Fast Takes With Fast Break: Cleveland vs Toronto
Rocked And Raided
To kick-off the 2025 Major League Quadball season, the Toronto Raiders will travel across the border to take on the Cleveland Riff. Despite how early this matchup comes in the season, the stakes couldn’t be higher. For the two teams that finished fourth and fifth place in the North Division last year, winning this series could ultimately determine who qualifies for MLQ Championships, and who will be watching from the sidelines.
Matchup History
The history between the Riff and Raiders can be summarized by one stat — since their introduction to the league in 2019, the Raiders have never lost to the Riff. Yes, Cleveland put up a fight in 2023 when they pushed Game one of the series to a mere 20 point deficit. But that grit disappeared in 2024, when Toronto flexed their muscle in a dominating three game sweep, the closest margin of victory being 95 points. Will the Raiders continue to trash their opponent, or will the Riff play a different tune this season?
Series Roster
Upon receiving the Cleveland roster for the series, a familiar name will pop-off the page for Riff fans — Austin Howe is back. His presence will be immediately felt in Cleveland beater lines that were in serious need of support last year. He will join a beater core that showed moments of greatness in 2024. Many of those moments came from star beaters Rae Barnes and Peter Brechting. Barnes has been the go-to beater for the Riff over the past few seasons. Last season, they nearly led the team in average dodgeballs possessed. This is despite the fact that Barnes routinely is matched against each team’s top beater pairs. Their counterpart, Brechting, is coming off a jaw-dropping season in 2024. The keeper-converted-beater tied second in league for beater stops, placing himself in the ranks of MLQ’s best beaters such as Ryan Hsu, Lulu Xu and Kody LaBauve. He also led the team in average dodgeballs possessed. Both Barnes and Brechting will need to lead by example against Toronto’s dominant top line beaters.
Returning beater assets Robert Beaton, Jennifer Conard and Lacey Hutchman will also have an important part to play in rounding out the Riff’s beater lines. In particular, Conard played a subtle but crucial role last season. She individually contributed over 110 drives, almost 50 more than any beater other than Brechting. She was also on pitch for 20 goals, which was only achieved by three Riff beaters on the season. This experienced Cleveland beater core will be injected with energy from young, rookie upstarts Martin Meinert, Emma Meo and Kevin Oh. Of the starlets, particularly keep an eye on Oh. Going into their first MLQ season, they have already displayed incredible beater intelligence and decision-making in training. With the fitness and athleticism to boot, expect to see them receive some playing time in crucial minutes of this series. All of these beaters will immediately need to be sharp in a potential must-win series for the Riff to start the season.
In the Quadball game, many of the Cleveland Riff’s big guns will be rearing to take the field. Rising star Adam Thompson will be the center of attention. Coming off of their dazzling MLQ debut season in 2024, they led the team in assists and stops, and was second in goals scored. Thompson’s exceptional defense prowess was accentuated by their 28 stops in the 2024 season (sixth most in MLQ). They are joined by top scorer Joseph Lombardi, who will continue to provide a consistent offense threat from all distances. Other key contributors Fiona Gaffney and Jack Moseley will continue to deliver on both sides of the ball in Cleveland’s Quadball core for the 2024 season. Role-playing Quadball players Abbey, Evalien Duyvesteyn, Rachel Krieger, Rose Mournighan and Dominik Twarowski will round out the depth of the Riff’s Quadball core. This well-tenured Quadball squad will receive a huge boost from the additions of MLQ rookie phenomenons Delaney Lindberg, Jackson Neofes and Vivian Cox. All three players are strong, agile players that will bring significant improvements to the Riff’s top Quadball lines. Expect to see them receive plentiful opportunities to make their mark in this year’s opening series.
On the Raiders side, the chaser game looks very familiar from last season. The top two scorers from last season, Nathan Reid and Bryan Melchior, are both rostered for this series and are looking to start the season off right against the Riff. Last year the two of them put up a combined 150 points against Cleveland. That’s two goals less than all of the Riff chasers combined from the series last summer. If Reid and Melchior can repeat their performance from last season, expect Toronto to see similar results. Also look for Lachlan Craig, Lauren Matheson and Scott Rousseau to play a big role, as last year the three of them put up 130 points combined across the series. The Raiders will look to push the pace of play and get dodgeballs on the ground as much as possible, because they know that the entire roster of chasers can execute with dodgeballs on the ground.
In order to get those dodgeballs on the ground, their beaters will need to repeat their dominance from last year’s series. Every Toronto beater who played in the series last year ended with a higher average dodgeball count than every Cleveland beater who saw minutes. It was those performances, from Grace Davey, Izzy Kirby, Alexander Scherger, and Brittany Taylor. Seeing all of them on the roster is a huge sign for the Raiders, who are losing a handful of beaters this year. While the team won’t have Piotr Makuch, Levi Medeiros, Derek Taylor and Emma Sherwood, the four of them only played a combined 72 drives at the series last summer. With four beaters from last years series on the roster, Toronto should feel comfortable knowing they’ve had success in the beating game. The losses also will give the rookie Raiders an opportunity to fill these slots against the Riff.
