MLU Rookies in 2016 Season

Major League Ultimate reported rosters for their 2016 teams. Each team indicated which players were "rookies" within their published roster. Out of 240 MLU players, 47.9% (115) are "rookies" (new MLU players) in MLU's 4th season.

Just like in 2014 & 2015, nearly half are playing in the MLU for the first time

The roster for Portland Stags has the lowest rookie percentage at 26% of their team

Boston Whitecaps (35) have the largest roster in the MLU, again

Vancouver Nighthawks and New York Rumble signed the most "rookies" with 20; nearly 2/3 of their rosters

The 4 teams that made the 2015 postseason have the fewest # of "rookies" on their rosters in 2016

Ben Wiggins Returns to Seattle Rainmakers

The 2016 roster for Seattle Rainmakers was announced in March and on the 30-player list is none other than... 

via Seattle Rainmakers 2016 team

Dr. Ben Wiggins.

Wiggins was the inaugural coach of the Rainmakers in 2013. He even gave himself some playing time during that first season of Major League Ultimate.

DC Breeze 2016 Roster

The 2016 American Ultimate Disc League season starts on April 10 for the Breeze.  Since July 2015, the D.C. Breeze roster has been billowing with great ultimate players, including a gust in January 2016.

Back in  October 2015, DC Breeze's 2016 roster included a total of 8 players from the 2015 Truck Stop roster. Now, the Breeze has signed 15 Truck Stoppers (based on 2015 Truck roster) and has 12 former Current players.

Using the 2015 D.C. Current roster as a guide, you can see which players sailed over to the Breeze:

DC Breeze 2016: By the #s
15 = # of DC Breeze 2016 players rostered on the 2015 D.C. Truck Stop club ultimate roster
[John Agan, Nate Castine, David Cranston, Tom Doi, Alan Kolick, Brian Marshall, Tyler Monroe, Jonathan Neeley, Markham Shofner, Nicky Spiva, Jeff Wodatch, David Boylan-Kolchin, Ben Feng, Matthew McDonnell, and Brad Scott.]

12 = # of DC Breeze 2016 players rostered on the 2015 D.C. Current (MLU) roster
[John  Agan, Chuck Cantone, Nate Castine, David Cranston, Tom Doi, Alan Kolick, Brian Marshall, Tyler Monroe, Jonathan Neeley, Markham Shofner, Nicky Spiva, and Jeff Wodatch.]

11 = # of returning players from the 2015 team to the DC Breeze 2016 roster

[Andrew Allen, David Boylan-Kolchin, Ben Feng, Alex Jacoski, Matt Kerrigan, Nico Lake, Peter Mancini, Anthony McLean, Jon Pressimone, Matt Radhe, Brad Scott]

10 = # of wins in 2014 AUDL Season

7 = # of wins in 2015 AUDL Season

4 = # of wins in 2013 AUDL Season

3 = # of 2016 DC Breeze players on the 2016 USA Men's National Team for 2016 World Ultimate & Guts Championships

2 = # of 2016 DC Breeze players on the 2016 USA Mixed National Team for 2016 World Ultimate & Guts Championships

[2015 roster images via screengrabs from DC Current, updated by SLUDGE]

WTOP Sports Coverage of DC Pro Ultimate Teams

WTOP sports covers the DC pro ultimate scene once again.

In Noah Frank's D.C. Ultimate teams prepare for Opening Day (April 1, 2016) article, he labels the AUDL's expansion to 26 teams as "aggressive" and MLU's 8-team approach as "holding steady."

The 2 teams' General Managers—Breeze GM Alex Ghesquiere and Current GM Matt Dewhurst—supply quotes related to gender equality in ultimate and issues with having two pro ultimate leagues.

From the article:
Ghesquiere: "I think having two leagues is probably unsustainable."

Dewhurst: "It would be good to have the focus be squarely on one league. I think it's pretty evident that at some point down the line there's going to have to be a merger of some sort. We're both working off the same fan bases and were splitting loyalties that don't necessarily need to be split."

screengrab via WTOP

San Francisco Updates Logo to Commemorate OT Wins

The San Francisco FlameThrowers posted 2 overtime wins this weekend. To commemorate the two road wins in the AUDL West Division, an updated logo has been cooked up.

The 3rd year AUDL team has a history of extending their season openers. The Flame Throwers also won in overtime in their 2015 season opener [via].

Recap of this weekend: "oh it's overtime I guess we should play well now".

— SF FlameThrowers (@SFFlameThrowers) April 4, 2016

Here's a more detailed recap on the San Francisc-O.T. FlameThrowers weekend:

OT Win 25-23 (12-11 HT) over San Diego Growlers on Saturday, April 2

OT Win 19-16 (9-9 HT) over Los Angeles Aviators on Sunday, April 3

Detroit Mechanix Shift Into First

After the first week of the AUDL 2016 season, Detroit Mechanix (1-0) are parked in first place of the Midwest Division. After 2+ seasons of failing to capture the checkered flag, the Mechanix fine-tuned their roster to win 15-12 (8-5 HT) on Saturday night against Cincinnati Revolution - the same team Detroit beat in their very last win 30 games ago in 2013.

screengrab via AUDL

Detroit has as many wins as the AUDL Championship contenders Dallas Roughnecks and more wins than 2015 Midwest Division champion Madison Radicals at this point in the season. Undefeated in regular season play, the Mechanix sit atop the Midwest Division in the pole position going into week 2 of the AUDL season when Pittsburgh rolls into Detroit on April 9th.