It would be safe to say that in past power ranking articles of WSEM the rankings have all been largely based off of favoritism, reputation, and history of a given few star players. I look to focus on TEAM UNITS as a WHOLE. There is no “I” in team and no “ME” in Championship. I feel that two categories of a team’s success as a unit are heavily overlooked: team chemistry and statistical analysis. With either of these upset a given team’s success could be at risk. I will attempt to power rank the eight teams based off of team chemistry and statistical output in past years in relation to the upcoming season.
Starting at number eight, I have the Campus Commandos. As far as team chemistry goes, turbulence is a key word. Adam Grant has a turbulent relationship with many players in WSEM, which leaves his teammates and competitors to be rather “up-in-the-air” as to how to play the game around him. Now as far as Statistical analysis goes, it is no secret that the Commandos need A LOT of improvement in every major area if they wish to compete for a championship. Also, with the loss of a veteran player in Joe Seto, the team has a substantial hole to fill in both batting and pitching numbers. Joe Seto and his fill-in players (who are now the Donkeys) accounted for roughly 44% of the Commandos run support and roughly 48% of the team’s hits. That will account for nearly half for the team’s offense. This is a detrimental loss in an area in which they already struggled. The Commandos finished second to last in team batting average last year and without any major changes in chemistry or stats, I don’t see much improvement at all. We do not even need to talk about pitching, because aside from Seto that was it. Seto accounted for 80% of the team’s win, a whopping margin. Linebrink showed some promise based on his two wins and 57 K’s; however, unless someone steps up, consider this team a GONER with the new pitching rotation and not one stud on the hill. Imagine the chemistry of the Charlestown Chiefs and also the record of the 80’s “Dead Wings”, and that is what you have to look forward to from the Commandos.
At seven, I have the Belgian Wiffles. Chemistry on this team will be top tier in the league. David Buhr is an affable person and chances are, that some of his rookie players are ball players from his soccer team. If so, they will respond well to David’s criticism and could potentially result in a unified team, which could make a late season push. There is no team harder to beat than a unified team, especially a team with a qualified leader in Buhr. Now, jumping into statistical analysis could be a bit tougher. The Wiffles lost their stud pitcher and batter in Chris Lewis. He accounted for 37% of the team’s hits and 32 % of the teams run production. Lewis was by no means a top batter in the league either, and as a result, this should scare the Wiffles. Lewis racked up 82% of his teams wins on the mound. Given the rotation rule, Buhr needs to find not only one, but two go-to pitchers. The upside to all of this is that Buhr’s players are probably incredibly athletic, and if they are his ball players, he should have no problem molding them into decent players over a season while being a player/coach. Buhr can be considered a player much like that of the captain of the Mystery Alaska Hockey team.
At Six, I have the Jason Mattseals. I know this may come as a surprise to some, but one can’t overlook potential. The chemistry of this team is middle of the run. Hewlett, Matt and his team are close friends on and off the diamond, so expect a tight knit group of players. Captained by Jason Matt, this team showed some games of beauty, and others of misery. Statistically speaking this team was the worst offensive team in the league. If players like Hewlett, Johnson, and Biegas perform with slightly improved numbers, the seals can find a decent amount of production in hits and runs. These players accounted for 68% of the team’s hits, and 70 % of the team’s runs. With slight improvement, these numbers can continue to grow, since the Seals will have all of their players returning next year. Johnson is still up in the air to return but the Seals signed a promising rookie in Greg Franzen and hope to make a push in the playoffs. Pitching is promising for these Seals! That is right; Hewlett is the team’s saving grace. Accounting for 100% of the team’s wins, this man is a machine and he is returning. The only question is… Is there a number two? Hewlett could potentially develop this number two person over the season, and if the Seals can manage to split most series, this team could be dangerous down the stretch. Say bye to the “loveable losers” and hello to the Flint Tropics under Ed Monix. A changed club with a whole lot of potential!
