Category: Recaps

2021 – Week 3 Recap

We’ve been switching our recaps to the form of video – if you haven’t caught any of the previous ones check out our IGTV channel. However, for this week our Insider decided to go on a vacation and you’re stuck having to read about what happened. So sit back, relax, grab your favourite flavour of Ovaltine and let’s catch up on the week that just passed.

So some preamble before we get into the games – this week concludes our first past through a round robin. Every team saw each other once, and because there were 6 games, each team saw at least one other one twice – Falcons v Eagles, Owls v Wolves, and Tigers v Lions were the repeat games. So we now know a little bit about each team, what they bring, what their strengths are, and where they need some help. At this point in the season everyone can now go home without the worry that their muscle soreness the next day will prevent them from beckoning for their morning cup of coffee (or chai – I don’t know what you drink). That means, this week that just passed might have been the first time we actually saw what the potential of the players on the field could be. However, playoffs will always be the true test. Ok, enough pre-amble let’s get to the main course.

Game 1: Wolves 10 @ Falcons 15

This game featured teams that haven’t played yet, we had Abbas Allidina pitching against Miqdad Jaffer – Abbas being picked 1 spot before Miqdad in the draft. For the Wolves they were without the league’s batting leader in Raza Jafary and captain/human cheer squad in Imran Virji.

The Falcons were actually short handed and playing with 9 players. Though if you watched this game you wouldn’t really know they were short. The Falcons took an early lead 4-1 after the first inning and kept the pressure on for the first 4 innings scoring either 4 or 3 runs in each inning. The Wolves started to get rolling in the 6th inning scoring 5 runs with no outs, but the mercy inning squashed their momentum and they could never really mount a reasonable challenge for the Falcons.

Standouts in this game for the Falcons were the captain and his trusty assistant – both Ali R(e/a)zas were in top form going 4 for 5, combining for 8 hits and 7 runs scored. Ali Raza Nasser dedicated this game to Riaz Champsi, who was somewhere on a golf course scoring an 8 of his own (that’s not good). Even more impressive in this game was that every single Falcon recorded at least 1 hit, imagine what they can do with a full squad.

For the Wolves this might have been the first game Aadil Jaffer looked a little like his old self – maybe this trade for his brother Irfaan was all he needed to feel normal again. As for that aforementioned pitching matchup, Abbas Allidina clearly took home the win on this one – showing he was the right pick all along.

Game 2: Tigers 9 @ Lions 8

The Lions had this game circled as they were looking to avenge a 1 run loss to the Tigers previously. As you can tell from the score, it was a strong case of deja vu. The Tigers took an early lead but then were held off by the impressive defensive presence of the Lions. The Lions did get an 8-4 lead after 3 innings, but it seems like they wasted all of their energy building the lead, but couldn’t hold it. And that’s really the important part anyone can take the lead, but it’s the holding that really matters – kinda like reservations (If you don’t get that reference, I’m sorry this is just not going to be the article for you – stop reading, go watch Seinfeld and come back when you have a thorough education on the 1990s).

The Tigers seem like they’re tinkering with their lineups as they continue to tinker to find out what works for them – Azad Najfi leading off was the change in this one and it must have messed with “Super Rookie” Ali Zia because he went 0 for 3, but his brother Noor seemed to have picked him up almost hitting for the cycle in this one – just missing that elusive homerun. But if you’re looking for homeruns, look no further than the Lions Abbasali Kermalli – he’s hitting at least one a game and these are no doubters on any field.

The Lions seem to be coming together as a team, and really doing a good job of laying out their defence. Mohamed “Biggs” Walli seems to be finding his groove with pitching and though he hasn’t broken through on the offensive side of the ball – his captain maintains that he’s just knocking on that door and ready to break it down.

Game 3: Eagles 8 @ OWLS 7

Shorthanded the Eagles reached out for a waitlist player to bring their total roster to 9. Meanwhile the Owls almost had a full squad at 11 players – their only missing player, Tanveer Husnani, was on the golf course with Riaz probably shooting an 8 of his own. Unfortunately, the 8 was what the Owls needed to stay in this one and just fell short of that mark.

This team did feature an impressive pitching matchup in Hussein Allidina and Mikael Ratansi – both let in an equal 5 ERs, had 1 K each, but it was Mikael Ratansi’s 3 walks that were the biggest differential between these two. Imran Nasser, Sarfaraz Karmali, and Arif Jaffer carried the offensive load for the Eagles accounting for 7 of the team’s 8 RBIs. Wait read that back. Arif Jaffer was on that list – obviously showing some growth he was brought in as someone that could make the team better through some quad stretches, his offensive form is coming along and he even got an XBH to add to his stat totals.

Meanwhile on the Owls nobody really got going. Aqil Najafi new to the squad did his best to prove his captain’s correct in trading for him accounting for 2 of the team’s 6 RBIs, but certainly not enough for a team that seemed to go pretty quiet on the bats. Ironically, they had more hits than the Eagles but the Eagles were just more timely with theirs.

Game 4: LIONS 11 @ WOLVES 11

A tie, more of these this year than expected and the Wolves seem to be involved each time. So maybe this is a sign of them not being able to close. In the earlier tie against the Tigers it was a comeback, in this tie with the Lions it was a loss of the lead and then a mini recovery that didn’t make it all the way back. So let’s talk about the Lions first they had a slow start to contrast with their fast start in the previous game, and instead they seemed to be getting going at the end.

Their outfield defence is looking stellar and their infield defence comes across as a Hajj exhibition. I know we’re in the month of Zilhajj but Abbasali Kermalli doing his best impression of running between the mountains of Safa (3rd) and Marwa (Home) to try and cover the plate is a hilarious sight to behold. Maybe that’s why they made the trade for Minaz Noormhamed, because if is an event that was going to take place every week I think teams would start to exploit it for a few extra bases.

Almost everyone on the Lions got a hit in this one, and they exploited the Wolves outfield (not named Aadil Jaffer) as there were a lot of XBHs to be had. Most notably was an Abbasali Kermalli HR that is still probably in the air somewhere, which later resulted in a decision to walk him to face Sasha Al-Joundi a decision nobody of sane mind would ever make. Couple that with triples from Arif Hirji and Muzammil Jaffer – both of whom are probably still sore from having to run so far so quickly – were big contributors to some of the big innings the Lions put up.

For the Wolves the big stories here are the play of Aadil Jaffer who kept on hitting, and Shahid Rahemtulla that batted a perfect 3 for 3 and kept the team rally’s going. Ultimately this one ends in a tie and both team’s seem happy with the result – Lions are happy they came back, and Wolves feel like they figured out who they are. Ultimately – a tie isn’t a win, so this one doesn’t really do anything for anyone.

Game 5: Eagles 9 @ Falcons 1

These last two games are a bit of a head scratcher – just for the simple question of – how do you only score 1 run in slow pitch softball. For the Falcons the way they scored 1 run was 8 hits and a double by Abbas Fazal, which was ultimately scored because of a single from Ali Raza Nasser. The latter of which got called out for not generating enough RBIs – he responds by generating 100% of the team’s RBIs – and without knowing the score that’s actually an impressive stat – but because we do know the score we also know that the Eagles’ Umair Ali generated 6X the RBIs of the Falcons.

The Eagles had a star performance pitching wise from Hussein Allidina throwing only 6 balls in this whole game. For those that know Hussein know that during playoffs 6 balls are usually the first 6 pitches he throws just to announce his appearance. This however, was a masterclass in shutting down a team. Eagles played a great game – Taleb Zaidi showing supreme patience taking 3 walks and filling in at SS for the absent Ali Manek. Umair Ali hitting everything in sight and scoring runs – but he’s able to get those RBIs because the Eagles Shaan Shamji continues his tear and goes 4 for 4.

The nice thing about Shaan is that if he ends up on base, his speed makes it so that even a dribbler to the pitcher will allow him to score a run. For most players you have to throw one base ahead of them to slow them down, for Shaan you have to stay 2 or 3 bases ahead – this is mind you while he’s nursing an injury – it’s scary to imagine what he can do at full strength. There’s not a lot of redeeming qualities on the Falcons so we’ll just skip that part of the recap and say this was an anomaly that we won’t see again.

Game 6: Owls 1 @ Tigers 9

Now I said we we won’t see again, but the Owls decided to show that scoring 1 run in a game is not an anomaly and something they would be able to replicate. So how did the Owls score their 1 run – looks like the strategy is the same – 8 hits, and a double from Maysum Jaffer that allowed the run to score. This one is odd because there were certainly base runners for the Owls – with 5 walks issued – but they just weren’t able to do anything after that first inning.

