“We may have been meager for my first year as team Manager, but just you wait until the next, we’re gonna surprise everybody” was what New General Manager Tyler Saylor of the Pittsburgh Oilers said after the end of his first season after the Pittsburgh Oilers finished with a respectable 66-54 record last year in 1909, And This year the Oilers sure surprised everybody. They finished in 1st place in the Western League with an record of 81 games won and only 39 games lost. They were in contention for the first time in franchise history, it was a jubliation to be held. Come playoff time, they brought the Cleveland Athletics to a final game in a best 3 of 5, winner take all series, only to lose the final game, and the chance for the Legacy Cup due a couple of costly errors. Despite that the Oilers’ Cup hopes were dashed, this article will take a look back on “How did they do it?”; how did a team projected to finish 2nd out-preformed their expectations and brought a winning record not seen in the Legacy Baseball League since the 1907 Brooklyn Whales finishing with 88 win season. 
For us to understand what happened now, we will look back on the last few years. For five years, the Oilers were playing in 4th place to which the Old Management had taken advantage of with selective drafting of fresh younsters to soon fill in the ranks. Followed up with new management who saw some potential in some of the longtime faces who played with the Oilers and did some shaking up of how the team played which had brought success in the 1910 season. The Writers earlier in the year had the Oilers on the upswing, finishing behind Cleveland who was projected to be in 1st. Due in part to drafting, trades, a good offense and grit, this cohesion resulting the team winning 11-straight games and cementing them on top of the Western League Standings between May 11th to the 24th; the Oilers had lead the Western conference with high marks with the team leading in Starter ERA of 2.04, Batting WAR of 24.7 and pitching WAR, batting average of .254 and an On-Base percentage of .326 was some of the highlights.
2B James Knight had the Lion’s share of the highlights, he was the team leader in slugging percentage, singles, OPS and played the most games out of everybody, starting in 111 games with his statline (.287/.365/.391) leading the Western League with a 6.1 WAR, His efforts had won him the Western League MVP, “I’ve been around Legacy Baseball League long enough to know you really have to work hard day in and day out to be able to put up this kind of consistency, learned that back home in the farm back at Kansas.” the 31-year-old Knight told reporters. “I put in a lot of work, even on the days I might not take the field, and it’s always nice when everything comes together for me like it did this year. I thank the writers kindly for being named the Most Valuable Player”
Wilbur “Crabby” Whitely who lead the Western League in Saves over 77 games, acquired by the Brooklyn Whailes in exchange for Jewel Durtnell, had finished 1910 with a 2.5 WAR season with 72 strikeouts and only giving up one Home Run was another highlight. Word of mouth says he might be tried out in the Rotation next year.
Longtime Oiler Randy Sliger who had been the Oilers’ glimmer of hope over the past few seasons had finally got to see his team make the playoffs, while sadly being relegated to being a Pinch-hitter; the Starting 1B job being handed to James Poppelwell, had annouced his retirement after the season ended. The Oilers ceremoniously retired Sliger’s #29 in honor of him. While some names had came up in Gettysburg over who will take Sliger’s place after his departure, no player had been named yet.
Another Oiler of Note was OF Norman Wearmouth who lead the team with his .288 Batting Average, 7 Triples, and 56 stolen bases. And although he got cold feet against the Cleveland Athlethics in the Championship series, his work ethic and speed around the Basepaths had not gone unnoticed.
Of course every great team has to rally around good leadership, Manager Charles Bennent who had been with the Oilers for about 1 year before their new General Manager Mr. Saylor had took the reins, was named by Sports Writers as Manager of the Year. While 1911 is hard to preict what would happen in the season, Mr. Saylor had been quoted saying about his team when he first took change “It looked to be a team that needs some retooling, there’s potential in this team but it needed some chopping and changing to get it there”, he was pleasantly surprised on the Oilers this year as well as the rest of the LBL. But Oilers fans alike are eagerly awaiting what the next year brings be it their first championship, or returning to being another face in the halls of mediocrity.