After a flurry of off season activity including a now vacant title with the Bellwoods Brickbreakers moving over to the Premier conference, the title is completely up for grabs in the TBL's Kings conference. Here is a quick preview of what to expect this year in a quickly improving division:
After getting a taste of the championship game last year in their first run in the league, Nick "the lion" Liontas and his dangerous group of Hitmen will be hungry to not only get back to the 'ship but to also win it all. This team returns relatively the same team as last year and will now most likely be the team everyone is chasing for first place. Bolstered by the big bats of Jeff Walter and Nick Liontas, the Agincourt Hitmen enter the season looking to prove that last year was no fluke.
Prediction: 1st overall in the standings
The Van Horne Vipers head into 2015 with arguably the best pitching in the conference with Dan Long leading the way. The stats are evident. 48 innings pitched. 2 earned runs all last season finishing with a .29 ERA and 65 KO's. Defence wins titles but this team will need to step up on the offensive side as Dan was also their batting leader. If the rest of the Vipers increase their run production, this could be a team to watch.
Prediction: 2nd overall in the standings
Warden comes into the season after a stellar run last season that saw a ton of positives. Improved batting by Ian Ariza combined with the dangerous bat of Rob Scotland ended up in Warden securing its first ever playoff win. Tommy will likely shoulder the load of pitching duties again this year with Scotland acting again as the anchor in the bullpen. With this combination they are likely to obtain their 2nd franchise playoff win and possibly more.
Prediction: 3rd overall in the standings
This will be the Vikings first season in the Kings conference and will be the smallest roster after manager Angelo Nitzis has opted to go with the exact team that finished last year in the Premier conference with 5 wins. This team offers quite a challenge for opposing pitchers with the likes of Kevin Sleigh and Gary Massey leading the way on the offence. This teams biggest challenge will be pitching as Starter Angelo was able to get away with his off speed pitches in the premier conference last year due in fact that the majority of players in that league were used to looking for blazing fastballs and Callaghan curves. This could be a challenging year once again though for the Vikings as these are the types of pitches that teams in the Kings conference feed on. Word is that Kevin Sleigh is training to become a valuable member of the bullpen so this may help. Look for a lot of high scoring barn burners this year in games the Vikings play.
Prediction: 4th overall in the standings
Riverdale comes into the 2015 season with a new attitude and newly signed free agent Robert Irvine who finished last year with 26 RBI's. Irvine is hoping to bring with him a contagious confidence that the rest of the team will catch. Although the Railkats finished last year with a single win in 11 tries, they lost 6 of these games by 3 runs or less. If Irvine can produce anywhere near what he did last season then Riverdale could be in for a season over .500. On the pitching side Steven Parsons will be ready again to prove he is a starter with a nasty fastball. Irvine will be able to help out late but this could be a breakout season for Steven on the mound.
William Donahue will look to lead his team to its best record and possibly its first playoff win ever this year. Confidence is high in the hood this year.
Prediction: 5th overall in the standings
Mark Kennedy is back!! After a hiatus Mark assists in raising a team from the ashes. Along with him comes former fielder of the year Darren Osborne and one of the most improved relief pitchers last year in Rob Sanderson. Playing out of the Den will provide some advantage for the Junction Cobra Kai as the travel from the East to the confines of the Dragons Den in the West will prove tiring for the predominantly East located Kings conference teams. New manager Jason Hall is a sleeper for rookie of the year and can also pitch a solid game.
Prediction: 6th in the standings
Much like the Hitmen last year, there is very little known about this group hailing from Scarborough and look where Agincourt ended up last year. Look for the leagues oldest player at 44 - Aaron Sufi and youngest player at 19 - Naazim Sufi to be the stars for Cedarbrae. Does lightning strike twice with a new expansion team? Time will tell as the storm clouds gather.
Prediction: 7th? maybe 1st? who knows but the conference looks forward to the Storm arriving in 2015!!
Robert Irvine
