That just feels very Orlando. The shoulder loop is very unique, nicely done.

Such an interesting identity! It's unique and creative and serves Denver much better than I would have expected. I think the secondary is much stronger than the primary, but that gives some room to grow later. I'm wondering if a name plate might better serve the first two jerseys. The NOBs get kinda lost in the patterns.

After the Redbacks’ dominance last year, the buzzword around the league this year was parity. Most eyes were once again on the ‘Backs, who won their first five games and nine out of their first ten, but would settle into mediocrity for a while, winning just 12 out of their next 19, including two losses to Nashville. While Texas wasn’t playing their best during that stretch, the Fugitives were having an excellent season, by far the best from any expansion team. The team was quick to embrace the “Trashville” taunts from opposing fans and nearly as quick to refute them, finishing at 21-29. B/ZB Alvin Milling and B/C Thomas Notz filled the star roles well, leading the team on defense and offense respectively, but Nashville also got contributions from unlikely sources like W/ZB Isaaq Davis and mid-season pickup B/K J.D. Gilley. The other two teams didn’t fare quite as well; the Pinnacles would beat Chicago in just their second game but failed to win another divisional game all year, while the only wins the Orbits managed at all were their two home games against Colorado.

Speaking of Chicago, one of the biggest worries this year was that the unbalanced placement of expansion teams would advantage certain teams like the Frost and disadvantage others. Playing in a division with two expansion teams probably helped Chicago on the whole, but on its face, it seemed to hurt them, as that loss to Colorado coupled with two home losses to Nashville left them two games behind California for the final playoff spot. What really did them in was injuries to F/C Michel Blanchard and B/K Ronnie Northern. B/ZB Ed Maxwell and W/K Nico Boyer both had excellent seasons and young players like B/ZB Frank St. Peter and F/ZB Diogo Marana stepped up as well, but they had trouble filling the forward and center positions when Blanchard wasn’t available to play.

On the other side of the coin, the West became the first division to send three teams to the playoffs. California limped into the postseason with a .500 record, extending their run as the only team to make the playoffs every year, but spent much of the season watching the Sabertooths and Sawyers battle it out for the top spot. LA benefited from another MVP season from W/ZB Dwight McCann, who led an offense that scored 144.6 points per game (second in the league behind Toronto), while Seattle had the top defense in the league thanks mostly to B/ZB James Terry. The Tooths actually got the better of Seattle, taking four out of six matchups, but slipped up in interdivisional play, taking losses to teams like Philadelphia, Nashville, and even Colorado, and would finish three games back of the Sawyers.

Meanwhile, in the East, New York and Philadelphia battled it out for second place in a division that was once again run by the Hogs. The two teams split the season series, but the Chargers had the edge, pulling away down the stretch and finishing four games ahead of the Row. New York made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history while Philly was left watching at home for the fourth straight year. The Hogs took the division lead early on and never gave it up, and so were focused on jockeying with the Redbacks and Sawyers for the top seed. Texas was on fire since that shaky midseason stretch, winning 19 out of their next 20, culminating in a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from B/K Semarias Garcia to beat LA and clinch the first seed. Toronto and Seattle would still be fighting for the second seed and a first-round bye on the final day of the regular season. The Hogs did their part, taking down Philadelphia with relative ease, but Seattle took care of business in Phoenix, and took second place in the three-way tiebreaker that resulted after Texas lost.

Toronto Hogs vs Seattle Sawyers
With both of these teams finishing with identical records this year, many felt this was primed to be one of the best series the league had seen in a while, and the first game did not disappoint. Neither team was ever down by more than 7 points and the game stayed within a single score for nearly 61 out of the 64 minutes of gametime. Seattle B/ZB James Terry and Toronto W/ZB Michael Lawler both put up excellent performances, each finishing with 53 points contributed (a term coined this year to mean points scored plus points assisted). While both would finish the game on defense, both would have the chance to make their mark. Down one with 29 seconds to go, Sawyers B/C Aciscio Castañeda threw a long pass intended for F/ZB Walt Duncan in the end zone. Lawler knocked it down, but it found its way to W/ZB Zebedeo Perilla, who managed to sneak it past B/K Gregg Larkin for a 2-point score. The Hogs now found themselves down by a point, but a few quick passes got the ball to W/K Rufo Torrez inside the 5-point line. Torrez tried to find F/ZB Fabiano Cordova, but it was a little bit behind him and Terry was able to pick it off to preserve a Sawyers victory.

After that, it just seemed to slip out of Toronto’s hands. Game 2 would institute a theme that would recur throughout the series, and that was Seattle’s role players. B/ZB Horace Yazzie, B/ZB Curtis Blue, and F/C Ben Bowman stepped up big, while it seemed Michael Lawler seemed to be dragging the rest of his team with him at times. Game 3 was faster-paced than Game 2, but things still seemed to be going the same way. The Hogs would pick up a home win in Game 4 to avoid the sweep, but found themselves completely outclassed in Game 5 back in Seattle. The Sawyers had 8 players with at least 15 points and would be moving on to the NDLCS for the first time in their history.



New York Chargers vs Texas Redbacks
After what some considered a fluky win over Los Angeles in the new best-of-3 quarterfinals, New York now faced a “real” test in the top-seeded Redbacks. If you watched Game 1, though, you might’ve been confused, as the Chargers not only kept pace with the Redbacks, they outpaced them. New York’s scrappiness kept them one step ahead of Texas and they would go on to win by 10. Texas rebounded and would pick up a pretty convincing win in Game 2 with major contributions on both sides of the ball from W/C Elide Amigazzi, but the series would still be tied moving to Manhattan, and if you thought the Backs had figured things out, you were wrong.

The Chargers faithful came out strong at Madison Square Garden, and the support seemed to help. Despite multiple attempts by the Redbacks to put the game out of reach, they battled back and refused to lie down. In the end, though, the talent was just too much, and Texas would win by 7. Game 4 went similarly, though New York had a chance to steal it at the end, but 41-year-old B/ZB Hank Union’s three-quarter-court heave missed between the hoop and the goal.

Despite being up 3-1 with a chance to clinch a Finals berth at home, multiple Redbacks, including Amigazzi and head coach Josh Hunter, seemed very concerned with how they were “squeaking out these wins” and “letting such an inferior team hang around.” While nobody really questioned Amigazzi’s comments, as Texas was really supposed to be much better than New York, the Chargers seemed to take it personally. Their defense was rock solid, especially that of F/C’s Billy Moses and Tim Edwards, the latter of whom was playing against his former team, and they would hold the Redbacks to just 113 points in a 38-point road win. Their hopes of a comeback were soon dashed, however, as B/K Ares Preciado, B/K Semarias Garcia, and B/C Tiziano “Tizzy” Torres helped Amigazzi and the Backs to a 47-29 lead through the first quarter. Texas would hang 160 and advance to their third straight NDLCS.

Just a bit of a heads-up: I started with a new format for the '22-'23 offseason. People seemed to like it in the old thread (or at least tolerate it), but let me know what you think!
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July 31, 2022:
After spending three years on the doorstep of the playoffs, the Chicago Frost have parted ways with head coach Dane Gaddy and have elevated assistant coach Leonard Fisher to the position. Don’t expect a huge change in philosophy from Fisher; Chicago is mostly hoping a new face will bring the push they need to make the postseason.

August 12, 2022:
After inheriting the California Sea Lions from his late father a year ago, owner Jim First has decided he wants out. Said First, “My dad told me he wanted me running this team. I never felt too good about it, but I promised him I’d give it a try, and I wanted to uphold that promise. I just don’t think this is the right place for me and I think this team would be better off in someone else’s hands.” First has sold the team to French-born investor Valiant LeRay, who has been making plans to change the Sea Lions look, saying the team “should leave [their current uniforms] in the past where they belong.” The new look will be released later this offseason.

September 8, 2022:
The NDL has a new highest-paid player. The Chicago Frost have confirmed their re-signing of W/K Nico Boyer to a 5-year, $67.5 million deal, which works out to $13.5 million per year. This crushes the previous record contract, signed last year by Pinnacles F/K Chris Gray for $11 million per year. It will be interesting what this deal means for two-time MVP F/C Michel Blanchard, who is on the final year of his contract this year but has struggled with injuries for the last three years.

September 14, 2022:
NDL free agency update: Sabertooths B/C Joe Kestner Jr. has signed a 6-year, $60 million deal with the Philadelphia Row. Kestner becomes the fifth player league-wide to earn $10 million per year, falling just shy of the deal his former team gave to B/K Paul Cox just a few days ago. Clearly, LA didn’t have space for two eight-figure contracts on the books, and Kestner was more than willing to head east and join a rising Row team who look to be able to push for a playoff spot.

October 1, 2022:
With the first round of the 2022 NDL Entry Draft finished up, let’s take a look back. Quite a few picks had already changed hands, though the Pinnacles did trade up to #4 in the moment, even sending B/ZB Vachel Vardon to New York in the trade. Colorado hopes their pair of high picks, which some are already dubbing O₂, will give them a much-needed boost after a pretty forgettable season last year. Orlando is looking to get the same from W/K Jim Mulcahy, who they hope will anchor their net as well as beef up their offense, which was atrocious last season. You can see the entire first round below:

1. ORL - W/K Jim Mulcahy (Towson)
2. COL - B/ZB Jack Odom (Georgia)
3. PHX - B/ZB William Overton (Vermont)
4. COL (from NSH via NY) - W/C Daniel Oman (Harvard)
5. TOR (from CHI) - B/K Lewis Test (UNLV)
6. ORL (from PHI via CAL) - B/C Vincent Harrell (Kansas)
7. LA - W/ZB Matt Griffin (Dartmouth)
8. CAL - W/ZB Rich Abbott (Tulane)
9. TOR - B/ZB Larry Clay (Virginia)
10. NY - B/ZB Herman Richards (UCF)
11. SEA - W/ZB McQuan Jefferson (Charlotte)
12. SEA (from TEX) - B/C Anthony Sutton (Memphis)

October 11, 2022:
In one of the most interesting moves of the offseason, Nashville Fugitives B/ZB Alvin Milling has signed with the Orlando Orbits. Orlando penned a 7-year, $49 million deal with Milling, who will further improve an Orbits back line which just picked up former Sawyer W/ZB Zebedeo Perilla. The biggest question here is probably why Milling moved from a 21-win team to a 2-win team, which seems to have a pretty simple answer: Nashville wasn’t willing to offer him quite as much as Orlando was.

October 18, 2022:
As you may have heard, the Pinnacles picked up a pair of Beetles today. Colorado sent F/C Robby Wheeler and B/C James Gray to the Chicago Frost, who in turn sent them cousins B/C Joel and B/ZB Mitch Beetle. The Pinns are looking for two very different outputs from these two cousins; Joel is 37 and hoping to get a few more years out of what has been a good-but-not-quite-great career, while Mitch is 23 and still very much developing as a player. Chicago also sent next year’s second-rounder in the deal. Also of note: Wheeler will be heading back to the Frost after being taken from them in the expansion draft by the Pinnacles.

November 21, 2022:
Multiple sources indicate that the Chargers and Sea Lions have been involved in trade talks that will send B/ZB Steve Gibson, W/K Josué Flores, and a second-round pick to New York in exchange for W/K Will Orleans and W/ZB Archie Vincent. This seems to be a much better trade for New York than it is for California; Gibson and Flores have been big-time players and have both been with the team since the league’s beginning in 2017. More details to follow.

January 19, 2023:
New York Chargers B/ZB Freddie Hayley announced his retirement today. Despite being almost 36 when the league started, Hayley had a pretty productive career for his age. After spending a year each with Chicago and California, he was picked in the expansion draft by the Chargers. Fortunately, he stuck in New York, where he had several productive years, even holding onto a starting role last year at the age of 41. Hayley said he considered playing another year, but wasn’t sure if he’d get that chance, saying “I’ve waited for long enough. I want to end things on my terms.”

March 1, 2023:
We’re just a few weeks away from the start of the NDL season, but things just got a whole lot more interesting. The writing had been on the wall for a while now, but F/K Ray Thomas’s displeasure with the Phoenix Palms organization has finally come to a head. Thomas had voiced his frustration multiple times with the lack of support he had been given by owner Larry Rodriquez and GM Scott Ivory, and Phoenix finally gave into his trade request, sending him along with B/C Patrick Sanders, Jr. to the Philadelphia Row in exchange for F/ZB Dale Maxwell, B/K Joel Drain, and B/C Ben Elkins. While this move weakens the Palms considerably, it does appear they are fully committed to a rebuild after an 18-32 season last year and only one playoff appearance in their history. Philadelphia, meanwhile, are now the heavy favorites to win the East Division and are definitely championship contenders with this trade.

In other news out of Phoenix, Larry Rodriquez announced that he will be keeping control of the team for this year after failing to find a buyer for the team over the offseason. Rodriquez says he would like to ensure the team stays in Arizona, but with no offers in nearly seven months, he says he is unsure if that will be able to happen.