Alright so I got obsessed with this year’s Gopher Classic tournament ever since tickets sold out before I could grab any. Figured why not try predicting the champ myself? Total long shot but felt doable. Started by drowning myself in stats after dinner last Thursday – cold pizza beside the laptop, naturally.
The messy start
First mistake: assuming last year’s data would help. Dug up 2024 final stats only to realize three key pitchers graduated. Useless. My spreadsheet looked like toddler art. Scrapped it and decided fresh approach. Called Dave from my Thursday night beer league – dude follows high school baseball like it’s religion. He rambled for 20 minutes about Lincoln High’s new shortstop transfer while I scribbled notes on an envelope.
Embarrassing fieldwork
Saturday morning drove to Centennial Park where teams practice. Security guy caught me peeking through fence. Tried bribing him with coffee – didn’t work. Stood outside drizzle for 45 minutes tracking pitch velocities with this janky radar app before phone died. Noticed something though: Northside Academy’s bullpen catcher kept shaking his head at their starter’s curveball. Saved that nugget mentally.
- Sunday: Watched grainy livestreams of scrimmages from someone’s phone recording
- Monday: Guessed pitch signs from the bleachers during practice (probably illegal?)
- Tuesday: Accidentally sat with Jefferson High parents at diner – got team gossip with my pancakes
The crunch time chaos
Wednesday night everything became spaghetti. Stats on sticky notes everywhere – laptop keyboard covered in cookie crumbs. Compared last 5 years’ tournament upsets until 3am. Remembered that bullpen catcher shake. Dug deeper: Northside pitcher’s ERA tanked when humidity spiked. Forecast showed thunderstorms Friday. Ding ding ding!
Crunching numbers I almost choked. Their third baseman? Batting .200 against lefties. Quarterfinal matchup? Against Central’s southpaw ace. Suddenly Dave’s rant about Lincoln’s shortstop made sense – kid murders breaking balls and Jefferson’s relievers throw sliders constantly.
Final prediction written on pizza box: Lincoln over Northside in finals when rain ruins Northside’s rotation. Jefferson takes third. Northside coach will argue strike zone and get ejected in the seventh inning. Betting my last slice of cold pizza on it.