Commissioners Poll time! Three of the top teams in the standings at Tropical Park lost this past week. Gattaca!!! also suffered a pretty eye opening defeat this past week. The result of these losses? The Commissioners had more disagreement this week in the Commissioners Poll than at any other moment since we first started writing the Commissioners Poll. This week’s rankings were written by Rene Medina, who appreciates all of the loyal readers out there reading the full poll all the way to the very end!
1) New Kicks on the Block – 2 First Place Votes. 29 points (Royal Blue); previously 1st. I don’t have much more to add here. The surprise here was that this was not a unanimous vote on the part of the Commissioners, but my thoughts on New Kicks on the Block is that they’d have to suffer a blowout loss to another team (or two losses in a season) in order for me to consider voting them out of the first place spot.
2) Suck My Kick – 1 First Place Vote. 27 points (Maroon); previously 3rd. They may have gotten one monkey off their back when they defeated the Ballbarians. Are they ready to exorcise their demons and make a serious run at the championship? I always think of this team as “Lorenzo and the Girls.” The key for this team to reach its full potential, in my opinion, is for them to have their guys elevate their level of play and take advantage of the play of perhaps the best females in Miami Lakes.
3) Gattaca!!! – 25 points (Black); previously 2nd. Gattaca!!!’s loss last week hurt badly. They played an extremely experienced team in Primetime that was hungry to play spoiler against the athletic Gattaca!!! However, we know that this team won’t care much about this loss if they end up winning the league trophy come playoffs.
4) Another Run – 20 points (Red); previously 4th. Don’t look now, but last season’s Tropical Park champions are ready for another run. They have twice as good a run differential at +18 as any other team at Tropical Park. However, they did suffer a loss to Alcohooligans last week, so we didn’t strongly consider bumping them above Gattaca!!! this week.
5) Purple People Eaters – 18 points (Lilac); previously 5th. They finally suffered their first loss of the season last week, but there really is no shame in losing to Blue Mountain Kicks. However, this team seems to just know how to consistently win close games, and I think that if they’re able to keep their games close, they’ve shown they have the composure necessary to raise the Tropical Park league trophy on March 26.
6) Primetime – 12 points (Gray); previously unranked. This is my dark horse team to win it all in Miami Lakes. I felt that way last week when I heard the injured players that were returning for them starting two weeks ago, and I am extremely confident saying it now after they easily dispatched Gattaca!!! this last week. This team has several players who just two seasons ago made it all the way to the championship game. I’m not usually the Commissioner that uses corny puns, but you’ll forgive me for using a second pun and saying that I really do think this team will be ready for primetime.
6) Blue Mountain Kicks – 12 points (Carolina Blue); previously 9th. They earned an impressive walk-off win this week against the previously undefeated Purple People Eaters by scoring two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. The talent is very clearly top notch for this team, so the only remaining question for them is: will they jell together in time to win it all at Tropical Park? Will they settle in comfortably in their roles and claim the championship glory that avoided its predecessor juggernaut, Prestige Worldwide, last season at Tropical Park?
8) Pitch You Don’t Know Me – 11 points (Aqua); previously 7th. The teams ranked sixth through ninth in the poll are separated by a mere two points. Somehow, the third placed in the Miami Lakes standings fell through the cracks. Perhaps part of the problem? Their -1 run differential, which is the sixth best run differential in Miami Lakes. They have veteran K.O.A.L.A. Kickball experience and are highly competitive, so as long as this team keeps their cool and remembers to enjoy the game of kickball, they should stand a chance to make noise in Miami Lakes.
9) The Only Tenn’s They’ll See – 10 points (Tennessee Orange); previously 9th. They have players with many, many kickball experience who have played together in different teams. They helped Commissioner Lorenzo enjoy a 4-0 sweep this season against the other Commissioners by defeating Sons of Pitches at Tropical Park. They enjoy the second highest run differential at Tropical Park at +9 (higher than Blue Mountain Kicks, which is ranked higher than them in the standings even though they have a 0 run differential are behind The Only Tenn’s They’ll see in the Tropical Park standings). And lastly, they’re also only half a point back in the standings from Purple People Eaters for first place. So there’s a chance that we’ve (and, perhaps, more specifically, I have) underrated this team. This week may help them move up in the rankings.
10) Kickaine Cowboys – 2 points (Black); previously sixth. They are a .500 team, and they’re the only .500 team to get voted into this week’s poll. If one Commissioner had switched their vote, Alcooholigans would have been voted into the tenth spot instead of them. So why Kickaine Cowboys? They have a better run differential than Alchooligans (+9 vs +3). However, Kickaine Cowboys must show more consistency before they solidify their positioning in the Commissioners Poll.
Others receiving votes: Alcohooligans (1 point).
Quick Reminder on How the Poll Works: Once both leagues have played at least 2 games each, the Commissioners each cast an anonymous ballot for the teams that they think are the top 10 in K.O.A.L.A. Kickball across our Miami Lakes and Tropical Park Leagues. The first ranked team in each ballot gets 10 points, the second ranked team in each ballot gets 9 points, and so forth all the way to the tenth ranked team in each ballot, which gets 1 point. The points that each team gets from each ballot are added up, and then the 10 teams with the highest total number of points are declared the Top 10 in the Commissioner’s Poll. Remember that this poll does not affect standings or playoff seeding in any way; it’s only for fun!