My BOLD predictions for the 2025 PBA season

It's official! The 2025 PBA season is underway and this year the PBA kicks off with the Delaware Classic which was won last year by David Crowell. Already the scores in qualifying for this event are through the roof with four players averaging 260 plus after the first round of qualifying, but the insanely high scoring pace is a conversation for another video. In this video I'm going to make some bold predictions about the 2025 season. They might be entirely wrong but hey this is just a little bit of fun. I've got a feeling this might be a very unexpected season and it would end up with some surprise winners and a number of fascinating storylines throughout the year. But of course you can never tell just what is going to happen but even so I've dug out my crystal ball and I've had a peek into the future for you all. So let's get started and don't forget you can let me know your predictions for this season in the comment section below. Prediction number one. EJ Tackett won't be player of the year. Now given how dominant EJ has been during the last two seasons and the fact he's won back-to-back player of the year awards, I think it's quite a bold prediction to say he won't win a third. In 2023 EJ walked away with five titles and last year he only won two. Now when I say only that shows just how good he is because he easily could have won more if it was not for a few TV struggles throughout the year. However even the greats have bad seasons and I've just got a feeling that perhaps this might not be one of his best seasons in recent years. It's even possible that he might not even win a title. There's plenty of stiff opposition after all but in all honesty I do expect him to win this year. I just think there will be another bowler that ends up putting in a season that takes the player of the year crown from EJ. The other thing to note is there's been quite a few players to have won two player of the years in a row but only four bowlers have won the award three times in a row. Earl Anthony who did it twice, Mark Roth, Walter Ray Williams Jr and Jason Belmonte. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that he won't become the fifth but knowing EJ he'll probably come out and prove me completely wrong by winning five titles again this season. Prediction number two. A newly exempt bowler will win a title. In 2024 the PBA tour trials returned and 12 bowlers earned their place on the tour in 2025. When you look through the names there's a whole load of talent joining the tour. Names that include Ryan Barnes, Nate Purchase the 2024 rookie of the year, Tim Foy Jr who made the telecast for last year's Delaware Classic and Nathan Boar. But honestly any of those 12 players are more than capable of winning a title and that is my second prediction that a newly exempt bowler will win a PBA title in 2025. Now these bowlers no longer have to go through the PTQ we really see just what they are capable of. I think we could well see a number of first-time titleists this season. Prediction number three. An unknown European player will emerge. To me it's time for an unknown European player to emerge on tour. There are of course already a few well-known European players who have won many titles in recent years but there are so many great European bowlers particularly Swedish and Finnish who could break through. Last year many of these were regularly playing the PTQs and I think it's only a matter of time before one of them really makes a name for themselves. Also Kim Bollaby of Sweden and Chris Sloan from Ireland both earned their place on the tour for 2025 after finishing in the top 12 of the tour trials. Both of these players have the talent to win and perhaps they stand the best chance to prove that my prediction is right. So those are my predictions for the 2025 season and don't forget to let me know your predictions in the comments section below. Let's see how many of these are right and let's see how many you can get right as well. Now as the first event of the season is the Delaware Classic as I mentioned I've decided to include the breakdown video I made last year for this event. So to get you all in the mood for Bowling's Return to TV this weekend here is my analysis of the 2024 Delaware Classic. Hello everyone and welcome to today's video where I'll be breaking down the entire telecast of the PBA Delaware Classic which took place on Sunday the 3rd of March. It featured five players, fifth seed EJ Tackett, Tim Foy Jr, Bill O'Neill, David Crowell and one seed Thomas Kalko. So we'll go through the show match by match and break down the title match to see who was victorious. Let's jump into match it's a familiar face that we've already seen quite a lot of already in 2024 EJ Tackett. He's taking on Tim Foy Jr who's actually the local lad as he's from Delaware. Now this is EJ's fifth consecutive TV appearance and he's had a pretty hard time of it as of late with a one and four TV record this season. It's EJ that gets the match underway with an opening strike and now we get our first look at Tim Foy. A good shot in frame one but the seven pin stands but he does strike in frame two. Straight away we can see both players are playing very deep from the start and it will be interesting to see how the lanes transition and what moves the players make. EJ makes it an opening double and then gets a trip