The season has started, and Week 1 did not fail to disappoint. Also, the Raptors did not fail to disappoint, and we apologize in advance for any mistakes we make in this article because we’re still delirious from Thursday. So pause your 15^th rewatching of the highlights, and find out where your team ranks this week! For this rendition, we’re going to ignore the rankings from the previous article which were clearly done without seeing a game played, apparently what’s on paper doesn’t really tell the full story of what’s going to happen on the field – who knew ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Rank	Change	Team	Notes
1	–		The Owls started this season with two close wins, and it must feel nice for Kumail Meghani to have an afternoon game so that the Pitcher of the Week, Asad Nasser shows up on time. Indeed he did show up with 6 strikeouts, but if it wasn’t for the run support provided by Assistant Captain Noor Zia, Muzammil Jaffer, and reserve Abbas Fazal, this would be an entirely different narrative. Speaking of Noor, he’s providing further support to Kumail’s pick of him in the assistant draft, a walk-off 3 run homer is one strong way to announce your presence!
2	_		Captain Umair Ali definitely deserves a shoulder rub from Drake after this week’s performance, as he put the team on his back and drove in half of his team’s 18 runs this week. First overall pick Damien Ramnauth seemed like a shadow of his 2018 self, but he is bound to get on base more and use his speed to get extra base hits. Look for some more consistent hitting next week to lighten the load from Umair.
3	_		The resident seniors team surprised a lot of people this week, even though they didn’t get a win. Abbasali Kermali showed up rearing to go against the Bucks, but he slowed down significantly against the Lions. The main question for them this year is whether or not they will have enough energy to play at a high level, as their age may give them the experience and know-how to win, but their knees and lack of cardio can stop them from getting results. Altaf Champsi did a great job of playing with a chip on his shoulder, disappointed about his draft stock, he pitched two games where he only allowed 6 runs in each game (and only 9 of them earned). Eventually the offence will pick up, but if the defence holds solid, this team will win a lot of games.
4	_		The commissioner-led Lions place 4th in this week’s rankings even though they are first in the actual standings. How can that be, you ask? Mainly to show that Miqdad doesn’t write these articles and whoever does is either completely objective or has no clue what they’re saying. The Lions got runs in every inning they played in except two, and they seem to have a roster filled with players who can get on base. However, the team is bound to cool off after such a start, and that is what we are expecting to happen in the near future.
5	_		The Wolves seem to enjoy scoring in bunches, as they put 6 no run innings and 6 innings in which they scored. In a league like this, you aren’t going to win many games if this pattern continues, and the team as a whole have to be able to string hits together consistently. On the bright side, Minhal Jaffer showed glimpses of his former self going deep in multiple ABs. However, the down side is that Imran Virji suffered a broken hand in game 1, he’s going to be out for 4-6 weeks as the team will struggle to discover a new identity without their captain.
6	–		As the defending champions, the Bucks have a lot to lose coming into this season, and lose they did, to the Lions. They were missing pivotal outfielder and leadoff hitter Maysum Jaffer for the first game as the snooze button was just too alluring for him to give up on. To his credit he showed up for the second game but the Bucks still couldn’t get a win as they end on a tie with the Tigers. Nadim Rahemtulla is showing that he has what it takes to be a top tier player in this league, but the role players have to step up and provide some support. That was always going to be a question mark for this team, and if they can’t get the bottom half to string some hits together, they will lose their crown.
7	–		Going into the season, this team led by notoriously loud Ali Manek and the soft-spoken yet great leader Asad Hussain was poised to be the team to beat. This yin-yang partnership seems to be working… for now. Although they have regular practices and an active WhatsApp group, Ali seems to be focussed more on hosting Raptors watch parties instead of winning ball games. Now with the series over, Ali can finally shift his focus onto his team, and hopefully win some games.