The Ian Rintel Award for Front Office Executive of the Year recognizes the league's most improved team from one season to the next. The award is named after former owner Ian Rintel, whose Waikiki Keys bounced back from a 33-129 record in 1993 to a 76-86 record in 1994. The 43-win jump stood for 14 years as the best turn-around in DMBL history until it was eclipsed in 2008 by Eric Wickstrom, who improved his Las Vegas Rat Pack by 54 wins.

And the award goes to....

Mike "Stump" Matiash, Arkansas Golden Falcons

The Falcons were a Cinderella story in 2015, upsetting the heavily favored Tucson Scorpions, then the San Francisco Experience in the playoffs. In 2014, however, it was a much different story. The Falcons struggled to the tune of a 66-96 record, good for 5th worst in the league. The good draft position allowed the Falcons to solidify their team and came out of the gate leading the Fisk Division for much of the first half. An up and down second half and a red hot Vancouver run cost the Falcons the Division title and forced them to win the wild card with 93 wins. Still, that was good enough for a 27-win improvement. Leading the Falcons on offense was top draft pick Steven Pearce (.291/.369/.583, 41 HR, 101 RBI). A rock solid bullpen anchored a shaky starting rotation, but those pitchers turned things around come playoff time.

Arkansas barely edged out Vancouver for the Rintel Award, as the Iron Fist improved by 25 wins from 2014. Vancouver will have to console themselves with the consolation prize of taking the division title.

The only other team with a double digit improvement was Hillsborough, though it was still not enough to finsih with a winning record. Still a 14-win improvement is nothing to sneeze at.

Other teams heading in the right direction are Hopatcong (+9) and Blue Ridge (+7).

The two biggest losers were 2013 Champion and 2014 runner up Hoboken Cutters and the Livingston Lords of the Swing, both at a -24 difference. Hoboken stayed in the playoff hunt until the last week, however. Livingston struggled just to make it above the .500 mark. Last year's champion San Francisco, lost 13 wins to last year, but still managed a return trip to the DMBL World Series.

Poovey Farms took over control of Brick City last season, but lost 5 wins, despite winning their division. Two other teams, El Paso and Philadelphia, will have to wait until next year to be eligible for the award.

Let's take a look at the previous award winners: