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I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what has undoubtedly been the craziest year of most of our lives. I just went back and read my post from last April, and that feels like another lifetime ago. Just nine months ago, I was staying up late almost every night trying to do the work that needed to get done for my day-job while caring for my child at home and keeping up with all my other responsibilities, including Pennant Chase. What made it extra crazy was that people were flocking to Pennant Chase like never before. That made it exciting, but also exhausting. (In many ways, this month feels much like it did nine months ago, which goes to show what a rough slog this has been for all of us.)

Somehow, I used the adrenaline to create Hoops Playground, because I figured the world could use another sim game to distract themselves with, and amazingly we will surpass 400 leagues simulated in just under eight months! A really awesome podcast was started by three users focusing specifically on Hoops Playground. The success inspired me to make major progress on a full-fledged Basketball version of Pennant Chase, which I expect will launch Beta leagues in early Q1 2021.

On the baseball side, we revamped the Auto League playoffs to add another wildcard team and make the post-season matchups more fair by grouping teams into two divisions rather than three. We created our first Random Players leagues, which were a fresh new take on Auto Leagues and made for a more level playing field than most Auto Leagues since nobody is familiar with the player pool from season to season.

When I think about all that was accomplished in 2020, it's pretty amazing. I am not sure how I survived March and April - and I don't think I could do what I did in those months again - but it will forever be one of the most memorable times for good and bad reasons. The bright spot was that more people tried Pennant Chase than ever before, and many of those users decided to stay and become long-term members of this great community.

At the same time, it's been a rough year. I know I've had some dark moments this year, and I'm sure you did too. We lost some good members, and we had good members scale back from Pennant Chase. Some of our favorite users dealt with personal challenges and tragedy. Two relatives of long-time users messaged me to tell me of their loved ones passing. They also told me how much Pennant Chase meant to their departed loved ones. Those are messages I will never forget for as long as I live.

I'm humbled and proud of this community and what PC can bring to people's lives, especially during a year like 2020. It has inspired me to try to continue to grow and build this website - something I was frankly struggling with before this year.

As awful as this year has been in so many ways, if Pennant Chase thrives for many years to come, I think 2020 will be one of the big reasons why.

Thank you, happy holidays, and take care of yourselves out there.