With the 2017 season fast approaching, and in an effort to add a new feature this year – we’re going to be putting out regular power rankings. There’s a number of gaps in the schedule due to Islamic days and long weekends, so we hope that we can keep this as a regular feature. We’ll keep track of how things change, but for now someone had to finish in 1st and someone had to finish in 6th. Let’s get to the rankings…

Ranking	Change	Team	Notes
1	–		With last year’s MVP, a solid outfield to start, and an added known commodity in Abbasali Kermalli, this team already has enough hitting and power to carry a few wins on their own. In respect for the regular season and finals MVP we gotta put these guys at #1.  There’s still a lot of unknowns with this team though – will Sarfaraz Karmali be able to pitch with consistency? Will this team show up to morning games? Will Imran Nasser be able to hit the ball out of the park, or will this be another year of scraps at the dinner table?
2	–		This is the most interesting story this offseason. A team with captains that came in undermatched against their competition. A first overall pick to play with, and a strategy to make trades to get better. They made a flurry of trades, got better as a team, and much more well rounded. They’ve already played in a tournament together, had a few practices, and are well positioned to make an impact. This team has some power in Hussain Habib, Ali Manek, and Hassanein Bhaloo and are pretty solid throughout their defensive rotation. The biggest unknown for them is whether the team chemistry will be strong enough to carry them through.
3	–		Not to be outdone, this team made some trades for some veteran talent and increased mobility. Adding Mohamed Abdalla and Imtiyaz Kara, they’ve shored up on the known talent. That coupled with having Asad Hussain on the roster and this team is automatically one to worry about. This team is going to likely have Riaz Champsi as their pitcher, and while he showed some promise at the position last year, he probably better as a defensive player – so there will be some juggling to be had.
4	–		Team full of atheltes, but no real experience playing the game – that’s what Maysum Jaffer set out to build and that’s why he was happy to be ripped off in the trade for his brother Miqdad Jaffer. The team is basically building the skill set for each player at their specific positions and making sure they understand how to play the game. This team may start out slow, but because of the athletic roster we expect that they’ll catch up. Also this team doesn’t care about any games in the regular season and will be focused on getting ready for the playoffs.
5	–		Draft strategy for this team was a little bit of a head scratcher. They looked like they were trying to build a similar team as last year, while trying to grab some new faces. However, this team stocked up on pitchers, which was the Lions’ strategy last year – they finished 3rd at the end of the year. So maybe the Wolves think they can do it better. Completely silent on the trade market, they beleive they can compete for a championship with who they drafted. We’re not so sure. Beauty of the power rankings is that they’ll get to prove us wrong.
6	–		Someone had to finish in 6th. This year, all the teams are much more competitive, and captain Bobby Bharwani is trying to rebuild what he had last year. That team finished 4th and everyone else has gotten more competitive. While assistant captain Vick Vij is going to be a game changing player – there’s only so much one person can do. They’ve gotten some upgrades, but there’s still a long way to go before we move them up in these rankings.

Agree? Don’t agree? Leave us some comments below and let our panel of one know what you think.