After two consecutive seasons of coming up just short, Mike’s Moonshiners are back on top of the Dream Team Baseball League. In one of the closest championship races in recent memory, the Moonshiners entered the final day of the 2026 season tied with the Choppers at 71 points apiece before emerging with a narrow 1.5-point victory. The championship is the franchise’s second, joining its 2022 title, and caps a remarkable stretch that has seen Mike’s club finish first or second in each of the past three seasons.
For much of the summer, it appeared the Moonshiners might cruise to the championship. After an uneven start that saw the team sitting in fourth place as late as mid-June, Mike’s roster caught fire, climbing from 60.5 points on June 15 to 77.5 just one month later. By late July, the Moonshiners had established themselves as the team to beat, and they maintained a comfortable position near the top of the standings through much of August.
But the Choppers weren’t going away. As September progressed, the Moonshiners’ lead gradually evaporated, and the Choppers moved ahead during the season’s final week. With just days remaining, Mike’s club found itself trailing by as many as two points. The race tightened again over the final weekend, leaving the two contenders deadlocked at 71 points apiece entering the season’s final day. In the end, the Moonshiners didn’t need to gain another point. Instead, the Choppers surrendered half a point each in home runs, stolen bases, and saves, slipping to 69.5 points and handing Mike his second DTBL championship. The Darkhorses finished close behind in third place with 68 points.
The foundation of the championship was unquestionably pitching. While the Moonshiners managed just 29 batting points, their staff led the league with 42 pitching points, finishing first in both wins and strikeouts while ranking second in ERA and third in WHIP. Their 88 wins were 12 more than any other team, and their 1,267 strikeouts narrowly edged the Choppers by just 10. In a championship decided by such a small margin, every category point mattered.
No player was more important to that pitching dominance than Cam Schlittler. Selected in the fifth round of the 2026 DTBL draft, Schlittler delivered one of the greatest pitching seasons in franchise history, posting 14 wins, 239 strikeouts, a sparkling 1.95 ERA, and a 0.919 WHIP. His 14.04 PAR led the Moonshiners and ranks as the third-highest single-season pitching total in franchise history, trailing only Justin Verlander’s 2022 championship season and Tarik Skubal’s outstanding 2024 campaign. For a fifth-round selection to produce at that level is an extraordinary return on investment, and Schlittler may ultimately be remembered as the defining acquisition of Mike’s second championship team.
Schlittler wasn’t carrying the rotation alone. Skubal, the franchise’s first-round selection in 2024 and a two-time DTBL Cy Young Award winner, delivered another excellent season with 12 wins, 182 strikeouts, a 2.69 ERA, and a 0.955 WHIP, contributing 9.70 PAR. Rookie Nolan McLean, Mike’s first-round pick in the 2026 draft, added 194 strikeouts, 12 wins, and 5.93 PAR, giving the Moonshiners a formidable trio of starting pitchers. Robbie Ray also contributed 13 wins, helping the team establish a commanding advantage in that category.
The bullpen was anchored by Cade Smith, whose 41 saves, 1.99 ERA, and 7.87 PAR made him another essential piece of the championship puzzle. Like Schlittler, Smith represented tremendous draft value, having been selected in the tenth round just one year earlier. His emergence as a dependable closer helped offset a relative weakness in saves, where the Moonshiners finished only sixth despite their otherwise dominant pitching performance.
Offensively, the Moonshiners were considerably less imposing, but they received enough production from their established stars to remain competitive. Junior Caminero led the attack with 42 home runs, 101 RBI, 100 runs scored, and 5.48 PAR. The young slugger, originally selected in the third round of the 2024 draft, provided much-needed power for a lineup that finished just seventh in home runs overall.
Shohei Ohtani and Rafael Devers also contributed significant production, combining for 67 home runs and 178 RBI, while Kyle Tucker and Riley Greene supplied additional support. Second-round rookie Luke Keaschall provided a different dimension, batting .282 with 20 stolen bases. Although the Moonshiners finished last in stolen bases as a team, they ranked second in runs scored and third in RBI, collecting enough offensive points to complement their outstanding pitching staff.
The championship also serves as a testament to Mike’s long-term roster construction. Schlittler and McLean emerged from the 2026 draft, Smith was a tenth-round selection in 2025, and Skubal and Caminero were acquired in 2024. Rather than relying on a single blockbuster acquisition, the Moonshiners assembled their championship core through several years of successful drafting and player development.
For a franchise that has been part of the DTBL since 1999, the second championship is particularly satisfying. Mike’s first title came in 2022, when a more balanced roster finished with 74.5 points. That triumph was followed by a disappointing eighth-place finish in 2023, but the Moonshiners quickly returned to contention, finishing second in both 2024 and 2025. Those near misses made the narrow victory in 2026 all the sweeter.
The Moonshiners now have two championships and five runner-up finishes in 28 seasons, a record that reflects both the difficulty of winning a DTBL title and the franchise’s sustained competitiveness. This year’s team may not have been the most balanced champion, nor did it produce the highest point total. But when the championship hung in the balance on the final day, Mike’s pitching-heavy roster had done just enough.
After four years, two frustrating second-place finishes, and a final-day battle that could hardly have been closer, the Moonshiners are champions once again.
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*Written for the Dream Team Baseball League with research, statistical analysis, and writing assistance from ChatGPT (OpenAI).*
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