The Tigers meanwhile did everything they could to help – they even let Ali Zia pitch – but even he couldn’t be touched. Nothing the Tigers do goes wrong and they’re a scary team. Also who is Indi Campbell – casually goes 2 for 3, with a triple and 3 RBIs. Now while Ali Zia still hit a homerun and got an equivalent 3 RBIs, he’s actually had an off week. Looking up and down this Tigers roster, nothing they did was that scary – maybe it was the Zia family’s sherbet that gave them that extra lift because they were relentless early, they seemed to relax after the 3rd inning but by then the game was already out of hand.

As we head to moving day, the Tigers with these two wins this week have almost locked down 1st place. they’ll have the chance to play the Lions again who always seem to fall short, and they will face the Eagles who are looking to prove the impact they can make – but the Eagles will be without Imran Nasser, so we’ll see how much of an impact he really has on the team. Regardless next week should be exciting.

That’s it. That’s our recap – check out the previews this Friday at 9:30 PM on IGTV as we go back to video. But let us know in the comments what you thought – agree, disagree, let’s hear what you think 👇🏽

2021 Draft Recap

So first and foremost, welcome back! It’s been a long time since we’ve had a season and with the way that COVID was going it was hard to tell if we were going to have one at all. However, by the grace of the Almighty, we’re set to start 2021. We’re a little bit more rushed than we’d like to be, but all things point to us starting our first games next Sunday.

But first, let’s see how each team did and let’s give you a potential preseason rank of where we think they’ll all finish.

Starting with 6th place.

Okay – so none of these teams made it easy to pick who would finish where (truthfully speaking there’s a lot of parity), but someone had to finish in last. With their assistant captain selection of Aadil Jaffer, and their first round pick of Miqdad Jaffer – it only makes sense that it’s the Wolves. Both players are a reach. Aadil while accomplished in his own right should not have been picked before any of the other assistants, and while our returning commissioner is good in his own right, he’s a shell of his former self – word is we can expect a batting average closer to what happened in the 2020 tournaments he played in (1 for 20 😐).

Meanwhile, this roster is gamble after gamble – will Irfahn Khimji play? Is Aqil Najafi even available? Who even is Zain Tharia – we heard he can play squash but will that translate to anything good on the softball field? However, the thing this team has going for it is championship pedigree. Captain Imran Virji knows how to win – let’s see if he can do it with a completely different group than we’re used to seeing wearing the Wolves colours.

Which takes us to 5th place

I will say that I think this captain core is second to none. The Zia brothers will be a force to be reckoned with, that much is sure. However, 4 of their last 5 rounds are players that are going to need a little bit of practice on the bats. They took a few flyers on unknown players – notably Indi Campbell, best friend of the captain – this is a pure wildcard as nobody knows what to expect. Arif Jaffer – who we’re told will bring some philosophy to this team, and Shabbar Dewji who is getting his first chance to play in a full time capacity. We’ll see how the regular reps of a shortened season will translate into development for the playoffs.

Now the other part of this roster, we can’t really say much – Hisham Ali is an all around talent, and comes with a medical degree to help cure whatever ails this team. Shane Worthington and Ray Noormohamed bring with them power off the bat that will surprise a lot of teams and the Hussain Habib, Hussein Champsi combination will make for a formidable outfield presence. This team waited until round 7 to grab their pitcher – Azad Najfi, and he could prove to be a steal of a pick if he can get on a streak. At this point though we’re splitting hairs.

Now on to 4th place

 

Look, I’m as surprised as anyone that the Owls are here. Draft night showed up, and captain Minhal Jaffer called an audible and told Mikael Ratansi that he was on his own to draft the team. He’s lucky he chose Mikky for the job because never has another captain been so creative with their use of timeouts and google searches. When in doubt, go with speed, athleticism, and youth. This team did well for themselves, there aren’t many weaknesses in this roster to exploit. They have a few players that are 1/1A or 2nd best at their position in Minhal, Mikael, and Maysum – and then they have a group of guys that will just get along and play hard. Bobby, Tan, and Mehdi-Hassan will likely end up in the outfield with Maysum and all bring a streaky bat to the mix.