At five, I just barely have the Squirrels. This team has the Chemistry of the Russian 80s men’s Olympic hockey team. A group of guys who have known each other since high school, the Squirrels are in it to win it, crack a brew, and have a good time. This will prove helpful in the long run, because a tight knit group tends to find success. An exceptional group of guys for the most part, and only good things will come this season. Most of all the Squirrels added Michael Constanti, an All-Star pitcher, and Ryan Bullard, a Diamond Digit winner. The Squirrels have a solid one-two punch at pitcher in Mike Merlo and Constanti, and have stepped up their defensive prowess in adding Bullard to complement Carl Coffee. Statistically speaking this team finished fifth in both batting and pitching. The Ass Kickers finished fourth and the squirrels now have absorbed the ace of the Ass Kickers. The Squirrel batting also has become improved as a result. Coffee and Brandon Corbett accounted for 58% of the hits and 58% of the runs. A major problem last year was the runners left on base and the lack of run support for the pitchers. Now, the Squirrels acquired another bat in Constanti and even more importantly, a person who has a high on base percentage. Ryan Bullard was on base roughly 47% of the time in the 14 games he played. This will prove to be crucial to the Squirrels as a unit, who were only on base 38% of the time in 28 games. A quick chemistry lesson: when a reaction is in equilibrium, the reaction is highly reactive. Watch out for this team in equilibrium to be highly dangerous on any given day!
At four, I have the Donkeys. This unit is number three in team chemistry. Joe Seto, as previously mentioned, is a force to be reckoned with. He has a great group of guys in Haapala, Shaw, and Spagnoulo, not to mention the additions of Shore, Malloy, Whelan and the Westside crew; the team has a lot of potential. What you notice from previous tournaments is the Donkeys take one car, sit together, and enjoy the game. Not to mention they made it to the championship in the most recent tournament with players of the new squad. This kind of unification would have Rick James screaming unity! Now, on to the statistics. Last season, Seto accounted for nearly half of the commando’s production in all areas. This was done with no other stud players around to take any heat off of him. The new Donkeys have Haapala and Shaw: two utility players that proved useful in both pitching and batting. Although both players do not have plausible stats, they show potential based on their tournament performance. The addition of Malloy will be a huge lift to the Donkeys pitching. When Malloy is on his game he can rival pitchers like Bischoff and Pearson. Malloy only pitched 39 innings on the year and only in 9 games out of 28 games total. In nine games he racked up 83 strikeouts. That is average of two strikeouts per inning, and was 40% of the Warrior’s total strikeouts. In addition, he had a 3.36 ERA and only allowed 28 hits. Seto, Shore, and Shaw carried the team to a championship run, Just think of the potential with Malloy as well! Shore and Whelan are a huge lift in the hitting aspect. Shore was top three of the league in homers, hits, RBIs and average. Whelan was top five in average with a batting average of .412. Look for the Donkeys to explode onto the scene and make everyone’s heads turn. Imagine this team as the ‘06 Tigers: major signings, new look in the front office, and hungry to win.
At three, I have the Thunder Ducks. This unit was almost clear in my book with team chemistry until the addition of an unknown. In chemistry the addition of an unknown could either be a catalyst to the reaction in terms of success or detrimental in terms of failure. The Ducks are a group of kids that dominate the game. Lewis was added to this mix in the offseason. Although it may look good on paper, I am anxious to see how this plays out during the season. How will the team function and get along with Lewis? Will tempers flare? Who knows? This is partly why I have the Ducks low, this huge debacle in team chemistry. One area that is not up for debate is statistics. The Ducks were second in pitching and batting as a team in the league. In addition, last year, Dennis Pearson carried the majority of the workload in both categories. He was accountable for 32% of the hits, 40% of the total bases, 50% of the homeruns and 40% of the RBIS. Solid numbers matched this major production by the rest of his team, however, much lower numbers. With all of this said, a similar year out of Pearson and a better year from players like Nagorski, Nick Braden, and Chris Lewis at the dish could make for a Yankees type explosive batting lineup. The pitching rotation rule was almost a total scare for the Ducks until Lewis signed with them. Last year Pearson accounted for 64% of the wins, 63% of the innings pitched, and pitched nearly 50 more innings then the number two pitcher in Dylan Braden. This much productivity will be nearly cut in half with the new rotation rules, making Pearson much less harmful to teams. Lewis will help a lot, but this one two punch is still not top in the league. Imagine the Ducks as a modern day New England Patriots: always contenders, led by a star, and the team that everyone would love to one day be good enough to beat.
