Another SASL regular season is halfway gone, which can mean only one thing: a fresh batch of report cards for each and every team. Week 7 is in the books. Every team has played 12 out of 22 games so far.
Grades will be handed out relative to individual expectations. Offering a favorable review to Troopers because they’re not the worst team in the league does not mean they’re on equal footing with The North or Dynasty.
Every aspect of each teams operation is up for review. What happens on the field matters more than anything, but unnecessary drama and captains mishaps are all part of the product. They count.
Report cards will not penalize squads for issues beyond their control. In other words: Injuries matter. So too does offseason context. If a team made a questionable move over the preseason or before roster freeze that’s panned out poorly, that misfire will indeed be held against it.
BACKDOOR SLIDERS:
Grade: D+
Record: 1-11
They got their first win of the season this past Sunday against the Ones. After a trying season, they were seen celebrating the win as if it was a playoff victory. Let’s face it. The team was put together last minute by Hasan and Manju. It helped the league out to get to 12 teams for the season, but didn’t give them enough time to recruit a good core. It is great to see them still show up every week on Sundays with a smile on their faces. Plus points for daring to wear Pink as well. They have a matchup remaining against DadBods next week which will be must watch TV.
Midseason Team MVP: Rishi Rampal
BLACK MAMBAS:
Grade: B-
Record: 5-7
Let’s face it: Preseason they were irrelevant. They were ranked 11th in our preseason Power Rankings. But now they are relevant. Yes, they are still under .500 for the season. But Ayaz and Azhar has made some in season additions (mainly Dan DiIorio) that has shocked SASL a few times. Their wins against Dothrakis were epic, but their losses to DadBods were just as bad. They play up and down to their competition and if they want to compete at the highest level of SASL, some form of dominance/consistency is required. Still, we like this franchise for the long haul as Ayaz may have finally found his partner in crime in Azhar.
Midseason Team MVP: Narish Ramoutar
DADBODS:
Grade: C-
Record: 2-12
We didn’t expect much improvement from year 1, and frankly, we haven’t gotten much save for a couple of players. They shocked the SASL world this past Sunday by sweeping Black Mambas to earn their first two wins. Great wins and let’s hope it gives them some confidence heading into an all important matchup against Backdoor Sliders. They have some good building blocks and Parvesh seems like a cool, calm and collected captain. The team always comes ready to play and has a great time win or lose. But we are sure they would rather win than be known as lovable losers.
Midseason Team MVP: Amar Aujla
DOTHRAKIS:
Grade: B+
Record: 9-3
Dothrakis are a rookie franchise and in year 1, they are one of the championship contenders. A little bit of shine came off of them after a hot start once they lost a game to Troopers and got swept by Black Mambas. Still, they got back on track Sunday by sweeping the current champions Hit Squad. Once Hashim and Pavy get back to 100% health, they will be a very tough out come playoff time. The team can get in trouble with some fiery personalities that may come back to haunt them if there is a quick trigger umpire in a crucial matchup. To finish the season, they have one of the toughest schedules remaining (Dynasty, MonStars, The North and The Ones).
Midseason Team MVP: Hashim Naveed
DYNASTY
Grade: A-
Record: 10-2
Only a bad weekend against old nemesis Hit Squad kept Dynasty from getting a perfect grade. They started the season 8-0 and are currently in second place in the standings with a 10-2 record. Captains Sajid and Sonu made the right moves in the offseason with adding a pitcher in Ali and an outfielder in Kunal. All of their star players are also producing, leading to a season most are calling championship or bust. Our writers predicted they will make the Finals this year and they are right on track so far. This team has all the tools to get there and win it all if they can put the past failures in the rearview mirror.
Midseason Team MVP: Omar Hernandez
HIT SQUAD
Grade: B-
Record: 7-5
They are going for a three-peat. Hard to rank this team because some weeks they look like world beaters when they beat The North and swept Dynasty. Then they get swept by Dothrakis as well as Troopers. One thing we know for sure: no team wants to face them come playoff time because of their vast playoff winning experience. The defense and pitching is still as good as any teams, but they lack true power in the big fields. They have never been a big power hitting team, but to beat the top 3 teams, they will need to play perfect. Captains Ali and Ammad will have to dig deep into their bag of tricks to win the cup once again.
