Winning 'B' Nationals means you should have been playing in the 'A' Bracket

[BobInMadison]

Things are different in different parts of the country.
There are only a handful of A teams in Wisconsin. Most of those are in the SE part of the state.
Madison is the second biggest city in Wisconsin, but the A level teams are all at least 75 minutes driving from here. The president of the local LL is AC for a team in Illinois.
Or I can have my DD in a good C team with the coach living a few blocks away. DD gets a ride to practices with HC or AC (a few minutes away by car) and spends the time practicing instead of on the hi way.
DD is almost certainly good enough for an A team, but way too much of a hassle for a 12u player.

 

[CoogansBluff]

With the number of teams and all the different sanctioning organizations that would be impossible. Using records wouldn't be reliable when some teams seek out top competition and others play locally to beat up on weak competition and play in USSSA or some no name local "National" tournament.

I believe it could be done. It would take cooperation from all the associations to make it work well.

I wouldn't use W-L records. I would use game scores. A good computer model can sort out who is playing weak competition and who is not. Teams were computer-rated in North Carolina in 2014, and the rankings were very accurate, IMO. The 16U and 18U was a challenge because so many of those teams play showcases and out-of-state that it's hard tracking results and knowing what they mean. But those age divisions aren't the problems for most of these world series that is being discussed (ie, USSSA, USFA, NSA).

Massey Ratings in North Carolina 2014 -

Massey Ratings - TSB

 

[spleen1015]

I don't know about the original idea in the OP.

How do you classify an A team? My DD's team is one of the better B teams around, but they've never beat an A team. 6-0 is the best score they've had against an A team. We have 2 A level pitchers, but only 2-3 A level batters. The rest can't even hit .300 against B pitching, but we win a lot because of 2 good pitchers. I think we have a chance to win the B World Series because of it.

Are they an A team? I don't think so.

The A teams around here have very dominant pitching and they can hit 1 through 9.

 

[CoogansBluff]

I don't know about the original idea in the OP.

How do you classify an A team? My DD's team is one of the better B teams around, but they've never beat an A team. 6-0 is the best score they've had against an A team. We have 2 A level pitchers, but only 2-3 A level batters. The rest can't even hit .300 against B pitching, but we win a lot because of 2 good pitchers. I think we have a chance to win the B World Series because of it.

Are they an A team? I don't think so.

The A teams around here have very dominant pitching and they can hit 1 through 9.

The scenario you describe doesn't make sense to me. If you can win a 'B' World Series, then you should dominate 'B' level competition in your area. I don't see how a team could dominate its local 'B' competition, yet be dominated by the local 'A' competition.

I can't imagine there being such a clear divide between 'A' and 'B' in an area. If there's 25 teams playing in an area, how does it happen that the difference between #8 and #9 can be all that wide?

 

[JAD]

I don't know about the original idea in the OP.

How do you classify an A team? My DD's team is one of the better B teams around, but they've never beat an A team. 6-0 is the best score they've had against an A team. We have 2 A level pitchers, but only 2-3 A level batters. The rest can't even hit .300 against B pitching, but we win a lot because of 2 good pitchers. I think we have a chance to win the B World Series because of it.

Are they an A team? I don't think so.

The A teams around here have very dominant pitching and they can hit 1 through 9.

There is a "no man's land" in softball between B+ and A-. It is a team that does well vs. B-teams, but gets smacked down by good A-teams. It is a tough transition and the best advice I can offer is to find some better batters next season to make the final push to becoming an A-team.

 

[quincy]

I do not like “A” players pitching in rec., I just do not see how that is fun for anyone.

Besides that I do not care what other Teams do, I have enough of my own problems.

 

[canyonjoe]

If they are really a B team they can't play B Nationals because they are too good?

 

[quincy]

I would also stop playing the LL world series, what does it have to do with a bunch of players getting together and playing anymore? They are all TB players, just go play your TB tournaments.

 

[marriard]

I don't know about the original idea in the OP.

How do you classify an A team? My DD's team is one of the better B teams around, but they've never beat an A team. 6-0 is the best score they've had against an A team. We have 2 A level pitchers, but only 2-3 A level batters. The rest can't even hit .300 against B pitching, but we win a lot because of 2 good pitchers. I think we have a chance to win the B World Series because of it.

Are they an A team? I don't think so.

The A teams around here have very dominant pitching and they can hit 1 through 9.

Yeah you describe your team as the sort of team that SHOULD have chance of winning a B World Series, but you actually have NO chance of winning a B World Series because there will be 6-8 actual A Teams there making sure you don't.

And for all the 'systems' and ranking and whatever people are discussing, all the local directors know exactly who the 'A' teams are. I can name all the local A teams in our age division - and yes, 2 of them are playing 'B' nationals this week (one of them played yesterday - they won 11-0 and 13-2 - the other plays today and I expect will do the same).

It isn't hard to figure it out and frankly if the directors and orgs were willing to do some simple things and enforce them they could have a 'B'' worlds without too much trouble.

 

[CoogansBluff]

Yeah you describe your team as the sort of team that SHOULD have chance of winning a B World Series, but you actually have NO chance of winning a B World Series because there will be 6-8 actual A Teams there making sure you don't.

And for all the 'systems' and ranking and whatever people are discussing, all the local directors know exactly who the 'A' teams are. I can name all the local A teams in our age division - and yes, 2 of them are playing 'B' nationals this week (one of them played yesterday - they won 11-0 and 13-2 - the other plays today and I expect will do the same).

It isn't hard to figure it out and frankly if the directors and orgs were willing to do some simple things and enforce them they could have a 'B'' worlds without too much trouble.

Florida must just be different than where I've been (Georgia, North Carolina) if you can easily decide who is A and who is B.

I followed the computer rankings in North Carolina very closely last year. My DD played on a 14U team, so I saw many of these teams play. There is no way that anyone can draw a line anywhere in the rankings of the 150 teams and see any clear boundary between A and B. There is no difference between #30 and #31.

Now, if you're #30, you're probably going to get hammered if you play vs. #1 through #5. But #5 can lose to #10, and #10 can lose to #20 and so one. I've never seen clear-cut boundary.