Week 3 Team of the Week: Cabo Yabos

Reasons they will win:

Cabo has talent! When you look through Cabo’s roster you might be shocked to see the talent they have. They have all of Grandmother's Quilts players on their roster, and a player from the Warsaw White Cats as well. They also boast players from Malort’s I’ll have Another! All of those teams listed are very successful tournament teams, respectively finishing 2nd and 3rd in the grand slam with Malorts being the exception. If Cabo can get these players to show up consistently, Cabo could be a HUGE threat as they have now moved over to the American League. These players have all taken down teams like Maple City and New Carlisle in tournaments before, so they know if they play well they can get the job done. Last year was Cabo’s inaugural season and this year with more league experience we can imagine they will most likely improve on their 12-12 record from last year.

When manager Grant Duncan was asked about 2017 he said “Each member will need to step it up and give 110% while still playing within themselves.” He also said that he believes Cabo will be very ready this time when the playoffs come around. We believe if Cabo become more consistent, and beat bigger name teams, they can have a shot to make a special run in the playoffs. After all, they did come up with some huge series wins against some of the best teams in the league last year. With last year’s All Star Game MVP John Premetz leading the way, there certainly have a shot at winning a pennant and having a shot at winning an ORWBL World Series. Cabo is hopeful that their skipper Grant Duncan’s broken arm suffered during the offseason will be fully healed by opening day. All in all, if Cabo can get the right players there for the big games, they can beat any team in the league. One last thing that really helps is the years of experience that these guys have playing together. Grant Duncan has made it clear that his guys love playing with each other and that he would not trade that experience for a thing.

Reasons they won't:

2016 was an interesting inaugural season for Cabo. Cabo neither flourished, nor played poorly. Something that was lackluster for Cabo was their lack of consistency in the regular season. They had a wide variety of lineups which is not necessarily a bad thing, but with all of their players living all over the place, they struggled to get their best lineups to play at points in the season. Cabo needs to try and consistently put the same 6 or 7 players on the field that they can depend on throughout the long grind of the season. Without a couple players you can depend to be there every week, it's difficult to get consistent hitters because of the lack of at bats. While Cabo came to play against the National League teams last year, they actually struggled against the American League teams. This is worrisome because to be the best you have to beat the best.

Cabo was swept away on a scoring hot tournament day, but with all due respect, the Magic had John Arndt making his debut that day and he came ready to play after not participating in the tournament. Cabo and Maple City will meet up 6 times in 2017 and those will certainly be entertaining matchups as they met up numerous times in tournaments last season. Offensively, Cabo can hit with the best of them but the thing that could hold them back is their defense. They were eliminated early in the playoffs last season as they matched up against a younger and more athletic team who could better adjust to the wind blowing in. We know that this team can win high scoring matchups but they will have to improve on their small ball so that they can compete better when the wind is blowing in.

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