Bandits didn’t win the World Series this year, but a dispute with American Legion baseball should lead to rule changes

IDAHO FALLS — Did the Idaho Falls Bandits baseball team get robbed of a return trip to the American Legion World Series?

That’s a question that still lingers, even weeks after the national tournament.

By the way, congrats to Chesapeake, Virginia, for winning the 2025 American Legion World Series title.

But back in Idaho Falls, the feeling that the American Legion system failed still hovers over the Bandits program like a cold dark cloud.

WHAT HAPPENED?

The two-time World Series champion Bandits were one win away from advancing to another World Series back on Aug. 10 when they faced the Portland, Oregon, Barbers in the Northwest Regional final.

Oregon beat the Bandits, and then beat them again in an if-necessary game to earn the Northwest Regional title and the berth to the American Legion World Series.

If it were just a another loss on the baseball field, everyone would accept the results and move on with their lives. That’s how it is in sports.

But that’s not the case here.

While it was a busy day on the field as Idaho Falls and Portland competed for the regional title, it was even busier behind the scenes.

The Bandits filed an official protest claiming the Barbers’ roster, based on school enrollment, was in violation of American Legion rules.

HERE COMES THE MATH

Portland’s roster on its website was slightly different from the one submitted for the postseason.

Rosters list the player and their high school.

Per American Legion rules, the enrollment of each high school (10th through 12th grade) listed on the roster can not exceed 7,500.

For example: If a team had five players from West HS, enrollment 1,200; five players from East HS, enrollment 1,500; eight players from Central HS, enrollment 2,000, then that team’s enrollment number would be 4,700.

That’s an easy example, but the bottom line is teams cannot exceed 7,500 in total enrollment on their roster, no matter how many schools are represented.

The school enrollment number is important and central to the Bandits’ protest.

Based on the roster that Portland submitted at the Northwest Regional, their enrollment number was 7,196, easily below the allotted count.

But that number did not take into account La Salle Catholic College Preparatory School, which had three players on the team.

Why was La Salle not counted?

According to the complaint, Portland used the High-schools.com site to get its enrollment numbers. Since La Salle is a private school, it was not listed on the High-schools.com site and it was not counted toward the team’s enrollment numbers despite having three players on the roster.

The appeal noted that most teams use official enrollment numbers from their state education system for accuracy and not a third party.

According to the appeal, Bandits vice president Cliff Brady and other Idaho American Legion state officials worked to verify the enrollment numbers and contacted the Office of the Registrar of La Salle, who confirmed the school’s enrollment was 492.

Had La Salle been counted, the Barbers’ enrollment number would have exceeded the max allowed by 168.

The enrollment numbers were confirmed by East Idaho Sports by searching High-schools.com and privateschoolreview.com for La Salle.

Maybe the discrepancy was a clerical error? Maybe it was downright cheating?

Unfortunately, we’ll never know.

DENIED

Idaho Falls notified the regional tournament director that there was an issue with the Barbers’ roster, but they were told there was nothing that could be done.

As the teams played, an appeal was filed with the national office of the American Legion, outlining the enrollment numbers and discrepancy with Portland’s omission of La Salle.

Steve Cloud, program director from the national American Legion office responded in an email after the appeal had been reviewed by the American Legion Appeals Board.

“Pursuant to National Rule 9.D. eligibility issues must be filed with the national tournament director at each such tournament no later than 9 a.m. local time on the first day of the tournament. The roster you have provided is different from the approved roster the OR department chairman approved. Your roster includes additional players and high schools not listed on the approved roster. Additionally, Oregon Department rules state that “American Legion Baseball teams will use enrollment figures for the top three grades, 10th, 11th, and 12th grades from the resource area of the American Legion website or team registration site, i.e. www.High-Schools.com. Based on the verified enrollment numbers of the approved roster through High-Schools.com the Portland Barber’s enrollment combination is under 7,500. Therefore your appeal is denied.”

MORE PROTESTS

Brady responded to the denial by noting that the reference to rule 9.D. was incomplete.

