2024 NBBA World Series Recap: BSO Philly Fire Runs the Table in St. Charles

The 2024 NBBA Beep Baseball World Series brought 20 teams to St. Charles, Missouri, for a tournament that featured an undefeated champion, a dramatic race through the top of the bracket, a record-setting defensive performance and an unusually high number of close games.

The tournament was held July 21 through July 27 at the St. Louis Youth Soccer Association Complex.

Entering the week, Indy Thunder held the No. 1 ranking, followed by Gateway Archers, Indy Edge and BSO Philly Fire.

Those four teams ultimately became the final four.

But the order changed.

Philly entered as the No. 4 seed and never lost.

The Fire went 8-0, defeated each of the other three top-four seeds and beat Gateway twice to capture the World Series championship.

Gateway finished second, Indy Thunder third and Indy Edge fourth.

Across the entire tournament, 82 games produced 1,165 runs.

Nineteen games were decided by a single run, and 26 were decided by no more than two.

For a tournament in which the four highest-ranked teams ultimately reached the final four, getting there was anything but predictable.

Philly Goes From No. 4 to World Series Champion

BSO Philly Fire entered St. Charles ranked fourth and opened pool play in Bracket D with New Jersey Titans, Atlanta Chaos and SGV Panthers.

Philly immediately took control.

The Fire opened with a 12-0 win over SGV, followed by a 15-3 victory over Atlanta.

Their first real challenge came against seventh-ranked New Jersey.

Philly won 16-8 to finish pool play unbeaten.

The Fire carried that momentum into the main bracket.

Cleveland Scrappers fell 12-2.

Bayou City Heat, which had opened the tournament 4-0, became Philly's next opponent.

The Fire won 15-10.

That set up a meeting with the tournament's No. 1 seed.

Indy Thunder had also been undefeated.

Philly handed Thunder its first loss, 14-12.

The win put the Fire in position to face Gateway Archers, another team that had yet to lose.

Philly won again, 17-10.

Gateway fought its way back into the championship by eliminating Thunder, giving the Archers another opportunity against the Fire.

The official statistical workbook records the final meeting as an 18-14 Philly victory.

Eight games.

Eight wins.

Philly had entered the tournament ranked fourth and defeated the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 6 seeds during its championship bracket run.

The Fire finished with 119 runs scored and only 59 allowed, a plus-60 run differential.

Only Indy Thunder finished with a larger run differential.

But Philly had the number that mattered most.

Zero losses.

Gateway Makes Another Major Jump

Gateway Archers entered the tournament ranked second, a remarkable rise of its own after finishing ninth at the 2023 World Series.

The Archers quickly showed that the new ranking was justified.

Gateway opened Bracket B by shutting out Braille Bandits 12-0.

Houston Hurricanes were next, and Gateway won 14-2.

Austin Blackhawks provided a tougher challenge, but the Archers won 8-5 to finish pool play 3-0.

Their run continued after pool play.

Gateway beat BCS Outlaws 12-1 and New Jersey Titans 16-2.

Then came Indy Edge.

Edge entered ranked third and had also started the World Series 5-0.

Gateway survived 9-8.

At that point, the Archers were 6-0.

Their first loss came against Philly, 17-10.

That sent Gateway into a win-or-go-home matchup with top-seeded Indy Thunder.

It became one of the best games of the tournament.

Gateway scored 21.

Thunder scored 20.

The one-run victory eliminated the No. 1 seed and sent Gateway back into the championship against Philly.

The Fire won the rematch, leaving Gateway at 7-2 and in second place.

Gateway scored 116 runs and finished with a plus-43 run differential.

Justin Holland and Marc Morris both earned offensive All-Tournament recognition, while Morris was also among the top short defenders in the tournament.

A year after finishing ninth, Gateway reached the World Series championship game.

Top-Seeded Thunder Falls One Run Short of the Championship

Indy Thunder entered St. Charles ranked No. 1 and played like it for most of the week.

Thunder opened Bracket A with three decisive victories.

St. Louis Sirens fell 15-0.

Oklahoma Lookouts lost 14-2.

Tyler Tigers lost 18-5.

Thunder then beat Minnesota Millers 15-1 and Chicago Comets 13-10.

Five games into the World Series, Indy was 5-0.

Then Thunder met Philly.

The Fire won 14-12, handing Indy its first loss.

Thunder responded with a 21-7 win over New Jersey Titans and a 15-13 victory over Indy Edge.

That put Thunder one victory away from reaching the championship.

