[MAW] 2020 Opening Day Tournament Preview

It was delayed 71 days, but the 2020 Mid Atlantic Opening Day Tournament is finally here.

There is always something special about the first tournament of the year, but this year it feels extra special. It feels extra special because there was no guarantee it would even happen. The ongoing pandemic has changed – and will continue to change for the foreseeable future – our everyday lives. The virus has delayed many, many things, including plenty that is far more important than a Wiffle®Ball tournament. The flip side of that is that it has made those things that we previously may have taken for granted feel that much more special – Wiffle®Ball tournaments included.

At the start of any tournament season there is always going to be some unpredictability and a lot left to be discovered for each team and player. On the other side, there is always some information that we know going in. This year, both of those things are also true at a more macro-level. On Saturday, the Opening Day tournament will in some respects feel like and play out like any other MAW tournament. This tournament will also be different than other MAW Opening Day tournaments in many different ways, starting with the obvious that this year the unpredictable weather of April in the northeast will be replaced by the balmy conditions of early summer in the northeast. There will be visible safety precautions that serve as a reminder that we are currently living under extremely different conditions. This tournament will have a different feel. Most everything these days does.

Some of the changes we will see on Saturday have nothing at all to do with the pandemic. Those are the most exciting of all.

Saturday will mark the competitive Wiffle®Ball debuts for some players, including all members of Team4Loko. The newest Ridley Park Wiffle®Ball League tournament team – the Vinny Albanese-led Dirtballs – debuts on the 27th. Every player on the OG Goon Squad and Dragons will be competing in their first regular season MAW tournament. It is the first time in 26 MAW tournaments that the four members of the reigning national champions, C4, will play together in a MAW tournament. And at fourteen teams, Opening Day is set to be the largest tournament in terms of teams in MAW history, beating out the thirteen team Backyard Brawl event from last August.

In the midst of all this change, there will be some much-welcomed familiarity as well. Nine of the fourteen teams competing on Saturday are veritable regulars. Most of those nine teams remain significantly unchanged from 2019.

Whether brand new or an established regular, each of the fourteen teams comes into this unique Opening Day with both known qualities and also with some volatility. Here is what we know - or think we know - and what remains to be answered about all fourteen teams in the tournament field.

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C4 

What we know:  The 3-time reigning national champions are scheduled to compete in their first MAW tournament with their full squad and will be the team to beat on Saturday. C4’s four-man lineup does not have many holes and it is an extremely tough one to navigate through unscathed. Like many of the teams competing this weekend, C4’s arms should be plenty fresh which makes them additionally dangerous.

What we don’t know: Kevin Norris took to the rubber more frequently in the second half of 2019 – including eight solid innings at August’s Backyard Brawl – than he had in the several years prior and the results were very good. If Norris is once again at least a semi-frequent pitching option in 2020, that makes C4 even more difficult of a match up for the opposition. If Norris is good for a game or two per tournament, that greatly reduces one of C4’s few potential weak spots – pitching depth.

DIRTBALLS

What we know:  The formation of the Dirtballs was the final domino to fall in a series of off-season moves surrounding the Ridley Park tournament teams. The Dirtballs replace the now-defunct Blueballs as one of RPWL’s three MAW tournament teams and will be led by experienced MAW players Vinny Albanese and Jack Liberio, both formally of the Shortballs. As announced last November, Ethan Pecko, John Lockhart, Mike Collins, and Behn Worley are expected to round out the roster. Pecko, Lockhart, and Collins all have one MAW tournament under their belts in last August’s Backyard Brawl, while Worely – perhaps the most surprising breakout player of the 2019 RPWL season – would be making his MAW debut.

What we don’t know: The Dirtballs are a young team with a lot of upside, which inherently means there is good deal of uncertainty. Ethan Pecko popped eyes last August when he made his MAW debut as a member of the Barrel Bruisers and Behn Worley had a breakout season last year in RPWL as a pitcher for the Tommy Loftus-led Dodgers. Their pitching track records are short, however, and the other four Dirtballs – while each having some pitching experience – are even more unproven. Likewise, the offensive production the Dirtballs will get in their first tournament together in MAW is hard to gauge. It wouldn’t be surprising if they struggled a bit getting their feet wet nor should anyone be shocked if they come out of the gate firing like the Shortballs did one year ago.

