The Boston Swifts, a team that continually plays at a high level. The Swifts are captained by a league legend, Patches, who is another player with extremely high job security. Patches has challenged for the Players Cup multiple years in a row, and she also excels in cricket as a tone-setter for the Swifts. Behind her is longtime Swifts teammate and partner in crime Sweetheart, who has not had the consistency or high-level success of Patches, but continues to be a fan favorite in Boston. Sweetheart has recently played better in pool, but she's no slouch in cricket either. The narrow-pyramid structure continues with its two-player base. The stronger of the two is Puff II, who came over from the Diamond Gems two years ago and hasn't looked back, scoring instant chemistry with Patches which stems from their familiarity at Club Reality. Finally, there's 2014 Rookie of the Year Gradley, who suffered a severe sophomore slump in 2015. The Swifts agreed to give him another year, but he's working on a short least this year, and if he's to be replaced, it would be the first dip in the draft in two years for Boston. The expectations are there for this team to bring in some hardware this season if everything goes right. Should it not, someone will have to answer for it, but don't expect that to be Patches unless she's outright terrible.
The Commerce Tradewinds are that team that always seem to be better than they actually are. They have the arguably most job-secure captain, Tigerette, who runs the team with an iron fist. The leadership structure behind her is a fresh one for this season, favoring a diamond-shaped pattern with Ice Cream and Lionel on the same middle level. Ice Cream brings the skill and savvy, playing a solid cricket game to complement the high-flying Tigerette, and reasonably good pool that closely resembles her twin Neopolitan in many ways. Lionel is more of the muscle and aggression, but he had a very successful pool season in 2015, his first with the Tradewinds, and he looks to grow and expand as he watches his old Union team face a very character-testing season. Taking up the rear is the highly-anticipated rookie addition to the team, Lorde. Her cerebral style and patient play could make her very threatening in pool, but it may not translate well for her cricket career. The Tradewinds do not favor a particular game, but they would like some success, and they hope Lorde will get them over the hump. The Tradewinds were also part of last year's first cricket tie with the Gems, and it appeared that the tied game threw them off for the next few games. This cost them a playoff spot that they owned when the tie occurred. Commerce has lately finished in the upper teens to lower twenties, so they're looking to build on that.
The exact opposite of the Pronger Tridents, the Golden Pilots had never retained a full team season-to-season until 2016. The only constant throughout their existence was the first overall pick in league history, Valencia, who has guided the team to success through the transitions. In 2014, they earned the Hutton Cup, and then lost half the roster. Two compensatory picks turned out just fine in 2015, with arguable greatest of all time Dusty coming over from the Eastside Sharks after she opted out of her contract, followed by last year's third best rookie, A. Charlton. Dusty had a career year in cricket that kept the Pilots near the top of the standings, while Charlton challenged for the Rookie of the Year title in cricket that eventually went to Debby Ryan. In pool, things went a little bit more south for both of the newcomers. The stability of the team comes from third-year Pilot Strut, an above-average player who stays consistent from season to season in both sports. The more volatile commodity is Valencia, the captain of the team on paper, who has been here from the start and produced well in both sports every year until this year's pool fiasco saw her drop four bids in the third round to be eliminated. Still, the standard of play is very high for the Pilots no matter who populates the roster. The leadership structure follows a box pattern with Valencia the captain by seniority with the team, complemented by the natural leader Dusty. Strut and Charlton play roles well, and both of them are happy to be on the team.
As part of a massive rebranding and redesign effort, the Modernistic Union now have a three-color scheme system. Last year was not kind to the Union either, which doubles the importance of the image change. Their previous logo, a weak and awkward wordmark, has been replaced by tri-color stars to give a more positive identity to the team. Still, when the captain refuses to return to the team, something must be going wrong. Kiwi spurned the Union early in the cricket season, citing a lack of progress in personnel improvement, and stayed true with her desire to switch teams by leaving at the draft. With the compensatory pick, the Union retained the services of Chimpy, who they cut after a poor performance but decided to bring back. Chimpy rejoins Ms. Puppy, the new captain, and Puff I, a role player as familiar teammates. Chimpy brings the ultimate cerebral game, renowned for his high skill level and mind games that throw people off in pool, as well as being an enigma in both sports and frustratingly inconsistent. Ms. Puppy seems to have a different type of season every year, and she's coming off a fairly average one. Who knows what that means for next season, except that she'll wear multiple color schemes doing it. Puff I is the often-forgotten member of the team, who doesn't do a whole lot besides provide average production across sports. The newcomer is an aggressive, dominating player, Juno, who is a rookie by experience but an aged and grizzled competitor from many battles over time. Juno will not walk away from this team by choice, giving them an edge Kiwi didn't have. Juno may end up scaring off the team if they don't find success early, and she's bound to butt heads with Ms. Puppy in trying to wrangle leadership in. The leadership structure here is linear, but the space between Juno and Chimpy in leadership is massive and unstable. The Union, two years ago a City Cup champion, need a return to relevance if they want to maintain the attention of a now crowded largest media market in the league.