Gateway stood in the way.

The Archers won 21-20.

Indy finished third at 7-2.

Statistically, Thunder had one of the strongest tournaments of any team in the field.

Indy scored a tournament-high 143 runs and allowed just 73, producing a plus-70 run differential.

That was the best run differential in the World Series.

Thunder also put the ball in play at an extraordinary rate.

Based on the tournament statistics, Indy finished with a 94.4 percent contact rate, the highest of the 20 teams.

The pitching combination of Jared Woodard and Darnell Booker also finished first in the World Series pitching rankings with a 5.6 percent strikeout rate.

But two close losses determined Thunder's final position.

Philly beat Indy by two.

Gateway beat Indy by one.

The No. 1 seed finished third.

Indy Edge Starts 5-0 Before the Bracket Tightens

Third-ranked Indy Edge came out of Bracket C looking every bit like a championship contender.

Edge defeated Boston Strong 13-1, Cleveland Scrappers 13-2 and Chicago Comets 15-5.

They followed pool play with a 9-3 win over Atlanta Chaos and a 5-3 victory over Boston Renegades.

Five games.

Five wins.

Then Edge met Gateway.

The Archers escaped with a 9-8 victory, handing Edge its first loss.

Edge responded emphatically.

Against Bayou City Heat, Indy scored 24 runs, the highest single-game total of the 2024 World Series.

The final was 24-12.

That set up another all-Indianapolis matchup, this time against Thunder.

Thunder won 15-13 and ended the Edge run.

Indy Edge finished 6-2 and fourth overall.

The Edge scored 100 runs and allowed only 50, producing a plus-50 run differential.

Only Thunder and Philly finished with larger margins.

Edge also ranked near the top of the team defensive numbers with a .648 Spotter Score.

The No. 3 seed slipped only one position, but a pair of two-run losses kept Edge from going any farther.

Bayou City Starts 4-0 and Finishes Fifth

Bayou City Heat entered ranked sixth and immediately took control of Bracket E.

BCS Outlaws fell 15-4.

Minnesota Millers lost 15-1.

Then Bayou faced fifth-ranked Boston Renegades in one of the best early games of the tournament.

The Heat won 14-12.

Bayou followed with a 21-8 victory over Houston Hurricanes and reached 4-0.

Their first loss came against eventual champion Philly, 15-10.

The Heat bounced back with a 12-11 win over Oklahoma and then routed Chicago 19-7.

Indy Edge stopped the run with a 24-12 victory.

Bayou closed the tournament with a 16-7 win over New Jersey to secure fifth.

The Heat finished 7-2, moving up one position from their No. 6 seed.

They scored 134 runs, second only to Indy Thunder.

Bayou also accounted for four of the six home runs recorded in the tournament's statistical workbook.

Tanner Gers finished second in the offensive rankings with a .651 batting average, while rookie Noah Fenney emerged as another major story.

Cleveland Makes the Biggest Climb

The Cleveland Scrappers entered the World Series ranked 13th.

They finished eighth.

No team gained more positions.

The tournament did not start that way.

Cleveland lost 6-3 to Chicago and 13-2 to Indy Edge, leaving the Scrappers 0-2.

Then things changed.

Cleveland beat Boston Strong 5-2 and St. Louis 6-0.

After a 12-2 loss to eventual champion Philly, the Scrappers began climbing again.

They defeated Braille Bandits 6-1.

Houston Hurricanes fell 8-4.

Then Cleveland met fifth-ranked Boston Renegades.

The Scrappers won 10-9.

That victory became one of Cleveland's signature games of the week.

New Jersey eventually stopped Cleveland 7-2, and Chicago defeated the Scrappers 14-11 in their final game.

Cleveland finished 5-5 and moved from 13th to eighth.

The team's biggest individual story was even more historic.

Stanley Griffin Breaks a 34-Year Defensive Record

Cleveland's Stanley Griffin delivered one of the defining individual performances of the World Series.

Griffin recorded 68 putouts in 10 defensive games.

His 6.800 putouts per game earned him Short Field Defensive MVP.

The total also broke one of the longest-standing defensive records in NBBA history.

Hall of Famer Ray Marshall had recorded 67 putouts at the 1990 World Series in Chicago.

That record stood for 34 years.

Griffin finished 2024 with 68.

The performance became the centerpiece of Cleveland's five-position climb and placed Griffin's name alongside one of the greatest defenders in the history of the sport.

Boston Shows How Costly Close Losses Can Be

Boston Renegades entered the World Series ranked fifth.

