1. What's Up With Team Video?
The story of the 2007 season so far has to be Team Video's 8-0 start. This includes a 4-3 victory against perennial Aspen Hill Division champ and rival Comcast SportsNet.

Team has benefitted from several converging factors. They've played one of the league's easiest schedules after finishing out of the playoffs its first two seasons. They also got a couple of breaks in the first half against upper-tier teams, including an Opening Day forfeit win from defending champ USA Today.

But reports from around the league are this is a bona fide playoff group. Key offseason additions include Erik Tavcar, a former CNN stalwart, and Shawn Graham, whose added a big stick to the middle of the lineup. Coach Amanda Monscheim and league legend Ernie Crow (know the Crow Rule!) have skillfully recruited new blood. And the team's braintrust has emphasized the importance of having a regular turnout, so the squad hasn't suffered from a thin roster thus far.

Team's winning formula was on display two weeks ago against AP, a wily bunch that always gives MMSL powerhouses fits. P Amanda Fox twirled skillfully, Team's four men across the outfield showed a lot of range, the infield made the routine plays and the bats rapped out hit after hit.

“They hit line drives, and all their women can play,” said AP veteran Ken Giglio. “They're for real.”

2. What Do Some of These Strange Records and Division Races Portend?
It's not unusual for the league to have an extreme top, middling middle and distinct bottom at this point of the season. The hated Dawg Days of June normally sorts out these matters.

But the middling middle faces a more dire playoff chase than we've seen in years. That's because the Wheaton Forest and Layhill divisions are threatening to send sub-.500 champs to the playoffs. That's bad news for some very worthy wild-card hopefuls.

Whenever a division winner has a bad record (say, 8-8 or worse), they will likely get the last seed in the 12-team playoff field. And because the six division winners have guaranteed berths, that means the wild-card hopefuls must win more games to earn a No. 11 seed.

Now, for the first time in league history, two division winners could have records below .500, meaning the the wild-cards will have to have even more wins to secure a slot.

Think about this: What if a third division winner has a 9-7 record and holds the No. 10 seed? Wow! A wild-card team could need 10 wins with tiebreakers, with someone possibly staying at home, to gain the last of six wild-card berths. Brutal, Juice.

3. How's the Safety Base Working Out?
Better than expected. Coaches have reported minimal problems, and the league's umpires, after granting a grace period to get acclimated to the subtleties of the new bag, have begun calling game rules on the safety base to positive reviews. WRC even found a double bag with an orange safety base that ties down nicely. National Press Club's Jonathan Salant, a safety base proponent, had glowing reviews for the new bag early in the season.

“The safety base is working,” said the MMSL's rules guru and Big Blue first baseman after the April 28 games. “Two weeks, no collisions, as compared to last year, where I had two collisions in my first two games.”

4. Who's Playing the Best Ball So Far?
Before the May 19 games we probably would have said 6-2 WRC, but the Original Peacocks notched a strange split that day at Burning Tree, losing to the Washington Times before thumping Atlantic Video. CNN has raced to the quietest 8-0 start the league has seen in some time; coach Jim Barnett has scrambled to field a team a couple of weeks, so watch out
when the furry CaNiNes have a full squad.

But the Foxtrotters of WTTG have played the most impressive ball so far. With a core group that has played together for several seasons now, WTTG has won close games (against The Gazette, WUSA and AP), thumped the teams they should have handled, and won tough upper-tier contests against WRC and the Press Club. The Trotters have also won low-scoring nail biters and high-scoring slugfests. Coach Steve Chenevey's team looks primed to make a long playoff run this season.

And be sure to check out their new black compression-gear jerseys, easily the league's nicest duds (if not the hottest now that June has arrived).

5. Besides Team Video, Who's the Biggest Surprise?
There are a few. WUSA has notched two victories after going winless last year, and played WTTG tough in the first division games. The newbie Express has also won a couple of games and promises to be very competitive; they have a nice core of young (and fast) talent, and easily the league's coolest team web site at www.20minutemen.org.

The sub-.500 play of the Layhill and Wheaton Forest divisions is also a bit of a stunner. Perennial playoff teams Post.com and The Gazette are having down years, and the National Press Club and AP are also off to slow starts. This is, of course, good news for City Paper, the Examiner, Post and Express, which are still very much in their division races.

