[MAW] 2019 Backyard Brawl Preview

This is it - the final regular season tournament of the 2019 Mid Atlantic season! There is a TON on the line at Backyard Brawl from postseason berths and byes to regular season awards and honors. Not to mention, the bragging rights and cash that come with winning any MAW tournament. There will be a lot going on in York on Saturday, so here are just ten of the dozens of things to watch for.

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Regular Season Title on the Line

In 2017, the York Yaks by rebounded from a slow start to win the 3rd and 4th tournaments of the season and ultimately capture the regular season championship. Last season, the 2018 regular season champions, ERL, recovered from a slow and bumpy start to make the semi-finals in four of the last five events, including a tournament victory at Backyard Brawl in August. History could repeat itself in 2019 if the Juggernauts are able to overcome their rocky start to win the regular season title. To do so, they will have to win a 3-way dog fight with the Shortballs and Longballs at Backyard Brawl. The Shortballs were the best team in Mid Atlantic through May but have cooled off since, while the Longballs have remained consistent throughout the spring and summer months. Just one point separates these three teams, which means the order they finish in at Backyard Brawl will very likely decide the regular season champions.

Will ERL Complete their “comeback”?

When ERL vacated their previously earned points in order to reset their roster halfway through the tournament calendar, they knew their path to a first weekend Championship Tournament bye was a narrow one. However, the team has done their part, winning each of the two tournaments since the reset but they still need some help. At 32 points, ERL currently sits in 5th place in the point standings. To get the bye outright (i.e. without concern for tiebreakers), ERL realistically needs to finish first, hope that at least one of the Juggernauts, Longballs, or Shortballs finishes 10th or worse, and that the Stompers don’t come away with more than eight points. Clearly, a lot has to go ERL’s way for them to avoid playing on the 7th. ERL’s chances at one of the top three playoff spots are still rather slim but the fact that they even have this solid of a shot going into Backyard Brawl is a testament to the two-tournament run they have been on.

Crashing the Party

Dan Whitener and POC will have a chance to slip into the Championship Tournament with a finals appearance on Saturday.

Thanks to the automatic bid rule – where any team that finishes 1st or 2nd in any regular season tournament automatically makes the post-season – the Championship Tournament lineup is still far from settled. There is ample opportunity on Saturday for several non-qualified teams who are too far out to qualify by points to grab an auto spot. ATF, Barrel Bruisers, POC, and WiffDaBalls could each throw the Championship Tournament picture out of whack by reaching the finals at Backyard Brawl. We know both ATF and POC have the talent to do just that, while WiffDaBalls will come to York as a complete wild card. MAW has seen unknown teams make the finals before in their first tournament – most notably, the Naturals last Opening Day – so nothing is out of the question. The Bruisers will unfortunately be short-handed on Saturday which limits their odds of crashing the party, but stranger things have happened.

Missing the Party

There will be at least a couple of teams hoping that those four don’t find their way to the finals on the 10th. If any of those four reach the finals at Backyard Brawl and secure an automatic bid to the post-season tournaments, that means the last non-qualifier in the top nine in the point standings will be bumped. If two of those four reach the finals, then the two lowest non-auto qualifiers will unfortunately be left on the outside-looking-in. The Blueballs and York Yaks would likely be the teams impacted by such a scenario. The Longballs are the other team in the top nine without a secured bid, but if a scenario exists to eliminate them from the post-season altogether it is extremely unlikely that it actually occurs. The Yaks are two points behind the Blueballs entering the weekend, so they will be looking to finish at least a couple spots ahead of them to improve their post-season chances. Of course, both teams could make it easy on themselves by reaching the finals and securing an auto bid for themselves. The Blueballs are also scheduled to face ATF during pool play and could help themselves – and potentially the Yaks, as well – with a win in that game.

Still Alive for the Bye

In addition to ERL, the Stompers and New School Risers remain in the hunt for a first weekend bye. At 40 points coming into the weekend, the Stompers sit in 4th place and have the best shot of the at grabbing a bye away from the current top three. For example, if the Stompers were to finish 4th out of the 13 teams on Saturday and the Shortballs finish 7th or worse, they would lock up a bye regardless of what ERL or any other team does. That scenario changes only slightly if we replace the Shortballs with the Longballs or Juggernauts. The Stompers’ fate as it pertains to the first weekend of the Championship Tournament is not completely in their own hands, but if they finish top four at Backyard Brawl, they will have put themselves in a very good position. The Risers will need far more help to get there. At 32 points, the Risers are in a similar spot to ERL and will need some help from the teams around them in addition to reaching the title game.

The Other Bye

A new third field will be in play at Shi Wiffleball Park this Saturday.