four in frame three. Foy is handling the pressure really well and responds with two strikes of his own and keeps things pretty close early on. However EJ is looking very good with another strike and then a great shot on the left lane but the 10 pin did stand. Foy strikes again to take a one pin lead and it's another really great shot but just like EJ he leaves the 10 pin as the messenger didn't quite have enough to take it out. Tackett with another strike after the break in the sixth frame and what I'm noticing is that both players are hitting the pocket hard but the pins aren't falling that easily and prime example as EJ leaves back-to-back 10 pins on the left lane. So we are back even and Foy's first poor shot that goes light and he was perhaps fortunate to leave just a two pin which he spared but he does respond with a lovely strike in the eighth and this was at this point very close to call but it's actually EJ's turn for a poor shot. His worst shot of the match by far as this one looked to be inside and he goes through the nose to lead the three four six seven but he does make the spare and this was pretty clutch as this really keeps himself in the match but again he gets some bad carry on the left lane this time leaving a seven pin but Foy steps up to make it a double in the ninth for a 14 pin lead and this is just great stuff for him under pressure and now he needs a 17 pin bill shot and gets the first strike in the 10th and even though he left a 7-10 on his next shot this one is over and EJ's TV struggles do continue. It's only a matter of time before EJ bounces back from this poor run on TV. I mean we know he's always going to be up there making the shows and if he continues to make the shows it won't be long before he wins again and I will say I don't think he really did a lot wrong in this one. It was simply bad carry on the left lane apart from that he made one bad shot but he still made the conversion so he did get pretty unlucky in this match. Now on to match two and the three seed Bill O'Neill comes in and he's been in excellent form since winning the PBA Players Championship in January. Another big test for Foy but if he performs under pressure like he did in the first match he will certainly have a big chance in this one. Foy starts the match this time on the tricky left lane but gets a strike in the first. O'Neill is using a theorem and is playing a very similar shot but goes a little light leaving a 10 pin. His next shot goes high as he gets quite a sharp reaction on the back end but trips the 4-9. Foy's second frame isn't the best of shots and my first impression is he got this one a little bit too fast but again he doesn't leave anything disastrous just a 2 pin. The left lane is definitely starting to transition now with everything just starting to hook. He goes high for a 4 pin so both players will need to adjust to this lane. Another 10 pin for O'Neill on the right lane but a much much better shot on the left. Foy then strikes in the next frame but makes a bad shot on the left lane and this time he doesn't get away with a light hit and leaves the 2-8-10. And now O'Neill has a 13 pin lead and is working on a strike and he capitalizes on the opening with a double but again the players just simply can't carry on the left lane. O'Neill leaves a 7 pin which he does take care of. Foy does strike after he's open but just over compensates for his previous shot that left a split and he puts the ball way inside for a 3 pin. So Foy has lost his way a little and time is starting to run out for him to get back into this match. O'Neill with a another solid strike but on the left lane well of course he leaves the 7 pin because that's what the left lane's been doing so far and this was a really nice shot. However Foy is not able to mount a comeback and O'Neill seals this one pretty comfortably to advance to the next match to face David Kroll who is making his first ever TV appearance. Let's look at Kroll's first couple of shots. He's actually even deeper than all of the other players so far as he's actually standing in front of the ball return. He gets a strike in the first and gets away with one in the second crossing over for a Brooklyn strike. O'Neill strikes for a double but then the left lane continues to present problems as he almost leaves a split the 4-7-10 but the 10 pin falls and he makes the spare. Kroll goes through the nose on his next shot leaving the 3-6-10 and everything really seems to be hooking for him even though he's so far left. So look out for a potential ball change especially after he gets away with another Brooklyn. This one was even worse than the first and unless he can find a way to give the ball some more room he's going to probably be forced into making a change soon. This lucky strike doesn't faze O'Neill however as he gets a lovely looking strike on the right but now has to make some sort of adjustment on the left lane and it definitely looks like he did move left but it's still overhooked for another 4-7. Kroll with a much better shot giving it a lot more room but does leave the 10 pin and finally he does make the pocket on the left lane and the lead still remains with O'Neill but only by one pin. Straight after the break O'Neill hated this shot as he missed right for the 1-4-8 and it was a huge mistake as the ball sails past the head pin and the door has well and truly opened for Kroll