From the American Legion rule book:

“9.D. National Tournament Player Eligibility Protest. Eligibility protests of players involved in national tournaments must bear written proof of ineligibility and must be filed with the department or national tournament director at each such tournament no later than 9 a.m. local time on the first day of the tournament involved, except upon discovery of a rules violation. When a rules violation is discovered, the eligibility protest and a written description of the alleged violation must be filed immediately and if a rules violation was committed, the player shall be ineligible and the team manager shall be suspended until further notice. All other protests shall be filed as specified in the Official Baseball Rules.”

The Bandits argued that “except upon discovery of a rules violation” was a key piece of the ruling that was overlooked.

Note: Regarding two different rosters, East Idaho Sports verified the roster against the roster that was used at the regional tournament. Seventeen of the 18 players listed were on the roster at the regional tournament, encompassing all eight schools, including La Salle.

The Bandits filed a new protest with the national office, noting that the 9 a.m. deadline was not relevant to this case because new information was found during the tournament regarding the discrepancy in the enrollment numbers.

“We respectively request that the committee declare Oregon ineligible to play in the National Tournament in fairness to the other teams who follow the rules,” Brady wrote.

Meanwhile on the field, Portland celebrated a regional title and World Series berth, while the Bandits headed back home to Idaho.

Bandits longtime coach Ryan Alexander was disappointed, but kept his focus on the field.

“They’re a really good team and they beat us twice on the field,” he said. “We had chances to do something about that … In no way, shape, or form does my wondering about their enrollment discredit them. They were the deepest American Legion team we’ve come across.”

The Bandits are nearly American Legion royalty, having won two World Series titles and reaching a third championship game since 2019.

Alexander said American Legion baseball is an organization he deeply respects and the Bandits program and players have benefited and enjoyed their experiences every year.

He said he hopes American Legion doesn’t end up like travel baseball, where it’s basically a free-for-all without much oversight when it comes to recruiting, boundaries or scheduling.

“American Legion has a set of rules and I think it’s imperative that everybody knows you’re playing within those same guidelines and rules,” he said. “Otherwise what you become is showcase or travel baseball … it’s find the best players you can find and put them on a roster and go compete.”

East Idaho Sports reached out several times to Steve Cloud at the national American Legion office and got no response.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The Bandits are expected to compete for another trip to the American Legion World Series in 2026. The foundation has already been set for a program that is not only tops in Idaho, but among the most successful in the nation.

But the regional tournament may have exposed a flaw in the American Legion system that will hopefully get fixed or amended.

“We keep a binder that has the boys’ signatures on agreements that they make on drugs or alcohol, behavior, and honor, in addition to their birth certificates, and legal documents that validate how old they are,” Alexander said. “That binder gets checked in Idaho during the course of the season, then at the state tournament, and again at the regional tournament, and for the last time at the national tournament. I’m packing around a physical binder for the leadership to check … Nowhere in that binder is there anything about school enrollment or which schools are represented within the recruitment plan …”

Alexander said he doesn’t fault the regional director or the national leaders because they didn’t have the time to do a full investigation on the Portland roster once the playoffs are fully underway.

All of the information regarding enrollment and recruiting should be required to be in the binder and signed off by each state’s American Legion officials so that all teams and rosters are verified before they reach the regional and national tournaments, Alexander said.

“I feel we have to trust state leaders at each of the 50 programs. They have got to do their due diligence and make sure that teams competing within their state are following the guidelines and rules laid out,” he said. “And if they’re not, take care of it before the national-level tournaments … It needs to be worked out so there can be necessary changes made so that everybody has confidence that it’s the same set of rules.”

Do specific rules need to be changed?

“I do think there needs to be some kind of verification at the state level so that the other states can have confidence that what they’re facing is a true picture of competitive quality,” Alexander said.

Brady, the program’s vice president, agreed that adding enrollment numbers and recruiting plans to each team’s required binders would help eliminate the issue of having to verify rosters at the national tournaments.

“I think it’s a black eye for national,” Brady said of the whole process. “I get it would be embarrassing, but at a minimum, don’t just tell me my numbers were wrong …”

Brady said there was no response from the national office after he objected to the second protest being denied.

“Ryan, like any coach, would have just preferred to beat them,” Brady said. “I said, if they’re playing by a different set of rules … I did this (appeal) to protect the work that our players put in. They put in the work and the effort and they did it within the rules. And it was taken away from them by a team who was not within the rules, and I don’t think that’s right. I don’t think American Legion baseball should have stood by that, but they did.”