Whiteford Wicked Aces Attribute Ratings

Championships - silver star: tournament champion, gold star: WSEM champion, gold triangle: division pennant
League averages - CON: 77, PWR: 77, PIT: 75, DEF: 79, OVR: 77 Team attribute ratings were determined by averaging the individual ratings of the four members of the WSEM Front Office's Tactical Media Wing. Contact (CON), power (PWR), pitching (PIT), and defense (DEF) were studied to determine overall (OVR) team rating. The thin bars included are the league average for each attribute. This writeup for the Wicked Aces is provided by Brandon Corbett.

Yes, Virginia, the three-peat attempting Aces are third overall in the preseason ratings behind El Diablos and Westside.

The reason for this is a perceived drop off in offensive production. The loss of Bortmas and speculation that Crozier will split time between Whiteford and Boston this season leaves Austin as the only big bat in the everyday lineup. Fisher, Little E, and Hughes combine for a .220 AVG, and that's good enough to see their contact rating third in the league, ten points above the league average. It's in the power category where the Aces slide back to the middle of the pack. The potential absence of Crozier also knocks their defensive rating down a bit, but they're still tied for second and very solid in this part of the game.

Of course, none of the above may matter when all is said and done. By far the largest advantage for a team at the front of the pack in any category, 8 points, is the one the Aces' hold in pitching. Little E and Fisher platoon as number-twos behind Austin, but either would easily be the ace on seven other WSEM teams. That near-perfect 99 in the most important facet of the game has the capability to readily override an overall rating of third.

The Charm

		Your Junk my Happy Zone
		by Brandon Corbett

Third time is the charm. This just completed WSEM Championship Series was the first ever to be played out properly, and as a result the first time the Commissioner's Cup was handed out at the field. Wicked Aces in four was the odds on favorite at 3:1, and that is exactly what happened. Still, the series was not without its unexpected turns.

We can start right with the setup of the series. During the season 87% of games were played on the the weekend: 50% on Sundays, 37% on Saturdays. With that the 2013 Championship Series is an oddball right from drawing table, as 50% of it was played on a weeknight. On top of that, the title was won on a Monday night in Ottawa Lake - the first Monday games of the entire 2013 campaign. Call it a special occasion for a special moment.

The little oddities found their way onto the field, too. The two teams seemed to have a gentlemen's arrangement made between them, since both rosters played half of the series without one of their best bats in lineup. El Diablos opened the series up last Sunday at Pervis Memorial without Kyle Tomlinson, 2012 Rookie of the Year and 2013 MVP candidate. In turn, Joel Crozier, who had provided late inning heroics twice during the 2013 playoffs already (including once in the championship), was unavailable for the back half of the series at Poolside Park. The additional curious note here, obviously, is that both guys missed the set of games at their home field.

The bats of Kyle and Joel were not the only notable absence either. Aces captain Austin Bischoff also was M.I.A. for the final two games of the series on Monday night. This left his little brother, Evan Bischoff, to handle the Aces remaining three-man roster. That leaves us with a pair of interesting quirks: one, the first time the Commissioner's Cup was presented on-field it was handed to an acting captain; two, the ensuing on-field celebration with the Cup was enjoyed by only three men. I guess good things do come in threes.

Finally, the predictions for a pitching dominated series with frequent trips to extra innings seemed to be spot on at the start. Games 1 and 2 both went into extras tied at zero. The Aces led the way in hitting with a .133 AVG, while El Diablos hit just .048. The back half of the series saw the offensive numbers take a big jump, though. Led by Nicco Lollio's 3 hits, El Diablos jumped nearly 100 points to .147 as a team. Meanwhile, the Aces finally pushed over the Mendoza line with a .206 AVG. It was the six hit performance by Evan Bortmas at Poolside that rallied the Aces. After going 0-12 in the first two games, Bortmas hit .462 in the final two and led the Aces to a sound victory in game 4.

The teams showed up. The series happened. It played out the way it was designed. Yet still, with all that said, some weird stuff went down.

#wiffleisweird

Now Batting... Batting... Batting...

		Your Junk my Happy Zone
		by Brandon Corbett

2-0. When talking counts I think we call that one "Barry." Being down in the count is not something any of the pitchers had to worry about much at Pervis Memorial for the start of this Championship Series; 52 of the 78 outs in the two games were recorded by strikeout. However, even though Craig Skinner and Chandler Phillips both threw five scoreless innings - two regulation shutouts - in their starts, they and El Diablos now have to worry about being down 2-0 in the series.

