Will Leduc tear up 2-tiered league?

Leduc’s dominance over the league in the preseason and first two games of the season illustrates what everyone thought before the season began – Leduc is the team to beat this year (no debate).

Bardo and Ryley on any given day can challenge with the right lineup. Tofield, Armena and Holden need the stars to align even more.

It’s creating what could be seen as unfortunate – a two-tier league. We’ve seen in past years one or two teams rise to the top or fall to the bottom. But this year is unique in the fact you could have one team run away with it, two teams battle for second, and hopefully the bottom three all battle for the fourth and final spot in what could be an exciting race.

The unfortunate part is how the strategy of teams could hand Leduc a regular season title. We saw this with the Camrose Colts back in the early 2000s. Never did the Armena Axemen (Three-time champions in 2002-2004) see the best Colts pitchers. That was until playoffs. In 2005 the strategy paid dividends, as the Axemen (who beat up team’s third or fourth starters all season) were shut down in the final.

That all begin said, the camps of Ryley and Bardo are probably steaming that I appear to be conceding the regular season to Leduc. These are two experienced and talented ball clubs who have the hitting prowess to battle Leduc’s top-notch bullpen on any given night.

But it might not be until playoffs when Leduc is truly challenged. Will an untested Milleteers squad be prime for a gritty and war-torn Rebels or Athletics squad? It’s tough to turn it on after waltzing through the regular season, trust me.

Time will ultimately tell. But my gut-feeling says the five teams will strategize not to deplete themselves against Leduc, enabling them to jockey for postseason positioning and thus giving the Milleteers an easy road to home advantage, and possibly a regular season title.

Posted on May 20, 2010 by Jason Buzzell