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This was it, one last hurrah before the rankings were set and bids finalized. And you better believe teams came out to Labor Day ready to give everything they had in order to shake things up.
The (Almost) Perfect Season
Everyone showed up hoping to be the team to end the Polar Bears’ undefeated streak. It was American BBQ who would go on to hand them their first loss since the US Open, effectively ending the Polar Bears’ 20-1 season. Of course, this isn’t enough to do any drastic damage to their ranking this week; they still have what is probably the most dominant record in Mixed Ultimate. However, this stumble comes just as Drag’n Thrust is reaching their stride, which is enough to bump PBr down to the number-two spot this week.
Making the Jump…
American BBQ’s win over the previously top-ranked team, takes them up a few notches. Not as far up as Mischief though. This squad was admittedly overlooked in the past rankings, seeing as they didn’t make an appearance at the Emerald City Classic. (They did have two recorded wins against GrasSFace at Revolution.) This week they proved that this was a tragic mistake. Mischief made it through their pool practically unscathed; their closest game was a 15-11 win over Blackbird. The continued their win streak through bracket play, eventually capping the weekend with a 10-8 win over American BBQ in the Championship. For that, they landed in our #5 spot, above ABBQ. Going into the series, SW teams should be wary of this squad that seems to just be picking up momentum.
Bigfoot showed notable improvement this weekend, even if it isn’t reflected in the rankings. They remain in the same spot as last week, despite winning their pool, which included a 15-12 upset against GrasSFace and a tight 14-16 loss to eventual-champions Mischief. Sunday didn’t bode as well, as they lost to American BBQ and GrasSFace. If last week they just barely scraped their way into the rankings, then this week they earned the spot and stand defiantly at #15.
…And Taking the Fall
The two most notable downgrades this week are Blackbird and GrasSFace. Blackbird ended Labor Day in a game for fifth place, for which no score was listed on Score Reporter. Their two losses on the weekend came from Mischief, which is understandable, and Engine 45, which comes more as an upset. Blackbird has been continually slipping from week to week in our rankings, and their downward trajectory drops them behind Termite’s Entourage and Bucket.
After ECC, GrasSFace and American BBQ appeared to be almost neck-and-neck in terms of where they fit into the rankings. After their stumble to Bigfoot and loss to Polar Bears, it is clear that there is some separation between them and American BBQ. What’s more, GrasSFace dropped below Blackbird this week after losing to them 13-14.
Last-Minute Appearances
Appearing at the tail-end of the rankings are Engine 45 and AMP. Engine 45 had an impressive weekend that included wins over Blackbird and American BBQ, the latter of which is particularly impressive. These notable wins do, however, come after a second-to-last place finish at ECC, which is why they did shoot up in our rankings, but didn’t quite reach the heights of the more consistent ABBQ.
AMP is reappearing after they were knocked off last week due to a shaky performance at Chesapeake. While they may have struggled out of their pool, which included both Mischief and Engine 45, AMP did pull in two wins against Killjoy, who previously occupied our #16 spot, thus earning them a slot on the board.
Of course, to make room for these teams, two other squads had to be dropped. Killjoy was the obvious choice, seeing as they fell to AMP. It was more difficult to see Odyssee go. They have wins against some of the top teams this year, including #1-ranked Drag’n Thrust. Unfortunately, these games are from almost two months ago, and Odyssee hasn’t played any of the teams on the board since then. Without any recent games to compare them to the rest of our ranked teams, it’s hard to argue to keep them up there when so many teams have moved up, dropped down, and stepped into the limelight.
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