Everybody expected to see the great pitching matchups and looming extra innings, but a team on their heels and teetering on the edge of being swept coming into Poolside Park is surprising. None of the Pickers took a sweep. In fact, three of them have the series going fivegames. The odds of a Wicked Aces sweep are the second longest, set at 18:1. On his preview podcast Carl also has the series going the distance. Another statement made by Carl around the 6:50 mark of that recording hints at why we find ourselves in this situation.

"I give the offensive edge to El Diablos," Carl caves when measuring up the teams. It is a sound proclamation. Lollio and Tomlinson both hit well over .400 on the season; Skinner, LaDouceur, and Chandler all follow them above .300, and every Diablo playing this series also provided over 6 home runs and 30 RBI. They earned the reputation of being a murderers row, however, they have not been able to get any production out of their bats so far in this series. Chandler leads El Diablos with a .111 AVG, LaDouceur is second in line at an even .100. Three of the four Aces are hitting better than that: Evan Bischoff at .154, Austin at .200, and Crozier leading everybody with a comparatively impressive .250. To state it all too simply: that is the difference in this series.

El Diablos will tell you that missing Tomlinson's bat for the opening games hurt them a ton, and that can be said fairly. Tomlinson followed up his 2012 RotY season with an MVP candidate caliber season this year: .420 AVG, 41 RBI, 56 RS, and a staggering 1.428 OPS. Kyle is scheduled to suit up when action gets back underway on Monday, and what is more is that the shoe may now be on the other foot. The Aces will be without Crozier and his late inning heroics for the remainder of the series. In addition to his Championship Series leading average, Joel also has two game winning hits this postseason. His absence is now a hole that the Aces must find a way to fill as they look to close out the series.

One thing is certain. Come Monday the Commissioner's Cup will be raised in victory on the field for the first time ever. The question is, who will pick up their bats first to earn that honor: a repeat champion or the third team in as many years?

Championship Series Recap: Games 1 and 2

After the 2012 WSEM championship was unfortunately never played due to forfeits, the league was anxious to see actual championship games played this year. To no one’s surprise, the top two teams in the league, the Whiteford Wicked Aces and El Diablos began their best of five series Sunday evening at Pervis Memorial in Southgate. Game 1 saw two All-Star pitchers who are the two favorites for the Clown Shu, Austin Bischoff and Craig Skinner. Both pitchers were on their games and kept the game scoreless through five innings. Neither team came close toscoring in regulation play, so the game would have to be decided in extra innings. The clutch Joel Crozier hit his second exciting HR of the playoffs and gave the Aces a 1-0 lead with a solo blast over the left field fence. That one run was all the Wicked Aces needed as Austin closed the door on El Diablos in the 6th to give his team a 1-0 series lead. The game 2 pitcher for El Diablos was an obvious choice as Chandler Phillips has been his team’s #2 all season. The Wicked Aces however once again went into the game without a second starter picked out. RJ Fisher was still not 100% after injuring his hand, so Captain Austin needed to choose someone to fill-in for him. Evan Bischoff already has a playoff shutout win this year, so he got the nod in game 2. After six innings of scoreless play, the seventh inning finally saw some scoring as both Bischoffbrothers had RBI base hits to give the Wicked Aces a 2-0 lead. With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Dakota LaDouceur drew a walk giving Nicco Lollio a chance to tie the game. Nicco made it interesting by hitting a ball deep into centerfield, but Evan Bortmas made a diving catch to give his team a 2-0 series lead. Game 3, and then 4 and 5 if necessary have been scheduled for Monday, August 19th at Poolside Park.

Building Up the Championship Series: Wicked Aces

The Whiteford Wicked Aces have finally reached the stage they've had their eyes on all summer: the WSEM Championship Series. The team had more to prove than your typical defending champions after being granted their trophy via the forfeit of the red-hot Manchester Punchouts in the 2012 championship series, and they made sure the league knew it was a statement year for the second-year franchise. After overhauling their home field and unveiling a new Air Force-themed logo set, the Aces went 25-3 over the regular season and have not lost a game that their #1(Austin Bischoff), #2 (RJ Fisher), or #2a (Evan Bischoff) pitcher has started. They dominated the league's pitching stats by a wide margin, and all five players on the playoff roster can pitch effectively. In a five-game series, this depth may be crucial with pitchers like Bischoff and Skinner that can toss scoreless inning after scoreless inning.