Midseason Team MVP: Ramy Abdelhamid
MONSTARS
Grade: C+
Record: 7-5
Their 7-5 record is misleading. The team hasn’t hit their full stride. They have yet to face some of the top teams. They have games against Hit Squad, The North, Dothrakis and The Ones still on the schedule. The other top team they faced was Dynasty and they got swept this past weekend. With the schedule about to get tougher, will the team answer the call? They have had one of the easier schedules and they should have been at least 9-3 or 10-2 if they wanted to finish as one of the top 3 seeds. That probably won’t happen now after they gave away 3-4 games in very close fashion or walk-offs. Faizan, Usman, Shane are having a resurgent season but they will need more from Sajeel, Kunal, Naveed if they want to beat the big boys.
Midseason Team MVP: Vinny Florido
SHOOTER MCGAVINS
Grade: D
Record: 4-8
They were one of the favorites preseason. Fast forward 7 weeks, and they are 10th in the standings and trying to climb their way out of SNL. Their big addition of AL ROY Tom Kahl has been a big bust so far. Reigning NL MVP Mike Velez hasn’t had the same year as he had last year, although he seemed to finally break out this past Sunday. If they can get those two superstars in peak form, we still think this team is as good as any team in the league. Captains Zulfikar and Aasheesh finally seemed to have righted the ship and the team found their mojo as they are 4-2 over the last 3 weeks. Can they continue their resurgence? This is one of the sleeper teams in the second half of the season.
Midseason Team MVP: Nick Tamayo
THE NORTH
Grade: A
Record: 11-1
The North naturally receives our highest grade as they are at the top of the standings after starting the season 11-1. Over the offseason, our writers had them at the middle of the pack. But, they are outplaying those predictions by a long shot. After a slow start in the defensive side of things, they have completely turned that around over the past month by mostly shutting down the DadBods, Hit Squad, Shooter McGavins and TSFE offense. They still haven’t played Dynasty and Dothrakis, and those two matchups will be really telling. For now, the trio of Charley, Nick and Steve are leading the way while they get great production from Shawn, Irfan, Akil among others.
Midseason Team MVP: Charley Robinson
THE ONES
Grade: C+
Record: 7-5
This team we just can’t figure out. They are coming off of a split against the previously winless Backdoor Sliders which shocked the SASL community. How can you claim to be a top contender when you lose against a 0-10 team? Rafael Liriano is still leading the MVP race, and Denen, Saiful etc are having great years, but their defense is sometimes unwatchable. It just doesn’t seem like anything Naeem and Amby are trying are working. They make errors at crucial times and they will need to figure it out in the second half of the season if they want to go deep in the playoffs. Defense and pitching wins championships and The Ones are lacking in both of those categories.
Midseason Team MVP: Rafael Liriano
TSFE
Grade: D
Record: 5-7
We can safely say, TSFE is the most disappointing team thru the halfway mark of the 2020 season. After a 22-2 season and Finals appearance last year, we expected them to be near the top of the standings once again but so far they are in the SNL bracket. Their highest rated player Dheeraj is batting only .200 so far, and their best player from last year Frank Perez is no longer in the team. There is still hope for a turnaround as they have one of the easiest rest of year schedules. They need to rack up the wins against Backdoor Sliders, Shooter McGavins, Black Mambas and Troopers to get out of SNL.
Midseason Team MVP: Chris Mui
TROOPERS:
Grade: B
Record: 6-8
Ok, we know. Such a high grade for a team under .500? Well, if you saw what they did the past 2 years where they were the laughingstock of the League, you wouldn’t be surprised at that grade. They made massive improvements this year in their captaincy and recruiting and it made a huge difference. They have wins against Hit Squad and Dothrakis as well, something none of our ‘experts’ predicted. Captains Sunil and Wahid aren’t satisfied though with just being competitive. They want to win and make major noise in the playoffs. Their bats need to matchup against the top teams and that remains to be seen if they can do it.
Midseason Team MVP: Majid Raufi
