By now, the school year is all but over for much of the United States. The kids get out of an 8 hour jail sentence and get to spend those 8 hours playing Real Baseball Online. The summer has always been an interesting time. The veterans and adults despise it, as their late night sessions usually filled with drunkenness and a good time will now be marred by hundreds of kids who should be sleeping. The School's Out Blowout marks the end of these late night sessions, and the boys of summer throw their book bags aside and get set for some Real Baseball Online.
After a win enthralled in controversy, Empire enters the School's Out Blowout with an entirely different team. We look at the changes to each of the participants, two new Elite teams, and the increase in competition even with the absence of some of the veteran teams.
#1 Lynx vs Bye
The newest team to the Elite scene gets a bye. Nothing like a nicely timed bye to kill all momentum. Lynx was created October 12th, 2007 by Weller with the idea of creating a great team built on chemistry and goodwill. Ewade joined soon after, and has taken the reigns and built Lynx into a perennial powerhouse. After defeating Empire/Bombers affiliate Legacy in the finals of the Memorial Day Tournament, Lynx felt primed to take a jump at Elite competition.
Lynx is the lowest level team in the tournament at an average level of 72. Their activity can be a great added advantage as their players attempt to level. They should look out for the new 2-level rule that will be enforced this tournament. Lynx is dominated by names many of us have never heard. Their best player is xSWIFTx, who hits over .640 in PUG and averages a homerun every 8 abs. In tournament play, Manager EWADE leads the team in homeruns with 13, while Jeeps usually mans the mound. ThatMan, Wendigo, Macilous, Bravo, and LSU round out the lineup. Lynx is a small team which gets along extremely well and uses that to their advantage. They get the winner of Bombers and RotoNL.
#8 Bombers vs #9 RotoNL
The last time these two teams faced off Bombers won impressively. This time around, RotoNL sees an entirely different team. Goblin now mans the pitching staff as Precision returns to tournament action as his backup. New manager Revoke will be making the calls and the lineups and looks to develop a reputation as a great player and a great manager. Bombers also called up Cunning from Legacy, giving them one of the best, most active players in the game. Also called up from Legacy gimmepie will try and stick around as a solid defensive player who can hit the ball a long way. Moving over from Empire is the hero from the Memorial Day Tournament, KidNub. He also brings along BigMarc and Mafia as well. Still around though are TheMan, Jiraiya, and ThePope who appreciate the incredible offensive support sent over from Empire.
RotoNL sends the same team out with the exception of Skoal17. Skoal will be playing on his alt on Roto NL this tournament as he looks to get some tournament at bats in before league. Talking to ChungFX in PUG I got the impression that he will be used differently this tournament. ChungFX has been a reliever much of his Roto NL career and has been rumored as a possible starter. Chung taking a bigger roll in Roto's pitching duties and Newbert focusing more on his bat might actually be a good thing for RotoNL. Scooter, RedK, and Skoal will most likely see most of the at bats for the heavily inactive RotoNL team. Expect a much different team come league time as Roto NL seems to just be going through to motions in these past few tournaments.
Melky's Prediction: Bombers 11 , RotoNL 8
Newbert's Prediction: Bombers 14, Roto NL 5 (Is it bad I'm picking against me own team?)
Melky's Players to Watch: Cunning , Skoal17
Newbert's Players to Watch: Goblin, Scooter McBeast
#4 TechEast vs #13 Empire
The T.Tech organization cut themselves into three teams which may end up hurting their overall skill level. TechEast is an 8 man team with Vejar and Kiku as their two main pitchers. That leaves TechEast with 6 hitters to work with. Baptiste will be your on the field manager most likely as he is the most decorated and experienced Tech member on that roster. N8te, 0, and CooCooKal are other familiar names from the jointed Tech team. Newly acquired DERAILER and DIESELUSA add some firepower to the offense. DIESELUSA leads nearly every offensive category in RBO this season. O and don't forget that guy ABSMOKE who seems to hit everything come tournament time.