Fisher is by far the most suprising pitcher in the bunch, coming out of nowhere to steal the #2 spot in the rotation. An injury to Fisher's pitching hand, however, prevented him from pitching in the first round of the playoffs and threatens to weaken the Aces' rotation. While Fisher is cleared to throw, it is unsure if he will be at 100%; a shaky RJ could cause problems for Whiteford. However, Evan Bischoff turned in two shining performances against the Diablos and the Warriors in his last two starts, helping to relieve these concerns. Amazingly, major off-season signing Evan Bortmas comes into the championship series as the #4 pitcher on the roster, but he has made his presence known at the plate and in the field and has been a rock for the team all year. Joel Crozier has seen some action in the relief role he held in 2012, getting RJ out of a tough jam against the Islanders in Whiteford's last series, eventually earning the win and avoiding disaster in extras.

The Aces have hit the ball fairly well this year, but will need to step it up against Skinner, who they had little success against in their regular season games. They were delivered from the jaws of a Game 1 loss to the Warriors by a Crozier walk-off two-run homer, but would obviously prefer to score earlier and more frequently. Bortmas has been consistent most of the year, but Crozier, RJ, and the Bischoffs have went through mini-slumps that they must avoid. They will also need to be sharp defensively against the offensive threat posed by Diablos playes such as Nicco, Dakota, and Kyle. Finally, Joel Crozier will not be available for games 3-5, making games 1-2 that much more important for the boys in blue. Bischoff must come out on top of the much anticipated duel with Skinner, and either RJ or Evan will have to step up in Game 2 against a hot Chandler Phillips. If Whiteford can take those games, they have confidence that Austin will win one of his next two and deliver them the trophy- in a much more dramatic form than last year.

Bold Ass Predictions

		Your Junk my Happy Zone
		by Brandon Corbett

For those unfamiliar, a bold ass prediction reaches well beyond expectations. It is absolutely not a safe bet; saying it may call into question your credibility and sanity. When it comes true, though, having said it earns you the respect of a savant. Feel free to share any of your bold ass predictions in the comments, and sign your name so we can praise your foresight in August. Here are five of my bold ass predictions for 2013.


Nick Coffee will have double-digit extra base hits.
He had zero in 2012, but his bat began livening up late and in offseason games. Nick's routinely knocking the ball over outfielders heads, and even blasting a couple monster home runs. Only 9 players in 2012 had double-digit extra base hits (6 of them with less than 15), so this is a greater feat than it at first may seem. I think he'll do it the hard way, too, by keeping it in the park for most of them: 7 doubles, 4 home runs. All this attention paid to his offense, though, will once again see Nick snubbed for a Diamond Digit.


The Westside Warriors will win the 2013 Commissioner's Cup.
There are many questions about what their final roster may be, but I'm buying the hype that Alex Shore is selling. With the list of names he's working with you can count on the Warriors running out a talented squad every game day, regardless of whether or not some pieces change from week to week. Also, even if only featured in a limited role, the addition of Sam Hatt sends Westside's stock skyrocketing. He and Shore will be a dangerous 1-2 lefty punch in the lineup, and his guidance can also calm Maclin Malloy's "Wild Thing" tendencies on the mound: making for a lights-out rotation.


Chandler Phillips will lead the league in Ks.
Chandler was fourth in 2012 with 131, just 10 shy of the league lead. He only toed the rubber in 7 games, however, for a total of 52.1 innings. While true that all the 2012 K leaders pitched between 50 and 55 innings, I expect Chandler's innings to increase to around 65 this season as he gets more regular starts. His KPI of 2.5 will see him cutting down 162 batters on the season, running away with the "K crown" as the pitchers ahead of him in 2012 are not likely to see their innings increase


The Wicked Aces will throw 5 perfect games on the season.
Justin Hughes, Evan Bischoff, and Austin Bischoff all threw one in 2012. New signing, Evan Bortmas, threw two. The bats may be bigger and the mound further, but these pitchers will just be better. Evan (Bischoff) will reprise his against King Friday; Bortmas will avenge his only loss from last season by sitting the Squirrels down; Hughes will get one against the Islanders; and Austin will come up with two in huge games: the first against El Diablos, and then a nine inning thriller against the Ducks in the playoffs as the exclamation.


Ryan Alexia will lead the league in stolen bases.
Alexia had a .377 OBP last season, which was over two-times his AVG. His second year in the league will bring an increase in number of hits, and that good eye of his will inflate his OBP into the high .400s. Expect David Buhr to employ steals intelligently as a new facet of the game. We will see Ryan turning singles or walks into doubles and scoring opportunities at will for the Belgian offense: successful in seven out of nine attempts, three of which set up a game-winning run.

