Wiffle Year Power Rankings

		Coffee Time
		by Carl Coffee

I remember I used to power rank things as a young lad even before I knew what power rankings were, so as you can see I have an unhealthy obsession. Whether it was my friends, ninja turtle characters, or baseball cards, I would power rank anything and everything. You may be sick and tired of my obsession, but I am the commissioner for one more year, so you have to deal with it!

Anyways, as we enter the fourth season of WSEM I have a good feeling it may blow previous seasons out of the water. So it made me think, which year has been my favorite? I included the three WSEM years, two Downriver Wiffle years, the one DWL year, and even 2004.

2004 London: Lugnuts (3-3) Built our first makeshift field at BMS and played pickup games

2005 Started the Downriver Wiffleball League Built Danger Field at BMS Memorial Day Tournament (8 teams) Built Gill Yards Flag Day WIfflepalooza (6 teams) London: Lugnuts (3-3) New Carlisle Tournament (3rd place out of 16)

2009 Rebranded ourselves as Downriver Wiffle Built Pacman Park Downriver Wiffle Fast Pitch Tournament (8 teams) Wifflefest Tournament (0-4) WOW Whiffle Chilocothe Tournament (2-4) London: Jammers (6-2)

2010 Built South Field and Pitcher’s Park Rally Around the Flag-a-Palooza! (6 teams) London: Flying Squirrels (2-3) Hoppe’s September Tournament (5 teams)

2011 Started Wiffle in Southeast Michigan (8 teams) Launched WSEM Podcast Wind Up Tournament (8 teams) London: Flying Squirrels (1-4) Git R’ Done wins WSEM Commissioners Cup Beat It Tournament (8 teams)

2012 WSEM Year 2 (10 teams) Two Preseason Satellite Tournaments London: Flying Squirrels (2-3) Inaugural NWLA Tournament (5-3) Wicked Aces win WSEM Commissioners Cup John Hill for the Thrill/All-Star Game HalloWiffle

2013 Slow in the Snow (4 teams) WSEM Year 3 (8 teams) Two Preseason Satellite Tournaments London: SeMIs (1-4) 2nd annual NWLA Tournament (2-4) Wicked Aces win WSEM Commissioners Cup 2nd annual John Hill for the Thrill/All-Star Game HR Derby Flying Squirrels Invitational (6 teams) 2nd annual HalloWiffle

#7  -  2004

2004 probably shouldn’t even be included on this list, but it is the year I discovered competitive wiffleball, and it’s when I fell in love with this game. I sent a team of childhood friends and my brother down to London, OH, for the London Slow Pitch Tournament and we were decently competitive. I was working at a summer camp three hours from home this summer, but when I would come on the weekends we would play pickup games at Brownstown Middle School. We didn’t know at the time, but we would later make BMS our wiffle home.

#6  -  2010

2010 was sandwiched in between the year we brought competitive Wiffle back to SE Michigan, and the year we started WSEM. The focus of 2010 was the Rally Around the Flag-a-Palooza!, which was supposed to be bigger and better than our big 2009 tournament. Unfortunately, three teams were no shows for this tournament, and it left a stain on the hard work we did to prep for this. Also, we were riding high on our 2009 London finish and brought another competitive team down to Ohio. We unfortunately couldn’t recreate our magical run and won only two games. One bright spot in 2010 was towards the end of the summer we finally realized we had enough interest to form a league for the next year.

#5  -  2012

2012 started out great. We grew to ten teams, we split into divisions, we implemented new rules that helped tremendously, and we were establishing ourselves as one of the premier leagues in the country. The good times didn’t last long though. Early in the season was filled with forfeits and complaints. The DeLoppes quit which caused a headache for everyone but even more so for the league office. The Commissioner’s Cup was won by forfeit. It was just a weird season. Some of the bright spots were the inaugural NWLA tournament where Big Wood finished in 3rd place. The first ever John Hill for the Thrill and All Star game were also a success and we also had a good time in the HalloWiffle game. It really was a year of ups and downs.

#4  -  2011

2011 was the year we started Wiffle in Southeast Michigan. We didn’t know what to expect, but I remember talking with the league office after the season and giving our first season a solid ‘B’ grade. We had some times of stress, but in the end it wasn’t a disaster. The playoffs didn’t go very smooth, but we learned from them. We had two pretty successful tournaments before and after the season. The latter tournament included guys from the Whiteford Wiffle Association and Manchester Wiffleball League, who later joined in 2012. London was a complete failure, as our only win came from a forfeit. There is a reason this year is right in the middle and it’s because it was just kind of ehhhh.

#3  -  2009

Even I am surprised 2009 was ranked ahead of two WSEM seasons, but things just went right this year. After three years away from competitive wiffleball, it was brought back in 2009. At BMS we went all out on building a field in between the tennis courts and track formerly known as Gill Yards, and named this new field Pacman Park. We then hosted an eight team, double elimination tournament that was extremely popular. To this day that is easily my favorite tournament I have ever hosted. I also traveled to three tournaments that year. London was played in October, and we brought a team that somehow made a deep run. To this day it’s the only year we have ever won a London playoff game, and we won three this year. It was simply a fun, stress-free year of wiffle for me.

#2  -  2013

I made some decisions early in 2013 that at first kind of looked bad, but I think ultimately helped our league. First, I decided to fold the Flying Squirrels franchise which made our league drop to eight teams. Second, I decided to have a four team playoff instead of eight. We had some drama with the Ducks, but for the most part all eight teams involved this year were great. The playoffs were finally a success, and the Wicked Aces won back to back championships. HalloWiffle, For the Thrill, and the All-Star game were also a success, and we also added a HR derby that will be brought back in 2014. Slow in the Snow debuted this year, and is also going to be brought back. We struggled both in London and in the NWLA tournament, but not enough to damper my time on Ohio. 2013 was a very smooth year and easily my favorite of the three WSEM years.

#1  -  2005

How can I pick 2005 as my favorite season!?!? Besides Corbett and my brother, no one else involved now was even around then. I don’t care. It was just a carefree year of wiffleball and everything I approached was brand new for me. It was the first year we built a real field, and it was a beautiful site to be seen. It was the year we hosted our first tournament, and the tournament was actually pretty successful. It was the year we launched our first website, and although it was absolute crap, I was still proud of it. You know that first time you feel up a girl’s shirt? Well I compare 2005 to just that. For the first time I was getting a true taste of what competitive wiffleball in SE Michigan was like, and I loved every second of it. 2005 will be extremely tough to beat, but since 2013 came close, I think 2014 has a real good shot of taking that sacred #1 slot.