They finished ninth despite posting a 5-3 record and a plus-27 run differential.

Boston opened Bracket E with victories over Minnesota, 3-2, and BCS, 11-2.

Then the close games began.

Bayou City beat Boston 14-12.

The Renegades responded with a 12-3 win over Oklahoma before losing 5-3 to Indy Edge.

Then came Cleveland.

The Scrappers won 10-9.

Boston recovered to finish with victories over Austin Blackhawks and Tyler Tigers, but by then its placement path had changed.

The Renegades finished four positions below their seed despite winning five of eight games.

Their team defense was among the best in the tournament.

Boston finished second in the Spotter Score rankings at .649, narrowly behind Austin.

Three losses by a combined five runs were enough to push a statistically strong Boston team from fifth to ninth.

Minnesota Climbs After an 0-3 Start

Minnesota Millers also made a noticeable move.

The Millers entered ranked 16th and finished 13th.

Their tournament started with three consecutive losses.

Boston Renegades won 3-2.

Bayou City won 15-1.

BCS Outlaws won 6-5.

Minnesota finally broke through with a 4-0 win over SGV Panthers.

After a loss to Indy Thunder, the Millers beat Boston Strong 2-0.

Austin defeated Minnesota 6-1, but the Millers closed with consecutive wins over Houston and BCS.

Minnesota finished 4-5 and climbed three positions.

Their defense also ranked among the best in the World Series.

The Millers finished third in the team Spotter Score standings at .648, separated from second-place Boston by less than one-tenth of a percentage point.

Other Teams on the Move

New Jersey Titans moved from seventh to sixth with a 5-4 record.

Chicago Comets climbed from eighth to seventh at 5-3.

Tyler Tigers finished exactly where they started, holding the No. 10 position with a 4-4 record.

Austin Blackhawks slipped from ninth to 11th.

BCS Outlaws moved from 15th to 14th.

Atlanta Chaos moved from 14th to 15th.

Boston Strong moved from 18th to 17th.

St. Louis Sirens entered ranked 20th and moved up to 18th.

Braille Bandits entered 19th and finished 19th.

SGV Panthers entered 17th and finished 20th.

Houston Hurricanes joined Boston Renegades with the largest drop in terms of positions, falling four spots from 12th to 16th.

At the top, however, Cleveland's five-position rise was the biggest move of the tournament.

One-Run Games Define the Week

The 2024 World Series was filled with close games.

Nineteen of the 82 games were decided by a single run.

Twenty-six were decided by two runs or fewer.

Some of those games changed the top of the championship bracket.

Gateway beat Indy Edge 9-8.

Gateway eliminated Indy Thunder 21-20.

Others dramatically affected placement.

Cleveland beat Boston Renegades 10-9.

Bayou City survived Oklahoma 12-11.

BCS edged Atlanta 3-2.

Tyler beat BCS 2-1.

Minnesota and BCS split a pair of one-run games, with BCS winning 6-5 before Minnesota answered 4-3 later in the week.

Houston beat Braille Bandits 3-2.

Atlanta edged Houston 4-3.

Boston Renegades opened the tournament with a 3-2 win over Minnesota.

At the other end of the standings, even the placement games stayed tight.

St. Louis beat SGV 2-1.

Braille Bandits also beat SGV 2-1.

Boston Strong edged St. Louis 1-0.

The final standings were shaped repeatedly by games in which one run separated moving forward from moving into a different placement path.

Margist Leads a Powerful Philly Offense

Philly's championship run produced three members of the Offensive All-Tournament Team.

John Margist led everyone.

Margist scored 28 runs in 39 at-bats for a .718 batting average and earned Offensive MVP.

Tanner Gers of Bayou City finished second at .651.

Gateway's Justin Holland was third at .650.

Casey Krouse of Philly and Marc Morris of Gateway tied at .629.

Nick Silver gave Philly its third offensive honoree by batting .621.

The complete Offensive All-Tournament group was:

• John Margist, BSO Philly Fire, Offensive MVP, .718
• Tanner Gers, Bayou City Heat, .651
• Justin Holland, Gateway Archers, .650
• Casey Krouse, BSO Philly Fire, .629
• Marc Morris, Gateway Archers, .629
• Nick Silver, BSO Philly Fire, .621

Philly did not simply win eight games.

Three of the tournament's six top offensive performers came from the championship lineup.

A New Way of Recognizing Defensive Excellence

The 2024 World Series used positional categories for the defensive awards, separating players into Short, Middle, Deep and Utility positions.

