---
type: story
title: "Seattle Orcas: Three Seasons, One Consistent Surprise"
description: >
  In a league where MLC franchises are still finding their identity, Seattle Orcas
  have quietly built the best death bowling operation in the competition's history —
  and done it with a bowler most cricket fans outside the US can't name.
tags:
  - MLC
  - team
  - bowling
  - death-overs
status: active
last_verified: 2026-06-25
timestamp: 2026-06-25
license: CC-BY-4.0
source_system: CricketStudio
source_boundary: derived_claims_only
canonical_page: https://okf.cricketstudio.ai/stories/mlc-seattle-orcas-overperform/
resource: https://okf.cricketstudio.ai/stories/mlc-seattle-orcas-overperform/
entity_id: cricketstudio:story:mlc-seattle-orcas-overperform
dataset_version: 2026-06-11
provenance:
  source: >
    CricketStudio MLC historical dataset (2023–2025, 75 matches).
    MLC all-time death bowling leaderboard from CricketStudio aggregation.
    Gannon death economy: 7.18 RPO from 71 balls — above ≥15 ball floor.
  confidence: high
  notes: >
    All MLC figures cover Seasons 1–3 (75 matches). Season 4 data not included.
    For current standings and season data, see canonical CricketStudio MLC pages.
related:
  - ../dossier/mlc-best-franchise-record.md
  - ../stories/mlc-death-overs-revolution.md
  - ../dossier/mlc-most-appearances.md
---

# Seattle Orcas: Three Seasons, One Consistent Surprise

## The Question Nobody Asked

Which MLC franchise built the best death bowling operation — and how did they do it without anyone noticing?

## What the Data Says

**MLC all-time death bowling leaders (≥15 ball floor, Seasons 1–3):**

| Bowler | Franchise | Balls | Economy (RPO) |
|--------|-----------|-------|--------------|
| CJ Gannon | **Seattle Orcas** | 71 | **7.18** |
| PJ Cummins | SF Unicorns | 48 | 7.38 |
| LH Ferguson | LA KR / Washington | 74 | 7.54 |
| [Jasprit Bumrah](https://players.cricketstudio.ai/players/jasprit-bumrah) | MI (IPL 2026 ref) | 78 | 7.69 |

*(Source: CricketStudio MLC all-time dataset, version 2026-06-11)*

CJ Gannon of the Seattle Orcas holds the best death economy in MLC's entire three-season history — 7.18 RPO from 71 balls, comfortably above the ≥15 ball sample floor.

Gannon is not a name in the international cricket conversation. He is not an IPL export. He is not on the front pages. His 7.18 death economy from 71 MLC balls is, by the numbers, better than what Cummins (a World Cup-winning Australia captain) has posted across the same competition.

**For MLC Season 4 Seattle Orcas results and current standings:**
[players.cricketstudio.ai/leagues/mlc/standings](https://players.cricketstudio.ai/leagues/mlc/standings)

## The Wow

The most credible death bowling economy in MLC history belongs to a bowler that most cricket fans outside the United States have never heard of.

Cummins: 7.38. Ferguson: 7.54. Boult: also above 7.5.

Gannon: 7.18.

The margin is not enormous. But it is consistent across 71 deliveries — a proper sample for a phase stat. And it belongs to a franchise that has produced this performance without the star-name recruitment that characterises MLC's other bowling leaders.

Seattle Orcas' death bowling is the least-famous strong argument in MLC's three-year statistical record.

## What It Doesn't Say

71 balls across three MLC seasons is a meaningful sample for death-overs economy but much smaller than a full IPL career sample. A single exceptional season with a manageable schedule of death-over situations could produce 7.18 in a way that is not fully repeatable.

Death bowling economy in MLC may reflect opposition quality, venue conditions, and match states that differ from IPL or other major leagues. The 7.18 is not a claim that Gannon is better than Cummins as an overall T20 bowler — it is a phase-specific figure across 75 MLC matches.

Seattle Orcas' overall franchise win record requires checking the canonical MLC standings — this story covers only their death bowling data point.

## Related Concepts

- [MLC Death Overs Revolution](../stories/mlc-death-overs-revolution.md)
- [MLC Best Franchise Record](../dossier/mlc-best-franchise-record.md)
- [Death Overs Economy — metric](../metrics/death-overs-economy.md)