We don’t know what Irfaan Jaffer’s health looks like but he’s a solid glove at 1B and his bat has been getting better and better each year. Danial Ali and Ali Kanani both got some time in 2019 with the Bucks, and had respectable first year campaigns. We’ll see how the off-season(s) have treated their development. Arif Gulamhusein makes his return to JMS and we’re excited to see how he can keep the mood light for this squad. Then finally the unknowns – Talib Shivraj, no idea – without a combine this year we’re working off of just rumours and we have none to work with for Talib. Muhammad Ali meanwhile pitched during Al-Wahda and got a taste for the sport then that carried him over to the Salaam Cup, so he’s gotten a feel for the game, we’ll see how it translates in a new environment. The biggest thing going against this team is the monicker of the Owls – they’ve never been successful, and I mean ever. Will 2021 be the year for change?

Now the top 3

So newcomer Sasha Al-Joundi is no joke, he’s a player through and through, and will definitely raise the bar for talent in this league. Maybe his own overconfidence got the better of him when he went out to pick his assistant captain – Abbasali Kermalli. I mean no knock to AK, he’s been putting in work and can hit the ball a ton, but you can do better with your number 2. That aside, this team drafted with a lot of…wisdom. They went out and got Mahmood Kara as their shortstop and Mahmood is a force, but he hasn’t played Shortstop since 2016 with the Tigers. Not sure how this is going to translate, but time will tell. There’s a lot of friends on this team, so we think the chemistry will be high to start – Altaf, Arif Hirji, and Jaffer Kermalli are all great team guys and will fit into any system. Salim Chagani and Muzzamil Jaffer are basically the same player – good outfielder, streaky bat, potential power.

This team took a newcomer in Azam Khan – and while we know less than nothing about him, we’ve started to hear some talk that this could have been a great pickup. This can also be said of Tahir Khorasanee who I think most team’s just forgot about, expect him to be very good. However, in order to make sure that this team dropped its average age, they went out and grabbed Mohammed Walli and Ali Walji – while Biggs shows nothing but heart, we don’t know much about what Ali Walji will bring to the table, he’s played with us once upon a time in Ramadhan, but it’s been a long time since those days.

Only two left

We know that our IG live announcers were swooning over this team, but they’re unfortunately not going to be our pick for who finishes first. Captain Ali-Reza Merali has proven over the years that he knows how to draft a team. His assistant captain Ali Raza Nasser has had similar success, so it’s serendipitous that these two get paired together. They take a pair of Abbas’s with their first picks Allidina who gives you a great pitcher and an even better bat, and Fazal who gives you athleticism and the legs to turn a double into a home run. Hatim Bootwala who showed up well in the exhibition games in 2020 will surprise a lot of people. A pair of Panjus in Hassanain and Hasan – where one gives you power, calm, and a solid glove at 3B, and the other gives you height? Then somehow Daanish Jaffer gets overlooked every single year, maybe it’s just his quiet demeanour but check out his batting averages over the years, he is consistently good and they’re all line drives.

Minaz Noormohamed, Abbas Mohamedali, and Munir Nasser shore up their C, 1B, 2B positions and each of them is capable of getting streaky on the bats, with the added bonus of Min being a lefty. Which leads us to MoMo who is clearly ready to sprint into action this year. He’s got his football spikes ready, and we think he might make an even bigger impression in 2021.

But as good as this team looks, there is 1 team that is better

This team starts out in our #1 spot. Captain Ali Manek did well for himself, he probably let his assistant captain Imran Nasser drive but this big 3 is scary. What does the defence do when faced with Umair Ali and the two captains in the batting lineup. It’s hard to imagine a situation where that doesn’t turn into 3 runs. They pick up two great pitchers in Hussein Allidina and Riaz Champsi that double as outfielders with great gloves. They pick up Shane Nasser who has the power to put it out at any field, and the hits keep coming. Sarfaraz Karmali, Nabeel Naqvi bring utility players that can flexibly move around the diamond, and even a late grab of Azmatali Mehrali gives them a 3rd pitcher in case Hussein and Riaz are needed in the outfield.

