MUD Goes Green

At least, greener than we have in a while. At the end of June we’re ditching the ditches and dust at Inwood for Van Cortlandt’s soft pastures. We’ve got ten games scheduled for East River’s fading, but still green turf. And though we still have to deal with Riverside’s bald façade, we’re welcoming 61 rookies this summer. That’s 43.6% of us. Not since MUD’s first summer, back in 2008 has there been such an influx, and we’re all better for it. But we are wary of Fred Merkel’s famous line: “In summer, you live and die by the rookie.” Mateo’s Tomatoes are the most green with 14 newbs, including seven (all) rookie women.

What’s the rest of the league look like? In addition to the 61 new kids, we’ve got 79 veterans, seven of whom have played 20 or more seasons. 65 of those veterans have been to the finals (82%) and 54 have won (68%)—Trapper Keeper has the most players who have won finals. There are nine players returning who just won finals in Sp16—The Wolf has the most of them. We’ve got 19 Centurions and 11 players with a chance to get 100 wins this season (early predictions are that seven will get there).