Splitting the A-team: The Manchester Project

		Your Junk my Happy Zone
		by Brandon Corbett

The Manchester Punchouts may not have won the Commissioner's Cup, due to reasons ultimately anticlimactic and a little bit nauseating. However, what they were able to do is absolutely dominate the 2012 season (26-2, +160 run differential) and the individual stat categories. Punchouts owned the number-one spot in the five big offensive categories (AVG, HR, RBI, OBP, SLG%), and had the second slot in all of them except for AVG. Altogether, they filled 13 of the 25 possible slots; representing 52% of the league's offensive leaders!

It was three players filling those slots and doing all that damage: Evan Bortmas (2012 MVP, Batting Champ, co-HR King, and NWLA 1st Team Hitter), Dakota LaDouceur (2012 co-HR King and NWLA 2nd Team Hitter) and Sam Hatt, who may not have the offensive bling of his former teammates, but he does have the substance - top 5 in AVG, OBP, and RBI. Where Sam's stock really starts to shoot up, though, is on the mound. He narrowly missed out on the Clown Shu, finished the season second in Ks (138) and ERA (0.27), tied for first in wins (10), and earned a spot as an NWLA 1st Team Pitcher. Evan also gets a boost from his pitching: another NWLA 1st Team and 10 win pitcher, and top 5 finisher in K (136) and WHIP (0.94)in WSEM.

Three undeniably explosive players, who have all split up and signed with new teams. It was early in the offseason that Bortmas divulged he and Hatt may not be back for 2013, but the team might continue if someone else wanted to run it. LaDouceur was attempting to retool a Punchouts roster minus Evan and Sam. However, after Bortmas' signing with the Wicked Aces was announced in early October, LaDouceur accepted an offer to play with El Diablos in 2013. It was not until November 26th, after being courted by several captains over a parade of Thanksgiving dinners, that Sam finally announced his return to WSEM for the 2013 season, signing with the revived Westside Warriors.

Three better suitors could not have been found for the former Punchouts to spread their talents across. The impact of these free agent signings should be tremendous - assuming semi-regular participation, of course. Most early power rankings put the reigning champion Aces at the top with some combination of El Diablos, Warriors, and Ducks in spots two through four.

For the Aces, the Bortmas signing is out of Steinbrenner's book. They add a fourth pitcher with a sub-1.00 ERA, and third with a WHIP below 1.00. The team already ran a three/four man rotation last season with brothers Austin and Evan Bischoff, Justin Hughes, and Joel Crozier. So, having many effective options to run out is not new territory for them. That said, Bortmas' biggest contribution to the lineup is his bat. Last season the Aces' regulars hit between .246 and .291; Bortmas hit nearly .100 points higher with a .389 AVG. The Aces team hit 18 HR; Bortmas hit 20. Couple his power with moving into Poolside Park for a possible 14 games, and the new Evan may put up crazy numbers in 2013. What has already happened is a dominant Aces pitching staff not only got padded, but just added lot of firepower behind it.

Similarly, what LaDouceur brings to El Diablos is a huge bat to run out at the top of their lineup. 2012 RoTY, Kyle Tomlinson (.346 AVG, .515 SLG), prefers batting further down in the four spot. So, being able to slide LaDouceur (.339, .835) in at the top of the order will still bring up strong El Diablos at-bats more often in games. In 2012 it took Dakota until his sixth game to record his first hit. However, after that, he was only held hitless in two games for the rest of the season. Chandler Phillips and Craig Skinner have El Diablos pitching well-stocked, so the key to El Diablos getting the most impact from this signing seems to be, simply, getting Dakota out to games early and often.

Hatt provides a fantastic player to lean on early in the season for Alex Shore and a Warriors roster returning many players who have taken a year off, and bringing in a new crop of rookies. Having Hatt's arm in the rotation could give Maclin Malloy time to find the form he is capable of possessing on the mound. At the plate, Hatt and Shore are similar hitters: lefties with a good deal of power and solid contact. Also, once on base, both are smart, aggressive baserunners making them a dangerous duo to build a lineup around. This signing has the makings of one that can push the Warriors up to the front of the line to play for a Commissioner's Cup.

The chance of former Punchouts returning to the WSEM Championship Series looks promising. The fact that we very well may see them on both sides of it is enticing, in that we may finally get the chance to see these stars play for the Commissioner's Cup!

