[MAW] 2020 Opening Day Tournament Recap

A LONG TIME COMING

From the time of their Mid Atlantic tournament debut at Torneo de Wiffs in May 2018, a tournament title for the Longballs felt inevitable.

The talent and upside of the team was evident from the get-go and over the past two years, the Longballs have reached tournament final fours more often than not. Through their first twelve Mid Atlantic tournaments – including championship tournaments and the Winter Classic – the Longballs reached the final four seven times. On three occasions they reached the championship game – most notably at last year’s Mid Atlantic Championship Tournament – only to come up short each time. They had tournaments where they pitched well, tournaments where they outhit much of the field, and tournaments with MVP-caliber performances from their individual players. All along they were just waiting for the one tournament where things fell into place at the right time.

That wait is now over.

The Longballs went a perfect 6-0 on Saturday to win the 2020 Opening Day Tournament. Their wins in the elimination round came against an impressive list of teams – the 3-time national champions, the 2019 MAW regular season champions, and the 2020 Winter Classic winners. From afar, the victory might seem like the result of a perfect day where everything fell into play place, but that was not the case. Colin Pollag and Sean Bingnear – who at times have been critical components of the Longball pitching staff – did not throw a single pitch. Pollag is the Longballs’ best overall hitter, but he didn’t contribute much at all at Opening Day. The victory was less a perfect storm and more a testament to the Longballs’ deep, compatible, and talented roster.

In any other tournament, the newest Longball – Cam Farro – would be a no-brainer for tournament MVP. The 2019 MAW rookie of the year award winner went 4-0 for his new team while serving as the table setter – a role usually occupied by Pollag – throughout the tournament. It was further proof of the fact – a fact well-known to players in MAW and the Ridley Park Wiffleball League – that Farro is among the best young players the sport currently has to offer (and there is no shortage of talented, young players in 2020). Cam was as composed on Saturday as he was effective, rising to the occasion as the starting pitcher in the quarterfinals and semi-finals against C4 and the Juggernauts, respectively.

The Longballs played as a team on Saturday, using all six rostered players in each game of the tournament. Tyler Nachbar picked up some pool play innings to take at some of the strain off the arms of Farro and Tommy Loftus. When not pitching, Loftus was inserted as the designated fielder, taking advantage of the new MAW rule that allows for a DH for any player. In an era where many teams believe that a streamlined lineup – no more than four hitters – is optimal, the Longballs batted five the entire tournament. The benefit of a bigger lineup is that if one or two hitters aren’t performing, there are several others there to pick up the slack. Pollag and Bingnear did not have their best days at the plate, but Dylan Harshaw and Farro were there to pick them up.

On another team with another mentality, it is possible – if not likely – that Harshaw would have sat out most of the elimination games the Longballs played at the Opening Day tournament. Harshaw is a good hitter, but most would agree that he is the fourth or fifth most talented on the Longballs roster which would have made him a candidate to sit if the Longballs decided a four-man lineup was the way to go. Instead, Harshaw was in the five-man lineup against C4, Juggernauts, and POC and hit a critical home run in each of those games. Harshaw’s MVP caliber hitting performance perfectly highlighted the Longballs’ team mentality and enviable depth.

The trust that the Longballs have in one another spread to their pitching plan. The team didn’t hesitate to use Farro in big game situations nor did they hesitate to pull him late in those games for Loftus. The NY Meats aside, teams rarely pull a pitcher when things are going well but the Longballs were willing to do that with Farro and it paid off in a major way. Loftus’ clean slider after Cam’s more traditional and varied arsenal kept veteran hitters off balance. When it came time to finish off the tournament, the Longballs turned to their ace who calmly and proficiently cut through the dangerous POC offense. Not unexpectedly, Loftus showed zero signs of any lingering issues left over from last September’s championship tournament collapse.

While the win was a milestone for the Longballs – and celebrated as such – the members of the team do not view it as a pinnacle. To a man, the players were adamant post-tournament that they see the victory as an important step in a larger process. They believe that there is still much work to be done. The Longballs have their eyes set on additional accolades including more MAW tournament titles, a Mid Atlantic Championship, a NWLA Tournament title, and a United Wiffle®Ball national championship.

At Opening Day, the inevitable became a reality for the Longballs. Where they go from here is anyone’s guess, but one thing is for sure – the sky is the limit for this group of talented friends.

HERE AND THERE

Record setting extra inning game: One of the more significant rule changes for the 2020 Mid Atlantic season was the replacement of total base games with loading the bases in extra innings. The rule change resulted in an immediate new milestone at the Opening Day Tournament. In their second pool play game, the York Yaks and WILL Waves locked horns in an extra inning affair that ended with an Adam Milsted walk off homerun in the 9th. The game passed the June 2018 game between ERL and the Stompers as the longest pool play game in MAW history.

Bad Luck Berger: Before allowing the aforementioned extra-inning walk-off to Milsted, the Waves’ Austin Berger had allowed only a single run in 17 innings of work over three regular season MAW games. Despite that .24 ERA, Berger was 0-1 with one no-decision prior to the walk off loss against the Yaks. Berger has allowed just two “normal” runs in 18 innings pitched in MAW regular season tournaments – both on home runs – yet he has no victories to show for it. Berger’s hard screwball and strong command of the strike zone will earn him a W in Mid Atlantic sooner rather than later, but for now he holds the dubious distinction of being the pitcher in MAW with the toughest luck.

