Third Annual Pre-Season Captains' Poll

It's time for the the first entry of the 2020 Marlboro Softball blog. The pre-season Power Rankings will come out within a few weeks, but first is what is becoming one of my favorite pieces to put together: The Pre-Season Captains' Poll.

To review how this works, I send out an email to all the captains asking them to rank the five best teams in the league. I then award 5 points for the number choice, 4 points for the number 2 choice, etc. If two teams are tied, the team that appears on more ballots wins the tie breaker. This year, 15 out of 18 captains submitted their choices. Thank you captains for your participation. This is the best turnout yet!

Before we get to this season's results, here's a quick breakdown of the previous two seasons:

In 2018, Team Goldfarb led a cursed group as the entire top 5 group lost in the first round of the playoffs. (Goldfarb, Marrone, Bykofsky, Brock, Wallman)

In 2019, Team Brock dominated the polls thanks to the Turanos steal. Team Brock had 29 points while second place Team Wallman had 9. 

Both winners of the previous Captains' Polls struggled to live up to the expectations. Goldfarb finished 12-10 and lost in the first round while Brock went 11-11 and made it to the Semi-Finals. Semi-Finals aren't bad, but it is not a fitting end for a team predicted to dominate.

Let's hope the same isn't true for this year's winner :) 

Here are the results.

Place          Team           Points       # of ballots

1               Pollock         43               12

2               Wallman       38              11

3               Bykofsky      37               11

4               Lapine          28               8

5               Harris           21               8

6               Marrone       16               6

7               Fradkin        12               4

8              Larocca         7                4

9              Steinberg       7               3

10            Goldfarb       7                2

A few notes: 

1. These top 10 teams happen to be the only teams to appear on multiple ballots.

2. More than any other year, there is not a consensus top overall team. As Scott mentioned on his podcast, many people around the league have Pollock, Wallman, and Bykofsky in some order as the leading top three teams. This captains' poll confirms that thought.

3. The Pre-Season thought is that this will be the year of the veteran captain. The entire top 6 is comprised of captains who have had their own team since at earliest 2013. 

I look forward to write more about the season as the year moves forward and especially look forward to getting on the field and seeing how these predictions hold up.