Two Keys to the Lasorda Division

The tightest division in the ABL has proven to be the Tommy Lasorda Division. Last season Dallas, New York and Ann Arbor battled to the wire for one playoff spot, which Dallas won. This year all four teams are in the hunt as Nottinghamshire has surprised by hanging in all season (they have already won 9 more games than the "experts" predicted).

The tightness within the division is best represented by Ann Arbor's performance this past week. They swept first place New York in a 4-match set and followed that up getting swept for three games by 2nd place Nottinghamshire.

With six seeks remaining, New York sets the pace with a 4 game lead over Nottinghamshire, 6 games over Dallas and 10 over Ann Arbor. But before crowning New York or writing off Ann Arbor, a look at the remaining schedule may help.

The next 4 weeks are games played outside the division. In these contests, Ann Arbor has the the 2nd best record in the division and a winning record against the rest of the ABL. Their failure to date has been an inability to beat Nottinghamshire as they are 2-10 for the season. The team with the worst record outside the division, and the only team not to have a winning record against the rest of the league is Nottinghamshire. So the next four weeks look to be an advantage for Ann Arbor to close the gap, while Nottinghamshire may indeed struggle to keep pace.

This pattern would help New York as they are the division's best team outside of the division. So the opportunity to put distance from themselves to the rest of the division is there. Dallas has yet to put together the run like last season, but the playoff veterans have to be viewed with respect and the opportunity to close exists now.

The last two weeks are all division match-ups and, surprisingly, the team with the best division record is Nottinghamshire at 20-13, followed by New York 19-14, Dallas 16-17 and Ann Arbor 11-22. So if the race is in doubt at that point in time, form would seem to indicated that different teams will have advantages, than do at this point in time.

In any respect, the division looks to come down to the wire again this season. And of course, any key injuries at this point in the season will have a direct impact upon the results.