Stanley Griffin led the Short category with his record-setting 6.800 average.

Austin's Dariuhs Sterling finished second at 6.714.

Richard Schultz of Chicago earned Middle Defensive MVP with 3.375 putouts per game.

Indy Thunder's Axel Cox finished second in Middle at 2.000.

Braille Bandits defender Zephyryn Victor earned Deep Defensive MVP at 2.714.

Minnesota's Josh Xiong finished second at 1.444.

Justin Romack of BCS Outlaws earned Utility Defensive MVP with 2.667 putouts per game.

The position-based awards provided a different way to recognize defenders whose responsibilities vary significantly depending on where they play on the field.

Austin Leads the Team Defense Rankings

Austin Blackhawks finished 11th overall, but one part of their tournament ranked first.

Team defense.

Austin finished with a .677 Spotter Score, the best among all 20 teams.

The Blackhawks allowed 42 runs while recording 88 defensive putouts.

Boston Renegades finished second at .649.

Minnesota was third at .648.

Indy Edge was fourth, also at .648.

Boston Strong rounded out the top five at .629.

The result showed again that placement and individual team metrics do not always tell the same story.

Austin finished outside the top ten but had the most efficient team defensive numbers in the World Series.

Woodard and Booker Finish on Top Again

Jared Woodard and catcher Darnell Booker of Indy Thunder earned the 2024 Pitcher/Catcher Award.

Woodard faced 284 batters and recorded 16 strikeouts, producing a 5.6 percent strikeout rate.

That was the lowest qualifying strikeout percentage in the tournament.

Chad Perry of Chicago finished second in the pitching rankings, followed by Gateway's Mike Curtis.

The award added another top pitching finish to the long-running Woodard and Booker partnership.

Noah Fenney Makes an Immediate Impact

Bayou City Heat rookie Noah Fenney made his first World Series count.

Fenney scored 26 runs in 46 at-bats, batting .565.

That placed him just outside the top ten overall offensive rankings in a field filled with veteran hitters.

His performance earned him the 2024 Male Rookie of the Year Award.

Fenney was also part of a Bayou team that started 4-0, finished 7-2 and climbed into fifth place.

Boston Strong Earns the Sportsmanship Award

Boston Strong finished 17th with a 2-5 record, but the team's recognition came from something beyond the standings.

Boston Strong received the 2024 World Series Sportsmanship Award.

The team earned victories over Braille Bandits and St. Louis Sirens during the week, including a 1-0 win over St. Louis in one of the closest games of the tournament.

Honoring Service to the League

The World Series awards banquet recognized members whose contributions extended well beyond wins, runs and putouts.

Michael Garrett received the Jim Quinn Award.

Kathy Quinn received the special Legacy of Jim Quinn Award, recognizing decades of service and her role in carrying forward the legacy of NBBA co-founder Jim Quinn.

Cassie Hopkins, Glen "Coach" Hopkins and Knox "Sapo" Ward received the Dan Tracy Award.

The 2024 Hall of Fame class included:

• Ethan Johnston, Player
• Eric Rodriguez, Player
• Lisa Gilchrist, Field Spotter
• Bob Bigger, Pitcher
• Chad Perry, Pitcher
• Darnell Booker, Coach
• John T. Herzog, Coach

The class represented several different areas of the game, from players and pitching to spotting and coaching.

The World Series Comes to St. Charles

The 2024 World Series was hosted at the SLYSA Complex in St. Charles, Missouri, with MindsEye and Lighthouse for the Blind St. Louis serving as major partners.

The St. Louis Cardinals were also among the primary supporters of the tournament.

The week included the traditional World Series competition along with the Kids of Our League clinic and Women of Our League exhibition game.

The tournament also welcomed two notable sports figures.

Olympic legend Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Major League Baseball World Series champion Bengie Molina participated in ceremonial first pitches and spent time visiting with NBBA athletes.

The World Series program recognized a wide group of additional sponsors and community partners that helped support the week in St. Charles.

Philly Changes the Order at the Top

The four highest-ranked teams entering St. Charles still occupied the final four positions when the tournament ended.

Philly simply changed the order.

The Fire entered ranked fourth and completed an 8-0 run that included victories over Indy Thunder and Gateway Archers, with Gateway falling to Philly twice.

No team found a way to beat the Fire.

After 82 games, 1,165 runs and a week filled with close finishes and memorable individual performances, the 2024 World Series belonged to BSO Philly Fire.