Initially, the expansion was met with universal approval. Existing teams, particularly the league champion Wildcards, were thrilled at the expected influx of new talent. Tired of blowout games where the result was a foregone conclusion before the 2nd inning, new competition stirred their athletic loins.
"It had been rumoured for a while, but nothing ever came to fruition. We were certainly taken aback by the announcement." said team captain Arn Redoblado. "But the overwhelming response from all of us was excitement. The league had become essentially a three-team league, and the satisfaction of winning wasn't what it used to be."
Infielder Steve Saks disagreed with that sentiment. "It became a one-team league."
With stronger competition looming, the Wildcards anxiously prepared for the upcoming season on both a collective and individual level: they convinced Fiel Laurendeau to come out of retirement. Steve Saks went on a diet. Jeanette Nisperos got pregnant to increase her power via heightened hormone levels (unintentionally removing herself from the entire season due to, well, pregnancy).
And now, with six games in the books, expansion has been the opposite of what the Wildcards had expected: they have obliterated the competition by a collective margin of 100 runs, more than double the run-differential by the same point last season (44).
Though the Wildcards have not publicly complained, rumours are swirling that several are unhappy with the league in its current state.
"They don't like it." claimed a source close to the team, who wished to remained anonymous. "They do their due diligence and show up to the games. But they believe they're worthy of better opponents. The sentiment I get from them is boredom. They think the new teams should be better."
A look at the league standings would support the Wildcards' rumoured stance. With the exception of the Swingers, the expansion teams have been a bust. Three of the remaining four are at the bottom of the league, last place being occupied by the All-Star Bums.
The rumoured backlash against expansion have not fallen on deaf ears. On July 5, the Commissioner and COO tweeted a statement of support for the expansion teams, and made a thinly-veiled jab at the champions in the process:
Insults aside, the Commissioner and COO's message appears to be reminding the Wildcards that they too, in their early years, were bottom-feeders before they rose to the top.
Are the WSL expansion teams in a similar state of a champion's infancy? Or have they already reached the top of their potential? In the coming years, the expansion teams will be left to ponder such possibilities just as the Wildcards continue their search for worthy opponents.