What a surprise the Queens Flames unleashed in pool last season. After a mediocre showing in cricket again from the chronically low-offense team, the Flames burst out to a Governor's Cup title by winning the regular season in pool. The team received a balanced attack, with three players in the top-32 for pool and the fourth, Max, just missing out. They had the eventual table-topper, Paige, whose late season success helped her stay ahead of the fading Princess by win percentage, even if perception gave Princess the Players Cup. In the playoffs, the Flames had a solid effort, but fell in the semifinals, a respectable effort nonetheless. The leadership structure here is a wide pyramid, topped by the longtime Flame Crystal as the captain. Crystal brings consistently above-average efforts in both sports, but nothing earth-shattering. While just as tenured, Kayla plays more of a role position for the Flames, electing not to steal the spotlight too often. Kayla also tends to be above-average for the Flames. The problems these two had were with their teammates in 2014, and those problems disappeared after management picked up two unheralded players for 2015. The first, Max, was not flashy or magnificent, but the former Lumberjack provided average efforts in cricket and above-average work in pool to help keep the team stable. The second was Paige, the former Shore and Prestige player who hadn't clicked until she found the anchoring role at the back of the Flames lineup. Here, she found career years in both sports, and deserved a trophy in hindsight. With their new success, the Flames are expected to take a step forward in cricket this season and become a team to fear in both sports.
The biggest rivals to the Flames are the Royal Crowns, and while their unfriendly neighbors found stability, the Crowns are hoping another Hummingbirds reject can get them going some more. The Crowns have frequently featured a playoff-qualifying team, but rarely do they go very far. Now, with Sydnee gone, the Crowns have remodeled three-quarters of the team in two years, leaving only the captain Frosty as a career Crown, and the top of the wide pyramid leadership structure. Behind her is the former Warrior Jake, who came to the Crowns for 2015 and proved his worth very readily to spite his former team (not that they cared, because they had Dustin). Another player looking to prove herself was Nightfur, who became a Crown after the Hummingbirds ushered her out after a disappointing 2014. Nightfur played solidly, but certainly not her best, much in the same way that Frosty had a bit of a down year. Jake was clearly the performance leader, and now the Crowns look to Marsell, a City Cup champion that saw the Hummingbirds cut him quite harshly after their title capture, to put the team at the next level. Marsell showed improvement in 2015, and now he is reunited with Nightfur in Royal. The Crowns look poised to build off a decent season, but they're not playing outside of their expected range, so further growth may be tough to come by for them.
The Southridge Defenders made a modest change to their logo, adding more detail and pulling the words out of the shield, while adding black to their color palate. The team under the new logo is no different than last season, despite the attempt to bring in a new player. The Defenders simply picked too deep in the draft to avoid retaining 2014 Rookie of the Year challenger J. Garcia, and they brought her back for a third year. Also with the team is the captain, Boots, who enters her fourth year with the team. Behind her, Debby Ryan, the reigning two-sport Rookie of the Year will have to avoid a sophomore slump if the team is to remain strong. Debby and Garcia make up a potent young duo in the diamond-shaped leadership structure, and at the back is the often-outspoken Shaggy, a former Volcano bright to Southridge last season. Shaggy hovered around average again in her first year with the Defenders after a draft-day swap with Pacific sent Jack the other way by coincidental picking. With this crop of players, challenging for top-10 positions in either sport is not out of reach. However, the team didn't get any better and had a bit of luck last season, so regression could do harm to them. Still, the highly competitive southeastern rivalry should serve to keep them on track in league play.