Continuing their organizational makeover, Empire finds themselves with just as strong of a team as before. KMAN returns from his managerial sting on Bombers as the ace of the staff along with his right fielder Frogger. The rest of the incredible defense is rounded out by upstart hitter D1nonly2 in Centerfield and Pete998 in Leftfield. KMAN will be backed up by Legacy call up Fire911, who has been learning from the experienced pitchers in the organization attempting to harness his ability and relieve KMAN properly. Kidnasty, Big123, and EduaNYC can all play the infield positions and provide a solid bat whenever they are put on the field and Melky remains the constant manager on his Empire squad. Should be a very interesting game between these two newly formed teams
Melky's Prediction: Empire 13, TechEast 4
Newbert's Prediction: Empire 8, TechEast 6
Melky's Players to Watch: D1nonly2 , Vejar
Newbert's Players to Watch: EduaNYC, ABSmoke
#5 Rejected vs #12 Insanity
Soulcrshr and Rejected look to make some noise in tournament play with a very powerful offense. Rejected has a poor 1 and 4 record in tournament play this season but have gained experience and an opponent who has yet to play in an Elite tournament game. Their best offensive players include Luckyme89, RUGJUICE, and former pitcher ensferum. All have above 600 averages and a hr/ab ratio hovering around 1/8. Luckyme89 is especially incredible striking out less than any other hitter on his team. It is very important for Rejected to get some offense, as Soulcrshr looks to pull off an upset or two and get into the championship round. Pili will most likely carry the load on the mound but BRM1975 and Ensferum both have better WHIPs then the struggling starter.
Insanity faces off in a favorable match up seeing as they have never played in a tournament game. Killerboy's band of high level players will try and get their organization off on a positive note. Dual is arguable their best hitter, with RickyD, Proto, Colacino, and deek close behind. Those 5 are the only players hitting above 600 in PUG. This offense might sputter and struggle to remain consistent, but power hitters such as ArabBeast and Killerboy might change that in a heart beat. RedEyesz is a notoriously streaky hitter, and Damoon/Luna21 has tons of PUG games under his belt. If Curtis92 shows up, the famous 560+ hitter with 99 Catching RANGE might make an impact (he no longer has that build). Finally, Jeter994 might see the mound for the most part, as he has some tournament experience as a backup pitcher.
Melky's Prediction: Insanity 7 , Rejected 4
Newbert's Prediction: ReJected 10, Insanity 4
Melky's Players to Watch: BRM , ArabBeast
Newbert's Players to Watch: Ensferum, Killerboy
#2 Hybrids vs Bye
Manager HAVERFORD has an interesting dilemma on his hands. He can either fire his ace SniperX for attempting to develop hack tools, or he can ignore it and isolate his team from the general community. The survival of Hybrids is highly dependent on his decision, keeping SniperX guarantees him a solid pitcher, but Co-Manager Toyboy has been on record saying he would fire SniperX in a situation such as this. In a past interview with Toyboy, he made it clear that he respected SniperX's demeanor but if anything major came up he had no problem firing him. This is major. If HAVERFORD chooses to keep SniperX, it might cause ToyBoy and GAWD to leave, causing the end of Hybrids.
Hybrids are back down to an 8 man roster after a surge in membership after their near win vs Tech. An already unhappy Pesto might make Haverford's decision on SniperX easier if he can see the mound and throw some solid innings. BigJuddd could ignore the controversy and just show up and swing a good stick. But the story can not be ignored. SniperX was caught red handed attempting to develop hacks, and Haverford has one day before Hybrids takes the field to figure this out.
Melky's Prediction: Haverford chooses to stay with SniperX, Toyboy and Gawd leave
Newbert's Prediction: Deja vu...but same result as last time. Same way that parents are blind toward their children's mistakes, managers are blind toward their players.