No relief: Reliever use in competitive Wiffle®Ball tends to mirror Major League Baseball of sixty years ago rather than modern day reliever usage. A pitcher will often finish the game he starts, unless he needs to be pulled because of performance issues. The NY Meats bucked that trend in 2019, often piggybacking pitchers or using Ryan Bush as a closer regardless of the starter’s performance. That tactic worked well for the Meats last year but possibly bit them in pool play on the 27th. With Vin Lea sailing along against the Shortballs, the Meats switched over to Bush late in the game. One batter after entering the game, Bush allowed a 2-run home run to Frankie Campanile which proved to be the difference in that particular game.

While the Meats ended up on the wrong end of a non-forced pitching switch, the Longballs used that same tactic to great effect all tournament along but particularly during the elimination round. Loftus relieved Farro in both the quarterfinals and semifinals. In both cases Farro was pitching well but the Longballs switched pitchers anyway in an attempt to keep their opponents off balance. It will be interesting to see if more teams adopt a similar strategy now that the Meats and Longballs have proven its overall effectiveness.

Dragons go on a run: Even post-tournament – even with the benefit of knowing exactly what happened – some tournament runs are difficult to wrap your head around. The Dragons path to a final four finish at Opening Day qualifies as one of those. It is not that the Dragons – for this tournament, Nick Lea, Mike Bucci, and Rob Longiaru – lack talent, not at all. Rather, their journey to a final four finish in what was a very competitive tournament played out in such an understated fashion. The Dragons handed the tournament runner up their only loss on a deflected-ball walk off, beat a newcomer handily, lost on a walk off walk to the eventual champions, and followed that up with a walk-off win in the quarterfinals against the hottest team early in the tournament. They accomplished all of that with a pitching staff that ranked behind most of the opposition in experience, talent, or both. It was an impressive and gritty performance from a couple of up-and-coming players and their veteran teammate. 

POC Stays Hot: The best – and certainly most consistent team – of the brief 2020 MAW calendar so far is POC. The 2020 Winter Classic champs followed up on their indoor success with a 2nd place finish on Opening Day. In both tournaments, POC had to overcome an early pool play loss to make a deep tournament run. At Opening Day, that meant quickly putting a walk-off loss to the Dragons behind them and rattling off four straight wins to reach the tournament finals. POC got big offensive contributions from Pete Slater and Tim Beck all tournament long and Johnny Costa contributed on both sides of the ball. Dan Whitener was the POC MVP, as he threw four games and won three of them. Rumor has it that POC is hoping to add one more pitcher and if they do, they are going to be tough to beat the rest of the season.

ERL & Juggernauts continue their rivalry: Going into the 2019 Mid Atlantic season, there was a popular school of thought that the battle for the Mid Atlantic title would be a year-long dogfight between ERL and the Juggernauts. Things did not quite work out that way, but ERL and the Juggernauts did carve out quite a rivalry that carried over to the first tournament of the new decade. That rivalry and tradition of hard-fought games between the two clubs continued at Opening Day in the quarterfinals. In that game, the Juggernauts pulled off a 1-0 victory to advance to the semi-finals. The game came down to the final play, when Ryan McElrath got Kenny Rodgers Jr. to roll over on a 3-2 pitch with the bases loaded. ERL and the Juggernauts will almost definitely meet again later this season and if they are all of this caliber, we will be in for a treat.

STANDINGS AND CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT

For the shortened 2020 season, MAW is implementing a new point standing system.

Prior to 2020, teams were awarded points based on their finish in a tournament and the number of teams competing in the tournament. The 2020 system takes a slightly different approach by awarding points to teams based on number of games played, wins, losses during bases loaded extra-inning games, and advancement through the elimination round. This system produces generally similar results to the old system, with a greater focus on individual game results rather than simply final tournament results. Click here for an overview of the point system.

Based on this system, teams were awarded the following points for the 2020 Opening Day Tournament.

* Pre-quarterfinal elimination games do not count for “games played” points & wins to avoid teams receiving extra points for playing play-in games.

For the first three years of MAW, the season concluded with best-of-three semi-finals and finals series to determine a Mid Atlantic champion. The four-team series format has proven effective in finding the best overall team in MAW in a given season. Heading into the 2020 season, MAW planned on keeping that format in place while also expanding the Wild Card format that was introduced in 2018. 

However, the pandemic and the shortened season that has resulted caused those plans to be rethought. MAW fully expects to return to the Best of 3 series format in future years, but it will take a one-year hiatus in 2020.

The format for the 2020 Mid Atlantic Championship will be a 10-team seeded double elimination tournament and will take place on Saturday September 26th. Teams will be seeded based on the point standings, with the top six teams receiving byes.

There are two main reasons behind this (likely) temporary change. The first is that the Wild Card tournament and Mid Atlantic Championship tournament were originally scheduled for September 12th and September 26th, respectively. The pandemic caused the NWLA Tournament to be moved from mid-July to the weekend of September 19th. Given the number of players in MAW that attend the NWLA Tournament, MAW officials felt it would be asking a lot for some players to compete in high-stakes, fast pitch tournaments three weeks in a row and the decision was made to do only one post-season tournament this year. Secondly, with the season cut down to four tournaments MAW feels it is important to get as many teams as possible involved in the championship tournament and have opted for the 10-team double elimination format for that reason.

More details on the tournament – as well as plans to place a larger emphasize on the regular season champion in 2020 – will be forthcoming!

UP NEXT

MAW is back in action on Saturday July 11th in York with Wiffle Bash! The event is shaping up to be another 14-team tournament with many of the same faces as Opening Day, the debut of a new combined Barrel Bruisers/Risers squad, and several other debuting & returning players! 

Just two weeks after Wiffle Bash, MAW heads to Ridley Park on July 25th for Wiffle Wars! Two brand new teams are already registered for this event and there are rumors of a fourth Ridley Park Wiffle®Ball League team in action on the 25th! This event is on pace to be the largest MAW tournament ever. Registration is up right now at the MAW Pro Shop.