DRAGONS

What we know: For Opening Day, the Dragons will consist of regulars Nick Lea and Mike Bucci, with veteran Rob Longiaru providing added depth. Lea and Bucci have twice before competed in MAW, at the 2019 and 2020 Winter Classics. Rob, too, has thus far only competed indoors for MAW and will be making his regular season tournament debut on the 27th. In his first year competing in the Palisades WBL major leagues in 2019, Bucci took home rookie of the year honors. All three Dragons are capable of pitching, which gives them some depth to work with as they try to advance through pool play and into the latter stages of the tournament.

What we don’t know: Bucci and Lea do not have extensive pitching track records, although they got a lot of practice in – and looked good doing so – while play one-on-one-on-one games with each other and Vin early in the spring. The Dragons will likely need a pool play win from at least one of Lea of Bucci to advance to the elimination round.

ERL 

What we know: The reigning Mid Atlantic champions will look to begin the defense of their 2019 championship by winning the Opening Day tournament for the second year in a row. ERL won in every way conceivable in 2019. At times they seemingly bulldozed through the competition and other times – like in the two post-season tournaments last September – they showed their fortitude in constantly fighting back from behind. The ERL roster of Connor Young, Jordan Robles, Devin Torres, and Kenny Rodgers Jr. is deep, well-rounded, and hungry for more MAW tournament titles.

What we don’t know: Young struggled on the rubber during the second half of the 2019 tournament season. Those struggles might have been due to an ailing arm that is still giving him some trouble. Although Connor was effective in three pool play games at the Winter Classic, his health issues could limit him this season. If so – and assuming Rodgers Jr.’s own arm issues continue to keep him off the carpet – ERL might be light in the pitching department. That could put the pressure on Robles and Torres to carry the load through an entire tournament and perhaps even an entire tournament season.

JUGGERNAUTS

What we know: The Juggernauts parted ways with Dan Potter and Adam Milsted over the winter. Rather than add, the Juggs stayed put with the foursome of Ben Stant, Ryan McElrath, Tim McElrath, and captain Chris “Red” Sarnowski. The team hit its stride towards the backend of the 2019 Mid Atlantic season and will try to carry that momentum into 2020. The 2019 regular season champs have a rather lethal four-man lineup that can withstand an off day from a player or two – a luxury not afforded to very many teams.

What we don’t know: For sure, the Juggernauts can count on quality innings out of Ryan and Red – not only at the Opening Day tournament but beyond for the rest of 2020. However, where the other innings will come from – and they will almost certainly need to find other innings somewhere – is less of a certainty. Stant is good for maybe one game per tournament right now. Tim McElrath did not pitch for a game for the Juggernauts last year until the August 10th tournament, when he threw three of them, including the semi-finals and finals. If Tim’s arm is healthy enough to give the Juggs a quality game on Opening Day and one per tournament thereafter, that will go a long way.

LONGBALLS

What we know: The Longballs finished both the 2019 regular and post seasons in Mid Atlantic as the second ranked team (behind the Juggernauts and ERL, respectively) and likely only improved over the fall and winter. The addition of 2019 MAW Rookie of the Year Cam Farro – the first RPWL offseason domino that fell over the offseason – gives the Longballs another high-level two-way player on their roster. Colin Pollag and Sean Bingnear each had strong showings in the MAW fall draft tournament and MAW Winter Classic. It seems likely that this team has yet to reach its full potential while already reaching impressive heights.

What we don’t know: The availability of Longballs’ ace Tommy Loftus due to health issues is up in the air (this is becoming a theme. . .). Tommy is rehabbing a labrum injury and may not see much action anywhere before September. The Longballs can more than hold their own even without their ace – especially now that they have added Farro – but losing one of the sport’s best pitchers will impact any team.

NY MEATS

What we know: Game-for-game, the NY Meats were the best team in Mid Atlantic last year. The Meats compiled a 10-4 regular season record (.710 winning percentage) and then went 3-2 in the Wild Card tournament with both loses coming at the hands of the eventual champions, ERL. Not resting on their laurels, the Meats added Vin Lea over the winter to give them a dangerous four-man roster filled with nothing but quality two-way players.

