Hope you guys have enjoyed your Labor Day weekend. Just like that we are a few weeks away from playoffs. Save the dates 9/18 for Miami Lakes and 9/24 for Tropical Park. Time to start targeting your opponents for victory. Here is the poll. <3 “The Kickball Expert”

1. Life’s a Pitch (29 points): What’s this? Another week of the flawless team coming 1 point short of being voted unanimous best team in K.O.A.L.A..? Either way, Tropical Park, start practicing if you want to get your name up here. They blasted Big Black Kicks by a whopping 17-2 last week and have now reached ’72 Dolphins status. Will an underdog ever challenge them into the 2008 Patriots???
2. Night’s Watch (27 points): Those people known as some of the most impactful, greatest men in history are known to be complimented by great women. See the book “Think and Grow Rich” lol. This Nights watch team, with one top commissioner vote (ahem Gio) really has phenomenal girl players. So get your bunt defense straightened out before this matchup. The guys aren’t so bad either.
3. PSN Slidaz (25 points): I can’t argue that it’s really tough to rank these top 3 right now trying to imagine a matchup between them. I will not shy from saying I voted them one higher than last week. They are still the New York Yankees of K.O.A.L.A. Kickball until proven otherwise. Watch out for stellar small ball and great defense if you meet them on the kickball field. Spot those kicks! I’m still wondering if PSN Slidaz will show up in force to face their Life’s a Pitch brothers at the InterLeague tournament.
4. Goon Squad (21 points): Earning some points in the polls this week with a win and losses from competitors jumped Goon Squad to a second spot in the Tropical Standings and solid 5-1 record to the season with only a loss to Life’s a Pitch. Should be a fun 2-3 matchup this week against 5-1 Free Balling. Tropical teams should be gunning to beat them as they’ve had a couple close calls but also because if Life a Pitch repeats the championship, this season’s runner up could get an inter-league title invite. But I won’t tell you how to beat them 😉 (Rene’s Editing Note… Here’s how to beat them: don’t let Jason beat you at the top of the lineup by getting on base and having his best girl bunt him over to third. Do that, and you’ve got a solid chance to beat them.)
5. Leon’s Angel (17 points): This team has emerged as a legit title contender in Miami Lakes. They play a strategically smart game and are athletic too! If you’re trying to work your way up the rankings in Miami Lakes this is a team to gun for.
6. Our Kicks Don’t Lie (14 points) This team is poised to make a late playoff run in Tropical Park. Just like Leon’s Angel’s, anyone will have to bring the A game to compete with them. So make sure you land your bunts and get the ball back to the pitcher because they will take that extra base.
7. Free Balling (10 points): This team is 5-1, people. That’s a great achievement. They are a free agent team with some experienced players that knows how to have fun. You’ll hear them shout “fire” when your girls come up to kick. Living proof that doing the little things win games. And the group of free agent girls is sneaky good.
8. Wolfpack (9 votes) Clear talent and veteran leadership make this team a contender in Miami Lakes. Hopefully they have enough people to contend in the playoff tournament or opportunities could open up for other teams. Their leadership wants to win the league trophy as much, if not more, than anyone.
9. Big Black Kick (8 votes ): Despite the devastating loss to Life’s a Pitch last week, this is still my sleeper pick. If you don’t know already, as a team they can kick the ball deeper than anyone. But defense wins games too. We can all learn a thing or two from our fielding mistakes.
10. Bad Pitches (2 points): Just hanging on to poll rankings after an early undefeated record is the number 5 in the Lakes standings at 4-2. I know a few teams are knocking on the door to get on this poll. This is the place to start at Lakes. But you can bet they earned their 4-2 record.

Honorable Mentions: Receiving a point are Ballseros and Ballbarians. Keep up the good work. Hope this is motivation to get out there and compete but most of all keep having fun and make friends with your opponents after the game. Don’t forget, theme competitors take a team picture and to win those 2 free pitchers. We will be looking out for you. Hope you enjoyed. If you did, swing back a couple weeks to skim through my last poll if you already haven’t and see how things have changed. DON’T FORGET ALL STAR VOTING IS COMING UP

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!