I once read on ESPN that once Memorial Day comes and goes, we are officially free to look at the standings. Huh?
The saying goes that you should avoid checking the standings until Memorial Day because by that point teams have finally played enough games through two months to add meaning to what we’re seeing play out in every division.
According to Elias Sports Bureau data, 59% of Major League teams that were in sole possession of first place on the morning of June 1 have gone on to win their division in the wild-card era – that’s since 1995, excluding 2020.
I was also reading this morning about the Nashville Sounds and their last league championship, as they are honoring that PCL championship this season. The Sounds won their first Southern League pennant in 1979 when the team was in their second year and repeated in 1982.
The next pennant would not occur for another 13 years, the 2005 team, although Division titles have been won since then.
Milwaukee had added the Sounds to their minor league stable and was managed by Frank Kremblas, a former minor league player in the Cincinnati Reds farm system from 1989 to 1996. The team was stocked with future Major League players Nelson Cruz, Prince Fielder, and Richie Weeks.
The club won the PCL’s Northern Division title on the next-to-the-last day of the season and defeated Oklahoma three-games-to-two and swept Tacoma in three games to claim the championship, Nashville’s first title in 23 years.
On that club, pitcher Ben Hendrickson was known for his “12-to-6” curveball that was rated the best curveball in the Brewers organization. The previous season he was voted Milwaukee’s Pitcher of the Year while with Indianapolis and was named the International League’s Most Valuable Pitcher. He was only 6-12 during the 2005 season, but finished sixth in the PCL with 122 strikeouts in 155 2/3 innings, an average of 7.1 strikeouts per nine innings.
Prince Fielder was a star at first base on the 2005 team. It was his fifth professional season and he came through with 28 homers and 86 RBIs.
Nelson Cruz played in only 60 games with Nashville that season, but in the playoffs he hit four home runs and drove in 11 runs and was named the MVP of the PCL playoffs. Cruz had been a member of Sacramento’s PCL championship club in 2004.
Richie Weeks was called up to the Brewers, but not before batting .320 in 55 games. He would finish the season with Milwaukee, holding down the second base position, and stayed with them until 2014.
In the championship series against Tacoma, Nashville won the first game, 8-6, and took the second by an 11-5 score. In the third game and leading the Series two games to none, the Sounds completed the sweep, 5-2, Curz hit a three-run home run in the top of the in the 13th inning for a lead Tacoma could not match.
It was Nashville first AAA and PCL championship.
Checking on the statement published by ESPN about league standings after Memorial Day, where was Nashville?
Tied for first place.
On May 30, 2005, the Sounds took their first series in two years by defeating the New Orleans Zephyrs, 3-2, a home game at Greer Stadium. There were 5,313 fans on hand for the final game of the four-game series.
The win gave Nashville a 27-25 record and they gained a share of first place in the PCL American Conference Northern Division with Memphis with a 26-24 mark.
It was a game in which Weeks extended his seven-game hitting streak, scored the first run of the game, and his single in the fifth inning drove in the deciding run. Hendrickson was the game-winner, his second of the young season against four losses, but hit was his first win as a starter.
Nashville would go on to a 75-69 record, three games ahead of the Omaha Royals. Since the Memorial Day win, the Sounds would have 48 wins against 44 losses – not a great feat but good enough to propel the club into the playoffs.
You may be interested to know that in 2005, the Nashville Sounds had a total attendance of 436,868 while Sacramento led all teams with 755,750.
© 2025 by Skip Nipper. All Rights Reserved.
