BB5 Week 2 Recap

Highlights from the Warehouse

Love Yas vs We Got Ice Game 5

The TikTok Game 

The first of our two 1-0 match-ups brought us a duel between struggling stars and underdogs on the rise. Warehouse hotshots Doyle and Cass had their moments of strife in their opening victories and couldn’t waste time finding their form with so much to play for. A We Got Ice victory would bring them into the one-inning ‘winner’s game’ and an opportunity to pass directly to the semi-finals and guarantee much needed points in the Warehouse Cup. Love Yas meanwhile are praying for a set of results that along with a treasured BB5 victory would see them lift the Cup. 

Key Contest

Dalton vs Zollop: Both these teams for most of their Warehouse histories have formed similar duos with Feely and Zo filling the role of loveable sidekicks lacking the Blitzballing prowess of their partners. But whilst Jack Doyle has been wowing us with his circus act pitching and Nicky Cass has been swaggering around with his impressive athleticism and loud mouth, their cohorts have been grinding. Zo’s rise from YouTube-comment punching bag has been well celebrated and likewise Dalton’s in 2024 have some calling it the Year of Dalton. 

But these successful moments have been stuck up on the fridge like a child’s finger painting, always earnestly cherished but never considered on the same level as the adults like Plouffe, Doyle, and Stoner. Here as they continue to pick up their more famous teammates these plucky underdogs are proving it to be no mere fluke or “Zoment.” 

Pressure Cooker

The pressure was on We Got Ice all game before flipping onto Love Yas late, but let’s zoom in on the first inning. After a decidedly mixed first game, Doyle came out somewhat shaky but still managed to snag two outs from the first three batters and had a chance at a scoreless first inning and a huge step towards regaining his groove. The speed limit caused him problems and his accuracy waned, however, and as he tried to find the zone he delivered some juicy pitches that Dalton and Nicky struck for a double and a single on the way to a 2-0 lead. Even one of the most bulls*** pitches in Warehouse history wasn’t enough to get it done.

Two beautiful pitches, one a pinpoint two-seam nicking the outside pipe and the next a riser coming up from his ankles to evade Nicky’s bat, looked to bring him back from the brink with an 0-2 count. Next a knuckledrop both breached the speed limit and failed to threaten the zone before a pitch skewed all the way past the bat rack behind Cass. 2-2. Next an inside pitch that never looked like coming back. 3-2. With no control of his bag of tricks, Doyle went back to the fastball which was on target but didn’t run enough to jam Nicky and saw him squeeze a well-struck homer to mercy the inning. 

Headscratcher

What is going on with Jack and Nicky? These are former Cy Young winners and both are toiling to find their rhythm on the mound this season. Jack is still struggling with his speed, and that battle has wreaked havoc with his accuracy. We’ve never seen Jack Doyle like this, a dejected figure with desperate eyes searching his soul for answers and even pleading for the help of Moylan mid-game. Nicky meanwhile has a simple issue with locating his fastballs. Cass has always been a two-pitch pitcher relying on accuracy and vicious movement to strike out batters with his quick pitching antics keeping opponents off balance. But, like Doyle, he can’t find the zone with his fastball without leaving it middle-middle which forced him to rely on just his breaking ball. The big question is what version of these prolific pitchers we will see in the playoffs, as surely neither team can succeed with these problems persisting. 

Honourable mention: Nicky’s understanding of his own vision.

Best Quotes

“Ahhhh I need a coaching visit, come on Dalt get in there” - Moylan after wayward Cass pitching, “What would you tell him?” - Rosey “Throw f***ing strikes” - Moylan

“Come on here we go Jack-... Er… Dalt” - Nicky Cass, seemingly forgetting which team he is on

Player of the Game: Dalton Feely

With Nicky’s struggles on the mound it once again fell on Dalton’s shoulders to get Love Yas over the line as the Year of Dalton rages on. 

Final Score: LOV 9-7 WGI

Forgotten Rotten vs MacFlurry Power Game 6

Three Athletes and a Shelfy

Next up we were treated to a huge match-up of early tournament favourites. MacFlurry Power are both looking to repeat as back-to-back Blitzball Battle champions and leapfrog Hookline Sinkers to lift the inaugural Warehouse Cup. Forgotten Rotten meanwhile have nothing to play for in the Cup but they’ve been reinvigorated by the addition of Shelfy and have put the rest of the league on notice.

Key Contest

Plouffe vs Stoner: Whilst there were factors and variables at play that may have had more of an impact on the result, this heavyweight matchup had such high billing that it is impossible to ignore. Kollin Stone was unhittable in BB4, where his performance is considered to be the pinnacle of Warehouse pitching to date. But there was a man he has never faced: big league Trevor Plouffe. If anyone could hit him, surely the man with his constantly mentioned 106 show homers would be the one. As it turns out, the heralded clash of titans was a somewhat clumsy affair. With Stoner still working to find his flow on the mound this tournament and Trevor not seeing the ball well at the plate we ended up with a stalemate. I’m being particularly harsh on Kollin but I refuse to accept that Stoner at his best would intentionally walk Plouffe. Now we all look forward to their next battle, with even Plouffe expecting to run it back in the final.

