NYCBL – Season 5
Current Standings:
League Schedule:
Check out the league stats here.
Week 3 Preview:
Another Monday, another “spring” snowstorm. Two weeks into the season and we are starting to see some shape to the season. Pin Pals, winners of the Season 4 regular season, are back at it with a dominating opening two weeks. They have a lot to be happy about but as with last season, this is a championship or bust kind of group. Don’t get them wrong, they will have a good time regardless, but the goal is sweet victory on April 30th. They lead the league in win % but Holy Rollers have a 15 pin lead in total score. Reigning MVPs N8 and M3G have a lot to do with that but week 2 saw the rise of Copple who had a really strong 2nd week. The easiest schedule to date belongs to the Sandsnakes but at 5-1 they are off to a great start in the one stat that matters (wins). They will have their hands full tonight against Pin Pals. As far as early season surprises go, it would just be that Obviously Not Golfers are 0-6. Getting swept by the best two teams in the league can happy to anyone but their low average by their standards raises some concerns. They have a fun matchup tonight against Pinterfel and will need some wins.
This is the order I’d like teams to lineup tonight
Lanes 1&2 – #8 Pinterfel vs #10 Obviously Not Golfers. Mentioned above, this a big one for both teams. The 2 questions are who will show up for Golfers and is Pinterfel in it to win it? I think both teams realize, as returning teams, that the regular season is all about drinking and having fun, but I’m sure the Golfers will want at least 2 wins tonight so they can feel better about the standings.
Lanes 3&4 – #3 Sandsnakes vs #1 Pin Pals. Given the averages, I think this will be a sweep for PP but SS have a few bowlers that can post a big score. Will the pals of pin bring out the best in the snakes of sand or will Joe, Kevin, Cara, and Courtney make like St. Patricks and run the snakes out of town?
Lanes 5&6 – Free Agents vs Teachers on Strike. Collectively, both teams have put together 3 wins out of 12 tries, one for Teachers and two for the Agents. There have also been 12 individual games of 125 pins or higher but rather than a 2:1 ratio, Free agents lead this category 11:1. Simply put, Free agents have the firepower to put this one away but have had a drastically different roster each of the first 2 weeks. My guess here is 2 games to 1 for the Free agents as Teachers find more consistency in week 3 and Free Agents continue to sort out their roster
Lanes 7&8 – Holy Rollers vs X X X. The 3x squad made finals last season and MO recently posted a 202 in a post league game. While not as consistent as the veteran Rollers. X X X have the ability to post a team score well into the 500s. HR was tripped up a bit last week against Livin on a Spare and may have a similar fate tonight during one of the games. Most likely outcome here is a Rollers sweep but if X X X gets hot, they could find themselves chasing a 1 seed.
Lanes 9&10– Livin on a Spare vs Split Happens. Pinterfel and Golfers could go to either team but as an 8 vs 10 matchup it doesn’t match this middle of the pack battle in terms of stakes. These are well matched teams with sizable rosters. I don’t think either team will sweep, but there is a big opportunity here to take 2-3 wins over an opponent you could see in the playoffs. Silk and New Nick have a combined average of 290. That is better than Joe and Kevin of Pin Pals (286) and not too far from N8 and Matt of Holy rollers (297). Livin On a Spare won season 3 and with the addition of New Nick and consistent 100+ scores from Jess, this could be the week with LOAS start their run to the championship.
Week 2 Preview:
With week one in the books, we can reflect on the week that was and use that information to make some guesses about the weeks ahead. There was something in the air last week as we had 15 games of 150 pins or higher. With the size and upkeep of the bowlmor lanes, that is really impressive as reigning Male MVP Nate has some challengers for sure, and that was before season’s 3’s BLACKCAT joined up today. Reigning female MVP has changed her name from M3G to MegVP and lived up to the billing by starting the season with the highest female average. I have a feeling Pin Pal’s Cara will be right in the mix along with Season 1 MVP Yonni and a strong bid from Spare-Ah from Teachers On Strike. There is a lot to cover in week one but the biggest shoutout needs to go to Yannick, a new free agent player. He posted a 229 in his second game, claiming the highest score we have ever seen in this league. Well done Yannick!
Check out the league stats here.
Looking ahead to tonight’s matches: The marquee matchup will certainly be Livin’ On a Spare vs Holy rollers. Livin has added some new talent this season (Nick and Jess) and Silk has continued to improve each season, posting just shy of a 150 average last week. The have a big opportunity to take down the season 1 champs who always find themselves at or near the top of the standings. Speaking of top of the standings, Pin Pals were the #1 team from start to finish last year, putting together one of the best regular seasons we have ever had. They take on the Golfers tonight in a tough matchup for ONG, who were swept last week. The Golfers made a late season charge last season and even if they struggle tonight, I see them climbing up the ladder over the next several weeks. The are certainly not the #9 team in terms of firepower but that is where they are in the standings. Direwolves vs Free Agents is going to be a fun one. The Free agents posted what would have been a league record last week but lost by two pins to what ended up being the league record for team score by Split Happens. Free agents have the highest team average in the league but are sitting at 1-2. On paper, they should easily handle Pinterfel but my guess is this matchup will go 2-1 with no team claiming a sweep. Split Happens take on the other half of the bowling civil war (more on that in a later week) the Sandsnakes. Both teams are 2-1 and both have some really strong bowlers at the top. As mentioned above, SH now have the highest team game ever but I think they will come down to earth tonight and battle it out with the Snakes. Again, I predict a 2-1 finish here. The final matchup is X X X vs Teachers on Strike. 3x were the free agent team of season 4 and made it all the way to the finals. They dropped two games last week to Livin’ on a Spare but are favorited tonight to earn the sweep. Don’t sleep on the Teacher team though. They took a playoffs game in Season 3 that was the most shocking upset we have ever seen in the league.
Weekly Inspiration:
