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Major League Wiffle Ball is here to fill that MLB sized hole in your life

I stumbled upon MLW this weekend and it’s the greatest thing ever.

I don’t think it’s going out on a limb to say we’ve all missed sports. I certainly have. You know how I know that? Because my YouTube suggested videos are all either historical basketball games (been watching every 80’s Celtics game I can get my hands on), Madden streams, MLB The Show franchises, trick shot videos, or any random sport clip that the algorithm thinks I might like. (Did I mention I’m really missing sports?)

Well, hats off to the ol’ algorithm because this weekend it put forth an absolute gem.

I was scrolling through my never-ending list of suggestions, wondering what I was going to do with my Sunday when I noticed a video entitled “2020 OPENING DAY”. Naturally I gave it a click, wondering if maybe I’d stumbled upon a whole MLB simulation channel that was about to bring me endless hours of computer generated entertainment, but instead I stumbled upon something even better. The best cure for those urning for baseball, urning for sports, urning for something to enjoy.

Welcome to the world of Major League Wiffle Ball.

Watch just the fist five minutes of this video and tell me you’re not hooked.

For what feels like a bunch of friend playing in their backyard, the production value here was the first thing that blew me away. Jerseys, commentators, title overlays, highlights, sponsorships, swag, MLW has it all and it just makes the final product all the more enjoyable and entertaining. Each video is a condensed three game series with each game three innings long. This is the perfect length because you can watch just one game if you have a little time or the entire series if you’re like me and just have endless free time and looking for anything to fill it.

I was emotionally invested from the first pitch on Opening Day, instantly rooting for the Eastern Eagles to open the season avenging their World Series loss last year. On more than one occasion I startled both my wife and my dog with fist pumps and uncontrollable shouts of joy as a run would be scored or a perfect strike thrown.

And let me just say, there were strikes thrown. Holy crap were there strikes thrown. I know you can get wicked spin on a wiffle ball but some of the pitches I saw in these games where incredible in how much curve and drop they were able to get. Maybe I’m just a young naive youth who never played high enough level wiffle ball to experience a ball coming at my head only to drop at the last second into the strike zone but damn it’s impressive to watch.

Needless to say, after watching Opening Day, I was hooked, and proceeded to watch all the other games that have been played so far this season (in total there have been three series played). A Sunday well spent if you asked me.

I of course need to learn more about this magical world of high level wiffle ball that had monopolized my Sunday so I took a deeper look at the league. The MLW was founded in 2009, starting as just a two team league and since then, has grown into an eight team league with a three month season (last year running from start of May to end of July). As I’m sure you’re about to become hooked like I already have, here are the MLW teams so you can start figuring out which squad you’re going to root for:

  • Coastal Cobras
  • Downtown Diamondbacks
  • Eastern Eagles
  • Great Lakes Gators
  • Metro Magic
  • Midwest Mallards
  • Pacific Predators (defending WS champs)
  • Western Wildcats

Personally, I’m fully aboard the Midwest Mallard bandwagon, QUACK QUACK!

With the season just starting, hopefully we’re in store for an entire summer filled with filthy pitches, clutch home runs, and miraculous one handed catches. If you’re someone like me, who’s been dying for sports at any level, in any form (especially if you’re missing that sweet sweet baseball) go subscribe to the MLW’s YouTube channel and watch.

I promise it’ll be worth it.