Players to Watch For
An obvious choice for Riff fans to watch for is their returning star beater, Austin Howe. Bringing Howe back into the fold is monumental for the Riff beater core. His impact is best illustrated by his statlines. Prior to his injury in 2023, Howe led the team with 1.70 average dodgeballs possessed. When he was last healthy in 2022, Howe played 100 beater drives over six games, 40 more than the next most Cleveland beater. In that same season, he managed to lead the team in +/- with +17, despite the Riff losing games by an average margin of 10 goals. Comparing his stats to all Cleveland beaters last season, the team lead in average dodgeballs possessed was 1.26, and -13 in +/- category. Cleveland has desperately needed stability in the beater department, and Howe will be able to provide just that.
A second Riff player to watch for is their outstanding chaser Fiona Gaffney. After emerging onto the MLQ scene in 2022, Gaffney has been a linchpin in Cleveland’s top Quadball lines. While she isn’t a stat sheet stuffer on paper, Gaffney’s presence is most often felt in the flow of the chaser game. From aptly timed handoffs to crucial screens during the flag period, Gaffney has continued to be an offensive trigger for the Riff’s playstyle. After refining their distance shooting over past seasons, Gaffney has become a lethal off-ball threat in Cleveland’s Quadball scheme. In what might be a must-win series, their contributions will be critical in determining the outcome of this matchup.
On the Toronto side, all eyes should be on Christos Kaldis after twenty minutes. Last season, Kaldis was an ace seeker for the Raiders and this year should prove to be no different. In the first game in 2024, a potential Kaldis catch in the first minute of FROP got called off. He then caught a few seconds later. In game two of 2024, he caught on the first look he got, ten seconds after the seekers were released. In what should be a closer series than last season, the 35 points a flag pull can provide will matter much in this summer’s series as opposed to last. Knowing that Kaldis can execute against any flag runner provides a huge edge for the Raiders.
Another player to look out for is Grace Davey. Davey popped off the stats sheets after her series against the Riff last summer, and this year looks to be no different. She finished at the top of the stats sheet with a 1.8 average across all three games. That number ended up being the highest for any Toronto beater in any series for the rest of the season. Davey will most certainly play a crucial role in maintaining control for the Raiders for the series. She also left Cleveland with a +/- of +13, which also was the highest among all the Toronto beaters for any series the rest of the season. Davey is looking to repeat her stellar performance and will play a big part in making sure the Raiders can win this series.
Series Decider
The Raiders’ beater depth was a massive reason for their dominance over the Riff in 2024. Of the eight Toronto beaters who partook, seven of them had above 1.50 average dodgeballs possessed in the series. This was headlined by a near perfect day for Davey and Piotr Makuch, who shared an average 1.80 dodgeballs possessed and allowed only one goal when they were on pitch for the entire series. In contrast, Cleveland’s best average dodgeballs was 1.27, with not a single player contributing more than eight while on pitch in the series. However, both team’s beater depth has shifted dramatically in the offseason. As mentioned previously, the return of Howe and addition of promising MLQ rookies has greatly bolstered Cleveland’s beater forces. In comparison, the Raiders lost major contributors in their beater department. Of the Raiders’ seven beaters with over 50 drives played last season, three of them were lost in the offseason; Emma Sherwood, Levi Medeiros and Piotr Makuch. Of those three, the loss of Sherwood will be the most troubling. In 2024, Sherwood played double the amount of drives of Medeiros and Makuch, handled the 3rd most drives on the team and led the team in beater stops. The gaps left by these regulars will need to be filled by returners such as Izzy Kirby and Kieran Smith, as well as other newcomers. While Toronto has maintained the bulk of their beater strength, will their revised lineup be enough to handle the newly improved Cleveland beater lines?
The Riff and Raiders featured dynamically contrasting styles of offensive play last season. Cleveland implemented a slow, pick-your-moments type of offense, which leaned heavily on beaters applying aptly timed tap beats or blowing up defenses, and on ball carriers winning 1-on-1s in order to create scoring opportunities. In comparison, Toronto used a fastbreak offense they had been refining over the past few seasons with great success. This offense relies largely on high-pressing beater play that creates turnovers, and Quadball players finishing off the no dodgeball opportunities. The Raiders are one of the league’s best in fastbreak scoring, with the team ranking second in the division and fifth in the league at scoring in no dodgeball scenarios (at a rate of 75% per opportunity). In their 2024 series matchup, that high-paced style of play completely overran the Riff’s sluggish offense, as the Raiders had their best points per game average of the season at 205 points. In terms of personnel, there is little reason to believe the same won’t happen again this year. While the departures of reliable Quadball players like Sarah Dykstra and Callum Noble-Gresty will be missed in the chaser game, the Toronto Raiders maintain the majority of their Quadball core. Returning, team leading scorers Reid and Melchoir will continue to provide steady offense, while other vital producers such as Matheson continue to lead Toronto’s strong, physical playstyle. The challenge will be on how the Riff adjust to Toronto's high speed offense, and break down the fast break.
Concluding Statement
Considering the additions to the Cleveland roster and the departures to the Raiders roster, this year’s series will be far closer than the 2024 blowout in Toronto. Expect the Raiders’ more-limited beater core to be challenged by the improved Riff’s beater force. At points in the series, both teams will be scoring stride-for-stride, and games will feel highly contested. However, in the end this matchup will come down to how each team’s Quadball players stack-up. When these teams played a close matchup in 2023, Toronto’s Quadball players outshined Cleveland’s. While it is possible that Cleveland takes a game off Toronto, it is hard to fight the fact that the Riff haven’t won a series since 2016. This matchup will be much closer than people anticipate, but expect the Raiders to come away with the scraps against the Riff.
Series Prediction
Toronto 2 - 1 Cleveland
