September 21st, 2019
The Whipsnakes made history by becoming the first ever PLL team to be crowned champions of the league. In a star studded battle against the scrappy underdog Redwoods, the league MVP, Matt Rambo, scored the games last two goals to force overtime and ultimately put his team on top. Like I have referenced in my previous blog post, the PLL is made up of the best lacrosse players in the world, many of which came from the MLL making it such a big move in the sport.
October 6th, 2019
The Chesapeake Bayhawks defeat the Denver Outlaws, two historically successful franchises that have been on the rise in the past few years. Denver having been to 5 of the last 6 championship games, winning 3 of those championships in that time span. The Bayhawks being possibly the most storied franchise in league history having won the first ever MLL championship and now having the most championships of any other team since.
Since both leagues seasons have ended and the fans, along with the lacrosse community, have seen what both leagues have to offer from a professional team standpoint. People have expressed their opinions across social media as to what league they prefer and which one will "win" and how long the other one will survive until bankruptcy. I believe and have subscribed to the opinion of what legendary pro face-off midfielder, Greg Gurenlian said on an interview for Lax Sports Network. He hopes both leagues have success as far as viewers and team success from a money standpoint. He once stated that it would not only give more players a chance to play at the professional level and for new stars to emerge. In addition to that, it would give fans more lacrosse to watch and be a great opportunity for the sport to reach a wider audience. Basically saying that the more lacrosse that is put out for fans to consume the better it is for the sport as a whole. As far as I've seen this has held true throughout the summer. Ever since the end of the college season in late May, fans like myself have had multiple games to watch every weekend since then. With the booming entry of PLL, that league alone has brought more eyes to the sport with its TV deal with the NBC networks.
Now with time for reporters and numerous amounts of players alone with analysts to think and reflect on the duration of both seasons. Fans have requested an interesting idea. A highly talented sophmore attack man, Chase Scanlan, who has just transferred to Syracuse University, tweeted the following just a few weeks after the MLL championship spurring this great debate...
This really got people talking and is something that we most likely will never see but like any great sports debate is fun to endlessly talk of all of the possible outcomes.
The amount of storylines that would be applicable in this matchup is unreal. On the Whipsnakes you have the PLL MVP in Matt Rambo while on the other side of the field would be MLL MVP and arguably the best player in the world in Lyle Thompson. The tough and great attack line of the Bayhawks that would go up against the big burly Whipsnakes defense is a matchup that has fans backing this proposal.
Details and Ideas can be found on the Lax Sports Network interview regarding the topic: https://www.ftfnext.com/videos/whipsnakes-vs-bayhawks-who-would-win-evan-washburn-gives-his-take
The aspect about this game that I would like the most however would be the players relationships in having been on the same teams in recent years. Ever since the addition of the new league a lot of star players that were on MLL teams are now gone and the battle against each other is something that I believe would be the motivating factor for some. One thing that I have been assuming is that the PLL would rank over the MLL as far as talent and skill in the broad spectrum. This may be just an affect of more content being put out by the PLL but in nearly every aspect I see the PLL as being the 1 seed over the MLL. And if the two champs were to play and the Bayhawks won, I can only imagine the uproar that would occur not only between the players online and in person but also between each leagues head office and the advertising that would spur from being "the best lacrosse league in the world" or "our league has the better talent".
While we might not get a chance to witness what I believe would be the greatest and most hyped lacrosse game of all time, we can only imagine and continue to debate what would happen and how it would affect both leagues going forward. Would it hurt or help the possibility of the two leagues merging in the future? How would the leagues change going forward depending on which team won? Would it be viewed as a game of friendly competition or an all out battle to decide which league rains superior? We may just have to wait and see.
Decide for yourself, watch each championship games highlights:
Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dPViXMjliA (PLL)
and Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sotcOOMtCgo (MLL)