Week 4 Team of the Week: Emery's Army

Reasons they will win:

Emery’s Army took a year off in 2016, but in 2017 they are back and plan to show up and take the title from the Newts. Emery’s has no doubt they can do this. They are one of ORWBL’s most historic franchises. They have proven they are a solid wiffle team as they pose a 153-118 all-time regular season record.

With so much experience backing them up, Rolling Prairie could be a lethal threat this year in ORWBL. The most recent season Rolling Prairie played in in ORWBL(2015) they showed domination in the regular season going 18-6. With former Cy Young winner Jake Lawrence and All-Star Eric Johnson, Rolling Prairie will be solid defensively and with the bats in their hands. They have also picked up youngster Jeremy Ross from Triple Crown, who could be a youthful addition to their older team.

Although they have no ORWBL World Series appearances, they have a Hometown Cup Finals appearance in The Wiffleball Championship (2013), proving they can make a run in tournaments, and possibly the playoffs.

Considering Rolling Prairie has Olive Township in their division, all they have to do is split their series with the Newts for a chance at a division title. If you had to choose one team to pick up a series win versus the Newts a lot of people would choose Rolling Prairie. They have a fierce rivalry with the Newts, with the all-time series tied at 25 wins a piece. The total runs scored in those games is also almost dead even, with New Carlisle holding a slight 373-370 advantage.

Rolling Prairie starts off their season by playing the two youngest teams in the league, Olive Township and Granger. If Rolling Prairie can get off to a hot start could be the team to beat in 2017.

Reasons they won’t:

Some experts seem a bit skeptical when looking into Rolling Prairie’s break of 2016. So much time away from the wiffle field could be detrimental to their team. While they were taking a break in 2016, their rival, the New Carlisle Newts, were dominating the league and winning the ORWBL title. Emery’s will join the NL East which includes the 2016 ORWBL champion Newts, and a young team, the Mechanics, who have made a few moves over the offseason.

It could be a very rough road in 2017 because of this break. Another interesting stat that doesn’t look good for Emery’s is that in 2016 while playing for Maple City, Eric Johnson only batted .394, not reaching .400. If this carries on to 2017 this could be very bad for Rolling Prairie, as Johnson is supposed to be one of their leading hitters. The same problem arises with captain Jake Lawrence. Although he only had 24 at bats for the Newts, he only batted .167, which is downright bad. These two players cannot have this happen in 2017, or it could be a very rough go this season.

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