At two, I have the Whiteford Wiffleball Association. This team has great chemistry as a unit (#2), has motivation to play, and most of all has no one person who wants to miss a beat of the action. This kind of unification is a manager’s dream. It is a job well done by Joel Croizer, and with a continuation of this team chemistry, I see big things for this squad as a unit. In the tournament this past September, the team did not lose, took down the Ducks, DeLoppes, and won the whole thing! It was not a one-man show but a team effort; everyone contributed in pitching, batting, and motivating. This is unlike anything WSEM has experienced before and will pay big dividends throughout the upcoming season. This is a group of enthusiastic newcomers who the league should be more than excited to play against. Statistically, there isn’t much to base all of the players off of. I can speak on behalf of Lake, Crozier, and Hughes and Evan Bischoff. They all can pitch, bat, and field with the best of them. They enjoy the game and also are very dynamic athletes. Austin Bischoff is the Alexander Ovechkin of this team. He is a leader, who can do it all, and speak volumes with his play. In his time with the Squirrels in the 2011 season, he played five games, had a batting average of .348, and had eight hits. In the playoffs, he led the Squirrels in all major categories in both batting and pitching. And in a total of nine games pitched he only allowed ONE RUN! That means when he pitched, he only gave up a run 2% of the time! Watch for this team to take the league by storm and become a Detroit Red Wings style team: using all of their players dangerously!
Finally at one, I have the Wiffling DeLoppes. What more can I say about these guys? They are more than just a ball club, they are a family. Not only do these guys have the best team chemistry, they come dressed to play, focused, and determined to win. They are the ideal picture of unity. As far as I am concerned, this is a major reason for their success as a team. If half of the WSEM teams had this kind of togetherness, this league would have so much talent that every game would be a marquee matchup. A final chemistry lesson: the first Law of Thermodynamics is that “energy cannot be created nor destroyed.” For the DeLoppes it is entirely true, but for them it pertains to winning and enthusiasm and they certainly will not be destroyed! Statistically they jump off of the paper. The DeLoppes were number one in both team batting and team pitching in the regular season. They are the only team who did not need to make any roster moves in the off –season. It is also safe to say that had there been a rotation rule last year, this team would have run away with the Championship. Cliff Comstock and Chad Hoppe had ERAs under 2.00, had over 90 strikeouts, had WHIPS under 1.27, and at least 9 wins apiece. They are the most well-rounded and dynamic one-two punch in the league. I also feel that they will only improve for this coming year since they are hungry for a title that was ripped out of their hands by Dennis Pearson. On the other hand, the DeLoppes had stellar batting. Joey DeLano and Nick Snow were major contributors in this aspect. DeLano was atop the league in homers, RBIs, average, runs, and hits. He was a force when paired with Rookie of the Year Nick Snow. As a unit the Deloppes were on base nearly 50% of the time. That is: for every out, there is a runner on. They also had a team OPS of 1.122, accompanied by 206 hits as a unit. With the amount of heart and practice this team puts in, the rewards will be high. They are a well-rounded unit and in my opinion will be lifting the trophy in the upcoming season. Imagine this team as the LA Lakers in the Shaq and Kobe Era: dominant, hard-working, and by all means superb.
I look forward to an interesting and exciting season.
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