after that surprising open frame but he does get a much needed strike in the 7th and Kroll can't double which still gives O'Neill a chance. He really is creating a lot of angle especially on the right lane and Kroll just keeps leaving that 10 pin on that lane but can you believe this next shot right through the nose and he basically trips out the 3-10. He's had a lot of fortunate breaks in this one to say the least. You can see the frustration for O'Neill especially after seeing everything fall over for Kroll but then to have this 10 pin stand for him off an excellent shot although he does strike on the next shot and you can see the frustration there. Yet again it's Kroll's third straight 10 pin on the right lane and the angle he's making the pocket just doesn't look right which is why he's leaving all of these 10 pins. Now he still has a chance to shut out O'Neill with a double and eight pins in the 10th. His first shot and unbelievably it's another Brooklyn strike. His third on this lane in this match and I'd love to know what was going on in O'Neill's head at this point but Kroll doesn't get away with it on his next shot and this absolutely changes things especially as he only gets one on the spare attempt. Now O'Neill needs a double to win and gets the first one off a light hit and I wasn't sure at first if this was going to carry but his next shot looks spot on but it's another 10 pin. However it's not over yet as a spare will mean a roll off. He does make the spare and now we have bonus bowling with a one ball roll off. Kroll will start us off after choosing to go first and what can I say apart from that he really has had all of the breaks in this match. It looked to be another 10 pin but somehow the messenger was spun over to take out the 10. O'Neill now has to strike but this shot just goes light and I'm not quite sure what happened here as it didn't look too bad but this will mean that Kroll would advance to the title match. He did get very lucky in this match but in this game that's exactly what you need sometimes. Well on to the title match and Thomas Calco has been waiting in the wings and now starts us off with an opening strike. If you haven't seen him bowl before then be prepared because it's definitely a pretty unconventional and pretty unique style. Kroll has yet another 10 pin on the right lane and now he's getting a huge amount of loft on the ball and he does get a strike on the left even though it does go high but it will be encouraging given how much he struggled on that particular lane. Thomas is going with two different balls a troublemaker on the left and a troublemaker pearl on the right. Not a bad shot here but it hooked up for a four pin and look at this for skinny jeans as he just about makes the spare. Now he started to see what all the other players have on the left lane and that's the fact that there's just a lot of hook and it's through the nose leaving the 4-6-7 for an early open frame. Kroll continuing with the huge loft for a double but it's high on the next shot as the ball is left but he does take care of the 3-6. Back over to Thomas who gets very unlucky to leave the 10 pin and two messengers went over but it just would not fall. He copies Kroll's big loft on the left lane and this is a much more convincing shot. Kroll's next shot is way right and is perhaps fortunate to just leave the 1-2-4 which he spares but it's another shot that goes through the nose as he just isn't giving the ball enough room on the left lane. Now we're really starting to see the players struggle as the lanes have transitioned and the scores have really dropped off. Kroll does start to take control of this one with a strike in the 7th and then another Brooklyn strike for a double. Thomas then leaves the 1-2-4-10 for an open and that will pretty much do it for this one. Kroll is your winner and he takes home his first ever PBA title. I think this shows a very important lesson and that's how luck can play such a big part in the sport. Okay he did make some good shots when he needed to but also he got lucky well very lucky several times but that's the way it goes and he still had to capitalize on those good breaks and get through a sudden death roll-off. It's always good to see a new PBA winner and although he would have hoped for a better performance he will definitely take the win. So that will do it for today's video. A pretty low scoring telecast I have to say. The lanes look to be playing quite tough and the scores definitely reflected that but overall it could have really gone either way. I think given how much Thomas Kalko struggled in the final match it was really going to be the winner of that third match that was going to take it home. It could have easily been O'Neill and then we might have had a different story but as it stands David Kroll managed to do enough to take this one home. So we've got a little bit of a break now of PBA action for a couple of March and then towards the end of March it's the third major of the season the USBC Masters. In the meantime if you have enjoyed this video I'd really appreciate it if you would just click the subscribe button below and keep an eye out because there will be many more bowling videos coming your way very very soon. I'd just like to thank you all once again for watching. I hope you enjoyed this breakdown and as always thank you bowling fans and see you all next time.