#7 Carnage vs #10 FlightNL
Carnage is back and fully loaded and capable of making some noise. Manager Megatron and pitcher Sparkie are the two arms that are very capable of carrying the Carnage team far. In 62 Tournament At Bats, Stugots is hitting over 600 with 14 homeruns. A big game player, StuGots will certainly put some numbers on the board against an inconsistent FlightNL pitching staff. Former Flight member Bnutz steps into the game with a 1/4 hr ab ratio in tournament play and always puts it into another gear when he faces his former team. To round out the offense, Wiggy will take the field. Wiggy is clearly Carnage's most consistent tournament player and his impressive performances have caught everyone's eye. Phloppy, BigJoe, and goTwins are inactive for the most part and should be non factors. HeadAke, Smith, and Jacke might surprise FlightNL with some great abs and solid defense.
FlightNL is becoming an enigma. The organization itself is experiencing an evident separation. What FlightNL does has nothing to do with what FlightAL does. Unlike Kentucky, Papi has been unable to remain active enough to compete and his team has fallen to 8 players. Ebola who was rumored to be leaving Flight for quite some time, is still on the roster. As long as he remains there he should produce quite well. Crede24 has the ability to hit whether active or not and so does Corv and hopefully they can continue that pattern and provide some much needed offense. 66, Nos, and Dcurt25 round out the FlightNL roster, and SmokeOut is the sole pitcher. Unless you count Papi. The key to the game for Flight is to keep Smokeout's stamina somewhat steady and prevent them from having to go to a second pitcher.
Melky's Prediction: Carnage 16, FlightNL 5
Newbert's Prediction: FlightNL 9, Carnage 8 (nail-biter)
Melky's Players to Watch: Wiggy, Corv
Newbert's Players to Watch: Wiggy, HeadAke (crappy offensive game, but stellar OF)
#3 FlightAL vs Bye
The complete opposite of FlightNL, AL has been flourishing. SEC may very well be one of the better managers in the game, as he has taken FlightAL back to where they should be. ClarKKent should but up numbers as he has one of the better hr/ab ratios in the game. Puddles is always a great tournament hitter and if active, YardDog can do just about the same. FlightAL has a deadly offense when they click and it should be easy enough to get Dr.Death enough runs, especially the way he has been pitching lately. His backup, ConMan, does not see much time, so expect Death to go 6 regardless of the situation. BeanBalla, RBush, Deathklok, and 96 round out the FlighTAL offense and to be honest, I have no idea who BeanBalla is. ZachAtack is probably their best PUG player, but has been abysmal in tournament play with a hr/ab ratio of 1 in 10 and a sub 550 average. Flight takes on the winner of TechWest vs Rage.
#6 TechWest vs #11 Rage
New faces. TechWest recruited JLPR, Jimmyjohn, and Own4Life. Own4Life is clearly the best recruit of the three and should see a lot of time during this tournament. Manager Manny73 is in charge of TechWest and has to find out what lineup clicks best. The pitcher, WCKDPRK, is the easiest. He will be on the mound and he will try and develop as an elite pitcher. Gatyopin2 is arguably the best player right now and has done his PUG work in tournaments consistently. DantheMan and w00ds15 were both Tech bench players before the switch, and now will see a boatload of at bats that should keep their timing honest. Sayheykid and former Hybrids player Masterpai round out the roster. TechWest is set up on an entirely different bracket than TechEast and the dream Tech vs Tech final is possible.
Her0 has built Rage into a perennial powerhouse. Losing Sparkie to Carnage though, might cost them a trip to the Final Four round. In an attempt to keep up with other teams, Rage went on a recruiting rampage. Former RBO delinquent xXFlashXx returns to RBO as a member of Team Rage. Former Rejected member St3wart has also joined Rage along with Driller. Nataliamo is still on the roster and if he continue to hit like he has been he should help Rage win this ballgame. SlayerX, DanIAM, and Bigio join Hrtbrkr and CJwalker to round out an offense that can either be really good, or really bad. Rage is an entirely different team now and it is up to Her0 to build them back up to their recent success.
Melky's Prediction: Rage 8, TechWest 5
Newbert's Prediction: TechWest 15, Rage 3 *calling a TechWest slaughter of Rage*
Melky's Players to Watch: Nataliamo, Gatyopin2
Newbert's Players to Watch: Woodpecker, DanTheMan