Now they’re not without some unknowns, Shaan Shamji played as a reserve with the Lions in 2019, showed that he’s the fastest player in the league, but hasn’t really had a chance for some consistent play. Taleb Zaidi we’re not sure what to expect, and all we know from Shanu Khimji is that he plays volleyball, so he’s probably an athlete – unless he played with Imran Nasser, then maybe he’s one of those players that knows how to get out of the way really well?

Needless to say, this team will be scary to play against. So now while all the teams look good on paper – there’s a reason we play the games. We’re very excited you all joined us for another season of JMS, and look forward to see how the stories unfold on the field.

Good luck to everyone!

2018 – Week 9 – Reviews

Wolves

The Wolves came into Friday night with an outside shot at not finishing in 6th place and needed a lot of help plus two victories to make that happen. The Owls really just tore up Mikael Ratansi for 16 Earned Runs on 26 hits. As has been the case all season, Mikael Ratansi had a good game with the bat while struggling on the mound but it wasn’t enough as his 2-4 hitting was only good to give him this season’s triple championship with the most triples this season. The Wolves lost their first game 21-7 solidifying themselves as the 6th place team. Although many considered them still the team to beat, though they will have an uphill battle to climb in their quarter final game against the Tigers. However, just as we are about to write off the Wolves, they finished the season against the Bucks who had a lot to gain with a victory as they are gunning for 1st place. In their final game, massively shorthanded and on a much bigger diamond at Bayview, the Wolves pulled off one of the biggest upsets in JMS this season winning the game 9-7. Ali Merali led the way going 3-4 with 2 RBIs in this one as every single member of the team got a hit. Don’t look now but the Wolves have always peaked in the playoffs and a 1st round matchup against the streaky Tigers could be an upset waiting to happen.

Owls

The Owls also needed 2 victories and some help to solidify 3rd place and got the ball rolling quickly on Friday night as they hammered the Wolves 21-7. The team had a total of 47 at-bats and made them count. Every player on the team had a multi-hit game – the first time that has happened this season. Leading the charge was Abbas Fazal who was player of the game going 4-7 with a home run and 4 RBIs with his best performance of the season. The stellar play has Abbas finishing the season 4th in the league in hits tied with Batting Champion Damien Ramnauth with 24 hits. Needing a victory for a chance at 3rd place, the Owls faced off against the scary Tigers team and with starting pitcher Asad Nasser unable to play due to early morning game traditions, the Owls were forced to have Kumail Meghani pitch. He gave up 11 Earned Runs in this one and wasn’t able to get the bat going against an elite defence going 1-4. The Owls lost 16-12 and would eventually finish 5th place in the standings setting up a matchup against the Eagles in by far the most evenly matched up playoff quarter-final on the books. Irfahn Khimji and Shane Nasser are the two x-factors going into the playoffs – both have been playing exceptionally well and raking in the RBIs and Hits but can they keep it up under playoff pressure.

Bucks

To un-seed the Lions in 1st place, all the Bucks needed to do was beat a shorthanded Wolves team and then win 1 of 2 against an underwhelming Eagles squad. 2 victories was the ticket to first place for the team who has been in 1st place for most of the season. However, the Wolves were playing spoiler and they surprised the Bucks with a 9-7 victory. The game saw the emergence of Nadir Virjee and Aman Nasser who both went 2-2 with an RBI each. Sunday, the Bucks had to win both games against the Eagles and they went into the bottom of the 7th inning with a very comfortable 8-0 lead before the Eagles stormed back but it wasn’t enough as the Bucks held on for the important 8-7 victory and solidifying themselves at 2nd place. Brothers and co-captains Ali Raza Nasser and Imran Nasser led the way for the Bucks both picking up 2 hits and 2 RBIs and a home run each but they needed one more victory to finish 1st. The Bucks were unable to keep the Eagles at bay in game two and lost their chance at 1st place as they lost 13-8. While most of the Bucks had slowed down in game 2, Minhal Jaffer didn’t get the memo as he went 3-3 with 2 doubles, a triple, and an RBI. The benefit of finishing 2nd is that they get to face the Falcons in round one, but with Shane Worthington starting to have fun again, and a rested and full lineup, the Falcons are going into the playoffs as the only team with nothing to lose which is a dangerous matchup for the Bucks who might already be overlooking their quarterfinal matchup and thinking about the expected Semi-Final matchup against the Tigers.

