Many of the local Optimist Clubs have their teams in the league and a lot of them have a team in just about every age group, although there are a few that have yet to step up to the big leagues, if you know what I mean, those that play in this league have notably have made a tremendous Improvement in their baseball clubs. Let's take a look at those that have made their clubs respectable in the South Florida Baseball Travel World.

At the very top of this list you have to have the West Pines Optimist Club. Over the past three years or so, they have really become the dominant Optimist Club around and if you take a look at the younger divisions it looks like they will be around in this position for a long time.

If you take a look at the league standings from the 8's to the 11's you wouldn't  argue this point, the 12's, 13's and 14's have gone through some changes the last couple of seasons with new managers and this season they are struggling a bit. Let's take a look at the younger divisions and you tell me what you think.

• 8Under playing under Pines All-stars at 4-2............will probably compete fro that division's title.
• 9Under...........They are 7-0 and  have beaten all of the top dogs  in their division.
• 10Under........... Not even close,(4-0) they can spot anyone a few runs and still win.
• 11Under............At 7-1 is right behind Dynasty, so do the math in these 4 divisions they have a combine record of  22-3
  

Let's acknowledge a club that for the longest time was looked at as not a very competitive club and when we (FPBL) approached them 4 years ago, some of the league teams that play out west suggested  not to allowed them to play, because they felt that they were not good enough.................but we didn't listen, we welcomed them like we have every other team or club in South Florida. The Optimist Club that I'm talking about is the Weston Hawks Baseball Program..................Wow !! what a turn around. Just last season the Weston Hawks 14U won their first FPBL title and that marked the first ever for the Hawks program, but that may not be the last one, If you look at some the age groups and where they stand, It could happen again this season.

Let's take a look...........

• The 9U team is in a tough conference and  is struggling a bit at (0-4-2)
• The 10U team playing AAA this season is at ( 7-0 ) and is the most Improve of the Hawks team.
• The 11U Hawks Red is also in the tough  11 Majors division with the Cobras & Dynasty and  they've held its own with both clubs and a( 3-3 ) record.
• The 12U Hawks Coached by Greig Kilton is up there in second place at 6-5 right behind the Titans in the AAA division, they will compete in this division for a shot at the title.
• Hawks 13U is struggling a bit in this division as they find themselves at 2-2-1 but have only played 5 games to this point.
• Hawks 14 U picked to repeat this season by the league, in their farewell to the FPBL is by far the best team the Hawks program have. The team is Coached by FPBL 14U Elite Squad and  Cypress Bay JV Coach Ed Marti and has a lot of talented players in the program.

While the Hawks program has come out of the grave, according to what they said 4 years ago Into one of the Elite organizations, others have gone into "A League of their own"..............I think that was a movie, not sure.

We must acknowledge that many of the Optimist Clubs have to follow a lot of their club and cities rules & guidelines, so It's hard for a lot of these clubs to put out a team and comptete with the Elite Travel Teams that do not have any restrictions what so ever.

So, who will emerge from the GRAVE to the top ? While we don't have any of those teams anymore, a lot of the Clubs are very competitive in this league and we have many new clubs that have joined our league this past season and will rank these clubs as I see them in the league. In order to do this I have looked at the number of teams in the league with a minimum of three teams in the league and made my predictions as top clubs and will also list as an out of the GRAVE club as well.

Here are my top Clubs as I see them.

1. West Pines Cobras............Possibly 3-4 FPBL tittles this season.
   
2. Wellington Warriors...........Top notch teams in every age group. Could also take 3-4 FPBL titles.
   
3. Weston Hawks..................Now, playing with the big boys.
   
4. Plantation Stars..................Take a look at the standings
   
5. Miramar Canes..................Many average teams in this club.
   
6. Margate Titans...................A lot of good clubs, just a hair away !
   
7. Pembroke Lakes...............Similar to Miramar.........Needs to show more.
   
8. West Boca Panthers.......... This club will make some noise during playoffs
   
9. PPO Bengals.....................Once upon a time were dominant.
   
10. HAA Club........................Top 11U team, very good 9U team playing up this season.
    

The Club that will be my call of the out of the "GRAVE" is the PSN Club. With Three teams in the league and  a very good 9U team, and an up and coming 11U PSN  Mudacts team, the veteran of the 13U PSN Patriots, Coach by Saul ,this club will make some noise in the not too far distance.