6. What Team Is Lurking in the Weeds, Primed For a Second-Half Run?
Can't discount the defending champs, USA Today. Coach Mark Hayes has had spotty turnout, but if he has all his horses the Gannetoids can play deep into the postseason. They just need to get some key head-to-head victories to improve their seed. CBS News and the Washington Times are sitting at 4-4, but have looked impressive against tough competition this year. Plus, they play lower-tier schedules, having missed the playoffs last season. Don't be surprised if either team strings a bunch of wins together.

7. Why the Disparity in Records Between the Allbritton Teams?
A combination of schedule strength and good/bad luck. The former 78ers were divided in the most meticulous way possible, with players rated by position and then drafted by coaches Bruce DePuyt, Keith Abernethy, John Vagnetti and Chris Cicatelli. The whole process was overseen by the Office of the Commissioner.

According to Hoder, the Philibusters have a combined player rating of 1,445—that's right, they calculate player rating. The Vo Sox's rating is 1,423. From the Allbritton pool of some 50 people, the Philibusters have the top-rated players at SS, LF, P, 1B, C, while the Vo Sox have the top-rated 3B, 2B, SF, CF, LF. And each team got two strong, versatile players.

So what's happened?

The Philibusters have raced to a 7-1 record, a start aided in part by playing the league's easiest schedule, based on the winning percentages of their opponents so far. The Vo Sox are 1-7—but have played the league's eighth-hardest schedule. For example, the Philibusters have caught The Gazette and Post.com in down years . . . at least, to this point. The Vo Sox (who split against the Bucketheads and Green Machine) have run into the Team Video buzzsaw and lost a heartbreaker to Atlantic Video in the seventh inning after coming from behind to take the lead — a game Atlantic Video might have had to forfeit if Vo Sox coach DePuyt hadn't graciously agreed to delay the start of the game until his opponent's stragglers showed up.

The point? The bounces have gone in one direction and not the other.

8. The Web Site Seems Kinda Static
Minimal updates and not a lot of original content to whip up enthusiasm and get people talking during the week. What gives?

We knew this was going to happen after the change in leadership of the league. One of The Retired One's assets was the league experience and journalistic ability to cultivate content (writing, designing and webmastering) quickly. But all of that still took time. Sure enough, the site now suffers because of time, or lack of it.

This was a problem last season and it's worse this year. The Retired One helps from time to time but he's retired. Commissioner Rob now has two kids and expanding work duties, so he doesn't have a lot of time to write game stories, notebooks and the like.

The blogs on the web site, meanwhile, haven't generated much back and forth. We don't understand why. Some coaches post just a score and a bare-bones recap on the Game Reports Blog. No one's really yakking on The Yak (this is where we really miss Townhall.com, an energetic bunch that loved to post online). We're media. We blog. We're opinionated. So it's a mystery why we have almost 10,000 hits midway through the season and yet, you don't participate on The Yak.

We knew maintaining the web site's vitality was going to be hard with a new regime overseeing the league, which is why the blogs were launched. Maybe some are leery of posting bulleting board material. Hard to say, really. Suggestions for boosting the site's buzz factor are welcomed.

And speaking of buzz, things have seemed kinda listless some Saturdays. That'll change—the Dawg Days are here! June is the make-or-break month for MMSL contenders. Weddings, graduations, the Race for Cure, trips to the beach, the ungodly heat—ratchet up the pressure on rosters week-in and week-out. June is when the competitive juices start to flow. You'll see it on the fields starting Saturday.

But will you start yakking about it?

9. Is Our Weather Guy Great, Or What?
We escaped the first half with only minimal damage from rain, a dramatic turn-about from most years during April and May. We enter the second half on schedule with two rain dates in hand. Frankly, we think it's because our own personal meteorologist, Howard Bernstein of WUSA, started praying for better weather instead of concentrating on Channel 9 having enough players each week.

We pick on Howard because . . . well . . . he loves it. But anyone who follows Howard's Montgomery County-specific forecasts for our games on this site the past few years knows he rarely misses, and his time, insight and dedication to the league is very much appreciated.

Be sure to let Howard know what a great job he's doing with his blog on our website. Then needle his ass, just for good measure.

10. And Finally, Who Snags the Tuttle Trophy as MMSL Champs in 2007?
The Original Peacocks of WRC.