The Swordpoint Blades had their worst pool season to go alongside the normally weak cricket effort in 2015. Without the statistically best player in league history Emily after her retirement, the Blades cracked under pressure. Their compensatory pick for 2015, Oreo, flamed out despite the friendly environment, and Wild Thing took a step back as well, causing a meltdown that led to rampant change for the Blades. Returning is the unquestioned captain Snowball, a leader on and off the field or table, since she excels at both. Pool is her best, but she led the team comfortably in cricket too. Right behind her on the narrow pyramid leadership structure is the other career Blade, Dreamy, a quiet performer with a flair for excellence. She played very good cricket and kept the Blades looking deceptively strong in pool late into the season. The newcomers came via late round picks in the draft. In the third round, the Blades brought in former Monarchs captain Shawn, whose poor season in a tank effort found him off the coastal team's roster come season's end. Shawn had a personally bad year, and is a huge bounce-back candidate. In the same vein, Stealth struggled with the Harrison Specters at the worst time, and his faltering got him shipped out at the draft, where the Blades picked him up in the fourth round. Stealth has a higher ceiling than Shawn, but also a lower floor. Helping Stealth will be his sister, Snowball, the captain of the Blades. With some reunited family and another squad where everyone is comfortable, the Blades are ready to challenge for titles again in pool, although cricket struggles may persist for the very lopsided team.
Building a team can be a challenge for any expansion franchise, but the Terrace City Knights made it look simple over last weekend's draft. With four picks and the first overall, the Knights wowed by selecting Oreo. A former Crown and Blade coming off two bad years, Oreo is still highly regarded in the league as a solid talent, although cricket has not been kind to her. With their second pick, the Knights got gritty in grabbing Stripes, the former Meteor who is the first player to play on two expansion teams, having been drafted by the Meteors two years ago in their first season after being released by the Spiders. Stripes brings tenacity to the team, and an aggressive style that will keep others in check. The Knights made their best pick in the third round, selecting former Union captain Kiwi to stick a thorn in the side of their northern neighbors. Kiwi is a balance of Oreo and Stripes, and she's proven to be successful in both sports instead of being speculative like the other two. Rounding out the team, the Knights took a flyer on former Shore Jennifer Livilotti, who didn't fit in on that team with a mediocre performance on a stacked cricket team before an absolute face-plant in her rookie season of pool. It's unclear how the leadership structure will shake out, but egalitarian or box-pattern make the most sense here. Generally, expectations are low for expansion teams, but there's a lot of hype on three players for the Knights, and one proven performer in Kiwi means they'll face a tall task in their first season of play.
The Westside Rockers got to bend the rules in 2015. After contract talks between a rookie, Ashley, and the league broke down, the Rockers scrambled to sign another rookie undrafted, Kelly. With Kelly came her twin sister, Alyssa, resulting in a split roster spot. This proved to be more trouble than it was worth, with a very top-heavy Rockers team falling flat in the cricket playoffs before spontaneous combustion wiped out the pool season. The Rockers decided to retain another newcomer, Chicky Phil, as well as veteran Rockers Misty and Goatee, but went to the draft for the last player, which became Midnight. With that move, their four players come from four different rivalry clubs. The captain, Misty, is a natural leader out of Solid Core in the club system, and she provides above-average work regularly. The less-vocal leader is Goatee of Delila Enterprises, who is a slightly better player than Misty but less team-oriented, which is why she avoids the captain title. Chicky Phil transferred clubs from Solid Core to Oriental United, an unpopular move that annoyed Misty despite her campaigning to keep him on the Rockers after a late-season surge in pool after a weak cricket effort. Finally, the Brute Force-backed Midnight comes from the Tradewinds after one down season in Commerce. Midnight ended up in Commerce after Pacific's poor season sent her packing, and two bad seasons in a row should make the Rockers worry here. The Rockers are a solid regular season pool team, but success elsewhere has evaded them, and expectations should be tempered with many personalities on the team this season could lead to explosive infighting.
The Whitewater Shores had a very good cricket season in 2015, and a very bad pool season. In cricket, their soft-spoken captain Bear won MVP, supplemented by returning fan favorites Twinkie III and Cheddar with above-average efforts themselves for a fear-inducing offense. In pool, it all fell apart, but the only person that they could cut was Jennifer, who went to the expansion Terrace City Knights in the draft. Now, the fourth player in four years to take the final roster spot, Wild Thing joins the Shores looking to shake off the slacker label he picked up in Swordpoint. The Shores' returning players help form a diamond leadership structure led by Bear with Twinkie III and Cheddar below. Wild Thing may struggle to acclimate. The Shores have to count on what they know to carry them again for at least a solid cricket season, which appears to be their favored game as pool has never treated these players well. Still, after a regular season of cricket where they led wire to wire, the expectation of a Hutton Cup is not unreasonable if they can stay in form.
If you haven't already done so, check out the East previews. Hopefully in the next hour or two, the West previews will be up.
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