Newts' Garrett Curless And Wiffle Dees' Tyler Shupert Named 2022 ORWBL MVP Winners

Throughout the week, we have been announcing the winners of each regular season award voted on by all eighteen Managers. A player/manager received 3 points for a 1st place vote, 2 points for a 2nd place vote, and 1 point for a 3rd place vote. Today we conclude awards week by announcing the National and American League Most Valuable Player Award winners.

Starting off in the National League it was New Carlisle Newts legend Garrett Curless who received the most votes as he finished with 36 vote points while Granger’s Alex Zarazee finished in second place with 32.

Although Alex Zarazee appeared on one more ballot, it was Curless who received the most first place votes with nine compared to Zarazee’s six. By winning the award, Curless becomes the first player in ORWBL history to win Most Valuable Player honors on three different occasions.

Heading into this season, Curless was one of four different players to have won the award on multiple occasions as he was joined by Tony Koch, Scott Soos, and Denis Jedrysek. Curless is now in an exclusive club of his own as he becomes the first player to win the award three times.

Curless first won the award back in 2007 as the league was just getting going. He then became the 4th player in ORWBL history to win multiple MVP awards after winning the 2016 National League MVP award. Despite the influx of younger talent coming into the league, Curless has continued to prove himself as not only one of the greatest players of all time but also one of the best players in the game today.

Curless appeared in all 30 games for New Carlisle as he went 81/176 at the plate while boasting a .460 Batting Average. His 57 Home Runs ranked first in the National League and 4th in all of ORWBL. He finished with 72 RBI (2nd in NL) and 68 Runs (1st in NL) as he showed zero signs of slowing down this year.

On top of his elite hitting numbers, the lefty also went 4-3 on the mound while he finished with the lowest ERA in the National League among qualified pitchers with a 4.61 ERA. This man truly did whatever Newts skipper Koby Keck asked out of him as he showed the younger generation of wiffler’s how it’s done all season long. All in all, it was one of Garrett Curless’s finer seasons in what has been one of the greatest playing careers that we have ever seen.

Moving over to the American League side, it was Cityless Wiffle Dees’ slugger Tyler Shupert who finished with the most vote points at 41. He finished 15 points ahead of both Maple City’s Caleb Jonkman and South Bend’s Ryan Galiher who finished tied for 2nd with 26 vote points.

Shupert turned heads at the 2019 All Star Game where he took home All Star MVP honors. Over the next few years he has since blossomed into one of the most feared hitters in the game. He nearly won the award last season but fell just shy to Bourissa Hills star DJ Hill by a few votes.

After falling just short, Shupert was on a mission in 2022 as he put together another phenomenal season. After a slower start to the year than he had hoped, Shupert found his rhythm as he quickly started to climb all of the hitting leaderboards.

When it was all said and done, Shupert would end up playing in all 30 games while going 112/176 at the plate. His 112 Hits ranked 2nd in ORWBL behind only Caleb Jonkman while his .636 Batting Average also ranked 2nd behind Jonkman.

After leading the country in Home Runs in 2021, he belted 65 Home Runs which was the 2nd most in all of the league behind South Bend’s Ryan Galiher. He finished with 86 RBI and 86 Runs which were both tied for 3rd in the American League. He was the only player in the league to rank in the top 3 of each hitting category as “Shupe” truly did it all at the plate this season.

Shupert was the catalyst in the Wiffle Dees’ offense as he played a massive role in Cityless finishing with a 22-8 regular season record. It appeared as though it would be a three headed race for the American League MVP but Shupert ended up winning by a pretty considerable margin. Many would also point to the fact that Shupert went a combined 5-1 against Jonkman and Galiher as the Dees’ took 2 out of 3 from South Bend at Payton’s Yard while sweeping Maple City to close out the season at The Garage.

With Shupert taking home American League MVP honors, that concludes what was an incredible week for the Cityless Wiffle Dees as they ended up taking five out of the six American League regular season awards. Shupert joins teammates Kadin Abegg (Manager of the Year & Cy Young), Kody Webb (Gold Glove), and Brayden Ruiz (Rookie of the Year) as the Wiffle Dees players to take home regular season awards. They became the first franchise to win five regular season awards in the same season.

That brings awards week to a conclusion as we now get set for the remainder of the 2022 ORWBL Postseason. Congratulations to all of the regular season award winners!

National League Most Valuable Player Award Full Results:

Garrett Curless: 36 (Newts)

Alex Zarazee: 32 (Panthers)

Sam Bull: 12 (Knights)

Tony Koch: 7 (Billy Goats)

Lucas Oletti: 5 (Billy Goats)

Kade Stone: 4 (Skeeters)

Griffin Smith: 4 (Panthers)

Joey Schuster: 2 (Meatspins)

Dan Schaefer: 2 (Sluggers)

Austin Williams: 1 (Panthers)

Anthony Rieff: 1 (Meatspins)