Team Preview: Goodfellas

Goodfellas:

Last Year: 4-1, East Division Champs, L to Goon Squad in Semi-final, 1-0 F/7

Additions: Josh Stuart

Losses: Ernie Scoma, Brian Stanzione, Mike Mazzochi

Schedule:

11:00am  bye

12:15     Waffle Stompers

1:30        Goon Squad

2:45        Mandingos

What’s New: The Goodfellas held their roster mostly in-tact over the offseason up until the final week. They lost Brian Stanzione and Mike Mazzochi, who were arrested trying to drive a Shamrock Meats truck full of stolen prosciutto through the Holland Tunnel. They will thus, be unavailable for WP10 as the investigation is active. They did downsize the lineup, meaning they’ll only need 1 flex spot this year, allowing for the heavy hitters to get more at-bats. Having produced the last 2, and 3 of the last 4 tournament Cy Young winners, and scoring 10+ runs 3 times, and 20+ twice last year, the Goodfellas are more than balanced all the way around.

Hitting: The offensive blitzkrieg put out by the Goodfellas last year was previously unseen in tournament history, yet they were outscored by just 1 run for the record by the Belgian Wiffles, who in fairness did get to play one game more than the Goodfellas. But their bats were silenced in the playoffs once again by the Goon Squad, as they were held to just 3 hits over 7 innings. Call it bad timing, call it inconsistency, call it whatever you want, but this team needs to find a way to move runners and score runs without always hitting the long ball. It’s been literally the only criticism of their offense over the last couple years, and possibly the only thing that’s separated them from glory as well.

Pitching: Rocco Lombardo has been managing this squad the last 3 years, and over the last couple, it doesn’t seem to matter who he throws on the mound it always seems to find a way to work out. Allen Rivera won the Cy Young in 2014, then Mike Tedesco, who had virtually no previous pitching experience, wins the Cy Young out of nowhere last year. They have some depth behind their two front-line starters as well, as Lombardo and Justin Geri have previous experience in Wifflepalooza on the mound. If Lombardo can successfully manage his pitchers’ innings throughout the day, expect the Goodfellas to be in good shape come playoff time.

Prediction: They’ve been arguably the best team on paper the last 2 years, and it looks like they could be that again. It’s all going to come down to matchups in the playoff game. The last two years, they’ve lost in extras to the Goon Squad. Both heartbreaking defeats, both big upsets. Third time’s a charm? Predicted win total: 2-3, playoffs probable.