Team Tuesdays: Whiteford W.A.

[Today's guest columnist is Joel Crozier: assistant captain of Whiteford W.A., creator of the WSEM Championship Trophy, an all-around do anything for wiffleball kind of guy, and possibly future WSEM front-office material.]

When Austin Bischoff first appeared on the WSEM scene, he was just a seventeen-year-old kid filling in for the Flying Squirrels late in the regular season. Players began to take notice, however, when he took the mound against the Warriors and DeLoppes, and posted two complete game shutouts. He soon became the Squirrels’ ace; in the last two weeks of the regular season and the playoffs, he allowed only one run over 46 innings while striking out 120 batters. When the newly revived Squirrels nearly upset the DeLoppes in the second round of the playoffs, Austin Bischoff became a major topic of discussion: “This guy is up there with Dennis Pearson!” “Does Whiteford even exist?” “Hey Carl, you know if they’ve got any like him left on Craigslist? Or was it Ebay where you found him?”

However, Austin was no wiffleball newbie. Like Carl Coffee, Austin was actually the founder and commissioner of his own league: the Whiteford Wiffleball Association.

The origins of wiffle activity in Whiteford trace back to Austin’s elementary school years, when he and close friend Joel Crozier experimented with various bat-and-ball games. They moved from tennis ball baseball to blooper ball to a game called smallball. Unfortunately, because they often played one-on-one, these games didn’t work well when they got older and stronger. That’s when Austin discovered the ultimate one-on-one game: wiffleball.

From the moment the two boys, now in eighth grade, watched a well-thrown pitch break three feet on its way to the strike zone, they were hooked. They researched pitching methods, built a strike zone, bought bases and a home run fence, and began forming a league. They launched a web site and recruited players from their school to join.


Whiteford's roster for Beat It: Colin, Austin, Joel, Justin, and Evan.
Unfortunately, it soon became clear many of other kids didn’t have the same love for wiffleball. The league operated sporadically over the next few years, with only three players actually competing in more than a couple of games. Organized tournaments fell flat on two occasions. Although their games were always intensely competitive, and usually featured high quality pitching, Austin and Joel wanted to find some real competition against other people who enjoyed the game as much as they did. During their search, they discovered a league known as Downriver Wiffle.

Austin contacted the commissioner, Carl Coffee, and a wiffleball relationship was born. As Downriver Wiffle evolved into WSEM, Austin tried to form a team and enter a tournament in Monroe. After the Fourth of July tournament was canceled, Austin got a chance to play organized wiffleball anyway — for the Squirrels. You already know how that turned out.

In the second round of the playoffs, Joel went with Austin to see what the league was all about. He liked what he saw. After the tournament, he and Austin had a long conversation about forming a team for the next season. The first step, of course, would be to enter a team in the end-of-season Beat It tournament.

They contacted Justin Hughes, a leading hitter on Whiteford’s varsity baseball team, and Colin Lake, a superb fielder who could also smash a wiffleball. Austin’s little brother Evan rounded out the team at five players. After Joel and Austin made jerseys, the Whiteford Wiffleball Association was no longer a league — it was a team.

In a great day of wiffleball, the WWA gave Austin the perfect present on his birthday: the Beat It championship. Joel missed most of the tournament due to a fall baseball obligation; with the new rotation rule in effect, someone needed to step up. Justin, who had never pitched in a wiffleball game before, was a pleasant surprise, shutting down the DeLoppes in a crucial playoff game and pitching most of the championship game. When he got in a jam, Austin showed his managerial prowess and faith in Joel, who took the mound, managed to escape the inning, and closed out the tournament.


Plans for WWA's field expansion for the 2012 season.
The WWA has big plans for its first WSEM season. They recently unveiled plans for their home field (name to be determined). Preseason odds released by Brandon Corbett generously list the team as a favorite. Austin, officially named the WWA Captain, and Joel, Assistant to the Captain and Head Publicist, plan to have a pool of players to draw upon throughout the season. They also want to utilize a full pitching rotation throughout the regular season (Austin, Joel, Evan, Justin, Colin, …?) for added versatility in the playoffs. Most of all, they are excited to be playing the game they love with others who are as enthusiastic about it as they are.

What to watch for:

• Bitter rivalries against the Squirrels (Austin’s a traitor!) and Thunder Ducks (think battle for the Clown Shu).
• Possibility of lighter, cooler alternate jerseys
• Closing of League Lineup site, opening of new team site
• Updates on field construction
• Promo vid!
• Video recaps/highlights of games