The first weekend bye is not the only one at stake. The 4th and 5th ranked teams (by points) at the end of the season will receive a one-game bye in the double elimination tournament on September 7th. A holder of one of those byes could theoretically make it out of the first weekend having played only three games, which could pay dividends the following weekend. One less game means one less game of work for your pitchers, which could make a big difference during the first weekend as well. Currently, these spots are held by the Stompers and ERL. The Risers are only two points back of the second spot and the Meats are six points back. The Yaks and Barrel Bruisers are also mathematically alive for the 5th spot in the point standings, but would need a significant amount of help to get there.

RPWL Invasion

There will be even more Ridley Park players milling around Shi Wiffleball Park this weekend.

All season long, MAW has benefited greatly from an influx of talent from the Ridley Park Wiffleball League. One only needs to glance at the current point standings, where the Longballs and Shortballs sit first and third, respectively, to see that. In addition, the Blueballs have one fourth place finish to their name and Pone has been a quality addition to the Barrel Bruisers. On Saturday, however, Ridley Park is ratcheting it up another notch with a trio of MAW debuts. Joining the short-handed Barrel Bruisers for the tournament will be RPWL rookie Ethan Pecko and Mike Collins. Pecko has a bigtime arm but is still somewhat raw as a wiffs pitcher. Pitching for Tommy Loftus’ Dodgers and slotted behind Behn Worely in the rotation, Pekco struck out all but four batters he retired in ten innings of work, but also allowed almost 2 ½ walks per innings. After a one year absence from the league, Collins returned as a member of Greg Myers’ Pirates squad in 2019. Also shorthanded, the Risers have added John Lockhart for this tournament. Lockhart was a rookie selection by Dylan Harshaw’s A’s squad this year and handled himself well in his first season of competitive play. With those additions, there will be 17 Ridley Park originals and 18 RPWL players competing at Backyard Brawl. They will bring the 2019 total to twenty RPWL players who have competed in a MAW tournament this season.

Big Name Additions

Both POC and ATF will have some reinforcements as they look to play their way into the Championship Tournament with a first or second place finish. POC has reportedly added Vin Lea of Dragons/Bronx Royals/Blue Kamikazees/Palisades Reds fame. Although he and the Dragons competed in the 2018 Winter Classic, Backyard Brawl will mark Vin’s MAW regular season tournament debut. Vin provides the already-dangerous POC with another bat and arm. Meanwhile, ATF will be vacating their previously earned points to take one shot at qualifying for the post-season tournaments by adding Kevin Norris and Ty Wegerzn. We last saw Kevin and Ty back on Opening Day when they helped ERL (the first version of ERL) the tournament title. Between the two of them, ATF and POC added three of the game’s best players as they make a last minute bid to get into the Championship Tournament.

Last Chance to Impress the Voters

Saturday will also be the final opportunity for players to make a case for one of MAW’s regular season awards. Thanks in large part to an out-of-this-world .550/.571/.1.450 slash line at Wiffle Wars, Kenny Rodgers Jr. enters Backyard Brawl as the league leader in batting average, slugging, and OPS. He is tied for first in homeruns with seven. Rodgers Jr. is not far from first in total bases and on base percentage. Although he will have only played a half-season in MAW and the voters tend to factor in quantity as well as quality, another strong tournament might make his numbers too strong to ignore. Jordan Robles has a grip on the Mike Soltesz pitching award right now but anything could change in a tournament. A down tournament for Jordan could open the door for players like Kyle VonSchleusingen, Teddy Drecher, Frankie Campanile, or Tommy Loftus to overtake him. Ben Stant and Rodgers Jr. will enter play on Saturday tied for first in homeruns with seven as they duke it out for the Mark Demasi Homerun Award. Perhaps the most hotly contested award this year will be Rookie of the Year honors. With a stacked field that includes the entire Blueballs and Shortballs, plus Gino Joseph and Noah Silverman – among others – that award could be decided on the 10th.

Stat Watch

With thirteen plate appearances on Saturday, the Stompers’ Tim Cooke will join ERL’s Connor Young as the only two players with 400 career plate appearances . . . Speaking of which, Connor needs just 16 plate appearances to become the first MAW player to reach 500 for his career . . . Soup also needs to just 6 2/3’s innings to be the first player to reach 200 innings pitched in MAW . . . Jimmy Cole is the current ERA leader at 0.19, but has thrown 21 innings. Cole will be absent form Backyard Brawl and therefore won’t have the necessary innings after the tournament (24) to qualify for the ERA title. That means it is Jordan Robles’ to lose as he enters the tournament with an ERA that is 0.20 lower than his closest competitor. A lot can change in one tournament, however. Kyle VonSchleusingen, Teddy Drecher, Frankie Campanile, Tommy Loftus, and Dan Whitener all still have a realistic shot at it . . . Kenny Rodgers Jr. enters play with a .409/.480/1.045 slash line in ten games, which works out to a 1.525 OPS. Last season in eight games, Ben Stant slashed .561/.654/1.122 for a 1.776 OPS. If Kenny hits on Saturday like he did back in July, he has a chance of surpassing Stant’s high water OPS mark. If he does, it will be made even more impressive by the fact that he will have done so while playing significantly more games.