What’s Wrong with Houston?
The SaberCats do not have a bad roster. It’s easy to say it’s still early. But two consecutive blowout shut outs have Houston reeling. How does a franchise with a history of winning its opener before falling apart put the pieces back together?
We’re three weeks in. There’s 13 left to go. But does anyone think this team is close? In the second half against Austin, I was hoping they’d just muster a penalty goal to leave with something.
The harsh reality is that this is pretty much on brand. If they keep this up into the summer, does it make sense to consider trading Sam Windsor? He’s been in MLR since the start. He’s openly mused about earning Eagles caps (eligible for the first time this year). Is wasting away the rest of his career in Houston the best way to get Gary Gold’s attention?
Salary cap realities may make that impossible, but a couple destinations come to mind. DC desperately needs a ten. San Diego could use him and push Joe Pietersen back to 15.
I have no idea if a move will happen. The Nick Boyer acquisition could spark the back line. In reality, I’m not optimistic. Would this team be less competitive without Windsor? At least whatever assets they’d get in return could fuel a rebuild.
Toronto is Back
It was inevitable. This Arrows side has been the best in the East since joining the comp. We saw signs of life at the end of their Round 2 loss, but they had a coming out party on Saturday.
This could be an interesting story to tuck away. Toronto wasn’t fantastic the first two weeks while waiting for players to arrive/get clicking. How will working through it on the pitch compare to other teams that have early byes (such as the team below)? Are rough starts best resolved through game time or training time? We’ll have to see.
Only One Winless Team Left
A reminder for the sake of fairness: the Seawolves had a bye. Only two games into the season, we can’t write them off. The bye may well be the thing they needed to get things right. The loss to Houston looks much worse now, but I’m excited to see what this team cooked up in the lab.
This also speaks to the competitiveness of MLR. After a total of 16 games, only one team is winless. I don’t think there will be 9+ teams in playoff contention in the final couple rounds, but most sides are going to pull enough wins together to keep the race interesting.
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