Eagles

The Eagles had a shot at 2nd place and got the help they needed from the Wolves with their victory against the Bucks. To finished 2nd, they needed two wins against one of the strongest teams in the league and for 6 innings, the Bucks had the Eagles starstruck. With no runs in, it wasn’t until the 7th and final inning that the Eagles finally clawed back and put up 7 runs in the final inning. For the 2nd time in the last two weeks, the Eagles had a massive base-running error end the game prematurely. Both instances, the Eagles were caught leading off; in this case, with Ray Noormohamed swinging and missing and Hussain Habib leading off to end the game. The game ended on that play but it was 6 innings of quiet bats, most notably Ali Manek who was obviously trying to win his 2nd home run title and went 1-4 with a series of fly-outs. He picked it up in game 2 but fell just one hit shy of a batting title despite going 4-8 on the day with a grand slam home run and 5 RBIs. It’s likely that Manek will finish both the MVP race and Batting Title race where he should have been drafted, where we predicted he would finish before the season started and lastly, also remaining consistent with his election results: Number 2! Game 2 was the Bucks chance at 1st place and the Eagles aiming for home field for the 1st round of the playoffs. The Eagles took the game 13-8 in a come from behind victory where Sebastian Gianino may have lost his pitching award to counterpart Hussein Allidina. Hussein Allidina finished the season pitching another gem of a game and is at the top of most pitching stats. Among pitchers with 40 innings pitched, he is second in wins, innings pitched, ground ball and fly ball outs, as well as earned runs. He is first in strikeouts (30), Earned Run Average (5.85), shutouts, and WHIP possibly just enough to earn him the JMS Pitcher of the Year Award. If he gets it, hopefully he doesn’t break it on his way home the way he did his brother’s (Abbas Allidina) in 2016 The Eagles will take on the Owls in round one and as was the case in 2016, Abbasali Kermalli came out swinging in his last game of the season for what the Eagles are hoping was his coming out party. Abbas launched his first home run of the season against Sebastian Gianino who had only given up 1 home run all season. He also legged out a triple against the Bucks sending warning messages to the Owls that he is back and is ready to lead the Eagles.

Tigers

Coming into the day in 4th place, 2 victories were needed to propel ahead of the Eagles into 3rd place and set up a matchup against the Wolves in the first round. And they did exactly that with a 16-run, 19-hit performance against the Owls for a 16-12 victory. The win was done so in dramatic fashion as the Umair Ali and Mahmood Kara each hitting two home runs against 2nd string pitcher Kumail Meghani. It was Umair’s best game of the season and likely his career as the heavy hitting captain dominated on both ends of the field. Umair went 4-4 with 3 RBIs and 2 homers. The Tigers really are the team to beat going into the playoffs as they have been getting contributions from everyone. Maysum Jaffer was 4-6 on the day, Mahmood Kara ended the day with 3 home runs for the player of the week honours, and Nabeel Naqvi is quickly becoming a household name going 5-7 with 5 RBIs on the day. Game 2 saw the Tigers face off against the struggling Falcons but gave them some life as the Falcons put up 7 runs in the final two innings but lost 12-7. The two wins put the Tigers in 2nd place and their matchup against the Wolves comes as news trickled down about Imran Virji not being available. The worry is that maybe the Tigers will take this game too lightly and we won’t match the championship pedigree that the Wolves will bring to the table.

Falcons

Everybody wants to write off the Falcons except the Falcons. They were on the losing end again, however, put up a strong fight against the hottest team in the league. This time they scored 7 runs led by a resurgent captain Shane Worthington who is hitting the ball a lot harder. He had a massive 3 run triple to account for nearly half the teams runs. Riaz Champsi and Aadil Jaffer also got in on the action going a combined 4-7 with 3 RBIs and the Falcons seem to finally be hitting their stride at the same time. Imtiyaz Kara also picked up an RBI as he seemed to be regaining his familiarity at shortstop this week making a series of solid defensive plays. The Falcons match up well against a Bucks team who have the exact same record as the Falcons in their last 5 games (1-4). Keeping in mind that the Falcons have played the majority of their games without a full team and without key players each week. Safder Jaffer, Raheel Rawjani, Abbas Nasser, Sajid Alimohamed are all in the bottom-10 in at-bats this season. With a full roster expected, the Falcons are the one team with the most to prove; expect to see the Falcons come out and play their best game of the season.