At Wiffle Ball's Most Prestigious Event, Its Most Famous League Looms Large
Wiffle ball is a niche sport. The game of Wiffle ball is accessible to everyone; the barrier of entry for the game is having a bat and ball and being able to lob things. As a competitive sport, however, Wiffle ball is something available only to the few hundred people who play it or know someone who does. That, by many, was always considered to be the unfortunate reality of things, without much prospect of changing that nature. Then along came the force for which no one could have accounted: MLW Wiffle Ball.
MLW truly has done wonders for the game of Wiffle ball, putting the competitive sport in front of thousands of eyes daily, and millions every year. With Kyle Schultz and Tommy Coughlin at the helm, the Michigan-based league has done things previously unthinkable for Wiffle ball, including just recently having held their 2022 league World Series at Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles. This weekend, when the MLW All-Stars attended the United Wiffle Ball (UWiffs) World Championship Tournament (WCT), they brought those eyes, and that ability to do what no one else has done, with them.
Almost as if to show that right away, MLW hosted a FanFest Friday night, drawing dozens of fans to their Q&A session and pickup games. When asked about what it means to have these fans come out for them at events like this, MLW player Nick Saylor was very open about its impact. “It’s special. It means a lot to have a little bit of a crowd at the field while we’re there,” was Saylor’s feeling about the fans in general, whereas to their impact on the team in-game, he said, “We really try to use it to motivate us. We try to feed off it, and use it to get that team chemistry going.”
That effect matters because, of course, the MLW All-Stars, a team consisting of Coughlin, Saylor, Schultz, Jimmy Knorp, and Ryan Kracht also played in the tournament. They had some difficulties, as was to be expected given the change from their typical format, and a tough draw that featured pool play games against eventual Sunday qualifiers CCW Skullcrushers and runners-up the Phenoms certainly provided no help. Still, they qualified for the Survivors Bracket thanks to a win over Anarchy. Individually, Kracht fit right in on the pitching carpet, Schultz and Knorp both homered in the tournament, and the team as a whole looked far more comfortable in the box than they did last year. Saylor, who made his UWiffs debut this weekend, was candid about how the adjustment was for their team: “We’re used to the traditional yellow, skinny bats, we’re used to the weight of those. With the fast pitching and the cut balls, they’re moving more, it was definitely something new to us. But when we started playing Wiffle ball, there was always something new, and we always had to work through it and get better. This tournament is the best-of-the-best, and we have to work to get to it, but I’m really looking forward to our future here.”
Having MLW present at these hallmark Wiffle events is much more important than how well they play, however. They may have gone 1-3 as a team, but they left a massive impact, not just in bringing fans and attention, but in running their own tournament alongside the WCT. MLW invited seven teams of players 17-years old and younger to compete in a youth national championship. These teams, which included MLW’s own Rising Stars team centered around the ascendent Dallas Allen, played on the fields right next to the WCT, putting the game’s future in a position to see where they are heading. Said Saylor, “I think it’s very, very special that MLW and United Wiffle teamed up for it. All these guys on the field right now, they wanna grow the game.”
This could turn into something big, possibly even in the Olympics, I’m talking in a few decades. That 17U tournament is a great set up.”
Overall, UWiffs WCT was clearly thrilled to have MLW, and MLW reciprocated. Saylor put it best: “It was really fantastic to be here. It was nothing but great; great turnout from the fans, great personalities. This is the biggest tournament in the entire world. I felt it was very, very special to me to play in this tournament.” It was special for the tournament to have them too.
