Sp16 Centurion Watch

It’s early Spring of 2016 and we’re poised to induct the largest class of Centurions ever in one season. In the Spring of 2013, 9 players became centurions. This season we’ve got 11 eligible.

Whoops! Cancel that. It’s week three now, and, at best, we’ll be one behind the record.* Good night Zukoff and Kramer, and hopefully not, but probably Brooks.

Let’s break it down.

Travis Rothbloom, captain of the finely-drafted MTA and answer to several unpropitious MUD trivia questions, leads our list with 99 wins. He’s in his 14th season and 6th as a captain. One more win with the Transit Authority and he’s first ballot. How about Sunday?

Steven Carpenter has a chance at massive glory. He’s just starting his 10th season (only one of them a losing season), and he’s got 97 wins. If Steve (also with MTA) wins 3 out of the next 12, he’ll be the fastest to 100 in MUD history (154). MTA has 15 games remaining; blow it out of the water, Carpenter.

Kevin Hsu sits at 94 wins. He’s is a namesake of his 14th MUD team, and Wooloohooshoo has 14 games left. Interestingly, even if Woohoo plays the rest of this season at Kevin’s disreputable win percentage, ol’ Baywatch will exactly get to 100 by the season’s end. Considering that he waited 13 seasons for his first finals’ victory, the 21 in-league Centurions believe the candidate is a shoo-in for this season.

Philip Vlahakis is also at 94 wins. His team The Rejects can fill Phil up with 14 games remaining. Vlahakis has used his current captain for 80% of his wins so far. Seems like a pretty good bet he’ll get there in this, his 12th season.

Benjamin Graf plans to walk all the way to 100 wins this spring. At 93, he needs to win the majority of The Chosen One’s remaining 13 games. In his 11th season, Big Ben can still rely on his arm to steer his way to a gold jacket. Some say he’s in a covenant with the Centurions.

Karina Ray has a shot at Steve Carpenter’s glory. Ms. Ray spent her first captaining gig winning finals (last season); perhaps she can lead her sophomore effort with The Chosen Ones to this personal excellence. Ray has 92 wins and needs to win 8 of the next 11 to get there fastest (assuming Carpenter slows way down). Also in her 10th season, Karina has beaten Carpenter once this season and will have a chance to stall him again this Sunday. But she and her co-captain need to quit these 1-1 weekends.

Alex Becker still has a decent shot, but he’s the last of the likelys. He’s at 91 wins with 16 games to play. He and his co-captain need to fire up the BBQ and get cooking this season. Becker’s win percentage is 53%. That won’t cut it for 9 of 16 more games. But the man has been a first round pick in all 12 seasons he’s played. So let’s see it, Alex.

It’s gonna be quite a trick for Kelsey Brooks (87) to pull it off this season, her 14th. She needs her team, Woohoo, to win all but one of its remaining 14 games. The good news is that six of Kelsey’s teammates, including both of her captains, have been on teams that have put together the sort of record Kelsey needs (I Barely Know Her and Toast). The better news is that even if Kelsey gets all her wins, all of the above can still become Centurions.

That’s right the 100 Club are rooting for every team except JAWS this season. But that’s ok, the big shark’s got three big sharks already: their captain, the league founder, and MUD’s own dramatis personae whose also got two finals and one finale under her press badge.

*There’s a small controversy concerning a possible ninth Centurion this season. A separate, participatory post will discuss that individual’s circumstance.