Everyone likes to see things happen that never have before. In anticipation of the upcoming tournament, here is a list of 7 things that would be record breaking if they were to happen in JAL XII.
1: No team has ever won back-to-back championships
I know, I know… Everyone’s already heard this one, but seriously, there have been 11 JAL tournaments… How has this never happened yet?! If the post-title winning curse is going to come to end the defending champion Bay Area Fog have to be the ones to do it. Given that generally speaking the league seems to think their championship run in JAL XI was a fluke, the chances this record gets broken aren’t exactly one to bet on.
2: No team has ever made it to 4 consecutive WWCD Cups
Toutle Lynx, step up to the plate. The current record for most appearances in a row in the WWCD is 3, held by both the Cobras and the Lynx. If the Lynx can make it to the cup in JAL XII they will hold the record alone with 4 straight trips.
3: Winning streak record
The longest winning streak in league history is held by the Cobras at 7 games. The streak spans from JAL VI-VII. In JAL VI the Cobras had an undefeated tournament, and in JAL VII an undefeated regular season. The streak was snapped in the semifinals of the playoffs by the #4 seeded Rapids in what has gone down as the biggest upset in JAL history.
Right now the Fog are on a 3 game win streak, so in order for the record to be broken in JAL XII they would have to have an undefeated regular season (3-0) and win the cup (2-0 in playoffs)... This is probably even more unlikely than them just simply repeating as champs.
4: Losing streak record
The Rapids hold the longest losing streak record at 9 games. The streak began when the Rapids lost in the WWCD Cup in JAL VII. The franchise then went on to have back-to-back winless tournaments in JAL VIII and JAL IX which brought the streak up to 7 games. In JAL X the Rapids lost their first 2 regular season games, but then went on to win the WWCD Cup as the bottom seeded team behind Ty Johnson’s memorable MVP performance.
The longest current losing skid is 4 games by the u-dogs. It’s impossible for this record to be broken in JAL XII, but here at the JAL we like to make fun of losers, so that’s why we threw this record in the list anyway.
5: The underdogs have never beaten the Cobras
The all-time series record is 10-0 in favor of the Cobras...Come on u-dogs, that’s just pathetic. The u-dogs do, however, get a chance in JAL XII to break this record. Both team’s opening game of the tournament is against each other.
6: Player on the championship team winning MVP
In 10 of the 11 JAL tournaments the MVP award has gone to a player on the team that won the title. The only time it didn’t was when Brock Johnson won it (JAL V) despite his team (Cobras) falling to the Bison in the WWCD Cup. So technically this record has already been broken, but let’s see it happen again… 10/11 is a lot.
7: Curse of the u-dogs
The underdogs are the league’s oldest team, yet somehow have still never won a WWCD Cup. Besides the 2 new expansion teams (Express, Bambinos) every other team has raised the cup. It’s not like the u-dogs have always had bad teams either. They’ve made it to the Cup twice and even had an undefeated regular season once. With Dustin Hamilton back for the team, Kyle Koopman, and 2 decent acquisitions this offseason in Adam Clark and Tierney Uhlenkott, there is potential for this tourney to finally be THE ONE.
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