Honourable Mention - ‘Humble Trevor’ vs His Ego: Enough said.

Turning Point

Just as we saw in Rotten’s last game against Del Caribe, sometimes in such tight matches it is the Warehouse itself that steps in and has the deciding say in the result. Once again the great steel beast looked favourably on Rotten, as it did when The Devastator earned them their only run in Game 2. This time a ball that in the open air would have been sent to orbit by Kollin Stone struck the roof just short of The Devastator and bounced back the way it came to land foul. 

Pressure Cooker

The entirety of extra innings was a brutal event for batters as the no-walks rule saw all four pitchers letting loose all kinds of wild movement that brought a series of impatient swings-and-misses. Everyone knew one hit would win it and that pressure saw even the revered Plouffe awkwardly throwing the bat towards pitches that had no business drawing a swing.

Best Quotes

“They were free swingers, chicka-chicka-bow-wow” - Rosey

“Free the nipple! Show the nipple!” - Jake

Player of the Game: Shelfy

The man who ended the prolonged extra-innings search for the one vital hit that would decide the game has to be the celebrated player here. But Shelfy didn’t just live off that one moment, he has been consistently productive with both bat and ball through two games and has carried a hit-shy Plouffe through to a 2-0 start. 

Final Score: ROT 1-0 MAC (Extras)

Team Baggage vs Del Caribe Game 7

The Stench of Desperation

Del Caribe might have changed names since that famous moment but the trauma laced into this match-up is still very real. The pain of the past pales in comparison to the situation these two teams are facing, however. Both sitting with zero points in the Warehouse Cup they need to make it through a crowded field to at least the semi-finals of this tournament. A  loss would mean a brutal path of back-to-back knockout contests in the “loser’s match” and the quarter-finals just to avoid the shame of the Skunk Patch. Both teams need this. Let’s play ball. 

Key Contest

Del Caribe vs The Scoreboard: Joez and Lou have always described themselves as a hitting team so to be held hitless by Forgotten Rotten in Game 2 was alarming to say the least. This is not a team to edge out defensive battles; this team has to get runs. The burden of their opening game failure weighed heavy for much of this game before life started to creep into Lou’s bat with a couple of hits setting up the explosion of a 3-run homer.

Honourable Mention - Everyone vs Their Emotions: This one needed post-game therapy sessions.

Turning Point

There were hugely decisive singular moments in this game: Lou escaping from bases loaded and 1 out in the first inning with a clean scoreboard; Cohen’s stunning catch; any of the agonising missed opportunities in the field for Del Caribe. But there was one simple moment very early on that told me more about each team's chances than any other

Jimmy smiled.

This game was an emotional rollercoaster. Del Caribe looked despondent and broken from the start well into the top of the 2nd inning, Lou Dab even seemingly portending the inevitability of their failure with the game still 0-0, before sparking to life. Baggage came out looking free of the shackles of their past anguish and desperation before the late scare by Caribe set their minds racing at the prospect of another catastrophe. But even through the ebbs and flows, my confidence was in Baggage the whole way. And here’s why. Much has been made of Jimmy’s battles with his own psyche but in this moment we saw a man unfettered by mental burdens. We saw confidence. We saw a man who wanted to be right where his two feet were. Hold your breath, Baggage fans… 

Headscratcher(s)

Moylan’s sphincter’s dramatic timing

The parentage of Kelsey’s unborn child

Moment to Forget

The whole first inning for Del Caribe. I don’t just mean that they need to put this inning out of their mind. I mean they literally forgot it. First whilst batting Joez tried to walk out to take the field with only two outs on the board. Then Lou was unsure how many outs he had achieved just moments before. Oh boy.

Honourable Mention: Let’s not even get into the walk-off walk…

Best Quotes

“Great call by us. Wow we're doing a good job up here Rosey.” - Moylan

“You cannot throw a strike to Jimmy O’Brien right now ‘cos he will PISS on it.” - Moylan

“It’s equally as a ball-sweating moment for both of these guys” - Moylan, for the quotable clean sweep

Player of the Game: Jimmy O’Brien

Where has this Jimmy come from? He is a changed man both pitching and hitting, and came into this game with the most productive mindset we’ve seen from him in what feels like an eternity. Greater tests are still to come, but it is hard not to give into the fairytale and smell some magic in the air. Magic that I have repeatedly refused to believe in and still seems impossible when faced with harsh realities and yet… Do I feel it? Just a little? Maybe?

Final Score: CAR 3-4 BAG