Midseason Report: Whitewater Shores

After finishing first place last season, the Whitewater Shores saw the need for only a minor tweak to the roster, bringing in former Swordpoint Blade Wild Thing to replace Jennifer Livilotti, who went to the expansion Terrace City Knights after her rookie season with the Shores. However, regression came into effect for all members of the Shores, and this has them far off their previous season's pace. After leading the league and making Samsung Whitewater Stadium a nearly impenetrable fortress last season, they stand at just 11-21 this season, occupying 27th in the league. At home, they are 6-8, but that is still better than their 5-13 mark on the road, which was also a strength of theirs last season. In the weak Center Division, the Shores are 6-4 across division games, their one spot of brightness so far this season.

The team is averaging a weak 1465 per game this season, and the problems start with their captain, Bear. The reigning MVP from last season, Bear slugged nearly 500 a game, but while the league's offense has generally increased, Bear is down to just under 441 per game individually. This still makes up 30% of the Shores offense, but it's not enough in the higher-offense world, and his consistency of about 1.2 leaves a lot more to be desired. Behind him, Twinkie III is also having a down year, hitting 372 per game. This is only 25.5% of the team offense, and at a consistency of about 1.5, which is her major selling point for her statistics. Cheddar bats third for the team, but she hits only 311 per game, which is way down from her mark last year as well. Cheddar's consistency is under 1.2, and her share of the offense is only 21%, making her a prime candidate to leave the team should things stay sideways. Wild Thing, the newcomer this year to the team, is producing 341 per game for 23.5% of the offense, but at a consistency around 1.3. Obviously, the Shores are a team going in the wrong direction without much stability. Their poor average and lack of explosiveness gives no hope for the second half of the season, and the defending regular season champions are likely not going to see the playoffs this year.