Big Hoss C/D Rankings and some E talk.

C Rankings:

Top 5:

1. TG/TPS/Elite: What a way to start off the season for the TG gang!! They definitely surprised many being staying in the winner’s bracket all day and closing it out with very nice wins over Plumbers (twice) and Mush Reloaded. The only let down is that we didn’t get to see that TG vs. Line Drive match up that the fans wanted to see. 
2. P&P 333/Surburban/Larry’s Tire/CMT:  Plumbers get a slight edge over Line Drive for now in the Rankings, not so much for finishing higher than them in this tournament, but for beating them head to head in this tournament. Many people wanted to see this game after reading some of the Plumbers post on the Mushboard and Plumbers definitely backed up their talk in this one.
3. Line Drive/sSs Sportcards: They struggled a bit for what they were expected to do, but this team is loaded with veterans and they do realize it is not what you do in April that matter, but what you do in August and September that counts. I am sure they will bounce back nicely in their next tournament.
4. R&L Concrete: They had a very nice showing down in Sylvania this past weekend finishing 2^nd out of a tough 10 team tournament. I would of really liked to see those teams down there this past weekend play in this tournament and have that Sylvania tournament this weekend it would of made for some classic games with teams like R&L and Borrachos playing in this past weekend’s tournament.
5. Great Lakes Express: They did exactly what they were suppose to do and that is beat the teams they are suppose to beat. That is a sign of a good team, now they just need to figure out how to sneak a win against some of the “top” teams in C. T

Surprise Team of the Week:

TG/TPS/Elite: I knew they would be alright in C, but I didn’t believe that they would win right off the bat. They struggled last year winning tournaments and for them to come into the first tournament and win it, is a huge confidence builder for this team.

Flop of the Week:

Mayhem/Wolf-Hurlbert/DC-Realities: In the long run, this team will be alright. They have way too much talent and veteran leadership to worry about a disappointing early tournament. Once, they get rolling I fully expect this team to be breaking into the top 5.

D Rankings:

Top 5:

1. Mush Reloaded/Sinister: This team really impressed me this weekend, I knew they would be good and could have a real good showing the past weekend, but they even surpassed on how I thought they would do. That win versus Line Drive was a huge win for this team. I believe the only thing that can stop them in D this year is getting complacent.
2. Detroit Drama: The Drama boys were very impressive in their first tournament of the year. Out of their 5 games they played, 4 were against C teams and they competed in most of those games. This could be the one team that could consistently play Mush Reloaded tough on the year.
3. D-Nation: Coming off a 2^nd place tournament finished at Total Sports the weekend before, D-Nation quieted some critics this past weekend with a very impressive performance in this tournament, beating two C teams in the process before running out of gas against Line Drive. They had a very impressive victory against Mushtube as well. I think they will be just fine in D this year if they continue getting the consistent pitching they had this past weekend.
4. Apex Softball: Apex is a team that is going to hang with just about every D team they play against. They already have 2 tournament wins on the year and showed in this tournament despite the record that they are a very solid team.
5. DO/Mushtube.com: Mushtube had a very unlike Mushtube tournament, the only thing you could always count on with this team is that they would play tight low scoring games and find a way to win those games, this past weekend it was total opposite a lot of offense and very little defense. I am sure they will bounce back nicely this weekend in the D/E tournament.

Surprise Team of the Week:

D-NATION: There is really no other choice here, but D-Nation. I think the best anyone had them at in their predictions might have been 1-2. They hit the ball very well all weekend and played good D behind their pitcher anytime you can do that you are going to win some games.

Flop of the Week:

Blue Crush Softball: Not a good start for the defending E North World Champs, especially since they are going to be playing mostly Utrip tournament now from my understanding. I know they are missing some key pieces early in the year, so I am not too concern about them. They should be fine in their future tournaments.

E Teams:

Kings: This team has improved greatly during the offseason, they had a very nice run in Cincy finishing in 4^th place and have been a little inconsistent since then. The one thing you can for sure count on with the Kings is that they will play good defense and that proven true again this past weekend at Liberty. The one area that seems to hurt them is their inconsistency on offense. They can put up runs in a hurry, they just need to find a way to do that on a consistent level and they will take the next step.

Tanel 360/Vivio’s Pub: They had a little bit of a let down this past weekend after starting off really good and surprising some teams in the process. Even though they finished 1-2 this past weekend all the games they played were definitely winnable games and close games. This team is very scrappy and will fight for all 7 innings. They are another team, that once they get consistent on offense, they will be a tough out in any tournament.

Aftermath/Red Eye Sports/Hal’s/RRI: This is my sleeper team on the year and I believe they will be A LOT better later in the year than they are now. They have some great leadership on this team and the core of them has played up before with The Show/Varsity team in the past. You won’t see them much early in the year, but they will be right in the mix of things when it counts.

Next week I will talk about Detroit Riot who was started out to a pretty good start to the tournament season, Bright Horizon who knocked off two top teams this past weekend and Motor City Push who took 3rd this past weekend at Spring States

Before I close out my rankings for this week, I just wanted to give big props to Jason Mullins aka J-Mo for unselfishly giving up his All-Tourney to Mike Keyes this past weekend, definitely a class act by J-Mo and Repo.

That is all for my Rankings this week, there should be some more up later tomorrow. Hope to see everyone this weekend, have fun and please, please BE SAFE!

Big Hoss