What we don’t know: There is not a lot of guess work needed with the 2020 version of the Meats. All four players are proven performers. The team’s pitching philosophies – mix and match pitchers throughout individual games and tournaments, utilize Bush as a closer when necessary – have also proven effective.  The Meats will be a tough team to beat on the 27th and all summer long.

OG GOON SQUAD

What we know: The OG Goon Squad had arguably the best indoor season of any team over the winter of 2019/2020. The trio of Andrius Fink, TJ Kish, and Steven Simcox knocked off the Cannons (Tom Gannon, Nick Hamelin, Rob Sutton, Brian DiNapoli) and the MLW All-Stars to reach the final four at MLW’s Battle of Boston tournament in December. Two months later, the Goon Squad went 2-1 in pool play at MAW’s Winter Classic to make the elimination round, ultimately bowing out at the hands of the Meats in the #8/#9 play-in game. All three players can – and likely will – pitch on the 27th. 

What we don’t know: The Goon Squad is still relatively new to the world of competitive Wiffle®Ball and to MAW, so there is a good bit left to be learned about them and room for growth. They’ve defeated good teams – the aforementioned teams at MLW’s Battle of Boston as well as the Shortballs at the MAW Winter Classic – and lost competitive games to the Diamondbacks (Devin Torres, Garrett Torres, Kenny Stengel) and NY Meats. It will be fun to watch the Goon Squad match up with a variety of teams that they are unfamiliar with – and vice versa– and see how they compete against them. Their recent success suggests they should be just fine.

POC

What we know: The only team with a 2020 MAW tournament title to their name, POC will look to build off what they started in February at the Winter Classic. Dan Whitener and Johnny Costa made for a formidable pitching duo this winter, with Costa handling pool play and the quarterfinals before turning it over to Whitener in the semis and finals. It would stand to reason – given this tournament will have the same number of games to reach the championship as the Winter Classic – that POC will attempt re-run that pitching lineup on Saturday. Assuming that Tim Beck and Pete Slater are also in the POC lineup on Saturday, that foursome could spell trouble for opposing pitches.

What we don’t know: POC’s two-pronged pitching attack worked at the Winter Classic but there is little margin for error when working with two pitches in a 6-game tournament. Costa was very good – excellent even – last year in MAW, pitching to a 0.57 ERA over 21 innings. However – through little fault of his own – he won just two out of the five games he started thanks to lackluster run support. While the POC lineup could and should be lethal, that wasn’t always the case last summer.

SHORTBALLS

What we know: Of all the 2019 MAW “regulars”, the Shortballs roster is the most changed from the end of the 2019 season to 2020 Opening Day. The younger Ridley guys addressed a lot of their perceived shortcomings back in November when they added former Blueballs Zane Johnston, Austin Bleacher, and Dennis Donegan to go with their core three of Frankie Campanile, Teddy Drecher, and Nate Smith. The Shortballs started out hot in 2019 (10-1 through the first two tournaments) but lost steam during the long season. Zane gives the team a fourth quality starter which should allow the Shortballs to spread out the innings and keep their pitchers strong throughout the (shortened) season. While the Shortballs hit far better than predicted heading into 2019, pushing runs across the plate still didn’t come easy. Bleacher and Donegan should be a big boost in that regard. Donegan is off to a torrid start in the RPWL. Bleacher has hit everywhere he has played and seems to be on the cusp of doing the same in MAW. The Shortballs had an excellent 2019 but should be an even more complete team in 2020.

What we don’t know: All members of the 2019 Shortballs team were the same age and part of the same graduating class in school. Bleacher, Donegan, and Johnston are all at least a few years older. While that might seem like a potential detriment to team chemistry, it could very well have the opposite effect. The 2019 Shortballs often argued like friends who had grown up together and known each other for years because – well – that’s exactly what they were. Adding three of their slightly older peers – with a lot more experience and little less familiarity – could have a positive impact on the team that goes beyond on-field performance.

TEAM 4 LOKO

What we know: Not much! These guys will be making their MAW and competitive Wiffle®Ball debuts on Saturday. 

What we don’t know: The upside to an unknown team is that they come with no expectations. Team4Loko has nothing to lose this Saturday and that can be a powerful position to occupy. It is assumed that first time players will struggle at least a bit. There is no pressure, only upside. What we don’t know about Team4Loko might be their greatest asset heading into the weekend.

