Another K.O.A.L.A. Kickball is in the books! How did we finish rating all of the teams after the dust settled from the playoff results of both of our leagues at Miami Lakes and Tropical Park?  Read below to find out!  This version of the Commissioners Poll was written by Rene Medina.

1. New Kicks on the Block – 3 first place votes. 30 points; previously 1st. They won another regular season trophy.  They won all of their playoff games pretty convincingly.  They’re the overwhelming favorite to win our inter-league championship on May 1st.  Can anyone realistically disagree?
2. Blue Mountain Kicks – 27 points; previously 3rd. Congrats to these guys for finding their way back from a difficult few weeks at the start of the season to eventually winning three incredibly competitive playoff games en route to a league championship! How will their athleticism match up against the team chemistry of some of the best from Miami Lakes at the interleague tournament?
3. Gattaca!!! – 21 points; previously 2nd. Somewhat surprising they’re this high up on the poll after losing as badly as they did to the Ballbarians, but their rank reflects their regular season dominance and the fact that they played Ballbarians without their All-Star pitcher and number one female.  They’ve received an invite into the championship tournament (after an old championship team wasn’t able to attend); will they finally win a league trophy?
4. Kickaine Cowboys – 20 points; previously 4th. Perhaps my vote for the most improved team at Tropical Park from the Fall Season to the Winter Season at Tropical Park.  Coming second at Tropical Park to Blue Mountain Kicks is no joke, and this team feels that their playoff run is a sign of things to come for them this coming season.
5. Ballbarians – 14 points; previously unranked.  The most controversial selection on this Commissioners Poll.  On the one hand, this team beat Gattaca and Suck My Kick, two of the three best teams at Miami Lakes, with very convincing wins to finish second in the Miami Lakes playoffs.  On the other hand, the Ballbarians won their games when these teams were greatly weakened (each team played Ballbarians without arguably their best players) and the Ballbarians only had two regular season wins out of nine total regular season games.  A fifth place ranking seems about right.
6. Suck My Kick – 13 points; previously 4th. This team fell apart without their two best females, and they suffered another devastating loss to the Ballbarians in the playoffs.  They feel disappointed with their loss, and it’ll be very interesting to see what happens with the individual players on this team next season.
7. Primetime – 12 points; previously 7th. Primetime ended up with the exact number of points – and in the exact same rank – as they did in the last version of the Commissioners Poll.  There’s talent and wisdom on this team, and if the rumors are true, next season could be quite scary when you see the players they plan on joining forces with.
8. Another Run – 10 points; previously 6th. Raise your hand if you had the Tropical Park regular season champions (and previous playoff champions) Another Run losing in the first round of the playoffs to the ninth seeded Pitch Don’t Kill My Vibe.  Yeah, me neither.  Still, this team boasts plenty of talent, and it’ll be interesting to see how their “Hotline Swing” nucleus competes as the final team invited to the interleague championship series.
9. The Only Tenn’s They’ll See (tied for 9th) – 5 points, previously 9th. This team quietly went unnoticed at Tropical Park as the second highest seeded team there, and, again, if the rumors surrounding this team moving forward are true, they’re primed for some MAJOR noise next season.
10. Pitch Don’t Kill My Vibes (tied for 9th) – 5 points, previously unranked.  The biggest upset of the entire playoffs was when Pitch Don’t Kill My Vibes scored a huge upset against Another Run.  Moving forward they feel that they’ve discovered the secret formula to compete against the best teams from Tropical Park, and potentially even the best teams from Miami Lakes, too!

Others Receiving Votes:

The Misfits  (2 points); Purple People Eaters (2 points)
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!