2068 Weaver Champs: Stockholm Swedes (8x)

Congratulations to the 2068 Weaver League Champions, the Stockholm Swedes!


Swedes Logo

After a steady 10-season climb up the Barnes Division standings, the 2068 Stockholm Swedes came to the realization that their Weaver Cup journey would be a classic example of the 90/10 rule: the final 10% of their mission to unseat Weaver’s back-to-back reigning champs, the Entebbe Zealots, would take 90% of their collective effort. With the Zealots motivated to cement their own place in history as one of Weaver’s epic dynasties, Stockholm would need to play their A-game starting from Day 1 of the season.

Stockholm came roaring out of the gate in April with a 15-8 record (.652) and refused to let up, posting 3 straight months of 20+ wins during the temperate Scandinavian summer. The Swedes knew that any dip in focus could allow Entebbe to gain momentum and pass them in the standings, so the division-clinching celebration was marked by outbursts of relief almost as much as joy.

The Swedes offense featured a potent combination of power and speed, as 6 of 9 regular starters posted double-digit totals in both homers and steals. LF Pete Hill led the way in winning his 1st MVP Award, logging a .306/42/101 slashline coupled with a staggering 62 steals. On the mound, RHP Mark Fidrych (24-5/1.73/163) took home the Cy Young Award after fending off some tough internal competition by RHP Ray Brown (22-7/3.20/169). RHP George Young (19-5/2.01/173) capped a rare clean sweep of the awards podium by winning Rookie of the Year.

Injury-ravaged Jamaica presented little challenge to Stockholm in the BLCS round, as the Swedes rolled the Rastas 4 straight in a sweep. The Honolulu Volcanoes looked doomed to a similar fate, but back-to-back shutout wins in Games 3 and 4 evened out the Weaver Series and sent Stockholm fans into a collective anxiety attack. After all the work to unseat Entebbe, would their beloved Swedes fall short, just steps away from claiming the prize? Homegrown star SS Huey Boland would answer with a firm NO, stepping up to the plate in the top of the 10th with the score tied 0-0. Volcanoes RHP Hugh Freeman was writing his own storybook arc in pitching a complete game shutout, but his brilliance would soon be forgotten as Boland hammered a game-winning home run deep into the left field stands of Diamond Head Diamond. Returning home with a 3-2 lead, Stockholm took care of business and claimed the Weaver Cup with a dominant 7-2 win at home in Game 6.

The exuberant shouts of joy from fans inside Cruz Field soon reverberated throughout the city, as fans left the comfort of their flats to join the impromptu rally in the streets of Gamla Stan, Stockholm’s historic old quarter. With the Swedes’ return to glory and memories of the last Stockholm dynasty still fresh in the minds of many, was it too soon to start thinking of this 2068 championship as the first step of a revival? We’ll see in the coming seasons! Congrats again Stockholm!