprisingly strong response, so I’m bringing it back for another year. Here’s how it works: For a one-time donation of $75, you get ad-free Pennant Chase status through the end of 2026! You’ll also get three league credits added to your account. This is a savings of $21 if you donated monthly, and $13 if you donated annually, but it’s actually worth more because you’ll get this December ad-free for nothing! And best of all, you’re supporting the sim site you love, and you’ll get to enjoy it all year long without any ads! (Many folks have said once you go ad-free, you won’t go back!)

How does it work?

Just make a one-time donation for $75 on the Donate page. (You can obviously do more than $75 if you want, but that’s the minimum to get the special.) Use the PayPal or Stripe option. You do not have to pre-select “ad free”. Once you make the donation, I will go into your account and update it. It may take me a day or so, so please be patient, but please reach out to me if I fail to update your account. If you are ALREADY an ad-free donor into 2026, I’ll give you 12 additional months, but if you are a donor deep into 2026 already, I’d prefer you wait for next year’s special - but ultimately it’s up to you. This special offer will be good through THURSDAY 12/4. Please make your $75 donation before 12/4 to take part. Those of you who have been around for a while know I am not the biggest fan of ads on websites. But ads account for over 95% of the site’s revenue, so they are deeply necessary to keep a complex site like Pennant Chase running and free. Nonetheless, I’m always excited when people get to experience Pennant Chase in its ad-free glory. As always, reach out to me with any questions! And many, many thanks for supporting PC. I simply wouldn’t be able to keep this going without you all.]]

New league homepage design rolls out

Wed, 29 Jan 2025 12:44:06 -0700