Fall Week 3: Bye Week

Each team is looking to get better this weekend. How will each team do this? Well let"s go team by team and see who can put themselves in contension for a title.

Lakeview Lightning 

Well my friends, we witnessed a blockbuster trade only 2 weeks into the opening season of AWL. Garner Collum traded a trade point and Levi Saville to the Raiders for one of the best pitchers on the market. Seemed like a pretty good trade but then you have to weigh in Noah's recent struggles at the plate. Noah has put in the work this week and has seen some solid progress, but you don't know how he will perform in the games. This team upgraded their pitching big time especially thinking about the fact that Collum isn't the only pitcher anymore. Collum said he would visit the Saville house for a scrimmage on saturday. They lost 12-8 but it would have been 12-5 if Hudson Saville hadn't messed around. They still showed promising hitting though.

So whats the big move they need to make? What's the decision they need that will guide their season? Hitting. Collum has shown strong hitting including a cycle in week 1. Levi was strong at the plate in his tenure there but now its up to Noah. Garner plans to do some serious work on Saturday and over the course of the week to get this team in winning condition. 

Hillside Hornets

This is a tough one. Windsor has been elite at the plate and Hudson has not been bad on the mound. Nobody knows what has gone wrong. The topic most mentioned is command. Saville has struggled with command this season and has not been able to get out of situations and come in clutch. That seemed to always be what Hudson was in the ole' backyard. Coming through with the walk off hit or the winning strikeout with bases loaded. 

So what needs to happen? Like Patrick Mahomes, the magic isn't there anymore. The miraculous comebacks and clutch strikouts aren't there. He needs to learn how to adjust and play smart and consitent ball. And for Windsor, just keep making them plays and blasting liners and this team could turn their 1-3 start around. 

Coastal Cavaliers

Cavaliers have shown strong signs this season. The hitting has been nonstop and the pitching was what was questionable. Alistair then showed up last week and dominated with his strike pounding pitches, that didn't move a whole lot, but certainly had great timely and late movement. Standing behind the plate was very loud with home runs off the bat from both players last week as their great hitting continued. 

So what is the question with them? Is Alistair actually effective, or did he play a down team that was bleeding for contact last week? Well honestly I think you could support both answers. Alistair is effective with lots of strikes, but also the Raiders were on a down week. They struggled mightily and I'm convinced it was solely off of bad performance. No matter what Alistair is a good pitcher. But is he good enough to get them all the way?

Red Clay Raiders

One Saturday, we were all going on about the Raiders being the best team because they swept the Hornets. Now those wins don't look as impressive as they did. I questioned their trade a bit aswell. One trade point just doesn't seem like enough. Levi Saville is a great hitter but they just lost the pitcher that threw nearly half the innings. And the one that is still there is the one with double the ERA. I think Baxter can lock in though.

What do they need? A sweep of the Lightning. Thats what. They don't have a great shot at the Cavaliers in 2 weeks and the Lightning has worse hitting. Thats good for the Raiders as they lack pitching now. That leaves room for a loss against the Cavs as you could still go 5-3. No matter what you say, the Raiders have solid potential, but can they wield it.