STOMPERS

What we know: The 2020 version of the Stompers is loaded with pitching options and unique options at that. For starters, they are the only team in the Opening Day field that can boast of having two left-handed pitching options (Brice Clark and Tom Gannon). They can also run out the electric arm of rookie John Polanco, who will be making his MAW regular season tournament debut after impressing in last October’s draft tournament. Gino Joseph is coming off an excellent season in MAW and figures to anchor the rotation again in 2020, although the addition of Polanco and progress of Clark and Gannon gives the team more options this season. The Stompers also figure to be in something closer to mid-season shape than many of their competitors. Joseph has played well in two Wiff is Life League tournaments – he captured tournament title in the second – and Clark pitched very well in the most recent WILL tournament. In any year, Gannon is usually among the more active wifflers but that has been especially true this season. Even through the downtime, Tom continued to seek out tournaments and league games whereever they could be found.

What we don’t know: Offense is still a question mark for the Stompers. Don Thomas will be playing with the team on Saturday with the hope that he can provide some offense – in addition to some added leadership – to this young squad. The hitter to watch for the Stompers might be Gannon, who had some big hits last season in MAW and looks better at the plate every time out. The Stompers have the pitching quality and quantity to get through, it will just come down to their ability to sneal enough runs across to win tight games. Perhaps the new bases loaded in extra innings rule will work in their favor in that regard.

WILL WAVES

What we know: The 2018 NWLA Tournament champions have played in a couple Mid Atlantic tournaments as a unit – 2018’s Wiffle Wars and The Canonsburg Classic – however, the Waves’ best showing in MAW came not as a team, but as individuals last October in the fall draft event. Both Austin Berger and Steve Keelon picked up pitching wins that tournament and Jake Davey played well as part of a loaded trio with Connor Young and Ryan McElrath. The Wiff is Life League switched to a dual medium & fast pitch mound set up this year. Berger – who has impressed in each of his two MAW tournaments – has arguably been the second-best fast pitch thrower in WILL this season, just behind Chris Sarnowski and just ahead of Gino Joseph and Brice Clark. That rule change also means the Waves will enter this tournament with far more recent fast pitch at bats under their belts than in previous Mid Atlantic outings. Both Davey and Keelon have hit very well through two WILL tournaments.

What we don’t know: Keelon was conspicuously absent on the mound this spring. Perhaps that’s because he played alongside Red both times and they decided to just let him go the whole way, but if that was not the case and Keelon isn’t available to throw on the 27th the Waves might not have enough pitching to make a dent. Whether the recent fast pitch hitting experience in WILL pays dividends for the Waves in MAW is another storyline to watch. Generally, they have pitched well in MAW events but have struggled to put up consistent offense. Davey seems destined to break out offensively in MAW at some point and given how well he has hit in WILL thus far in 2020, that breakout could be coming soon.

York Yaks

What we know: Sometimes things just have a way of working themselves out. After the 2019 Mid Atlantic season, the Yaks allowed Dan Potter to seek an opportunity to play for a regular contender. Potter and fellow 2018 Yak teammate, Adam Milsted, joined the Juggernauts for the 2019 season. Down two roster spots and with only one solid pitching option left in Jarod Bull, the Yaks were forced to get creative by bringing in former Fluffhead and Lakeside King great Lou Worthington and his nephew, Noah Silverman, for last year’s MAW Ridley Park tournament. Silverman was an immediate success as a pitcher and only got better as the season wore on. By season’s end, he and Bull made for a contending pitching staff, but the Yaks majorly lacked offense. That problem was addressed when Milsted and Potter – whose departures paved the way for Noah to come aboard in the first place – returned to the Yaks for the 2020 MAW season. Going into 2020, the Yaks have the look of a potential contender with three pitching options and a couple of potentially strong veteran bats in Milsted and Potter.

What we don’t know: While the Yaks look pretty set from a pitching perspective, the offense still remains a question mark even with the re-additions of Potter and Milsted. In sporadic playing time with the Juggernauts, Potter’s hitting stats took quite a tumble. The Yaks would love to see a bounce back season from him.