The ‘Spring’ is back in Springfield!

The updates about Springfield during the year have not always been positive.  On November 20th, the Isotopes were sitting in 11th place in the Canosa Conference and not having fun.  This was day 48 of the season (the first red line, on this day SPR had an article about how the season had not unfolded as expected).  The team then went on to lose 8 games in a row at what could be best described as the low point of the season.  Jump ahead to today and Springfield has officially qualified for the playoffs and still has a chance at finishing as high as 3rd in the conference.

As a bit of an experiment, we here at the Springfield Times wanted to take a look at the season and see if there was a ‘turning point’.  The figure below shows the expected points at the end of the season based on the average points per game. The horizontal (green) line is the expected points (88.5 points) needed to qualify for the playoffs based on the current status of the Canosa Conference.

The second red line was another article where SPR talked about getting no respect.  Springfield can now feel like they have gained some respect as changes in lineups and rosters have come together to save what appeared to be a lost season.  In terms of a turning point, it seems to have been soon after the losing streak, though the reasons for this remain somewhat unclear.

GM Stacey said “People have asked, ‘How did you turn it around?, I am not sure that I can give them a good answer.  I knew the team should be performing better than we were.  We made some minor tweaks and some major roster moves and we think that we might have finally figured out something that works. We are on a seven-game win streak right now but the postseason is obviously a different experience so we will see what we can do.”

Springfield has two games left in the regular season at home against Siberia and on the road against Wisborg.