Fast Takes with Fast Break: Detroit Innovators vs Chicago Prowl
Author: David Banas
The Chicago Prowl and the Detroit Innovators are at two very different points in their respective seasons from both a competitive and logistical standpoint. For Chicago, this will only be their second series, despite it occurring in late July. The reigning North Division champs’ other two series — against Toronto and Minneapolis — will occur at home in a must-watch SuperSeries. From a competitive standpoint, Prowl have only played the perennial North Division basement dwellers Cleveland Riff, a series in which Chicago averaged 210 points per game while giving up a mere 53.33 ppg. For Detroit, the home series against Prowl will be their penultimate series — their last being the weekend before Major League Quadball championships against Cleveland at home — with the Motor City side having enjoyed an evenly spread-out season allowing them adequate time to prepare for each opponent. Competitively, the Innovators were able to right their season’s ship against the Toronto Raiders, bringing Detroit’s record to an even 3-3 while effectively knocking the Raiders — the closest franchise to MLQ Champs in Buffalo — out of contention for a champs spot in a mere two series.
The Motor City side is absent both speedster Ashton Glenn and defensive stalwart Rob Butler, both keepers for the Innovators handling the bulk of distributing on their respective lines. Glenn and Butler are the top two in assists on the team as well as two of the top three in stops, the other being Brady Sowers who, thankfully for Detroit, is rostered for the weekend. The Innovators will need one (or more likely, multiple) of their other chasers to step up and fill the void left by these two players.
Ally Peachy is sadly unavailable for this series after being seen in a knee brace on the sideline of Team USA during the International Quadball Association’s World Cup this past weekend. While Peachey was not rostered for the Cleveland series that Prowl played earlier this season, her stats from last season and her performance across both United States Quadball and MLQ the past three seasons testify to her value. For example, in only nine games last season, the Chicago veteran recorded 17 goals, three assists and four stops to a measly two turnovers. Prowl will have to look to other options to fill her absence this weekend.
For Prowl, this series is merely a further tune-up like Cleveland for the date that many on their franchise have had circled since the 2025 schedule dropped: August 2-3 against Minneapolis (and Toronto). Anything less than a 3-0 sweep over the home team Innovators would be a failure for the Chicago leadership. Expect Prowl to experiment with lines and game time as they look to further incorporate new pieces into their lineups, particularly Mae Overholt — back playing MLQ from a knee injury for the first time since a 2018 exhibition match against the Minnesota Voyageurs when she played for Detroit. Both Overholt and Cole had excellent performances against the Riff with the pair combining for 15 goals, five assists, three stops and only seven turnovers.
For Detroit, even with most of the quadball community writing off this series as a Chicago sweep, there is still a chance. Where there is light, there is hope, and the Innovators have certainly shown flashes of individual brilliance this season. Of particular note is Luc Marklin who currently leads the 2025 Innovators in goals scored. Marklin is a finishing machine, quietly picking up this season where the Michigan State Quadball star left off last season when they finished second in goals scored (21) behind North Division MVP Leo Fried. Last time the two sides met in the rain-soaked North Division opener last season, Marklin recorded five goals and four stops with a mere two turnovers across three games in a thrilling split series. Does Marklin have more magic up their sleeves for this meeting, especially with Glenn’s absence?
Neil Peterson is finally available for a series roster with his absence particularly felt in Game 2 of the Innovators’ series against Minneapolis. In the Innovators’ outing against the Raiders, however, Detroit went three for three on catches without Peterson, with second year MSQ player Jackson Massey catching once and Sarah “Smalls” Multer coming up big with two catches. Both Massey and Multer are rostered alongside Peterson for this weekend. Meanwhile, Chicago failed to catch in any of their games against the Riff. Can the Innovators newfound seeker depth afford them a much-needed advantage against Prowl, especially given Chicago’s seeking woes?
Detroit has lived (and died) this season by the dodgeball game, with the Motor City side often prioritizing control à la the Boston Forge last season. The team seems to prioritize holding control on a defensive shift even if that means letting in a goal so that the team can push in transition the opposite way. Of the beaters rostered for the series on Saturday, three Innovators beaters—Ryan Hsu, Rei Brodeur and Krish Jain—average a blistering 1.81 dodgeballs or better. Their Chicago counterparts, however, are nothing to sneeze at either. Against Cleveland, six of the eight rostered Prowl beaters finished with an average dodgeball rate of 1.67 or better. All eight also finished with a positive plus/minus and six of those eight finished in double digits. Three Chicago beaters–Tad Walters, Nojus Ausra, and Caleb Williams–are making their season debut against Detroit. In last season’s matchup, Walters and Ausra helped Prowl claw out an ugly 2-1 win with dodgeball dominance. With the return of Matt Brown to Prowl this season and the recently transferred Sol Alexander from the Monarchs, expect these four to lead the Prowl into the Motor City.
Despite this Detroit dodgeball dominance, clinging to control has not always resulted in success. Indeed, in their sweeping loss to the Monarchs to open the season, the Innovators dominated control, but Minneapolis still found ways to score with one. Indeed, Nicole Nelson had a plus/minus of 15 and two stops across 33 drives, all while averaging a mere 1.06 average dodgeballs. Ben Schlueter had a similar stat line with a plus/minus of 15 and six stops on 29 drives played while averaging 1.14 dodgeballs. Grizzled veteran Cody Narveson had a like tale with a plus/minus of two and one stop over 28 drives while averaging 0.89 dodgeballs (Narveson’s lower stats than Nelson’s and Schlueter’s is largely the result of the veteran beater pairing himself with either newer or rookie college beaters to not only balance lines but help get those players experience at the higher levels to continue their development for later in the season). Despite the particularly horrific average dodgeball stats, the Monarch beaters found ways to get the job done. For Detroit, what good is dodgeball control if the team is just sitting on it?
The Innovators will need to find a way to capitalize on this dodgeball dominance against Chicago if they want any shot at beating Prowl. While most of the blame can be laid at the Detroit beaters feet, a fair chunk also belongs to the Detroit chasing corps who, during the Minneapolis series, were often times content to pass the ball around up top waiting for 100% looks—looks Minneapolis rarely gave the Motor City side—instead of capitalizing on the 80-85% looks that the team thrived on the previous season.
The Innovators again dominated control against Toronto with vastly different results, oftentimes outclassing their Toronto counterparts in every aspect of the game en route to a 3-0 dominating sweep. The question looms: is this sweep a sign of the Innovators having put the disjointed pieces together from the Minneapolis series or more an indicator of the level of play that is to be found in the Six this season?
Can Chicago avenge last year’s loss at home and squash any chance of the Innovators finishing higher than third in the division this season? Or will Detroit show that they are just as scrappy and hungry as they were last season, playing spoiler for Chicago’s divisional aspirations? Tune in at 5 PM ET on the MLQ Network to catch all the exciting action!
